madeleine

Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened today’s 72nd consecutive weekly online meeting of the International Peace Coalition, emphasizing that with the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the escalation of war is looming in Southwest Asia, contrary to the proclamations of some U.S. leaders. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to attack Iran; Russia has warned Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iran has received advanced missile systems from Russia which require Russian specialists to help operate them, while 100 American troops are in Israel to help operate the new THAAD missile system there. This could become a direct U.S./Russia confrontation. Meanwhile, the ethnic cleansing continues in Palestine, with Israel declaring 400,000 civilians in northern Gaza to be “combatants.”

In Ukraine, “there is no chance in the world that Ukraine could win against Russia.” Nonetheless, acting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who “has no concern for reality at all,” demands that Ukraine be immediately admitted to NATO, or be given nuclear weapons. Either scenario leads to World War III.

Zepp-LaRouche said she was encouraged that the Director-General of China’s Department of Arms Control of the Foreign Ministry Sun Xiaobo has made a call similar to Zepp-LaRouche’s call for a new Security and Development Architecture. Because the existing security structures are not adequate to prevent nuclear war, we have to catapult our proposal in the tradition of the Treaty of Westphalia onto the international agenda.

Mossi Raz, a former member of Israel’s Knesset, former director general of Peace Now, and a former IDF paratrooper, said: “It’s really clear that there is a conflict here that is not only between two partners…. This has become global war, which we must bring to an end.” Peace activists in both Palestine and Israel are saying the same thing: release hostages on both sides and end hostilities, and go toward a two-state solution. Raz reported positively on the Oct. 17 discussion at the Vatican between Pope Francis, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and former Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Kidwa, on an Israel-Palestine peace proposal.

Graham Fuller, former U.S. CIA official, senior political scientist and Islamic scholar, warned that Israel’s actions in the broader Middle East are the key accelerator of the crisis throughout the region. He decried the “stunning Western inaction.” He said he was encouraged by student action in the U.S., and that foreign policy is now beginning to play a small role in the presidential race.

Israel, Fuller said, is no longer simply seeking revenge for Oct. 7; it’s an excuse for broader ethnic cleansing and Israeli expansionism. Other states in the region are putting their differences aside in a way that was unthinkable even one year ago. “The geopolitical center of gravity is shifting away from the West.”

Zepp-LaRouche responded, saying that we need to stop the drive for “Eretz Israel” (Greater Israel) and move to policies in the mutual interest of everyone in the region.

She also addressed the Vatican meeting as hopeful, but not enough. This led to a very fruitful exchange between her and Mossi Raz. She said, “These partial solutions are very, very important if they are embedded in an overall new security architecture as was accomplished with the Peace of Westphalia.” Today that includes Russia, China, the U.S. and the BRICS. Raz responded, “I fully agree.” The Nasser Al-Kidwa and Ehud Olmert proposal are important, and offer hope, especially from people of their experience and stature. That proposal, along with the Arab League proposal, can work in the context of the Schiller Institute’s broader Oasis Plan for the region.

LaRouche independent Congressional candidate in the Bronx Jose Vega (CD15) read from newly published letters of the late Leah Rabin, widow of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who negotiated the Oslo Accords and was assassinated 29 years ago on Nov. 4, 1995. He asked for a response from Raz, who said that he agrees with Leah Rabin. However, the problem is not only Netanyahu, just as with Hamas, it’s not only Sinwar. The majority of Israelis support the war. If we have leaders who will mobilize us for a peace agreement, maybe we can win.

An excerpt was shown of a video interview of Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, American economist and public policy analyst and a professor at Columbia University, speaking with Mike Billington. Sachs described the arrest of students calling for peace in Palestine, with university administrators bullied by Congress. Universities forgot that they are universities. On the upcoming Oct. 26 Sare-Vega peace concert and rally, which will include Classical music, Sachs recalled that he attended a concert with leaders of G20 and saw how they were touched by a performance of the finale of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. There is a deeper problem than the Israel-Palestine conflict. It was started soon after the close of World War II by the U.S. Deep State—the Security State—but went into “hyperdrive” during this century; the “extraordinary claim that it’s the sole superpower” has to be reexamined.

Diane Sare, LaRouche independent candidate for U.S. Senate in New York, said, “We have to somehow change the trajectory of the United States…. The adversaries of civilization truly have a misunderstanding of power,” because they think it emanates from the use of force. Martin Luther King had a different and better understanding. “Judging from the candidates other than myself and Jose [Vega], the election is not going to solve our problems.”

During the discussion period, video coverage of an antiwar demonstration in Germany was presented. Zepp-LaRouche emphasized that the Russians did not cause the conflict with Ukraine. In response to a question about a dialogue among cultures, Zepp-LaRouche said that when people from various cultures assemble informally and meet face to face, they get along amicably. That is because people are basically good. The conflict and misery are created by powerful interests that have their own motives. She went on to endorse a proposal from a participant who suggested an event be organized where children from around the world would present cultural contributions from their respective nations in the interests of peace.

When Zepp-LaRouche was asked to comment on the role of the British, she asked: Who is always egging the United States on? This comes from the old British Empire idea of divide and conquer, “always sowing mistrust to manipulate.” She reminded the participants of the 1955 Bandung Conference, in which leaders of the Global South reminded the U.S. that the American Revolution was the first anti-colonialist revolution. The British Empire still exists in a camouflaged form, and the U.S. has regrettably been persuaded to use it as a model for foreign policy. She described the international “Green” movement as an expression of the British Empire’s Malthusian doctrine.

In her concluding remarks, Zepp-LaRouche mentioned that there have been heavy-handed attempts to destabilize the BRICS nations, and in one case, Argentina, they were able to reverse that nation’s decision to join. She added, “Many of the leaders of the BRICS are incredibly wise and mature statesmen.” At one time we had statesmen in Europe like Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle, but today we have leaders who have a “stature like dwarves.” We must overcome geopolitics, because the present effort to divide the world into two blocs is the source of the war danger.

Report on International Peace Coalition Meeting #68

Dennis Small, a leading spokesman of the Schiller Institute, opened today’s 68th weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), emphasizing the imminent danger of global nuclear war. The decision to give the go-ahead for Ukraine to use long-range precision guided missiles to target cities in Russia was barely avoided this past week. But Biden is meeting acting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the United Nations General Assembly this coming week, which is a likely occasion for an announcement of such an agreement. The “precision guidance” aspect proves that NATO and the U.S. will be running such an assault on Russia. The Russians know this, as has been stated clearly by Putin and other leaders.

The events of the week: the bombing of the Russian arms depot; the launching of war on Lebanon; and the European Parliament voting that long-range missiles must be provided to Ukraine, make the danger clear. The drive to silence all opposition voices—by assassination, by new sanctions against Russian media such as RT and anyone who works with them—is part of the same nuclear war drive, and can be traced directly to London and the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD).

The threat of nuclear war has now been introduced into the U.S. election, a sign of sanity. Former President Donald Trump three times warned of a nuclear war in a single week; so have former Congressmembers Tulsi Gabbard and Dennis Kucinich, as well as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The vote in the UN General Assembly to end the genocide in Gaza demonstrates that the Global Majority is opposed to these wars. The mounting financial breakdown is the driving force behind the wars, and will not be resolved by the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates and print more money to inflate the financial bubble. Nothing short of a new security and development architecture will provide a solution.

Scott Ritter, a former Marine intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector, followed, adding: “If you are not scared to death, you are the problem.” We nearly had a nuclear war last week, when the British Empire’s current front man, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, met with President Biden on Sept. 13 with a list of proposed targets to destroy in Russia, expecting Biden to sign off on it. “If Biden had signed, the war would have started that night,” and nuclear weapons could have been launched on Saturday, Sept. 14. The Russians know that long-range missiles can only be used with NATO guidance and control, and that would constitute a NATO declaration of war. “We all almost died on Saturday,” Ritter said.

“I have studied the U.S.S.R. and Russia most of my life; Russia is not bluffing. They know what war is, and they won’t allow the U.S. and NATO to put the existence of Russia at risk.” The former head of the U.S. Strategic Command has stated: “I prefer a pre-emptive nuclear strike.” Nuclear war is now an issue in the U.S. presidential election, with Trump warning of a nuclear war. “Whether or not you support Trump, you must make sure your candidate responds to the demand that he or she oppose a war. Jill Stein must be pressured; Kamala Haris must be pressured. Every candidate must respond.”

Asked about opposition to war in the Pentagon, Ritter said: “The professionals in the Pentagon understand war. There are some professionals there.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Sept. 6 with Zelenskyy, was pressured to agree to Zelenskyy’s demand for a go-ahead to use missiles to hit Russian targets, but Austin said that no weapon will solve this conflict. The British don’t have that problem, as 15 military leaders issued a statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin was bluffing, and that Ukraine should be unleashed. Starmer was told that Biden would sign, that the State Department could override the Pentagon. Putin’s clear warning helped stop them.

Ritter addressed the crackdown on free speech: The FBI raided his house; he is accused of being an “information terrorist” by the FBI-run Ukrainian CCD; U.S. courts now declare that free speech and the free press are crimes. We have a “two-front war”; we need to educate citizens on the danger of nuclear war. Yet, the government is claiming that doing so is a criminal act. The U.S. Constitution considers that “fear and intimidation” to prevent free speech is itself a crime. We are in a “legal war,” and must confront these “domestic enemies” with the law—not violence—to rally the people against the Biden Administration’s tyranny.

Jonathan Kuttab, an international lawyer and co-founder of Non-Violence International, addressed the meeting with a stark description of the destruction of international law in Palestine, as Israel has abandoned all restraint in their open effort to kill or drive out all the Palestinians from their land. We must restore the idea that there are limits to the power of a state. Those nations which believe themselves to be “exceptional” think that international law does not apply to them, be it in the U.S. or Israel. International law is being broken in clear sight of the world in Gaza. The UN Security Council does nothing, due to the vetoes of the United States. There is no distinction between “combatants” and “civilians.” The horrors of the genocide and apartheid must be stopped.

Asked about his role in trying to win over followers of “Christian Zionism,” Kuttab called it a “nefarious doctrine,” religion being used to promote violence, in organizations which profess Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. We don’t need to kill our enemies, but “understand people in their own terms. Violence and war will solve nothing.”

Mossi Raz, a former member of the Israeli Knesset and the former head of Peace Now, challenged Professor Kuttab for not also condemning the Hamas raid of Oct. 7, listing the crimes for which they are accused by Israel. Nonetheless, we must put an end to this war, and to the occupation of Palestine by Israel since the 1967 war, and create a Palestinian state either in the pre-1967 borders or some other borders agreed to by both sides, which secure the rights of the people.

Professor Kuttab later responded to Raz, arguing that Raz was “ignoring everything which happened before and after Oct. 7,” and that regardless, every side must follow international law.

Fernando Garzón, head of the Ecuadorian-Palestinian Union, drew out the comparison between Hiroshima and Gaza, in terms of deaths and physical destruction, and argued that the “normalization” of scenes of genocide is designed to prepare people for even greater horrors to come: for nuclear war. He concluded saying the peace movement must present solutions, linking peace to development and technological progress, like the Schiller Institute’s Oasis Plan does.

Independent LaRouche Congressional candidate Jose Vega (Bronx CD15) reported on a team that organized at the UN this week with a leaflet about Dr. Mark Perlmutter’s report on the horror of the medical situation in Gaza. Vega showed a video documenting how UN security personnel were confiscating the leaflets from delegates and others entering the UN building.

Dennis Small closed the meeting, noting that a “pause” in the drive to nuclear war is useful, but that there must be a change of thinking—that identifying crimes alone will not solve the problem, but that, like in the Peace of Westphalia, crimes must be forgiven and cooperation must replace conflict.

Sept. 13, 2024 (EIRNS)—Today’s 67th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) hosted over 1,000 people from nearly 40 countries, warning of the dire crisis facing mankind. Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened the discussion by stating that we are at “a point of no return,” that the decision to grant Ukraine the “permission” to use U.S. and NATO long-range missiles to target Russia, and Putin’s clear declaration that if this is done Russia will know that this is not Ukraine, but the U.S. and NATO that are attacking Russia, and will “respond appropriately,” demonstrates that we are in the most dangerous moment in history, possibly days or weeks away from thermonuclear warfare.

Dr. Ted Postol, MIT professor emeritus and one of the world’s foremost experts on nuclear weapons, said that the fact that Secretary of State Antony Blinken would even suggest considering “the use of tactical nuclear weapons,” means he doesn’t know what this is. Blinken’s “cavalier” attitude towards the “overwhelming likelihood of the destruction of modern civilization as we know it,” shows his ignorance and almost unbelievable recklessness. “I realize it’s very strong language, but it’s just hard to comprehend that anybody could be so reckless, especially someone who is in a position where decisions he makes have serious consequences for the security of—really of the modern world. It’s that bad.”

Ukraine’s war on Russia has been lost, Postol said, and the invasion of Kursk, which has failed, has made it worse for Ukraine. Pulling their elite troops and air defenses off the front line in Donbas to invade Kursk has resulted in Russian forces moving forward at will, as the Ukraine forces left behind are “mostly unwilling and untrained,” many of whom are “running or surrendering, and near collapse.”

Dr. Postol then showed a series of maps and graphs which he stated he “prepared at the urging of Helga Zepp-LaRouche,” showing the size of the radioactive mushroom clouds from nuclear weapons which get blown by the wind, dropping their radioactive waste along the way. He displayed a map of Germany showing the impact of 10 (a number chosen at random) 75-kiloton Russian nuclear weapons and their potential effect, should Germany proceed with the insane U.S. policy of deploying long-range nuclear missiles in Germany in 2026, as currently planned. This submission to the U.S. plan is a “disservice to the German people and the German economy,” said Dr. Postol, which is already collapsing due primarily to the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines. The German people “have a right to prevent this,” he concluded, and called on them to show the leadership what they think of these insane policies.

Larry Johnson, a retired CIA official and a co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), said that two positive steps in this extremely dangerous time were, first, that Putin’s clear statement had removed any doubt about the Russian position, and that it has gotten through to at least some in the West. A second development was the fake call on Sept. 12 from two Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus, who impersonated former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in a call to the rabid war-hawk Radoslaw Sikorski, the Foreign Minister of Poland, who admitted that all his bravado about defeating Russia and saber rattling for war were for show, that Europe does not really want a war with Russia, let alone a nuclear war. Johnson added that the West is miscalculating when they “read Putin’s patience for weakness.”

Dr. Mubarak Awad, the founder of Nonviolence International and an adjunct professor at American University, said that the people who are talking casually about nuclear weapons “have no knowledge of the impact of these weapons.” He said that many people argue that democracy is a superior form of government, but reminded that it was the U.S. who dropped nuclear weapons on civilian populations in Japan, and who have undermined every arms control agreement. In addition to the billions of dollars wasted building the nuclear arsenals, Dr. Awad noted the weaknesses displayed in our health systems during the pandemic, and that the health disaster which would result from a nuclear exchange would find the world totally unprepared. He denounced the U.S. refusal to consider any arms control agreements, calling for churches and other institutions to not be silent, and for people to mobilize and act so that the war madness is stopped.

Ray McGovern, a former CIA official and also a co-founder of the VIPS, agreed with Putin that the U.S. granting “permission” to Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to attack Russia is a fraud, since such delivery systems would be run by NATO forces, and would be, in effect, a NATO war with Russia. On whether Blinken and Sullivan would actually use nuclear weapons, he said that their primary concern was to “not lose”—not lose the war, not lose the election, and not lose their own freedom. They are clearly guilty of serious crimes, and if they lose the war and the election, they could well lose their freedom as well. He reviewed the lies by the U.S. and the U.K. which were used to start the war on Iraq in 2002, and warned of the possibility of a “false flag” attack now, even before the November election.

Tony Chaitkin, an historian and author of the book Who We Are: America’s Fight for Universal Progress, reviewed the historic battle in the U.S. between advocates of industrial and scientific development on the one hand, against the financier classes, going back to the slave runners and Tory bankers who tried to crush the American Revolution. He pointed to John F. Kennedy as having had the courage to stand up to Wall Street and to the war parties, defending development and science for the U.S. and for the world. He said “Wall Street built no industries,” and still today opposes the rise of other nations while poisoning our own development. These are America’s age-old enemies, he stated, who now would stop the rise of Russia, China and the Global Majority.

Carl Osgood, an EIR analyst and military historian, presented the history and development of the 1958 Military Defense Agreement (MDA) between the U.S. and the U.K., which Biden and Prime Minister Starmer are now attempting to amend so that it does not need to be renewed every ten years. Osgood warned that this would prevent any future President or political movement from changing it—known as “Trump-proofing” by some in British intelligence—but more accurately described as “nation-state proofing,” putting everything under supranational control.

The discussion period included various ideas on how the UN General Assembly, which begins its 2024 debate session next week, can intervene on the nuclear war danger and on the genocide in Palestine. One participant said that we must address emotion, since many people do not respond to reason, and warned that social unrest leads to war. Zepp-LaRouche countered that there is “no contradiction between reason and emotion,” and that Friedrich Schiller showed that the emotions can be elevated to the level of reason. She also noted that wars are created by the oligarchy, not by tensions in the population, who are driven to fight wars usually against their own best intentions.

Zepp-LaRouche thanked all the speakers, “especially Ted Postol,” adding that if Germany survives, it would have a great impact on the global crisis, and that Postol’s intervention, with reason and emotion, would deserve significant credit for that. [eir]

Aug. 30, 2024 (EIRNS)—Today’s 65th weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) placed a major focus on the fact that the world is poised at the very edge of a U.S./NATO-initiated nuclear war, and that this threat must be met by both mass demonstrations around the world to stop the madness, and a drive to lift the quality of thinking by the population and its leaders to adopt solutions which are clearly possible.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, initiator of the IPC and founder/chairwoman of the Schiller Institute, opened the meeting with what she described as an “extremely disturbing report” that, even though the Permanent Five members of the UN Security Council have reiterated that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” there is now a drive for just such a war coming from the U.S. and NATO. She urged listeners to read an article by nuclear weapons expert Ted Postol, reporting on the (still not publicly released) new nuclear posture document adopted by President Biden in March 2024, according to David Sanger’s story in the New York Times on Aug. 20. The U.S is preparing to fight a three-front nuclear war, against Russia, China and North Korea, by taking out all the ICBMs in silos in Russia and China with the use of “super fuse” improvements in the accuracy of the U.S.’s existing nuclear warheads.

Postol characterizes this as total insanity, especially given the fact that Russia has Poseidon drone submarines capable of launching nuclear weapons from harbors of major U.S. and European cities. Zepp-LaRouche concurred that the concept of fighting and winning a nuclear war is both false and clinically insane, as it could end civilization. She added that Germany’s acceptance of the U.S. decision to deploy long-range ICBMs in Germany starting in 2026, a decision made without any consultation, even with other NATO countries, is a virtual submission to the total loss of sovereignty. She stressed that the historic example of Germany acting unilaterally will cause profound concern across Europe, and urged an immediate and broad public debate on this decision.

Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst and one of the co-founders of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), pointed to the myth that the deployment of F-16s to Ukraine would be the new Wunderwaffen which would win the war for Ukraine. One F-16 was just destroyed, and the pilot killed. That shows, he said, that “Regardless of the plans, the chance for the unexpected to happen is very high.” This is equally true with nuclear weapons.

Glenn Diesen, a well-known Norwegian analyst of strategic affairs, described the current crisis as “the most dangerous moment in history.” The unipolar world under Anglo-American domination has collapsed, he said, but they have no “Plan B.” There are no negotiations. This is a problem 30 years in the making, after the collapse of the U.S.S.R., when the West declared itself to be the unipolar rulers of the world, believing that military force could maintain the peace. The decision to expand NATO was opposed by wiser minds, such as former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry and former U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Jack Matlock, but it went ahead anyway, with the belief that Russia could be forced to submit. But Russia will not be broken, and there is no alternative in the minds of these Western leaders other than escalation.

Mossi Raz, a former member of the Israeli Knesset and former secretary general of Peace Now, said that the crisis between Israel and the Palestine did not begin on Oct. 7, but has been around for a long time. If there is conflict, there must be negotiations, not escalation, and it must be international. He asserted that the Arab League peace plan is the best one on the table, and said it is conferences like this one of the IPC that are necessary to achieve peace. He said it is very difficult to get Israelis and Palestinians to work together, “but it is possible.”

Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst and co-founder of the VIPS, addressed the fact that National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has been in China for three days, fruitlessly trying to break China away from Russia. Chinese officials told Sullivan his demands were “absurd.” Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, McGovern said, are panicked that if the war in Ukraine is not won before the November 5 U.S. presidential election, that they will be out of office, and perhaps also “could lose their freedom.” The danger is that they want to box in Russian President Vladimir Putin, in order to provoke a response, to which the Biden Administration will then respond possibly with a “mini-nuclear weapon.” He said he thought there was a “50-50” chance that they will do so, but that Putin will not “go for the bait.”

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter provided a video message warning that Ukraine Kursk invasion was failing. The Ukrainians will eventually all be killed or driven out. The even greater problem for Ukraine is that the winter will be pure hell, without adequate power as a result of the war. The imminent danger of escalation to a nuclear exchange is the greatest threat.

Irene Mavrakakis, a medical doctor and leading organizer of the Rage Against the War Machine (RAWM) rallies, reported on the upcoming RAWM demonstration at the Washington Memorial on Sept. 28, followed the next day by a second demonstration sponsored by Rescue the Republic. Sept. 28 will also be an international day of action against nuclear war. IPC moderator Anastasia Battle encouraged participants to organize parallel demonstrations everywhere. Scott Ritter is organizing anti-war demonstrations in New York State and elsewhere on Sept. 28.

A professor in Geneva, a former UN official, said that the world’s leading media are all on the same line, the one narrative. He added that NATO is not a defense institution. It has long since become an enforcer of the unipolar domination by the Western leaders and fits the Nuremberg Code’s definition of a criminal organization, citing the atrocities against the populations of Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, and more. NATO’s existence is inconsistent with the UN Charter.

An African IPC participant from Mali noted the horrendous continuing wars in several African nations, and that the Ukrainian Ambassador in Senegal admitted active Ukrainian support for the insurgency in Mali. We are all human, he underscored. We cannot let this war spread all over the globe.

An Argentine participant, disturbed by the implications of the Postol article that Zepp-LaRouche had cited, called for a large international meeting to address the mounting danger of nuclear war.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche concluded the meeting looking to the importance of the upcoming BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, and the revival of the “Spirit of Bandung” and the Non-Aligned Movement. The West must give up confrontation, and cooperate with the Global South. Instead of complaining about migrants, the solution is to create 4 billion new productive jobs across the Global South. People will want to remain in their own countries. Pessimism can be countered, she said. Her proposed Ten Principles for a New International Security and Development Architecture are intended to spark optimism and open a broader policy discussion on real solutions. The growing censorship of dissenting voices should make clear to all that we are in a “pre-war” situation. The IPC’s strength is the understanding that Man, as the creative species, can resolve these problems. [eir]

Aug. 23, 2024 (EIRNS)—Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, opened the proceedings of today’s 64th consecutive Friday meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) saying that her earlier view of the danger facing all of us in the next six months has been confirmed by developments of the last week. She described as “eye-opening” a report in the Financial Times of Aug. 13, on the recent discussion of a nuclear demonstration strike by Russia on an uninhabited area, to show that they mean business if NATO provocations continue.

The Kursk invasion, which she described in great detail, has increased the danger of nuclear war. It has been timed to exploit the “hot phase” of the U.S. presidential campaign, when candidates make a public show of military “resolve” in order to win votes. The fact that Russia has thus far refrained from using nuclear weapons is being used by British think-tanks and media to dangerously argue that there are no “red lines” that we should hesitate to cross.

She characterized Secretary of State Blinken’s recent trip to Southwest Asia as “caving in to everything that Netanyahu is demanding.” “It is a nightmare that the whole world is watching this and not intervening,” she said. She reported that Ronen Bar, chief of domestic Israeli security agency Shin Bet, just issued a warning, made public on Aug. 23, that settler terrorism in the West Bank is leading to a global delegitimization of Israel.

In the U.S., the secret “Nuclear Employment Guidance” of President Biden, written in March but leaked to the New York Times this week, puts the recent NATO summit in a completely new light; we now know that preparations are underway for nuclear war with Russia, China and North Korea. Regarding the Democratic National Convention, Zepp-LaRouche observed that “an amazing Hollywood performance was conducted,” where there was no debate, no discussion, and everything was orchestrated. “Can we expect anything different from Kamala Harris?” she asked, and then presented a ghastly excerpt from Harris’ convention speech, in which she promises that the U.S. military will be the “strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world,” to roars of approval from the assembled minions.

The meeting concluded with pointed proposals, which emerged from an intense discussion among participants from across the world. Zepp-LaRouche asked participants to find ways to circulate and promote the Chandra Muzaffar resolution to invoke UN Resolution 377(V) and put the issue of the genocide in Gaza before the UN General Assembly, since the UN Security Council has been paralyzed by U.S. vetoes. On the urgency of retooling the military-industrial complex for peaceful purposes (including independent Congressional candidate Jose Vega’s proposed “Space Civilian Construction Corps”), she recommended that we review all the many such proposals, and issue a fresh, comprehensive plan. And in an answer to a comment by one of her countrywomen from Germany about unifying the peace movement, she said we should wake up our fellow citizens to the fact that the implications of the Ukraine/NATO invasion of the Kursk region in Russia should make us put aside our ideological differences and fight to ensure the survival of us all. To do this, she concluded, “We have to jump over our shadow, as we say in Germany.”

Stopping the Terror from the Billionaires

Dr. Marino Elsevyf, professor of Constitutional and Criminal Law at the University of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, thanked Zepp-LaRouche for remaining faithful to the principles of her late husband, “the great American leader, Lyndon LaRouche,” principles which he shares as well. He had attended the September, 1995 Independent Commission hearings on the LaRouche trials. Concocting criminal charges against a political adversary, to avoid the appearance of a political prosecution, is a well-known tactic. He added that in Latin America, “we call this ‘prevarication.’”

Dr. Elsevyf’s remarks were followed by brief video excerpts from the 1995 hearings. Helga Zepp-LaRouche was shown saying that the biggest crime committed by the permanent bureaucracy of the Justice Department was not the unjust imprisonment of Lyndon LaRouche, but rather the denial to the world of access to his ideas, which were so badly needed. LaRouche himself was shown discussing what led to the prosecutions, including his back-channel discussions during the Reagan administration with officials of the U.S.S.R., which were “somewhat fruitful but ultimately aborted.” Henry Kissinger’s faction felt that “I was getting too big for my britches.” When President Reagan endorsed LaRouche’s proposal for the Strategic Defense Initiative, “there were a lot of people out for my scalp.”

Col. Richard H. Black (ret.), former chief of the Army Criminal Law Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General at the Pentagon, elaborated on the March “Nuclear Employment Guidance” of President Biden, which envisions a nuclear war simultaneously or sequentially against Russia, China, and North Korea. Colonel Black emphasized that this is not framed as a response to an attack, but rather as “employment.” He pointed out that this was supposedly prepared to counter China, whose nuclear arsenal is only slightly larger than Israel’s, not in the same category as the U.S. Black insisted that the saber-rattling increases talk of nuclear war “and is designed to move us inexorably in that direction.” The U.S. has a first use doctrine, and “the President is not constrained by law.” U.S. policy toward China “has become mercilessly provocative,” he said. He concluded by reporting on the appalling comments of USAF Gen. Mike Minihan, who said that “when you can kill your enemy, every part of your life is better. Your food tastes better. Your marriage is stronger.”

For All of Humanity

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) in Malaysia, reviewed the history of the Zionist project in Palestine, calling it “one challenge which stains our conscience.” “Zionism is a racist ideology, which has nothing to do with Judaism … it is actually a betrayal of the Jewish religion,” he said, adding that “in principle, I support this notion of linking peace to development,” as promoted by Helga Zepp-LaRouche and the Schiller Institute. “Most of all, anchoring this development in the goodness of the human being.”

Steven Starr, former director of the University of Missouri’s Clinical Laboratory Science Program, provided a timeline of Ukrainian attacks on Russian bases where nuclear weapons are stationed, as well as attacks on strategic radar systems. He stressed that these attacks cannot be carried out without technical assistance from the U.S. Russian nuclear plants are also under attack. “Basically, NATO has invaded Russia.”

Jack Gilroy of Veterans for Peace read the “Peace Pledge,” which is being initiated at New York’s Binghamton University, asking students to reject recruitment to any job that feeds the war machine. The Pledge reads as follows: “I renounce and reject all allegiance to any firm that produces, sells, or gives weapons or weapons systems or hardware or software to any entity. I shall never interview for or accept any offer to work for any such firm.”

At the end of the discussion, Zepp-LaRouche elaborated on the idea of transforming our militaries into a cadre for development. She had once forced herself to read all 800 pages of Samuel Huntington’s The Soldier and the State, and he promoted having the soldier being “an adjunct of the weapons systems.” Rather than militarization of Europe, she said, we should retool and rebuild. China has 40,000 km of high-speed rail, whereas the U.S. has a grand total of zero, and Europe is in comparable bad shape. Instead of squandering the remaining industrial and technological capabilities on senseless neocon wars, we must be careful to transform the planet for the better.

eir

Aug. 16, 2024 (EIRNS)—The 63rd consecutive online meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) met today amidst what Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the founder of the Schiller Institute, described as an “escalation step-by-step closer to a point of no return.” She said, “There is now an active discussion—maybe already a decision—to deploy the stealth Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, JASSMs, to Ukraine.” Ukrainian jets would then be able to launch these highly accurate long-range missiles. And with this move, the U.S. intends to “influence the German decision” to make available the Taurus cruise missile, which Germany has so far refused to do because of the fear that this would escalate the situation to possibly World War III. She further stated, “The entering of Russian territory in the Kursk region would not have been possible without technological advice by NATO. The decision was, in all likelihood, made by NATO,” which is making the option of a diplomatic solution close to impossible according to Dmitry Polyanskiy, the Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Likewise, Israel has made clear its rejection of diplomacy, by assassinating the chief negotiator for Hamas.

Looking at how we got here, Zepp-LaRouche noted that August 15 was the anniversary of the 1971 demise of post-World War II Bretton Woods system, with U.S. President Richard Nixon’s move on that date to floating international exchange rates and vicious austerity. Lyndon LaRouche had forecast the inevitably of such an event, and warned that it would lead to a resurgence of fascism and a new world war. The precision of his forecast and the urgency of his warnings had a global impact, leading to a second important event: The October 6, 1986 Leesburg raid by 400 federal, state and local law enforcement officers, who surrounded the LaRouches’ home with orders to kill if the opportunity presented itself. LaRouche and his supporters warned that if that effort to silence a dissenting voice were not vigorously opposed, actions of this type would continue and no one would be safe.

Lyndon LaRouche’s warnings turned out to be prophetic, as was borne out most recently by the Aug. 7 FBI raid on the home of former UN weapons inspector and U.S. Marine intelligence officer Scott Ritter, who was the next to speak.

Ritter said, “once nuclear weapons become mainstreamed,” once the genie is out of the bottle, there will be no limits to their use. As a weapons inspector, he was proud to have been involved, not only in non-proliferation, but in an actual reduction of nuclear weapons. Today, proponents of arms control are mocked and vilified. “We are a nation addicted to war,” he said, which must “constantly search for conflicts that feed the military-industrial complex.” Ritter continued, “Those who raided my house last week are enemies of the United States and the Constitution.” He agreed with Zepp-LaRouche that, had people rallied around Lyndon LaRouche when his home was raided, maybe we would not be seeing these abuses today. Later, in response to another speaker, he replied: “I’m not a politician, I’m a Marine…. The First Amendment is the battle I will fight and die for,” if it comes to that. “I take violent umbrage at the notion that disinformation and misinformation are a threat to democracy…. I believe that the average American is capable of discerning fact-based truth.”

Moderator Dennis Small remarked about some of what made Lyndon LaRouche such a target. In 1982, LaRouche met with world leaders to promote a reorganization of the financial system to reverse the catastrophe which followed the end of the Bretton Woods system. After he met Mexican President José López Portillo, who shortly afterward attempted to implement his proposals, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger asked then FBI Director William Webster to take action against LaRouche. What followed were covert operations, the Leesburg raid, and ultimately, the jailing of LaRouche and a number of his colleagues on spurious conspiracy charges.

Video excerpts about those 1986-1989 events, featuring remarks by LaRouche and former United States Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, who served as LaRouche’s attorney on appeal, were broadcast. LaRouche said that there were groupings inside the permanent bureaucracy of the Department of Justice which act like hit teams. Ramsey Clark spoke of a combination of government agencies, media and NGOs which connived to destroy the LaRouche movement, which he described as a “fertile engine of ideas.” Clark had seen similar operations, but “this case takes the prize.”

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), recounted the story of the First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of speech and freedom from illegal search and seizure, both big concerns for those who had suffered under British Empire rule. Speaking of the illegal search of Ritter’s home, McGovern said, “You can persuade a magistrate in upper New York State to sign anything if you’re the FBI.”

Zepp-LaRouche briefed the meeting that when she founded the Schiller Institute in 1984, its charter was inspired by the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Today, Germany is passing legislation that permits secret searches of homes and electronic devices. “This is a real danger to democracy in the so-called rules-based order.” The global crisis could be easily resolved if the U.S. were to return to the ideas of President John Quincy Adams, who presented a vision of America that “goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.”

Jack Gilroy of Veterans for Peace invited participants in the IPC to the Aug. 16-19 Veterans for Peace convention, where he will be speaking on a panel, Sunday Aug. 18 at 12noon, on the war industry. They will be on college campuses this fall to oppose recruiters from the war industries, asking students to sign a pledge never to work for them.

Prof. Henry Baldelomar, Chargé d’Affaires of the Bolivian Embassy in Washington, reported that the culture of peace is a key feature of Bolivia’s constitution, and it is for that reason that Bolivia has applied to join the BRICS. The U.S. has attempted to impose a unipolar world order, but Bolivia prefers the multipolar alternative. The IMF measures have created a state of dependency which has aggravated income disparities, exacerbating the tensions which lead to war. BRICS creates an alternative which will move Bolivia from a role as raw materials exporter, to a producer of capital goods. No longer a mere observer of decisions taken by the great powers, Bolivia will become a participant. Later, in the discussion, he wryly observed that the “‘migration problem’ which so concerns the Republican candidate” is a result of the exploitation of the South, “the use of resources by some at the expense of others.”

Jonathan Kuttab, executive director of Friends of Sabeel North America and co-founder of Nonviolence International, expressed his indignation that retiring Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, in his swan song, asserted that Israel is “the most moral country in the world.” How is such a thing possible? Kuttab demanded to know, in view of Israel’s wanton killing of civilians and rape of prisoners. He blamed “the absence of international law … that applies to friend and foe alike.”

In concluding remarks, Dennis Small endorsed the comments of Professor Baldelomar, saying that Bolivia speaks for the majority of humanity. Co-moderator Dennis Speed provocatively asserted that Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have a better understanding of the tradition of the American Revolution than people living in the U.S. today.