General

Dec. 31, 2024 (EIRNS)—The Schiller Institute issued the following statement calling for a true Jubilee in 2025.

On Christmas Eve 2024, Pope Francis officially launched the Jubilee Year of 2025, calling for the coming year to be a “Jubilee of Hope.” The Jubilee is traditionally associated in various religions with the time when slaves would be emancipated and debts would be forgiven.  

The Pope has raised the right issue at the right time, for action not just by Catholics, but by {all} men and women of good will.

As we enter 2025, the world is beset by spreading wars which threaten to escalate to a nuclear confrontation among superpowers, which none shall survive. We are also witness to genocide in Gaza, which is killing not only hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians but our very humanity as well, as we watch seemingly incapable of stopping our governments from passivity and often complicity with crimes against humanity which we once swore would happen “Never Again.”

And we stand at the edge of the abyss of a deadly blowout of the entire trans-Atlantic financial system, with its speculative bubble of over $2 quadrillion of debts and derivatives, which are illegitimate and {odious}. It is the Western Establishment’s single-minded commitment to maintain that bankrupt system come hell or high water, which is driving Mankind toward nuclear war and spreading genocide.

That financial system must be put through bankruptcy reorganization this Jubilee year of 2025, writing off all of those portions of the $2 quadrillion speculative bubble which are illegitimate and odious. These are both moral and legal terms, with standing under international law, as the case of Ecuador proved in 2008. The world must now do what tiny Ecuador did back then.

In the Catholic church, Ordinary Jubilees occur every 25 years. The last one was announced in 2000 by Pope John Paul II. Under its broad call for justice, civil society forces in many countries, including Ecuador, began to study and question the validity of the debt that had been imposed on developing sector nations. In July 2007, the Ecuadorian government convened a Commission for the Full Audit of Public Credit (CAIC), which found, after an exhaustive 18-month study, that Ecuador’s commercial foreign debt had functioned as an illegitimate and illegal looting mechanism between 1976 and 2006, rising from $16 million in 1976, to $4.2 billion in 2006, despite the fact that there was a net transfer to the creditors of $7.1 billion in interest and principal payment over that 30-year period. Call it “Bankers’ Arithmetic”: $16 – $7,100 = $4,200. 

In 2008, basing itself on that study, the government of Ecuador announced a unilateral debt moratorium and imposed a 70-80% “haircut” on its bondholders. Wall Street and the City of London yelled and screamed, but morality and legality were both on Ecuador’s side.

“Odious debt” is a legal term of art which originated in 1927 with the Russian-American jurist Alexander Nahun Sack, who based his findings on two case studies: the debt imposed on Mexico by the mid 19th century invasion and occupation of that country by the Hapsburg Emperor Maximillian, a debt which was repudiated by Mexico’s greatest President, Benito Juárez, with the aid of Abraham Lincoln; and the early 20th century case of Cuba, which achieved independence from Spain and the debt it had imposed on its island colony. Sack wrote in his Les Effets des transformations des États sur leurs dettes publiques et autres obligations financières : traité juridique et financier, Recueil Sirey, 1927: 

“The reason why these odious debts cannot be left upon the State is that such debts do not fulfill one of the conditions that determine the legality of State debts, that is: State debts must be contracted and funds disbursed for the needs and in the interest of the State. Odious debts, contracted and used for purposes which, to the knowledge of the creditors, are contrary to the interests of the nation, do not obligate the latter.”

International institutions such as UNCTAD have subsequently published studies recognizing the validity of Sack’s argument, such as the July 2007 essay “The Concept of Odious Debt in Public International Law” by Prof. Robert Howse, Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. 

The renowned American economist and statesman Lyndon LaRouche traced this same concept — the requirement that debt serve the General Welfare — to the founders of the American System of economics. In a January 2011 address, LaRouche declared:

“An honest debt to the future can only be paid through the honest creation of equivalent physical wealth in the future, which includes the development of the creative powers of every citizen, every child and every teenager.

“The debts generated by a credit system are repaid by the prolificity of future production; this was already understood by the Winthrop and Mather of the Massachusetts colony. Such debts require the government to limit their accumulation to the efficient portion of its commitment to promote production. Legally, they can only be incurred on the basis of increased creation of physical wealth and growth in the nation’s physical productivity. Any debt contracted as a result of financial speculation has no legitimacy in the eyes of a government. [emphasis added]

“This is how to describe in simple words Hamilton’s great principle, which is implicit in the intent of the preamble to our Constitution.

“Debts are good when they are designed to be good, as in the case of a credit system that rests on a commitment to increase the net creation of wealth per person and per square kilometer of a nation’s territory.”

It is that approach — which also guided the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, including its provisions for debt moratoria — which must now be applied globally this Jubilee year, to rid the world of the pestilence of usury once and for all, and with it the threat of war and genocide. That will then set the stage for organizing a New Paradigm based on a new international security and development architecture, to allow good credit to be issued for the worthy cause of global economic development.

Welcome!

You are invited to join a webinar:
*Global Medical Outcry: Livestream to Stop the Genocide in Gaza.*

*DATE:* Sunday, December 29, 2024
*TIME:* 12:00 PM (Eastern Time US and Canada)

Join us on an Emergency Livestream spotlighting urgent and unfiltered
reports from our colleagues in Gaza.

This event, hosted by *Doctors Against Genocide*, brings together medical professionals, media voices, activists, and organizers to amplify Gaza’s cry for justice amidst the relentless genocide.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_L-PfeDasSOWR2BHcAwTV2A#/registration

Dec. 20, 2024 (EIRNS)—Opening today’s 81st consecutive online Friday weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche reminded participants that she warned that the period leading up to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20 could be the most dangerous period in human history—and that assessment has not changed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking at the prospect of an early war against Iran, to confront Trump with a fait accompli. The truth about the sudden collapse of the Assad government in Syria is emerging: The British- and American-trained fighters of the Revolutionary Commando Army (RCA) had been told by U.S. Special Forces, this is your moment, get ready for the attack.

She underscored that the British and American sabotage of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in the Spring of 2022, is now confirmed by Jean-Daniel Ruch, Switzerland’s Ambassador to Türkiye at the time. In the same vein, U.S. Defense Secretary Austin told the Ukrainians that it was too early to end the war; that it must be prolonged in order to weaken Russia.

Swiss Lt. Col. Ralph Bosshard (ret.) , formerly senior planning officer for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) in 2014, reported that when Trump withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Russia immediately began to work on what became the hypersonic IRBM Oreshnik. It was relatively inexpensive; it involved nothing revolutionary. They simply channeled existing efforts into making a new missile. However, to shoot down a hypersonic Oreshnik, which flies at Mach 10, one has to be close enough to intercept it in its boost phase. When it reaches its descent phase, it is moving far too fast. Even the European Parliament can’t change the laws of physics, no matter what EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen thinks. The Russians were thinking about non-nuclear strategic weapons in the 1980s, taking warnings of nuclear winter seriously, unlike USSTRATCOM Director for Plans and Policy Rear Admiral Thomas Buchanan, who explains his imagining what a winnable nuclear war looks like.

Steve Starr, former director of Missouri University’s Clinical Laboratory Science Program, discussed the recent assassination of Russian Gen.-Lt. Igor Kirillov, head of Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Defense Troops of the Russian Armed Forces. The Anglophile media accused General Kirillov of disinformation regarding U.S. biolabs in Ukraine. He was providing factual information. The U.S. claims that these labs were for “biological threat reduction,” but pathogens produced there were not destroyed. They were purchasing long-range drones from Türkiye. Why would they need those, if not for the delivery of biological weapons? The U.S. Department of Defense has biolabs in 25 countries. They are conducting “research into biological warfare under the guise of health.”

Starr compared the Oreshnik system to ballistic missiles, which follow a parabolic trajectory through space. Hypersonic missiles, however, stay within the atmosphere. Russian hypersonic glide missiles, such as the Avangard, use magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generators to, in some way, annihilate shock waves and eliminate drag, making missiles maneuverable at hypersonic speeds. Starr concluded that no political goals are worth risking the destruction of the entire human race.

Zepp-LaRouche asked Starr to comment on the fact that Europeans are asking whether NATO war scenarios assume the destruction of Europe. Starr replied that during war games, there was a popular joke that German villages are 5 kilotons apart, adding that under present doctrines, there are incentives for launching a preemptive strike. Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons can fry all solid-state electronics, disabling all communications. Under such circumstances, it’s “use ’em or lose ’em.” Zepp-LaRouche responded, “If Europe wants to survive, should we get the hell out of NATO as soon as we can?” Starr responded, “Yes.”

Herman “Ka Mentong” Tiu Laurel, head of the Asian Century Journal in the Philippines, began with his long history of collaboration with the LaRouches. Before February of 2023, the Philippines was in good shape, enjoying productive engagement with China and the world. But the Bongbong Marcos team came in and stopped all development projects. Disputes with China, which were being addressed by dialogue, are now sparking armed clashes at sea. Laurel said, “There are still many Filipinos who do not accept the China Bully theory.”

In April 2024, the U.S. brought in missile launchers, ostensibly for an exercise. There was protest against this. The Armed Forces of the Philippines promised that they would be removed, but they are now accepted as permanent. Laurel’s organization works to counter the war drive. They have found 25 U.S. bases that are not identified as such, and need to be removed, so that the Philippines can be a sea of calm; of peace and prosperity.

Discussion

A question was asked of Starr: If a number of hypersonic Oreshniks and/or other weapons were combined, as Putin has noted, could it produce an effect similar to a nuclear explosion, but without using a nuclear weapon? Starr discussed some of the possible effects, then returned to the question of MHD, which could help develop fusion energy. But the French military said, “bombs first, energy later.”

A number of long-term activists presented reports on their organizing activity. Cloret Ferguson of the Schiller Institute described how she has been trying to broaden the network that is active with the IPC, including with an email campaign to “derail this deranged Admiral Buchanan.” Former congressional candidate Jose Vega was in the nation’s capital with former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter a couple of weeks ago, where he was told that the CIA had briefed congressional officials that Russia is not bluffing, but the corporate media has spun their reports to say the opposite. Vega is emphasizing that Congressmen should support H.R. 10218, to stop the shipment of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. Gilles Gervais, from The LaRouche Organization in Canada, read from a letter he sent to the Canada-U.S. Intra-Parliamentary Group, telling them that the solution to border issues, tariffs and migration is to be found in the new Schiller Institute pamphlet, “Development Drive Means Billions of New Jobs, No Refugees, No War”.

In response to a participant who argued that Buchanan’s first-strike policy has been in effect for decades, Zepp-LaRouche answered that that is true, but there are differences today in the world situation. Following the end of the Cold War, it would have been easy to dissolve NATO and go for a peace order. Instead, we got NATO expansion, more than 1,000 km eastward, then the Maidan coup in 2014 and the subsequent civil war in Ukraine which killed 14,000 in the Donbas. What we face now is not simply more of the same, but rather an escalation spiral. The population of Europe is “only slowly waking up,” unlike during the 1980s when hundreds of thousands were protesting in the streets.

She concluded, “If I may add a bit of optimistic outlook at the end of this discussion,” this is the time to call your elected officials. “Much of our democracies have been turned into plutocracies,” but you may find some officials who are still human, and civilization is at risk. Trump has hinted that he “might not be the kind NATO member that Biden was,” and we must act to ensure that is the case. She encouraged the participants to read up on the Peace of Westphalia, and her proposal for Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture.