Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche issued an open letter on Nov. 5, calling for representatives of all religions and cultures around the world to start a dialogue to solve the strategic crises facing Mankind, inspired by Nicolaus of Cusa’s “coincidence of opposites” method of thinking, as recently emphasized by Pope Leo XIV in his Oct. 25 Jubilee Audience sermon. Zepp-LaRouche’s letter is followed by a packet of print and video documentary materials, including crucial writings on Cusa by Zepp-LaRouche and her late husband, Lyndon H. LaRouche.
The Two Largest Nuclear Powers: Cooperation, or Confrontation? Join EIR News on our YouTube channel today, November 5, at 10am EST/ 4pm CET for a live interview of the Russian Federation’s First Deputy Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, conducted by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, editor-in-chief of EIR.
Join EIR News on our YouTube channel today, November 5, at 10am EST for a live interview of the Russian Federation’s First Deputy Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, conducted by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, editor-in-chief of EIR.
The danger of nuclear extinction war has not abated, as Dr. Ted Postol of MIT showed in his October 24 comments to the International Peace Coalition. Nevertheless, a new paradigm of peace through development is shining through, as reflected in the circulation of the Bering Strait Tunnel project as a solution to the crisis in US-Russia relations, by Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. A representative of the RDIF participated in the October 22 EIR international roundtable discussion on the strategic implications of the Bering Strait Tunnel project, during which program Zepp-LaRouche shared her view:
“[T]he realization of the Bering Strait Tunnel is potentially and very likely the answer as to if we have war or peace. Because, if we get to an agreement between the two largest nuclear powers in the world, to replace confrontation with cooperation which is to the benefit not only of those two countries, but actually of all countries in the world, it can be the game changer which marks the departure from the present extremely dangerous moment in history.”
How does the Russian government view the strategic dynamic? What are the principles of the “polyphonic world order” advocated by Russian President Vladimir Putin? Join the program to learn more.
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The 126th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition on Friday, Oct. 31, has placed the joint roles of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) and Lyndon LaRouche (1922-2019), although separated by 500 years, at the center of the current battle to both stop the descent of civilization into suicidal global war, and to also unleash a new Renaissance based on a new architecture for security and development for all nations. This likening of the importance of Cusa and LaRouche was made in the course of discussion of today’s extreme dangers by Father Harry J. Bury, for 70 years a priest and a life-long peace advocate. He is active today with the Twin Cities Nonviolent and the U.S. Catholic Priest Association.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and initiator of the International Peace Coalition, termed Father Bury’s remarks to the IPC as one of the most significant of our time. The transcript of Bury’s full statement is below.
It was one week earlier, on Oct. 25, that Pope Leo XIV had stunned the Catholic world—and many knowledgeable circles beyond—by delivering a five-minute allocution before 10,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for the Jubilee Audience. The Pope identified Cusa’s approach as critical to our current time in history, because his breakthrough concept of the “Coincidence of Opposites” calls for seeking and acting upon the common benefit, over and above any conflicting parties and perceived interests. Though “unseen,” this is the grounds for peace and hope. The transcript of the Pope’s message is in this issue of EIR. Zepp-LaRouche, in reporting about the Pope to the IPC, called his Oct. 25 speech, “a real, real breakthrough.”
Father Bury, an advocate of Lyndon LaRouche’s “peace through development” concepts, in particular the need for the LaRouche “Oasis Plan” approach to Palestine-Gaza, explained, “Nicholas of Cusa and Lyndon LaRouche were saying: we can all learn; we can all grow; we can all change. There is hope for the human race.”
Today’s Dangers
The dangers today—of nuclear war, Western militarism madness, economic breakdown—were touched upon in the opening remarks by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, and further elaborated in the five following reports from specialist speakers. Discussion followed, with questions from the hundreds in the audience, representing more than 30 nations.
Despite “rays of hope on the horizon,” including the Oct. 30 Trump-Xi summit, there are situations of extreme tension today, which Zepp-LaRouche reviewed. Some European governments are “psychotic.” She cited Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken’s recent cavalier remarks about winning a war against Russia by “wiping Moscow off the map.” Turning to the economic crisis in the NATO states, she said, “The entire bottom of the German industry is falling out … the social consequences of this collapse will be enormous.”
Surveying the current hotspots, she insisted that no one is fooled by the fairy tale that Venezuela is governed by a drug cartel, and the planned attempt at a regime change war there “could lead to an explosion in all of Latin America.”
Regarding the Palestine-Israel crisis, Zepp-LaRouche noted the importance of the Gaza People’s Tribunal which took place last weekend in Istanbul, Türkiye. The Tribunal President is former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk, who has briefed the IPC. Falk stresses that when states fail to address a great injustice, it is necessary to appeal to the consciences of the people. The Elders, a high-level group of former statespersons founded by Nelson Mandela, has called for Israel to release Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti, echoing the call which appeared in the January 5, 2024 issue of EIR.
Nuclear War Threat
Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), addressed the nuclear war danger head on. He recalled that it was neocon lunatic John Bolton who encouraged President George W. Bush to withdraw from the ABM Treaty in 2002. In the years which followed, the U.S. rebuffed all efforts by Russia to negotiate, while the West claimed that they were stationing missile systems in Eastern Europe because of an Iranian threat, which was actually non-existent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin responded with his famous speech at the 2007 Munich Security Conference, describing Russia’s development of new strategic weapons due to the U.S. scrapping of the arms control agreements. McGovern shared a video segment of a subsequent speech Putin gave in 2016 to Western journalists, in which he announced Russia’s intention to respond by developing new offensive weapons which cannot be intercepted; this was the genesis of the Oreshnik, Burevestnik, and Poseidon systems, which represent technological breakthroughs unmatched by anything that NATO possesses, and cannot be hindered by existing ABM systems.
Putin told the journalists that he could not realistically expect them to respond honestly and professionally to his revelations, and that he was simply appealing to them as fellow humans: “How can you not understand that the world is being pulled in an irreversible direction?”
Today, McGovern said, there is an offer on the table: The Russians are willing to keep the quantitative limits of the New START treaty, if the U.S. will do the same. This offer was made on Sept. 22, but there has been no official answer from the United States. (See the article in this issue by Carl Osgood.)
John Steinbach of the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capital Area, recalled the “Anti-Imperialist League” at the end of the 19th century, which welcomed people from diverse ideological backgrounds. He reminded the participants that Oct. 28 is Vasili Arkhipov Day, named for the Soviet naval officer who prevented a potential nuclear war during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis by countermanding an order to launch a nuclear torpedo. Steinbach gives Trump credit for “at least a semblance of negotiation” between the U.S. and Russia, which did not exist under Biden. He closed with a quote from Baruch Spinoza: “Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.”
Zepp-LaRouche asked McGovern to comment on the present European frenzy to prepare for war in Europe. In response, McGovern said that it seems that we no longer have the intelligence professionals we had in the 80s—people with courage, like the CIA officer who warned his superiors that the Soviets believed that the Able Archer exercise was a cover for a nuclear attack.
Jack Gilroy, a leading member of Veterans for Peace and Pax Christi, warned that the insanity of militarism has crept back, motivated by the military-industrial complex. He cited the head of Raytheon (RTX Corp. today), who, prior to the war in Ukraine, said that the tensions in Eastern Europe represented a “profit opportunity” for his business. Gilroy proposed that public schools should teach that “the idea that the military keeps us safe and secure” is as big a lie, as the ones the Nazis told, and that students should take an oath not to interview for a job with any firm that is part of the military-industrial complex.
McGovern and Gilroy, both Catholics, discussed their hopes and disappointments for the American church. Zepp-LaRouche intervened to reemphasize the significance of Pope Leo’s endorsement of Nicholas of Cusa, who was so controversial during his own lifetime that she described him as “the Lyndon LaRouche of his day.”
Cusa was put in the Index of banned books in the Catholic Church. Lyndon LaRouche was wrongfully charged with a crime and put in jail. This was pointed out by LaRouche associate Dennis Small, who was likewise jailed. Small called for the exoneration of LaRouche.
Now, today, the Pope’s action has created a possible window into the Church and to all religions around the world, to put aside their prejudices and take actions to create peace for all of humanity, Zepp-LaRouche said.
Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, an American humanitarian surgeon who has worked extensively in Palestine, presented firsthand experience from Gaza, where he has volunteered at European Hospital in Khan Younis, with the World Health Organization, and later with the American NGO MedGlobal. He said, “Not a whole lot has changed in Gaza since the ceasefire … the situation remains very, very dire.” Israel is permitting reconstruction only in the enclaves controlled by the four gangs it sponsors, and is using this for propaganda, which Sidhwa described as “one of the more cynical things I’ve seen in my life.” He noted the failure of various medical associations in the United States to make any comment on the genocide in Gaza, or even to the widespread killing of medical professionals by Israel.
Conclusions
In their brief concluding remarks, Gilroy expressed the hope that Pope Leo would join Pope Francis in condemning the concept of a “just war.” Father Bury emphasized that Jesus told us to love our enemies, and that it should guide us in our political activity.
Steinbach said that Israel uses its nuclear arsenal as blackmail, as it did by threatening to use nuclear weapons in 1973, when Nixon tried to withhold military aid. McGovern added to Steinbach’s story: Israel refused an offer in 1973 of a mutual defense treaty with the U.S., because mutual defense treaties require internationally recognized borders.
Zepp-LaRouche reflected on the role of religions, which had come up repeatedly in this week’s discussion. She said the problem with all religions is fundamentalism, asserting that their belief is that they know the truth and that it is superior to all others. But every religion also has a current for whom science and faith are not a contradiction. It is this latter faction which Nicholas of Cusa exemplifies, as the figure in the 15th century who made the most important discoveries about man and the universe. Pope Leo’s decision to highlight his role is a breakthrough which should not be underestimated. [eir]
Join Helga Zepp-LaRouche in her live dialogue and discuss the issues and solutions that move the world and its people. Send your questions, comments, and reports to questions@schillerinstitute.org or post them in the next live stream.
Our present phase of history is a time of terrible tension between those promoting war, and those promoting resolution of disputes. Deliberate backing of armed conflict in an age of nuclear weapons is insane. But there are growing forces of reason and hope.
Pope Leo XIV’s raising, on Oct. 25, the breakthrough concepts of Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) is an important advance for forces seeking peace. Cusa’s concept of seeking and proceeding on the higher level of overcoming differences has repeatedly been studied, reported, and advocated by Lyndon and Helga LaRouche over decades. But most particularly, Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche formed an activist association in 2020 that she named the Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites, based on Cusa’s idea of the coincidentia oppositorum (coincidence of opposites), which organization came to be the precursor to the International Peace Coalition, founded in June 2022, at the initiation of Zepp-LaRouche, and now functioning as a critical platform for world dialogue.
At the Vatican on Oct. 27, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban met with Pope Leo. Orban has volunteered for Budapest to be the venue for a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orban posted on X today, “I asked His Holiness to support Hungary’s anti-war efforts. Private audience with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.”
Other figures and associations, likewise acting on the side of humanity, include leaders of the Global Majority, the BRICS, the expanding Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and collaborating initiatives. In the Indo- and Asian-Pacific this week, there are signals of this direction. Speaking of amity, on Oct. 26 India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the ASEAN-India Summit in Malaysia by video, pointed out that India and the ASEAN 11 nation members, now constitute 25% of the world’s population, and intend to continue to function as friends.
On the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea this week, President Trump reports he will meet with China’s President Xi Jinping. On Oct. 28, President Trump, now in Tokyo, Japan, is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who has expressed concern to pursue a foreign policy of stability and peace in the region. This goes against the prevailing Western insistence that China is the enemy.
The most direct threats of warfare continue to come from the Europe-centered “Coalition of the Willing,” directly charging that Russia is the enemy, bent on invading Europe. Add to this the U.S. belligerence in the Western Hemisphere, building up military forces in the Caribbean.
In the last 10 days, military spokesmen in France have called for contingency readiness that could see French forces placed directly in Ukraine. Chief of Staff of the French Army Gen. Pierre Schill told members of the Defense Committee of the National Assembly on Oct. 24: “We will be ready to deploy forces under security guarantees, if necessary—for the benefit of Ukraine.” He stated that 2026 will be the “year of coalitions,” pointing out that upcoming multinational military exercises, “Orion 26,” will test land, air, and naval contingents, wherever they have to go.
In the Caribbean, U.S. military activity and force deployment have escalated, along with homeland propaganda that fighting the dope trade means taking down Venezuela. The guided missile destroyer USS Gravely has now docked in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, within seven miles of Venezuela. The story is that the ship is carrying out training exercises until Oct. 30. The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford has been ordered to the Caribbean, from its present location in the Mediterranean. There have been nine U.S. airstrikes on boats in international waters in the Caribbean, plus two in the Pacific off the western coast of Central America. At least 43 persons were killed.
The International Peace Coalition will convene its 126th consecutive weekly meeting on Friday, Oct. 31, at 11 am (ET).
Join Helga Zepp-LaRouche in her live dialogue and discuss the issues and solutions that move the world and its people. Send your questions, comments, and reports to questions@schillerinstitute.org or post them in the next live stream.
Oct. 25, 2025 (EIRNS)—The 125th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) on Friday, Oct. 24, was not the usual panel discussion, but instead a dialogue between Schiller Institute founder and IPC initiator Helga Zepp-LaRouche and Theodore Postol (U.S.), professor emeritus of Science, Technology and National Security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Zepp-LaRouche began by describing the present strategic turmoil, where we are buffeted between hope and chaos. The Wall Street Journal said that the U.S. had given permission to Ukraine to use Tomahawk missiles to strike deep into Russia. U.S. President Donald Trump then denied the story, and Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that a Russian response would be serious, even overwhelming. There was also some confusion about the planned Trump-Putin summit in Budapest, which was on, then off again. Regarding Gaza, Zepp-LaRouche remarked, “The so-called peace deal does not seem to hold.” The Israeli Knesset voted to annex the West Bank, a repudiation of Palestinian statehood and an indication of Israeli obstruction to peace. The window of opportunity to stop World War III may be closing soon, she warned.
On the hopeful side, she reported on the Bering Strait Tunnel Project round-table discussion, which took place on Oct. 22, with experts on engineering, rail development, finance, and diplomacy from the U.S., Russia, Italy, and Germany.
Putin’s Leadership vs. German Lunacy
Zepp-LaRouche described Putin as “one whom one can only admire for his seemingly endless patience.” She charged that the “regime-change” people who want to get rid of “that thoughtful Putin” have not considered who would replace him, who would control Russia’s nuclear arsenal. Her sentiments were echoed by Postol, who said: “Whenever Putin shows restraint that saves humanity from catastrophe, they think it shows weakness on his part … he shows extraordinary ability to finesse these situations…. We can only be grateful that we did not have a Joe Biden equivalent in the Russian leadership.”
On the other hand, Zepp-LaRouche described how German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has shifted to an “idiotic” policy of “strategic uncertainty” regarding the deployment of Taurus missiles to Ukraine. To keep one’s opponent guessing is “really playing with fire,” she said. Postol added that he finds it hard to believe that anyone could have such a lack of grasp of history as to behave as Merz is behaving: “Germany is now being subjected to strategic deception by its political leadership and the American leadership.” Merz is lying when he says that the missiles deployed to Germany will not be nuclear armed. “The Russians will have no choice but to treat these weapons as nuclear armed,” Postol said. If they are conventional, they are meaningless. He compared this to the installations in Poland and Romania of defensive missiles that can quickly be converted to offense; the Russians do not have the luxury of speculating as to what the current status of those missiles may be. Merz’s approach will tremendously increase the likelihood that nuclear war will begin on German soil.
Teetering on the Brink of Nuclear War
Postol reported that there had been catastrophic events in the past few days, and that Trump’s statements and actions have seriously damaged the prospects for diplomatic progress. Putin has wisely offered to adhere to START provisions for a year while negotiations take place on renewing the treaty. However, due to Trump’s actions, “I think that Russia has now been put in a situation … where it really has no choice but to solve its security concerns on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
Postol, a leading expert on the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons, revisited some of the alarming material he has presented in past IPC meetings. “A nuclear war will effectively end modern civilization,” he said. “This is simply a fact of physics…. Fighting and winning a nuclear war is simply not technically feasible.” Statements by Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer betray a deep ignorance of these facts.
Because of the extreme destructive effects of nuclear weapons, any nation that is attacked with them will be forced to respond with nuclear weapons in a desperate effort to save itself. Able Archer was a 1983 NATO military exercise, simulating a war with the Warsaw Pact, conducted with high-level participants, including then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. By day five of the exercise, it had escalated to the hypothetical use of strategic nuclear weapons—and the U.S. and Soviet Union no longer existed.
Regarding the physical effects of the use of nuclear weapons, Postol said that most people imagine the main devastation to be the result of the shockwave, but that is just a secondary effect. Extraordinary damage is done by the initial fireball, which is much worse than the shockwave. The fireball would set fires over a vast area—approximately 600-700 square kilometers would be instantly ignited. Hurricane-force winds would be sucked into this area by upward convection, causing a gigantic firestorm, a fire tornado. Shelters would turn into ovens. Three-hundred-kph winds would accompany the shockwave that follows. Postol illustrated this very dramatically and passionately with historic images.
Europe’s War Dance
Zepp-LaRouche noted that Putin had changed Russia’s strategic doctrine one year ago, from a basic “no first use” doctrine to one under which Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons, when even a conventionally armed country backed by a nuclear power threatens the national existence of Russia. The previous doctrine was not sufficient to deter existential threats.
Postol commented on the rearmament drive from leading NATO nations: “As for all this talk about going to war with Russia, it’s almost laughable.” Russia clearly has no intention to invade Europe or occupy Ukraine. They have been forced to take action because of the behavior of the West. In January of 2022, then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the U.S. reserved the right to put nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Why is anyone surprised that Russia then invaded Ukraine?
Zepp-LaRouche asked Postol for his take on the strident calls for a conventional arms buildup. Postol said that the collapse of the German economy is a direct result of the Ukraine war. When Biden blew up the Nord Stream pipeline, he did much more damage to Germany than to Russia. “Germany is in the process of deindustrializing,” but Merz is not concerned with that. He wants to divert limited funds away from the people of Germany to prepare for an unnecessary war with Russia. European leaders are so desperate to cover up their own responsibility for the economic collapse that they are willing to initiate a war with Russia.
Good and Evil
When the session was opened to questions, one person asked about the question of evil in strategic politics. Zepp-LaRouche stressed the tenth of her Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture, that man is basically good. She said that the origin of evil is the system of oligarchy. Friedrich Schiller said the most important requirement for humanity is Empfindungsvermögen (empathy). What good does it do you to have written on your tombstone that you owned 200 Porsches and ate kilotons of caviar? Hannah Arendt was not entirely wrong about the “banality of evil.”
Postol agreed that man is good, with some qualification. He said that man is also “cursed with animal instincts.” We need a world where reason can overwhelm our animal instincts. Unfortunately, he said, there are very few people in positions of power today who wish to do good. European leaders of today created the conditions which led to the Ukraine war. They lack the courage of a Nikita Khrushchev to admit it when they have made mistakes.
Conclusion
Zepp-LaRouche expressed her appreciation of Postol as a “voice of reason,” saying that if you don’t start with what Postol laid out about the reality of nuclear war, you will end up wrong. She encouraged all participants to redouble their efforts to halt the march toward nuclear war, before the window of opportunity closes forever. [eir]
The following is a machine translation of an interview Helga Zepp-LaRouche gave to TASS news service on the now widely discussed proposal for a Bering Strait Tunnel connecting Russia and the United States. The late American statesman and economist Lyndon LaRouche had long advocated the building of the Bering Strait Tunnel great project:
Expert Zepp-LaRouche Assesses the Prospects of a Tunnel between Russia and the United States
It would embody the concept of “peace through development,” says Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute.
WASHINGTON, October 18. /TASS Correspondent Sergei Yumatov. A tunnel built under the Bering Strait and connecting Russia and the United States would be the ideal embodiment of the concept of “peace through development.” Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, outlined this position in an interview with a TASS correspondent.
“It is obvious to President Trump that normalizing U.S.-Russia relations will open up enormous prospects for developing economic cooperation between the two countries. The most impressive [project] would be the ‘Putin-Trump tunnel,’ which, as Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, noted on social media, would become a 70-mile link between America and Afro-Eurasia across the Bering Strait,” the expert noted.
According to her, “the tunnel would help open up the entire Russian Far East for development and create enormous investment opportunities for resource-poor countries.” “The Putin-Trump Tunnel would be the ideal embodiment of the ‘peace through development’ concept,” Zepp-LaRouche emphasized. The choice of Budapest as the venue for a new meeting between Russian and American leaders, according to the expert, “will remind Europeans of the nearly lost art of diplomacy.” “This is good for the entire world,” she concluded.
President Donald Trump called the Bering Strait tunnel project, which would connect Russia and the United States by rail, “interesting.” Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian President’s Special Representative for Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), stated that such a tunnel could be built in less than eight years, and its cost would not exceed $8 billion.
The idea of connecting the transport systems of Eurasia and America via a tunnel has been discussed for decades. As The Times newspaper noted in 2011, citing British experts, freight transportation along the Eurasia-U.S. highway would also connect resource-rich but sparsely populated areas of the planet with key overpasses, and would be less expensive, faster, and safer than by sea.
Read also:
1. Dmitriev: Discussions on Tunnel Connecting U.S. and Russia Have Begun.
2. Zepp-LaRouche Expert: Russia and the U.S. Could Build a Tunnel under the Bering Strait.
3. The State Duma Called Trump’s Question to Zelenskyy about a Tunnel between Russia and the U.S. Trolling.
Oct. 17, 2025 (EIRNS)—The 124th consecutive weekly online meeting of the International Peace Coalition commenced with optimistic remarks by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute Founder and International Peace Coalition initiator. “All reasonable people in the world should be happy about the recent phone call between President Trump and President Putin,” she said, announcing the upcoming meeting between the two Presidents which is scheduled to take place in Budapest. She had no reading yet on the Oct. 17 meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy, but predicted that there is now a “big big question mark” over the delivery of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. She spoke of the possibility of a “Putin-Trump tunnel” connecting Alaska to Siberia, adding that the multi-national development of Siberia would represent an “incredible boost to the world economy.” This brings back the idea to the European continent that “diplomacy is the way to resolve conflicts.”
Zepp-LaRouche reported that the momentum of President Trump’s Gaza peace plan has carried over into the Ukraine situation. We published yesterday a very important interview with H.E. Ambassador Prof. Dr. Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian Authority Ambassador to Denmark, which underscores the absolute necessity of a “peace through development” approach, centered upon the Oasis Plan, originally proposed by Lyndon LaRouche in 1975.
“The Historical Roots of the”Peace Through Development” Plans
Later during the meeting, Schiller Institute activist Tim Rush reported on a think tank conference in Washington, D.C., where he noted a shift in world opinion against Israeli genocide. He intervened from the floor, referencing the Oasis Plan and the Eisenhower administration’s Water for Peace conference in 1967, to illustrate that these ideas have history. He referred the participants to a June 28, 2024, article in EIR titled “When ‘Water for Peace’ Was at the Center of U.S. Politics—1953-1968”. Co-moderator Dennis Speed noted a similar historical parallel, in a hand-drawn map recently shared by the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. and made public by U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, which envisioned a “Kennedy-Khrushchev World Peace Bridge” over the Bering Strait, a predecessor to the tunnel proposed by LaRouche in his World Land-Bridge plan.
Dialogue Between Israelis and Palestinians
Ali Rastbeen, director of the Académie Géopolitique de Paris, is a French national of Iranian origin. He said, of the peace plan for Gaza, that regional actors must maintain a balance between Israeli security and justice for the Palestinians. The regional actor he chose to emphasize was Iran. “Iran has remained silent—no official declaration … we haven’t seen that since 1979,” he said, calling this a “major strategic change…. Iran has been marginalized, no longer projecting power through proxies … a forced re-definition of its role…. Its influence has decreased, to the profit of the Arab countries.”
Rastbeen emphasized that we are entering a new era with the end of proxy wars. Regional power in the Middle East is now measured in the ability to negotiate, provide stability and cooperation.
Mossi Raz, former Knesset member and Director of Peace Now in Israel, observed that neither Hamas nor Israel can solve its problems by using force, and emphasized that pressure from the international community made this agreement possible. Pressure from the international community made this agreement possible. He warned that the success of the agreement was threatened by “misunderstandings on both sides”: the Palestinians are upset that Israel has continued to kill Palestinians, Israelis are upset because Hamas has not delivered all the dead hostages. The international community must keep pressure on both sides to comply exactly with the agreement, in order to prevent a further outbreak of war.
An excerpt was shown from Zepp-LaRouche’s video interview with Dr. Hassassian, who said that “President Trump has flexed muscles on Israel” to get a breakthrough in negotiations. He warned that the occupation has to end, and an independent Palestinian state with the 1967 borders is necessary for lasting peace and security. Zepp-LaRouche replied that “this is a very precious moment” to transform the dynamic of the region with the Oasis Plan. Hassassian agreed, saying, “This is the right time for your organization to push forward and to market the Oasis Plan… The benefits will not go just to the Gazans and the Palestinians,” but to the region as a whole.
Zepp-LaRouche said in response to Rastbeen’s description of a shift from ideology to diplomacy in Iran, that this is an interesting angle from which to look at the crisis. But the most important shift will be to an emphasis on economic development. This would “completely change the parameters.” Instead of coercion, we need a policy of mutual benefit. Raz offered his support for the Oasis Plan, but added that the economic dimension is a major factor, but not the only factor.
Discussion
A participant asked whether the “peace through development” approach is really desirable, given that economic growth threatens our “finite planet.” Zepp-LaRouche explained that there is a common misconception that growth must be linear and quantitative, as opposed to what the Schiller Institute proposes, which is qualitative growth such as the development of fusion energy, which China is making a reality.
Dennis Speed asked Raz to respond to former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg’s assertion that Israel’s acts are at odds with Jewish tradition. Raz responded by acknowledging the importance of diplomacy and dialogue. Zepp-LaRouche added we have called for a dialogue of cultures, based on the best traditions of each culture in science and art, where human creativity expressed itself. “People have lost the idea of what a renaissance really is,” she said. “Collaboration among cultures would always spark a new development.”
A participant asked: Are we talking about a kind of consciousness we have never seen before? Zepp-LaRouche responded by saying that we must both reactivate our best traditions, and also create something new. It must be as different as today’s bestialized culture, as the Renaissance was from the Middle Ages, which were dominated by superstition and barbarism.
An African participant stated that she strongly supports the Oasis Plan, but asked: Why must we forgive the perpetrators of the genocide, of the killer sanctions? In response, Zepp-LaRouche insisted that we have to take advantage of branching points in history, in which we can influence the shape of things to come. We clearly have such a conjuncture, now that 500 years of colonialism is coming to an end. We should not try to impose the Western neoliberal model, but respect the singular characteristics of various cultures. We have to end the idea that conflicts can be resolved by military means.
In concluding remarks, Raz said that we need to incorporate the Oasis Plan among other issues which must be resolved, and it will take years to resolve them all.
In response to a question about China’s tightening of its export controls on rare earth elements, Zepp-LaRouche said that this “could bring the whole military-industrial complex to a screeching halt.” China’s next five-year plan could mean a change of relations among nations, a model of governance based on sovereignty, non-interference and cooperation.
An Ecuadorian reported that her new neoliberal government is attacking the indigenous population, which is protesting unjust austerity measures. Co-moderator Dennis Small said that Ecuador is part of a larger pattern; the neocons are willing to invade Venezuela, create regime-change in Peru (which they have done through an orchestrated scandal), and bail out Argentina, in order to maintain their control.
Zepp-LaRouche reminded the participants that although the discussion has focused on Gaza, she had emphasized at the start that the Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest is of crucial importance because of the ever-present danger of nuclear war, as was described by Ted Postol in the previous week’s IPC meeting. He will give another presentation at the next meeting. “In the age of nuclear weapons, we cannot have war as a method of conflict resolution”; we must return to diplomacy. [eir]
IPC Meeting #123—Report
Oct. 10, 2025 (EIRNS)—The 123rd consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) took place on Oct. 10. It was opened by the initiator of the IPC, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who noted that the development of a partial acceptance of a peace plan for Gaza could be the end of the war, or, as Bibi Netanyahu has said, only a ceasefire, or even less than that if there is not an outpouring of pressure from throughout the world to force it through. The theme of today’s meeting, she said, is the Oasis Plan, which we must put on the agenda for all the discussions going on over these coming days.
Meanwhile, the Ukraine situation has gotten even worse, as the “Coalition of the Willing” European leaders are preparing for war and encouraging the deployment of Tomahawk missiles into Ukraine, which is seen by Russia as a declaration that the U.S. and Europe are directly joining the war. She noted that there are reports of opposition within Russia against Putin as being too soft on the war in Ukraine, but, Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche added, those in the West who encourage regime change against Putin are “stupid” and “foolish,” as any change would be far worse.
Zepp-LaRouche reported that Ted Postol, the expert on nuclear weapons who has spoken at earlier IPC meetings, gave a two-hour speech at the Schiller conference in Berlin, demonstrating that “nuclear war can not be won.” Zepp-LaRouche asserted that we will help circulate his speech. She noted the insanity and danger of the coup against the leader of Peru, orchestrated by the U.K. and the U.S., aimed at stopping China’s role in South America.
The next speaker was Graham Fuller, former CIA planning expert and an Arab scholar. Fuller fully supported Zepp-LaRouche’s presentation, noting that we are experiencing the end of a 500 year-era of colonialism, including “settler colonialism” in Palestine. Since World War II, he said, the Europeans have followed the Atlanticist policy, run by the U.S., despite the fact that the Soviet Union “almost single-handedly removed the Nazis from Europe.” Churchill, he added, immediately called on the U.S. to drop nuclear bombs on Soviet Russia, but Truman wouldn’t do it. (A caller later protested this, pointing to Truman dropping bombs on Japan and mass-producing nuclear weapons, to which Fuller agreed, but said his point was to identify the British role in wanting to destroy Russia.)
Israel, Fuller said, was also a British creation, putting a new state into the middle of Palestine with “white, European Jews,” for the purpose of using Israel to maintain the colonialist policies of the Europeans. The adopted plan for Gaza is not a peace plan, but at best a ceasefire (as Netanyahu says), although it will be good, if it at least stops the killing and brings in some food and medicine for the Gazans. Netayahu’s refusal to release Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti is likely because Barghouti would almost certainly become the new President of Palestine.
On the Oasis Plan, Fuller noted that this is not just for Gaza, but that Central Asia, Iran, and the Persian Gulf states all need water, and this is also the vision of China and the Belt and Road, a development program for the entire region. The obstacle is the British, who are “malevolent and evil,” blocking peace everywhere they can. Europe, he said, “has no leadership,” and appears to be committed to following the “dying Atlanticist vision.” There need to be elections and new governments, who believe in diplomacy and win-win policies. The Belt and Road Initiative and the Oasis Plan can provide the needed vision.
Dr. Vincenzo Romanello, a nuclear scientist from Italy, spoke next, basing his presentation on a paper he had published, titled, “The Role of Advanced Nuclear Technology in the Oasis Plan.” He proposed the construction of 25 nuclear plants to achieve the needed plan, 19 for desalination and 6 for pumping the water through the needed tunnels and canals. With 5,000 km of pipes and a workforce of 100,000, he estimated the total cost as being between $200-300 billion. He said that would be a fraction of the money wasted on military operations today. Romanello concluded that the Oasis Plan “is an invitation to the world, a model for the world.”
Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche added to that estimate, by pointing out that the project would pay for itself, in that the productivity introduced would more than cover the initial cost, as has been demonstrated by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Ethiopia’s Blue Nile, which cost $5 billion, but has a profit of $1 billion every year. “People need hope,” she said. She noted that Postol had been asked why there was no peace movement on the streets today, as there had been in the 1980s, to which Postol responded that the hoax about “climate change,” that the world was doomed anyway, had undermined the population’s optimism with pessimism, to the point that people don’t even protest the threat of annihilation by nuclear war.
Fuller agreed, noting that there was a sense of “hopelessness” in the Middle East, which must be overcome with the Oasis Plan. Romanello also agreed, saying this was precisely the purpose of the Oasis Plan, and that with this sense of development, people would not want to migrate or become terrorists, but would want to be part of rebuilding their home country.
Moderator Dennis Small added that the policy of the U.S. and Europe to stop China’s growth policies in the developing countries was sabotaging the claim that they want to stop the flood of migrants. Fuller agreed, adding that there is havoc everywhere over the flood of migrants, but that “no wall or political policies” will stop it—only by going to the cause—the lack of development—will that be reversed.
Fabiolla Ramirez from the Schiller Institute in Mexico reported on a 3,000-strong march and rally in Mexico City with huge banners on the Oasis Plan and other issues. They marched to the U.S. Embassy, singing a song about the “Children of Gaza” and “Donna Nobis Pacem” (“Give Us Peace”).
Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche answered a question about the nuclear development of Africa, noting that Russia, China and India are helping develop nuclear energy in Africa, but that African contacts had told her that requests to the United States and Europe to help had produced no responses.
A question about nuclear waste and another about solar power as an alternative were answered that there already was totally safe storage of nuclear waste, and that most of it is reprocessed into nuclear fuel, while eventually we will have fusion energy, without waste and with abundant fuel. Solar power can be useful, but cannot replace the advanced energy flux-density of nuclear power.
Brian Earley, a member of the U.S. Schiller Institute, described his intervention at a hearing in the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, also shown in a video, in which he was wearing his military uniform, and stood up and protested the U.S. responsibility for the genocide in Gaza, demanding that the government stop the lying.
Graham Fuller was asked about the role of Iran. He responded that Iran was the oldest civilization in the Middle East, over 5,000 years. He said the question is: “Is war inevitable? Or is there a choice?” Do we demonize Iran or do we create a new paradigm? He remarked that Iran has been cautious. They see from other examples that if they had a nuclear weapon, they would not be attacked, but they have nonetheless been cautious and have not developed nuclear weapons. Asked about the chance for a Palestinian State, Fuller said many people thought it was too late, due to the Jewish settlers taking over large tracts of Palestinian land. But nothing is impossible, he added. If Israel realizes it is destroying itself, it could change; if the Europeans would stop being so “gutless,” they could change; and if the Arab state would stop being so “disgracefully quiet” about the situation, they could change.
Dennis Small closed the meeting with words on the nature of mankind, the only species which evolves not through biology, but through its creative power to discover the laws of the Universe and apply them to the development of the species as a whole. This is our task.
International Peace Coalition, Week 122
by EIR Staff
Oct. 3—Helga Zepp LaRouche opened the 122nd weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) by calling on members to study the speech given by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Valdai Club meeting this week and circulate it to every political and institutional leader. She emphasized that Putin had made clear that Russia has no interest nor intention to invade Europe, and that the hysteria being riled up about Russian planes and drones threatening Europe was “nonsense.” Putin said that the European people do not support the “deafening” war mongering from their leaders and the media. He said that, as in 1914, it is the Europeans who are provoking a war.
On Gaza, Mrs. LaRouche said that the world is increasingly disgusted, as demonstrated by the general strike in Italy (which is reported to have a million people on the streets), and two demonstrations in Germany against the government’s policy for building up for war on Russia. She called for more support for the Oasis Plan and attention to the need for a power- and water-development plan for the entire Southwest Asian region, and for a global new paradigm for development and security for all nations.
Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian international lawyer, executive director of Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) and co-founder of Nonviolence International, among other activities, noted that there have now been two years of Israeli genocide, “in the public eye, in the light of day, despite the incredible denials by Israel.” We are witnessing the “destruction of international law,” he warned, but we must fight to retain a system of international law by all means. Trump’s policy is that international law doesn’t matter, only power, and that those with power can do whatever they want. The Gaza “peace plan” is just an ultimatum, that Israel has the power and thus can do what it wants. Hamas may accept it anyway, simply out of desperation to end the daily slaughter. The Oasis Plan demonstrates the international policy which must be adopted. People must act in the absence of government actions, he said.
Asked why he had written about some successes by the Palestinians over these years of genocide, he answered that it was to overcome despair, and to let people know that their struggle has increasingly inspired people around the world to support them, especially youth, university students, and even many Jews, and for calls for Palestinian statehood.
A Thorn in the Side of Unilateralism
Prof. Lier Pires Ferreira, of the Center for BRICS Studies (NuBRICS) at the Fluminense Federal University of Brazil, attacked “Trumpism” for its assault against Brazil. Brazil, he said, following its era of dictatorship, established relations with Russia, China, and others while also maintaining friendly relations with the U.S., but President Bolsonaro (2019-2023) ended that, aligning only with the U.S. Trumpism and the extreme right, he said, use the media and “big tech” to spread disinformation and lies. Trump is targeting the BRICS, and the Lula government in Brazil, because it is a “thorn in the side of unilateralism.” He strongly promoted the idea that water is a “public good, not a commodity” and is key to sovereign development—one of the central tenets of the LaRouche Oasis Plan.
Zepp-LaRouche agreed that we must join forces internationally, but added that it must include development as a core of any solution. She pointed to China’s extraordinary development, noting a recently completed water project larger than any other in the world, saying that, if people understood that such development were possible, they would be better able to unite for a new paradigm.
Former Guyanese President Donald Ramotar said the so-called Gaza peace plan is not a peace plan at all, but a plan to retain Israeli and U.S. domination. The U.S. is “not an impartial broker,” and other countries should assert themselves as impartial brokers. Kuttab agreed, but said it is not a question of impartial brokers, but of a “framework for discussion” based on international law, rather than “fiat” by the powerful.
Steve Starr, a renowned nuclear-weapons expert, began by announcing that he was no longer teaching at the University of Missouri, which had dismissed him, due to his talking about genocide in Gaza and related issues, but that he was continuing his work to expose the extreme danger of nuclear war. He noted that the New START Treaty would expire in February 2026 if a new treaty is not negotiated. If it expires, the number of nuclear weapons and delivery systems will essentially double, he warned. He also warned that if the plan to send nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine proceeds, it will mean war, likely nuclear war. He closed by showing a clip from Terminator 2, which accurately shows the gruesome impact of a nuclear explosion over a major city, both to human beings and to the infrastructure. Zepp-LaRouche called for Starr’s presentation to be shown to every politician, especially those talking about “winning” a nuclear war.
Department of War: A Rejection of Peace
Larry Johnson, a former CIA intelligence official and a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), began by noting that the Trump pronouncement that the Department of Defense will be called the Department of War is an intentional rejection of the idea behind the creation of the Department of Defense after World War II, which was to declare that there would be no more wars. Now the U.S. has warships and war planes on Venezuela’s border and in bases in Puerto Rico, which can not be sustained for long, leading Johnson to conclude that there will be a war on Venezuela within days or a week.
On Trump’s declaration that Hamas must accept the “peace plan” within four days or there would be “Hell to pay,” he ponders whether or not Trump has been watching what has gone on in Gaza over the past two years, which is already pure Hell. On Ukraine, the Russians are moving forward rapidly, and he suspects they plan to finish the operation within about three months.
Father Harry Bury, a long-time international peace advocate, submitted a video statement. He said he had formed a non-violence movement in the Twin Cities, where he lives, and that the mayors of those cities had declared the cities to be “non-violent,” while advancing efforts to educate former gang members to gain employment. He said he has partnered with the Schiller Institute on the Oasis Plan, a concept already being implemented by the BRICS nations around the world for development as a basis for peace, calling on the U.S. to cooperate with the BRICS.
Asuka Burke of the Schiller Institute gave a report on the international call with youth around the world held with Zepp-LaRouche this past week, with 60 participants from countries across Africa, Europe, Ibero America, and the U.S.
A comment posted by one participant said: “I am 78 years old, but I’d like to be part of the Youth Movement.” Mrs. LaRouche responded that he and other older people are totally welcome to join.
Another questioner observed that there could be no peace without justice. Zepp-LaRouche responded that justice had to include development for all nations, or it would not be just. She pointed to the Peace of Westphalia, which included justice, but also forgiveness, without which there would be no peace. IPC co-moderator Dennis Small added, in a variation of the famous concept by Pope Paul VI, “the new name for justice is development.”
Christoph Mohs of the Schiller Institute gave a report on two rallies for peace in Germany today, in Berlin and Stuttgart, with about 30,000 people. This included the distribution of many leftists, but also attendance by many “regular people,” many youth, and many Jews. Prof Jeffrey Sachs addressed both rallies by video, noting that it was the Western nations, not Russia, who cancelled the nuclear treaties, and that the Europeans refuse to even talk to Russia today.
Zepp-LaRouche closed the meeting with a call for distributing both Father Harry Bury’s statement to churches around the world and the presentation from Steve Starr on the horror of nuclear war.
Speech of Helga Zepp-LaRouche at the Sept. 23-24, 2025 Beijing Cultural Forum
World history, in the sense of Friedrich Schiller’s theory of drama, has reached a “punctum saliens” at which all previous tendencies converge as it were on a point of decision: Does humanity—which for the first time has the potential to destroy itself and all life on Earth, thanks to thermonuclear weapons, and which for the first time can follow live every single day on internet the most barbaric acts in Gaza ongoing for the last 22 months—have the moral capacity to survive? What is obvious at any rate is that the old world order—as it emerged after World War Two and especially after the end of the Cold War—and with it international law have broken down.
Even the UN, whose Charter remains the most important document of the international community, is in urgent need of reform because, as now constituted, it has proven incapable of responding adequately to the threat of war and demontage of the international order.
President Xi Jinping has now presented, with his idea of a community of shared future for mankind and the four global initiatives (GDI, GSI, GCI, and now GGI) [Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Civilization Initiative, Global Governance Initiative] a concept that clearly defines the next phase of human evolution. This concept has taken shape with the emergence of a new world order through the BRICS, the Belt and Road Initiative, and above all at the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization] conference in Tianjin, opening up the tremendously optimistic prospect for the global majority of humanity, that the 500-year era of colonialism can finally be overcome. The Chinese-Russian partnership is the rock on which the new world order is built, and the overcoming of tensions between China and India, two cradles of humanity that together represent 35% of the world’s population, is as a guide for positive change among all nations whose relationships are fraught with manipulations going back to the colonial era.
The tectonic shift underway with the emergence of a new world order, based on the tradition of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the Non-Aligned Movement, and pursued under Xi Jinping’s four initiatives, clearly creates the conditions for lasting peace in the world. The appeal of this model, which offers economic progress and opportunities for cultural development to all nations, is seen in the growing number of nations in the Global South that see themselves as active and equal participants. If this dynamic existed alone, humanity would face a bright future.
However, everything now depends on finding a way to win over the nations of the former “collective West,” which has not been collective since the beginning of President Trump’s second term, to cooperate with the new emerging world order. The fact that a “Coalition of the Willing,” that insists the conflict over Ukraine must be decided on the battlefield, is needed, shows that it represents only a minority, even in Europe, and even within this coalition, the approval ratings of the respective governments are extremely low.
The distorted or non-existent reporting in Western mainstream media about the emerging world order, as seen at the recent SCO summit, means that the American and European populations do not have a clue about it. Instead, with appeals such as “Germany must become war-capable” (Pistorius), “Germany must build the strongest conventional army in Europe” (Merz), and Russia and China could become so powerful by 2027 that they would seek confrontation with NATO and the U.S., the attempt is made to prepare the population for a new militarism.
Therefore, it is urgent to find ways to demonstrate to the populations of European nations the dangers of a new militarism, as well as the positive potential that lies in cooperation with the new world order. In view of the recent rapprochement between China and India, the approach taken by President Xi, in a speech in New Delhi in 2014, would be particularly well suited for that:
“Even in ancient times, China already came to the conclusion that a warlike state, however big it may be, will eventually perish. Peace is of paramount importance, harmony without uniformity … and universal peace must be achieved. The Chinese concepts of ‘universal peace’ and ‘universal love’ and the Indian concepts of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakum’ (the world being one family) and ahimsa (causing no injury) are very much alike.”
President Xi’s Global Civilization Initiative offers an excellent approach to intensifying a similar dialogue with Western cultures on the basis of the most developed concepts and ideas.
Alongside Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who was a great admirer of Chinese culture and philosophy, Friedrich Schiller had a visionary idea of a united humanity, interconnected through aesthetic education and self-cultivation to the highest ideal of humanity. Schiller’s recognition that this ideal could be achieved through aesthetic education had great influence in China, due to the intervention of the scholar Cai Yuanpei, the first Minister of Education of the Provisional Republic of China and later President of Peking University. Cai Yuanpei introduced Schiller’s concept of aesthetic education into the Chinese education system and created a new word for it: “meiju.” And inspired by Schiller’s idea expressed in his “Ode to Joy”—”All men become brothers”—he developed a vision of a “great community” of the whole world, “datong shijie,” which would live together peacefully and harmoniously, without armies or war. Cai saw dialogue among cultures as the way to achieve this goal, believing that a nation must embrace the cultures of other peoples: “If you look at the development of history, you can see that the confrontation of different cultures always leads to the emergence of a new one.”
Therefore we need to seek out those ideas and concepts in all cultures and civilizations, out of which their greatest minds, their greatest poets, and thinkers have developed visions of a common future for humanity. These ideas have been almost forgotten in the West today, at least among the warmongering circles who, despite their constant talk of “Western values,” no longer have any idea what truly great ideas are. Exchanges among the peoples about the most beautiful works of different cultures will not only foster understanding, but also love for them.
Chinese initiatives have already proven that the principle of “peace through development” can truly overcome deep conflicts, as can be seen in China’s mediating role between Iran and Saudi Arabia, or recently between Pakistan and Afghanistan. There is, therefore, justified hope that the combination of joint economic development and dialogue about the best traditions of the respective cultures will also succeed in bringing the European nations and even America into this global community! In any case, this is a goal to which we should devote ourselves with all the passion of our love for humanity!