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International Peace Coalition Meeting #89: Find the ‘Adults’ Who Will Organize Peace through Development

Report on the 89th meeting of the International Peace Coalition

Feb. 14, 2025 (EIRNS)—The 89th consecutive meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) today was an historic discussion centered on a dialogue between Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the founder of the Schiller Institute and the initiator of the IPC, with Her Excellency Dr. Naledi Pandor, the former Minister of International Relations and Cooperation for South Africa, 2019-2024, known for her leadership of South Africa and the Global South in general, including her personal role in South Africa’s bringing the issue of Israel’s genocide against in Gaza before the UN International Court of Justice.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened the 2.5-hour dialogue by noting that, while the danger of global nuclear war is still a great threat, dramatic changes are taking place which give hope for the future. She referenced the phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump’s call for reviving arms control talks between the U.S., Russia and China, and the U.S. declaring that Ukraine will not be allowed to become a member of NATO, as indicative of those changes. However, the Trump proposal for the U.S. to take over Gaza and remove all the Palestinians is both a horrible concept and totally unacceptable to Palestinians and to all the countries in the region—other than Israel. She said that this is further evidence that the LaRouche Oasis Plan is urgently needed, together with a two-state solution. The plan conceived by Egypt for reconstructing Gaza is a decent start, but we should combine it with the Oasis Plan, she said, to address the massive development needs of all the nations in the region.

Referring to the Feb. 14-16 Munich Security Conference, Zepp-LaRouche said that it had been originally a forum for all nations to seriously discuss security issues, but it has now become a public-relations event for NATO. She did note however, that U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance had “lectured the audience on democracy,” saying that Europeans have become afraid of their voters! She said that creating a new global security and development architecture is a necessary step to resolve the many problems facing mankind.

Dr. Naledi Pandor then spoke, beginning by expressing her support for the Oasis Plan: It is an important idea, a very useful proposal to be studied by the groups in contention. She noted that 30 years ago, when South Africans began their fight for freedom from colonial control, they agreed that they had to have dialogue with their oppressors, while making sure they did not ignore the needs of the oppressed. Development is necessary, she said, but we must engage the Palestinian people, while also talking to Israelis, as well as those in the West who backed them in the genocide. We must ask the Palestinians what they want for their future, she stressed. Any plan which does not include sovereignty is unacceptable. Nearly everyone supports the two-state solution, but things have changed drastically over the years, as Israeli settlers have occupied large portions of the Palestinian land, including killings and land expropriation, making statehood impossible without the removal of those illegal settlements. The level of rage between the two sides must also be overcome.

Free the Oppressed and the Oppressors

In response to a question later on, she said that the freedom movement in South Africa early on recognized that they had to unify the African people, while the colonial policy was to divide them. They learned that oppression was not based only on racial identity, but on moral principles, and that therefore they had to oppose Apartheid, not white people. They needed to free both the oppressed and the oppressors.

She called on the Schiller Institute and the IPC to find a means to test the engagement process—to see if Palestinians are willing to sit down with Israelis, and vice versa. We need “adults” in the room, she emphasized, and was not sure if she had identified many as of yet. She called on the IPC to make an effort to find the necessary “adults” in all nations, who will organize for “peace through development.” The Schiller Institute and the IPC can play a crucial role in convening and initiating this process, and perhaps hold a series of meetings to take up these issues.

On Trump’s attack on South Africa, she noted that the Afrikaners (white South Africans descended predominantly from Dutch settlers) whom Trump offered refuge in the U.S., had already rejected his idea. She added that Trump’s Executive Order had been signed “without research” and had misrepresented the policies of her nation. She looked forward to the IPC “finding the adults,” and convincing Trump that South Africa is a viable partner for the United States.

Donald Ramotar, the former President of Guyana, thanked Dr. Pandor, and said that in our mutual struggle for peace we must address the unjust economic conditions in many parts of the world. We must have a “bold plan, like [Chinese President] Xi Jinping’s win-win approach, with no losers.” The LaRouche Oasis Plan, he said, is based on combined peace and development. The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) gives hope for that kind of global solution. He complained about Trump’s ordering Panama to cut ties with China’s BRI. The Oasis Plan presents a viable plan to reconstruct Gaza and the region, and it can be a central part of a global plan, he said, but Russia and China must be part of the process. He concurred with Dr. Pandor’s view on the need for a two-state solution, and that the United Nations needs to play a central role, as the only existing institution which represents all nations.

Dennis Fritz, director of the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN), a retired Command Chief Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, said he was optimistic about Trump’s ending the war in Europe, but pessimistic about the situation in the Middle East. He said that U.S. President Joe Biden’s Administration was “the most evil in my time, by allowing and owning the genocide in Gaza.” He said that U.S. President George W. Bush “and the neocons,” got us into the wars in Iraq, Libya and Syria, while “Biden and the Zionists” gave us the disaster in the Middle East. On the other hand, he said the EMN is issuing a report praising Trump for “trying to be an adult,” with his Feb. 13 call to President Putin and his call for the revival of arms negotiations with Russia and China. He warned that the enemies of peace and diplomacy will “try to take him down.” He expressed special thanks and appreciation to Dr. Pandor for the role South Africa has played in stopping the genocide in Gaza, and also stated his support for the Oasis Plan.

We Are All in One Boat

Helga Zepp-LaRouche said we must not be deterred by problems of the past, but see this as a moment of great change. She said we are presenting the Oasis Plan to the Trump Cabinet as the only plan that can work. She noted that Egypt has proposed a useful plan, and that we should try to combine their plan with the Oasis Plan. “We are all in one boat,” she said, and we should think of greening the entire desert from North Africa into Central Asia.

Dr. Pandor agreed with President Ramotar on the link between peace and development. Large portions of the world still live in poverty, hopelessness, and growing hostility to the nations of the North. If we miss this moment, I can’t imagine the chaos that could ensue, she said. We must ensure a return to rationality. We need a global coalition to become positive advisers with a voice that will be heard in all nations. The Oasis Plan includes many issues of importance for greater Africa, where access to water and electricity are in very short supply. African leaders should join in the effort to adopt the plan: The African Union’s Agenda 2063 plan “dovetails in quite a comfortable manner” with the Oasis Plan.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche added that in addition to the Oasis Plan, the Schiller Institute has promoted the Transaqua plan to move water from the Congo River to develop the Lake Chad Basin countries, and the Grand Inga Dam project for power. She also noted that Chinese economist Zhang Weiwei had said in a recent Schiller Institute conference that China could build the Oasis Plan, as they had greened the deserts in China.

Asked what to do about the ongoing collapse of the European economies, Zepp-LaRouche called on Americans to intervene. The European establishment media was totally hysterical by Trump’s cooperation with Russia. She noted that the media in Europe, especially in Germany, are totally corrupted, and that if there is to be “any freedom of speech,” people from the U.S. must speak up.

Bill Jones from the Schiller Institute reminded Dr. Pandor that he and his late wife Marsha Freeman had visited South Africa for an astronomical conference years ago and had interviewed her during their visit. She had emphasized the importance of science and technology in that interview. Dr. Pandor responded that she recalled the interview well, and that South Africa has continued an emphasis on science and technology, including the construction of the world’s largest radio telescope. South Africa has good relations with NASA and other American science institutions, she added, calling on the IPC to help build friendly relations between the two countries.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche concluded the event by renewing her call for a Council of Reason, of individuals from every country who have shown through their lives a commitment to the common good. 


International Peace Coalition #88: LaRouche’s Oasis Plan, a Path to Peace and Development

Feb. 7, 2025 (EIRNS)—The 88th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) convened in the aftermath of the Feb. 4 meeting at the White House of U.S. President Donald Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At a press conference following that meeting, with a smirking Netanyahu at his side, Trump declared a “plan” to remove all Palestinians from Gaza, have the U.S. take it over, and build a new “Riviera” over the rubble. This shocking development provided the basis for an intense debate during the IPC proceedings, involving Palestinians, Israelis, former U.S. CIA officials, and others, who discussed its implications.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, opened the discussion, noting that Trump had answered a question about who would live in the “Riviera,” saying “the people of the world,” not the Palestinians. She noted that Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had already ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prepare for moving the population out. She also noted the irony of Trump officials saying “if you have a better plan, let us know,” since the Schiller Institute and the IPC have been presenting such a “better plan” that would actually work to prevent war and create peace and development, the LaRouche Oasis Plan. The Oasis Plan was first proposed by Lyndon LaRouche in 1975—a massive water and power development policy, not only for Palestine, but for the entire region. She called for a mobilization worldwide to have the body of the Oasis Plan presented at the Conference on Palestine now planned for June at the UN.

Jonathan Kuttab, executive director of the Friends of Sabeel North America and co-founder of Nonviolence International, said Trump’s “plan” was not sincere, but a gift to Bibi Netanyahu. This is what radical Zionists have always wanted—no Palestinians, and a “Greater Israel.” The only truthful thing Trump said, he suggested, was that Gaza is unlivable, but without mentioning that the person grinning next to him is the reason that it is uninhabitable. The one thing proven, however, is that Netanyahu has failed. For a solution, he said there are criteria which must be met for any plan to succeed: justice; self-determinism; democracy and human rights; cooperation and co-existence.

Without Development, There Will Be No Justice

Zepp-LaRouche added that these criteria are correct and necessary, but there must be economic development to make those criteria possible to achieve. Kuttab added that there is a problem: that “most people say they want economic development, but it is a substitute for freedom and sovereignty.” Helga responded: “We are not most people.” She added that the notion of “human rights” in the West is not real human rights—China, which has lifted 800 million people out of poverty, demonstrates real human rights; that ending poverty is the biggest contributor to human rights.

Prof. Fernando Garzón, leader of the Ecuadorian-Palestinian Union, consultant for various international development agencies, and an advisor on strategic regional development plans for Ecuador, said that there must be an emergency plan for Gaza based on the Oasis Plan and sovereignty for the Palestinian people. He said the BRICS should be called upon to provide a solution, not only from China but from all the Global South countries.

The former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar said the role of the U.S. and the West being the primary negotiators regarding the Middle East does not function, as their policy fully supports Israel. He proposed that all the members of the UN Security Council must be equal partners in the discussions, so that Russia and China have an equal role. He contended that the other countries were appeasing the United States, just as Panama and Canada have recently caved to Trump’s demands. He said the situation is very dangerous, like that of the pre—World War II era when the West appeased Hitler until it was too late.

Zepp-LaRouche responded that the UN Security Council does not function because the U.S. uses its veto power to prevent any possible solutions. She said perhaps the BRICS could fill that role. President Ramotar replied that the problem is the U.S. will not accept the BRICS either, and there must be a means to get Russia and China engaged.

Dr. Gershon Baskin, an Israeli who has played a leading role in facilitating Israeli-Palestinian cooperation, including a role in the Oslo Accords of 1993 in cooperation with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, said that there was “no chance” that the Palestinian people will be removed from their homeland, noting that even if some people wanted to migrate, they were “not welcome.” He ironically suggested that perhaps the U.S. could invite them to settle along the Gulf Coast. He said that the Trump “Riviera” plan, like the similar, earlier plan of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, was “delusional.” The potential result of this process could be the collapse of the ceasefire, and even of the existing Israeli peace agreements with the Arab states. He said that he was participating in a conference in Cyprus next week with representatives of Israel and the Palestinians.

A Successful Peace Requires No Exclusion

Jonathan Kuttab agreed, but added that he saw one problem with Dr. Baskin’s proposals—he had proposed that Hamas should be kept out of any new government for Gaza. Kuttab said that he does not support Hamas, but they can not be excluded, since they represent a significant layer of the Palestinian people. There are factions in the Israeli government whose ideas and policies are abhorrent, but they also cannot be excluded. Asked by LaRouche movement leader Jose Vega if there were interim steps toward peace that could be implemented right away, Kuttab said “yes—lift the siege, let the construction goods come in, let the Palestinians begin rebuilding their homes.”

Dennis Speed noted that President Dwight Eisenhower had proposed in 1968 building nuclear powered desalination plants in the Mideast, to start providing fresh water to green the desert. It was needed then and still today.

Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer and a co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, who conducted an interview with Helga Zepp-LaRouche on Feb. 5, offered an alternative view of Trump’s proposals in the meeting with Netanyahu. He said it was not a “plan,” since there was no money offered, no time frame, and no troops involved. He said he was surprised when the extreme Zionists in the Netanyahu circle praised it, since Trump had asserted that when the war ended, Israel would turn Gaza over to the U.S.—but this contradicted the Zionist plan for a greater Israel under Israeli control. He reminded participants that the ceasefire was widely recognized as coming from Trump, and that Trump had posted a video of economist Jeffrey Sachs on his Truth Social site, denouncing Netanyahu as a genocidal monster. “I think he is trying to create a narrative which will lull the extreme Zionists,” he said. He added that the IDF, with 15 months of massive bombing, with total control of the borders and air space over a trapped population, had nonetheless failed to defeat Hamas, as shown by the armed Hamas fighters turning over the hostages. “The IDF can kill more Palestinians, but they cannot defeat Hamas.” The thousands of Palestinians marching north along the coast to return to their destroyed homes demonstrates the stamina and dedication of the Palestinian people.

Johnson added that Trump has made a serious opening to Iran, showing (as he had done with Kim Jong Un in North Korea) that he prefers a deal over war.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche said she would consider Johnson’s remarks. She agreed with Helmut Käss and called on participants to listen to a speech by German Gen. Harald Kujat (ret.), whom she called a “voice of reason” regarding the Ukraine war and relations with Russia, coming just weeks before the German elections. In that speech, Kujat warned against the geopolitical methods of Henry Kissinger; that Ukraine should act as a bridge between East and West; and that leaders of the West must not allow themselves to sleepwalk into world war, as was the case with World War I. [eir]


International Peace Coalition: We Must Continue To Promote the Oasis Plan, as the Basis for Lasting Peace

Jan. 31, 2025 (EIRNS)—Opening today’s 87th consecutive weekly session of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, said, “The signs and signals seem to be very contradictory, to say the least.” Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov has warned that Ukraine may lose its existence if it does not negotiate. However, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte continues to insist that “Europe must become war-ready,” and in Poland, children are receiving military training at age six.

Regarding Israel’s assault on the Palestinians, the big question is what will happen after phase two of the ceasefire. What is missing is a program to create the basis for a lasting peace, and for that we must continue to promote the Oasis Plan. The big question, however, is what is behind President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians to Egypt, Jordan and even Indonesia. We can only speculate, but on February 4, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Washington, D.C. to meet with Trump, “the secret will be lifted.” Trump’s fantasy of rebuilding Gaza with luxury buildings should be seen as similar to the Saudi scheme to build a ski resort in the middle of the desert.

Mossi Raz, former Israeli Knesset member and former director-general of Peace Now, warned, “This ceasefire is very fragile.” What is going to happen at the end of phase one? The Israeli peace movement cannot support either Netanyahu or Hamas. Extremists on both sides are gaining power. Raz argued for a return to the 1967 borders so that Israel and Palestine may both have independent states. In his view, the Palestinian Authority should become more transparent, but the world should support it as the legitimate voice of Palestinians.

In response, Helga Zepp-LaRouche emphasized, once again, that the “interest of the other” must be considered. We connect this always with the question of development. Raz replied that former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has a viable plan.

The Golden Rule Is an Imperative

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), echoed Zepp-LaRouche on the “interest of the other,” saying, “It is axiomatic that there can be no individual security without mutual security.” He added that the Golden Rule is not just a platitude, it’s an imperative. Trump, in “a strange but refreshing way,” has shown that he recognizes this, at least with respect to the war in Ukraine.

McGovern referred the participants to his interview, which he gave immediately after the Senate hearings on the confirmation of Trump nominees Kash Patel (FBI Director) and Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence). He said, of corrupt elements in the Deep State, such as James Comey and John Brennan, that “they are sweating blood right now,” and if Patel and Gabbard are confirmed, all hell will break loose. He said that the efforts of Democratic Senators to excoriate Gabbard for her unwillingness to brand Edward Snowden as a traitor are “replete with irony,” because when Senators saw what Snowden had revealed, “they changed the law.” These Senators are acutely aware that they themselves have been under surveillance by the secret police agencies that “have dirt on all these people.”

“Let’s all hang tight and see if there is enough integrity” for the nominations to be confirmed, McGovern advised. The hysterical opposition to these nominees can be explained in part by “Trump Derangement Syndrome”—“anything that Trump does has to be ipso facto bad.” However, these two nominees are far better than the rest. “Tulsi Gabbard gave an incredibly good account of herself,” he insisted. He concluded by quoting the late anti-war activist Daniel Berrigan: “[T]he difference between doing nothing, and doing something, is everything.”

Zepp-LaRouche reminded the participants that the core message of the U.S. Declaration of Independence is that it is the right of the people to correct their government when it does wrong. If you take that away, you are in a dictatorship.

She and McGovern discussed the “six degrees of separation,” under which a person who has talked to a person who has talked to a person who has talked to a foreign national may be regarded as a legitimate target for surveillance by the National Security Agency. McGovern commented on the practice of “surveillance swaps” by the intelligence agencies of the “Five Eyes” Anglophile-bloc nations (U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and U.S.), and reiterated the irony that these Senators know that they themselves are the target of surveillance. Who is going to win—the Deep State, or the people that Trump sensibly nominated to clean them out? He noted another irony: “Senator Bennet blindly condemning Tulsi Gabbard for telling the truth,” but former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the same thing—Russia doesn’t want NATO on its border and went to war to stop it.

McGovern noted that LaRouche activists Jose Vega and Kynan Thistlethwaite managed to gain entry into the Senate hearings chamber “by a fluke.” The two of them reported on the lobbying activity they had conducted the previous day: They had gone to every Senate office and distributed material including The LaRouche Organization report “The Liars’ Bureau,” and a statement by former Ohio Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich in favor of Gabbard. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s staffers were “petrified” when they walked in.

BüSo Is on the Ballot in Germany

German Civil Rights Solidarity (BüSo) candidate Jonathan Thron reported on the successful petitioning campaign to put the party slate on the ballot in Berlin, and reviewed the issues upon which the party is campaigning. Zepp-LaRouche reviewed some of the proposals and material from the November 2024 Schiller Institute report, “Development Drive Means Billions of New Jobs, No Refugees, No War*.”

In response to a question about nuclear vs. solar energy, Zepp-LaRouche referred to the method of her late husband, Lyndon LaRouche: Does a proposed policy contribute to the long-term development of the human species, to increasing relative potential population density? She added later, “If you want to remedy past crises, you must address the root causes.” The right policy to address the migrant crisis is not to build walls and close borders, but to change the colonial policies which are displacing people from their homelands.

There was a discussion on the topic of “ideological purity,” since Tulsi Gabbard’s views are not perfectly in sync with ours, concluding we must think strategically and not let vexation over particulars paralyze us. IPC co-moderator Dennis Speed pointed out that Edward Snowden, whom some people feel Gabbard’s testimony inadequately defended, nonetheless intervened on her behalf.

Ray McGovern quoted Martin Luther King:

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on.”

Endorsements of the Oasis Plan were read from Dr. Kelvin Kemm, chairman, Stratek Global Ltd, Pretoria, South Africa; Father Harry Bury, founder of the Twin Cities Nonviolent, Minneapolis-St. Paul; and John A. Shanahan, civil engineer, Colorado, who is circulating his endorsement to thousands. More such endorsements are now most urgent. [eir]


International Peace Coalition #86: This Is the Moment When ‘Ideas Matter’

Jan. 24, 2025 (EIRNS)—Today’s 86th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) opened with Helga Zepp-LaRouche referencing the “relief” around the world with the end of the Biden/Blinken nightmare and the dramatic changes taking place as a result of the new Trump Administration, despite the problematic aspects. “The situation is very promising, although much can go wrong.”

Trump’s order to release the “assassination” files—the JFK files in 15 days, and the RFK and MLK files in 45 days—is a “bombshell.” The exposure of the lies and cover-up by the Warren Commission could and must clear the fog created in people’s minds about the crimes unleashed by the killing of President John F. Kennedy. The Schiller Institute Chorus’s performance of the Mozart Requiem on the 50th anniversary of his funeral mass in Boston, which included recorded statements by President Kennedy on issues of development, science and culture, demonstrated what a profound difference existed between him and all later Presidents.

These revelations, she emphasized, could open the path to the U.S. returning to its own better moments of technological advance, industrial growth, and cooperation with other sovereign nations. A recent video issued by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—who is part of Trump’s announced cabinet—exposes the role of preeminent BlackRock financial speculators in the military-industrial complex driven wars and economic looting.

Hope for an Era of Security and Development

The Oasis Plan is the single element that can bring the world together in not only bringing peace to Southwest Asia, but giving direction and hope to the world for an era of security and development for all nations.

Col. Richard H. Black (ret.), former head of the Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon and former Virginia State Senator, lauded the potential that Kash Patel as FBI Director, Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, and Pam Bondi as Attorney General could clean out the “rogue intelligence agencies.” He emphasized the long history of FBI corruption, reviewing several of the leading points in The LaRouche Organization’s newly-released pamphlet, “The Liars’ Bureau.” He described Tulsi Gabbard’s role, along with his own, in exposing the U.S. financing of al-Qaeda’s operation intended to bring down the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria, noting that Gabbard’s visit with Assad came one year after his own visit, as the first American political leader to visit Assad.

Graham Fuller, former CIA officer and co-chair of the National Intelligence Council, praised the BRICS, the most important part of the emerging world. He called for a renewal of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) with Iran, which Trump dismantled during his first term. Such a move could help bring the U.S. and Russia together, and would function as an important extension of the Oasis Plan into Iran and beyond into Central Asia. The issue is, will the U.S. see the BRICS as an opening or a threat? The issue of Greenland is of interest, as the Inuit people span Canada and Greenland, and are one of the largest indigenous populations in the world. Addressing the development needs of this population and the rich resources of the territory would change the character of the potential conflict of the superpowers over the issue of the artic region and the Northern Sea Route.

Alon-Lee Green, head of the Standing Together peace organization in Israel and Palestine, was interviewed by the Schiller Institute’s Gerald Belsky, expressing hope that the ceasefire is holding—that bombs are no longer falling, people are returning to their homes (“although most of their homes no longer exist”), and hostages and prisoners are being released. He warned that this may not last, as we see already that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has moved his killing forces to the West Bank. Green at first expressed reservations about the Oasis Plan, arguing that there must first be peace and independence for the Palestinians, lest economic proposals become a diversion. Belsky emphasized that without a development perspective the peace process would not succeed, and said both the political and economic aspects must be carried out simultaneously—with which Green concurred.

Zepp-LaRouche joined the discussion to assert that the Oasis Plan would only work if there were a fundamental shift in the global parameters, but that this change is, in fact, exactly what is taking shape. She reported that Chinese economist and professor Zhang Weiwei, speaking at a recent Schiller Institute conference, said that China could build this vast water and power project. We have a rare and crucial opportunity, she said, in which people can break out of their fixed modes of thinking and bring about great developments, as happened during the Renaissance which transformed the Middle Ages into the modern age. To save Gaza requires both the creation of statehood for the Palestinian people but also the development process represented by the Oasis Plan.

Former CIA officer Larry Johnson, a co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), warned that the CIA was lying to President Trump, exaggerating Russia’s casualties in Ukraine and otherwise making it appear that Russia was losing the war. Johnson was hopeful that Trump would put a halt to arms sales to Ukraine, which could perhaps put an end to the war. He also asserted that Trump had ordered an audit of the Department of Defense, which would expose a great deal of corruption.

Arms Control Agreements Don’t Work

LaRouche movement leader and former congressional candidate Jose Vega asked if Trump’s statement that he plans to meet with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss nuclear weapons might bring about an agreement to end nuclear weapons. Zepp-LaRouche responded that arms control doesn’t work, and in any case all the previous agreements are gone now. Rather, new physical principles which can render nuclear weapons obsolete must be developed, as Lyndon LaRouche proposed with his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The Russian deployment of the Oreshnik hypersonic missile demonstrates breakthroughs in this direction. We must bring the world’s scientific researchers together to develop this alternative.

A number of those present questioned some of the policies promoted by different speakers, which led to a spirited discussion. One person complained that nuclear power was no longer needed, that solar power would provide all that the world required. Zepp-LaRouche called on the questioner to consider the issue of “energy-flux density,” and what was necessary for an expanding human race to meet the massively expanding need for energy. Another person challenged what he called “support for Donald Trump,” comparing him to the rightwing leaders in Israel as part of a “conservative international,” and saying all of the documentation of this could be found online. Zepp-LaRouche responded that people should not believe what they read online or when they search for something on Google—the very idea that knowledge consist of “googling” is ridiculous, she said.

She concluded the event by emphasizing that this is a moment of great changes in the world, and we must all work together to convince every country to reach back to the best or their own cultures, to bring those cultural expressions together for a new paradigm for all mankind. The Oasis Plan for Southwest Asia can be a decisive step in that direction. “At moments like this,” she said, “ideas matter. Get rid of the cultural garbage, as they are doing in Asia.” [eir]


Make Humanity Truly Human Again

Report International Peace Coalition #84

Jan. 10, 2025 (EIRNS)—Today’s 84th weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) was again a powerful expression of leaders from around the world joining forces to bring peace to a world on the brink of global war. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, opened by noting the suspense in the air as the world awaits the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald Trump, with no certainty about what direction his administration will take. The outgoing Biden Administration continues to push for war policies, with Defense Secretary Gen. Lloyd Austin again lying that if Ukraine is lost, the Russians (and other “autocrats”) will make other “land grabs.” The horror in Palestine continues and is expanding to the West Bank, which even the Israeli newspaper Haaretz admits is genocidal and can be called a “pogrom.”

Zepp-LaRouche named several of the people that Kash Patel (Trump’s pick to be FBI chief) listed in his book as targets for investigation in any effort to clean out the “Deep State.” To stop the wars, she said, we must stop the cause of the wars, which is the disintegration of the Western financial system, and do this in cooperation with the BRICS, to “help make humanity human again.”

Retired Swiss Lt. Col. Ralph Bosshard said that Trump is entering office in a “difficult atmosphere” which is not of his making. He said that the 2003 deal with Iran to stop their nuclear weapons program (which did not exist, as everyone knew) was agreed to by Tehran because they knew that otherwise they would be attacked. Now we have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is committing genocide and threatening war on Iran, being cheered in the U.S. Congress and by the Biden Administration. To prevent a global war with Russia, Russian interests must be addressed. Europe is collapsing in part because Biden used the weakness of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline, undermining all of Europe’s energy security. Trump must address the de-dollarization and determine which other policies must be addressed first. Time will be short, for he will soon not be able to blame Biden for the crises. The first few months will tell.

Dr. Glenn Diesen, a political scientist from Denmark, said he was optimistic that Trump will act to resolve the crisis with Russia, but that the “liberal democracy” paradigm has failed. The “international aristocracy” has constructed a “club of democracies,” but such a unipolar policy requires hegemony, which can only be implemented through force. As a result, now the so-called “democracies” are supporting genocide; they have overthrown the Assad government in Syria through force; they are supporting ISIS; and they have overturned the democratic election in Romania. They refuse to acknowledge any security interests other than their own. Multipolarity is not up for question, he said, it is a reality. The unipolar world was based on many wars with weak countries, but were nonetheless a disaster for the West. Imagine what will happen in a war against a superpower. The economies and the people of the West are exhausted, and have given up on diplomacy. Governments are falling left and right. Trump has acknowledged that the expansion of NATO was a mistake, which is at least a step toward peace.

Dr. Mimi Syed of the Doctors Against Genocide spoke as a physician and as a mother, describing the horror she witnessed during her trips to Gaza—“atrocities which should never be witnessed by anyone.” This is counter to the ideas upon which the U.S. was created, she said. She described several such horror situations, including that of an 8-year-old boy in a “safe zone” whose face was blown off by a bomb, who was wearing a t-shirt with “Captain America” on it—an ugly irony. She said America was financing these war crimes, and we must rise together to demand a ceasefire and humanitarian aid for the Palestinians.

Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the former Surgeon General of the U.S., addressed the meeting, praising the Schiller Institute and the IPC, and Helga Zepp-LaRouche in particular, for waging this fight. We are failing to prepare the next generation, she said, by allowing the destruction of children, who need health, education and hope. The horror which we all see is “making us all sick.” She pledged her support in any way she could to stop the genocide. “Everybody can do something,” she stated.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche noted that Dr. Elders had played a critical role during the COVID pandemic in working with her to create the Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites, based on the concept of Nicholas of Cusa in the 15th Century—the notion that if humanity is put first, then all apparent opposites can be brought together. She also agreed with Lt. Col. Bosshard on Trump’s shortness of time to act, noting that the U.S. has now lost all credibility worldwide, and has lost the right to address human rights, as a “dying civilization.” The U.S. can and must return to its own best traditions. “Our own humanity is at issue” if we don’t stop the atrocities underway.

Dr. Rodolfo Ondarza, a Mexican neurosurgeon and a former Representative in the Mexico City Legislative Assembly, read an excerpt from a public letter he wrote in support of the Doctors Against Genocide, praising the morality and bravery of Dr. Hassan Abu Safiya and other Palestinian medical workers incarcerated by Israel. He demanded their freedom, and an end to the genocide.

In the discussion period, people addressed the failure of the United Nations, the need for more exposure of the IPC, and the lack of adequate health systems around the world. The ongoing lobbying in the U.S. Congress by the Doctors Against Genocide, with help from Schiller Institute members and retired U.S. military officers, was discussed. Schiller Institute organizer Joe Jennings described the rally he and fellow activists held at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, the largest medical center in the world with fifty thousand health workers, with leaflets and signs to stop the genocide. There was a discussion of the Peace of Westphalia which resolved the religious wars in Europe in 1648 based on respect for the “interests of the other,” and how the Versailles Treaty after WWI, which ignored Germany’s interests, created the conditions for WWII. The end of the Cold War, in which the interests of the Soviet Union were ignored in favor of the expansion of NATO, led to the current extreme danger of global nuclear war.

In closing statements, Lt. Col. Bosshard noted that he had been in Ukraine before the military operations began, and that it was clear that Russia would defend the Russian speaking population. For the Kiev government to declare the use of the Russian language illegal was insane. The belief in Western superiority has only encouraged Western leaders to “bark louder,” he said. The West must learn to respect other cultures.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche addressed the pandemic question by noting that Lyndon H. LaRouche in 1971 created a taskforce on the impact of the “conditionalities” of the IMF, which forced nations to pay their debts even at the expense of the needs of the population. Lowering the living standards in this way, he showed, was the cause of pandemics of old and new diseases, and the related collapse of populations.


International Peace Coalition 83: Professionals Must Lead the Fight Against Genocide

Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened today’s 83rd consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) forecasting the unraveling of the present global order in 2025, leading either to world war or a new paradigm. She cautioned that President-elect Trump’s “America First” agenda does not solve the problem, because it could lead to other nations following suit, creating more conflict. We need a completely new paradigm putting the “one humanity” first.

Reviewing the current zones of conflict, Zepp-LaRouche warned that even if the West sends more weapons, Ukraine cannot win in their war against Russia. They are running out of soldiers. Ukrainians are acutely aware that they have been used as pawns in a proxy war.

In Southwest Asia, Axios reports that National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed Iran’s nuclear program with President Biden, including the possibility of the U.S. launching a military attack on Iran. Zepp-LaRouche recommended the video by Indian historian and journalist Vijay Prashad, “The Genocide in Gaza EXPOSED the West’s Moral Collapse.” She concluded with the importance of 2025 as a Jubilee Year, an opportunity to usher in a New Paradigm. Affirming that the West must stop the confrontation against the Global South (which has become the Global Majority), she read out the nine nations that became BRICS partner nations as of Jan. 1.

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), spoke about the Biblical massacre of the innocents by King Herod. No longer can any country, he said, least of all America, claim to be the “exceptional country,” after 500,000 children were killed by sanctions in Iraq, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright proclaimed that it was “worth it.” We must not only “do no harm,” we must also do the Good, he insisted, reading a poem by British author Michael Rosen, “Don’t Mention the Children,” written after Israel had banned a radio broadcast that named killed Gazan children.

Dr. Nidal Jboor, co-founder of Doctors Against Genocide, stated that “a mass slaughter of children has been happening in the past 15 months.” The Western powers’ complicity in genocide will have long-term ramifications that we will all have to live with. Israel claims to be fighting a “war,” but in war you fight armies, not schools, hospitals and clinics. Jboor described how Kamal Adwan Hospital was burned. Patients fled to an abandoned hospital with no services. The hospital’s director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, was abducted and tortured. The Israeli regime says it cannot locate him. The American Medical Association and other U.S. medical institutions have been silent. “We are calling them out,” Jboor said. “More than 20,000 children have been slaughtered by Israel.”

Dr. Mimi Syed, an emergency medical doctor, born and trained in the U.S., just returned from Gaza where she worked in emergency care for horrifically wounded children. She did not encounter any military operations or combatants in hospitals there. She described “scenes of chaos and despair … an excruciating reality.”

Fernando Garzón, leader of the Ecuadorian-Palestinian Union, discussed the significance of Pope Francis having announced a Jubilee Year and how the international financial institutions are responsible not only for the debt, but also for the conflicts such as Gaza. Ecuador successfully repudiated a large part of its public debt in 2008 under President Rafael Correa, after completing a detailed study which proved that the debt was “odious and illegitimate,” resulting in Correa’s political persecution. The “conditionalities” policy of the IMF and World Bank created a shameful situation where “external debt became eternal debt.” Garzón was a vice-minister in the Ecuadorian government when it issued its historic debt study. Ecuador is a small country, but provided a very big lesson for the world today.

Discussion and Initiatives

Dr. Karameh Hawash-Kuemmerle, co-founder of Doctors Against Genocide, said that people are feeling sick from the genocide, not because we are fragile, but because it is an unnatural thing. “What is happening in Gaza is something beyond what we can imagine,” she said. We are disoriented and depressed, suffering from chronic fatigue, sleep disorders, and many other symptoms, because we are witnesses to genocide. We should honor doctors who fight for human life, not “doctors who say that if you speak of genocide you will be fired.” In response to a question, she replied, “The treatment for sickness from genocide is organizing to end the genocide.”

Josephine Guilbeau, a 17-year U.S. Army veteran with four children, who served as an all-source intelligence analyst and is currently associate director of communications for the Eisenhower Media Network, recently intervened, in full uniform, before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. “As an American, I am going to acknowledge the painful truth,” that the U.S. has been complicit in the genocide in Gaza, and “I am committed to holding my government accountable.” Another group, Taxpayers Against Genocide, launched a legal action against Congress, accusing it of helping arm the Israeli military in violation of “international and federal law that prohibits complicity in genocide.” Guilbeau added that we need universities to create platforms to accept students facing expulsion due to their public opposition to genocide.

Zepp-LaRouche lamented that although there was a commitment in her native Germany 80 years ago, that “Never Again” would genocide be tolerated, now Germans face arrest and jail for even talking about the ongoing genocide in Gaza. “I pledge that we will use these heartbreaking stories to mobilize opposition to this genocide.”

IPC co-moderator Dennis Speed said that many people are “conveniently forgetting Aaron Bushnell,” an active-duty U.S. serviceman who self-immolated in protest against U.S. complicity in the genocide. Bushnell said: “Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”

John Steinbach, co-founder of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Committee, said the official death toll in Gaza of 46,000 counts only those people who have been identified. A conservative estimate as of six months ago, by British medical publication The Lancet, gives the actual death toll of 186,000. It is a mistake to see Israel as “influencing the U.S. government”: Israel, led by the followers of Meir Kahane, is carrying out the policies of the U.S. government.

Dr. James Cobey, a renowned orthopedic surgeon who served in Gaza many times, had led the campaign 30 years ago to ban landmines, gaining support from the American Medical Association, said we need to get the AMA to oppose the present genocide.

IPC co-moderator Dennis Small noted that the Hippocratic Oath is not satisfied by the mere rejection of doing harm; one must actively do the good—just as repudiation of the debt is not enough. It has to be followed by issuing productive credit for real growth and ending poverty. Dr. Jboor agreed, deploring the silence of the medical community. He said his organization is trying to replicate the efforts of the student movement on campuses across the U.S.

Zepp-LaRouche concluded by saying that many Germans could claim, 80 years ago, that they did not know of the atrocities being carried out by their government. People living today, with omnipresent media coverage of the ongoing genocide, have no such excuse. “We can shame the people today, who now know and pretend not to know.”


International Peace Coalition: ‘Geopolitics Is a Mental Disease, It Should Be Eradicated’

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, kicked off the 82nd weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) today, wishing everyone a good New Year, “especially a whole New Year, because that is not yet certain.” She reviewed the various zones of military conflict, noting the U.S. is setting up a new military base in Damascus. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently said that Russia has received encouraging signals from the pending administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, but it remains to be seen whether they are supported with facts.

Zepp-LaRouche assessed the appointments of the incoming Trump administration, saying they “are very, very mixed.” The first two hopeful strategic signs: the Japanese Foreign Minister visited Beijing and the two nations made a number of constructive agreements, including to foster each other’s classical traditions. Secondly, Russian President Vladimir Putin, after meeting with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, agreed to have Slovakia as a venue for peace talks with Ukraine.

In Southwest Asia, the new Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leaders in Syria were all founding members of al-Nusra and related terror organizations. The situation there is a powder keg, with an assortment of factions and states vying for control. The danger is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “may feel that the wind is in his sails,” and be emboldened to take ever more provocative actions, including against Iran. Israel continues its unspeakable genocide against the children of Gaza, and now has bombed Yemen’s international airport in Sana’a, nearly killing the Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Zepp-LaRouche concluded, “Geopolitics is a mental disease; it should be eradicated.”

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), said that Zepp-LaRouche really should be briefing the incoming President of the United States. With the recent revelations by Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding his 2021 meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, when Biden tried to convince Putin that China was a threat to Russia’s security, McGovern said “These guys really don’t get it,” adding that the word that comes to his mind is the German “Wahnsinn,” an expression which is “stronger than just crazy,” and perfectly describes NATO’s delusions. NATO, he said, combines Wahnsinn with sociopathy, having no empathy. Then U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, when asked in a “60 Minutes” interview about the deaths of half a million children in Iraq due to sanctions, replied, “I think that it is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it.” McGovern concluded, “We’re at a liminal point here.” Hopefully, we will be able to breathe a lot easier in three weeks.

Larry Johnson, retired CIA official and a co-founder of the VIPS, began with “the mess that is Syria,” suggesting that the nation most likely to wind up in control is Türkiye. Turkish President Erdoğan has “climbed into bed with Israel.” HTS leader and former head-chopper Abu Mohammad al-Jolani is being presented as “Mahatma Gandhi with a beard.” But HTS is not in control and not able to make the state function for its inhabitants. There is now a civil war. Israel has been fighting Hamas, a lightly armed guerrilla force, for 14 months and can’t beat it. Yet Israel wants to control part of Syria? The more they extend themselves, the faster they will weaken themselves.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche agreed with McGovern on the topic of Wahnsinn, and with Johnson that a current in Türkiye wants an empire. When she and her husband Lyndon LaRouche met with Turkish President Turgut Özal in the 1980s, she was astonished at the degree to which “Greater Turkey” was on his mind. Johnson replied, “The vanity of Erdoğan is clouding his judgment.” He believes that he’s in a position to restore the Ottoman Empire.

Ray McGovern discussed the delusions that arise when a group of people believe that they are “exceptional.” During the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry dreamt of “aligning the forces in Syria.” Helga Zepp-LaRouche agreed, asserting that exceptionalism leads to geopolitics, “like Germany 80 years ago.” McGovern soberly added, “Chosen people, indispensable people … each case leads to disaster.”

IPC co-moderator Dennis Speed reported on the podcast in the U.S., where an advisor turned critic of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave an interview contrasting the “official view” on Putin, that Putin had launched a military aggression against Ukraine, to his own, unofficial view: that Putin is the most pro-Western Russian official in memory. Putin proposed to join NATO, create a joint missile defense, and offered to provide a base for U.S. forces during the initial stage of their war against Afghanistan. Zepp-LaRouche replied that this “unofficial view” is “totally in cohesion with what I have observed over the years.”

Dr. Nidal Jboor of Doctors Against Genocide, announced that Kamal Adwan, the last remaining hospital in northern Gaza, has been burnt, and all doctors arrested. His [organization](doctorsagainstgenocide.org) will hold a live-stream this Sunday, Dec. 29, with colleagues in Gaza, urging IPC participants to attend.

Larry Johnson said that the last 10 years have convinced even the most pro-Western people in Russia that the West cannot be trusted; they are “like a ravenous locust that wants to consume everything.” McGovern said that “Putin has a long record of reaching out and speaking to the deaf and dumb.”

The balance of power between the U.S.S.R. and the West used to be more or less even. Now Russia and China work together, and Russia has technical advantages that they never enjoyed before. Johnson added that thanks to social media, we have a video record of new missile technology in action. In addition, offensive drones are a game-changer.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche reiterated: The only hope she can see, is for the West to say, let’s stop geopolitics and move from confrontation to cooperation. There are huge swaths of territory in the U.S. which are underpopulated. Clearly it should shift its emphasis from seeking hegemony, to developing its tattered economy. This is the road to solving the migrant problem and bringing peace.

French Solidarité et Progrès leader Jacques Cheminade suggested that the interests of Israel and Türkiye will no longer coincide. This raises the question of what will happen with Iran. Will Russia keep its bases in Syria?

Finally, there was a discussion of the role of churches, and the Pope’s Urbi et Orbi Christmas call for peace. Joe Biden, who identifies as a Catholic, will shortly visit the Pope; McGovern mused, “I don’t know how a practicing Catholic can enable genocide, it’s beyond me.” He said wryly that Biden has a lot to confess.

About Trump’s recent statements on annexing Panama, Canada, and Greenland, Larry Johnson called these “the most bizarre statements I have seen.” There are hardly any U.S. ships going through the Panama Canal. “Trump likes torturing Trudeau…. I must say, I can’t blame him.”

Zepp-LaRouche concluded that “der Wahnsinn is increasing” in Germany. It is being said that “the Bundeswehr should get ready to fight right now,” and that is insane. There is an explosion of voices coming out in alternative media saying that there is “no longer a coincidence of interests between Europe and the United States.” She reminded the participants of the summits of culture represented by Schiller and Beethoven. Discussion of a humanist image of man, should give us the strength to intervene.


International Peace Coalition: Non-Linear Thinking Is Needed To Stop the Crisis

Dec. 13, 2024 (EIRNS)—The International Peace Coalition (IPC) has now reached its 80th consecutive Friday online meeting. Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened the meeting, saying that we are witnessing a “seismic change in the strategic situation.” The establishment is “quite hysterical,” trying to consolidate the position of the pro-NATO forces vs. the pro-BRICS forces before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Of all the erupting crises, the Ukraine situation is still the most dangerous, because of potential escalation to nuclear war. Zepp-LaRouche reminded the participants of the Nov. 20 comments by Rear Adm. Thomas Buchanan to a meeting at the Washington-based CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI), whereby he said that the United States would take the right to use nuclear weapons preemptively if the hegemony of the United States was at risk. The only problem was, one had to make sure to keep back enough nuclear weapons so that even after such a nuclear exchange, future adversaries could be deterred. The Dec. 7-8 conference of the Schiller Institute was intended to sound the alarm and provide a systematic alternative.

After the collapse of Syria, Western media are “jubilant,” and neighboring countries are carving out pieces from Syria’s carcass. Why did all of this happen? Syria was a modern and multiconfessional state, but then the flow of mercenaries and weapons from Benghazi, Libya began after the “Arab Spring.” Now everything is up in the air. What will be Trump’s Iran policy? Is the larger trend in history toward harmonious cooperation, “the forces of construction and building” in all countries? Zepp-LaRouche reminded the geopoliticians that every one of their attempts to conquer Russia has failed.

Vanessa Beeley, a Syrian-based independent journalist, peace activist and photographer, who just safely made it out of Syria, was scheduled to speak, but because of technical issues was not able to join the conference.

Frequent IPC participant Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst and co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), praised the IPC for being “the only group of its kind that’s doing this kind of work.” He commended Trump’s recent criticism of “collective Biden” for approving Ukrainian attacks on Russia with U.S.-supplied long-range missiles, such as ATACMS. Russia responded yesterday to the latest such attack with a massive missile and drone attack, taking out electricity infrastructure in Ukraine.

McGovern then turned his attention to the significance of Russia’s hypersonic ballistic Oreshnik missile, which he called a “game changer.” If the U.S. insists on belittling the Oreshnik, the Russians will be forced to respond. Russian President Vladimir Putin began warning in 2007 of the danger of NATO expansion, and in 2016 he underlined the point to Western journalists in St. Petersburg after the U.S. decision to station anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems in Romania, ostensibly to counter an imaginary threat from Iran. Russia knew they were lying. Putin said to the journalists, “I don’t expect you to report this,” and then described the geostrategic balance of power which existed before the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the ABM Treaty. Rather than compete in costly and ineffective ABM technology, Russia opted to improve its offensive weapons, which, McGovern said, led to the Oreshnik.

During the discussion, McGovern reported that in his Tucker Carlson interview, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned Rear Admiral Buchanan by name for promoting the possibility of nuclear war between the superpowers. On the subject of Syria, McGovern said that the newly-minted leader of Syria, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, supposedly had a “Damascus conversion” from his earlier use of terrorism. The Western media are putting “a whole lot of lipstick on him.”

Haim Bresheeth, retired professor, author, filmmaker, and founder of the Jewish Network for Palestine, was recently arrested in Britain under the Terrorism Act 2000, and faces a 14-year prison sentence. Bresheeth described a pattern of U.K. persecution of journalists, with close to 100 arrested. Mainstream journalists are “carefully policed by their bosses.” Britain has become a “dystopian society,” with a “great silence, a season of fear.” Being a conformist Jew in the West has become “untenable,” said Bresheeth, and the support of Israeli Jews for genocide is “an unpardonable blot” on their honor. The only way to understand it is as “a deep disturbance, a cognitive dissonance,” and the “replacement of Judaism by Zionism.”

In response to McGovern, Zepp-LaRouche recalled that as the U.S. was setting up ABM systems in Poland and Romania, the Russians were debunking claims that these sites were intended for defense against Iran. They offered anti-missile sites right next to Iran, which the U.S. would have accepted if Iran were the actual concern. She reminded the IPC that her husband Lyndon LaRouche had warned that making the other side’s nuclear weapons technologically obsolete, as the Russians have done with Oreshnik, is the successful strategy, as he had done with his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) proposal. Zepp-LaRouche noted that the West is stuck in linear thinking, its mistaken axioms tracing back to Aristotle and British liberalism. The Russians and Chinese, she said, are proceeding with non-linear responses, in the spirit of Gottfried Leibniz and Nicholas of Cusa.

IPC co-moderator Dennis Small thanked Bresheeth, and reminded the participants that police-state tactics have also been employed in the U.S., in particular against Lyndon LaRouche, who was jailed in 1989 for his views.

During the discussion, Bresheeth was asked to describe what the British police said when they arrested him. He said that a British Zionist organization has a hit list which is provided to police. Initially they told him that he was guilty of “hate speech,” but when asked for specifics, the police became confused and made numerous calls. Ultimately, they changed the charge to “terrorism.”

A Canadian participant followed up: In Canada, there is a handbook with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of “anti-Semitism,” which includes any form of criticism of Israel. This is used to persecute anti-genocide opinions. Bresheeth replied that Britain is about ten years ahead of Canada in this respect.

He went on to say that two terrorist groups, Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Israel Defense Forces have taken over the Middle East. Syria is Humpty Dumpty; no one can put it back together. Who will stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from grabbing Syrian land? Israel has 200-300 nuclear devices, and they could use them against Iran, which has none.

Zepp-LaRouche said that the picture of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad painted by the Western media is completely wrong. Due to the Caesar Sanctions, 95% of Syrians live below the poverty line. Assad decided that fighting would be enormously painful for the Syrian population. Sanctions are intended to punish civilian populations in every case; they are a brutal form of warfare, illegal and unilateral.

An excerpt was presented of an interview with Chandra Muzaffar, founder and president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST). “BRICS is an effort outside the West,” he said. BRICS should be cautious and not expand too fast. It should not exclude Western nations. It can become a global movement for humanity, for greater justice and integrity.

Dennis Small, in response to a question about war profiteering, said that the military-industrial-financial complex is owned by investment corporations like BlackRock. But don’t try to understand these wars as simple profiteering; there is a larger strategic game in play.

In conclusion, Bresheeth proposed that the Global South expel Israel from the UN, the way South Africa was expelled to end apartheid. McGovern and Zepp-LaRouche suggested a mobilization for a Christmas ceasefire and renewed efforts for peace. “Civilization hangs by a thread,” said Zepp-LaRouche.


International Peace Coalition: ‘We Have To Get a Breakout—We’re in Mortal Danger’

Nov. 29, 2024 (EIRNS)—The 78th consecutive weekly online meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) today opened with the return of Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who noted a “strange discrepancy in the perception of reality” between the Chinese, Russians and the Global Majority, on the one side, and leaders of the Anglosphere, on the other. Russia’s new Oreshnik missile flies at Mach 10, is solid fueled, on mobile launchers, and not vulnerable to preemptive “decapitation” strikes. It was nonetheless “pooh-poohed” by Western commentators. NATO’s war against Russia could so escalate that it would be nearly impossible for Trump to “tone it down” when he enters the White House. The new Schiller Institute report explains how Europe, the BRICS and the U.S. could launch a crash program to electrify Africa and industrialize the Global South, resolve the migrant crisis, and prevent world war. The December 7-8 Schiller Institute conference will be a deliberative platform to move that vision forward.

A New War in Syria

Col. Richard H. Black (ret.), a Marine combat veteran, former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon, and former Virginia state Senator, reported that on Nov. 27, a new front opened up in the Middle East conflict. Al-Qaeda (aka al-Nusra, etc.), with likely cooperation from Türkiye and the CIA, broke a ceasefire and attacked the Syrian government. “Türkiye is always on the lookout for opportunities to seize territory from Syria,” he said, and “Israel … has long had its eyes on Syrian territory.” Carl Osgood, military specialist for EIR, later added that in 2018, then-President Trump issued an order to withdraw U.S. troops. There was a revolt from military leaders and the U.S. Senate, which prevented that from happening. The Israelis have been waging a “low-grade war against Syria for many years,” said Osgood.

The Oreshnik Missile and Ukraine

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), reported that intelligence specialists believe that Russia has successfully developed a “new genre” of weapons: Oreshnik has the power of a nuclear bomb without the fallout, but “these tone-deaf NATO people” refuse to take it seriously. The Biden people, on their way out of office, might be tempted to use a nuclear weapon to avoid extreme humiliation in Ukraine. “Let’s get on our knees and pray that there is sangfroid enough” on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s part to prevent such reckless actions, he said.

Carl Osgood reported that on Nov. 25 the Russians, responding to the ATACMS strikes, struck NATO missile launchers in Ukraine, killing foreign specialists at the scene, including 40 American and 9 French technicians, who operated them. He added that the Nov. 21 Oreshnik strike carried no explosive warhead; its enormous destructive power was simply from the kinetic force of impact at Mach 10.

Zepp-LaRouche responded that the “denial by the officialdom of the West is really the scariest thing,” suggesting that it is a form of clinical insanity. “We have to get a breakout,” she insisted. “We’re in mortal danger.”

What Can We Expect from Trump?

IPC co-moderator Dennis Speed suggested that Americans who are still hung over from Thanksgiving may not know that on Thursday, Nov. 28 Putin commented: “You know, what struck me most, and I think you share my view, was not the fact that entirely uncivilized means were employed against Trump, absolutely uncivilized, including attempts on his life, more than once (incidentally, I believe he is still not entirely safe)….” Putin went on, “There have been various instances in the history of the United States. I believe he is a wise and hopefully judicious individual who comprehends all this.”

Former Guyanese President Donald Ramotar asked, are we putting “too much at stake on Trump?” Trump said we were in Syria to take the oil. He “had a domineering outlook on Syria as well.” A German participant said that he is unable to share optimism over Trump, because Trump withdrew from the INF Treaty, declared Jerusalem capital of Israel, and blocked the Nord Stream pipeline. Ray McGovern responded, “Maybe Trump’s people will wake up … or maybe not.”

War Prevention, and the Schiller Institute’s New Report

Former President Ramotar expressed his total agreement with Helga Zepp-LaRouche on linking development to peace, adding that the great danger is the collective West seeking hegemony over the world. Russia saw Western designs on Ukraine as an “extreme no-no” and a threat to their security. Regarding the recently announced ceasefire in Lebanon, he asked, are the Israelis simply buying time to rest their military and replenish supplies? The Israelis can restart the war whenever they are ready. This is not a genuine ceasefire.

Former U.S. Senate candidate Diane Sare, president of The LaRouche Organization, said the American people are equally oblivious to the threat of a new world war, and the promise offered by the New Paradigm of the BRICS and the Global South. “We have a really degraded view of Man in the West … our identity is that of the British Empire.” The cultural interventions, such as the new Schiller Institute pamphlet, are of critical importance to address this.

IPC co-moderator Dennis Small, who was part of the trans-Atlantic task force commissioned by Helga Zepp-LaRouche to produce the pamphlet, said the Western response to Oreshnik has been to escalate. A new talking point for Western figures, including Admiral Robert Bauer, Chair of the NATO Military Committee, is that “instead of shooting at arrows, we have to get rid of the archer,” effectively a statement of intent to go to war with Russia. U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) commented that “this is simply batshit crazy,” and called for the United States to pull out of NATO. Small added, “Now, that’s a reasonable comment.”

Small said the pamphlet offers a way to get beyond dividing the world into antagonistic blocs, by focusing on economic development to avoid war and resolve the migrant problem. The single largest number of migrant detentions in Europe are from Syria, followed by Guinea, then Afghanistan. These are war refugees. In the Americas, the largest cause of migration is economic destruction caused by policies of the IMF, Wall Street, and the City of London for purposes of depopulation and looting. With the construction of the new port in Chancay, Peru, a continental infrastructure grid has become possible, and if it is built, people will stay in their home countries.

Discussion

A Romanian participant reported that her nation, “a colony plus-plus-plus,” voted in the first-round of the presidential election for Călin Georgescu, a “dark horse” candidate who stands for national sovereignty and peace, which “you cannot discuss in the press.” The result was “almost like a miracle.” He will now go on to a runoff election against the pro-NATO candidate. The incumbent government is calling for a criminal investigation of the election results. Zepp-LaRouche said, “It is in line with what we have been seeing from many Eastern European countries,” mentioning Georgia’s decision to postpone any discussion of joining the EU. These are all neighbors of Ukraine, and are not blind to what has occurred there.

Zepp-LaRouche concluded saying we need to mobilize millions of people in the streets, and put together networks of people who can make the New Paradigm a reality. She supported Scott Ritter’s call for mobilizations and rallies on Dec. 7, emphasizing the central importance of the upcoming Schiller Institute conference on Dec. 7 and 8. Everyone will be surprised at the caliber of the speakers at the upcoming conference, and the importance of the deliberation that will occur. [eir]


When Facing Two Bad Options of Human Annihilation, Create a Third for Peace

International Peace Coalition #77

Nov. 22, 2024 (EIRNS)—The 77th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) began with comments from Schiller Institute leader and IPC co-moderator Dennis Speed, who characterized the period between the U.S. Presidential election and the inauguration of Donald Trump as the “most dangerous transition in U.S. history.” It is unclear who is in charge of the U.S. at this moment. The functions of government are “being jeopardized by a shadow structure.” Speed presented video footage of a hapless President Biden wandering cluelessly at the recent G20 conference, noting that Biden was mocked by the international press, dubbing Biden the “ostensible President of the United States.” The surprise Russian deployment of the intermediate range ballistic missile “Oreshnik” in response to the NATO launch of missiles into Russian territory is of utmost significance. We need to “focus on the future, not merely stopping a conflict.”

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter followed Speed, warning we are closer than ever to the use of nuclear weapons. “If Russia assiduously adhered to its nuclear doctrine, they would be ready to use nuclear weapons today,” he said. Russia has responded to the foolish missile attacks by the U.S. and Ukraine by employing a new missile system, and World War III could be triggered by “one stupid error.” It is extremely dangerous to offer an adversary a choice between either total capitulation or nuclear war. We need to create a third option, and get the President-elect to become actively engaged in calling out the Biden administration. Ritter announced he was planning to initiate a process of large demonstrations in Washington, D.C. and internationally, to begin in December, to reverse this looming threat to all of humanity.

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), thanked Ritter for warning us of “imminent dangers…that are truly unique in the history of our nation.” He congratulated the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland for pledging to honor the ICC arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, issued after the court had found ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe that the Israeli officials were responsible for starvation in Gaza. “The Irish know what forced starvation is,” McGovern said. He went on to ask whether Secretary of State Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had authorized the missile strikes into Russia without the knowledge of the Defense Department. He recalled earlier brushes with nuclear disaster, such as the Russian downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983 after it strayed into their airspace and was mistaken for a spy plane, or the “Able Archer” NATO exercise later that same year which Russia thought was an actual preemptive nuclear attack. To prevent more flirtations with disaster, he said, “We need to get American citizens to act as if they lived in a democracy.”

Steve Starr, the former director of University of Missouri Clinical Laboratory Science, warned that following the NATO missile attacks, Russia regards itself now as being at war with the U.S. and U.K.. He shared a video of Col. (ret.) Douglas Macgregor saying Russia is at “the highest level of readiness they have ever achieved” in preparation for nuclear war. If Ukraine is foolish enough to attack the Kursk nuclear power plant, Starr said, it could start this war. He reviewed some of the new Russian weapon systems, such as unmanned, nuclear-armed drone submarines, and reminded participants of the fatal effects of nuclear winter. He noted with approval that international law expert Prof. Francis Boyle has written up articles of impeachment for Biden.

Ritter, in response, said he wants to applaud Starr for laying out the danger of “the imminent demise of mankind,” adding that “people should be changing their underwear in fear.” He discussed in great detail some of the technical aspects of the newly deployed Russian missile, warning that Putin just put us on notice that he has a weapon that can overcome any weapon system in the West.

Ray McGovern then intervened to remind the participants that it was Trump who ended the vitally important INF Treaty during his first term.

‘Some People with Nefarious Goals’

Larry Johnson, retired CIA analyst, referred to the recent indictment of Farhad Shakeri for a plot to assassinate Trump, saying that this was a setup by the FBI as part of an effort to try to create a pretext for war with Iran. There are people at DOD, CIA, FBI and DOJ who have been involved in “active subversion” for years. They recognize that when Trump comes in, there is a potential for an accountability that will put many of them at risk, and are therefore willing to engage in nefarious activities to stop that.

Johnson was asked by co-moderator Speed about a “shadow government” attempting to manipulate our government in this period. Johnson described the scheme launched in 2015 by former CIA Director John Brennan, who had set up a task force to gather intelligence on presidential candidates. It involved active collaboration between the FBI, CIA, NSA, and foreign intelligence services from the British-dominated “Five Eyes” grouping, to prevent dialogue between Trump and Russia. These people have no interest in freedom, democracy, or human rights; they are interested in money and power. “Putin represents an existential threat to the West, from the standpoint that he has destroyed their ability to control and manipulate other countries.” Barack Obama is “an important tool in that.”

Co-moderator Dennis Small returned to the topic of Scott Ritter’s “third option.” He cited a recent article in RT by Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in chief of Russia in Global Affairs, and Research Director of the Valdai Discussion Club, saying that we are entering a dangerous phase: “The final days of Democrat rule in Washington promise to be risky.”

Small added that the Biden administration has launched unprecedented financial warfare against India and Russia, along with the issuance of implicit threats against the BRICS, should they devise a system of payments that circumvents the dominance of the dollar. In response to a question during the discussion period, he said that the Anglo-American attack upon India represents a dangerous tendency to divide the world into two blocs. The policies of London and Washington lead toward “the division of the world into an unreconcilable split.” The alternative is Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s “Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture.”

From IPC Participants

Several peace initiatives emerged, notably:

A broad social media campaign of international friendship, with #SayNoToNuclearWar, calling on people all over the world to speak out as the true voice for peace, and as the true voice of their nations.

Calling all members of the Armed Services Committee in the Congress to assert their war-making power, and demand an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.

An important contribution came in from Father Harry Bury, who was ordained a priest in 1955, and had chained himself to the U.S. Embassy gate in Saigon in 1971. He reminded participants that Christmastime is approaching, and Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled to Gaza City, then Egypt, as refugees from Herod. People should approach their pastors with LaRouche’s Oasis Plan. Ray McGovern added, “I would say that the role of the church in these matters now has been negligible,” and compared it to the passivity of churches during the first Holocaust by the Nazi regime. We must act with great non-violent force to resist now.


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