International Peace Coalition

July 4—We, the undersigned, welcome the renewed peace initiative of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, as currently presented in his speech at the Russian Foreign Ministry on June 14, 2024. We urge the commencement of a diplomatic process forthwith, not withstanding the present state of hostilities between NATO/Ukraine and Russia. 

Time is of the essence. Any further escalation heightens the danger that the present conflagration will escalate to the level of region-wide war, or even thermonuclear confrontation, and that far more quickly than might be imagined. To ensure that this does not happen, we should follow this advice: “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. Let both sides explore what problems unite us, instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.” 

Those words, of American President John F. Kennedy, were echoed by his adversary, Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev, in a letter he wrote to JFK:”I have participated in two world wars, and know that war only ends when it has carved its way across cities and villages, bringing death and destruction in its wake.” That has been the unnecessary toll in this war, a war that could have concluded over two years ago, by the end of March, 2022. Instead, through the clearly-documented intervention of the UK’s Boris Johnson and NATO, the already-negotiated proposal for peace between Russia and Ukraine was scuttled. Hundreds of thousands of lives were unnecessarily sacrificed as a result. 

The Putin June 14, 2024 proposal is the world’s opportunity to “get back on track.” It could prove the first step in creating a new international strategic architecture, to replace the now-dead post-1989/91 “unipolar” construct. This June 14 peace initiative is a successor to a series of failed, sabotaged, but persistent peace attempts, as openly documented to the world in the conclusion and attempted implementation of Minsk-2 in 2015, as well as in the willingness to negotiate even after the commencement of Russia’s Special Military Operation, February 24, 2022. It was seen in the March, 2022 treaty that was initialed by both Russian and Ukrainian official representatives, but never adopted, because of Boris Johnson’s imperial intervention.

We here declare, emphatically, that the goal of dismembering Russia by using the Ukraine conflict as a springboard for regime change there, is clearly a madman’s enterprise in the era of thermonuclear weapons. In view of the suffering caused by war and aggression, and the danger of this conflict escalating into a Third World War, broad support for this initiative is an important expression of the will of all rational people to survive.

The war-mongering, and profit and revenge-driven calls for Russia to be defeated, are based on the mistaken assumption that the theater of war—including nuclear war—can be limited. This was not, however, the case in either the First or Second World Wars. Through today’s military capabilities, which can reach any target in the world in the shortest possible time, such a “limited war” assumption is evidence of a huge misjudgment of the reality of our time. Those calling for war, and against negotiations, mistakenly believe that they might have a safe chance of survival. In thermonuclear war, there is no hiding place.

To repeat: We urge the commencement of a diplomatic process forthwith, not withstanding the present state of war between NATO/Ukraine and Russia. To this end, we urge the Ukraine Rada to rescind the order preventing direct negotiations with Russia. We fully support the construction of a new security architecture for Europe and indeed for the world. We urge the warring parties – and those in supporting roles – to come together in good faith to negotiate a lasting peace based upon mutually beneficial economic relationships among the countries involved.

    Specifically, we recommend the following steps: 

    First, to begin initial discussions, based upon the Russian peace proposal of June 14, 2024. 

    Second, based on progress in those initial discussions, to seek the earliest possible declaration of an agreed upon ceasefire in the conflict. 

    Third, once an agreed-upon ceasefire’s terms have been set to paper, reinforce and strengthen trust through a new economic architecture, including forces from outside of the conflict that have advanced various proposals for advancing peace. 

We must, with regard to these negotiations, not only remember, but re-commit to the lessons of the Peace of Westphalia that ended the Thirty Years War: a lasting peace requires that one take into account “the interest of the other, ” and all others, for that matter. “No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.” That was the conviction of Kennedy and Khrushchev, who as leaders, faced a moment when they, together, might have destroyed all human life, perhaps forever. They negotiated, and humanity prevailed. We stand, perhaps not yet in, but very close to that very same place now. We must not fail.

by Daniel Platt

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.

by Kevin Gribbroek

“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.”

by Daniel Platt

May 24, 2024 (EIRNS)—This week’s 51st meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) saw a fruitful colloquy among some of the U.S.’s foremost intelligence experts: former CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson; former U.S. diplomat, CIA official, and Islamic scholar Graham Fuller; and former CIA analyst and Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) co-founder Ray McGovern; all in dialogue with Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s strategic analysis—and proposed solutions—presented in her opening remarks. (See extended transcript of opening remarks.)

Helga Zepp-LaRouche observed that we are in a time when “history becomes more dense,” and profound change is proceeding at an accelerating pace, even as the danger of nuclear war rises. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) today issued an emergency order to halt Israel’s attack on Rafah. “The question is, will that be enforced, and if so, how?” Zepp-LaRouche asked. “It seems to be dawning on some people in the Western establishment that if you apply a double standard … the legality of the system may be there, but it is about to lose its legitimacy.” This week Ireland, Spain, and Norway joined the list of 140 UN member nations that have recognized the State of Palestine. If Israel continues to flout the ICJ’s binding orders to stop the genocide in Gaza—as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again sworn they will do—then Israel could be suspended from UN membership.

Looking at other theaters of strategic confrontation carrying the danger of escalation into nuclear war, Zepp-LaRouche asked whether the attempt on the life of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was made by a “lone assassin.” There are indications that he may have had assistance. Large influxes of money have flowed into NGOs, not only in Slovakia, but in Georgia, Serbia, and Hungary as well, whose leaders are all critical of Ukraine war funding, and are speaking out against the perpetrators of the destabilization operations. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze posted on Twitter/X that he received a threat from an EU Commission member, warning that he could meet the same fate as Fico.

In Asia, newly inaugurated Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te gave an inaugural address in which he insisted that Taiwan is “a sovereign independent nation.” In response, China held military exercises around Taiwan, as a clear signal that they will not tolerate secession masquerading as “independence.” Zepp-LaRouche reminded the IPC participants that for decades, “One China” has been internationally recognized. She concluded by saying that the next six months will be decisive, and that we in the IPC, along with like-minded forces around the world, must put a different narrative, a different solution on the agenda, in the tradition of the Peace of Westphalia, using the Oasis Plan.

Larry C. Johnson contrasted present U.S. foreign policy with the Nixon period, when, despite the Cold War, we could actually talk to Russia and China. Now, “The United States is like a 3-year-old child with a hammer,” and everything looks like a nail. He warned that if this continues, “the U.S. will implode upon itself…. It is pretending that it can project military force in three theaters simultaneously.” Our Navy is completely vulnerable to the hypersonic weapons that Russia and China both possess. Johnson insisted that “people in Asia, Africa and South America are sick and tired of being bullied by the United States.”

Graham Fuller followed and said, “Larry and I have both toiled in the vineyards of intelligence.” Fuller said that the U.S. is unable to face the reality of its relative decline in the world. Referencing the “complicated, perhaps triangular relationship” in the Middle East between Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, he observed that China had remarkably defused tension between the Saudis and Iran, which “took the wind out of the sails of the argument that ‘The Iranians are coming! The Iranians are coming!’”

Fuller concluded by saying, “It’s a cliché to say crises promote opportunities,” but he offered the hope that this will shake people up to come up with some new ideas.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche intervened to insist that it is our job to offer those new ideas. The Western nations act as if there were no tomorrow, no consequences, but “the way out would be so absolutely, breathtakingly easy.” She identified the expanding BRICS organization and the Oasis Plan as the path to a solution. None of the Global South nations has called the U.S. the enemy. We could work with them.

Ray McGovern recalled that he had started working as a CIA analyst in January 1964, as a specialist in Sino-Soviet relations. China and Russia “were squeezing each other….” Now “they’re in a fraternal embrace that won’t stop.” He has been surprised by many things, including the Russian military operation in Ukraine and the Chinese support for it; and their announcement of tactical nuclear weapons exercises. “None were pleasant surprises; I’m just afraid of what the next one might be.”

Meeting co-moderator Dennis Speed observed that these “surprises” represent the essence of intelligence work: the careful examination of “what doesn’t add up,” adding that the analyst must “poke reality with a stick,” and change the analysis as necessary. Read the EIR Daily Alert every day!

During the discussion, one of the first comments centered on the overriding importance of Lyndon LaRouche’s breakthroughs in economics, and praise of LaRouche by leading Russian economist Sergey Glazyev. Independent Congressional candidate Jose Vega, who has just successfully filed three times the required number of signatures required to attain ballot access, reported on his visits to New York campus encampments protesting the genocide in Gaza. LaRouche movement organizer Bill Ferguson reported on the May 23 Harvard commencement exercises: Trucks were driving around with neon signs denouncing as anti-Semites the 1,000 students who walked out to support 13 seniors barred from graduation over their role in the Gaza protests. LaRouche organizers displayed a banner: “Peace through Development: Build LaRouche’s Oasis Plan.” After the LaRouche organizers choral performance of peace songs, a policeman approached, saying “You’ve got really killer voices,” encouraging them to keep it up.

An Indian journalist elaborated on the importance of unity among the three, largest and founding members of the BRICS—Russia, India, China (RIC)—and pointed to the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), extending from St. Petersburg through Iran and Central Asia, across the Arabian Sea to Mumbai in India, as an example of regional cooperation, notwithstanding the tensions in the region. Helga Zepp-LaRouche concurred: “The anchor of stability is the connectivity projects,” such as the BRICS and BRICS-Plus.

Other participants expressed anxiety about the U.S. presidential election. One person suggested that Biden might be the lesser evil; another stated the opposite. Co-moderator Dennis Small said that the very concept of the “lesser evil” comes from Aristotle, who did not believe in the Good. Throw Aristotle in the trash, and read Plato, to learn how to think from a higher vantage point from which the Good is attainable, was his advice. Zepp-LaRouche suggested support for independent candidates like Jose Vega and Diane Sare, concurring with Sare that no candidate running is qualified to be President of the United States. She added, “I would not bet the fate of the world on these election processes.” The confiscation of Russian assets may trigger an unprecedented financial crisis which will upset the applecart. Our efforts should concentrate on the proposed new international security and development architecture and the Oasis Plan. Echoing the comments of a participant from Mali, she said that we must “put the One Humanity first.”