International Peace Coalition

Report on IPC #175

Oct. 9, 2026 (EIRNS)—The 175th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) began with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and IPC Initiator, who praised the awarding of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African judge Navi Pillay, who chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel that concluded in a Sept. 16, 2025 report that Israel was guilty of genocide in Gaza. She went on to describe the wave of protests that have broken out around Europe, noting that “the one common denominator” is opposition to the war drive being led by the governments of the “coalition of the willing.”

As an indication of the “brutalization of the population as part of the cognitive warfare,” Zepp-LaRouche cited U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s stated intention to live-stream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter U.S. Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan who was convicted of murder in 2013 for the 2009 shooting rampage on the base that killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others. The final and most important news she reported was the proclamation by Pope Leo XIV that Saint Augustine was, in fact, not the author of the “just war” doctrine, particularly the version that is presently being misused by war enthusiasts. She called for a “just peace.”

Kathy Kelly is an American peace activist, three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and co-coordinator of the “Ban Killer Drones” campaign and of “World BEYOND War,” of which she became board president in 2022. She began by greeting many of the prominent personalities who have spoken at past IPC meetings, including Prof. Falk, who followed her in this session. She referenced the assassination of Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte, who served as the first United Nations Mediator for the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1947-1948. He was killed by the Zionist Stern Gang on Sept. 17, 1948 to thwart the peace proposal which he and Ralph Bunche, an American diplomat and assistant to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine had drafted and which was submitted to the UN the following day. She described how Pope Francis directed that the “popemobile” be converted to a medical relief vehicle, and how the Israelis, to this day, have refused to allow this vehicle to enter Gaza. She concluded with the famous quote by a leader of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of Jan. 18, 1943, Marek Edelman, who asserted that “to be a Jew means always standing with the oppressed, never the oppressors.”

Prof. Richard Anderson Falk is professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and was United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories from 2008 to 2014. He recalled how, in the past, leaders of the United States welcomed immigrants—an indication of what “the American narrative could be and should be.” He described the current deportation of immigrants to “third countries” as “racism on top of xenophobia.” Falk echoed Zepp-LaRouche’s appreciation of the awarding of the Nobel Prize to his former boss at the UN, Navi Pillay, but expressed the wish that it could have been shared with his fellow Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, which would have also been richly significant.

He added that Pope Leo speaks with a moral authority that the Secretary-General of the UN lacks. The latter “cringes at the point of challenging the powers of the world.” He described how leading politicians must defer to corruption in order to attain and retain their status. Zepp-LaRouche, in response, agreed that corruption has become a sort of prerequisite for political leadership, that a person who aspires to political power must have skeletons in his closet to ensure that he can be controlled. She presented a vision of an alternative system, based on a dialogue of civilizations, and said that Popes Leo XIV and Francis are examples of the leadership required. Kelly recounted a tale of an encounter with a U.S. Marine in Baghdad during the U.S. invasion and “shock and awe” bombing of Iraq in 2003. The Marine astonished her by identifying the book, which she had seen him reading earlier, as a copy of Joseph Conrad’s anti-colonial novel, Heart of Darkness—which he said that he was reading for the thirteenth time. She again praised Pope Leo and said, “We don’t want to give up on that edifice of international law.”

Dennis Fritz, retired U.S. Air Force Command Chief Master Sergeant, reminded the participants of earlier warnings by other military men, Gen. Smedley Butler, who famously said that “war is a racket,” and Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, who warned of the Military-Industrial Complex. Today, our political leaders seek unequaled military power which they will use to get anything they want, typified by the “Wolfowitz Doctrine” of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, which set the stage for multiple wars in the Middle East. He said that Pete Hegseth presides over “the scariest Pentagon” he has ever seen, and warned of Hegseth’s plan to use artificial intelligence (AI) to create a fully automated attack capability.

The Upcoming Election in Brazil

Beatriz Bissio, Associate Professor in the Post-Graduate Program of Comparative History, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said that “democracy in Brazil is now facing its greatest test, since the restoration of constitutional order in the mid-1980s”—with the contest between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro. The latter represents “the rise of the far right, globally,” and is supported by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The first round of elections on Oct. 4, she said, had shocking results with Bolsonaro coming out on top with 47% of the vote while President Lula came in second, with 45%. She described Brazil as being encircled by right-wing regimes, with the exception of Uruguay. “The outcome of the [run-off] elections in Brazil [on Oct. 25] will have reverberations in Latin America and beyond… the far-right governments are subservient to U.S. interests.”

Felipe Bombardelli, a Brazilian post-graduate student in robotics at the Federal University of Paraná, is active with the International Youth Movement of the Schiller Institute. He described that there was very little political participation of students at the universities in Brazil going into the first round of the elections—many people on the left, including in Lulaʼs Workersʼ Party (PT), thought Lula would win on the first vote. Waking up to realize that “it will take a miracle to make Lula President,” an unprecedented mobilization of students, professors and even labor has exploded in support of Lula’s candidacy—in the face of a difficult situation.

Staying on the topic of student activism, Schiller Institute activist Remi Lebrun reported on the ground from Paris, France, where there is a widespread mobilization from primarily high school students who are protesting the collapse of conditions in French public schools. The government has responded with severe repression, worse even than that directed against the “yellow vest” movement in France between 2018 and 2020. High school students are now being joined by middle school and college students, and their parents.

Discussion

In response to questions, the participants discussed the proposal of E. Martin Schotz, MD, the coordinator for the JFK Peace Speech Committee and a leader of Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA) who in last week’s IPC meeting suggested an “American National Congress” modeled on the “African National Congress,” which led the fight against apartheid in South Africa. They moved next to the possible consequences of a Flávio Bolsonaro victory in Brazil, including the possible withdrawal of that nation from the BRICS.

Independent congressional candidate Jose Vega raised the implications of the latest shooting by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) agents of a 28-year-old man with a 5-year-old child in the back seat of his car, in the Bronx, New York. He placed it in the context of worldwide anger over the mistreatment of the poor and elderly, such as the case of María del Carmen Abascal in Spain—an 87-year-old woman evicted from her apartment in Madrid after an investment fund acquired the property and raised the rent—by governments that are increasingly bankrupt but insist on transferring funds to an arms buildup.

Zepp-LaRouche closed the meeting by reiterating that the world is entering an inevitable phase change, and that whether that change is for better, or worse, will depend on the courage of individuals. [eir]

by EIR staff

The 173^rd consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) began with remarks by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and IPC initiator. She expressed her hope that meeting between Trump and Xi “could become a game-changer” in U.S.-China relations. She echoed Xi’s view, that solving many problems in the world would require the two largest economies working together. She said that one cannot overlook the fact that the military doctrine of the U.S. and the Anglophile nations has been the encirclement of Russia and China, but if Trump can normalize relations with those countries, he will have earned a positive place in history. The dominant theme at the UNGA is the question of whether the world going forward will be governed by the law of the jungle, or will we have a civilized world with a new security and development architecture. She said that the Western powers have no clue that the majority of the world is now orienting toward a new paradigm of peace through development. “We are in one of those moments where everything will depend on the courage of individuals to take up the flag of peace,” she said.

Harley Schlanger, President of The LaRouche Organization, introduced Dr. Seyed Mohammad Marandi, an Iranian-American academic, intellectual and political analyst who is Professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran, and a former advisor to Iran’s Nuclear Negotiation Team. He said that the roots of the war we are seeing today may be found in Iran’s independence and its decision to be non-aligned. Iran has also supported the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, and taken up the cause of the Palestinians, which made it a target of the Anglosphere. He compared both the Christian and Jewish varieties of Zionism to ISIS and al-Qaeda, all radical sects which do not reflect the religions they purport to represent. In fact, Israel bombed a synagogue which is located in the heart of the Jewish community in Tehran.

In response, Zepp-LaRouche pointed to the desperate attempts by the Anglosphere to preserve a unipolar world as the root cause of military conflicts in the world today. She said that presenting a true history of Iran is crucial to “setting the record straight.”

Garland Nixon, veteran progressive radio and television talk show host, pointed to the inherent contradiction in the narratives that Russia is losing its war with Ukraine, while simultaneously alleging that Russia is about to march through Europe and across the English Channel. He said that greatest fear of the Western elite is actually “internal uprising,” due to the rapidly deteriorating conditions of life in Western nations. “The more aggressive the U.S. foreign policy is, the more you suffer,” he said, citing the example of how the recently proclaimed new sanctions will impact living standards in the U.S. He suggested that the policies and rhetoric of the ruling elites have become so shockingly extreme that the masses may respond, and refuse to comply with the demands of those elites.

H.E. Donald Ramotar was President of Guyana from 2011-2015. Addressing Prof. Marandi, he observed that the Mossadegh government in Iran was overthrown by the CIA in 1953, the same year that the PPP government in Guyana was overthrown by Britain in a similar operation, and there has been subsequent kinship between the two nations. He accused the U.S. of “gangster-style operations,” citing as an example how Iran was invited to the negotiating table and then bombed. He lamented the fact that technological innovations such as AI, rather than being used to improve the quality of life for the common folk, are instead being channeled into military aggression. The quality of leadership in the West is declining, he said, because increasingly the power lies with private corporations instead of elected governments. He criticized UN Secretary General Guterres for his unwillingness to call what is happening in Gaza a genocide, and stated that UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese should have received the Nobel Prize for her efforts.

Prof. Marandi emphasized that Iran is a normal nation, and there is no “cult of martyrdom.” Iran supports the Palestinian cause because Iranians recognize the humanity of the Palestinians.

Richard Black, Schiller Institute UN Representative, reported on his organization’s activities around the General Assembly meeting, and read excerpts from the letter to the UN, written by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, which calls for a new security and development architecture “with the spirit of Bandung, the spirit of Shanghai, and the spirit of Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony.” He highlighted the role of Diane Sare’s presidential campaign, and her critique of the Delphic nature of international banker/Canadian PM Mark Carney’s Partners for Multilateralism (P4M), which is intended to undercut the BRICS and sabotage the actual movement for multilateralism.

Discussion

The discussion section began with an on-the-ground video presentation from a French activist who was present in Paris to welcome the pope, whose message of peace contrasts with the French government’s calls for war.

History and Culture

Co-moderator Dennis Speed asserted that we are seeing “an end to the doctrine of supremacy,” and asked the panelists to comment. Garland Nixon commented that in Russia, there is more attention to history and culture than one finds in the West, but in the West, there is an awakening interest in these topics which is changing the way people see the world.

Zepp-LaRouche reminded the participants that in the West, the CIA launched the Congress for Cultural Freedom, which was an operation aimed at the extirpation of classical culture. The British promote a truncated version of history which erases the contributions of cultures which are much older than Britain’s.

Richard Black described a visit to an historical museum in China, where he saw large crowds of Chinese families who were passionately committed to imparting their nation’s very long history to their progeny.

The Next UN Secretary General

A participant warned that the US was throwing its support to the candidacy of Rafael Mariano Grossi to become the new Secretary General of the UN, and reminded the meeting of Grossi’s corrupt role as head of the IAEA, and how he visited Iran and probably provided intelligence to Israel which was used to assassinate Iranian scientists.

Zepp-LaRouche recalled the involvement of Palantir in spreading disinformation about Iran’s nuclear program in order to manufacture consent for the war, and asked whether Grossi was complicit in this. She said that if Grossi wishes to become Secretary General, “he should not have such dark spots on his shirt.”

Neocolonialism

President Ramotar characterized Venezuela as a “full-fledged colony of the United States,” and said it typifies the colonialist nature of U.S. policy, as opposed to China’s more benevolent approach. He called attention to the recently concluded agreement which gives the U.S. significant control over Greenland.

Co-moderator Dennis Small offered a definition of neocolonialism as a system where nations are granted nominal political independence, but their economies remain entirely under external control. He agreed on the significance of the Greenland agreement.

Zepp-LaRouche responded to a question by reiterating her view that if Trump can restore normal relations with Russia and China, he will have secured a positive role in history. She said that model that security comes from military strength is the view of a shrinking minority; the “tide of the times” is that the road to peace is development, and this view is now universal among the global majority as reflected by the BRICS and SCO. She concluded that we are at a branching point; on the one side, we have the tendency toward neocolonialism, or neo-feudalism as power shifts to private companies or individuals, and on the other hand, there is the outlook which the IPC represents.

Sept. 13, 2026 (EIRNS)—The 171st consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and became a strategy session on how to use some incredible openings we now have to build a political movement and educate the population. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the IPC, called the 9/11 attacks one of the biggest false flag events in history, used as a “Reichstag Fire” to impose a surveillance state on the United States—not to “protect” the population, but to control the population.

A video was shown of her late husband, Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., speaking on January 3, 2001 warning that the incoming President George W. Bush administration would not be able to deal with the growing economic crisis, and needed a “Reichstag Fire”–type incident to impose crisis management. Zepp-LaRouche added that while the September 11 attacks were unfolding, Lyndon LaRouche was speaking on a live radio broadcast, the Dr. Jack Stockwell Show in Salt Lake City, Utah, and immediately dismissed the official narrative that a disgruntled recluse living in a cave could inflict this level of destruction. LaRouche knew from his years working on the policy that President Reagan announced on March 23, 1983, as the Strategic Defense Initiative, and through his resultant knowledge of the U.S. air defense/NORAD systems, that this had to be an “inside job,” involving corrupt elements of the U.S. intelligence apparatus.

Zepp-LaRouche recounted a Jan. 2002 interview, where LaRouche emphatically made the point that an attack on the Pentagon would automatically put the entire U.S. thermonuclear arsenal on high alert, and that we were very close to nuclear war. It was extremely important, therefore, she said, that Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to call President Bush to offer support and even offered to put Russiaʼs nuclear arsenal on stand-down to lower any threat level to the U.S. However, this offer of friendship during a time of crisis was misused. Zepp-LaRouche said, that if the United States is ever going to regain its status as a true republic—an appropriate thing to do on its 250th birthday—it must reexamine these missteps, by fully investigating the 9/11 attacks, as well as the chain of events which followed, including the so-called War on Terror, and the takedown of Constitutional rights under the Patriot Act.

The BRICS nations are meeting in New Delhi and are certainly discussing President Trumpʼs Iran War and the soaring oil prices that the war has caused. These prices will continue to rise, as a second major waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, has been taken over by Yemen’s Iran-allied Ansar Allah (Houthi) fighters, who, in their war against Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, have seized full control of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has exposed that Prime Minister Netanyahu likely knew about the October 7 attacks 10 days in advance. Those Hamas attacks continued for 6 hours before there was any response from the Israeli military. Netanyahuʼs official narrative is coming apart.

Earlier in the week, Germanyʼs Alternative für Deutschland Party (AfD) won a landslide victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. This is seen as a complete rejection of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and his war drive against Russia.

Was Cheney Part of the 9/11 Coup?

Retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), spoke next, telling the audience that if they want to understand the world today, they must read EIR magazine. He began by outlining his personal experience while questioning former Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta five years after the 9/11 attacks, following an examination of Mineta’s testimony to the 9/11 Commission. McGovern called this commission a “political commission.”

McGovern described Mineta’s testimony. Mineta said that Vice President Dick Cheney was already in the PEOC (President’s Emergency Operations Center) when Mineta arrived, at approximately 9:25 am. This conflicts with the officially reported arrival of Cheney, 9:58 am, after the Pentagon attack, which occurred at 9:37. Mineta described a young man repeatedly entering the room and informing Cheney about an incoming plane, later thought to be American Airlines Flight 77, which was approaching Washington and was presumed to be flown by hijackers: 50 miles away, 30 miles away, then 10 miles away.

Mineta said the young man eventually asked Cheney whether “the orders still stand?” to which Cheney whipped his head around, barking: “Of course it still stands, have you heard anything to the contrary?” Mineta even remarked years later, at an event in Seattle, that his testimony of this account was left out of the 9/11 Commission Report.

In 2006, McGovern had the opportunity to corner Mineta on this very account during Constitution Day at Georgetown University, where they were both honorary Constitution readers. McGovern asked: “Who was the young man? Was he in uniform?” Mineta said he could not recall the young man, nor whether he was in uniform.

When asked about the implications of what Cheney said following the question from the young man—“if the orders still stand?”—Mineta began to behave very bizarrely. McGovern, referring to Mineta’s testimony before the 9/11 Commission, continued: “ ‘Minutes later’ [after Cheney’s remark]—that’s why the difference in the timing is so important—‘Minutes later,’ according to Mineta, ‘the Pentagon was hit.’ I asked Mineta if he would agree that the timing suggested the logic that Cheney had issued a stand-down order of some kind? Well, what happened? He closed his eyes momentarily. It was as if a warning had been etched on the inside of his eyelids:”Speak only of the plane in Pennsylvania!”

“It was bizarre,” McGovern said. “It was as if a robot took over. For the next eight minutes, Mineta refused to move beyond those parameters. As I said, the 9/11 Commission simply ignored Mineta’s formal testimony—hardly a surprise since it totally ignored other inconvenient facts, like the collapse of the World Trade Center Building Seven without an airplane to blame it on. But the very revealing questioning of Mineta by Lee Hamilton is available for all to see on YouTube.” He called the 9/11 Commission a joke, and pointed out that the part of the Pentagon that was hit held important financial records, which were all destroyed. He went on to praise the work and grit of the “Jersey Girls,” who are the widows of the men killed during the 9/11 attack, demanding a real commission.

McGovern said that former U.S. Army four-star General Wesley Clark correctly warned that the United States wanted a pretext to attack seven countries in Southwest Asia, starting with Iraq, which might be a threat to Israel. After 9/11 everything changed, and false narratives could easily be fabricated. McGovern later warned that he is concerned about what President Donald Trump might do to interfere with the midterm elections, saying that Trump could use U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as his “brown shirts,” or call on allied governors to use the National Guard. He concluded by saying, “We have to act as our forefathers and mothers did 250 years ago, get a hold of ourselves, get a hold of the truth, and meanwhile, let’s not get depressed. Let’s go to Beethoven’s 9th.”

The True Threat of Ashcroft’s Nomination

A video clip from January 2001 was shown in which Lyndon LaRouche answered a question from the Congressional Black Caucus about how to stop John Ashcroft from becoming U.S. Attorney General. LaRouche explained that Ashcroft was a racist, but the threat that he represented goes beyond the “Southern Strategy” of President Richard Nixon. Ashcroftʼs role would be to allow the U.S. Constitution to be replaced by a crisis-management-type structure. This means a secret government with a secret police and endless wars. LaRouche said that we cannot be like the dumb Germans who saw Hitler as a threat, but said that they would kick him out in the next election—except there were no more elections. Helga Zepp-LaRouche mentioned that Silicon Valley’s Palantir Technologies founder Peter Thiel has approvingly said that the 9/11 attacks were a defining moment to establish a police state.

Whistleblower and former NSA technical director, Bill Binney, spoke of the electronic surveillance program that he developed, Thin Thread, which was rejected because the program facilitated national security without violating the 4th Amendment. However, NSA Director Gen. Michael Hayden and Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet wanted complete surveillance of the American population and, in the end, spent billions extra for a system which has violated the Constitution 250,000 times by accessing data without a warrant or by “parallel constructions,” i.e., using fake evidence to justify spy operations.

Binney has warned about the unconstitutional and totalitarian Section 1021 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act which allows indefinite detention and other crimes. He has also warned about the NSA program Treasure Map designed to map the entire Internet—“any device, anywhere, all the time.” When Binney confronted officials about the unconstitutional activities of his agency, they seemed to always respond with, “We have been given special authority,” but Binney said that there is no authorization to violate the Constitution. These corrupt officials were afraid of Binneyʼs Thin Thread program, knowing that it could be used to find criminal activity in the federal government. Binney will be speaking at a Jose Vega for Congress event (New York C.D. 15, The Bronx) on September 13 at 11 am, because these problems can all be fixed and he wants to address young people with his solutions. Ray McGovern encouraged people to see the movie about Bill Binney titled, A Good American.

Jason Ross, science advisor to The LaRouche Organization, addressed the issue of artificial intelligence (AI) leading to “extinction,” saying that the real concern is the intent behind the technology. Ross told young people that they have to act on the world that they want to see develop. McGovern responded, saying that what is needed is the concert later in the evening where Beethoven and Schillerʼs idea that “all men become brothers” will be presented.

Jack Gilroy from Pax Christi spoke of the growing support for the letter calling on Pope Leo XIV to intervene for peace as Pope John XXIII did during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. A second letter by Peter Kuznick, a professor of history at American University, also has a growing following. Gilroy plans to establish a giant database of peace activists.

Terry Strada, national chair of the 9/11 Families & Victims United for Justice Against Terrorism, who intervened that morning during the 9/11 commemoration event held at the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan, sent a message of support to the IPC meeting.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche ended the event calling for a movement of “World Citizens.” We all must become beautiful souls and geniuses. We were born for something better.

[eir]

International Peace Coalition, Week 169

by EIR staff

Aug. 28—The 169th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) began with remarks by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, IPC initiator and Schiller Institute Founder. She acknowledged that after 169 weeks, the war danger is getting worse, but emphasized that solutions exist and we must win the political battle to implement them. In Ukraine, Britain and France are stoking the flames of conflict by introducing more high-tech weaponry, which increases the risk that Russia will treat them, and Britain in particular, as direct participants in the conflict, as Russian government Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned this week. In the Iran War, the United States has reached an impasse of sorts because of depletion of its arsenal.

Zepp-LaRouche has not yet reached a conclusion about the significance of the new “Mecca Alliance”—a trilateral mutual defense pact signed in Mecca on August 7 by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif—but it could possibly create an avenue for successful negotiation and a new regional security architecture, provided that it is combined with an economic development perspective such as the Oasis Plan. The Western economies are in a desperate situation, and the rearmament drive in Europe is “just so crazy,” particularly because there is an emphasis on the mass-production of weaponry which is technologically obsolete. The United States is now paying more in interest on its national debt than it pays for its stupendous military budget.

Dennis Small, Executive Intelligence Reviewʼs Ibero-American Intelligence Director, began by observing that President Donald Trump’s every campaign promise and prediction have been contradicted by reality, and recalled Lyndon LaRouche’s warning about the absolute folly of continuing failed economic policies. He recalled how current U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent played a key role in George Soros’ move to short the British Pound in 1992. He elaborated Bessent’s present gambit to use the Treasury’s trillion-dollar “rainy day” fund to buy back Treasury notes, and the defiant response of the financier community. We have reached a point where government debt and interest rates are both rising. Bessent is buying back long-term debt with short-term loans, which is accelerating us toward the precipice. Small also reviewed Bessent’s shrill demands that all nations should stop trading with Iran, which are likely to be rebuffed by all of Iran’s major trading partners, and concluded that this tactic will accelerate the development of a new security and development architecture that will supplant U.S. dominance.
Peter Kuznick, Professor of History and Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, in Washington, D.C., provided a video to explain the goals of his open letter to Pope Leo XIV, calling for an intervention by him to convene an emergency summit to prevent nuclear war. He is concerned that Trump’s “pathological narcissism” makes him vulnerable to pressure from those around him, to “break the taboo” against the use of nuclear weapons.

Zepp-LaRouche, in response, reminded participants that the drive for rearmament will be funded by cuts in entitlements, increasing the general misery and causing governments to further resort to war in order to divert attention from that, just as it did in the case of Germany under the Nazis.

Co-moderator Dennis Speed pointed out that the new interest bill for the U.S. government is now higher than the entire U.S. government budget in 1987. He then introduced Larry Johnson, former CIA intelligence official and a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

Johnson said that the corruption in the United States and of Trump personally “makes the corruption in Ukraine look tame by comparison.” He called Bessent’s so called “D-Day sanctions” against Iran “a complete joke,” because Iran is in the process of withdrawing from the U.S.-dominated financial system. He ridiculed Trump’s claim that the Strait of Hormuz is open, and reviewed the impending crisis as the world runs out of diesel fuel, which is “the economic heart of economies.”

Zepp-LaRouche acknowledged again that the situation is grave, but reminded the participants that the problem is solvable and that we can draw upon historic traditions such as Confucianism in China, and the Peace of Westphalia in Europe. These traditions informed her composition of her Ten Principles.

Dennis Small pointed out that the only reason there is a problem with Social Security and other so-called “entitlements” is that Wall Street insists that it is “entitled” to have its desires take precedence over the well-being and very survival of the U.S. population. He reviewed the personal corruption of Trump, whose family made $2 billion last year in cryptocurrency speculation, but warned against a simple-minded assumption that this is the root of the problem. He insisted that such corruption is simply a symptom of the presently bloated and dying financial structure. He demanded, with LaRouche, a return to a fixed-rate currency exchange system; predictability is good for trade in physical goods and bad for speculation. We must also close to speculators the door of free convertibility of currencies.

Dennis Speed quoted Hannah Arendt on the consequences of a news media that is permeated with lies: the population is rendered impotent because it no longer believes in anything. In response, Zepp-LaRouche pointed out that the use of the word “narrative” indicates that truth is no longer considered to be a factor in news reporting. In its place, we have competing fairy tales concocted by various factions to further their respective agendas.

Throughout the meeting, various speakers noted that there is widespread speculation about the recent visits of CIA chief John Ratcliffe and Archbishop Paul Gallagher to Russia. Dennis Speed asked Johnson for his take on this topic. Johnson characterized most of the hot talk about this as “a load of crap.” He opined that Ukraine’s survival as a nation is now very much in question and it may not last to the end of the year.

Discussion

A German participant lamented the loss of Germany’s intellectual tradition, the “Land of Poets and Thinkers.” Zepp-LaRouche took the optimistic view that Germany has bounced back more than once from terrible dark ages, and it could happen again. She said that “the Europeans have allowed themselves to be de-rooted from their own cultural traditions,” unlike Asian nations that are bolstered by the positive elements in their 5,000-year history. Dennis Small responded with a bit of caustic sarcasm about the cultural development of Trump and present-day America.

Zepp-LaRouche returned to this topic in her concluding remarks, insisting that every person must mobilize his or her emotions to resist the depressive effects of “narrative control” and the degradation of culture.  The key to success in this struggle, she said, is the emotion of love.

International Peace Coalition, Week 168

Aug. 21—On August 21 the International Peace Coalition (IPC) held its 168th consecutive weekly meeting which Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the IPC said may be our most important meeting ever. Two regional wars threaten to go out of control, and the use of tactical nuclear weapons is now a topic for casual discussion. This has been recently confirmed by former U.S. Congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene who said that she is not guessing when she says that there is an open discussion in the Pentagon, or in the President Donald Trump administration, of using tactical nuclear weapons, but rather she knows from direct sources that this is a live discussion. Elbridge Colby, the so-called “U.S. Under Secretary of War for Policy,” has confirmed on the record that the Pentagon is re-examining U.S. nuclear employment guidance in order to give the President what he calls “rational nuclear options” in a regional conflict with Russia or China—and he maintains that, unlike U.S. Nuclear Posture Reviews, this does not need to be approved by Congress or even be made public.

Zepp-LaRouche said that President Trump should admit that he has lost the war in Iran, but instead he is vacillating between saying he is talking to the Iranians and saying there are no talks—most recently warning of crushing sanctions against Iran and any country working with them. However, Iran has survived 47 years of sanctions, and it is the United States which is bankrupt with the federal deficit now passing the $40 trillion mark. According to media reports, Iranian officials threatened to attack U.S. military bases in Europe if the U.S. intensifies the war. Israel continues the genocide in Gaza, but has been committing similar atrocities in the West Bank. But President Trump is unable or unwilling to control Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The fighting in Ukraine is also escalating, but all of these wars are a consequence of the economic crisis, and the desire by western countries to maintain the 500-year-old colonial system of looting. Zepp-LaRouche stressed the urgency to circulate the letter which appeals to Pope Leo XIV to intervene by calling for a summit of global leaders to address the need of peace and nuclear disarmament. At least two former heads of state have already signed the letter.

Ray McGovern, the retired CIA analyst and founding member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), said that he started the day this morning the same way he starts every morning—reading the news from EIR. He highly recommended that people read an article by Jason Ross. McGovern questioned how Elbridge Colby could even talk about changing official nuclear doctrines without first consulting with the Russians. McGovern said that he has been watching the Russians and the Soviets before them for over six decades, and said that the Russians are “an open book,” and make their nuclear policy crystal clear. Colby is “still wet behind the ears” with no experience and no understanding of what war is. McGovern used to brief Colbyʼs father on the Russians. Elbridge Colby wrote that he wants “nuclear superiority,” but McGovern said that this is not possible and that nobody will be superior in a nuclear war, which is why it is called “Mutually Assured Destruction.”

McGovern stressed that President Trump is not well physically nor psychologically and could lead the world into a nuclear war either deliberately, accidentally, or by responding to an Israeli “false flag” provocation. This Israeli instigation is how President Trump started the Iran War. Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz which is the equivalent of holding a nuclear weapon. Would Trump respond with a nuclear weapon? Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson recently spoke on the Judging Freedom podcast where he said that the U.S. military leadership would not allow Trump to use nuclear weapons. McGovern said that he prays that Wilkerson is correct, but that there is no assurance.

McGovern spoke of several near nuclear incidents such as in 1983 when Soviet Union radar indicated a missile attack, the Russian officer in charge [Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov] refused to launch a counterattack, knowing that there was a technical problem with the radar system and that there was no threat. Another crisis in Nov. 1983 was averted when the CIAʼs Mel Goodman—with whom McGovern said he was proud to work on Soviet foreign policy—bypassed all his superiors and went directly to CIA Director Bill Casey to warn that the White House had to stop ongoing western military exercises which were misunderstood in Moscow to be an attack on the Soviet Union. A third possible incident occurred when President Nixon had been drinking heavily and Kissinger warned military leaders that Nixon was inebriated and should he give orders to launch a nuclear strike the military leaders should first check with Kissinger. McGovern said that we are currently facing a level of danger that he has not seen since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and he again put the biggest concern on President Trumpʼs mental state.

Jack Gilroy, a leader in Pax Christi, spoke of the growing circulation of the letter calling on Pope Leo XIV to bring world leaders together to address the need for peace and nuclear disarmament. Gilroy said that the Pope is seen as a moral leader and is respected by people of all faiths. In the past Gilroy could meet with his congressman, but recently the congressman has given excuses to cancel meetings and the last time the meeting was canceled because the congressman was on an AIPAC-sponsored trip to Israel.

Garland Nixon, the media personality and political analyst, said that the members of the European oligarchy are the most rabidly pro-war because they are hysterical about the end of the 500 years of colonialism and looting. The British always had the goal of controlling shipping choke points, but now the Houthis have more control than the British Navy. Nixon said that these oligarchs are angry, furious, and irrational at the fall of their colonial hierarchy. Nearly everybody calling into his show want to know how they can help.

Dennis Small said that the 500 years of colonial looting and the drive for nuclear war are the same issue. Elbridge Colby is married to the Brazilian Susana Cordeiro Guerra who is the Vice President at the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean. In Brazil Guerra was a protege of the Finance Minister Paulo Guedes, a former student of Milton Friedman and one of the looters of the “Chicago Boys” under President Jair Bolsonaro.

Donald Ramotar, former president of Guyana, said the several western countries are desperate to “turn back the clock” to keep the 500 years of colonialism alive.

Jose Vega spoke about his independent congressional campaign and the website TheTorresFile.com which documents the money and corruptions around Congressman Ritchie Torres (Democrat in New Yorkʼs 15th C.D., the Bronx). Moderator Anastasia Battle gave a report of a scheduled “Crusader” confrontation in Dearborn, Michigan between Christian Nationalists and the large Arab community, however, activists and faith leaders from many denominations came out to defend the community and peaceful unity.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche closed the event stressing that “We are all in one boat,” one humanity. We need to promote the Extended Oasis Plan to end the cycle of violence and educate 30 to 50 percent of the population and join with the Global Majority. The world wants peace and stability, not wars and genocide. In recent weeks military leaders warned that we are sleepwalking into another 1914 war crisis. We must circulate the letter to every institution and every thinking person. (sac)

Report on International Peace Coalition, Week 167

by EIR Staff

Aug. 14—The 167th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) began with remarks by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and IPC initiator. She warned that the idea is unrealistic that the Anglophile Empire, and with it the United States, will peacefully go out of business, as the Soviet Union did. The Iran war “is lost for the United States”; it did not achieve its goal of regime change, and it has depleted its stockpile of weapons. U.S. President Donald Trump does not seem to have found a face-saving way out. The new “Mecca Alliance” of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye is significant, because the constituent nations are all formerly close partners of the United States. The regional situation remains very complex, and “still has the potential of expanding into a global nuclear war.”

The Ukraine war continues to be “a situation of utmost tension,” where the barbarism becomes worse by the day. In Panama, the United States proclaimed its dominance of the Western Hemisphere, in a clear violation of the intent of the Monroe Doctrine. Zepp-LaRouche expressed her hope that China’s Global Governance Initiative will be discussed next month in the United Nations General Assembly.

Richard Anderson Falk is professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor’s chairman of the board of trustees, and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories (2008 to 2014). He said he wished to emphasize a point raised by Zepp-LaRouche, the difference between the way the USSR went peacefully out of business, and the bellicose thrashing of the Anglo-Americans. He pointed out that the genocide in Gaza has been very profitable for the U.S. arms industry, and the private sector is putting pressure on the U.S. government with “exaggerated security threats and security interests.”

He also called attention to the “era of finance capital,” in which profits take precedence over production and the national interest, and asserted that this is fueling the bellicose foreign policy of the United States. “The Western efforts to wage colonial wars … have not produced a political victory; the weaker side, militarily, has been prevailing.” “The encouraging obsolescence of military power” is being challenged by the private sector which makes money regardless of whether wars are won, or lost.

The Iranians have learned that “trust doesn’t work with the West,” after the United States launched a war of choice, twice, in the midst of diplomatic negotiations. The inability of the U.S. to stop this madness is only partially explicable by the “personality and style of Trump”; we must also look at the deeper, structural issues. Referring to the Mecca Alliance, he said that if it goes forward, and engages more countries, we will soon be talking of “West Asia” rather than the “Middle East,” explaining that the latter is a European-oriented term, whereas the former is how the Global South and Asian countries think of the region.

Neo-Feudalism: The New Stage of Imperialism

In response, Zepp-LaRouche said that the concept of “capitalism or imperialism” has reached a new stage. “The concept of the sovereign state is practically annulled”; the billionaire class is now calling the shots, and we now have “neo-feudalism.” Nations which have attempted to negotiate in good faith with the United States are now concluding that the U.S. cannot be trusted.

Co-moderator Dennis Speed asked Falk to comment on the “privatization of war,” and the claims of one British academic that we have returned to the “Palmerston era,” referring to mid-19th-Century British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston. In response, Falk observed that today’s situation is different, due to technological changes. Also, with the founding of the UN, there was an effort to move away from the Hobbesian anarchy of “might makes right” and toward a Westphalian world order, but the effort was flawed and allowed the dominant players to put their thumbs on the scales. Consequently, the UN Security Council today has enabled the crimes of the neocons against Gaza and Iran.

Zepp-LaRouche said that efforts to remedy this situation are hindered by mainstream media, which present “a narrative which is completely counter to reality.”

Ulf Sandmark, president of the Schiller Institute in Sweden, reported on weekly demonstrations there with which they have “attempted to break the spell” of making a taboo of advocacy of diplomatic solutions instead of war. In Sweden, the political parties are squeezing out antiwar politicians, who are also excluded from media coverage. The Schiller Institute is including these politicians in its demonstrations and giving them a voice.

Larry Johnson, former CIA intelligence official and a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), noted that Russia has moved from conducting its Special Military Operation in Ukraine, to all-out war. One manifestation of this has been the total shutdown of maritime activity in the Black Sea, which will be devastating for Ukraine. He listed numerous other developments in Russia’s conduct of the war, and compared it to the war in Iran, stating that both wars highlight the “delusional nature” of U.S. policy. Trump proclaims that the Strait of Hormuz is open and “under our control.” If that is the case, why are we running a blockade? The painful economic consequences of the war are completely divorced from the fantasy world of Wall Street, which can make money regardless.

The U.S. military is in trouble, on two fronts: It does not have access to the rare earths and other raw materials required to replenish depleted stocks of armaments; China has almost monopolistic control over those rare earths. Secondly, “the military across the board is in a mental health crisis.” There has been a wave of suicides and other deaths related to deteriorating morale and psychological stress among military personnel. The reports of deaths aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have significantly underestimated the number of casualties. There will be a political response from the angry parents of the affected servicemen.

A ‘Crony Capitalist Monster’

Johnson said that the U.S. military is not the greatest or most powerful military in the world, but it is the most expensive. He cited the astronomical costs of U.S. aircraft and drones, many of which have been destroyed in the war with Iran. He commented on the “profit collaboration” between the military and the private sector. Although “fascism” is a term perhaps too “emotionally charged” to describe it, he characterized this collaboration as a “crony capitalist monster.” Russia and China, operating on military budgets which are tiny in comparison, have achieved greater technical results.

Zepp-LaRouche returned to what Pope Leo XIV calls a “new Tower of Babel.” Peter Thiel, founder of the Silicon Valley tech firm Palantir Technologies, said that members of the billionaire class should not be shy about flaunting their wealth and power. The privation endured by U.S. military personnel stands out by comparison.

Co-moderator Dennis Small reminded the participants that the “military-industrial complex” should be called the “military-industrial-financial complex,” because, as EIR has shown, the largest arms manufacturers in the United States are owned by the leading financial speculators. This, he said, is the Achilles’ heel of the war machine.

Numerous speakers referred to the recent manic activity by so-called “U.S. Deputy Secretary of War” Elbridge Andrew Colby, who has been making the rounds and issuing public comments about U.S. dominance in Asia and the Western Hemisphere, in addition to promoting the use of nuclear weapons.

Daisuke Kotegawa, former official in the Japanese Ministry of Finance, former Japanese executive director at the IMF, and research director at the Canon Institute in Tokyo, submitted a video on the topic of immigration, which he said became a problem for Europe only after the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the sabotage of development plans for Africa. He also noted that the population of Ukraine has declined from 40 to 30 million due to the war there.

Discussion

In response to a question from an African participant, Zepp-LaRouche asserted that colonialism still exists, although typically Europeans are in denial. She said that the IMF exemplifies the new structures of colonialism.

Another participant posed a question about the Oasis Plan, which has been discussed on a regular basis at IPC meetings. Zepp-LaRouche replied that the only thing required would be a commitment by a number of Southwest Asian nations. She speculated that the new Mecca Alliance might be a prospect for this. A “devil’s advocate” asked her whether it was time to reevaluate the tenth of her Ten Principles, the assertion that humans are fundamentally good. Her response was an emphatic no; the current degraded culture cannot be seen as the last word on human nature. We have a long history to consider, and the net improvements in the human condition teach us that humans are essentially good. A dark age can always be overcome by a new renaissance.

Report on the 163rd meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC)

July 26, 2026 (EIRNS)—The 164th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) commenced with remarks by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and IPC initiator, who called attention to very important recent statements by retired German Air Force four-star general Harald Kujat.

She noted that it is incomprehensible to him how world leaders can be so oblivious to the lessons of history that they could seriously contemplate a third world war. She referred specifically to the threat of a U.S. attack on Iranian facilities that are located deep in Pickaxe Mountain, “out of reach of bunker buster bombs…. What hangs there in the air is the potential that a nuclear weapon could be used.” Due to the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea, both of which are vital to shipments of many products including crude oil and oil products, liquified natural gas, and various types of fertilizer, “A hunger crisis in the world is already pre-programmed.” She commented further on the “strange agreement” of U.S. President Donald Trump with the Saudis which purportedly provides assistance for nuclear energy development, but also requires Saudi Arabia to sign the Abraham Accords, which the Saudis will absolutely not do. Unfortunately, she said, after 164 weeks of IPC meetings, “we are closer to nuclear war than when we started.”

Jack Gilroy is a regular IPC participant who represents Veterans for Peace, Pax Christi–New York State, and Pax Christi International. He opened by saying, “People cannot continue to live in denial” about the war danger. He reminded the participants of how, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy used trusted friends like Norman Cousins as backchannel intermediaries to Pope John XXIII. He then gave an update on his organization’s Letter to Archbishop Wester, which was scheduled to be sent in hard copy on the same day the IPC meeting took place.

In the Shadow of Jonathan Pollard

Jose Vega, independent candidate for New York’s 15th Congressional District in the Bronx, briefed the participants on Section 219 of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This section is titled “American-Israeli Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” but it were better called the “Jonathan Pollard Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” because it would share with the Israeli military the same sort of intelligence products which Pollard stole for them, and for which he was convicted of espionage. The NDAA, with this benighted section intact, has unfortunately now passed the House. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally takes credit for this section, which he says moves Israel’s status from aid recipient to formal partner. This has become controversial nationwide, due to the efforts of the IPC and former Congressman Dennis Kucinich to expose it. Vega listed journalists and podcasters on both the left and right who have covered this. Even U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), the Democratic Congresswoman for New York’s 14th C.D. (which includes the eastern part of the Bronx and parts of north-central Queens in New York City) has commented on it.

Prof. Clifford Kiracofe of the Washington Institute for Peace and Development explained the importance of calls and emails to elected officials. Hand-written postcards are perhaps the most effective means of communication, as they are instantly accessible and personal. He explained how the offending Section 219 could be deleted in the House-Senate reconciliation process.

Referring to the need for a new international security and development architecture as proposed by Zepp-LaRouche, he emphasized, “It’s extremely important that we have that vision in front of us.” He recalled that the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was an important force behind the rise of militarism in the 19th Century, but there were also many conferences that focused on diplomacy, which is what we need today.

Moderator Anastasia Battle made a point of announcing the phone number for the U.S. Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-2131, for people to call their Congressman and Senators.

Larry Johnson, former CIA intelligence official and a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), predicted a major assault by the United States against Iran on the day of the IPC meeting, “after the stock market closes.” He also forecast a response by Iran that would be directed at Israel, including its refineries that produce diesel and aviation fuel. He said it is obvious that Russia and China are aiding Iran; both countries are interested in testing U.S. response to their weapons technology, and they are also glad to see the United States expending its arsenal.

Zepp-LaRouche responded, saying, “I think that if this happens, we are in a new geometry of destruction.”

Kiracofe asked Johnson to comment on Pakistan. Johnson said that the United States presently has a major influence in Pakistan, in part because Pakistan is presently requesting a $10 billion financial support facility from the U.S. Many feel that imprisoned Pakistani leader Imran Khan was undemocratically ousted from his elected role as President. He went on to say that reports of disunity in Iran are exaggerated and propagandistic.

Kiracofe referenced his own, 2024 book, Dark Crusade: The Israel Lobby and Christian Zionism. He briefly discussed the history of Christian Zionism, and how it views Russia, China and Iran as the bad guys who must be vanquished in order to arrange a successful Apocalypse. The British have used it for geopolitical purposes, “in the Palmerston mode.” “Frankly, it’s a counterintelligence issue,” he said, and warned that self-described “U.S. Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee are Christian Zionists. All the conventional churches consider it a heresy, but it plays a key role in U.S. politics, which is why we have Section 219 of the NDAA.

Zepp-LaRouche responded, “The fact that the United States now is acting on a Palmerston profile is no coincidence,” referring to mid-19th-Century British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston. When the British realized they could not conquer the U.S. militarily, they shifted gears to a strategy of persuading the United States to adopt a British imperial world outlook. This is an irony of history, and there are others: “In Germany, they have no problem with joining the fight against the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.”

Johnson said in conclusion, “The one country in the world that has consistently violated every international agreement is the United States…. It’s not China which has 700 military bases scattered all around the world.” Yet the United States has the illusion that “we’re the good guys.”

Discussion

Zepp-LaRouche said that the United Nations General Assembly is the immediate focal point for international collaboration for peace. She noted that the ASEAN nations had issued a statement in opposition to the U.S. war against Iran. The BRICS nations, who have also played an important role, have all been targeted by the neocons with various kinds of internal destabilization.

A British woman who is a regular IPC participant praised the work of Francesca Albanese, an Italian legal scholar and, since May 2022, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, and announced the publication of Albanese’s new book, When the World Sleeps: Stories, Words, and Wounds of Palestine.

A farm activist from Missouri reported on how his organization uses EIR and IPC materials in their activism, and endorsed the practice of calling the U.S. Congress.

Zepp-LaRouche said in her concluding remarks, “There is an unbelievable dismantling of civil rights in Europe and also the United States.” We need treaties to control the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for military purposes. She urged the participants to take Jack Gilroy’s letter to any religious institution with which they may be affiliated, warning, “Many of them speak a language which is not the language of peace.” The Pope has said “the road to war is a road of no return,” and that should be taken very seriously. She urged people to circulate computer translations of the article by Kujat.

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