July 23, 2024 (EIRNS)—The following statement was written by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and convener of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), on July 23, 2024. It is being made available for widespread distribution by the IPC and its collaborators worldwide.
In judging the outlook from the recent NATO summit in Washington, which defined Russia as the “most significant and direct threat,” China as a “systemic challenge for the Euro-Atlantic security,” and generally a perspective of a Global NATO, there seems to be no place anymore for diplomacy and dialogue as means to resolve conflicts. With the many escalations we see around the world, from Ukraine, to Southwest Asia, or the Indo-Pacific, each of these has the potential to evolve into a global nuclear conflict in the shortest time.
All the values which were once cheered so dearly, “democracy,” “human rights,” “freedom of speech,” and many others, have been eroded by double standards, evident to the whole world. In sum: The world community is experiencing a deep civilizational and cultural crisis, which needs to be addressed.
There are various peace initiatives, from Pope Francis, who offered his mediation in the Ukraine war, to the Chinese peace plan in collaboration with Brazil, to the initiative of several African leaders, to President Erdoğan of Türkiye, as well as others. But as long as the leading institutions in the West stick to the objective that Russia must be inflicted with a “strategic defeat,” as is now official EU policy, diplomacy and dialogue are banned.
There is an acute danger that the world could split into two separate blocs, the collective West on the one side, and the nations of the Global Majority on the other. If this happens, not only could we see a new edition of a cold war, economic decoupling, and tremendous fall-outs and even crashes, but it could lead to a global nuclear war which could end all life on Earth.
It seems that the leadership presently in positions of power have forgotten the horrible experiences of their parents and grandparents, who suffered through two world wars and who learned the painful lesson that nobody wins in a world war. The fact that there seems to be no longer any place for diplomacy and conflict resolution through dialogue, should horrify anyone who thinks through what the effect of a global nuclear war will be.
The UN may need a reform, but it is still the only available venue to bring all nations together. When its institutions are being eroded, the law of the jungle gains the upper hand. Only some countries currently respect the UN Charter, while others claim that they are the chosen ones who should preside over an undefined rules-based order, which however is not the rule of law, but the rule by law, arbitrarily applied wherever it seems to fit.
In all countries there are wise men and women, mostly from older generations, who see the present world crisis with great concern, and who could and must bring their knowledge and expertise to advise and develop options for how to get mankind out of this crisis and onto a better road to a safe future.
We, therefore, call on Elder Statesmen, religious leaders, former diplomats and elected officials, retired military and other civilian leaders—from all nations—to step forward and create a Council of Reason to explore the potential for a new international security and development architecture, which can take into account the interests of every single country on the planet.
There are precedents for such an approach, from different times and different circumstances, but they can give us a hint about what to do in the present crisis. To name only a few examples: The Council of Florence, which unified the Christian Church, at least for some short time; the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War and laid the basis for the establishment of international law; and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which found ways to overcome the wounds of Apartheid.
These examples should serve as an inspiration to come up with new and bold ideas for the creation today of a Council of Reason, bringing together all moral and intellectual reserves humanity has at this point to move the world away from the brink.
July 19, 2024 (EIRNS)—Only seconds after Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened the 59th consecutive online meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) today, the meeting was subject to an extended disruption, which attack underscores the growing strategic importance of the weekly IPC sessions. About 30 minutes later, the meeting resumed with tighter security.
Note that flights were grounded all over the world today, ostensibly due to a collapse of Microsoft systems, initially attributed to a CrowdStrike update, which disrupted emergency services, hospitals, banks, airlines, trains, media and banks as well.
The International Assassination Bureau
The July 13 attempt on the life of former U.S. President and Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump was an early topic of discussion. Helga Zepp-LaRouche reminded the participants that if Trump had not moved his head a fraction of an inch and avoided death, the effect on the domestic situation would have been dramatic. Trump has expressed his desire to end all wars on the planet, and even if there is only a slight chance that he intends to do that after being elected, that chance for peace would have been eliminated. Prof. Cliff Kiracofe, from the Washington Institute for Peace and Development, added that “We have in our history other assassination attempts against U.S. Presidents.” In the cases of Lincoln and McKinley, the objective was to break up economic development. Trump has occasionally made statements that hearken back to the economic development policies of McKinley and Henry Clay; a successful assassination could possibly have blocked a new industrial policy for the United States. Later, during the discussion, LaRouche activist Kynan Thistlethwaite brought to people’s attention The LaRouche Organization’s report, “Stop NATO’s World War: Dismantle the International Assassination Bureau,” released in February 2023. Zepp-LaRouche responded by listing many of the political, financial and civil rights leaders who have been killed since the 1960s, saying that the common denominator is that these were individuals who were crucial for their nations. Kiracofe added that the list should include the pro-peace politicians in Japan who were killed in 1930s, making a world war inevitable.
Diplomacy Versus Violence
“All the people who are reasonable think that you have to go to diplomacy,” said Zepp-LaRouche, but the leaders of the EU are charging headlong in the opposite direction. She commented on the unfortunate reelection of Ursula von der Leyen to a second term as president of the EU Commission, saying that her speech was “so bellicose … unquestioned commitment to the policies of the Israeli government, not the Israeli people.” Von der Leyen actually called Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s diplomacy “appeasement,” and called for a strategic defeat of Russia. Zepp-LaRouche further mentioned the “hair-raising warmongering” of new EU foreign policy chief (and an EU Commission vice president) Kaja Kallas, who will replace Josep Borrell.
Jonathan Kuttab, Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America—A Christian Voice for Palestine, and Co-Founder of Non-Violence International, joined as a featured speaker for today’s meeting. He began his remarks saying, “I’m willing to say that there are those who have a vested interest in violence…. I can talk about grave violations of international law … war crimes, genocide … but I’m not going to do that.” He continued: “We absolutely, desperately need to seek other methods for conflict resolution … we need to stop the demonization of each other … every liberation movement has been called a terrorist organization….” He advocated dialogue with all parties, Hamas included, saying, “We need to start the process … we are willing to break the taboos, we are willing to initiate contacts.”
He described that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, peace activists in Israel, the U.S., and elsewhere conducted a serious campaign to urge politicians to talk to Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The PLO changed its charter, renounced violence, accepted the principles of compromise, and accepted conditions.
Is there any reason a similar process should not be started with Hamas?
Zepp-LaRouche thanked him and introduced him briefly to the Oasis Plan of Lyndon LaRouche, which is “making big steps forward.”
What Has Become of International Law?
Richard A. Falk is an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Not able to attend in person, he provided a video in which he reminded viewers that the Likud/religious party coalition which came to power in 2023 has been characterized as “the most extreme in the history of Israel,” with the “rather transparent intention of completing the Zionist project of Greater Israel,” including the annexation of the West Bank. The most extreme government figures were given jurisdiction over the occupied territories; settlers were given a green light to terrorize the Palestinians. The events of October 7 provided the pretext for genocide, and diverted attention from the West Bank, which was the core of the coalition strategy. Falk described this as the second phase of the death of the two-state solution, phase one being the settlements policy.
During the discussion, an activist reported on the July 19 ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful and should come to an end “as rapidly as possible.” Kiracofe pointed out that this decision addresses what has been exactly the principal legal issue since 1948, when the U.S. intervened to block a one-state solution, a democratic republic where Arabs and Jews would have equal rights, in favor of partition. Did the UN have legal authority to cause partition? The ICJ has been prevented from addressing this until now.
Elena Radu, a Romanian lawyer, is President of the Coalition for the Defense of the Rule of Law. She is leading a campaign to make null and void the treaty made by Romania’s President with Ukraine, which could put Romania at war in 24 hours. The Romanian Constitution does not authorize a President to enter into such agreements, only Parliament may do so. One Member of Parliament has initiated an action to nullify the treaty, and 26 other MPs support it. Two other Romanians on the IPC call also spoke out on the war danger, and other participants urged the IPC to support this action against the treaty. Zepp-LaRouche called for publication of their demands.
In concluding remarks, Zepp-LaRouche reiterated her call for a “Council of Reason.” She returned to the image of Trump averting death by a tiny movement of his head, finding in it a metaphor for the precarious world situation: “This is the condition of all humanity, and if you assume that, then you get off your couch.” In response to a question from a Canadian professor on the question of pessimism, she said, “I’m not exactly euphoric about the world situation … why am I nevertheless an optimist?” She reminded participants that Gottfried Leibniz said that “the universe is made in such a way that a great evil always evokes a greater good.” That greater good is within reach; colonialism started around 1500, and now it is ending, with China playing a critical role. The end of 500 years of evil exploitation opens up the possibility of the New Paradigm toward which many of us have dedicated our lives. Averting another world war is not just a desperate act of self-preservation, it is the key to the success of that new paradigm.
July 12, 2024 (EIRNS)–Today’s meeting was opened by Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who characterized the recent NATO summit as “incredibly bellicose.” Numerous ironies permeated the event with U.S. President Joe Biden ostentatiously saber-rattling, while the whole world wonders whether he will be replaced, given his painfully obvious mental incompetence. Other putative NATO leaders are not in much better shape politically.
Zepp-LaRouche stated provocatively that NATO leaders are, in effect, declaring democracy to be outmoded, by trying to create mechanisms that will lock the war drive in place, to protect it from the winds of change sweeping the Anglosphere. They hope they can prevent any change “if there is electoral change,” working to make NATO “Trump-proof.” The dramatic demise of Biden makes a second Trump presidency more likely, and Trump has expressed skepticism about NATO. Some of the more rabid war-party European leaders are likely to fall from power. So this group seeks to insulate their policy from the ever-present threat of democracy.
The nations of the Global South no longer agree to the status of colonialism. Zepp-LaRouche said that the Anglophiles have always had the option of taking the “stretched-out hand” of China and Russia, who have made continuous, good-faith efforts to bring an end to conflicts. NATO fanatically opposes a negotiated peace. She said: “The entire narrative of NATO … hangs on the fact that you can’t negotiate with Putin”; this is wrong, and proof is that there was a negotiated settlement in March 2022, until it was sabotaged by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“We have an alternative shaping up” with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s diplomacy. The EU war fanatics have once again shown their disdain for democracy, by seeking ways to get rid of Orbán ahead of the expiration of his term as EU President. Orbán is bringing together smaller dissident parties in European nations, building a coalition to oppose the war drive.
Col. (ret.) Richard H. Black, former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon and former Virginia State Senator, said that PM Orbán, disgusted with the NATO summit, flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald Trump, whom he believes has a plan to end the Ukraine war. “There is no doubt that he can do it quite promptly,” Black added, warning that NATO “continues to encroach on the borders of Russia….There is a belief that the United States, through NATO, should be able to dictate the policies of all nations.” The United States is, in essence, NATO; a four-star U.S. general has been in charge of NATO for all of its 75 years. Originally a defensive alliance, “NATO has become this hyper-aggressive, predatory force.”
Prof. Dr. László Ungvári (Hungary), President (emeritus) of the Wildau University of Technology (Germany), reminded the participants that Hungary has been a nation for 1,000 years, which has been victimized by many wars, and loss of territory. NATO declarations don’t mention peace and the Ukraine-organized “peace summit” in Switzerland was “childish,” not even inviting Russia. He emphasized the Hungarian policies of Christianity, Family and Peace, asking do these nations starting war not have children? He had the impression that politicians these days do not have knowledge, and without knowledge you can never have peace. Knowing each other’s cultures is how we will never have war.
Former U.S. diplomat, CIA official, and Islamic scholar Graham Fuller found this NATO summit to be a “shell of bravado,” highlighting that NATO has two dissidents, Orbán and Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan. He recalled that Ahmet Davutoğlu, a onetime prime minister of Türkiye, had introduced a no-enemies, no-conflict foreign policy virtually overnight, on the principle “we do not have to go that route if we do not want to.” It infuriated the West, but it could happen again. He emphasized the idea that the organizing between Hungary and Türkiye hopefully will inspire braver, more creative thinking from other European nations, who are otherwise cowardly and without any independence of thought.
Luis Bernardo Diaz, dean of the Faculty of Law at the Pedagogical University of Tunja (Colombia), one of the magistrates of the International Opinion Tribunal, reported that the Tribunal will hold hearings July 27 on genocide in Palestine, and was very happy to have been invited to further collaborate with the IPC.
French activist Etienne Dreyfus offered video clips of recent interventions against public officials. These interventions were described by Solidarité & Progrès party leader Jacques Cheminade as “a sort of underground channel which is speaking with more and more force in the country,” adding that the French population is “on the verge of understanding” the need for peace, development, and security.
Two Romanian activists spoke, warning that European nations being drawn into the war policy will become targets. These policies have been implemented without the consent of the population.
In response to a question from Independent Congressional Candidate (NY-16), Jose Vega, on how to view our lives right now in this time of crisis, Helga Zepp-LaRouche said that “a beautiful world is in reach … because of many individuals who had the courage to go against the odds of their time.” They showed that one can “put the well-being of humanity … above your personal interest, and we should be thankful to the long line of such individuals. It’s a decision you make.” She added, “I’m optimistic that we can put this idea of geopolitical interest behind us,” and avoid the “terrible straitjacket of going from one war to the next.”
A Peruvian said that his nation is celebrating the second centennial of Peru’s independence from Spain. He recalled that Lyndon LaRouche showed that the present system is bankrupt and dying, and this must be addressed, beyond the war danger. He asked whether there is a subterranean architecture that manipulates governments: did Nazis who were recruited by the West after WWII have a significant role in “nationalist” formations?
A former 40-year Pentagon employee discussed the neocons and the Wolfowitz Doctrine, saying, “We really told them that we would not expand NATO.”
Two participants, an African leader and an American priest, gave very personal, heartfelt pleas for peace, for which they were thanked by Zepp-LaRouche, who said that in the final analysis, we must become better people. Regarding the Peruvian activist’s question about Nazi networks after WWII, she warned that many people today who profess to be combating a resurgence of Nazism are warmongers, and in effect, Nazis themselves. She called them the “extremist center.” She repeated her call for a project to put together a research project into what actually happened during the past 30 years. She urged the participants to use the Orbán initiative as a focus for organizing; we need massive support for Orbán from the Global South, to defeat those in the Anglosphere who are trying to demonize him.
Today, July 5, the 57th consecutive weekly online meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) focused on a number of striking developments which had occurred in the preceding days.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the IPC process, pointed out that the most interesting and positive recent development is the visit to Russia of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who just began a six-month term as the rotating President of the Council of the European Union. Orbán assumed that office July 1, and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the following day. Now he is in Moscow meeting with Russian President Putin. As Zepp-LaRouche put it, “We absolutely have to return to diplomacy…. That doesn’t mean we have to say who is right and who is wrong” beforehand about every detail under negotiation. She took note of the fact that the neocons of the EU are in high dudgeon over the Orbán trip: “In Brussels, all kinds of people are starting to hyperventilate.” She added, “I want to congratulate Mr. Orbán for taking the initiative.”
The recent elections in France and the U.K. elicited much discussion. Zepp-LaRouche reported that the return to power of the Labour Party in the U.K. is generally seen as “an earthquake,” attributing this shift to the British electorate rejecting Schachtian austerity “very forcefully.” During the discussion period, a representative of the U.K.’s Unity News pointed out that, while it is true that the Tories have destroyed the domestic economy, Labour has destroyed the world by advocating neocon wars of “regime change.” Of course, the Conservatives support these as well, but with candidly imperial intentions, while Labour does it slyly. The Unity News reporter reminded participants that only 34% voted for Labour, but it was couched as a “landslide.”
There was discussion of the changes in the composition of the British Parliament. An important leader, George Galloway, lost his seat, but four other openly pro-Palestine MPs were elected. LaRouche Organization leader Dennis Speed observed that with the ascension to power of Keir Starmer as the new Prime Minister, Tony Blair is effectively back in power. Speed reminded the participants that Blair was the driver behind the “Responsibility To Protect” rationale for neocon aggression against sovereign states, ushered in as the “Blair Doctrine” pronounced in Blair’s 1999 speech overturning the concept of Westphalian sovereignty.
Zepp-LaRouche raised the Biden/Trump debate, and subsequent talk of a replacement for Biden, noting that the interesting question is not who will be the candidate for the next election, but rather, who is running the White House right now; who has his finger on the nuclear button? She described a recent article in EIR providing insights into who that might be. She argued that the feverish preparation for war throughout the Anglosphere hangs on the narrative that Putin is preparing to reconstitute the Soviet Union and invade Europe. She went on to warn that “The narrative that no peace option exists must be defeated.”
A number of reports were given. Dr. E. Martin Schotz, a member of the JFK Peace Speech Committee, spoke about their monthly screening of the speech which President Kennedy delivered at American University on June 10, 1963, with each screening featuring a guest commentator. Yesterday’s guest was Col. (ret.) Lawrence Wilkerson, who recently spoke at the Emergency Press Conference with Zepp-LaRouche and others.
Jose Vega, Independent Bronx Congressional candidate, described his recent intervention at an appearance by neocon zealot Matt Pottinger at the Asia Society in New York City. Vega confronted Pottinger, shouting, “I’m supposed to believe that Xi Jinping is this evil dictator, when the United States is actually responsible for a three-front world war … Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan?” One million people have seen it to date on X/Twitter, but after the video was translated into Chinese, and appeared on the Chinese version of TikTok, it received 2.5 million additional views. RT interviewed Vega and aired his intervention. After Vega was dragged from the hall, others also intervened and shut down the event. Helga Zepp-LaRouche congratulated Vega, comparing his intervention to that of Viktor Orbán.
George Koo, a China expert, who had seen the Vega intervention live, related that Alexander Hamilton at the time of the American Revolution had sent spies to England to learn about their industrial technologies. He noted that China, however, has now taken the lead in 47 technology sectors, and you can’t be in the lead by simply stealing intellectual property; you have to develop it yourself. These things should be pointed out “when the Pottingers on stage spout nonsense.” In response to Koo, EIR editor Dennis Small asserted that China’s greatest achievement was to lift 850 million people out of extreme poverty, a feat without parallel in world history.
An activist from Bavaria reported on upcoming interventions there. She said that under the German Basic Law (Grundgesetz), citizens are able to ask German officials questions about what they are doing, and if they don’t answer, there can be criminal proceedings. A criminal lawyer from Mexico spoke on the right to protest, which is being suppressed internationally, particularly campus protests on Palestine. She plans to protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico tomorrow. A Swedish peace activist said they celebrate July 4 in ways the U.S. government may not like, talking about all the ways the U.S. has violated its own Constitution. She said that the U.S. spies on the entire world. Sweden has acknowledged that the NSA monitors all military communications from Russia via undersea cables.
EIR editor Dennis Small reported on a recent visit to China by former Guyanese President and IPC activist Donald Ramotar to attend a major international conference on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. President Xi Jinping delivered the keynote speech, and presented the need for the whole world to support Putin’s peace initiative—much as the IPC is doing with its new Declaration of Independence from the Imminent Danger of Nuclear War, to 600 international participants. Dennis Speed reported on a recent X post by El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, saying:
“Congratulations to the people of the United States of America on your Independence Day.
“We are inspired by you, not by the ideals you hold now, but by the ideals you had in 1776 when you gained your freedom and built the foundations of your great country.”
In her concluding comments, Helga Zepp-LaRouche said that,apart from mobilizing for peace negotiations, we need to do some in-depth work. There is a gigantic effort underway to replace reality with “narratives,” and “the truth gets lost.” We suffer from “decontextualization,” what we used to call “fallacy of composition.” In Germany, you can be legally punished for saying that the war in Ukraine is not an unprovoked war of aggression by Russia. We need to challenge historians and journalists to reconstruct how we went from the wonderful opportunity of 30 years ago, with the end of the Cold War, to the brink of World War III where we are today. Only if you look at what went wrong can you begin to come up with a remedy. She urged participants to continue to mobilize for peace and support Putin’s June 14 initiative as a good starting point.
June 28, 2024 (EIRNS)—“Our task is as urgent as it ever was, and getting more urgent by the hour. But I think that the light at the end of the tunnel is there, because we can see how the majority of nations are moving towards a new paradigm based on completely different principles. And therefore I think we are absolutely on the right track in what we are trying to do.”—Helga Zepp-LaRouche
Today’s 56th consecutive meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), convened in the midst of a dire strategic crisis with (literally) demented leadership in the West beating the drums for war, nonetheless featured several members of the Schiller Institute expressing their firm conviction that there does exist an opportunity to shift the world in a new, positive direction.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the IPC, opened the proceedings by painting a very bleak picture of the situation in Europe, but very quickly contrasted that with excellent developments happening in both Russia and China. In Europe, the EU leadership is setting a course for disaster: Ursula von der Leyen—a notorious war hawk—will probably be re-elected as President of the European Commission. But worse, the new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will likely be Kaja Kallis, Prime Minister of Estonia, a more disgusting war hawk than von der Leyen, or her predecessor Josep Borrell; she’s an extreme Russophobe, who openly advocates for splitting Russia into many pieces. On the other hand, Russia and China, the two most prominent voices of the Global Majority, are charting a different course.
Two weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced his Eurasian peace proposal before Russian Foreign Ministry leaders, President Xi Jinping of China delivered the keynote address today to the Conference Marking the 70th Anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in Beijing. Zepp-LaRouche characterized the Five Principles as the basis of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Her late husband, Lyndon LaRouche, with his 1975 proposal for an International Development Bank, played a major role in shaping the final resolution of the 1976 Colombo, Sri Lanka summit of the NAM, a conference which was devoted to ending colonialism and imperialism. In his address today, President Xi presented his vision for a new paradigm, which not only overlaps that of Putin’s, but at the same time is in affinity with Zepp-LaRouche’s Ten Principles of a New International and Security and Development Architecture. These developments demonstrate that there is indeed “light at the end of the tunnel.”
Dr. George Koo, a U.S.-China policy expert and Chairman of the Burlingame Foundation, expressed his disappointment at the “complete lack of coverage in the media of Putin’s proposal for peace.” His question to the IPC was: How can we more effectively bring this proposal to the attention of especially American politicians in Washington, D.C.? These politicians are “playing with fire and are approaching the ignition point, and don’t seem to understand or appreciate it.”
Prof. Steven Starr, a nuclear weapons expert from the University of Missouri, after stating the truism that “the first casualty of war is truth,” sounded the alarm bells that the Russian Ministry of Defense has directly accused the U.S. of complicity in targeting the ATACMS missile attack at the beach in Sevastopol, and that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has said that Russia is no longer at peace with the U.S. Russia is likely to start shooting down U.S. drones, according to Starr, something that didn’t even occur during the Cold War was the U.S. involved with direct attacks on the Russian homeland. Why is this happening? Because Russia is winning. Echoing, in a sense, the question posed by Dr. Koo, Starr asked the question: How do we get through to the public the danger of this crisis?
Zepp-LaRouche, in answer to Starr’s question, made the point that the purpose of the IPC is to do exactly that: not only alert the public to the danger but offer real solutions to the crisis—and it’s working. Putin’s peace proposal, for example, is a reflection of the Ten Principles. What the IPC must do immediately is “intensify the process of discussion, especially among those people who do understand why this is so dangerous; why Putin is absolutely correct when he says we are just at the point of no return.”
Jose Vega of the Bronx, a LaRouche independent candidate for the House of Representatives (CD-15), began by apologizing to the IPC participants for the embarrassment of the June 27 U.S. Presidential debate. Despite the debate, and the loss in the Democratic primary of “progressive” candidate Jamal Bowman to AIPAC’s $25 million candidate George Latimar, Vega expressed complete optimism about the future. He made the point that elections don’t begin or end on Election Day: “Election Day is when people decide to elect themselves to take back their government and become an electoral body.” And even though the mobilization by the Bowman campaign was totally inept—telling campaign workers to avoid discussing real issues like the genocide in Gaza—the good news is that hundreds of young people from around the country participated in the effort, and may now be willing to listen to the Vega and Sare for Senate campaigns, and their insistence that the path to victory is talking about real issues and is telling people the truth.
Jacques Cheminade, a long-time leader of the LaRouche movement and President of the Solidarité et Progrès political party in France, began by explaining why he and his associates have decided to run as candidates in the French legislative elections. According to Cheminade, the situation in France is “Orwellian,” with all three major parties supporting the war in Ukraine while claiming they are for peace—peace means war. They are using their campaigns as a platform to confront other candidates on the issue of peace through development in collaboration with the Global South. Cheminade is optimistic that despite the ongoing political chaos in France, “from a bad situation, can come a much higher sense of good,” but that requires that we “fight, fight, fight every day, and sometimes every night.”
Tim Rush, of the Schiller Institute, gave a report on a series of Capitol Hill meetings with senior staff members from eight different Senate and House offices. The irony, according to Rush, is that the meetings were set up courtesy of Ukraine and NATO, by putting members of the U.S. Congress on the latest Ukrainian “hit list”—every member who voted against funding for the Ukraine war—as “information terrorists” or “Putin propagandists.” Briefed on the urgency of negotiations to stop the drive to nuclear war, for the most part there was “very significant engagement” and openness.
In her closing remarks to the proceedings, Helga Zepp-LaRouche stressed that any change of candidates in the U.S. Presidential election would not make a difference. The problem is that the influence of the military-industrial complex over politics is very powerful in both the U.S. and Europe, and people have been brainwashed into believing that military spending benefits the economy, when in fact it is a drain on the economy and only benefits the shareholders of the defense corporations. Change has to come from the people, and the biggest challenge is to help people make a “mental leap” to conceptualize a new paradigm based on nation-states working in harmony for the benefit of the “One Humanity.” She called on all IPC participants to get the OKV resolution out to their networks, and build the ranks of the IPC so that we “have a voice that cannot be neglected.”
“If we would come out of this discussion with a clarion call to spread the news about the Putin peace proposal—because it’s not discussed in the media—if we would come out with some endorsement of this proposal, I think we would take a giant step forward.”—Helga Zepp-LaRouche
The 55th consecutive meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) was convened today with a major focus on the June 14 proposal that Russian President Vladimir Putin presented before Foreign Ministry senior staff, for a new Eurasian security architecture as the foundation for global peace. His proposal is not exclusive in any way—NATO members are welcome to join—and is based on China’s Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence. Given the deafening silence of the mainstream media regarding the true content of the proposal, which to date has been scoffed at by Western “leaders,” the intention of the IPC meeting was to serve as a platform to launch a worldwide campaign to bring awareness to the international community that this proposal may be the last chance to derail World War III.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the IPC, opened the meeting with her observation that a growing number of people have a terrible feeling that the “war machine is coming closer and closer, and that the situation is escalating by the day.” People such as Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić have warned that war may break out within 3 to 5 months. Zepp-LaRouche expressed her belief that this is one of the most dangerous periods in history, and in that context presented an elaboration of Putin’s proposal. She cited a statement by Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva Gennady Gatilov, who said that the Euro-Atlantic security system has completely failed, and that Putin’s June 14 proposal is the foundation for a new global security architecture in the era of multipolarity.
Zepp-LaRouche continued by pointing out the fact that there is a remarkable “affinity” between what President Putin is proposing, and what she herself and the Schiller Institute have been fighting for since the outbreak of the special military operation: namely her Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture. Commenting on a recent statement by Russian economist Sergey Glazyev, in which he says that “the cause of the military escalation is the bankruptcy of the Western financial system, which will sooner or later erupt in a full-scale social and economic catastrophe if the United States insists to keep the system up at all costs,” she noted that this is exactly what American physical economist Lyndon LaRouche had been forecasting since 1971: that Nixon’s abandonment of the fixed exchange rate system would lead to a new depression, a new fascism and the danger of world war. Were war to break out with Russia, Europe would have no way to survive, and therefore the population must be mobilized to stand against this.
An appeal to support Putin’s peace initiative, drafted by the East German Board of Trustees of Associations (Ostdeutsches Kuratorium von Verbänden, or OKV), was read to the meeting participants by IPC co-moderator Anastasia Battle. Helga Zepp-LaRouche voiced her full support for this initiative and at the conclusion of today’s meeting, the participants in the meeting overwhelmingly supported the OKV appeal. The IPC will shortly be releasing a full statement of support.
Joachim Bonatz, Vice President of the OKV, followed by expressing his conviction that only Russia and the NATO block can stop the conflict, and that is why the OKV is supporting Putin’s proposal. President Putin has warned that if the West continues its objective of a strategic defeat of Russia, Russia may be forced to change its no-first-use nuclear doctrine. Thus, a unified approach is necessary to build support for the Putin initiative to prevent an escalation of the war.
Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst and co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), began his remarks by stating that Putin, in his speech of June 14, “took off the rhetorical gloves”: “We have come dangerously close to the point of no return. Calls to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia … despite the fact that Russia possesses the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons may demonstrate the extreme recklessness of Western politicians,” said Putin. McGovern’s assessment is that the intention of Russia’s recently signed mutual defense pact with North Korea is deterrence: If the Biden administration, in a last ditch gambit, tries to escalate the war before the U.S. Presidential election—perhaps with the use of low-yield nuclear weapons—Russia can respond not only in the West, but in the East as well.
Donald Ramotar, former President of Guyana (2011-2015), stated his belief that the loss of international influence by the West is driving its actions, including the seizing of Russia’s assets, and that this is causing a growing number of nations to “migrate” towards the BRICS. These nations want to have greater freedom to deal with their own affairs without fear of sanctions. He voiced his full support for Putin’s proposal, characterizing it as the only sensible proposal at this time that has the potential to prevent a third world war.
Colonel Alain Corvez (ret.), former advisor to the French Ministry of the Interior, in agreement with prior speakers, stressed the importance of the Putin proposal, and the potential it has to open the door for negotiations. The problem is that the leaders of the West, particularly the United States, are “nihilists” who want to preserve their hegemony. This is the root of both the conflict in Gaza and in Ukraine. Because the leaders are irrational and corrupt, therefore it is up to the people to act.
Jacques Cheminade, President of the Solidarité et Progrès political party in France, began by commenting on the recent EU Parliament elections, characterizing the outcome as a “wave of discontent against Macron.” French President Macron is finished, but the question is, what’s next? The problem is that all the other parties are for war. That is why Cheminade has decided to run as a candidate in the upcoming French legislative elections—his campaign fully endorsed by Helga Zepp-LaRouche. Cheminade stated his intention to put pressure on all other candidates in France to agree on three fundamental points: no more delivery of weapons to Ukraine; dissolution of NATO; and peace based on common development.
Zepp-LaRouche, in response to a question during the discussion period, warned that we are dangerously close to a “tipping point”: Experts such as Steven Starr and Ted Postol have stated that the time leaders have to make decisions on the launching of nuclear weapons has shortened to such an extent that “we are hanging by a thin thread.” Her belief is that one of the most dangerous mythologies in the West is that “Putin is bluffing.” Putin has shown remarkable patience, but that does not mean that Russia does not have red lines. If people were aware of “how few minutes there are between us and extinction, people would not sleep anymore.”
In her closing remarks, Zepp-LaRouche once again emphasized the importance of supporting the OKV’s appeal to endorse Putin’s peace initiative. She expressed her conviction that only if there is a move to the spirit of the Treaty of Westphalia, based on securing the interests of every single country on the planet, will there be a chance for peace: “Putin’s proposal is the greatest approximation to [the Treaty of Westphalia]…. It’s a suggestion to go back to diplomacy; a very serious suggestion to go back to negotiations instead of war.” And that is why his proposal could be the last chance to save civilization.
The International Peace Coalition (IPC) continued its second year of weekly international online meetings today, with opening comments by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, who reported on the Emergency Press Conference that was held in Washington, D.C. on June 12. She had monitored the responses to the conference, and noted the worldwide concern about the decline of diplomacy, which has been superseded by violence and extortion as instruments of foreign policy.
The G7 Summit in Italy and Related Follies
Even Western media have been completely cynical about the recent G7 meeting, held in a luxury resort in Italy’s southern Puglia region. Except for hosting Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, every participating head of state was a lame duck of one sort or another. The tone of the meeting was uniformly bellicose, and Zepp-LaRouche presented her assessment of the plan to use the interest on frozen Russian financial holdings to leverage a $50 billion bond to arm Ukraine (because confiscating the entire $300 billion in frozen assets would be the “death knell for the financial system”): “This is obviously very good for the pockets of the military-industrial complex,” she said, but “given the fragility of the financial system, all of these things could trigger reactions which are not part of the calculation.” She discussed the almost surreal nature of how the Western media are covering international relations, such as Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s vaunted “Peace Formula” conference in Switzerland, which excludes Russia and therefore can’t possibly work. “You can see how all the news is being twisted,” she said, and stressed the importance of the June 15-16 Schiller Institute conference.
Advice for Peace Activists
Political analyst Garland Nixon provocatively asserted that, in a sense, nuclear weapons are already in use; he gave the example of the use of depleted uranium rounds, and urged his listeners to “research Fallujah.” He added that similar weapons were sent to Ukraine, but many were apparently blown up in a weapons depot before they could be used. He told the participants that the ruling elites will not respond to reason, so they must be forced by the masses to act. He referred to “the puppet avatars whom they put out, such as Joe Biden.” He recommended to peace activists that they build a long-term infrastructure for activism, because “they’re planning their next conflict…. This is about getting Russia out of the way, so they can get to China.”
Jack Gilroy, a long-time peace activist and member of Pax Christi, described how that organization started in March 1945. He said that the religion of Christianity preaches nonviolence, but regrettably “has become the greatest killer of any religion in the world.” He emphasized the importance of maintaining the intensity of the recent student activism in the U.S., saying that students “may be away from their campuses, but they’re not away from their phones.” He recommended a focus on social media, where there are now 25-30 major platforms. Although there is good work being done on stopping the genocide in Gaza, “even the students are not awake on the issue of nuclear weapons.”
Gilroy provided colorful anecdotes from his life of peace activism. He described life as a school teacher during the 1960s, when people were more conscious of the threat posed by nuclear weapons. His young students who participated in “duck and cover” drills knew that these were nonsensical and were offering no real protection; one of his students became so frightened that she swallowed a bottle of aspirin in the restroom and had to be rushed to the hospital. But in those days, at least there was an open channel of communication between the U.S. and the Soviet Union; today we don’t have the red phone, nor any cultural exchange.
Disillusioned by the U.S. government, Gilroy’s family moved to Australia, where Jack found himself organizing students to protest French nuclear testing in the Pacific. He later resumed his work in the U.S., where Jack was videotaped dressed as Santa Claus, climbing over the fence at an armaments factory with a bag of gifts for defense workers. He concluded by praising the Schiller Institute’s June 12 emergency press conference and urging the widest possible circulation of its press release.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche responded to Garland Nixon by saying that we must convince the people of the U.S. and Europe that the nations of the Global South are our natural allies. If we can work with the BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and related bodies, then there is reason for optimism. She then invited Jack Gilroy to come to Germany and straighten out the wayward Catholics and Protestants there, including many of their top leaders.
During the discussion period, one guest who described himself as a “Simple German” reported that he has become remoralized to learn that he has co-thinkers around the world.
New York independent congressional candidate Jose Vega gave a report on the Nov. 5 elections. He mentioned that in the Bronx congressional district that borders his own, AIPAC is spending over $11 million in an effort to “primary” Rep. Jamaal Bowman. Vega stressed that he is not endorsing Bowman, who is very wrong on Ukraine, but praised him for taking a stand on Gaza. “Nobody should be allowed to just buy a congressional district.” said Vega. “These elections should be decided by voters, not by people who have deep pockets.”
A report came from a German participant who had worked in a senior position for the NATO political affairs division, during which he had participated, beginning in 1979, in the Wintex “crisis management” exercises, which included nuclear war gaming. He reported that each time the scenarios were “gamed,” Europe was always destroyed. He recalled one exercise where an American general was heard to say, “Unfortunately, in the Fulda Gap, the German villages are only half a kiloton away from each other.”
A correspondent for Unity News in the U.K. reported that the mainstream media and government all say that soon there will be conscription there, and British youth will go to Ukraine to fight. She said that the majority of Britons have no idea and think that this is a joke. “As independent media, we find it very difficult to speak outside of our bubble … to get any traction,” she said, and she also praised the June 12 press conference.
IPC co-moderator Dennis Small recommended that everyone watch the 22-minute exchange between Putin and the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) moderator Sergey Karaganov on the issue of Russia’s nuclear arms policy. He added that the greatest danger is that if nuclear war proceeds, everything beautiful that humanity has created will disappear. He quoted from Nikolai Ostrovsky’s book, How the Steel Was Tempered: “Man’s dearest possession is his life, and since it is given him but once, he must live so as to feel no regrets for years without purpose; so live as not to be with shame of a cowardly and trivial past.”
In her concluding remarks, Helga Zepp-LaRouche underscored the importance of the report given by a German, who had participated in NATO war games in Europe, describing the actual thinking in these nuclear games that Europe does not play a role. “That is absolutely something which people should really come to grips with, because once you realize that you are just a pawn on a chessboard, dispensable to be thrown away, it may alter your servility towards the hegemon.” She added that because nuclear war threatens everyone in the world, “it makes everyone automatically a world citizen.”
The International Peace Coalition (IPC) began its second year of weekly online meetings today, with a strategic overview presented by Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche. She announced that former Marine intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who has participated in IPC meetings, would be taking part in a panel discussion on the question of the demonization of Russia today, as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, drawing 19,000 participants from some 130 countries. Ritter’s presentation would be virtual, because, in an attempt to prevent him from participating, representatives of the U.S. State Department had stopped him from boarding his plane at JFK Airport and seized his passport.
This shocking event takes place in the midst of a rapidly deteriorating strategic situation. “Red lines are being crossed by the day,” said Zepp-LaRouche. “The number of European heads of state warning that Europe is preparing for war is growing.” The Anglophile faction, on the other hand, is showing its ugly face, including at the June 6 bellicose commemoration of the D-Day Normandy landings, 80 years ago, that were aimed to stop Hitler. Zepp-LaRouche warned of “the complete transformation of many parties in Europe into war parties.”
Meanwhile, Russian warships will arrive in Havana next week for military exercises in the Caribbean. Zepp-LaRouche said that that will remind people of the Cuban Missile Crisis, noting that NATO forces are encroaching on Russia’s border. Another grim development is the announcement of Biden’s “upgraded” nuclear weapons strategy. “I can’t imagine what a more assertive strategy is supposed to be,” commented Zepp-LaRouche. She relayed a warning from retired German Gen. Harald Kujat that that could become the tragedy of the 21st Century, just as two world wars were the tragedy of the 20th Century.
On the global economy, Zepp-LaRouche cited Pope Francis saying that mismanaged globalization is depriving the Global South of hope for the future. She also called attention to an interview she gave to TASS two days ago, in which she agreed with Putin that the outcome of the Presidential election in the U.S. will make no difference, if the U.S. does not bother to take care of its own actual interests.
Prof. Steven Starr, an expert on nuclear war, who has spoken at many IPC meetings and Schiller conferences, offered a PowerPoint presentation spelling out the ghastly consequences of a nuclear exchange between NATO and Russia. He compared the entry-level nuclear weapon which was used on Hiroshima, rated at 15,000 tons of TNT equivalent, to today’s thermonuclear weapons, which are 7 to 85 times more powerful. Submarine-launched nuclear missiles from either side can reach their targets in 7 to 10 minutes, leaving government leaders little time to consider a response.
Starr went on to report recent developments in weaponry. He recently wrote a book on the effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP); one nuclear detonation could destroy our entire power grid. Russia now possesses hypersonic missiles that fly at 20 times the speed of sound. They have been used in Ukraine, and despite NATO propaganda, none has been shot down. Once launched, strategic missiles cannot be recalled. Peer-reviewed studies, since 2007-08, have confirmed the “nuclear winter” theory: Because of the precipitous drop in global temperatures caused by massive amounts of smoke in the upper atmosphere, the aftermath of a thermonuclear exchange would affect not just people in the target area: Most humans and animals in the world would starve.
In light of all this, Starr said, the eagerness of the neocons to flirt with nuclear war can only be characterized as “incredible incompetence and ignorance combined with hubris…. I really wonder if anyone in Washington knows this anymore,” he mused, and concluded his remarks by apologizing for “this terrible presentation.”
Starr was followed by LaRouche independent Congressional candidate in New York’s CD 15 Jose Vega, who logged on from the campaign trail in the Bronx. He reported on a successful event which he had held the previous night, which featured popular comedian and political commentator Jimmy Dore, as well as the Due Dissidence podcasting team. Some 100 people were in attendance, about half of whom had helped petition to successfully put Vega’s name on the ballot. He asserted that people in the U.S. are effectively living under fascism today. “Instead of funding all these wars … we could have mutual economic cooperation going on,” he said. “The future is watching what we’re doing right now.”
Vega was followed by LaRouche Party U.S. Senate candidate in New York Diane Sare, who paraphrased the poet Percy Shelley, saying, “We are in a revolutionary moment where the poets among us can become the legislators of the world.”
During the discussion, LaRouche organization leader Dennis Speed brought up recent revelations of Israeli social media bots which are attempting to control the “narrative,” and reported that AIPAC has spent $8 million attempting to defeat New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman, who represents the Bronx CD 16 district bordering Jose Vega’s.
Participants from Argentina and Germany reported on anti-war events they are organizing. Then Jacques Cheminade, leader of LaRouche movement in France, commented on the June 6 D-Day celebration in his country, calling it “the most obscene and frightening show,” which was being cynically staged to drum up enthusiasm for the rapidly collapsing Ukraine war project.
EIR Intelligence Director Dennis Small reviewed the driving force behind the war danger: The fantastic indebtedness of the Anglosphere, driven by the quadrillions of dollars in the financial derivatives bubble.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche used her concluding remarks to respond to some of the questions which came up during the discussion. In response to a question from a participant in Ibero-America as to why leaders of Western Europe are “walking like sheep” behind the U.S. President, she said that the best thing you can do, is to ask as loudly as possible: Why is Western Europe going down the path of self-destruction? She recalled that her late husband, EIR founder Lyndon LaRouche, had charged that after World War II, morality was replaced by consumerism. She said that this should not be confused with the need to build up the physical economy, which is needed to offer the population a decent living standard.
In response to another participant, who cited an article in Israel’s anti-war +972 Magazine on the role of Artificial Intelligence in targeting Palestinians, she agreed that this is an important topic, adding that NATO is using AI to control the narrative; “free speech is out, you cannot have a different opinion.”
A clergywoman and activist had raised, in response to Dennis Small’s explication of the debt crisis, the Biblical concept of a Jubilee to cancel debts. Zepp-LaRouche responded, “I fully agree with a worldwide Jubilee.” She added that in addition to the cancellation of unpayable debt, especially derivatives, you need Lyndon LaRouche’s Four Laws reorganization of the banking and financial system, including a reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall legislation to separate real banking from financial speculation. She said that we must tell the banks to get their books in order, and if they can’t, they should declare bankruptcy. Then, fresh credit must be limited to finance real physical production. Pope Francis has mentioned next year’s Jubilee 2025, for which he called for a new security and development architecture.
Zepp-LaRouche said that a video of Professor Starr’s presentation will be produced, and that we should get it out to all elected officials from city officials up to U.S. Congress and national parliaments. She concluded by saying that everyone should stay tuned for the announcement of a press conference next Wednesday, June 12, with Scott Ritter and others.
May 9—The Schiller Institute–France and the Fédération des Associations d’Amitié Chine-Afrique (FAACA) held a three-hour, international zoom conference May 4, on China-Africa cooperation in poverty reduction. The FAACA is a multi-nation association, with an office in Dakar, Senegal. The event was a platform for diplomats and experts to confer, sharing a common interest in economic development and peace.
The premise underlying the presentations and discussion is that, with concrete infrastructure projects and related education, mutually beneficial trade, agro-industrial expansion, and humanitarian and health assistance in the interim, poverty can be eliminated. The context for this was the sober acknowledgement and discussion of the dangerous reality that the warfare in Southwest Asia, in Ukraine, and conflict in the Indo-Pacific, can escalate to regional, and to even world war, risking nuclear annihilation.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and leader of the Schiller Institute, went through the dangerous global situation at the beginning of her presentation (pre-recorded on video), which opened the forum. Today is an “historic crossroads,” she said, with the positive choice for humanity to take the road toward a new economic and security architecture, in particular, the “Oasis Plan” approach to development. Her presentation was titled, “The Role of Europe in the New Multipolar World.”
Assane Mbengue, the President of FAACA, then followed on the topic, “The Contribution of Chinese Enterprises in the Battle Against Poverty in Africa.” Diplomats from China and Senegal took part in the deliberations. These were His Excellency Ibrahima Sory Sylla, Senegalese Ambassador to China; and Zhang Hangbao, First Secretary to His Excellency Xiao Han, Chinese Ambassador to Senegal.
Some 50 people attended the event, moderated by Sebastian Périmony, of the Schiller Institute–France, with very lively discussion. The other speakers, from Africa and China, brought experience and expertise to bear on development and strategic questions. These included Boubacar Tiemoko Diarra, of the Commission for the Diaspora in China, and Vice President of FAACA, speaking on “Studies of the Project for MTC (Traditional Chinese Medicine) in the Fight Against Poverty in China and its Application in Africa”; Edmond Moukala N’Gouemo, representative of UNESCO to Ghana, addressing “The Implication of the Diaspora in the Establishment of Basic Social Services for Development”; and Jimmy Yab, from the School of Economics, Social and Political Sciences, speaking on “The Geo-Economics of the Belt and Road Initiative in the Fight Against Poverty in Africa.” Also participating were Professor Liu Haifang, the Director of the Center for African Studies at Peking University, and Zhang Yun Simon, the CEO of SOMETA SA, Senegal’s leading iron and steel company.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, on behalf of the Schiller Institute, co-sponsor of the event, endorsed the anti-poverty, economic development efforts underway between China and Africa, and made an additional call for action, saying:
There is an epochal change taking place, and reason for absolute optimism that the plan of the African Union for 2063 will be fully realized. It will mean that the vision of statesmen who fought for the development of Africa, and several of whom paid with their life, is coming true, such as Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt; Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, the father of the Non-Aligned Movement; Cheikh Anta Diop in Senegal; Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso; Nelson Mandela in South Africa; and foremost, Lyndon LaRouche, who had made a measuring rod for the moral identity of humanity [of] how Africa is treated.
Now the moral leadership role is already being taken over by the South African government, because it was they who brought the case of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza to the International Court of Justice. It was not the collective West. It was South Africa, and they did so in evoking the tradition of the fight against apartheid.
The Global South, the Global Majority, is actually the key today, in my view, to overcome the strategic crisis and the danger of nuclear war. Because the relationship between NATO and Russia, and NATO and China, is already so much poisoned and slandered, that it definitely requires the addition of the Global Majority to come out with a very strong voice. And you must unite. Speak with one voice. Because as Prime Minister Nehru and President Sukarno said in Bandung in 1955, if it comes to nuclear war, the Global South, the developing sector, will die as well, even if they die a few days or weeks later.
So therefore, the Global Majority has the absolute moral legitimacy to demand that the countries of the Global North cooperate, that they must stop confrontation, and they must work with the BRICS-Plus.
The Schiller Institute’s Copenhagen seminar is designed to further the crucial dialogue held during our international online conference on April 13, 2024 entitled, “The Oasis Plan: The LaRouche Solution for Peace Through Development Between Israel and Palestine, and for All of Southwest Asia.” (See the full videos, and an hour-long summary video.)
Among the speakers from five continents were two of our guest speakers. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the founder and international leader of the Schiller Institute, presented the dangers facing the Middle East and the world, and the hope for the future.
H.E. Prof. Dr. Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian Authority Ambassador to Denmark, presented the ongoing tragedy of the Palestinian people, and the need for a political solution based on Palestinian sovereignty and equal rights, supported by economic development. There can be no military solution, he stated.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche began her speech by highlighting the urgent need to inject a perspective of hope to show the way out of the catastrophic situation in Southwest Asia, warning of the potential for a full-fledged regional, and even global war. She stressed the need for a totally new approach that considers the combined economic and security interests of the Palestinians, the Israelis, and all the countries of the region.
While immediately after the October 7th Hamas attack, the sympathy of much of the world was with Israel, that changed day after day, week after week, month after month, as the world watched, not a measured counter-reaction, but relentless ethnic cleansing, with 40% of the 33,400 deaths being children, and an entire population threatened with starvation. (See and read more at the links below.)
Now, the killing must stop, and the rebuilding must begin.
Massive humanitarian aid must flow in.
An international conference must be convened to find a political solution, including full international recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state.
But where can the light come from amidst the current darkness? The Schiller Institute is convinced that a future vision of economic development for the whole region, now including a reconstructed Gaza as the first step, is needed to light the path to peace.
This vision is the Oasis Plan, first proposed by the American economist and statesman Lyndon LaRouche (1922-2019) in 1975 after a trip to the region. The Oasis Plan addresses the greatest barrier to development in the region — the shortage of fresh water — through the construction of a network of desalination plants, ideally nuclear powered, along the Mediterranean coast and along two new canals: a Red Sea-Dead Sea canal, and a Dead Sea-Mediterranean canal. An overview can be seen in the LaRouche Organization’s 14-minute video, The Oasis Plan: LaRouche’s Solution for the Middle East.
“[W]ithout economic development,” the video states, “without a viable and meaningful path of progress into the future, political agreements in themselves are unsustainable….This is what Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin came to realize — there is no purely military basis for peace or security; development is essential…. By cooperating to fight the desert, rather than each other, the people of the region will better be able to recognize the humanity in each other …There are no human animals.”
But how can the Israelis and Palestinians ever make peace after what has happened? While the history of Southwest Asia has been devastated by the British Empire policy of divide and conquer, Helga Zepp-LaRouche urges us to rise above the level of the conflict – of despair, hatred and vengeance, to find a common interest in increasing the welfare of all the people through economic development of the region as a whole.
Death, destruction and starvation have been used as weapons of war; economic development must be used as a weapon of peace: to turn swords into plowshares. We must all act now to stop the killing and start the rebuilding.
The Schiller Institute Copenhagen seminar will be an important contribution to the dialogue about how to bring peace and prosperity to this long-suffering part of the world, and initiate a new paradigm of international relations.
We sincerely hope that the Ambassador, and/or other diplomatic representatives will be able to attend.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and international leader, and American economist and statesman Lyndon LaRouche’s (1922-2019) decades-long collaborator. (Spoke online).
Stop the Killing, Start the Rebuilding: Palestinian Ambassador to Denmark H.E. Prof. Dr. Hassassian
H.E. Prof. Dr. Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian Authority Ambassador to Denmark.
Formerly ambassador to the U.K. and Hungary. Master’s degree in international relations from the University of Toledo, Ohio, and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Cincinnati. Was Executive Vice President of Bethlehem University on the West Bank, and professor at the University of Maryland where he developed a course on Israel-Palestine conflict resolution. Was the PLO’s chief advisor on the status of Jerusalem.
The Impossible is Self-imposed: Peace Through Economic Development is the Only Way Forward in West Asia
Hussein Askary, Schiller Institute Southwest Asia Coordinator.
Co-author of “Extending the New Silk Road to Southwest Asia and Africa.”
May 9—The Schiller Institute in Denmark held a seminar May 8 in Copenhagen, for the diplomatic community and other guests, on the theme, “Stop the Killing and Start Rebuilding Gaza and the Region with the Oasis Plan: The LaRouche Solution for Peace Through Development.” Four ambassadors and many other diplomats came in person from twelve embassies, which represented Southwest Asia and North Africa, nations elsewhere in Asia and Africa, and Western Europe. The audience was intensely engaged over a three-hour period, in hearing the engaging presentations, and participating in the dialogue, whose focus was intended both to contribute to an immediate end to the death and destruction in Gaza, and to outline a development path. Tom Gillesberg, Chairman of the Schiller Institute–Denmark, moderated the event, noting the current efforts by the Schiller Institute in many nations, to promote dialogue on the concept of “peace through development,” in Palestine, Israel and globally, to contribute to a new world economic and security architecture.
On April 13, the Schiller Institute internationally held a day-long online conference, now available in video-archive, titled, “The Oasis Plan: The LaRouche Solution for Peace Through Development Between Israel and Palestine, and for All of Southwest Asia.” Since February, a 14-minute video has been circulating on “The Oasis Plan.”
In brief, the concept is that development of infrastructure to provide reliable water, power, transportation, health care, housing, and other basics in support of modern agro-industrial activity, is the basis for mutual-interest security. In the Trans-Jordan, this involves building new water conveyances and nuclear desalination; new high-speed rail lines, interconnecting Africa, Asia, and Europe; plentiful power, and more.
In 1975, statesman-economist Lyndon LaRouche (1922–2019) presented this approach as the “Oasis Plan” for Southwest Asia, when he visited the region, and also issued that year his “International Development Bank” funding proposal. The invitation statement from the Schiller Institute, addressed to the entire Copenhagen diplomatic community, called for discussion of a new paradigm in this spirit:
“Death, destruction and starvation have been used as weapons of war; economic development must be used as a weapon of peace: to turn swords into plowshares. We must all act now to stop the killing and start the rebuilding. The Schiller Institute Copenhagen seminar will be an important contribution to the dialogue about how to bring peace and prosperity to this long-suffering part of the world, and initiate a new paradigm of international relations.”
Speakers, Peace through Development
The three principal presentations began with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, by video link from Germany. She is founder and leader of the Schiller Institute, and decades-long collaborator in development diplomacy with her husband, Lyndon LaRouche (1922–2019). Second was H.E. Ambassador Prof. Dr. Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian Authority Ambassador to Denmark. These two continued in dialogue their exchanges begun at the earlier, April 13, international Schiller Institute conference, including on the pressing question of whether “political” differences must be solved before “economic” development can proceed.
Speaking third was Hussein Askary, Schiller Institute Southwest Asia Coordinator, who co-authored the Schiller Institute 2017 book, Extending the New Silk Road to Southwest Asia and Africa, and made the Arabic translation of the EIR book, The New Silk Road Becomes the World Land-Bridge. Helga Zepp-LaRouche began her presentation, titled, “The Oasis Plan: Peace Only Through Development,” with the horrifying news of the start of the Israeli attack on Rafah. She gave a global strategic analysis of the danger of regional and world warfare, describing the threat of even nuclear war from the escalation in Southwest Asia, and as an outgrowth of the NATO-Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Zepp-LaRouche called on the diplomats to collaborate to promote the “Oasis Plan” as a lever to get to a new paradigm and a new international security and development architecture, the only way out of the existential crisis the world is undergoing. She described her ten principles for a new security and development architecture, which she issued for international discussion in 2022. The transcript of her remarks in full is available in this issue of EIR.
Stop the Killing, Start Rebuilding
H.E. Amb. Prof. Dr. Hassassian spoke on the theme, “Stop the Killing and Start the Rebuilding.” He gave a very polemical speech about the ongoing tragedy of the Palestinian people, the history of the conflict, and what is necessary to stop the genocide. The Ambassador called on the 12 countries represented at the seminar, and the international community, to act to stop the killing, and he stressed the need for a political solution based on Palestinian sovereignty, supported by economic development. The discussion included the question of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Amb. Hassassian speaks from long experience and commitment. He is a former ambassador to the UK and to Hungary. He was Executive Vice President of Bethlehem University on the West Bank, and a professor at the University of Maryland, where he developed a course on Israel-Palestine conflict resolution. He was the PLO’s chief advisor on the status of Jerusalem. His Master’s degree is in international relations from the University of Toledo, Ohio, and his PhD is in political science from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio.
See his interview March 15, 2024, with the Schiller Institute.
The LaRouche Oasis Plan
Hussein Askary presented concrete aspects of the economic geography and principles of development of the Oasis Plan approach, under the topic, “The Impossible Is Self-Imposed: Peace through Economic Development Is the Only Way Forward in West Asia.” He especially challenged the axioms behind the zero-growth movement and its political expression. He explained that principles of development are based on the reality that humanity’s creativity transforms nature. Askary used examples from his recent trip to Xinjiang to show the Chinese development policy to green the desert. In the discussion periods, wide-ranging questions came up, including whether there are too many people in the world, and what to do about terrorism in West Africa, where he emphasized the need for economic development as an antidote.
Promote a Global Oasis Plan Discussion
During the discussion period, Helga Zepp-LaRouche answered one question that came up, by appealing to the Global South to make their voices heard. A concrete proposal among the discussants is that the Oasis Plan should be on the agenda of certain of the symposia on security held annually by foundations and nations. Palestinian voices might formally request this. H.E. Ambassador Prof. Dr. Hassassian added getting the discussion going in the universities, and emphasized the importance of the Oasis Plan as a catalyst for economic development, and the work of the Schiller Institute and LaRouche movement in promoting it.
The immediate opportunity for speaking out at a formal international platform comes just two days after the Copenhagen meeting, when the United Nations General Assembly has on its May 10 agenda, the question of statehood for Palestine, for debate and, likely, a vote. The general reaction to the seminar itself, from the diplomats, was that they were grateful for the ideas, which are very different from what is routinely presented. As one Asian diplomat said, “My mind is blown. It will take me days to think about all of the new ideas presented.”
Helga Zepp-LaRouche reported to the International Peace Coalition, “It was an extremely important follow-up meeting on the level of diplomats and ambassadors, and out of this meeting came a complete commitment to continue the organizing, kick it up to a higher level by trying to get a big international conference with the participation of states on the need to put the Oasis Plan, the development plan for the entire region of Southwest Asia in earnest on the agenda.”
