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International Peace Coalition, Week 105: Confront Madness of Attacks on Russia, Assassination Threats on Leaders

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), opened the 105th consecutive weekly meeting today by warning that the strategic situation has significantly worsened over the past week with the June 1 drone attacks by Ukraine deep inside the territory of Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown remarkable forbearance. It is ominous that U.S. President Donald Trump says he was not informed of the operation, despite the fact that MI6 and CIA were almost surely involved in its planning and targeting. It is important that the two Presidents spoke June 4.

It is clear that the perpetrators hoped to corral Trump into the “Coalition of the Willing,” that wishes to perpetuate the war. Neocons within the Trump administration are also agitating for some sort of provocation against Iran, and the horror in Gaza continues unabated.

Zepp-LaRouche made a point of advising everyone, in order to understand the ongoing “scenario” of madness, to read the June 5 column in the Washington Post, “Ukraine’s Dirty War Is Just Getting Started,” by senior reporter David Ignatius.

Understanding Russia

The IPC meeting, which occurred on the anniversary of the 1944 D-Day Normandy invasion, featured an intense, but grave back and forth about the nature of the attacks on Russia: Why are they occurring? What will President Putin do?

Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), said that Russia has chosen not to escalate, because its leaders hope that they can still negotiate with Trump and develop a decent relationship with the U.S. The Russians are furious over the attack, but Putin “remains calm, cool and collected, as we say in the States.” Western analysts got all worked up, but what have the Russians said? “Almost nothing.” The Ukrainians and their masters had hoped to get Russia to overreact, in order to manipulate the U.S. into joining the “coalition of the dead brains.” McGovern said that the New York Times lies when it reports that Russia is responding to attacks on its military bases. The Russians are not saying this at all; they say they are responding to “terrorist attacks” on civilian infrastructure.

Jose Vega, a leader of the LaRouche movement and independent candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s 15th Congressional District, addressed this point during the discussion, asking how, if attacks are being classified by Russia as terrorism, and Russia does not negotiate with terrorists, does this represent a change? McGovern replied that the Russians are concentrating on the attacks on the bridges, and deliberately avoiding discussion of the attack on their strategic forces. They consider the Ukrainian leadership terrorists, but they intend to negotiate. McGovern said that Putin “will surprise everybody with how much sangfroid he has.”

Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector and former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence specialist, made the fundamental point that there is no overlap between the core interests of NATO and of Russia. Russia will not tolerate a Ukraine that is being used as a proxy to sabotage Russia. Moscow will continue to insist on the demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine. The West continues to hope that Russia will bend the knee. But, he said, “The root causes of this conflict will be addressed.”

In reply, McGovern said that Russia will stick to its announced objectives, but has no interest in taking possession of all of Ukraine. Zepp-LaRouche replied at one point to McGovern, commenting, “I’m probably an optimist for a slightly different reason than Ray.” She cited a German proverb, which she translated as, “the best person cannot live in peace, if the evil neighbor doesn’t like it.”

The Role of the British

In his presentation, Ritter charged that the British have been heavily deployed to “keep Ukraine in the fight…. I believe that the British have been heavily involved in trying to help the Ukrainians to kill the Russian President.”

During the discussion, McGovern recounted that his Irish grandfather once told him: “The British are responsible for every untoward thing that has happened in the world for the last three centuries.” The Brits were probably involved on multiple levels with the Ukrainian attacks, and Trump was probably kept out of the loop.

Dennis Fritz, past director of the Eisenhower Media Network and a retired Command Chief Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, added that the British are “living their dream through us” in the United States. Fritz reminded the participants that then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson shot down the 2022 peace deal between Ukraine and Russia that was worked out in the first round of talks in Istanbul. He later added that he had studied the playbook of the neocons in the Pentagon, where he had served and seen it first-hand, and part of their playbook is to work behind the back of the President.

The Significance of the Assassination Threats

During the discussion, IPC co-moderator Dennis Small said that the problem with the Ukrainian attacks is that they come in the context of assassination attempts against both Trump and Putin. They represent a statement of intent. Unless we are able to implement the diplomacy and development solutions of the Schiller Institute, they will find a way to take the world to war. Zepp-LaRouche pointed out that if one of these assassination attempts actually succeeds, we could lose civilization.

McGovern went further, saying that one incentive for Putin to deal with Trump is that he realizes that both of them may not be around much longer.

Details of the Attacks on Russia

Col. (ret.) Richard H. Black, former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon, Marine Corps combat veteran, and former Virginia State Senator, said that the Ukrainian drone attack was a substantial psychological blow. It turns out that the Ukrainian claims of damage to Russian aircraft were exaggerated, but there was an initial psychological impact, and it was timed to disrupt the peace talks. NATO has a long-range plan to continue the hostilities. Clearly, U.S. satellite imagery was used by Ukraine, and it is likely that the CIA or MI6 played a leading role in planning the operation.

Lt. Col. (ret.) Ralph Bossard of the Swiss Armed Forces, a consultant on military-strategic affairs, in 2014 served as a senior planning officer for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM). He presented key specifics of what is known about Ukraine’s June 1 Operation Spiderweb drone attack. Bossard expressed regret that there are people in the Western media, and even in the intelligence agencies, who are ready to uncritically repeat anything the Ukrainians say. “De-escalation can only be achieved if Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump agree not to take advantage of the current situation,” he said, and characterized Ukraine as “a government whose fanaticism outweighs its intellect.”

Dennis Fritz warned, “At any time, Russia could destroy Ukraine.” Russia has hypersonic intermediate-range missiles, which they could use at any time. The U.S. should be a voice for peace, but we broke the Iran deal, and we vetoed the UN Security Council resolution on Gaza on June 5, Thursday of this week.

Scott Ritter stated that, “over the past couple of weeks there have been two occasions where Russia would be within its doctrinal rights to use nuclear weapons.” One was a Ukrainian drone attack against Putin’s helicopter, a clear assassination attempt. The other was the June 1 drone attack on five of Russia’s strategic air bases.

Upcoming Actions

Ritter reported that on June 18, they will “resurrect the Space Bridge,” on the 40th anniversary of the 1985 Citizens’ Summit organized by Phil Donahue of the United States and Vladimir Pozner of the Soviet Union. Ritter is also making a film called “Thirty-Eight Minutes” about the 2018 false alarm of inbound nuclear missiles in Hawaii.

Zepp-LaRouche announced a demonstration June 6 in the German town of Schrobenhausen, where the Taurus missiles are produced.

A Spanish participant announced that there will also be a demonstration June 6 in Madrid, to “activate the anti-war mentality” in that country.


The Most Beautiful Renaissance – IPC #104

The 104th consecutive online meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) marked the two-year anniversary of its founding, and followed on the heels of the highly successful Schiller Institute conference which took place in Newark, New Jersey over Memorial Day weekend. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, began by commenting on the strategic situation, saying that tensions around the Ukraine war have increased sharply in the last week, but that “all is not lost,” despite the fact that “Trump used very undiplomatic language” with respect to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Amazingly, Trump reported he was not briefed on what appears to have been the attempted drone attack by Ukraine on Putin’s helicopter.

Zepp-LaRouche expressed guarded optimism about the next round of Ukraine-Russia talks, to be held June 2 in Istanbul. She warned of the danger of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s intention to provide Taurus missiles to Ukraine. A respected military expert on the Russian news program “60 Minutes” recently mooted the possibility of using Oreshnik hypersonic missiles to obliterate the plant in Schrobenhausen, Germany, where the Taurus is manufactured. Merz’s policy, she said, reminds the world of what Germany did 80 years ago when they attacked the Soviet Union, and Russian official comments have stopped just “a tiny millimeter away” from saying that Germany had reverted to Nazism. She urged the participants to watch her dialogue with Professor Ted Postol from earlier in the week, and commented on the “marked shift” in the Western rhetoric recognizing the genocide in Gaza—recognition which is still “too little, too late,” because the killing continues, unabated.

‘Collective Insanity’ in Europe

Graham Fuller, a former U.S. diplomat, CIA official, and Islamic scholar, said that the situation with the leadership in Europe looks like “collective insanity,” and that Europe must come to terms with their important neighbor, Russia.

Fuller commented on an article in the American Conservative, which pointed out the language Trump used last week in Saudi Arabia, when he said that it is not his job to look into the hearts and minds of world leaders, but rather, that’s God’s job. Fuller suggested that this may mean that Trump is “moving away from the classic neoconservative view,” which, like Leon Trotsky, calls for “world revolution.” Trump rejects this approach; Trump’s worldview is not ideological, it is “fundamentally economic,” according to Fuller. “Trump’s vision is a transactional one,” he said, adding that he would sum it up as “make business, not war.”

Fuller said that he disagrees with his esteemed colleague John Mearsheimer, who believes that the U.S. and China are destined to clash because of their size. He reminded the participants of the Turkish policy of “zero enemies,” advocated by former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. Trump, Fuller said, realizes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies are turning Israel into a pariah state, and the continuing support by the U.S. can be “extremely costly on the diplomatic front.” The U.S. is being left out of the dramatic developments around the BRICS, etc., and Trump intuitively recognizes this. Trump is willing to talk to the “main countries that matter,” unlike his immediate predecessors.

Although Fuller disagrees with Trump on immigration and student affairs, including “his war on Harvard,” he is heartened by the possibility that Trump may be distancing himself from the neocon outlook, although later, during the discussion period, he emphasized that it is too early to conclude that this is the case. He wrapped up his comments by reminding participants of the famous quote from President John Quincy Adams: “America … goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.”

Flirting with Human Extinction

What followed was a five-minute video clip from Zepp-LaRouche’s May 28 webcast discussion with Theodore Postol, who is professor emeritus of Science, Technology and National Security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Postol asserted, “We are dealing with hallucinating leadership in the West,” who are flirting with the thermonuclear extinction of humanity. Fortunately, “Putin is a man who will not allow himself to be provoked…. If somebody kills him, God help us.” Zepp-LaRouche responded by saying that “you would think that every sane person would be happy” that Trump and Putin are trying to normalize relations. After the U.S. losing all the wars from Vietnam to the present, you would also think that the policy would be reevaluated, but there is no sign of such reflection.

IPC co-moderator Dennis Small observed that talk of assassinations is in no way idle. The drone attacks in Russia appear to have targeted Putin’s helicopter, while in the U.S., we have Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s identification of the death threat by former FBI chief James Comey against Trump.

The LaRouche Organization activist Daniel Burke presented a report from the just-concluded Schiller Institute conference. Attendees saw previously unseen videos of Lyndon LaRouche speaking to younger people on the meaning of immortality, defined as participation in a mission that lives on after you die, to bring human activity into coherence with natural law. There was significant youth attendance, both at the conference and online. Burke was moderator of the youth panel, which he encouraged participants to watch.

Jose Vega, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s 15th Congressional District, described the testimony of Dr. Feroze Sidhwa at the UN Security Council, about the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which got significant coverage in independent media as well as some mainstream media.

Discussion

A journalist commented that over time, the perception that Netanyahu was fighting the war in Gaza for security purposes has changed, after his obvious sabotage of efforts to free hostages. The war has been hijacked by the extreme right wing in Israel’s government, who want ethnic cleansing. Netanyahu wants to prolong the war in order to prevent the formation of an investigative committee that will examine his role in allowing the October 7, 2023 attacks to take place.

A Washington, D.C. activist described a campaign to ask Pope Leo XIV to go to Gaza. In response, Schiller Institute leader Tim Rush reported on a campaign to circulate the Open Letter to the Pope which was reported at the IPC meeting two weeks ago, and has now been signed by roughly 600 individuals. It has been translated into half a dozen languages.

IPC co-moderator Anastasia Battle reported that a new Freedom Flotilla has just set sail for Gaza, with food and medicine for the starving Palestinians.

Nuclear-weapons expert Steve Starr, a frequent IPC panelist, submitted a note commenting on a report by RT that Ukraine would have needed U.S. help to target Putin’s helicopter, providing the drones and real-time intelligence for targeting. If that is the case, Starr asked, did elements in the Pentagon authorize this, going behind Trump’s back? Fuller expressed the hope that we have not yet reached that level of insanity. Zepp-LaRouche urged that a full investigation be conducted about the incident, and that it is not productive to speculate until such an investigation is done. We don’t yet know whether this was an assassination attempt, or simply a large-scale drone attack on the area where the helicopter was operating.

In response to a question from Germany, Zepp-LaRouche urged everyone to read the EIR Daily Alert, which was enthusiastically seconded by Fuller.

In his closing remarks, Fuller delivered another strong endorsement of the EIR Daily Alert, noting that his own experience in intelligence over decades allows him to confirm that it is of exceptional quality, and should be widely read.

Zepp-LaRouche agreed with Fuller on John Quincy Adams’ “wonderful speech.” She said, look back on every Renaissance where the Dark Ages were overcome; what got us out of the one in Europe was the humanist movement of Cusa, Dante and Petrarch, and the Council of Florence which revived Plato. That’s what we need to do now, and we will have “the most beautiful Renaissance, what we can’t even imagine yet.”

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Not a Single Effort Toward Peace Will Be in Vain

International Peace Coalition 101

May 9, 2025 (EIRNS)—The 101st consecutive online meeting of the International Peace Coalition, on Friday, May 9, addressed several urgent topics:

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, reported that 29 heads of state were in Moscow for the May 8-9 Victory Day celebration. Russia and China took this occasion to consolidate their partnership and denounce attempts by the Anglophiles to rewrite history. In an attempt to counter this event, the NATO faction declared May 8 to be “Europe Day,” and the German government prohibited any display of Russian or Soviet flags. Earlier, the European Commission had forbidden EU leaders to attend the Victory Day event, but Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico had announced their intention to participate.

Larry Johnson, former CIA officer and a cofounder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), posed the question, Why do Americans tolerate endless wars? He answered that Americans haven’t paid the price; even in World War II we did not suffer the way other nations did. In World War II, 20% of the Russian population died, compared to 0.1% of Americans.

Co-moderator Dennis Speed asked Johnson to comment on the VIPS presence at the event in Moscow. Johnson reported that Ray McGovern and Oliver Stone are there, speaking with government officials and student groups. Scott Ritter has drafted a letter calling for a return to arms control negotiations, but the Russians are cautious because the U.S. routinely abrogates agreements. During the question period, a viewer asked for comment on Stone’s “lefty” role, to which Speed replied that Stone was not originally a leftist; he had fought in Vietnam as a volunteer, which had a major impact on his views.

The Ongoing Genocide in Gaza

Mossi Raz, former Member of the Knesset and former Director General of Peace Now, said, “It seems that the Israeli government has no idea what it wants to achieve in this war,” and that it is “interested in revenge more than in solving problems.” The Israelis are expanding settlement activity, and making “small moves toward annexation.” He endorsed the Egyptian plan for rebuilding Gaza, but noted that it cannot be implemented until the shooting stops, and “if President Trump wants to stop it, he could stop it in one minute.”

Larry Johnson remarked that there are reports that Trump is sick and tired of Netanyahu, and has cut off contact. This, if true, could lead to welcome changes

Dr. Dannie Ritchie, Founder of Community Health Innovations of Rhode Island, gave a report on the Doctors Against Genocide’s upcoming press conference. She said that over 1,000 healthcare professionals have died in Gaza, and the Israelis are targeting hospitals and children. Our tax dollars are funding it, which makes us directly complicit. Doctors Against Genocide has a project called “Bread not Bombs, Let the Children Eat” Later, she commented that it is shocking that a people who once were victims of genocide can now perpetrate it. If what is being done to Gazans were done to animals in the U.S., Americans would not stand for it.

Zepp-LaRouche responded to a question from Congressional candidate Jose Vega, that “the intention of Israel is very clearly, they want to get rid of all Palestinians in Gaza.” She emphasized that time is running out, and the June 2-4 conference of the UN on the two-state solution is crucial.

The Importance of Economic Development

After some debate among the speakers about the viability of the Egyptian plan for Gaza, former Guyanese President Donald Ramotar intervened to say that in order to have a lasting peace, “you cannot divorce the question of development.” He went on to promote the Oasis Plan as essential to peace in Southwest Asia. This was later underscored by Zepp-LaRouche, who said that we need to mobilize for the Egyptian plan plus the Oasis Plan. “If it coincides with what Larry is saying about Trump, so be it, that’s even better.” Later, Johnson asserted that the reports on Trump and Netanyahu are credible because the U.S. blinked in Yemen, withdrew and declared victory.

A video was presented, excerpted from an interview conducted by EIR’s Gerald Belsky with author and Professor Dr. Glenn Diesen. Belsky asked him for comment on the relationship between the American System approach to economics, and the emerging new order in the world. Diesen reviewed the history of Alexander Friedrich List and Sergei Witte, and observed that the new leaders of the Global South are “linking industrial sovereignty to political sovereignty, as Hamilton clearly did.” He said that Russia is going down this path with industrial sovereignty, transportation corridors, financial sovereignty, and the New Paradigm calls for cooperation between equals, not a hierarchy of dominance. He recalled that he had seen “an ‘American System’ developing in China” when they announced the Belt and Road Initiative.

President Ramotar observed that Biden attempted to present an infrastructure initiative, but his plan was “more tactical in nature,” designed to counter China more than to create peace.

The Significance of the New Pope

Jacques Cheminade, the president of Solidarité et Progrès party in France, praised the decision of the new Pope to call himself Leo XIV in reference to Leo XIII, who authored the encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891, as the basis for modern Catholic social doctrine. Cheminade’s remarks were seconded by Pax Christi leader Jack Gilroy, who said that the encyclical stresses the dignity of every human being. Zepp-LaRouche said that she is “hopeful and optimistic” about the new Pope. In Germany you have parties CDU and CSU with “Christian” in their name, but what they are doing is the opposite. Cheminade suggested that colonial wars were testing what distinguishes between good Christians and fake Christians, and Johnson said that when European churches “became enablers of colonialism,” they abandoned their faith.

Later, during the question period, a viewer asked why had academics and others in Europe repudiated Judeo-Christian values. Zepp-LaRouche named three key factors: synarchism, the Frankfurt School, and the Congress for Cultural Freedom. “They consciously intended to de-root the people from their Classical culture,” and to replace it with neoliberal values. “This is not a natural development, but it is the result of social engineering and manipulation.”

Discussion

Jose Vega, who is a Congressional candidate in the Bronx, New York, reviewed the activities of his campaign in making public interventions to confront the hypocrisy of public figures. He described how one activist confronted Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after it became publicly known that she and other prominent Democrats weren’t working “tirelessly for a ceasefire.” He reported that a lot more young people are coming around, and urged people to attend the Memorial Day weekend Schiller Institute conference.

In response to a question on fascism, Zepp-LaRouche replied that it sacrifices human life to the maximization of profit. The authors of bad policy are never blamed, instead others are scapegoated, such as immigrants. “The British System does not respect the creativity of human beings,” because it is preoccupied with “buying cheap and selling dear.”

A participant commented that “Mrs. LaRouche looked so bright and shiny when she returned from China,” which was encouraging.

Zepp-LaRouche and Larry Johnson spoke of the danger in the current India-Pakistan conflict. Johnson reported that the Pakistani Defense Minister admitted that for more than 30 years, Pakistan has been the slave of the U.S. in protecting and covering for terrorist organizations. He said that Western intelligence is stirring the pot in Kashmir to create tension and destabilize BRICS.

Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche concluded by reiterating the importance of the mobilization to getting “the Oasis Plan into the hopper, big time…. We are on this Earth to do good, not just to eat burgers and drive Porsches…. Whatever little part all of you can do, do your part.”

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Wielding Development As the ‘Weapon of Peace’

May 2, 2025 (EIRNS)—For nearly two years, the International Peace Coalition, which was organized to unite peace movements from around the world without regard to ideology, has been holding weekly online conferences with over 55 nations represented and thousands of participants. On May 2, the Coalition celebrated a milestone with its 100th consecutive meeting.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Founder of the Schiller Institute, presented a sobering progress report. Despite the growing influence of the Coalition, “We are seeing a very disturbing increase in conflicts.” Though there may be regional causes to these conflicts, the underlying basis is the tension created by the decline of the old, colonial system, and the emergence of the new one. She addressed the new outbreak of hostilities between India and Pakistan, calling for an independent investigation of the terror incident which sparked it. The situation there is escalating. The use of nuclear weapons is being discussed on both sides.

A new deal was announced in Ukraine, where the U.S. can exploit raw materials and some U.S. troops will remain in Ukraine, which may be “not to the liking of the Russians.” Unfortunately, “some crazy Europeans are committed to keep this war going.”

On the trade war front, she warned that tariffs could trigger a default by developing nations and/or collapse of the financial system. President Trump has not thought this through.

Since March 2, Israel has blockaded Gaza, and using food as a weapon of war is a war crime. We have called for an international mobilization to put the LaRouche Oasis Plan on the agenda of a high-level conference which the UN has scheduled on the two state solution, to take place on June 2-4, 2025 in New York. The late Pope Francis called development “the weapon of peace,” making him an implicit supporter of the Oasis Plan.

As important as regional measures may be, we need to end geopolitics for a lasting solution. We need a new paradigm that puts the one humanity first. We continue to call for the Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture.

Col. Richard H. Black (ret.), former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon and former Virginia State Senator, warned that “during the Biden administration, the U.S. became wildly provocative toward China.” He offered a timeline of provocative acts, such as the visit by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and others to Taiwan for the express purpose of provoking China. “Consider the enormity of a possible war with China, and compare that to Vietnam,” said Black. The Vietnam War was costly to the U.S. and ended in defeat. China is 29 times the size of Vietnam, with a vastly larger population and far more advanced technology.

Ambassador Hossein Mousavian, former ambassador from Iran to Germany, described how Iran had endeavored to compromise with the West; they agreed to cooperate with the IAEA, and to export uranium enriched to 60% to Russia, in order to allay fears that they intended to develop nuclear weapons. The Trump administration had made some progress with negotiations, but then the U.S. technical team that was to be sent to Oman was canceled, apparently due to an intervention by Netanyahu, who said that Israel would only accept the “Libya model” (which culminated in the utter destruction of Libya.) U.S. Secretary of State Rubio claims that the only use of uranium enrichment is for bombs, which is a ridiculous untruth. Mousavian offered a long list of states that have enrichment programs but no nuclear weapons.

Ofer Bronchtein, a former advisor of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and President of the Paris-based International Peace Forum, is presently an advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron on the Israeli situation. He believes that the French/Saudi initiative for a two-state solution can succeed, and is trying to build a coalition to support it. Zepp-LaRouche asked him to join the mobilization for the Oasis Plan. He replied that Rabin understood the importance of water: “Without water, there won’t be peace.”

International Law Under Threat

Jonathan Kuttab, International Human Rights Lawyer, Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America and Co-Founder of Nonviolence International, spoke on the problem of Israel’s “utter impunity of ignoring international law,” no longer even bothering to offer “the excuse of military targets.” More than 230 journalists have been killed by the IDF, more than in any previous conflict. “We now see a deliberate attack on international institutions, on international courts, and on international law itself.” This has implications that go far beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Excerpts were shown of a video interview by EIR’s Gerald Belsky with Maoz Inon, an Israeli peace activist and leader of the peace demo in Jerusalem May 8-9, the People’s Peace Summit. He said that “the only way to change reality is in the field of dream.” We need to shout it, dance it, sing about it, to legitimize the dream. We need diplomacy, dialogue and negotiation. The current wildfires in Israel are a consequence of investment that should have gone into water management being diverted to military use.

LaRouche activist Robert Castle gave a youth outreach report. He has been working with the Jose Vega congressional campaign in the Bronx, intersecting students on the way to classes and “challenging the young citizens of our republic to ask themselves whether they have a moral responsibility to intervene in this crisis.”

Zepp-LaRouche fully agreed with Kutab: it’s not just about Gaza, the larger issue is the non-response of the world community to the Gaza genocide, which can lead to a complete collapse of international law and descent into barbarism. International law did not exist before the Peace of Westphalia, which made it necessary.

Discussion

Zepp-LaRouche answered a question on the India-Pakistan conflict by asking, cui bono? Many nations that aspire to join BRICS have been targeted with economic/financial warfare or violent destabilization.

Kutab was asked, what can civil society do when governments fail to take action? He endorsed BDS, and said we should organize football and cultural organizations (which played a big role in ending apartheid in South Africa.)

A German participant renewed his plea that solar energy be used in place of nuclear energy for the Oasis Plan. He was invited to participate in the upcoming conference, where that topic will be discussed. Co-moderator Dennis Small reminded him that energy flux-density is the metric for evaluating energy sources. Because the Iberian Peninsula went entirely for solar and wind, there was a complete collapse of their energy grid last week.

A question was posed: Was the November 1995 assassination of Rabin the tipping point for the current crisis? Kutab responded, “There’s no question that Rabin himself was trying to deal with that situation in a new way.” But there were problems both before and after Rabin.

Moderator Anastasia Battle reported that there has been an attack on the Freedom Flotilla in international waters, which some IPC participants have been on board the flotilla. We hope for their safety and well-being.

In response to a question from the Chinese Media Group on the trade war, Zepp-LaRouche said, “President Trump is presently vacillating and responding to pressure.” She cited Nicholas of Cusa, who said that if you have a systemic problem, you cannot solve it by addressing side issues. The human creative mind always has the capacity to resolve the problem on a higher level than the level on which the problem arose. In conclusion, she renewed her plea for people to join forces with us in working to put the Oasis Plan and Ten Principles on the agenda for the upcoming conference in June.

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Partial Transcript of International Peace Coalition Meeting #99, Friday, April 25, 2025

DENNIS KUCINICH: First of all, I want to thank you for the invitation to join and to thank each one of you for your personal commitment for peace and social and economic justice. The journey that each one of you took to this moment is honored; and I’m grateful to participate if only for a few minutes.

I keep going back to this point—it’s like we need a new language to describe the horror that’s going on—but justifications, rationalizations that have been made cry out for our response. The political system has been bought unfortunately, and there are not many people who can go to the media who are inside the government to protest what’s going on in Gaza in particular. So, we have this anesthetizing, a kind of numbness that has taken place. People are still breaking through, groups of people around the country and certainly around the world are going to the streets. And I think ultimately that’s the kind of nonviolent action that will help tip the balance. It was when students in particular went into the streets during the Vietnam War that Lyndon Johnson decided that he couldn’t defend it anymore, and he stepped down. Of course Nixon and Kissinger kept it going for quite a few more years, but the ferment that was out there in the country helped to force a reconsideration of America’s role.

But here we are again—the mass violence. You had Vietnam, Iraq, Gaza, and it’s an arc of inhumanity in our country. In the United States—I know there are people on this call from outside the States—but the United States is a principal initiator of this. So, we have a lot of work to do inside our own country. It’s not just at the policy level; even before we get to the policy level we have to think about the consciousness from which these murderous policies are derived. That’s a shift that takes place through the instrumentality of our own beings and speaking out and gathering people; and that’s why I say thanks for what the IPC is doing and for all those of you who do this work. Any way that I can be of assistance to what you’re trying to do, tell me.

ANASTASIA BATTLE: Thank you so much Mr. Kucinich for that. I know Ray McGovern is so excited to have you on; he really wanted you on today. I know your time is limited—

KUCINICH: Well, Ray is one of my heroes, so it’s great to be with you.

BATTLE: Wonderful! We wanted to make sure if you were available, if you could stay a little bit to hear what he had to say, and then you guys could have a conversation.

KUCINICH: You know, I’d love to hear what Ray has to say, and then I would say I can push things back here; just let me do a quick text. I’m good until 11:40 Eastern time, so yes, Ray, go ahead.

RAY MCGOVERN: What a gift to have all these Dennises on there; all three of them, especially my friend Dennis Kucinich, who is probably the direct successor of my real hero, and that was John F. Kennedy; a man of peace, but a man of courage and a man of justice. And that’s what I want to talk about now. We come out of the same faith tradition, and that means a lot to me as well. I noticed that Father Bury is going to be on, and Jack Gilroy; my God, we’ve got a bunch of macro-snappers on here. A bunch of Roman Catholics coming out of a wider ecumenical tradition, and I stress that.

Francis is dead. What did Francis do about Gaza? Francis made pious statements about Gaza. His most “specific” statement was, “You know, I’m told by my advisors that a lot of people think that there might be a genocide going on there in Gaza, so I think we should have an investigation.” This is months after the world court had already indicted Netanyahu and Gallant. It reminds me of World War II and Pius XII, who couldn’t find his voice. There are structural indignities no matter what Francis may have wanted to do, he didn’t do it; that’s my reality. He’s a nice guy; he’s a mensch, OK? But when my webmeister put my little article up about this, he said, “Nice guys don’t win ballgames, and nice guys don’t stop genocide.”

What’s the bottom line here? Well, it’s good news and it’s bad news. It’s up to us; and that’s just good news, because we’re up to it.

Let’s go back a ways. Yahweh to Cain after he had murdered his brother. “So, Cain, where’s your brother?” “How am I supposed to know? It’s none of my damn business?” Or, more faithful to the text, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Well, I think the people on this call are brothers’ and sisters’ keepers; and those people in Gaza are very much in need of our help right now. So, we have that witness there from the Bible story, we also have my favorite rabbi, Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who famously said, “When injustice takes place, few are guilty, but all are responsible. Indifference to evil”—look at Cain for example. Who cares about me? Who cares about my brother?—“Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself.” Abraham Heschel, very active during the Vietnam days and so forth.

Who else? Well, how bad is it in Gaza? There was an Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who actually ministered to Nelson Mandela, and knew apartheid in South Africa back and forth, right? What did Tutu say when he was asked, “Could you compare apartheid in South Africa and apartheid in Palestine?” He said, “Yeah, of course I can compare that.” Here’s what it is. “Life in Palestine is far more brutal and repressive than in apartheid South Africa.” And my friends, that was before the genocide.

Now, I often quote a fellow named Albert Camus, and you know the story if you’ve been listening to these things about how he talked to the Dominicans about the absence of a voice from Rome during World War II. To me, an agnostic? A voice from Rome? Yeah! Then I was told there was an encyclical. I said, “What’s an encyclical?” Then he said, what has to happen is that the voice has to come through loud and clear so the simplest man or woman can understand it; and that’s not enough. What he also said to a friend, during the height of the war in 1943, “It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.” He got the Nobel prize in 1957, where he expressed “the hope that the quality of the new generation and its increased unwillingness to adopt slogans or ideologies and return to a more tangible value system. We have nothing to lose,” says Camus, “except everything. So, let’s go ahead. This is the wager of our generation.” We could be led by people like Dennis Kucinich. “If we are to fail, it is better in any case to have stood on the side of those who refused to be dogs, and are resolved to pay the price that must be paid so that men and women can be more than dogs.”

Lastly from Camus, in 1943, a letter exchange with a young German who was very proud. He was going to make Germany great again. OK, comparisons are invidious, but these are his words. “You told me that the greatness of my country, Germany, is beyond price,” this young fellow wrote. “Anything is good that contributes to its greatness. Those who, like us young Germans, are lucky enough to find a meaning in the destiny of our nation, must sacrifice everything else.” 1943; already we knew the genocide was going on. “No,” says Camus, “I told you, I cannot believe that everything must be subordinate to a single end. There are means that cannot be excused, and I should like to be able to say I love my country and still love justice. I don’t want for my country a greatness born of blood and falsehood. I want to keep it alive, and keep justice alive.”

I want to finish here quickly by just referring to things that happened more recently. Let me talk about Heschel again. He was at Selma; he marched in all kinds of justice processions and demonstrations. This is what he said. “For many of us, the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Lakes are not lips, and walking is not kneeling. And yet, our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying, or my legs were demonstrating.”

How about a more recent one? One of my favorite theologians is Annie Dillard. Here’s what she said: “It’s really up to us. There never has been any other; not Popes, not any, not moral leaders that could exert leadership…. There are enough of us, but what we need to do is amass half-dressed in long lines like tribesmen and shake our gourds at each other to wake up. Instead, we watch television and miss the show.”

OK, I’ll go back to a biblical story, and I’ll talk about Isaiah; something most people don’t know. Did you know that he walked around for two years stark naked? Well, it’s in the Bible, folks; look it up. What was he trying to say? He was trying to garner attention to himself. People said, “Oh, that’s awful! You’re stark naked.” And what he said was, “I stripped myself of clothes. You are stripped of the gifts given you by Yahweh. The vision of justice and shalom.” Shalom is nothing more in the Biblical sense than the existence, the presence of justice. So, we can have peace, but we have to have justice first.

Last thing I’ll say is that we have to keep our heads on straight and look at the benefits of being in solidarity with one another. I used to say when I’d speak, “Look around you, for God’s sake! How can you not be encouraged with such fine companions in this struggle?” One of the consolations for me was that I have Stone. He warns us, he says, “Look, the only kinds of fights worth fighting are those that you can lose, because somebody has to fight them. And somebody has to lose, and lose, and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do, wins.” Well, in the process, we have to keep our sense of humor and have some fun. A friend of mine was a priest and had a brother who was a priest and they both came back to their Irish mother and talked about all the dogma they had learned. She said, “Tell me now, was there any fun at this meeting of yours?” They were stunned; because they realized that without some fun, nothing is going to happen.

So, let’s be justice people, let’s have some fun; but let’s stick with it, as Dennis Kucinich and many of you have already done. Thanks for letting me speak.

BATTLE: Thank you, Ray! Mr. Kucinich, if you want to say anything?

KUCINICH: I want to thank Ray as well for that erudite presentation. It is on us. What I’m doing right now is writing; I post on substack if you get a chance to go to denniskucinich@substack you can get a free subscription. I’m writing exactly about these topics we’re concerned with.

Thank you for the work that all of you do. Thanks again, Ray. And I’ll look forward to seeing you, joining you again. Keep going! Thank you.

MCGOVERN: Wish me luck; and those of you who are praying types, please hold me in the light. This afternoon I’m going to Moscow together with Oliver Stone. We have several meetings and panels set up. And best of all, we’ll be there at the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, when we were allies. We want to stress that we were allies then. John Kennedy, in his wonderful peace speech, said that almost alone among major powers in the world, the U.S. and Russia have never been at war. We’re going to try to speak and spread the word around. Maybe some of it will come back to the U.S. as well. But the idea is that this is something to celebrate; it is the possibility that this fellow Steve Witkoff, who’s in Moscow as we speak and just finished talking to Putin, will have some good news for us. I think that’s where the game is being played. So, wish me luck, and I probably will not be able to join you next week, but I’ll be with you in spirit.

DENNIS SMALL: I do have one piece of advice for you, Ray, for your trip. Have fun!

MCGOVERN: Perfect! OK, on that note, thanks very much folks.

A little bit later:

FATHER HARRY BURY: What is really significant to me is that Helga has been arguing about the importance of seeing people as all good. And the Holy Father, Pope Francis, treated people as all good. One of the reasons for the conflict in the world, it seems to me, is because we misunderstand what justice is about. We think that justice is vengeance. So, we think that the way to end evil-doing, to prevent people from doing bad things, is by punishment. And punishment is violence; and when you use violence, you lead to vengeance. And that’s what we are experiencing, and both Helga and Pope Francis have argued against that.

And the Oasis Plan calls for equity; that means to treat everybody equally. So, the Schiller Institute and Pope Francis were speaking the same message. And I hope that people have begun to understand that; that the reason people all over the world have liked Pope Francis is because he thinks of the people on the margins. And there wouldn’t be any people on the margins if we had the Oasis Plan in which we get peace through development. So, it’s important for me anyway, to understand and to promote the Oasis Plan because it’s in the spirit of Pope Francis. Thank you.

DENNIS SPEED: Thank you, Father Bury. Let me just say something, because many people who will be on will not know this about you. I will just read something from his biography.

“Father Bury’s activism started as a new priest, serving at the University of Minnesota’s Newman Center in the 1960s, when young Catholic men asked him to write letters for them as Conscientious Objectors for the Vietnam War. In 1971, at the request of some Vietnamese, he and three others chained themselves to the U.S. Embassy gate in Saigon to protest the Vietnam War.”

So, that was not a protest here that Anastasia was referring to. That’s a protest in Saigon in the 1970s. That’s very much in the Rabbi Heschel mode. Then in 2005, he was in Gaza, serving as a human shield, when he was temporarily abducted at that point. So, this is a man who clearly has done exactly what Ray McGovern was talking about before. We’re always honored to have him with us, and we are particularly honored about his clear idea about the Oasis Plan that has been put forward and will be being discussed by the way at our conference.

So, Father Bury, I just wanted to make sure you got recognized for that. And thank you again, very much for your remarks.

BATTLE: Next I’d like to go to Carolina from Mexico. She has a report on the youth recruitment process. As has been reported over the last few weeks, we’ve been making a huge effort going into the May conference to go to universities, places where many young people are, to get them active. Mexico in particular has had quite a bit of traction. So, we’re happy to have Carolina Dominguez on to give her report.

CAROLINA DOMINGUEZ: I want to tell you about the activities we have not only in Mexico, but in Ibero-America. I want to start first by mentioning something that has helped us in the work with the youth. This document that I want to mention is a book by Martin Luther King called Why We Can’t Wait. It’s a very extraordinary book that I recommend to everybody. He dedicates it to his children, but in his Foreword, he says that he hopes that in the future his children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by their character and their actions.

In this book, he presents the famous letter he wrote in the Birmingham Jail, in which he answers the critics in his collaborators who said his actions were not correct, and that was why he was in jail. He says something very funny. He says, I don’t answer to my critics, because if I do, I will not be able to do anything. What is important are the actions, and in that sense he responds to something that for us has been fundamental—work with youth. It’s the concept of nonviolent action. His response is that while they have to do demonstrations and activities, he says the best way to come to agreements is through negotiation. Martin Luther King says that is true, but when the leadership doesn’t want to negotiate because they don’t consider what the other side is presenting is important, we need to provoke that negotiation; provoke a tension. That’s what he’s talking about in creating tension through direct action. The individual has to be clear that he’s not in agreement with what is going on. Morally, the individual has to be very clear that what is occurring is not what he believes in; he has to be very clear on that not only in his heart, but in society. Those nonviolent actions create a tension that allows them to be heard.

That for us is very important because of course many people consider that our mobilization or demonstration or some action to be in disagreement with the ideas has to be violent, but not the idea that this will open the way for a proposal. What we are doing with the international youth movement, not only in Mexico and Ibero-America, but internationally before with the leadership of Lyndon LaRouche and now with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, we are doing precisely that. We are generating that tension, not to use youth as scapegoats as is being done with the wars and political parties using them during the elections; where afterwards they are just discarded.

In the Schiller Institute we have a constant campaign of education in profound ideas that allow the youth to become leaders. Those ideas involve economic proposals. In that process of working with the youth, you first have to understand that they need a level that allows them to heard. The youth have a lot of potential; not only because of their age, but because they are taking decisions about their moral quality for the long term. We need to provide them with the tools so that when they decide the moral quality of the path they choose, they will have sufficient knowledge to do what is right.

In that work with the youth, we are having international meetings and dialogues which include representatives from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Europe, and the United States. They are presenting their concerns about the situation today. Of course, they don’t want a war, but they don’t see any options for what they can give to society. We just had an international youth dialogue last week where they presented several proposals about energy, kinds of jobs youth will have, what they can do in order to change the situation. They were very open and had basic questions that should be answered. I want to say that when we are generating this tension, when some Congressman or leader says “OK, I will listen to you,” what do you have to tell them? We need to be ready with what we are going to say, because there is a state of tension. We have to have those proposals, and the youth have to know how to change the economy. That’s why we have these youth dialogues. That’s why we are working with them on what an economy is; that it has to give value to people; because the main product in an economy is people. LaRouche said the main thing that moves the economy is creativity; the ideas that are generated by individuals who want to make things better. So when they are talking to a leader, and they say “What do you have to tell me?”; they have to be very clear that what we are presenting is what will work for the economy. That’s what we are teaching the youth: what is productivity; what is an economy. It has been very polemical. We have heard about this in these meetings. What is the best type of energy that can work for their countries; what kind of jobs? We think this has been very optimistic. The youth meeting was very good, because people were able to express how things were going and their proposals.

I thought it was very funny the types of problems we have with the youth. There was one young man from Brazil who will go from Brazil to the New York conference in May. The interpreters were translating from English to Spanish, but there was a moment when he started to speak in Portuguese. It was very funny, because we were all quiet; there was no way to interpret his words from Portuguese into Spanish or English. That changed the geometry of the meeting; thinking about how we can hear the proposals of young people from Ibero-America in their language, and how we can transmit these ideas to other young people in the world. Those are the types of topics we want to address in this youth dialogue; how we can answer what they are presenting and what we are doing.

We are having these meetings all the time, especially with Helga. This time we had the participation of Megan Dobrodt and Jason Ross. It was very productive and there was a lot of optimism that through this work with the youth, as Martin Luther King said, we are doing it because it’s necessary and the people who are criticizing that he was creating this tension don’t understand.

I want to finish with another quote from the same letter by Martin Luther King. Like Socrates, he believed it was necessary to create a state of tension in the mind in order for people to overcome their dependency and create a way to become individuals. [actual quote: “Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.”]

That’s what is happening with the youth. We are inviting them to register and participate in the May conference. This will be very important. We will be having a youth panel which will present these proposals and the work we are doing with them. That’s what I wanted to present. Thank you very much.


We Have One Future, Like It or Not

International Peace Coalition 98

by EIR Staff

April 18—The 98th consecutive weekly online meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) commenced with greetings by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, who emphasized that “the situation in Ukraine remains one of utmost volatility.” The likely incoming Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, has said that he will send Taurus missiles to Ukraine. But the Taurus relies on intelligence from the United States. Will President Donald Trump approve this? And the Taurus must be operated by German soldiers, making Germany a direct party to the war. This situation is fraught with danger. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently said that if the British and French send soldiers, they will come back in coffins. Zepp-LaRouche said that Merz “knows no inkling of a diplomatic solution,” and warned that something is happening in Germany which echoes what happened 80 years ago.

On the positive side, a disaster was averted when Trump refused to give U.S. backing to an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. There also continues to be positive developments in the Global South. China and Brazil agreed to build the Bi-Oceanic Railway across South America. And on April 18, the Valdai Discussion Club hosted an event called “70 Years On: The Legacy of Bandung. An Expert Discussion” which raised the question, “Is Bandung 2.0 possible?” This is in reference to the 1955 Bandung Conference, also known as the Asian-African Conference, held in Bandung, Indonesia, which laid the foundation for the later emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement.

She noted that Presidents Robert Fico of Slovakia and Alexsandar Vučić of Serbia will defy the EU and attend the Victory Day celebration in Russia on May 9. She commented as well that the trade war with China will cause inflation in the U.S. and large layoffs in China, and posed the question, are there people of reason who can step beyond geopolitics?

Seeds Grow Without a Sound

Alex Krainer, a well-known financial advisor and economic analyst, described an ongoing transition in the world economy that many may have missed. It has become very easy for a person in the West, with a few clicks, to order products from China and India. He clarified the controversy over tariffs, using as an example, a pair of Nike shoes that cost $10 to make in China, but retail for $100 in the U.S. A 25% tariff would be applied to the $10 that it costs to make the shoes, not the $100 retail price, adding only $2.50 to the cost of the retailer. For a more extravagant example, he cited a $38,000 handbag that costs $1,000 to make. The trade war has revealed things about the “bling factor.”

Schiller Institute leader Dennis Small cited an article in the Financial Times which asks whether we are now facing the “Trump Shock,” comparing it to the “Nixon Shock” of 1973. Trump’s trade war can ignite the explosion of the bubble of financial aggregates and derivatives which will never be paid. Small compared it to lighting a match in a room full of dynamite; the problem exists “not because of the match, but because of the dynamite.”

A new financial geometry is developing around the BRICS. “We’re seeing physical economic flows in exactly the way that Lyndon LaRouche talked about.” Brazil will gain “great circle” access to trade with China via the proposed Bi-Oceanic Corridor. China vastly outpaces the world in physical output of steel, etc.—but “the real growth area is science and technology.”

IPC coordinator Anastasia Battle presented a report on youth outreach, describing an organizing tour of New York university campuses with congressional candidate Jose Vega and others, and showed a series of photos of booktables and a special invitation to the upcoming international youth meeting April 22 with Helga Zepp-LaRouche.

In response to Krainer’s presentation, Zepp-LaRouche noted that Friedrich Merz says it’s an outrage that every day 400,000 parcels arrive from China. But the Spirit of Bandung is sweeping the Global South, ignored by Western media. Because of the rise of China, the developing nations feel that they are strong enough to end colonialism.

Krainer noted that improved world trade means opportunities for people in the industrial world as well. Merz’s opposition to Chinese imports is leading Europe to “a new Middle Ages.”

Discussion

Steven Starr, one of the nation’s foremost experts on nuclear war, asked Krainer to comment on the role of Wall Street and the City of London in influencing world events. Krainer said that power lies in the central banks, IMF, and the families that control them. For example, in the immediate aftermath of the 2014 Maidan coup, it was the IMF that influenced Kiev to launch an assault against the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine. Citigroup formed much of former President Barack Obama’s Cabinet.

In response to a question on Iran, Zepp-LaRouche said that the real issue is Israel’s 200-plus nuclear weapons. We need a new security and development architecture which takes into account the security needs of all nations, including Iran. Fortunately, there is some talk of combining the Egyptian peace plan with the LaRouche Oasis Plan.

In response to a question about fascism, she described an in-depth discussion with former U.S. Ambassador Chas Freeman about the emergence of a new fascism. The crux is the image of man; fascists believe that some group of people is superior. They also pursue policies of ruthless austerity.

Relations with Afghanistan

IPC co-moderator Dennis Speed reported, in answer to a question, that Russia has recognized the Taliban. Zepp-LaRouche added that 65,000 Taliban fighters were able to defeat NATO, but they were not ready to govern, and the new government is factionalized on the question of the status of women; you can’t rebuild while also condemning women to outsider status. The Taliban cracked down on opium production, which caused a loss of income for farmers. A proposal was made by former UN leader Pino Arlacchi to aid farmers in transitioning to food production, but it was denied by the UN. Russian recognition is positive, but “it’s only in the baby shoes.”

Jose Vega asked the question: “Did our Founding Fathers believe in ‘America First’?” Speed answered the congressional candidate, saying that people confuse the idea of America with the place of America. If by “America First” you mean the idea, then it applies to the whole world. Zepp-LaRouche’s Ten Principles are close in spirit to the Declaration of Independence, and one should read them to hear the echo of the American Revolution. The Revolutionary War was insufficient to overturn the system of aristocracy and oligarchy. The Constitutional Convention was the key revolution, as well as U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton’s reports. The people who best understood this assembled in 1955 in Bandung.

Conclusion

Zepp-LaRouche appreciated a comment from one of her countrywomen, who argued against the fatalism of her fellow citizens who quail before the power of the oligarchy, and advocated that “every drop of activism helps.” We must put international pressure on Germany and the EU. Trump should leave NATO; that would be the best thing that could happen. In fact, “we all should leave NATO,” which has “transformed into an extremely aggressive organism.”

If we can avoid extinction in a nuclear winter, then we can disagree on secondary matters. Regardless of one’s ideology, “We have one future, like it or not. … If this present chapter of history goes wrong, we all have none.”


International Peace Coalition: Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire?

April 5, 2025 (EIRNS)—Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, opened the 96th consecutive weekly Friday meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) on April 4 with a warning to the Trump Administration, regarding its contemplated attack on Iran. She characterized it as a trap, designed by the war party for President Trump, and predicted that such a war could lead to dramatically higher oil prices and could trigger a financial collapse. This leads not to a “decapitation” of Iran, but a “decapitation” of President Trump. Many of the MAGA supporters during Trump’s election campaign had hoped for a reversal of the “endless war” policy, and they are now disillusioned; angry over the war with Yemen and possibly Iran. Zepp-LaRouche reminded the participants that Iran has the right to a peaceful nuclear program, like every sovereign country.

Turning to the European situation, she said that the EU is proving that U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance was right in his Munich remarks, when he said that Europe is no longer democratic. The latest evidence is the court decision barring Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s Rassemblement National (RN) party, from participating in the presidential election. Le Pen was found guilty of misappropriating funds. Zepp-LaRouche compared Le Pen’s case to that of International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde in 2016, who was convicted as French Finance Minster of misappropriating a much larger amount as French Finance Minister in 2008, but served no jail time because of her “international reputation.” Zepp-LaRouche described this as a “double standard to the hilt.”

Not ‘Unprovoked’

She also stressed the importance of a “breathtakingly shocking” article which just appeared in the New York Times on the Ukraine war. It decisively debunks the neocon narrative that the Russian invasion was “unprovoked,” and according to Zepp-LaRouche, “It confirms that the Russian version of the story was the correct one.” U.S. military and CIA operatives in Wiesbaden, Germany have been engaged continuously throughout the war in planning and technical support. The Biden Administration officially withheld permission for certain operations, but secretly gave it. It has been a proxy war from the start. Zepp-LaRouche urged participants to demand that their politicians “correct what they have been saying about it.”

Steven Starr, former director of the University of Missouri’s Clinical Laboratory Science Program, presented video excerpts, with his own commentary, from several of his colleagues. These included Patrick Henningsen of 21st Century Wire Media, who observed that Iran is not the only nuclear threshold state, but Trump doesn’t threaten these others. Starr recalled that Israel has 200-300 nuclear weapons. In another video excerpt, Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector, charged that Iran “is waving the red flag in Trump’s face,” and the consequence could be an all-encompassing strategic air campaign against Iran, including the use of nuclear weapons. Iran has 60% enriched uranium which could be made quickly into weapons.

While Ritter focused on this as a regional war, his colleague Larry Johnson, a retired CIA analyst and a co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), who participated in the same video interview, said that he does not think the Russians could just look past an attack on Iran. In response, Zepp-LaRouche said that Ritter overlooks the larger game. Southwest Asia is just the cockpit of the Anglo-American geopolitical ambitions. The fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump began a dialogue is what is motivating the war drive, both there and in Europe. Starr added that if Trump thinks he can compartmentalize his relationship with Russia and keep it separate from a war against Iran, he is mistaken. He also warned that the Christian Zionists in the Trump Cabinet are not rational, and their policy stems from fundamentalist religious beliefs, citing Secretary of State Marco Rubio as an example.

A Scandal Every Day

Hillel Schenker, a longtime Israeli peace activist who is co-editor of the Palestine-Israel Journal, reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in deep trouble, with scandal after scandal erupting every day. A clear majority of Israelis oppose him. Schenker asserted that in multiple political polls, the majority of Israeli citizens want to return to the ceasefire agreements, with a clear disapproval of the Netanyahu government. Despite the fall in his approval, Netanyahu still holds 87 seats in the Knesset (parliament).

Schenker called for a global alliance for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. He is optimistic based on the role of the Saudis, the de facto leaders of the Arab world, who need good relations with the U.S. and Israel in order to build a modern post-oil economy. Saudi Arabia will embrace those relationships, provided there is a pathway to a Palestinian state.

Gershon Baskin, an Israeli columnist, social and political activist, and a researcher of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace process, in a video interview he gave to EIR’s Gerald Belsky, said that Netanyahu claims renewed military pressure on Gaza is intended to free the Hamas hostages, but we know from experience that it is actually a hindrance, and that Netanyahu has entirely different motives. Baskin reviewed the ongoing efforts to get a two-state solution, and said we must break the deadlock where both parties believe that they have no partner for peace on the other side.

Jose Vega, interventionist, political organizer, and congressional candidate in the Bronx, reported on activism being carried out all over New York City by his campaign.

Former Guyanese President Donald Ramotar castigated the corporate news media for refusing to report on the true extent of the tragedy in Gaza, and noted the efforts of the Trump Administration to silence any criticism of what the Israelis are doing. He agreed with Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche that the New York Times article should be widely circulated. He echoed the concerns of other speakers about a war against Iran, and praised the courage of the Houthis in trying to combat the genocide against Gaza Palestinians. He also observed that the American Administration is engaged in an attempt to discredit international institutions, including the UN, while also undermining the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

IPC co-moderator Dennis Speed cited Martin Luther King’s response to the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War: What is needed is security for Israel, and development for the Arabs. Zepp-LaRouche said in response that we may consider King an implicit supporter of the Oasis Plan.

Discussion

IPC co-moderator Dennis Small responded to a question on the new tariffs by warning that they could unleash the total blowout of the financial system. He likened the policy to lighting a match in a room full of dynamite.

A participant who is the author of several books on nuclear weapons responded to Scott Ritter’s comments by saying that Iran enriched uranium to 60% only after Trump blocked their access to medical isotopes, and said as well that an attack on Iran would lead to global, not regional war.

Choosing her words carefully due to the present environment of censorship, Helga Zepp-LaRouche said that European leaders “deserve a criminal investigation.” In Europe, they are going into schools, trying to recruit 17-year-olds for military service. In her concluding remarks, she returned to a common theme of the IPC meetings, her proposed “Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture.” 


Stop the ‘Remilitarization’ of Europe, Build a World Peace Movement

The 95th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) was held on March 28, with speakers from Germany, France, Iran, Argentina and Mexico. People from 32 countries participated in the online event. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the IPC, opened the meeting by warning that the effort to restore relations between Russia and the United States by U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and to end the war in Ukraine, was endangered by attempts to draw the U.S. into a war on Iran, and by the mass remilitarization policy being pushed by the British and EU leadership under the false claim that Russia is a military threat to Europe. She said that a war on Iran would provoke chaos—economically, militarily and politically—and could lead to world war.

The “Coalition of the Willing,” promoted by French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other European leaders, held a meeting of 30 countries this week, trying (unsuccessfully) to get a united European policy of deploying NATO troops into Ukraine, a policy certain to provoke full scale war with Russia. The German population, she said, is horrified at the billions of euros being proposed for a military build-up, even while the economies across Europe are in a state of collapse. She noted that within the U.S., even within the Republican Party, there is division over the bombing of Yemen and a threatened war against Iran, since Trump had campaigned to stop the perpetual wars.

*[Two Trumps**

The first guest speaker was former Iranian Ambassador to Germany Seyed Hossein Mousavian. The Ambassador said that in regard to U.S. policy toward Iran, there were two Trumps: The first Trump, before the U.S. presidential election, wanted peace with Iran, and said that the only requirement was that Iran not build a nuclear weapon. He promoted a new agreement between the nations, to which Iran responded positively. But the second Trump, after the election and the inauguration, turned more to the Zionist lobby, announcing a return to the “maximum pressure” policy from his first term, which was announced while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was with him in Washington. Trump expanded the demands to include a general dismantling of the nuclear program, announced by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, which is impossible according to the Ambassador.

Trump’s letter to Iran’s leadership, the Ambassador said, had all the major points from the anti-Iran policy from Trump’s first term. He said both Trump and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei were opposed to a war, but Trump’s problem is that his Administration is not united. Several U.S. policies indicate a preparation for war, including the bombing of Yemen, more weapons to Israel, aircraft carriers deployed to the Persian Gulf, B-2 bombers sent to the Diego Garcia military base, and Israel breaking the ceasefire in Gaza with U.S. approval. To prevent war and to build peace, he said there must be “mutual respect” which follows international law, and which includes economic cooperation and people-to-people relationships. The U.S. and Iran have never been enemies, he asserted, and should be friends.

Col. (ret.) Alain Corvez, a consultant in international affairs and former advisor to the French Ministry of the Interior, who has addressed the IPC several times, said he considers the accusation by certain U.S. leaders that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons capability to be “propaganda.” The real issue is that it does have an advanced missile capability, representing a powerful deterrence capacity, which was demonstrated by its successful breach of Israeli defenses in the April 2024 military exchange between the two countries

Disdain for the EU

The recent Iran-Russia-China joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman show that any attack against Iran will likely see Iranian support from both Russia and China. He concurred with Ambassador Mousavian that the Trump Administration is divided, and that the so-called “Signalgate” leak of Yemen war plans by The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was run by the Deep State to undermine Trump. He praised U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s show of disdain for the European Union, adding that “I share this disdain.” The British Empire has been weakened, but the British retain their power over the world’s monetary system, while the financial oligarchy controls the media, feeding the population with anti-Russia, anti-China and anti-Iran lies.

Carolina Domínguez, a long-time leader of the LaRouche Youth Movement in Mexico, reported on three forums held on campuses in Mexico, with over 400 students and professors, addressing the issue of participation in an international peace movement. She said the meetings demonstrated that “youth do not want war.” According to Dominguez, there was a strong response to the call for youth to join the IPC, to participate in an April 22 online international youth conference with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, and in the May 24-25 international conference of the Schiller Institute.

Cliff Kiracofe, a former senior professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and author of the book Dark Crusade: Christian Zionism and U.S. Foreign Policy, concurred with Zepp-LaRouche that there is a divide in the Republican Party, including within the Trump team. Vice President JD Vance, DNI Tulsi Gabbard, FBI chief Kash Patel, and CIA Chief John Ratcliff are firmly in Trump’s camp, but National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and his assistant Alex Wong, Kiricofe said, are not.

Wong allegedly included Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic magazine in the Signal chat group used by top-Trump officials to discuss plans for bombing Yemen. Both Waltz and Wong were part of Sen. Mitt Romney’s 2012 U.S. presidential campaign, which was part of the neoconservative movement against Trump. Wong has also worked as an aide to arch-neocon Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). Jeffey Goldberg, who leaked the contents of the Signal chat to the press, Kiricofe said, is an avid Zionist who once served in the Israel Defense Forces as a prison guard.

Alberto Portugheis, an Argentine pianist who has performed as a soloist in leading concert halls worldwide while also promoting peace, asserted that as long as the military-industrial complex exists, there will be no end to war. He praised U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt for saying that “no war is an accident.” The military-industrial complex destroys nations as well as the environment, and must be eliminated.

Zepp-LaRouche closed the meeting by encouraging everyone to subscribe to the EIR Daily Alert service, in order to keep informed on the rapidly changing political crises around the world and the necessary solutions. She said we must stop the “remilitarization” insanity in Europe, which is wasting trillions of euros on the false claim that Russia is preparing to invade Europe. She said that EIR is preparing a report on this. [eir]


Take the Side of Humanity

International Peace Coalition #94 Report

March 21, 2025 (EIRNS)—The 94th consecutive weekly online meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) today was opened by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, who reported that March 18 was a “fateful day” due to two events:

  1. The phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which represents a return to diplomacy. “Any sane person should be highly happy about this event,” she said, but the Europeans are not happy.
  2. The historic vote in the German Parliament to loosen the “debt brake,” not for productive purposes, but to “open the sluices” for a military buildup. They used “parliamentarian trickery” by scheduling the vote in a lame-duck session of the Bundestag, knowing that the incoming session would not vote to approve.

Zepp-LaRouche went on to debunk various neocon narratives: One narrative is that “Putin” is preparing to attack Europe. But, according to military experts, Russia can only mobilize 1.5 million troops, not enough to attack Europe (if that were in fact Russia’s intention). Regarding the fiction that Russia’s entry into Ukraine was “unprovoked,” she cited eyewitness reports, including by Jack Matlock, who, as Ambassador to the Soviet Union, was one of many who called attention to the broken promise of no NATO expansion.

She reported that Israel has renewed its genocide campaign. This can lead to a blowback. We are “sitting on a time bomb, which is the pending financial collapse.” In a war with Iran, the U.S. would lose, not for military reasons, but because it would trigger the financial collapse.

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), reminded viewers that NATO was originally set up to “keep Russia out, America in, and Germany down.” Regarding the German plan to re-arm in order to take on Russia, Russians have “been there, done that.” The U.S. and Russia have a mutual interest in not letting this get out of hand.

McGovern addressed the issue of trust between nations. Putin pulled U.S. President Barack Obama’s chestnuts out of the fire after the 2013 false flag chemical-weapons attack in Ghouta, Syria. But trust plummeted after the 2014 Maidan coup and the bogus Minsk Agreements in Ukraine. McGovern displayed his “Putin-Versteher” button, noting that being a “Putin understander” is no longer completely pejorative.

Dennis Fritz, director of the Eisenhower Media Network and Command Chief Master Sergeant (ret., U.S. Air Force), responding to McGovern on the question of trust, and Zepp-LaRouche on the role of Jack Matlock, he described an ad published by the Eisenhower Media Network. He went on that the Schiller Institute and social media have begun to counteract the devastating impact of pro-Israel propaganda in the U.S.

Water for Peace

Two Palestinian experts addressed the crucial issue of reconstruction for Gaza. A video was presented of H.E. Ambassador Prof. Dr. Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian Authority Ambassador to Denmark, interviewed by EIR’s Tim Rush. He emphasized that there is no military solution to this conflict, and we need to search for common ground in economic solutions to overcome political jingoism. He said that the reconstruction plan of the Palestinian Authority is compatible with the Egyptian plan, but strongly endorsed Lyndon LaRouche’s Oasis Plan as a step further in the right direction.

Fernando Garzón, executive director of the Ecuadorian-Palestinian Union , a professor at Universities in Ecuador, and consultant on development and land use planning for international organizations, added to the Ambassador’s comments, saying that reconstruction cannot be done outside of regional development (as best seen in the Oasis Plan), and requires a sovereign government for Palestine, recognized by the UN.

Garzón reported that the UN has provided information as to the extent of the destruction in Gaza. More than 73% of structures have been destroyed, 68% of roads are impassable, 92% of all housing units are gone. This represents not only genocide, but terracide, the destruction of nature and the land itself. Some 95% of the water is not potable, and 90% is controlled by an Israeli private company. Billions of dollars in identified natural gas reserves belong to the Palestinians, and this will be essential for reconstruction. The BRICS New Development Bank should play a role, not the anti-development IMF. Trump’s “Riviera” proposal is “an offense to common sense.”

Marcia Merry Baker, an agriculture expert who serves on the editorial board of Executive Intelligence Review, gave a presentation on water development, beginning with a satellite photo of Egypt which shows the green delta of the Nile, in contrast to the great desert around it. Egypt has been studying how to transform that desert with water and agriculture. They built the largest wastewater treatment center in the world near Alexandria. She also reported on “precision agriculture” in Tunisia, successful despite lack of water, and terraforming the deserts east of the Aral Sea with canal building, which has progressed in Afghanistan despite the economic warfare against it. China has developed the concept of the Shelter Belt, made of trees and grassland, to defend against desertification. They have developed plant varieties that can tolerate desert climates. An area the size of Portugal has been reclaimed from desert, with the participation of the Chinese military.

We Don’t Have To Kill Each Other

Zepp-LaRouche commented that Baker’s presentation shows the possibility of a positive role for the military. She contrasted the neocons’ imperial conception of the military as a killing machine, typified by Samuel Huntington’s The Soldier and the State, versus the ideas of Gerhard von Scharnhorst and the Prussian Reformers. We must transform the military-industrial complex for peaceful reconstruction purposes, and establish a purely defensive role for the military, moving away from “this crazy world where people think they have to kill each other.”

The role of water development in building peace was explored in the discussion session. IPC co-moderator Dennis Small presented a report from Mexico, on how a large gathering of hydraulic engineering students heard a presentation on Schiller Institute water proposals for conflict zones around the world. This may be seen as a prelude to the upcoming Schiller Institute conference in May.

Garzón added that planning requires taking into account national borders, but also ecosystem borders.

Marcia Merry Baker answered two questions which came in on this topic:

  1. Why is solar energy not included in the Oasis Plan? Solar is good for remote regions where there is insufficient infrastructure to support energy-dense sources. However, for real development, energy-dense sources are indispensable.
  2. What about Muammar Qaddafi’s water plan for Libya, and Egypt’s Aswan Dam? Baker gave these endeavors her hearty endorsement.

IPC co-moderator Dennis Speed recalled Lyndon LaRouche’s accurate warning that unless there was an immediate move to get “shovels in the ground,” the 1993 Oslo Accords for peace between Israel and Palestine would fail.

New York congressional candidate Jose Vega said that he sees both sides in the conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt over how to exploit the water of the Nile. Baker intervened to say that border disputes over water are never justified; there will always be plenty with proper development. She recalled the Jonglei Canal project for the White Nile in Sudan, which was suppressed by environmentalists.

Conclusion

Zepp-LaRouche closed on a philosophical note: “The big challenge in front of humanity at this conjuncture is how do we use aesthetic education to get more and more people to take the side of humanity.” We must stop going through the world as if everything were self-evident, and look at things with fresh eyes. In the Stone Age, we were using a stone to kill our neighbor to get his food. Now we look at the store and see iron ore or rare earths. Artificial Intelligence, for example, could be used for evil, or to free humanity for life-long learning “instead of having to labor like a mule.” “We will not be miserable forever”; every individual discovery enriches all of humanity.

[eir]


We Shall Overcome the Cycle of Violence for Good

International Peace Coalition Meeting #92

March 7, 2025 (EIRNS)—The 92nd consecutive online meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) took place on Friday, March 7. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, opened the proceedings with a focus on Europe and Ukraine, where “things are going completely haywire.” President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has announced a “Re-Arm Europe Plan” which will cost €800 billion.

Friedrich Merz, projected to be the next Chancellor of Germany, announced the end of the federal budget-limiting “debt brake” in order to have a military budget of €400 billion. (On Feb. 23, Merz’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, won the German federal election with a promise not to undo the debt brake.) The historical precedent for such an action is Nazi Economics Minister Hjalmar Schacht’s “Mefo bills,” which were set up in 1933 to finance purchases from armament manufacturers without leaving a paper trail. It is estimated that it would take up to 100 years for Germany to reach levels of armaments, military production, and troops equivalent to what they possessed in 2004.

There are many implications of United States President Donald Trump’s recent pronouncements, including a possible end to intelligence sharing by the U.S. with the British-dominated Five Eyes intelligence cartel. Although France has its own independent nuclear force, the U.K. is dependent upon U.S. technical support for use of its nuclear weapons.

European leaders, habituated to a litany of “let’s ruin Russia,” cannot adjust to Trump’s nascent peace initiative. If they were smart, they would reflect on how Trump’s election expresses public opposition to the last 35 years of failed neocon “unipolar world” policies.

In Southwest Asia, Egypt’s plan for Gaza reconstruction is “a baby step in the right direction” of the Oasis Plan. “You don’t get a two-state solution if you don’t change the entire dynamic of the region,” emphasized Zepp-LaRouche.

The next speaker was Dr. Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi, founder of the Wasatia Movement in Palestine, and director of the Wasatia Graduate Academic Institute. He grew up as a Palestinian in Jerusalem and described how, over time, he switched his attitude from “us or them,” because he “started to see the human side of my enemy” after witnessing Israeli doctors treating Palestinian patients. He said the current problem is that both sides of the conflict want their own state “from the river to the sea,” which is a fantasy. We need a coalition of Israelis and Palestinians for peace. His goal is to create a culture of moderation, which is the meaning of “Wasatia.”

Zelenskyy Goes to London

Garland Nixon, veteran progressive radio and television talk show host, began by saying, “NATO is, shall we say, an imperial project.” He shared some things that are currently being discussed in Europe. For example, MI6 is good at playing divide and rule and setting up puppet governments, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is an MI6 project; “When he got punched around a little by Trump, he goes right to London, and they hug him.”

Nixon listed some developments which can work to the advantage of peace activists. Elon Musk is beginning to release videos of brutal conscription practices in Ukraine. Musk has also promoted a video of U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) boasting that the U.S. was behind the 2014 Maidan coup in Ukraine. He noted that Trump has admitted complicity, in that he provided Javelin missiles to Ukraine, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio admits it is a proxy war. It must be recognized that the reality of the Ukraine war is complex, not a simple “good guys vs. bad guys” narrative in which former President Joe Biden created the problem and Trump will fix it.

Miguel Cabrera of the Dominican Republic, a journalist, author, former university professor and current host of the weekly TV program “Science, Technology, and Society,” praised Trump’s initiative for peace in Ukraine. He characterized the Trump Presidency as a “light at the end of the tunnel” because he is willing to talk to Russia. He stressed that the Ukraine war is not Russia vs. Ukraine, it is Russia vs. NATO. He also emphasized that Israel has carried out a massacre against Palestinian people. A long-time supporter of the Schiller Institute, he pointed to Lyndon LaRouche’s Oasis Plan as a solution to the Middle East crisis.

Excerpts were aired of an interview conducted by EIR’s Mike Billington with Dr. M.K. Bhadrakumar, a retired career diplomat with India’s Ministry of External Affairs, who held diplomatic positions in the Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Türkiye, where he served as India’s Ambassador. Dr. Bhadrakumar decried the West’s “wanton acts of motiveless malignity and hubris.” In regard to the U.K., he described how British intelligence is able to persuade American officials to believe that British policies are actually their own. Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets are actually planned by British intelligence. Ukrainian leaders who now speak of assassinating Trump were trained by MI6. He presented an unusual perspective that Iran is America’s natural ally in the region; the Iranian elite are pro-Western. The U.S. working with Iran could be as significant as normalization of U.S.-Russian relations.

An unannounced guest was Kirk Wiebe, a former senior intelligence official and whistleblower with the United States National Security Agency. He said that recent events have “set the stage” for the realization of Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s New International Security and Development Architecture. No country today is prepared to go to war; all of our assets are stretched thin. The U.S. has $36 trillion in debt. He sees the possibility of negotiated peace.

In response, Zepp-LaRouche said that it will not be weeks and months, but rather years before Europe will be ready for war. But, contrary to neocon propaganda, there is no proof of any inclination on Russia’s part for a European war.

A participant asked Dr. Dajani how his plea for cooperation can work when the Israelis do not operate in good faith and they have made no concessions. He insisted that there are moderates and extremists on both sides, and we must teach our children to have “a heart of flesh, not a heart of stone.”

Discussion Period: The Continuing Problem of Colonialism

Zepp-LaRouche said that we need to examine the extent to which Western outlook is still colonial. The role of the British is starting to receive scrutiny in this regard, and the powers which instigated the Sykes-Picot Treaty are the ones behind the Ukraine war.

Garland Nixon said that the geopolitical fixation on Russia stems from colonialism: If you’re a colonial power, and you have a parasitic orientation, you are losing your hosts around the world, and Russia is the prize because of its vast resources.

A participant asked whether there are situations where the campaign for peace may come into conflict with the aspirations of colonized peoples, citing as examples Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nixon said he didn’t believe such a conflict were necessary, and that we must look at outside powers involved, keeping in mind the history of colonialism.

Veterans for Peace leader Jack Gilroy praised the Oasis Plan as a template for similar solutions around the world, to which Zepp-LaRouche reminded that in 2014, the Schiller Institute published “The New Silk Road Becomes the World Land-Bridge” as a blueprint for rebuilding the world. [eir]


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