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Gigantic Demonstrations of Farmers & Allies Kicked Off Week of Action in Germany; U.S. Farm Leaders Send Full Support: “Let the Tractors Roll! Restore the Economy!”

Jan. 9, 2023—Yesterday in Germany tens of thousands of farmers and fellow demonstrators, with thousands of tractors and trucks, hit the streets in all 16 states, as day one in a week of action. This was an historic, breakthrough show of numbers and moral force. Joining with farmers were railroad workers, truckers, workers of all trades, businessmen, and more, all demanding an end to the government policies shutting down food production, hiking fuel and electricity prices, and gutting the economy.

Huge tractorcades and downtown rallies took place in scores of major cities Jan. 8 including Munich, Stuttgart, Dresden, Mainz and others, as well as at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, where the Jan. 8-15 action week will culminate in a mega-event on Monday. In Mainz, for example, there was a tractor and truck convoy 20 km long. Speakers at the rally included the state chairman of the farm group LsV (Country Creates Connection)—co-organizer of the national protest, the president of the Farmers and Winegrowers Association, the president of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association, and many others.

All demonstrations were extraordinarily well organized and disciplined, with full collaboration among farmers, truckers, police and the community. For example, the tractorcades left a lane open for through-transit of medical and other emergency vehicles.

This powerful show of force by farmers and the whole population demands the government commit to a full program to restore the economy. The government itself is on the line. One indicative banner stated, “They Don’t See; They Don’t Harvest; Yet They Think They Know Better” (against the government’s restrictions on farming, as well as fuel prices and tax hikes.)

Farmers, truckers and others elsewhere in Europe are following the German break-out closely, with farmers joining in from the Netherlands, Poland and Hungary.

A message of support to the German farmers was sent from the United States and circulated to many tractorcades on Day One. As of Jan. 9, 22 farm leaders from 14 states have signed onto the joint statement, first issued Jan. 6:

Let the Tractors Roll!

We U.S. farmers and ranchers send our support and admiration to German farmers and their co-demonstrators—truck drivers, railroad workers and all in the food chain—who are holding the Jan. 8-15 Week of Action in Germany. You have the guts and courage to defend the right to produce food, and demand a productive economy for all citizens. You are an inspiration and example to all farmers throughout the world, to activate and fight.

The German farmer rallies with thousands of tractors so far this Winter, from Berlin to Stuttgart, have put you on the front lines defending all humanity. The planned Jan. 15 Berlin mass rally is a world-important event. We have seen tens of thousands of farmers in Europe hit the streets in recent years because of the emergency; now is the breaking point.

Farmers all over the world are facing manipulation by the agro-financial-complex, of commodity conglomerates, controlled by London, Wall Street, Chicago, Amsterdam and other commodity financial centers. It is destroying family farming, reducing food production, driving up food prices, and perpetuating hunger. This globalist mechanism creates conditions for depopulation.

The German government is knowingly ruining family farm food production by hiking the diesel price, banning certain agro-inputs, taxing farm machinery, and other moves.

Farmers the world over are now standing up to this. We commit our support to defeat these enemies of humanity in 2024. We can work together to bring about development and peace for all, and total food security.

Let the tractors roll! We are alongside you in the cabs and on the streets!

Signators, as of Jan. 9: 

Robert “Bob” Baker, Leesburg, Virginia – Former Grain and Livestock Producer; Director of Schiller Institute Agricultural Commission

Jon Baker, Harper, Iowa – Cattle and Grain Farmer; Agricultural Bank Vice President and Loan Officer; Vice President of the Iowa Stockgrowers Assoc.

James Benham, Versailles, Indiana – Former State President of the Indiana Farmers Union; National Board Member of the National Farmers Union

Bill Bullard, Billings, Montana – Chief Executive Officer, R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America)

Mike Callicrate, Colorado Springs, Colorado – Cattleman; President and Founder, Ranch Foods Direct

Angel Cushing, Allen, Kansas – Goat Farmer; Independent Farm Activist against the Green New Deal / 30×30 land grab

Frank Endres, Corning, California – Wheat and Cattle Rancher; National Board Member of National Farmers Organization (NFO) and of R-CALF USA

Dr. Taylor Haynes, Laramie, Wyoming – Rancher;  President, and on Board of Directors, Organization for Competitive Markets

Angela Huffman, Wharton, Ohio – Sheep Farmer; President of Farm Action

Tracy Hunt, Newcastle, Wyoming – Cattle Rancher; Farm Leader, Attorney (Retired)

Wilbur Kehrli, Manchester, Iowa – Cattle, Pigs and Grain Farmer Retired; Board of Directors of American Blue Cattle Association

Bill Kluck, Mud Butte, South Dakota – Sheep and Cattle Rancher; Chairman of Sheep Committee, R-CALF USA; Board of Directors of South Dakota Stockgrowers Assoc.

Vaughn Meyer, Reva, South Dakota – Cattle Rancher; Former President of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Assoc.; Former President of the Organization for Competitive Markets

Eric Nelson, Moville, Iowa – Farm/Feeder and Rancher; Vice President – R-CALF USA Director, Region VII (Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin)

Andrew Olson, Windom, Minnesota – Grain Producer; Farm Leader & Chairman of the Minnesota Schiller Institute Agricultural Commission 

Mike Schultz, Brewster, Kansas – Rancher and Farmer; Vice-President of Organization for Competitive Markets

Matthew Steele, Manhattan, Kansas – Executive Director of the Kansas Cattlemen’s Association

Herman Steffen, Detour, Maryland – Beef Cattle and Grain Farmer; Farm Leader

Mike Weaver, Franklin, West Virginia – Board of Directors, & former President of Contract Poultry Growers Assoc. of the Virginias

Charles White, Fowlerville, Michigan – Dairy and Grain Farmer; Farm Leader

Tork Whisler and Sawyer Whisler, Washington, Iowa – Grain and Pork Producers; Farm Leaders; Founders of Barn Talk (on YouTube)

Ron Wieczorek, Mitchell, South Dakota – Rancher and Farm Leader; Former Candidate for U.S. Congress; Chairman of South Dakota Schiller Institute Agricultural Commission


Christmas Message from Helga Zepp-LaRouche: Turn Swords into Plowshares!

Christmas Message from Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute December 21, 2023

No one will be able to claim, as historians said of World War I, that we sleepwalked into World War III. The war cries today are so deafening that they threaten to awaken from the dead all of the victims of previous wars, including the First and Second World Wars.

Tax money is poured into military spending of all kinds, while civilian economies collapse, infrastructure decays, and schools and hospitals are closed or fall apart. In the United States, the Pentagon’s defense budget for 2024 amounts to nearly one trillion dollars, while the entire EU budget and all national budgets in Europe are slated for militarization. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is demanding that society become “war-ready” and has asserted that we only have five to eight years before a major military confrontation with Russia. American think-tanks are working feverishly on “war games” for a major war with China, which should, in their view, take place sooner rather than later. See the article by the Council of Foreign Relations magazine, Foreign Affairs, “The Big One: Preparing for a Long War With China.”

How did we end up on this trajectory, which can only take us to a Third World War, a global nuclear war between the U.S. and NATO on the one side, and Russia and China on the other, and thus nuclear Armageddon?

President Eisenhower, at the end of his mandate, warned in 1961 against the explosion of the power of the military-industrial complex (MIC), saying: 

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Since then, history has unfortunately shown that Eisenhower’s advice was not followed, and that this “unwarranted influence” has spread throughout society and reduced governments to institutions doing the bidding of that MIC.

The decisive turning point occurred when the Soviet Union dissolved. Instead of establishing a new global order of peace, as Lyndon LaRouche had envisioned with his proposal for the Eurasian Land Bridge, which would have integrated the Eurasian continent economically and ensured close ties between East and West, the neocons opted for Anglo-American dominance over a unipolar world. The Wolfowitz Doctrine of 1992 stipulated that no country or group of countries would ever be allowed to surpass the U.S. in political, economic or military power.

Contrary to promises made to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the time of German reunification, that NATO would not expand an “inch” eastward, NATO did just that. There were five NATO expansions extending 1,000 km eastward toward Russia’s borders, including the installation of potentially offensive missile defense systems in that area, which all preceded the Russian special operation of February 24, 2022 in Ukraine. A new Cuban Missile Crisis at a snail’s pace, so to speak.

The U.S. and NATO countries went for political control, for the idea that all countries in the world had to adopt the Western neoliberal model, i.e. regime change, color revolutions; interventionist wars in which many millions have died; military bases built around the world; war training for their foreign allies; imperial expansion of the EU and NATO up to the point of creating a global NATO as a means to contain real and potential rivals; sanctions aimed at affecting regime change; and finally weaponization of the dollar. All this under the banner of the “rules-based order,” liberal democracy, and human rights.

China, on the other hand, went for economic development and overcoming poverty for 850 million of its own citizens, initially, and then increasingly for win-win cooperation with the nations of the Global South through the New Silk Road Initiative. Thanks to this cooperation, those nations were given the chance for the first time to free themselves from the poverty and underdevelopment dating back to the colonial era. Today, 150 countries of the Global South are working together with China on thousands of New Silk Road projects, building roads and high-speed railroads, ports, airports, development corridors, industrial parks and more.

In the past ten years since China put the Belt and Road Initiative on the agenda, unbounded cultural optimism has spread among nations of the Global South, which has long since become the Global Majority, with the idea that they will soon become fully developed nations. They are responding to the weaponization of the dollar with de-dollarization, i.e., by trading in their own currencies and eventually planning their own reserve currency, by deepening the strategic partnership between Russia and China, creating their own organizations, such as the BRICS Plus, which will include ten members as of January 1, 2024, and dozens more very soon. 

Conclusion: the attempt to respond to the disintegration of the Soviet Union with the utopia of a unipolar world order, held together by military power, has been a monumental failure. It has led to an unprecedented strategic blowback.

Therefore, the most crucial question is: Can we in the West, the U.S. and European nations, correct our political course in time, and choose cooperation with the Global South instead of confrontation? China and Russia have repeatedly emphasized that the Belt and Road Initiative and the BRICS countries are open to cooperation with the West!

The main difficulty lies in the fact that much of the economic capacities in the United States, and a growing share of those in Europe, have been taken over by the MIC, and are so closely entwined with the big investment firms and asset management companies of Wall Street and the City of London, that a better term is the military-industrial-financial complex (MIFC). (See this package of material on the MIFC.) 

Technically speaking, it would be relatively easy to re-tool these capacities for civilian purposes, and rather than producing bombers, fighter jets, and missiles, to produce modern high-speed rail systems, inherently safe nuclear reactors of the 4th generation, and nuclear fusion reactors, as well as space stations for international space travel. In other words, all the industrial capacity currently used for the destruction of actual physical value—what else are weapons systems good for?—could serve the production of useful goods that promote the common good. Instead of tanks and ammunition, they could produce schools and hospitals, and help our nations to have prosperous economies once again!

Russian economist Sergei Glazyev put it in a nutshell in a message on the occasion of what would have been Lyndon LaRouche’s 100th birthday, which he unfortunately did not live to see. LaRouche not only forecast with farsightedness the crisis of the neoliberal system, but also proposed solutions to overcome this crisis. The countries that rejected his solutions are in crisis today, while those that implemented his ideas are prospering, Glazyev stated: 

“In practically all the major countries in the world that today are developing successfully—above all India, and China—there are partisans of LaRouche. They have used his thoughts and ideas, for creating their economic miracles. It is the principles of Physical Economy championed by LaRouche, that today underlie the Chinese economic miracle and are there in the foundations of India’s economic development policy. The supporters of LaRouche in those countries exert a fruitful, very positive, and constructive influence on economic policy-shaping in these leading nations of the new world economic paradigm.”

It’s not yet too late. We need to replace the war cries for ever “more weapons” with a return to diplomacy and the idea that we can—and must—resolve all conflicts through negotiation, if we are to avoid ending up in global nuclear war and a nuclear winter, which would wipe out all memory of humanity’s existence.

Instead of the greed of the speculators of the MIFC, Wall Street, and the City of London, whose high rates of profit rely on taxpayer money pouring into new wars, we must defend the existential interest of the population: The interests of farmers, small and medium-sized businesses, train drivers, bakers, etc.

Swords to plowshares! 

We are many, they are few! 

For cooperation with the nations of the Global South!


Schiller Institute Participates in Conference on Afghanistan’s Economic Development

A groundbreaking conference is taking place this week in Kabul, Afghanistan, that is aiming to help Afghanistan be among the new paradigm of nations seeking a beautiful future of collaboration and economic development. Titled: “Creating the Afghan Economic Miracle,” the conference runs from Nov. 6-8 and has attracted scholars and guests from across Afghanistan as well as from other parts of the world. It is being hosted by the Ibn Sina Research and Development Center. The conference’s stated aim is: “to present a comprehensive plan for the economic reconstruction of the entire country, with the goal to turn Afghanistan into a middle level-income country in the foreseeable future.”

Reports from the first day of the conference are that some 500 guests were in attendance in the auditorium, with another 100 spilling out into the hallways. Xinhua reports that Afghanistan’s acting Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai kicked off the event, and called upon Afghan and foreign companies to invest in the war-ravaged country, and for Afghans living abroad “to return home and rebuild their country.”

One of the top organizers said that a common comment that he got from participants was that they now have a real sense of hope for the future of the country and its development. Participation was at a high level, including numerous government officials, such as deputy ministers and the Deputy Prime Minister. One participant said of the first days’ proceedings: “It’s been amazingly informative to speak with everyone. A real sense that Afghanistan is taking charge of its own future. No funding for this conference came from outside the country.”

A Schiller Institute delegation is among those in attendance, and will be making presentations during Tuesday’s proceedings on Nov. 7, focused on various topics of the economic reconstruction of the country.

The Ibn Sina Research and Development Centre’s Nov. 6 press release explained:

“Obviously, the alleviation and subsequent elimination of the humanitarian crisis must be a priority. But that is sustainable only if there is a nationwide program of basic infrastructure like transport, energy, water management, communications, education and health care. Only if these basics are built in the entire country can productive agriculture and industry be developed.

“For this goal, the Conference will present the economic plan called, ‘Operation Ibn Sina: The Coming Economic Miracle in Afghanistan,’ which has been worked out by the volunteer economists of the Schiller Institute, and provided to Afghan experts living abroad and in Afghanistan, to analyze and prioritize its goals.

“The transformation of Afghanistan into a stable, prosperous country is also in the interests of all of the country’s neighbors, since the geographic location of Afghanistan makes it an organic hub for much of the transport and trade between Central Asia, South Asia and Southwest Asia. The integration of Afghanistan into the corridors and infrastructure projects of the Belt and Road Initiative is in the interest of all Eurasia, as well as of Afghanistan.

“This program and outlook is in the tradition of one of the greatest sons of Afghanistan, Ibn Sina, whose father was born in Balkh, in the north of the country, and who is one of the greatest physicians and universal thinkers of all time. What an excellent metaphor for a rich and beautiful future for Afghanistan!”


Schiller Institute: First-Hand Report on Russia-Africa Summit

Sebastien Perimony of the Schiller Institute Africa Desk in France was the only representative from any Western organization participating in the historic Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg on July 27-28, 2023. His video, now translated into English, is a fascinating and insightful 18 minute first-hand report on that conference.

This important summit was either ignored, blacked out, or lied about in most of the western world, so please listen to it and circulate it widely. 


Conference: Let us Join Hands with the Global Majority To Create a New Chapter in World History!

Invitation for the Schiller Institute Online Conference September 9, 2023

The world is presently undergoing changes, changes which occur only once in a thousand years: The age of colonialism, which began in the 16th Century, and has lasted almost 600 years, is coming to an end. The countries of the Global South, which represent by far the majority of mankind, are shedding the remnants of colonial suppression, as it still exists in the form of international control over their resources, unfair conditions of trade, and financial subjugation and looting by the City of London and Wall Street. The countries of the Global South are asserting their right to process these resources and produce value-added goods as a means of becoming middle income societies in the foreseeable future through high-technology industrialization. Lyndon LaRouche, for decades, specified the needed concepts and policies in physical economy to expedite that transition.

It can be expected that the summit of the BRICS countries, to take place August 22-24, will reflect the tectonic shift going on: Twenty-three countries have applied formally for membership in this organization and more than twenty informally. Rather than regarding this process as a threat to the West, the nations of Europe and even the U.S. should take up the offer of cooperation. If the countries of the Global North go forward with their stated intent to “decouple” or “de-risk” from China, which is the largest trading partner of many countries of the Global South, this will be especially devastating for the economies of Europe, which are already in the process of deindustrialization. Even more fundamentally, if the West sticks to a policy of geopolitical confrontation with Russia and China, and tries to maintain an unipolar world by creating a Global NATO, the present conflicts around Ukraine now and soon Taiwan, could escalate into a third, this time thermonuclear world war.

The fact that the old order has failed to solve the problems of poverty, hunger, and the underdevelopment of billions of people in the developing countries, is demonstrated by the horrendous migrant crisis, where thousands and thousands of desperate people are assembling, at national borders—be it between the U.S. and Mexico, or be it along the Mediterranean, which has already become a mass grave. Instead of resorting to cruel and inhumane methods to keep human beings out, we should join hands with China and other emerging countries to help the countries of the Global South industrialize. There is no need for rivalry; there is so much for everyone to do to meet the existential needs of people now suffering.

Which way we decide to go, will in all likelihood determine if we end up in a world war resulting in the annihilation of the human species, or if we keep our humanity and open a new, more beautiful chapter in the history of mankind.

We need a new international security and development architecture that takes into account the interests of every single country on the planet. The warring parties of the Thirty Years War were able to reach the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, because they realized that there would be no one left to enjoy the victory, if they had continued to fight. We should at least be that intelligent.

We must revive the most beautiful traditions of our cultures, especially in classical art, and celebrate the image of man as the creative species, to develop from there a vision of how to create a durable peace for all of humanity.


Water for Peace and Development

Alain GachetDr. Gachet is President of Radar Technologies International Exploration (RTI Exploration ) and inventor of the WATEX (Water Exploration) method for locating aquifers by satellite.

This is a synopsis of a video message from French water expert Dr. Alain Gachet, preceded by the edited introduction given by Jacques Cheminade, presented to Panel II, “Why It Is in the Strategic Interest of European Nations to Cooperate with the Global South,” of the Schiller Institute’s July 8-9 conference, “On the Verge of a New World War—European Nations Must Cooperate with the Global South!” Unable to attend in person, Dr. Gachet provided a video on the WATEX process, introduced by Jacques Cheminade, President of the Solidarité & Progrѐs Party, who gave the keynote to the panel.

Jacques Cheminade. Every day, water is and will become more and more an issue for world peace, peace based on integrated resource management and mutual development. In France, between 10% and 40% less water will be available in the coming years, and the challenge cannot be met by multiplying the number of large run-off basins.

On a global scale, a diagonal of thirst stretches from Tangiers to northeast China, passing through the whole of Southwest Asia. The challenge cannot be met simply by multiplying dams. It is a matter of life and death.

The urgency is immediate. Failure to act is criminal. The consumption of unsafe water causes over 2.5 million deaths a year worldwide. All the refugees to be found in the streets and under the bridges of Europe have one thing in common: they come from countries that are cruelly short of water: Sudan, Eritrea, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Afghanistan, Syria and many others. Not to act is criminal, because there are solutions.

We can start with reducing water leakage, which is often enormous, stopping losses through unsealed soil channels, restoring wetlands where possible, recovering the precious liquid from wastewater treatment plants and subjecting it to additional treatment (filtration, disinfection by UV irradiation or chemicals) to eliminate toxic substances and any health risks. In France, less than 1% of wastewater is treated, compared with 8% in Italy, 14% in Spain and 85% in Israel.

However, all this is not enough, particularly in the poorest countries most affected.

The challenge is not to deprive the existing aquatic environment of too much water supply by redirecting flows. Similarly, the desalination of seawater, successfully used in Saudi Arabia and California, would be too energy-intensive on a global scale [under non-nuclear modes of power]. The retention of evaporating surface water today needlessly depletes underground resources for water-hungry agricultural practices. Beyond the useful but insufficient approaches I have just mentioned, my friend Alain Gachet tells us that water is waiting for us underground.

This underground water does not evaporate or pollute, and its resources are a hundred times greater than all the lakes and rivers on the Earth’s surface. It will enable us to make shared water the best weapon for peace and respect for life. It will also enable us to replant forests that are burning, and restore soils that are being depleted and eroded. Aquifers can be located by satellite (using X-rays) and the water can be pumped out with drilling tools that can go deep enough, just like the oil companies can do, but not the water management agencies. Clearly, it’s all a matter of political will: putting human life before immediate profit.

For 20 years now, Alain Gachet, his friends and collaborators have been fighting, from Darfur to Iraq, without forgetting Kenya and Costa Rica, to successfully test his means of action and make people realize that there are solutions that are not being implemented.

For the Schiller Institute, exploiting water resources for all is an essential element, along with a health system for all, for social justice and peace through mutual development. The West, which claims to be so concerned about the plight of women, must realize that access to water without having to travel long distances is the beginning of their liberation. Brice Lalonde, advisor on sustainable development at the United Nations, asserts that strong political will is needed and that “this requires the rapid implementation of an international agreement on groundwater, which accounts for 90% of the planet’s freshwater.”

I’ll now let Alain show you his approach, currently being tested in Niger as part of a vast program with the MCC (Millenium Challenge Corporation) in Washington, with no ulterior motive other than the joy of seeing water bring life for the common good.

Alain Gachet. A video produced by Radio Technologies International Exploration (RTI Exploration) was shown at the conference, which summarizes the WATEX system, its impact, and Dr. Gachet’s experience. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn3W3zCBAVc&t=83s)

Synopsis by EIR of his video:

Radar Technologies International is a company specializing in the exploration of underground resources, focusing on resources to mitigate the deficit in surface drinking water. For nearly 20 years, RTI Exploration has been involved in the search for underground drinking water at the request of international organizations, such as the United Nations, and other major international institutions.

RTI Exploration, founded in 1999, invented the WATEX system, built on a solid foundation of scientific excellence, which combines in a complex algorithm, mega databases that are linked to a broad spectrum of geosciences, such as remote sensing, hydrology, geology, geophysics and climatology.

The WATEX system is a scalable and replicable scientific tool. Since its invention in 2004, it has been used to explore potable and renewable ground water resources. Nearly 2,700 wells have been drilled worldwide, with a 98% success rate. Its results have been audited and verified by institutions including the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) and the U.S. Department of the Interior.

At present, surface water from lakes and rivers is no longer sufficient to meet the vital needs of the world’s population, given the weather patterns and circumstances of extreme droughts, advancing deserts, extreme floods, mega forest fires, all of which are aggravated by demographic pressure.

Groundwater has become the priority objective of the WATEX system, because groundwater is 100 times more abundant than surface water. Of the planet’s fresh water, 3% is surface water, and 97% is groundwater. Groundwater is the water of the future, provided that the consumption of this water is compensated for by the replenishment of resources through sustainable management.

Africa Focus, Other Projects

Faced with a worsening climatic distress, that is affecting all the countries in the Sahel zone, condemning seasonal crops, RTI Exploration’s activity is now focused on the development of sustainable, irrigated agriculture and forestation. The activity is in Niger, Kenya, and Ethiopia. In Chad, 250 wells have been drilled, over an area of 80,000 square kilometers. In Sudan, 1,700 wells have been drilled, with a 98% success rate.

In Kenya, there has been the discovery of the Turkana Aquifer, with an estimated 250 billion cubic meter capacity. RTI Exploration has launched its first “cluster of prosperity” in northern Kenya, in the arid Turkana region. This term refers to agricultural zones designed to guarantee water and food security for vulnerable populations. These communities commit themselves to running of decentralized, solar-powered agricultural projects. The resulting economic and environmental benefits are visible in just a few weeks, and help these communities to provide security to the people and their herds, around the agriculture projects.

On a broader scale, there are projects on other continents and for other purposes. The WATEX system allows for the development of master plans for land-use planning, such as has been done in Costa Rica, a country that lives off green tourism. The WATEX study of the entire nation, with the support of international institutions, including the USGS, has allowed for the planning of the decentralization of industrial infrastructure and activity, and the protection of the rainforest.

The WATEX system has demonstrated that the protection of the rainforests, afforestation programs, and monitoring of eco-system biodiversity are key to sustainability for the generations to come. The WATEX system is also key for the development of industry and strategic mining resources.

NASA Recognition

In conclusion, the WATEX system is a solution that leads to access to clean water for people and their herds; food security through sustainable, irrigated agriculture; energy autonomy for each production center; reforestation to reduce climatic extremes; practices to promote groundwater recharge; and measures to protect aquifers from evaporation and pollution, and protect soils from erosion.

Dr. Alain Gachet, mining engineer, physicist and geologist, is a talented researcher involved in the invention of the WATEX system. Over the decades, he has also held important responsibilities in the exploration-production activities of Elf Aquitaine in Kazakhstan, Syria and Qatar; served as Secretary General of Elf in Congo Brazzaville; and then as a game-changer in the research and innovation cell of Shell International.

RTI Exploration and the WATEX system were awarded induction into the Space Foundation (based in Colorado, U.S.A.) in 2016, on the recommendation of NASA, for improving the lives of millions of people around the world.


Act Now To Reverse Humanity’s Fast-Approaching Thermonuclear Self-Extinction!

May 7—The explosion of drones over the Kremlin on Wednesday, May 3, means the world is closer to thermonuclear war than at any time in history, including October 1962. Absurd stories in the American and European media have appeared (like those that covered up American and NATO responsibility for blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines) that assert, without any evidence, that “the Russians flew and blew up the drones themselves.” But think: even if that lying absurdity were true, shouldn’t that also cause extraordinary alarm? If the United States flew and blew up drones over the White House, and then blamed Russia for supporting, say, Cuba, in a drone-weapon assassination attempt against the President of the United States, wouldn’t that mean the world was on the verge of a shooting war between Russia and America, a war potentially deploying thermonuclear weapons that would wipe out life on the planet?

Do you really think that it is sane to be more concerned about “saving the planet from man-made global warming” than saving humanity from madmen-made thermonuclear war? Citizens, wake up! It’s time to take back the United States government from the intelligence agencies that now dominate it, whether in the Congress, State Department, Pentagon or White House, as well as the “informal intelligence agency” called the “mainstream media.”

In each of the 435 Congressional legislative districts, individual American citizens have to stand up for sanity. Go to local meetings of your Congressional and state representatives, to city councils, to university lectures, to state fairs and public gatherings, and demand an immediate shut-off of funds to Ukraine; an emergency audit of American funds already disbursed; the immediate passage of the Glass-Steagall Act, to shut down the speculators that use debt to drive the war machine; and demand support for and discussion of the peace initiatives coming from the Vatican, Brazil and China.

While changing U.S. policy clearly requires Congressional and Presidential action, both these institutions are presently dysfunctional. “Average Americans,” that is, free citizens, have to now stand up, intervene, and be publicly seen and heard both advocating real solutions and implementing them. No partisan party politics! Thermonuclear weapons don’t distinguish between Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. This is a time for solidarity.

The people of Russia, China, and the world recognize, just as do Americans, that “War Is A Racket!” Now, it’s time that we dismantle that racket, and finally deliver on the promise made by President John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961 to “forge … a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West” to “struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.” In this most dangerous period in the history of the world, we are charged in these days ahead to act in such a way that it may be said, in future generations, that this generation proved that humanity, with all its faults, is greater than its presumed destiny.


Indian Think Tank: Global South Break With Collapsing Western Institutions Is “Actually Very Exciting”

March 4, 2023 (EIRNS)–In the aftermath of the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in India, Sputnik published interviews with various Indian experts commenting on the meeting’s outcome. “During his post-summit press conference,” Sputnik noted, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey “Lavrov said that Russia would continue to `focus on forming reliable transport corridors, independent payment systems, and the expansion of payments in national currencies within the framework of BRICS, SCO and the Eurasian Economic Union’.” One expert Sputnik asked to comment on these matters was Manjeet Kripalani, founder and executive director of The Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, which is a Mumbai-based think tank originally modeled on the New York Council of Foreign Relations. She said that the outcome of the G20 meeting was “actually very exciting,” because it opened the opportunity to build a fairer world.

“It used to be that in the old days, the Western banks always were the ones that called the shots. That is no longer going to happen. There will be banks and financial intermediaries from around different parts of the world. In fact, it’s going to become a financially more equal world. On logistics — in fact, it is very good, because, again, the systems that exist have been disrupted. But what we are going to see, and there is going to be a renewed push, is to get the Eurasian systems and the customs unions, etc. to start reactivating. For instance, the international North-South Transport Corridor, which runs from Central Asia down to Iran, this is now going to be looked at again, because these are connectivity projects that are closer to West Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, maybe Russia and China. And Asia will see different kinds of connectivity, maybe maritime connectivity projects, I’m not sure. But certainly, these multimodal transport corridors are going to be looked at now with great interest,” Kripalani said.


Lift All Sanctions on Syria and End the U.S. Occupation

Feb. 28The LaRouche movement is circulating the following pre-release of the lead editorial of the upcoming EIR magazine, as part of an intense, concentrated effort aimed at members of the U.S. Congress, to break through the deafening wall of silence on the barbaric activities sanctioned by U.S. military forces in Syria, military forces which are in that nation illegally—illegally under U.S. law, and illegally under international law. The similarly illegal and barbaric sanctions against Syria must now be lifted.

Lift All Sanctions on Syria, End the U.S. Occupation

The sanctions against Syria can no longer be tolerated. Pax Christi USA joined several faith-based groups in an open letter asking “the Biden administration and Members of Congress to affirm the dignity of all persons by lifting sanctions, continuing diplomacy, and sending aid to those most affected in Türkiye and Syria.”

The Schiller Institute’s two-hour-plus live Feb. 21 webcast, “Syrian Sanctions Must Be Lifted,” is a powerful weapon of truth, directly addressing the fact that the sanctions and war, which have forced 90% of the Syrian population into poverty, go hand in hand with the military occupation of Syria by the United States, which must also end.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute; Vanessa Beeley, British independent journalist now living in Damascus; Marwa Osman, a professor, author and TV presenter from Lebanon; Col. Richard H. Black (ret.), former Virginia State Senator, and Chandra Muzaffar of Malaysia, leader of JUST (International Movement for a Just World) presented the scale of destruction inflicted by United States and its European allies on Syria since 2007.

After the devastating earthquakes this February, the necessity of the complete abrogation of the unilateral economic and financial sanctions by which the United States and European Union are blocking reconstruction—and now, even aid to that country—is imperative.

The call went out: “You must demand that the U.S. Congress lift the ‘Caesar’ Sanctions. This is collective punishment of the civilian population” of Syria. Moderator Dennis Speed noted that as the seminar was going on, Schiller Institute delegations were in Congress pressing for an end to NATO’s war in Ukraine and to the sanctions on Syria.

Action Beginning

In the U.S. House of Representatives, a “War Powers Resolution,” was submitted Feb. 21 by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to get all U.S. troops out of Syria. By law, that action is a privileged measure, which must be voted upon within 18 days. If it is voted up, the Biden Administration will have 15 days in which to implement the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

The LaRouche movement is mobilizing to target Congress, which has blood on its hands, to pass this resolution, which will be an important first step in stopping the barbarism of sanctions in Syria, and worldwide.

Reports From Experts

Vanessa Beeley, speaking from Syria reported: “Syrians are resilient, they’re resourceful. And despite the fact that 90% of the population is below the poverty level, they have survived. Now, they have a terrible humanitarian tragedy, five million estimated homeless in Syria. Even in the northwest, which is under the control of Western-backed terrorist groups, it is a humanitarian tragedy. But the West is not helping. She underscored that sanctions are a part of the occupation of Syria, which has “three of its four borders controlled by hostile powers.” Moreover, she said, “The West is exploiting this tragedy to effectively kick start the war again against Syria, letting “humanitarian” aid in only through the Idlib crossings from Türkiye which al-Qaeda controls. She concluded, “What Syria needs now is for the sanctions to be lifted; but more than anything, it needs U.S. occupation ended …. [The U.S.] occupies the southeast in their Al-Tanf military base which also controls the Rukban refugee camp. It has established a 55-kilometer no entry zone around it, where it’s training and arming armed groups, including ISIS. So, end the occupation, please.”

Chandra Muzaffar emphasized, “The sanctions would be nothing without the occupation…. And occupation remains throughout South Asia.” Syria, he said, has become since 2007 a state which is not able to function as a state, because large parts of it are occupied by foreign powers and various groups backed by those powers. Syria had outdone many of the richer countries in Southwest Asia in providing both health care and education to all its people, equal rights and respect to women, tolerance in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society. It is a victim of “U.S. hegemony,” he said, which must end. “We should be able to work together to bring about a world of development.”

Marwa Osman was very specific in suggesting to Americans: Go to associates or neighbors and raise some funds to aid the tens of thousands of Syrian victims of the earthquakes. Then contact your member of Congress and ask for assistance in sending those funds to people or charities in Syrian cities like Aleppo, and ask that Member to explain to you why that’s blocked, not possible, although the sanctions were supposed to be “suspended for 180 days” [the financial sanctions were not suspended]. Then demand that that Member change it. Even NGOs in neighboring Lebanon, Ms. Osman said, are afraid that they will be sanctioned by the United States and EU if they convey funds to Syrians across the border.

Col. Richard Black, who has made numerous visits to Syria, graphically described the nature of the terrorists supported by the U.S. government, stating that we have turned over large parts of the country to terrorists “who take selfies standing on the backs of innocent women. It is disgraceful! And now, we’re following up by taunting the people of Syria who are under this terrible earthquake devastation, and we’re taunting them about how they really should have gone the other way. They should have been on our side, and now they’re getting what they deserve is essentially what the State Department is saying:

“It is a disgrace! It is a horror! If the American people understood what is happening, this government would fall. This government could not exist in the United States if the American people were not shielded by this complicit media in the horrors that we have imposed on the Syrian people.

“It is a shame. I hate to see it, because I love my country. I want it to be a better place, than it was when I was growing up. And I have hope and prayer that it will become better, but we could certainly start by ending these obscene Caesar Sanctions that are imposing famine and freezing on innocent people.”

FaithBased Groups

An urgent appeal was issued on Feb. 6 by the Middle East Council of Churches, an affiliate of the World Council of Churches, stating “We urge the immediate lifting of sanctions on Syria and allowing access to all materials, so sanctions may not turn into a crime against humanity.”

On Feb. 17, an open letter was released by a group of faith-based organization in the United States. The letter states in part:

“Therefore, we as a community ask Congress and the Administration to:

Lift sanctions in order to expedite aid delivery, open commercial access, and expand relief services to civilians in need.

Remove the 180-day sunset on the new General License for Syria.

Extend applicability for the newly adopted Global General License for material support in all of Syria.

Continue to communicate with Syrian and UN counterparts during the earthquake response, and work to open new border crossings for personnel to access Northern Syria.

Issue letters of comfort to financial institutions and aid organizations to help facilitate emergency assistance in Syria.

Coordinate the opening of banking channels to help NGOs and INGOs get aid to where it is needed; including family remittances.

Appropriate additional funds to USAID and UN programs to support Türkiye and Syria through the earthquake response and recovery.”

The letter was signed by the Alliance of Baptists; American Friends Service Committee (AFSC); Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP); Community of Christ; Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL); Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; Mennonite Central Committee U.S. (MCC); National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd; Pax Christi USA; Presbyterian Church (USA); The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society; Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC); and United Church of Christ, Justice and Local Church Ministries.


Take this Tragedy as the Opportunity to Lift All Sanctions Against Syria

By Helga Zepp-LaRouche

Feb. 6, 2023 (EIRNS)—The recent double earthquake in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria is a terrible disaster which is generating a wave of emotion and empathy from around the world. The situation will likely worsen due to forecast weather of extremely low temperatures throughout the region, resulting in the collapse of weakened buildings due to the cold and frost, not to mention the immediate consequences to children, women and men who have lost everything.

Time is of the essence. We welcome an international response; in fact there are several countries that have already offered their assistance to the populations affected by the earthquakes. This being said, it is difficult to accept that the same disaster has a very different human impact on either side of the borders of Turkey and Syria. On the Syrian side, this tragedy is affecting a population that has been hard hit by years of war and sanctions imposed by the United States with other nations.

This situation confronts us, as Western nations, with our responsibility to uphold the values we claim to embody. Are we going to continue to apply the measures that we very well know have led to the unimaginable suffering, misfortune and death of innocent people? Or are we going to finally make the decision to lift these criminal sanctions? Don’t we know, after so many years of use, that the weapon of sanctions only hurts the people?

It is time for Western leaders to regain a minimum of moral fiber, by taking this tragedy as the opportunity to definitively lift all sanctions against Syria and, from then on, to organize the reconstruction of the country with those who are determined to contribute to it.


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