July 4, 2025 (EIRNS)—The 109th consecutive online meeting of the International Peace Coalition became a roundtable discussion of the threatened demise of International Law, in the wake of the brazen violations by Israel and the United States. The question became, is there any hope of restoring it, or are we now forced to acclimate ourselves to a new reality where nations who possess sufficient military power may violate it with impunity?
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the International Peace Coalition, reported that following the corrupt collaboration by leaders of the International Atomic Energy Agency with the neocon war party, Iran has suspended cooperation with the IAEA, but will not abandon the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Donald Trump is pursuing a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, which has indicated its willingness to negotiate, but Netanyahu has rejected any lull in his attacks on the population of Gaza. Who wins out, Trump or Netanyahu? Trump “has the means to put his foot down,” but he has not done so, Zepp-LaRouche said. The US has suspended weapons shipments to Ukraine, pending an inventory of US stockpiles. French President Macron spoke to Putin after three years of interruption, which Zepp-LaRouche termed a “baby step in the direction of diplomacy.” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, telling her bluntly that if Russia is defeated in Ukraine, China will be the next target.
Turning to her homeland of Germany, Zepp-LaRouche reported that a CDU faction leader is demanding that Germany acquire nuclear weapons. The Germans have banned journalists Thomas Röper and Alina Lipp from re-entering Germany because their reporting is not pleasing to the war party. Röper has compared the rhetoric of today’s German leadership with that of the Nazis. Hitler called for Germany to become Kriegsfähig (capable of war), whereas Defense Minister Boris Pistorius prefers the term Kriegstüchtig (fit for war.)
On the hopeful side, the yearly BRICS summit will begin in Rio de Janeiro on July 6, with proposals for a “new investment platform” to channel credit to development, not speculation. Trump should not regard this as a threat.
Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), declared that he is packing his bags and looking forward to attending the Berlin conference of the Schiller Institute in one week. He asked for 30 seconds of silence for the ongoing genocide in Gaza. He lamented the descent into lawlessness represented by the activities of the US and Israel, while also expressing his satisfaction that despite recent events, the US-Russia dialogue continues. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov wants to pursue better relations with US despite the illegal war against Iran. Referring to Putin’s talk with Macron, McGovern declared that neither he nor Putin trusts Macron after so many broken agreements. The polls in Russia indicated that for Russians, Germany has now replaced US as their main enemy. McGovern also charged that, because of misconduct by the IAEA, we have lost our ability to accurately monitor Iran’s nuclear program.
Zepp-LaRouche replied, acknowledging the damage done to International Law, but also asserting that the Feb. 4, 2022, agreement between Putin and Xi, during the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, underscores a new strategic reality of durable partnership between their two nations.
Jonathan Kuttab, Executive Director of North American Friends of Sabeel and Co-Founder of Nonviolence International, said that “there are some hints, some indications that China may play a more important role” in Southwest Asia. The US and its NATO collaborators are hanging on to current international order, “even as it is crumbling and collapsing.” US and Israel have shown that they can violate international law with impunity. For any country to openly threaten judges of international tribunals—and their families! —is unprecedented. He said of the widespread images on social media of the Gaza genocide, “Here, you see it every day…unlike the holocaust in Germany, which took place in the dark.”
Continuing the theme of whether international law a dead letter, Zepp-LaRouche declared that, with regard to Gaza, it was only the courageous role of South Africa that saved the honor of mankind. McGovern observed that Russia and China still honor the UN, and that polls in the US show that the tide of popular opinion is turning against “Netanyahu and his boss, Trump.”
Juan Carrero, President of the S’Olivar Foundation of Spain, praised the work of the IPC and the Schiller Institute in the battle against genocide, denouncing the horrors underway in Africa as well as Gaza. He introduced a video statement by 1980 Nobel Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel, reminding participants that Iran is the 7th and last planned regime change in Middle East. He said that Iran “has something more powerful than nuclear weapons—it is dignity.” In the video, Perez Esquivel of Argentina appealed to the world community, and especially the allies of Israel, to take action, to overcome the lethargy of the UN and end the genocide in Gaza. He decried the West’s “contempt for humanity, contempt for values.”
Co-moderator Dennis Small followed up by describing the extraordinary meeting of Brazilian President Lula with Argentina’s former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who is serving six years in house arrest for crimes she did not commit, noting that Perez Esquivel also met with Lula during his visit to Argentina.
In a video statement, Dr. Georgy D. Toloraya, Executive Director the Russian National Committee on BRICS Research and concurrently Director of the Asian Strategy Center at the Institute of Economics and Chief Researcher of the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of Russian Academy of Sciences, stated that he has a feeling that diplomats are being bypassed and real deals are being made by unknown persons operating behind the scenes. “Israel has violated every possible rule,” but Iran has had a very limited response, so it looks like some kind of deal was made. How will international relations develop now that there are no longer any rules, and everything is permitted? The West, represented by NATO, wants to extract unearned income from the former colonial nations. If the West tries to eliminate all its adversaries, it can lead to nuclear war.
Organizing reports
Peace activists from around the world reported on their activities, beginning with a description of the recent conference held on the [[Oasis Plan]] [[https://schillerinstitute.com/the-oasis-plan-the-larouche-solution-for-southwest-asia/]] at the Iztapalapa campus of the Mexican Autonomous University (UAM) in Mexico City, which included a presentation by Ambassador Sisulu from South Africa.
This was followed by a report on the John Quincy Adams brigade, Americans organizing in Berlin to build for the Schiller Institute conference. Additional reports came from organizers in France, Spain. Colombia, and Boston in the US.
Conclusion
A leader of the LaRouche youth movement in Mexico sent a question to Zepp-LaRouche, delving further into the clash between optimism and despair in the current strategic crisis. She asked whether Nicholas of Cusa’s [[De Pace Fidei]] [[ https://archive.schillerinstitute.com/transl/cusa_p_of_f.html]] could provide the right framework for discussion. Zepp-LaRouche responded that this document helps people elevate their thinking to become philosophers. In the dialogue, God is asked by 17 representatives of different religions and cultures for guidance, because “we are all killing each other in your name,” and God demonstrates how, from the higher vantage point of philosophy, the various religions are in agreement.
She said that a common response to the Oasis Plan is: Can we embark on economic development without first receiving justice? This is not an easy question, but there is another dimension, typified by the Peace of Westphalia, which was premised upon forgiveness for offenses of the past. “For the sake of peace, you have to replace hatred with love.”
In conclusion, Beethoven’s setting in his 9th Symphony of the words of Schiller, “All men become brethren,” should inspire us. This unique work of art inoculates us against the “very negative emotions like hatred, anger, rage” which “take something away from our soul.” This is the most accessible way to access the higher vantage point that we need.
June 28, 2025 (EIRNS)—The 108th consecutive weekly online meeting of the International Peace Coalition, on Friday, June 27 was opened by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, who gave an update on the war in Iran. She questioned President Trump’s triumphal proclamations of success, saying that “it is very likely that the Iranians foresaw what was happening” and removed equipment and materials from the targeted sites before they were bombed. She charged that “the International Atomic Energy Agency has, for the time being, lost all credibility,” because they helped shape an environment that aided those who wanted an attack on Iran. We also need an investigation into Palantir and the use of AI in this regard. Worst of all is the damage to International Law by an unprovoked war of aggression, lowering the barrier to similar acts by other nations. She contrasted the hyperventilating about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Trump’s bragging about his unprovoked attack on Iran, saying, “It is apparent to the whole world that this double standard exists…. Lawlessness is now ruling.”
Turning to her homeland of Germany, she said she was appalled by Chancellor Merz’s statement that “Israel is doing the dirty work for all of us.” “It reveals the colonial or neocolonial mindset on the part of Merz,” Zepp-LaRouche observed. Finally, she emphasized that the call by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, for a new international strategic architecture, is of crucial importance.
Former U.S. Congressman and Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich strongly agreed, saying, “We have to recognize that the security architecture which is in place right now has been shredded.” He called the yearning of the neocons for a regime change in Iran a “fantasy” which would require an invasion with two million troops and a return to conscription in the U.S. “The unbridled use of the military is a challenge for the United States right now,” he said. Further echoing Zepp-LaRouche, he said that “the West is still up to their old colonial tricks.” Kucinich described the situation as being very dangerous but filled with great potential for good.
Graham Fuller, a former U.S. diplomat, CIA official, and Islamic scholar, presented his own assessment of the war against Iran, saying that “this was a serious loss for Israel.” Israel has been claiming that Iran was on the verge of nuclear weapons for 25 years, but now “Netanyahu is not going to be able to fear-monger on this same issue again.” Israel thought they could act with impunity; they did not expect Iran to retaliate so successfully. “The idea of the very invulnerability of Israel has been called into question,” said Fuller, adding that “the idea of Israel as an unsinkable aircraft carrier for the United States has been shattered.” The U.S. has tried to exploit Sunni-Shi’a conflicts, but was outflanked by Chinese diplomacy, which pulled off the reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The entire Persian Gulf supported Iran in this recent war. In Fuller’s view, Iran’s response to a savage attack by the U.S. was “extraordinarily muted,” a cause for optimism, and “Trump has proven his masculinity … maybe now feels that he can step back and try diplomacy to seek rapprochement with Iran.” Another cause for optimism was the victory of Zohran Mamdani in the New York City election, where maybe we see hints of a world that is no longer dominated by settler colonialism.
Mossi Raz, former Israeli Knesset member and former Director-General of Peace Now, opined that we don’t really know the results of war on Iran, but it’s not that important. What’s important is that there be a political agreement for lasting peace. We need a two-state solution, because “the Israelis will not have security if the Palestinians don’t have security.” He reported on an important pre-discussion he participated in before the now soon-to-be-rescheduled UN Palestinian two-state meeting. Raz described that hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis joined to discuss the two-state solution.
In response, Zepp-LaRouche expressed her concern about what will happen when Trump’s boasts of success are disproven by events. She is worried that the neocons will press for a resumption of the war. She warned about the unchecked use of AI for military purposes, which could have unforeseeable consequences. She added later that AI is technology like any other, it can be used for good or evil, but we must focus on the moral character of the people who are using it. We need to convince leaders in the U.S. and Europe to join with the Global Majority, and “stop the geopolitical idea of domination.”
Activist Reports from Around the World
Carolina Domínguez of the Mexican LaRouche movement, described a planned conference at an important university, where they will discuss the Oasis Plan and the movement’s perspective of peace through development. She described an approach she called “classrooming,” in which organizers visit classrooms and ask the professor for one minute in which to brief the students on the strategic crisis, then meet them outside afterward for in-depth discussions. She said that they will be presenting a performance of classical music works by their chorus at the upcoming conference, to serve the need to “ennoble the soul of the population” in order to achieve peace.
Kynan Thistlethwaite reported from France, and Anastasia Battle from Germany, on the John Quincy Adams Brigade, comprised of Americans organizing in Europe to prepare for the Berlin conference of the Schiller Institute on July 12-13.
Tim Rush and Jose Vega reported on organizing activities in the U.S. There were also reports from Denmark, Sweden, and other locations.
Discussion
An unusual question was sent to the panelists: If the criminal charges in Israel against Netanyahu could be canceled, as Trump demands, would that reduce his motivation for starting regional wars? Co-moderator Dennis Small said we must look at the hand behind the scenes, typified by the “Clean Break” document that was issued in 1996 to then newly elected Prime Minister Netanyahu by U.S. neocons after the Nov. 4, 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Fuller added that those who follow the situation closely know that Netanyahu is not even the most murderous politician in the Israeli establishment.
Zepp-LaRouche reported on her participation in a recent conference in Spain, which featured an encouraging level of youth participation, and representation from many nations and cultures. In response to a question about the economic impetus for war, she said, “As long as people are trying to solve their debt by wars, we are on a trajectory toward catastrophe.”
Eric Rubin, of the International Legal Forum, an independent, Israel-based NGO, reported on the activities of his group to activate UN Resolution 377 (United for Peace) to circumvent the U.S. veto in the Security Council. He said that the only way to stop atrocity on the Palestinians is to send UN peacekeeping troops into the occupied territories. Their website can be accessed here: https://www.ilfngo.org/.
In conclusion, Zepp-LaRouche said, “I’m absolutely certain that we will only get out of this really deplorable situation by mobilizing the better visions of what mankind can be.” Returning to her participation in the June 25 Madrid conference, she reported that people from entirely different backgrounds all said that what we need is love for humanity. The ideas of Schiller, that people have the capacity to become Beautiful Souls, are the natural vocation of Man. The 10th, and possibly the most controversial, principle of her Ten Principles for a New International Security and Development Architecture, is that Man is good by nature. We should have compassion for the Armselige, the wretched creatures who think that we need war. [eir]
To open the 106th consecutive weekly online meeting of the International Peace Coalition, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, warned that Israel’s attack on Iran may mark the beginning of World War III. She alluded to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s timely video on the very real threat of a nuclear exchange, and noted that the precisely targeted assassinations of leading Iranian scientists and military and political leaders suggests that Israel received technical assistance from unidentified intelligence services. It is clear that Israel’s objective is to draw the US into the war, and we must remember that Iran is key part of the BRICS and the Belt and Road Initiative. “There was nothing in the behavior of Iran which would have legitimized such an attack… From the standpoint of the UN Charter, this is a completely illegal act of aggression,” she said, and reiterated “our old demand” for a New Security and Development Architecture.
M.K. Bhadrakumar, a former Indian diplomat to the USSR who has held leading positions in the Indian Foreign Ministry, addressed the Israeli attack on Iran: “I never believed that this was about Iran’s propensity or Iran’s likelihood to develop nuclear weapons… there is no moral ground involved here.” Iran is being asked by Trump to give up the same stature as Japan or Germany as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, with “full-spectrum inspection” by IAEA. Trump is singularly responsible for this situation. Unless Israel is restrained, which only the US can do, Iran might leave the NPT.
Leading nuclear weapons expert Dr. Theodore Postol, professor emeritus of Science, Technology and International Security at MIT, asserted that “Iran wants to avoid making a nuclear weapon… Iran’s policy is highly rational.” There is internal opposition to this policy, and this opposition is strengthened by the attacks on Iran. “We know from all historical experience that bombing a country brings that country together against the external adversary,” Postol said. On June 1, Ukraine violated a fundamental precept of the Cold War, that one does not attack the strategic forces of any nation. Legally, Russia would have been justified in attacking US and UK, who were clearly involved. Putin is an exceptional leader because he did not react.
Larry Johnson, former CIA officer and a cofounder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) , also commented on Iran: “This attack was carried out with the full knowledge and participation of the United States… There is a pattern emerging here that Israel cannot be trusted in any sort of negotiation whatsoever–nor can the United States.”
Regular panelist Ray McGovern is a former Senior Analyst for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a Founding Member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). He described the situation as nuanced and complex. “What I see as a silver lining here,” he said, is that this may compel more dialogue between the US and Russia. “US complicity is somewhat in doubt, despite the braggadocio… Can the Israelis be restrained when things don’t go quite their way? I don’t think so.”
Zepp-LaRouche responded that we need contextualization for what is happening in the Middle East, that being the attempt to stop the rise of a new system typified by BRICS+. We must not only analyze, but provide an alternative. As long as we are not resolving the underlying conflict with the New Peace and Development Architecture, new hot spots will continue to erupt.
McGovern thanked her for mentioning Gabbard’s unprecedented video.
Gershon Baskin is an Israeli columnist, social and political activist, and a researcher of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and peace. In a video interview conducted by EIR, he said, “We all know that President Trump is the only person who can tell Netanyahu to end the war.” He welcomed the efforts of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to influence Trump, and agreed on the need for an economic solution. “The obstacles to Palestinian development by the Israeli occupation need to be removed… It makes no sense whatsoever for Israel to want to have poor neighbors.”
Zepp-LaRouche commented that it goes beyond the suffering of the Palestinians: “I’m afraid that impact on the moral order of the world will be devastating.”
A scheduled On the Ground Report from the ongoing March for Gaza in Egypt was not possible for technical reasons. However, moderator Anastasia Battle later provided an urgent update: there are reports that the Egyptian government is using force against the marchers. Leaders are prepared to use nonviolent methods to protest if there is repression and activists are deported.
Discussion
TLO President Diane Sare warned that the efforts to impeach Trump could lead to a destabilization of the United States. She observed that Trump “has an enormous ego, and is not a very profound thinker.” But the people leading the campaign against Trump gave us the Ukraine coup and other neocon atrocities. Zepp-LaRouche added that “the migrant issue is being handled in a way that is antagonizing many people.” She reminded viewers that her husband Lyndon advised never to use the military against your own people. “Let’s remove the root causes for the migrant question,” she said, citing hunger, war, etc.
Question: Israel says they attacked Iran to prevent American peace talks from succeeding. Were the talks real, or a setup for the war? Zepp-LaRouche responded that she wishes she knew the answer; the only power which can restrain Israel is the US, “but then he didn’t do it… The picture which comes together is not transparent… it is very much a mixed bag.”
In response to a questioner who raised questions about AI and suggested that we need a social contract, co-moderator Dennis Small attacked the Rousseauvian notion of a contract to reconcile divergent self-interests, as opposed to a concept of the common interests of mankind. He added that AI, like other technological advances, is a double-edged sword.
A woman from Iran asked Zepp-LaRouche whether Israel would even consider an attack on Iran without a green light from the US? She responded that complicity and even aid is very likely, but it is not a simple matter. ”Is the US controlled by the Zionist lobby, or is the Anglo-American Empire using Israel for its own strategic purposes?”
An Indian/Danish journalist cited the India-Pakistan tensions created by the way Britain divided the subcontinent, asking, How do we address the way the British fuel conflicts rather than resolving them? Zepp-LaRouche noted also how Boris Johnson sabotaged Ukraine peace deal. Russian officials are now calling out the British for their role. The story of unprovoked aggression by Russia has been widely discredited. An investigation into the British role is needed
In response to a Colombian labor leader’s question about the encyclical Rerum Novarum, Zepp-LaRouche called it a watershed decision, that the Church should not just pray, but must intervene in social policy.
Question: would there be lasting peace if the Islamic world accepted the Biblical authority of Israel over the land, and the Palestinians were displaced into other Arab states? Zepp-LaRouche declined to comment on any Biblical theories of property ownership. Should the Palestinians pay the price for what the Germans did to the Jews? It’s the perpetuation of injustice, the evil deed giving birth to more evil deeds. The two-state solution is the solution, but there is not enough water to go around without the [[Oasis Plan]] [[ https://schillerinstitute.com/the-oasis-plan-the-larouche-solution-for-southwest-asia/]].
by EIR staffJune 20–Opening the 107th meeting of the International Peace Coalition, Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche reviewed the presently dire strategic situation, saying that “the immediate danger would be if the United States were to be drawn into the bombing of Iran.” She said that attempting to destroy Iran’s underground facility would be unlikely to succeed without resorting to the use of nuclear bombs. The neocons’ 1996 “Clean Break” policy is in play, which was designed to counter the 1993-95 Oslo Accords. “The British have a very particular interest to keep this conflict going… That should remind us that the immediate target of this operation was not just what happens in the Middle East… Regime change in the region is not the only aim.” The strategic aims include destruction throughout the region, and confrontation with the Russia, China and Global South development drive which intends to end 500 years of colonial looting.
Looking at the situation in the U.S., she said that half of the MAGA base feels betrayed, because Trump had promised an end to the neocon war policy. When Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reported earlier this year that Iran has no nuclear weapons program, Trump dismissed her opinion, which puts her June 10 video warning of nuclear war in a different light. We must know that what we are talking about is the end of humanity, should there be nuclear war.
Israel’s Nuclear Weapons—the History, the Danger
John Steinbach, of the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capitol Area, opened with a joke, “I’m so old that I remember that there was a time when I agreed more with Bernie Sanders than with Tucker Carlson.” He offered a concise history of Israel’s nuclear weapons program, beginning after WWII when the U.S. gave a 5-megawatt research reactor each to Israel and to Iran. But the French then played a key role in helping Israel develop a nuclear weapons capability.
Both Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy opposed Israel getting a nuclear bomb, and Kennedy sent inspectors. Israel deceived them by creating a non-military mock-up. Mordechai Vanunu worked at Dimona, Israel’s nuclear complex, and smuggled out photos and documents, after which Western analysts concluded that Israel had developed an H-bomb. Israel now has missiles capable of reaching Washington and Moscow. Steinbach offered a link to his paper on the Israeli nuclear weapons program.
Ray McGovern, former Senior Analyst for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a Founding Member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), backed up Steinbach’s history of Israel’s nuclear weaponry. McGovern observed that we now know that former chief of the CIA’s counterintelligence, James Jesus Angleton, was “the equivalent of an Israeli spy.” Any CIA report that mentioned Israel had to go through Angleton. He was also complicit in the assassination of John Kennedy, McGovern stated. Was Kennedy’s opposition to an Israeli bomb a motive for his assassination?
On the question of how to deal with someone as confused and mercurial as Trump, McGovern said that Putin and the Chinese are dealing with him the best way they know how.
Zepp-LaRouche asked: Why can’t Israel’s nuclear weapons be discussed? McGovern said it is being discussed more and more in alternative media. He recalled that even CIA head William Burns, on his way out last Fall, reiterated that Iran has no nuclear weapons program, and if they started, we would know very quickly.
Steinbach said that the concept of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was that non-nuclear states had a right to nuclear energy, and the nuclear states would pursue disarmament. Israel is the only nuclear weapons state which is not a signatory to the Treaty.
Global South Is Focused on Development
Prof. Eduardo Siqueira, from Brazil, is a retired professor of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. He reported that the focus of the Global South is on development, and that wars are being used to sabotage that agenda. The BRICS are trying to do something similar to what Zepp-LaRouche wants to do with her proposal for a New Security and Development Architecture. It has become clear to them that what is being done in the Middle East is intended to paralyze the BRICS and the BRI. “Since Obama, there has been this so-called Pivot to Asia,” designed to disrupt China’s initiatives. The U.S. is losing hegemony, and is using Israel to paralyze the development alternative.
Diane Sare, President of The LaRouche Organization, gave a firsthand report from one of the two rallies held near the United Nations this week, on the theme, “No War against Iran.” People at the UN are told not to even accept leaflets on the street, but they got contacts nonetheless. She said that there is massive loss of support for Trump in his base, while the billionaires who run the “No Kings” rallies behind the scenes, don’t oppose the genocide or the war drive. Sare’s recent video on TikTok has gone viral.
Discussion
Frequent IPC panelist Dennis Fritz, prominent representative of the Eisenhower Media Group, spoke of the methods the U.S. used during the Iraq War to smear Hans Blix and other uncooperative leaders of the IAEA, who were genuinely working against nuclear weapons proliferation. Fritz emphasized that if the U.S. attacks Iran, Iran and its allies have the means to respond.
Jacques Cheminade, long time leader in France of the LaRouche movement, said that people are losing their illusions. Macron is fully discredited. Trump has divided loyalties and consequently a confused policy. “The enemy is becoming naked at this point.”
Zepp-LaRouche said the only way out of this crisis would be for the U.S. and Europeans to publicly declare that they want to collaborate with the BRICS in building infrastructure. Unless the monetarist bubble is corrected, things will only get worse.
In response to a question, McGovern compared “the silence of the institutional church”—citing Catholics and Lutherans, that we see now, to what happened during the Third Reich. He quoted Bishop Tutu: “We’re not all guilty, but we are all responsible.”
Siqueira explained that most people in the North don’t realize what the Global South can offer the world. Brazil has a rich fusion of different cultures–Portuguese, African, indigenous. The world can learn from this, and the U.S, benefits from it through immigration.
In response to a comment by a Muslim-American leader, co-moderator Dennis Small said that we urgently need to put out this Israel-Iran fire, but we must also recognize that there is an arsonist running loose – British geopolitics — and the impetus is the bankruptcy of the financial system. Later in his concluding remarks, Small reported that President Putin, speaking to media at a late-night June 18 St. Petersburg gathering, told a reporter from Reuters who asked a hostile question, that it is possible to both guarantee Iran’s sovereign right to nuclear energy, while also providing full security for Israel. Small paraphrased: we can both put out the fire, and we can also put the arsonist away for good, which is the job of the true statesman.
Concluding remarks
McGovern observed that Trump is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Will he put the lethal blow to NATO at the Summit next week? That would be a good thing.
Siqueira said that we are seeing the beginning of a new world, and the old world is resisting.
Small emphasized that the upcoming Schiller Institute [[Berlin Conference July 12-13]] [[]] is of great strategic importance, and will arm us with the ideas to solve the crisis.
Zepp-LaRouche recalled that our movement has been an integral part of this struggle for development from the beginning, since LaRouche’s International Development Bank proposal in the 1970s. In the 11 years since the announcement of the BRI, it has become the dominant dynamic in the world. Nothing short of nuclear war will stop it. The rational move for the US would be to join it. We plan to make videos to show our vision of a developing planet.
Readers are invited to share and use clips from this meeting. Please give credit to the International Peace Coalition. Please also join the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee in partnership with Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom for a teach-in on Trinity Day, July 16, 2025, 7:00pm EDT, marking the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear test. Please register here.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), opened the 105th consecutive weekly meeting today by warning that the strategic situation has significantly worsened over the past week with the June 1 drone attacks by Ukraine deep inside the territory of Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown remarkable forbearance. It is ominous that U.S. President Donald Trump says he was not informed of the operation, despite the fact that MI6 and CIA were almost surely involved in its planning and targeting. It is important that the two Presidents spoke June 4.
It is clear that the perpetrators hoped to corral Trump into the “Coalition of the Willing,” that wishes to perpetuate the war. Neocons within the Trump administration are also agitating for some sort of provocation against Iran, and the horror in Gaza continues unabated.
Zepp-LaRouche made a point of advising everyone, in order to understand the ongoing “scenario” of madness, to read the June 5 column in the Washington Post, “Ukraine’s Dirty War Is Just Getting Started,” by senior reporter David Ignatius.
Understanding Russia
The IPC meeting, which occurred on the anniversary of the 1944 D-Day Normandy invasion, featured an intense, but grave back and forth about the nature of the attacks on Russia: Why are they occurring? What will President Putin do?
Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), said that Russia has chosen not to escalate, because its leaders hope that they can still negotiate with Trump and develop a decent relationship with the U.S. The Russians are furious over the attack, but Putin “remains calm, cool and collected, as we say in the States.” Western analysts got all worked up, but what have the Russians said? “Almost nothing.” The Ukrainians and their masters had hoped to get Russia to overreact, in order to manipulate the U.S. into joining the “coalition of the dead brains.” McGovern said that the New York Times lies when it reports that Russia is responding to attacks on its military bases. The Russians are not saying this at all; they say they are responding to “terrorist attacks” on civilian infrastructure.
Jose Vega, a leader of the LaRouche movement and independent candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s 15th Congressional District, addressed this point during the discussion, asking how, if attacks are being classified by Russia as terrorism, and Russia does not negotiate with terrorists, does this represent a change? McGovern replied that the Russians are concentrating on the attacks on the bridges, and deliberately avoiding discussion of the attack on their strategic forces. They consider the Ukrainian leadership terrorists, but they intend to negotiate. McGovern said that Putin “will surprise everybody with how much sangfroid he has.”
Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector and former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence specialist, made the fundamental point that there is no overlap between the core interests of NATO and of Russia. Russia will not tolerate a Ukraine that is being used as a proxy to sabotage Russia. Moscow will continue to insist on the demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine. The West continues to hope that Russia will bend the knee. But, he said, “The root causes of this conflict will be addressed.”
In reply, McGovern said that Russia will stick to its announced objectives, but has no interest in taking possession of all of Ukraine. Zepp-LaRouche replied at one point to McGovern, commenting, “I’m probably an optimist for a slightly different reason than Ray.” She cited a German proverb, which she translated as, “the best person cannot live in peace, if the evil neighbor doesn’t like it.”
The Role of the British
In his presentation, Ritter charged that the British have been heavily deployed to “keep Ukraine in the fight…. I believe that the British have been heavily involved in trying to help the Ukrainians to kill the Russian President.”
During the discussion, McGovern recounted that his Irish grandfather once told him: “The British are responsible for every untoward thing that has happened in the world for the last three centuries.” The Brits were probably involved on multiple levels with the Ukrainian attacks, and Trump was probably kept out of the loop.
Dennis Fritz, past director of the Eisenhower Media Network and a retired Command Chief Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, added that the British are “living their dream through us” in the United States. Fritz reminded the participants that then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson shot down the 2022 peace deal between Ukraine and Russia that was worked out in the first round of talks in Istanbul. He later added that he had studied the playbook of the neocons in the Pentagon, where he had served and seen it first-hand, and part of their playbook is to work behind the back of the President.
The Significance of the Assassination Threats
During the discussion, IPC co-moderator Dennis Small said that the problem with the Ukrainian attacks is that they come in the context of assassination attempts against both Trump and Putin. They represent a statement of intent. Unless we are able to implement the diplomacy and development solutions of the Schiller Institute, they will find a way to take the world to war. Zepp-LaRouche pointed out that if one of these assassination attempts actually succeeds, we could lose civilization.
McGovern went further, saying that one incentive for Putin to deal with Trump is that he realizes that both of them may not be around much longer.
Details of the Attacks on Russia
Col. (ret.) Richard H. Black, former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon, Marine Corps combat veteran, and former Virginia State Senator, said that the Ukrainian drone attack was a substantial psychological blow. It turns out that the Ukrainian claims of damage to Russian aircraft were exaggerated, but there was an initial psychological impact, and it was timed to disrupt the peace talks. NATO has a long-range plan to continue the hostilities. Clearly, U.S. satellite imagery was used by Ukraine, and it is likely that the CIA or MI6 played a leading role in planning the operation.
Lt. Col. (ret.) Ralph Bossard of the Swiss Armed Forces, a consultant on military-strategic affairs, in 2014 served as a senior planning officer for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM). He presented key specifics of what is known about Ukraine’s June 1 Operation Spiderweb drone attack. Bossard expressed regret that there are people in the Western media, and even in the intelligence agencies, who are ready to uncritically repeat anything the Ukrainians say. “De-escalation can only be achieved if Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump agree not to take advantage of the current situation,” he said, and characterized Ukraine as “a government whose fanaticism outweighs its intellect.”
Dennis Fritz warned, “At any time, Russia could destroy Ukraine.” Russia has hypersonic intermediate-range missiles, which they could use at any time. The U.S. should be a voice for peace, but we broke the Iran deal, and we vetoed the UN Security Council resolution on Gaza on June 5, Thursday of this week.
Scott Ritter stated that, “over the past couple of weeks there have been two occasions where Russia would be within its doctrinal rights to use nuclear weapons.” One was a Ukrainian drone attack against Putin’s helicopter, a clear assassination attempt. The other was the June 1 drone attack on five of Russia’s strategic air bases.
Upcoming Actions
Ritter reported that on June 18, they will “resurrect the Space Bridge,” on the 40th anniversary of the 1985 Citizens’ Summit organized by Phil Donahue of the United States and Vladimir Pozner of the Soviet Union. Ritter is also making a film called “Thirty-Eight Minutes” about the 2018 false alarm of inbound nuclear missiles in Hawaii.
Zepp-LaRouche announced a demonstration June 6 in the German town of Schrobenhausen, where the Taurus missiles are produced.
A Spanish participant announced that there will also be a demonstration June 6 in Madrid, to “activate the anti-war mentality” in that country.
The 104th consecutive online meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) marked the two-year anniversary of its founding, and followed on the heels of the highly successful Schiller Institute conference which took place in Newark, New Jersey over Memorial Day weekend. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, began by commenting on the strategic situation, saying that tensions around the Ukraine war have increased sharply in the last week, but that “all is not lost,” despite the fact that “Trump used very undiplomatic language” with respect to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Amazingly, Trump reported he was not briefed on what appears to have been the attempted drone attack by Ukraine on Putin’s helicopter.
Zepp-LaRouche expressed guarded optimism about the next round of Ukraine-Russia talks, to be held June 2 in Istanbul. She warned of the danger of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s intention to provide Taurus missiles to Ukraine. A respected military expert on the Russian news program “60 Minutes” recently mooted the possibility of using Oreshnik hypersonic missiles to obliterate the plant in Schrobenhausen, Germany, where the Taurus is manufactured. Merz’s policy, she said, reminds the world of what Germany did 80 years ago when they attacked the Soviet Union, and Russian official comments have stopped just “a tiny millimeter away” from saying that Germany had reverted to Nazism. She urged the participants to watch her dialogue with Professor Ted Postol from earlier in the week, and commented on the “marked shift” in the Western rhetoric recognizing the genocide in Gaza—recognition which is still “too little, too late,” because the killing continues, unabated.
‘Collective Insanity’ in Europe
Graham Fuller, a former U.S. diplomat, CIA official, and Islamic scholar, said that the situation with the leadership in Europe looks like “collective insanity,” and that Europe must come to terms with their important neighbor, Russia.
Fuller commented on an article in the American Conservative, which pointed out the language Trump used last week in Saudi Arabia, when he said that it is not his job to look into the hearts and minds of world leaders, but rather, that’s God’s job. Fuller suggested that this may mean that Trump is “moving away from the classic neoconservative view,” which, like Leon Trotsky, calls for “world revolution.” Trump rejects this approach; Trump’s worldview is not ideological, it is “fundamentally economic,” according to Fuller. “Trump’s vision is a transactional one,” he said, adding that he would sum it up as “make business, not war.”
Fuller said that he disagrees with his esteemed colleague John Mearsheimer, who believes that the U.S. and China are destined to clash because of their size. He reminded the participants of the Turkish policy of “zero enemies,” advocated by former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. Trump, Fuller said, realizes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies are turning Israel into a pariah state, and the continuing support by the U.S. can be “extremely costly on the diplomatic front.” The U.S. is being left out of the dramatic developments around the BRICS, etc., and Trump intuitively recognizes this. Trump is willing to talk to the “main countries that matter,” unlike his immediate predecessors.
Although Fuller disagrees with Trump on immigration and student affairs, including “his war on Harvard,” he is heartened by the possibility that Trump may be distancing himself from the neocon outlook, although later, during the discussion period, he emphasized that it is too early to conclude that this is the case. He wrapped up his comments by reminding participants of the famous quote from President John Quincy Adams: “America … goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.”
Flirting with Human Extinction
What followed was a five-minute video clip from Zepp-LaRouche’s May 28 webcast discussion with Theodore Postol, who is professor emeritus of Science, Technology and National Security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Postol asserted, “We are dealing with hallucinating leadership in the West,” who are flirting with the thermonuclear extinction of humanity. Fortunately, “Putin is a man who will not allow himself to be provoked…. If somebody kills him, God help us.” Zepp-LaRouche responded by saying that “you would think that every sane person would be happy” that Trump and Putin are trying to normalize relations. After the U.S. losing all the wars from Vietnam to the present, you would also think that the policy would be reevaluated, but there is no sign of such reflection.
IPC co-moderator Dennis Small observed that talk of assassinations is in no way idle. The drone attacks in Russia appear to have targeted Putin’s helicopter, while in the U.S., we have Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s identification of the death threat by former FBI chief James Comey against Trump.
The LaRouche Organization activist Daniel Burke presented a report from the just-concluded Schiller Institute conference. Attendees saw previously unseen videos of Lyndon LaRouche speaking to younger people on the meaning of immortality, defined as participation in a mission that lives on after you die, to bring human activity into coherence with natural law. There was significant youth attendance, both at the conference and online. Burke was moderator of the youth panel, which he encouraged participants to watch.
Jose Vega, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s 15th Congressional District, described the testimony of Dr. Feroze Sidhwa at the UN Security Council, about the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which got significant coverage in independent media as well as some mainstream media.
Discussion
A journalist commented that over time, the perception that Netanyahu was fighting the war in Gaza for security purposes has changed, after his obvious sabotage of efforts to free hostages. The war has been hijacked by the extreme right wing in Israel’s government, who want ethnic cleansing. Netanyahu wants to prolong the war in order to prevent the formation of an investigative committee that will examine his role in allowing the October 7, 2023 attacks to take place.
A Washington, D.C. activist described a campaign to ask Pope Leo XIV to go to Gaza. In response, Schiller Institute leader Tim Rush reported on a campaign to circulate the Open Letter to the Pope which was reported at the IPC meeting two weeks ago, and has now been signed by roughly 600 individuals. It has been translated into half a dozen languages.
IPC co-moderator Anastasia Battle reported that a new Freedom Flotilla has just set sail for Gaza, with food and medicine for the starving Palestinians.
Nuclear-weapons expert Steve Starr, a frequent IPC panelist, submitted a note commenting on a report by RT that Ukraine would have needed U.S. help to target Putin’s helicopter, providing the drones and real-time intelligence for targeting. If that is the case, Starr asked, did elements in the Pentagon authorize this, going behind Trump’s back? Fuller expressed the hope that we have not yet reached that level of insanity. Zepp-LaRouche urged that a full investigation be conducted about the incident, and that it is not productive to speculate until such an investigation is done. We don’t yet know whether this was an assassination attempt, or simply a large-scale drone attack on the area where the helicopter was operating.
In response to a question from Germany, Zepp-LaRouche urged everyone to read the EIR Daily Alert, which was enthusiastically seconded by Fuller.
In his closing remarks, Fuller delivered another strong endorsement of the EIR Daily Alert, noting that his own experience in intelligence over decades allows him to confirm that it is of exceptional quality, and should be widely read.
Zepp-LaRouche agreed with Fuller on John Quincy Adams’ “wonderful speech.” She said, look back on every Renaissance where the Dark Ages were overcome; what got us out of the one in Europe was the humanist movement of Cusa, Dante and Petrarch, and the Council of Florence which revived Plato. That’s what we need to do now, and we will have “the most beautiful Renaissance, what we can’t even imagine yet.”
May 9, 2025 (EIRNS)—The 101st consecutive online meeting of the International Peace Coalition, on Friday, May 9, addressed several urgent topics:
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, reported that 29 heads of state were in Moscow for the May 8-9 Victory Day celebration. Russia and China took this occasion to consolidate their partnership and denounce attempts by the Anglophiles to rewrite history. In an attempt to counter this event, the NATO faction declared May 8 to be “Europe Day,” and the German government prohibited any display of Russian or Soviet flags. Earlier, the European Commission had forbidden EU leaders to attend the Victory Day event, but Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico had announced their intention to participate.
Larry Johnson, former CIA officer and a cofounder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), posed the question, Why do Americans tolerate endless wars? He answered that Americans haven’t paid the price; even in World War II we did not suffer the way other nations did. In World War II, 20% of the Russian population died, compared to 0.1% of Americans.
Co-moderator Dennis Speed asked Johnson to comment on the VIPS presence at the event in Moscow. Johnson reported that Ray McGovern and Oliver Stone are there, speaking with government officials and student groups. Scott Ritter has drafted a letter calling for a return to arms control negotiations, but the Russians are cautious because the U.S. routinely abrogates agreements. During the question period, a viewer asked for comment on Stone’s “lefty” role, to which Speed replied that Stone was not originally a leftist; he had fought in Vietnam as a volunteer, which had a major impact on his views.
The Ongoing Genocide in Gaza
Mossi Raz, former Member of the Knesset and former Director General of Peace Now, said, “It seems that the Israeli government has no idea what it wants to achieve in this war,” and that it is “interested in revenge more than in solving problems.” The Israelis are expanding settlement activity, and making “small moves toward annexation.” He endorsed the Egyptian plan for rebuilding Gaza, but noted that it cannot be implemented until the shooting stops, and “if President Trump wants to stop it, he could stop it in one minute.”
Larry Johnson remarked that there are reports that Trump is sick and tired of Netanyahu, and has cut off contact. This, if true, could lead to welcome changes
Dr. Dannie Ritchie, Founder of Community Health Innovations of Rhode Island, gave a report on the Doctors Against Genocide’s upcoming press conference. She said that over 1,000 healthcare professionals have died in Gaza, and the Israelis are targeting hospitals and children. Our tax dollars are funding it, which makes us directly complicit. Doctors Against Genocide has a project called “Bread not Bombs, Let the Children Eat” Later, she commented that it is shocking that a people who once were victims of genocide can now perpetrate it. If what is being done to Gazans were done to animals in the U.S., Americans would not stand for it.
Zepp-LaRouche responded to a question from Congressional candidate Jose Vega, that “the intention of Israel is very clearly, they want to get rid of all Palestinians in Gaza.” She emphasized that time is running out, and the June 2-4 conference of the UN on the two-state solution is crucial.
The Importance of Economic Development
After some debate among the speakers about the viability of the Egyptian plan for Gaza, former Guyanese President Donald Ramotar intervened to say that in order to have a lasting peace, “you cannot divorce the question of development.” He went on to promote the Oasis Plan as essential to peace in Southwest Asia. This was later underscored by Zepp-LaRouche, who said that we need to mobilize for the Egyptian plan plus the Oasis Plan. “If it coincides with what Larry is saying about Trump, so be it, that’s even better.” Later, Johnson asserted that the reports on Trump and Netanyahu are credible because the U.S. blinked in Yemen, withdrew and declared victory.
A video was presented, excerpted from an interview conducted by EIR’s Gerald Belsky with author and Professor Dr. Glenn Diesen. Belsky asked him for comment on the relationship between the American System approach to economics, and the emerging new order in the world. Diesen reviewed the history of Alexander Friedrich List and Sergei Witte, and observed that the new leaders of the Global South are “linking industrial sovereignty to political sovereignty, as Hamilton clearly did.” He said that Russia is going down this path with industrial sovereignty, transportation corridors, financial sovereignty, and the New Paradigm calls for cooperation between equals, not a hierarchy of dominance. He recalled that he had seen “an ‘American System’ developing in China” when they announced the Belt and Road Initiative.
President Ramotar observed that Biden attempted to present an infrastructure initiative, but his plan was “more tactical in nature,” designed to counter China more than to create peace.
The Significance of the New Pope
Jacques Cheminade, the president of Solidarité et Progrès party in France, praised the decision of the new Pope to call himself Leo XIV in reference to Leo XIII, who authored the encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891, as the basis for modern Catholic social doctrine. Cheminade’s remarks were seconded by Pax Christi leader Jack Gilroy, who said that the encyclical stresses the dignity of every human being. Zepp-LaRouche said that she is “hopeful and optimistic” about the new Pope. In Germany you have parties CDU and CSU with “Christian” in their name, but what they are doing is the opposite. Cheminade suggested that colonial wars were testing what distinguishes between good Christians and fake Christians, and Johnson said that when European churches “became enablers of colonialism,” they abandoned their faith.
Later, during the question period, a viewer asked why had academics and others in Europe repudiated Judeo-Christian values. Zepp-LaRouche named three key factors: synarchism, the Frankfurt School, and the Congress for Cultural Freedom. “They consciously intended to de-root the people from their Classical culture,” and to replace it with neoliberal values. “This is not a natural development, but it is the result of social engineering and manipulation.”
Discussion
Jose Vega, who is a Congressional candidate in the Bronx, New York, reviewed the activities of his campaign in making public interventions to confront the hypocrisy of public figures. He described how one activist confronted Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after it became publicly known that she and other prominent Democrats weren’t working “tirelessly for a ceasefire.” He reported that a lot more young people are coming around, and urged people to attend the Memorial Day weekend Schiller Institute conference.
In response to a question on fascism, Zepp-LaRouche replied that it sacrifices human life to the maximization of profit. The authors of bad policy are never blamed, instead others are scapegoated, such as immigrants. “The British System does not respect the creativity of human beings,” because it is preoccupied with “buying cheap and selling dear.”
A participant commented that “Mrs. LaRouche looked so bright and shiny when she returned from China,” which was encouraging.
Zepp-LaRouche and Larry Johnson spoke of the danger in the current India-Pakistan conflict. Johnson reported that the Pakistani Defense Minister admitted that for more than 30 years, Pakistan has been the slave of the U.S. in protecting and covering for terrorist organizations. He said that Western intelligence is stirring the pot in Kashmir to create tension and destabilize BRICS.
Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche concluded by reiterating the importance of the mobilization to getting “the Oasis Plan into the hopper, big time…. We are on this Earth to do good, not just to eat burgers and drive Porsches…. Whatever little part all of you can do, do your part.”
May 2, 2025 (EIRNS)—For nearly two years, the International Peace Coalition, which was organized to unite peace movements from around the world without regard to ideology, has been holding weekly online conferences with over 55 nations represented and thousands of participants. On May 2, the Coalition celebrated a milestone with its 100th consecutive meeting.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Founder of the Schiller Institute, presented a sobering progress report. Despite the growing influence of the Coalition, “We are seeing a very disturbing increase in conflicts.” Though there may be regional causes to these conflicts, the underlying basis is the tension created by the decline of the old, colonial system, and the emergence of the new one. She addressed the new outbreak of hostilities between India and Pakistan, calling for an independent investigation of the terror incident which sparked it. The situation there is escalating. The use of nuclear weapons is being discussed on both sides.
A new deal was announced in Ukraine, where the U.S. can exploit raw materials and some U.S. troops will remain in Ukraine, which may be “not to the liking of the Russians.” Unfortunately, “some crazy Europeans are committed to keep this war going.”
On the trade war front, she warned that tariffs could trigger a default by developing nations and/or collapse of the financial system. President Trump has not thought this through.
Since March 2, Israel has blockaded Gaza, and using food as a weapon of war is a war crime. We have called for an international mobilization to put the LaRouche Oasis Plan on the agenda of a high-level conference which the UN has scheduled on the two state solution, to take place on June 2-4, 2025 in New York. The late Pope Francis called development “the weapon of peace,” making him an implicit supporter of the Oasis Plan.
Col. Richard H. Black (ret.), former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon and former Virginia State Senator, warned that “during the Biden administration, the U.S. became wildly provocative toward China.” He offered a timeline of provocative acts, such as the visit by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and others to Taiwan for the express purpose of provoking China. “Consider the enormity of a possible war with China, and compare that to Vietnam,” said Black. The Vietnam War was costly to the U.S. and ended in defeat. China is 29 times the size of Vietnam, with a vastly larger population and far more advanced technology.
Ambassador Hossein Mousavian, former ambassador from Iran to Germany, described how Iran had endeavored to compromise with the West; they agreed to cooperate with the IAEA, and to export uranium enriched to 60% to Russia, in order to allay fears that they intended to develop nuclear weapons. The Trump administration had made some progress with negotiations, but then the U.S. technical team that was to be sent to Oman was canceled, apparently due to an intervention by Netanyahu, who said that Israel would only accept the “Libya model” (which culminated in the utter destruction of Libya.) U.S. Secretary of State Rubio claims that the only use of uranium enrichment is for bombs, which is a ridiculous untruth. Mousavian offered a long list of states that have enrichment programs but no nuclear weapons.
Ofer Bronchtein, a former advisor of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and President of the Paris-based International Peace Forum, is presently an advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron on the Israeli situation. He believes that the French/Saudi initiative for a two-state solution can succeed, and is trying to build a coalition to support it. Zepp-LaRouche asked him to join the mobilization for the Oasis Plan. He replied that Rabin understood the importance of water: “Without water, there won’t be peace.”
International Law Under Threat
Jonathan Kuttab, International Human Rights Lawyer, Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America and Co-Founder of Nonviolence International, spoke on the problem of Israel’s “utter impunity of ignoring international law,” no longer even bothering to offer “the excuse of military targets.” More than 230 journalists have been killed by the IDF, more than in any previous conflict. “We now see a deliberate attack on international institutions, on international courts, and on international law itself.” This has implications that go far beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Excerpts were shown of a video interview by EIR’s Gerald Belsky with Maoz Inon, an Israeli peace activist and leader of the peace demo in Jerusalem May 8-9, the People’s Peace Summit. He said that “the only way to change reality is in the field of dream.” We need to shout it, dance it, sing about it, to legitimize the dream. We need diplomacy, dialogue and negotiation. The current wildfires in Israel are a consequence of investment that should have gone into water management being diverted to military use.
LaRouche activist Robert Castle gave a youth outreach report. He has been working with the Jose Vega congressional campaign in the Bronx, intersecting students on the way to classes and “challenging the young citizens of our republic to ask themselves whether they have a moral responsibility to intervene in this crisis.”
Zepp-LaRouche fully agreed with Kutab: it’s not just about Gaza, the larger issue is the non-response of the world community to the Gaza genocide, which can lead to a complete collapse of international law and descent into barbarism. International law did not exist before the Peace of Westphalia, which made it necessary.
Discussion
Zepp-LaRouche answered a question on the India-Pakistan conflict by asking, cui bono? Many nations that aspire to join BRICS have been targeted with economic/financial warfare or violent destabilization.
Kutab was asked, what can civil society do when governments fail to take action? He endorsed BDS, and said we should organize football and cultural organizations (which played a big role in ending apartheid in South Africa.)
A German participant renewed his plea that solar energy be used in place of nuclear energy for the Oasis Plan. He was invited to participate in the upcoming conference, where that topic will be discussed. Co-moderator Dennis Small reminded him that energy flux-density is the metric for evaluating energy sources. Because the Iberian Peninsula went entirely for solar and wind, there was a complete collapse of their energy grid last week.
A question was posed: Was the November 1995 assassination of Rabin the tipping point for the current crisis? Kutab responded, “There’s no question that Rabin himself was trying to deal with that situation in a new way.” But there were problems both before and after Rabin.
Moderator Anastasia Battle reported that there has been an attack on the Freedom Flotilla in international waters, which some IPC participants have been on board the flotilla. We hope for their safety and well-being.
In response to a question from the Chinese Media Group on the trade war, Zepp-LaRouche said, “President Trump is presently vacillating and responding to pressure.” She cited Nicholas of Cusa, who said that if you have a systemic problem, you cannot solve it by addressing side issues. The human creative mind always has the capacity to resolve the problem on a higher level than the level on which the problem arose. In conclusion, she renewed her plea for people to join forces with us in working to put the Oasis Plan and Ten Principles on the agenda for the upcoming conference in June.
DENNIS KUCINICH: First of all, I want to thank you for the invitation to join and to thank each one of you for your personal commitment for peace and social and economic justice. The journey that each one of you took to this moment is honored; and I’m grateful to participate if only for a few minutes.
I keep going back to this point—it’s like we need a new language to describe the horror that’s going on—but justifications, rationalizations that have been made cry out for our response. The political system has been bought unfortunately, and there are not many people who can go to the media who are inside the government to protest what’s going on in Gaza in particular. So, we have this anesthetizing, a kind of numbness that has taken place. People are still breaking through, groups of people around the country and certainly around the world are going to the streets. And I think ultimately that’s the kind of nonviolent action that will help tip the balance. It was when students in particular went into the streets during the Vietnam War that Lyndon Johnson decided that he couldn’t defend it anymore, and he stepped down. Of course Nixon and Kissinger kept it going for quite a few more years, but the ferment that was out there in the country helped to force a reconsideration of America’s role.
But here we are again—the mass violence. You had Vietnam, Iraq, Gaza, and it’s an arc of inhumanity in our country. In the United States—I know there are people on this call from outside the States—but the United States is a principal initiator of this. So, we have a lot of work to do inside our own country. It’s not just at the policy level; even before we get to the policy level we have to think about the consciousness from which these murderous policies are derived. That’s a shift that takes place through the instrumentality of our own beings and speaking out and gathering people; and that’s why I say thanks for what the IPC is doing and for all those of you who do this work. Any way that I can be of assistance to what you’re trying to do, tell me.
ANASTASIA BATTLE: Thank you so much Mr. Kucinich for that. I know Ray McGovern is so excited to have you on; he really wanted you on today. I know your time is limited—
KUCINICH: Well, Ray is one of my heroes, so it’s great to be with you.
BATTLE: Wonderful! We wanted to make sure if you were available, if you could stay a little bit to hear what he had to say, and then you guys could have a conversation.
KUCINICH: You know, I’d love to hear what Ray has to say, and then I would say I can push things back here; just let me do a quick text. I’m good until 11:40 Eastern time, so yes, Ray, go ahead.
RAY MCGOVERN: What a gift to have all these Dennises on there; all three of them, especially my friend Dennis Kucinich, who is probably the direct successor of my real hero, and that was John F. Kennedy; a man of peace, but a man of courage and a man of justice. And that’s what I want to talk about now. We come out of the same faith tradition, and that means a lot to me as well. I noticed that Father Bury is going to be on, and Jack Gilroy; my God, we’ve got a bunch of macro-snappers on here. A bunch of Roman Catholics coming out of a wider ecumenical tradition, and I stress that.
Francis is dead. What did Francis do about Gaza? Francis made pious statements about Gaza. His most “specific” statement was, “You know, I’m told by my advisors that a lot of people think that there might be a genocide going on there in Gaza, so I think we should have an investigation.” This is months after the world court had already indicted Netanyahu and Gallant. It reminds me of World War II and Pius XII, who couldn’t find his voice. There are structural indignities no matter what Francis may have wanted to do, he didn’t do it; that’s my reality. He’s a nice guy; he’s a mensch, OK? But when my webmeister put my little article up about this, he said, “Nice guys don’t win ballgames, and nice guys don’t stop genocide.”
What’s the bottom line here? Well, it’s good news and it’s bad news. It’s up to us; and that’s just good news, because we’re up to it.
Let’s go back a ways. Yahweh to Cain after he had murdered his brother. “So, Cain, where’s your brother?” “How am I supposed to know? It’s none of my damn business?” Or, more faithful to the text, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Well, I think the people on this call are brothers’ and sisters’ keepers; and those people in Gaza are very much in need of our help right now. So, we have that witness there from the Bible story, we also have my favorite rabbi, Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who famously said, “When injustice takes place, few are guilty, but all are responsible. Indifference to evil”—look at Cain for example. Who cares about me? Who cares about my brother?—“Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself.” Abraham Heschel, very active during the Vietnam days and so forth.
Who else? Well, how bad is it in Gaza? There was an Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who actually ministered to Nelson Mandela, and knew apartheid in South Africa back and forth, right? What did Tutu say when he was asked, “Could you compare apartheid in South Africa and apartheid in Palestine?” He said, “Yeah, of course I can compare that.” Here’s what it is. “Life in Palestine is far more brutal and repressive than in apartheid South Africa.” And my friends, that was before the genocide.
Now, I often quote a fellow named Albert Camus, and you know the story if you’ve been listening to these things about how he talked to the Dominicans about the absence of a voice from Rome during World War II. To me, an agnostic? A voice from Rome? Yeah! Then I was told there was an encyclical. I said, “What’s an encyclical?” Then he said, what has to happen is that the voice has to come through loud and clear so the simplest man or woman can understand it; and that’s not enough. What he also said to a friend, during the height of the war in 1943, “It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.” He got the Nobel prize in 1957, where he expressed “the hope that the quality of the new generation and its increased unwillingness to adopt slogans or ideologies and return to a more tangible value system. We have nothing to lose,” says Camus, “except everything. So, let’s go ahead. This is the wager of our generation.” We could be led by people like Dennis Kucinich. “If we are to fail, it is better in any case to have stood on the side of those who refused to be dogs, and are resolved to pay the price that must be paid so that men and women can be more than dogs.”
Lastly from Camus, in 1943, a letter exchange with a young German who was very proud. He was going to make Germany great again. OK, comparisons are invidious, but these are his words. “You told me that the greatness of my country, Germany, is beyond price,” this young fellow wrote. “Anything is good that contributes to its greatness. Those who, like us young Germans, are lucky enough to find a meaning in the destiny of our nation, must sacrifice everything else.” 1943; already we knew the genocide was going on. “No,” says Camus, “I told you, I cannot believe that everything must be subordinate to a single end. There are means that cannot be excused, and I should like to be able to say I love my country and still love justice. I don’t want for my country a greatness born of blood and falsehood. I want to keep it alive, and keep justice alive.”
I want to finish here quickly by just referring to things that happened more recently. Let me talk about Heschel again. He was at Selma; he marched in all kinds of justice processions and demonstrations. This is what he said. “For many of us, the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Lakes are not lips, and walking is not kneeling. And yet, our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying, or my legs were demonstrating.”
How about a more recent one? One of my favorite theologians is Annie Dillard. Here’s what she said: “It’s really up to us. There never has been any other; not Popes, not any, not moral leaders that could exert leadership…. There are enough of us, but what we need to do is amass half-dressed in long lines like tribesmen and shake our gourds at each other to wake up. Instead, we watch television and miss the show.”
OK, I’ll go back to a biblical story, and I’ll talk about Isaiah; something most people don’t know. Did you know that he walked around for two years stark naked? Well, it’s in the Bible, folks; look it up. What was he trying to say? He was trying to garner attention to himself. People said, “Oh, that’s awful! You’re stark naked.” And what he said was, “I stripped myself of clothes. You are stripped of the gifts given you by Yahweh. The vision of justice and shalom.” Shalom is nothing more in the Biblical sense than the existence, the presence of justice. So, we can have peace, but we have to have justice first.
Last thing I’ll say is that we have to keep our heads on straight and look at the benefits of being in solidarity with one another. I used to say when I’d speak, “Look around you, for God’s sake! How can you not be encouraged with such fine companions in this struggle?” One of the consolations for me was that I have Stone. He warns us, he says, “Look, the only kinds of fights worth fighting are those that you can lose, because somebody has to fight them. And somebody has to lose, and lose, and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do, wins.” Well, in the process, we have to keep our sense of humor and have some fun. A friend of mine was a priest and had a brother who was a priest and they both came back to their Irish mother and talked about all the dogma they had learned. She said, “Tell me now, was there any fun at this meeting of yours?” They were stunned; because they realized that without some fun, nothing is going to happen.
So, let’s be justice people, let’s have some fun; but let’s stick with it, as Dennis Kucinich and many of you have already done. Thanks for letting me speak.
BATTLE: Thank you, Ray! Mr. Kucinich, if you want to say anything?
KUCINICH: I want to thank Ray as well for that erudite presentation. It is on us. What I’m doing right now is writing; I post on substack if you get a chance to go to denniskucinich@substack you can get a free subscription. I’m writing exactly about these topics we’re concerned with.
Thank you for the work that all of you do. Thanks again, Ray. And I’ll look forward to seeing you, joining you again. Keep going! Thank you.
MCGOVERN: Wish me luck; and those of you who are praying types, please hold me in the light. This afternoon I’m going to Moscow together with Oliver Stone. We have several meetings and panels set up. And best of all, we’ll be there at the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, when we were allies. We want to stress that we were allies then. John Kennedy, in his wonderful peace speech, said that almost alone among major powers in the world, the U.S. and Russia have never been at war. We’re going to try to speak and spread the word around. Maybe some of it will come back to the U.S. as well. But the idea is that this is something to celebrate; it is the possibility that this fellow Steve Witkoff, who’s in Moscow as we speak and just finished talking to Putin, will have some good news for us. I think that’s where the game is being played. So, wish me luck, and I probably will not be able to join you next week, but I’ll be with you in spirit.
DENNIS SMALL: I do have one piece of advice for you, Ray, for your trip. Have fun!
MCGOVERN: Perfect! OK, on that note, thanks very much folks.
A little bit later:
FATHER HARRY BURY: What is really significant to me is that Helga has been arguing about the importance of seeing people as all good. And the Holy Father, Pope Francis, treated people as all good. One of the reasons for the conflict in the world, it seems to me, is because we misunderstand what justice is about. We think that justice is vengeance. So, we think that the way to end evil-doing, to prevent people from doing bad things, is by punishment. And punishment is violence; and when you use violence, you lead to vengeance. And that’s what we are experiencing, and both Helga and Pope Francis have argued against that.
And the Oasis Plan calls for equity; that means to treat everybody equally. So, the Schiller Institute and Pope Francis were speaking the same message. And I hope that people have begun to understand that; that the reason people all over the world have liked Pope Francis is because he thinks of the people on the margins. And there wouldn’t be any people on the margins if we had the Oasis Plan in which we get peace through development. So, it’s important for me anyway, to understand and to promote the Oasis Plan because it’s in the spirit of Pope Francis. Thank you.
DENNIS SPEED: Thank you, Father Bury. Let me just say something, because many people who will be on will not know this about you. I will just read something from his biography.
“Father Bury’s activism started as a new priest, serving at the University of Minnesota’s Newman Center in the 1960s, when young Catholic men asked him to write letters for them as Conscientious Objectors for the Vietnam War. In 1971, at the request of some Vietnamese, he and three others chained themselves to the U.S. Embassy gate in Saigon to protest the Vietnam War.”
So, that was not a protest here that Anastasia was referring to. That’s a protest in Saigon in the 1970s. That’s very much in the Rabbi Heschel mode. Then in 2005, he was in Gaza, serving as a human shield, when he was temporarily abducted at that point. So, this is a man who clearly has done exactly what Ray McGovern was talking about before. We’re always honored to have him with us, and we are particularly honored about his clear idea about the Oasis Plan that has been put forward and will be being discussed by the way at our conference.
So, Father Bury, I just wanted to make sure you got recognized for that. And thank you again, very much for your remarks.
BATTLE: Next I’d like to go to Carolina from Mexico. She has a report on the youth recruitment process. As has been reported over the last few weeks, we’ve been making a huge effort going into the May conference to go to universities, places where many young people are, to get them active. Mexico in particular has had quite a bit of traction. So, we’re happy to have Carolina Dominguez on to give her report.
CAROLINA DOMINGUEZ: I want to tell you about the activities we have not only in Mexico, but in Ibero-America. I want to start first by mentioning something that has helped us in the work with the youth. This document that I want to mention is a book by Martin Luther King called Why We Can’t Wait. It’s a very extraordinary book that I recommend to everybody. He dedicates it to his children, but in his Foreword, he says that he hopes that in the future his children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by their character and their actions.
In this book, he presents the famous letter he wrote in the Birmingham Jail, in which he answers the critics in his collaborators who said his actions were not correct, and that was why he was in jail. He says something very funny. He says, I don’t answer to my critics, because if I do, I will not be able to do anything. What is important are the actions, and in that sense he responds to something that for us has been fundamental—work with youth. It’s the concept of nonviolent action. His response is that while they have to do demonstrations and activities, he says the best way to come to agreements is through negotiation. Martin Luther King says that is true, but when the leadership doesn’t want to negotiate because they don’t consider what the other side is presenting is important, we need to provoke that negotiation; provoke a tension. That’s what he’s talking about in creating tension through direct action. The individual has to be clear that he’s not in agreement with what is going on. Morally, the individual has to be very clear that what is occurring is not what he believes in; he has to be very clear on that not only in his heart, but in society. Those nonviolent actions create a tension that allows them to be heard.
That for us is very important because of course many people consider that our mobilization or demonstration or some action to be in disagreement with the ideas has to be violent, but not the idea that this will open the way for a proposal. What we are doing with the international youth movement, not only in Mexico and Ibero-America, but internationally before with the leadership of Lyndon LaRouche and now with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, we are doing precisely that. We are generating that tension, not to use youth as scapegoats as is being done with the wars and political parties using them during the elections; where afterwards they are just discarded.
In the Schiller Institute we have a constant campaign of education in profound ideas that allow the youth to become leaders. Those ideas involve economic proposals. In that process of working with the youth, you first have to understand that they need a level that allows them to heard. The youth have a lot of potential; not only because of their age, but because they are taking decisions about their moral quality for the long term. We need to provide them with the tools so that when they decide the moral quality of the path they choose, they will have sufficient knowledge to do what is right.
In that work with the youth, we are having international meetings and dialogues which include representatives from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Europe, and the United States. They are presenting their concerns about the situation today. Of course, they don’t want a war, but they don’t see any options for what they can give to society. We just had an international youth dialogue last week where they presented several proposals about energy, kinds of jobs youth will have, what they can do in order to change the situation. They were very open and had basic questions that should be answered. I want to say that when we are generating this tension, when some Congressman or leader says “OK, I will listen to you,” what do you have to tell them? We need to be ready with what we are going to say, because there is a state of tension. We have to have those proposals, and the youth have to know how to change the economy. That’s why we have these youth dialogues. That’s why we are working with them on what an economy is; that it has to give value to people; because the main product in an economy is people. LaRouche said the main thing that moves the economy is creativity; the ideas that are generated by individuals who want to make things better. So when they are talking to a leader, and they say “What do you have to tell me?”; they have to be very clear that what we are presenting is what will work for the economy. That’s what we are teaching the youth: what is productivity; what is an economy. It has been very polemical. We have heard about this in these meetings. What is the best type of energy that can work for their countries; what kind of jobs? We think this has been very optimistic. The youth meeting was very good, because people were able to express how things were going and their proposals.
I thought it was very funny the types of problems we have with the youth. There was one young man from Brazil who will go from Brazil to the New York conference in May. The interpreters were translating from English to Spanish, but there was a moment when he started to speak in Portuguese. It was very funny, because we were all quiet; there was no way to interpret his words from Portuguese into Spanish or English. That changed the geometry of the meeting; thinking about how we can hear the proposals of young people from Ibero-America in their language, and how we can transmit these ideas to other young people in the world. Those are the types of topics we want to address in this youth dialogue; how we can answer what they are presenting and what we are doing.
We are having these meetings all the time, especially with Helga. This time we had the participation of Megan Dobrodt and Jason Ross. It was very productive and there was a lot of optimism that through this work with the youth, as Martin Luther King said, we are doing it because it’s necessary and the people who are criticizing that he was creating this tension don’t understand.
I want to finish with another quote from the same letter by Martin Luther King. Like Socrates, he believed it was necessary to create a state of tension in the mind in order for people to overcome their dependency and create a way to become individuals. [actual quote: “Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.”]
That’s what is happening with the youth. We are inviting them to register and participate in the May conference. This will be very important. We will be having a youth panel which will present these proposals and the work we are doing with them. That’s what I wanted to present. Thank you very much.
April 18—The 98th consecutive weekly online meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) commenced with greetings by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, who emphasized that “the situation in Ukraine remains one of utmost volatility.” The likely incoming Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, has said that he will send Taurus missiles to Ukraine. But the Taurus relies on intelligence from the United States. Will President Donald Trump approve this? And the Taurus must be operated by German soldiers, making Germany a direct party to the war. This situation is fraught with danger. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently said that if the British and French send soldiers, they will come back in coffins. Zepp-LaRouche said that Merz “knows no inkling of a diplomatic solution,” and warned that something is happening in Germany which echoes what happened 80 years ago.
On the positive side, a disaster was averted when Trump refused to give U.S. backing to an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. There also continues to be positive developments in the Global South. China and Brazil agreed to build the Bi-Oceanic Railway across South America. And on April 18, the Valdai Discussion Club hosted an event called “70 Years On: The Legacy of Bandung. An Expert Discussion” which raised the question, “Is Bandung 2.0 possible?” This is in reference to the 1955 Bandung Conference, also known as the Asian-African Conference, held in Bandung, Indonesia, which laid the foundation for the later emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement.
She noted that Presidents Robert Fico of Slovakia and Alexsandar Vučić of Serbia will defy the EU and attend the Victory Day celebration in Russia on May 9. She commented as well that the trade war with China will cause inflation in the U.S. and large layoffs in China, and posed the question, are there people of reason who can step beyond geopolitics?
Seeds Grow Without a Sound
Alex Krainer, a well-known financial advisor and economic analyst, described an ongoing transition in the world economy that many may have missed. It has become very easy for a person in the West, with a few clicks, to order products from China and India. He clarified the controversy over tariffs, using as an example, a pair of Nike shoes that cost $10 to make in China, but retail for $100 in the U.S. A 25% tariff would be applied to the $10 that it costs to make the shoes, not the $100 retail price, adding only $2.50 to the cost of the retailer. For a more extravagant example, he cited a $38,000 handbag that costs $1,000 to make. The trade war has revealed things about the “bling factor.”
Schiller Institute leader Dennis Small cited an article in the Financial Times which asks whether we are now facing the “Trump Shock,” comparing it to the “Nixon Shock” of 1973. Trump’s trade war can ignite the explosion of the bubble of financial aggregates and derivatives which will never be paid. Small compared it to lighting a match in a room full of dynamite; the problem exists “not because of the match, but because of the dynamite.”
A new financial geometry is developing around the BRICS. “We’re seeing physical economic flows in exactly the way that Lyndon LaRouche talked about.” Brazil will gain “great circle” access to trade with China via the proposed Bi-Oceanic Corridor. China vastly outpaces the world in physical output of steel, etc.—but “the real growth area is science and technology.”
IPC coordinator Anastasia Battle presented a report on youth outreach, describing an organizing tour of New York university campuses with congressional candidate Jose Vega and others, and showed a series of photos of booktables and a special invitation to the upcoming international youth meeting April 22 with Helga Zepp-LaRouche.
In response to Krainer’s presentation, Zepp-LaRouche noted that Friedrich Merz says it’s an outrage that every day 400,000 parcels arrive from China. But the Spirit of Bandung is sweeping the Global South, ignored by Western media. Because of the rise of China, the developing nations feel that they are strong enough to end colonialism.
Krainer noted that improved world trade means opportunities for people in the industrial world as well. Merz’s opposition to Chinese imports is leading Europe to “a new Middle Ages.”
Discussion
Steven Starr, one of the nation’s foremost experts on nuclear war, asked Krainer to comment on the role of Wall Street and the City of London in influencing world events. Krainer said that power lies in the central banks, IMF, and the families that control them. For example, in the immediate aftermath of the 2014 Maidan coup, it was the IMF that influenced Kiev to launch an assault against the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine. Citigroup formed much of former President Barack Obama’s Cabinet.
In response to a question on Iran, Zepp-LaRouche said that the real issue is Israel’s 200-plus nuclear weapons. We need a new security and development architecture which takes into account the security needs of all nations, including Iran. Fortunately, there is some talk of combining the Egyptian peace plan with the LaRouche Oasis Plan.
In response to a question about fascism, she described an in-depth discussion with former U.S. Ambassador Chas Freeman about the emergence of a new fascism. The crux is the image of man; fascists believe that some group of people is superior. They also pursue policies of ruthless austerity.
Relations with Afghanistan
IPC co-moderator Dennis Speed reported, in answer to a question, that Russia has recognized the Taliban. Zepp-LaRouche added that 65,000 Taliban fighters were able to defeat NATO, but they were not ready to govern, and the new government is factionalized on the question of the status of women; you can’t rebuild while also condemning women to outsider status. The Taliban cracked down on opium production, which caused a loss of income for farmers. A proposal was made by former UN leader Pino Arlacchi to aid farmers in transitioning to food production, but it was denied by the UN. Russian recognition is positive, but “it’s only in the baby shoes.”
Jose Vega asked the question: “Did our Founding Fathers believe in ‘America First’?” Speed answered the congressional candidate, saying that people confuse the idea of America with the place of America. If by “America First” you mean the idea, then it applies to the whole world. Zepp-LaRouche’s Ten Principles are close in spirit to the Declaration of Independence, and one should read them to hear the echo of the American Revolution. The Revolutionary War was insufficient to overturn the system of aristocracy and oligarchy. The Constitutional Convention was the key revolution, as well as U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton’s reports. The people who best understood this assembled in 1955 in Bandung.
Conclusion
Zepp-LaRouche appreciated a comment from one of her countrywomen, who argued against the fatalism of her fellow citizens who quail before the power of the oligarchy, and advocated that “every drop of activism helps.” We must put international pressure on Germany and the EU. Trump should leave NATO; that would be the best thing that could happen. In fact, “we all should leave NATO,” which has “transformed into an extremely aggressive organism.”
If we can avoid extinction in a nuclear winter, then we can disagree on secondary matters. Regardless of one’s ideology, “We have one future, like it or not. … If this present chapter of history goes wrong, we all have none.”
