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International Peace Coalition Meeting

A Transformation of the Moral Universe is Required

Feb. 9—This week’s online meeting of the International Peace Coalition began with moderator Anastasia Battle observing that the Coalition has now met for 36 consecutive weeks without interruption. She announced that a major focus of the Coalition’s activity will be to build a mass mobilization to restore funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which has been the target of undocumented allegations by the Likud regime in Israel and its neocon supporters in the US, UK and elsewhere. 

Opening remarks were made to the meeting by Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche. She said that the most breathtaking and horrible development in Gaza has been Netanyahu’s rejection of the offer by Hamas for a release of hostages, and the announcement that the IDF will attack the town of Rafah. 1.5 million Palestinians who have been forcibly displaced from other parts of Gaza have been herded into a small area in Rafah, from which there is no escape. An IDF assault on these refugees will result in dreadful carnage. Zepp-LaRouche also commented on the efforts to disable UNRWA, noting that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called it “irreplaceable” and that if you defund it, you “condemn the people who depend on it to death.” 

Even in U.S. establishment circles, she said, there is some recognition that this can’t go on forever. She mentioned an article in Foreign Affairs titled “Israel’s Self-Destruction,” which concludes by saying that Israelis must reach out to Palestinians, and to each other (because of the highly factionalized situation in Israel.) 

Zepp-LaRouche reminded the participants that although the Palestinian situation is most urgent, we must keep in mind that there is a danger of escalation to global war unless we can implement a new security and development architecture like the one she proposed in November of 2022. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó recently warned of this exactly: if one more major conflict is added to the ones in Ukraine and Southwest Asia, it can mean global war. Zepp-LaRouche said that the most significant aspect of the celebrated Tucker Carlson interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which has already been viewed by at least 120 million people, is that Putin and Russia have at no point closed the door to cooperation with the West. 

Greetings to the attendees were offered by South Africa’s ambassador to Mexico, who was thanked by the members of the Coalition for South Africa’s important contribution to the pursuit of justice for Palestine. 

Former CIA analyst and Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) cofounder Ray McGovern presented an analysis of the Tucker Carlson interview. He reminded the participants that U.S. President Eisenhower had warned that the military-industrial complex will succeed in dominating American policy if Americans are uninformed. Further, he said, one man who succeeded in making a dent in the otherwise pervasive climate of enforced ignorance was Julian Assange. Tucker Carlson has now made an additional, important contribution. 

A significant aspect of the interview was Putin’s reminder that there had been an agreement in early 2022, concluded in Istanbul, to end the Ukrainian war. The U.S.and U.K. intervened to throw those signed documents into the dustbin of history. What followed was the unnecessary killing of up to a half million of the flower of Ukrainian youth. 

Carlson asked Putin for his opinion on who’s in charge in Washington. Putin responded by saying that he didn’t know, but it was certainly not the president. McGovern said that Putin should necessarily be concerned about who really controls the nuclear button, and noted the contrast between Putin and Biden, pointing out that the Department of Justice has just said, in effect, that Biden can be excused for untruths because he is old and “not all there.” 

The meeting heard from a number of clergy and religious activists. A Christian minister from Dearborn, Michigan was outraged that the American media say that Israel is waging war on Hamas, while in fact, it’s a war on the civilians of Palestine. People who speak the truth are labeled antisemitic, he said. A recent commentary in the Wall Street Journal, which labeled Dearborn a jihadist city, provoked an outraged response from the city’s mayor who then ordered an increase in security due to the danger of Islamophobic violence. The clergyman warned of the danger that Israel will extend the war into Lebanon and other surrounding countries, and said that Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid should be a major issue. He concluded by saying that the killing of civilians by the IDF will cause further recruitment to Hamas, and the cycle of violence will cause yet more extremist, Netanyahu-like leaders to come to power in Israel. 

Other religious leaders discussed citations from Christian, Jewish, and Islamic scripture that bear on the present strategic crisis, concluding that “a total shift in the moral universe has to happen.” They reported on recent activism and discussed plans for the future. Pax Christi has numerous actions planned for tax day against American arms manufacturers, the “merchants of death” who receive a stupendous amount of U.S. tax dollars. Activists from Mexico and New York reported on successful embassy visits, urging funding for UNRWA and support for South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice. Rallies were also held outside the embassy of nations which had cut their funding for UNRWA.

 U.S. Senate candidate Diane Sare, who was actually participating remotely in the IPC meeting while attending such a rally, said that she was optimistic about the future because she sees that young people are becoming active. But, she asked, what is next? What should the world actually look like? The rotten old empire is dead; what replaces it? 

During the informal discussion, participants commented further on the Tucker Carlson/President Putin interview, saying that it shows Russia remains willing to be in a dialogue with the West. The former president of Guyana, Donald Ramotar, observed that the interview demonstrates that Putin knows he can have a military settlement, but he prefers a political, negotiated settlement. He went on to hail the government of South Africa for acting as the conscience for humanity as a whole. He said that they have ripped the mask off the face of the “genocide actors in Israel and the U.S.” He defended the Yemeni Houthis, saying their actions against Israel-related shipping constitute solidarity, not terrorism. 

In her concluding remarks, Helga Zepp-LaRouche emphasized that the Rafah situation must be viewed with utmost urgency, but at the same time the entire world is changing. No one can speak of a “rules-based order” after the West has condoned what is happening in Gaza. Are we going to live by the law of the jungle, or by the universal principles in the UN charter? These ideas must guide our activism in the weeks ahead.


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!


Scientists, Engineers, Professionals, Artists. Musicians — Call to Stop a New World War

Shall We Put an End to the Human Race, or Shall Mankind Renounce Nuclear War?

Almost seventy years ago, Albert Einstein and 11 other Nobel Prize winners issued this warning: Shall we put an end to the human race, or shall mankind renounce nuclear war?” 

Today, in Ukraine, the U.S., NATO, and Russia are moving towards a direct military conflict – and a US/NATO-Russian war will almost inevitably result in the use of nuclear weapons, because neither side will be willing to back down if a conflict begins.  

The U.S., Britain, France, and Russia keep 2,000 strategic nuclear warheads at launch-ready status. Each strategic warhead is 7 to 53 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Once the order to launch is given, these warheads will hit their targets in 35 minutes or less. Submarine launched ballistic missiles can hit their targets within 15 minutes of presidential authorization. 

Russia has three hundred and forty 800-kiloton nuclear weapons at launch ready status (800,000 tons of TNT explosive equivalent). The detonation of this warhead creates temperatures of roughly 200 million degrees Fahrenheit (about 100 million degrees Celsius), or about four to five times the temperature at the center of the sun

To detonate a nuclear weapon over a city is like igniting a piece of the sun, which will create solar temperatures that vaporize anything beneath it and set fires for many miles/kilometers in all directions.  This creates a massive nuclear firestorm. 

The detonation of a single 800-kiloton warhead over a large city, on an average weather day, will ignite a nuclear firestorm that will cover 152 square miles (389 square kilometers). In a matter of tens of minutes, air temperatures within the fire zone will be above the boiling point of water.  

Anyone within the fire zone will be confronted with a “hurricane of fire”. No living thing within the fire zone will survive. 

In a full-scale nuclear war, it is likely that in less than one hour, significantly more than 1000 nuclear firestorms would be created by burning cities in North America, Europe, and Russia (and quite possibly China). These firestorms would cover tens of thousands of square miles. Peer-reviewed studies estimate that up to 180 million tons of black smoke and soot, created by these firestorms, would rise above cloud level into the stratosphere, where it would form a global stratospheric smoke layer.   

The stratospheric smoke layer could not be rained out and would remain for ten years or longer. The smoke layer would block enough sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere to quickly create average surface temperatures colder than those experienced at the height of the last Ice Age. For one to two years, temperatures would fall below freezing every day in central North America and central Eurasia. It would be too cold to grow food crops for many years.  Most humans and large land animals would perish from starvation.  

We must not allow this to happen. It is time to act, before it is too late.  

We must speak out against a new World War, which will destroy mankind.   

If you are a scientist, an artist, a religious or political or military leader, please join with us to call upon the United States, NATO, and Russia to stop any further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. NATO members must not send military forces into Western Ukraine that can come into direct conflict with Russian forces.  This is a direct pathway to World War 3 and nuclear oblivion.  

Recall the words of Einstein and his colleagues:

“We are speaking on this occasion, not as members of this or that nation, continent, or creed, but as human beings, members of the species Man, whose continued existence is in doubt . . .  

There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal as human beings to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.” 

Resolution: 

“In view of the fact that in any future world war nuclear weapons will certainly be employed, and that such weapons threaten the continued existence of mankind, we urge the governments of the world to realize, and to acknowledge publicly, that their purpose cannot be furthered by a world war, and we urge them, consequently, to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them.” 

Therefore, we the undersigned, endorse the urgent mobilization of Humanity for Peace (humanityforpeace.net), and seek to join hands across the world to demand peace and economic development for all nations.

#NoMoreHiroshimas       #NoMoreNagasakis

Signatories:

Steven Starr MPH, MT(ASCP)BB; Prof., University of Missouri; published in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Jeff Philbin, PhD (U.S.A.), Nuclear engineer; Technical Consultant; Independent Contractor; retired from Sandia National Laboratories

Vincenzo Romanello, PhD (Czech Republic, Germany, Italy), Nuclear engineer, founder of the Italian “Atoms for Peace”

Franco Battaglia, PhD (Italy), Professor of chemical physics, University of Modena, Italy

Alberto Arecchi, (Italy), Italian architect, worked in different African nations for Development Cooperation; taught building Materials at several colleges; currently heads Liutprand, a cultural association editing and publishing books on the Pavia region’s local history (www.liutprand.it).

David H. Lester, PhD (U.S.A.) Former Assistant Vice President SAIC and Senior project manager, Jason Associates, Inc.

José Oreste Maldifassi Pohlhammer (Chile) Former Deputy Director of the Programs, Research and Development directorate, Chilean Navy; Captain Chilean Navy, retired; Associate Professor Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, Chile

Juan José Torres Núñez, PhD (Spain), poet; published author; freelance journalist; member Schiller Institute

Jeffrey Mahn, (U.S.A.), Nuclear Engineer (ret.), Sandia National Labs, science educator at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History

Marsha Freeman, (U.S.A.), National Assoc. of Science Writers (elected); Aviation/Space Writers Assoc. (elected); Fellow, British Interplanetary Society (elected); American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics – American Astronautical Society – History Committee of the AIAA; History Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics (appointed)

William Cuthbert Jones, (U.S.A.), Former White House Correspondent, EIR

C. (Kees) le Pair, (Netherlands), Physicist (ret.), University of Leiden; Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science

Djamila le Pair, (Netherlands), Freelance journalist; Free Assange activist

Ms. Adam A. Ouologuem, (Mali), Journalist; President of Mali Diaspora in the DMV; President of the Africa Society incorporated in Mali

Julian Fell, (Canada), Former Director, Regional District of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

John C. Smith, P.Eng., (U.S.A.), Senior Project Engineer, Dam and Levee Safety

Princy Mthombeni, (South Africa), Founder, Africa4Nuclear

Ramtanu Maitra, (U.S.A.), former professional engineer in U.S. nuclear industry; editor Fusion Asia, a science and technology journal (1984-93); served on India’s Planning Commission’s 2020 Vision project; served as New Delhi Bureau Chief of EIR; and Associate Editor 21st Century Science and Technology magazine

Carlo Pettirossi, (Germany), Nuclear Engineer, Senior consultant – software engineering

Dr. Thiago Maia, (Brazil), Nuclear Physicist, PhD in Astrophysics; World Climate Declaration Ambassador

Bennett Greenspan, M.D.(U.S.A.), Physician; expert in nuclear medicine; Past President, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI)

Joel Dejean, (U.S.A.), Electrical Engineer; LaRouche independent Congdressional Candidate in Texas CD 38, Nov. 2022

Robert A. Hux, (Canada), PhD in Chemistry, University of Alberta

Circulate, endorse, and sign. 


International Peace Coalition (IPC) holds 8th meeting: Build the Aug. 6 Peace Rallies Internationally: End the Age of Colonialism Once and For All

July 28—The International Peace Coalition (IPC) held its eighth weekly meeting, on Friday July 28. The spirit of changing the course of history, as current developments are taking the world closer and closer to a nuclear Armageddon, was palpable in the reports from every speaker, with everyone focused on the Humanity for Peace rallies to be held on August 6, the 78th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear destruction of Hiroshima in 1945. The central rally on that day will be held outside the United Nations building in New York City, with sister rallies to be held across the U.S., in Great Britain, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Malaysia, among other locations.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who initiated the IPC, opened the discussion, emphasizing that the danger of nuclear war is increasing, as the U.S. and its NATO allies escalate the shipment of military arms into the war zone, lyingly asserting that Ukraine is “winning” the war. Even some of the whorish U.S. press are now acknowledging that the military “counteroffensive” by Ukraine has been a thorough failure. Zepp-LaRouche emphasized that there must be a total break from this disastrous policy somewhere in the West – be it Germany, France, or the U.S. – to end the confrontation and begin cooperation between the nuclear powers, to create an architecture of security and development for all nations. Such a break appears to be a remote possibility. That means that we must expand our efforts to break through the wall of lies about Russia and China.

Ray McGovern, the former CIA analyst who used to give the daily briefing to the President of the United States, and who co-founded the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), then noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has for years asserted that U.S. domestic policy determines U.S. foreign policy, said that the Biden family is in deep trouble, due to the revelations about the Hunter Biden laptop and the global corruption now exposed, but that President Joe Biden simply continues the insane assertion that Russia has “already lost the war” in Ukraine. The neocon policy now promoted by the Biden Administration, and his leftover Obama gang (Blinken, Sullivan and Nuland) – who should be facing jail time for their multiple crimes – are more likely to launch a nuclear war than face incarceration. In his long career in intelligence, McGovern said that he had “never seen this level of danger.”

Oliver Boyd-Barrett, a professor at California State University, provided a detailed study of the actual battlefield situation in Ukraine, noting the “sheer scale of numbers dying in this infuriating and unnecessary war.” The effort to deny the failure of the Ukraine “counteroffensive” has failed, but there is still the “fog of war” which can be used to justify the escalation to a nuclear launch. The promotion of Victoria Nuland to the number two at the State Department demonstrates that the regime is “either too stupid or too evil” to stop the madness.

Anastasia Battle, who moderated the event, reported on massive outreach to independent journalists. She also reviewed the current list of scheduled speakers for the August 6 rally at the UN, which will be live-streamed from 1-4 p.m.

Former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar said that the West terribly miscalculated when they thought the sanctions would destroy the Russian economy and that modern NATO weapons would crush them in Ukraine, but that the danger of nuclear war is now even greater. He recommended that we recruit scientists to join in the peace effort.

The next speaker, scientist Steve Starr, author of “The State of the Nuclear Danger” and other articles and videos on the effects of nuclear weapons, quickly agreed to write a public letter to other scientists to join the movement, as Mr. Ramotar had proposed.

Reports by organizers from several of the planned international sister rallies provided a sense of the global nature of the movement.

Diane Sare, the founder of the Schiller Institute NYC Chorus briefed the meeting on the plan to perform the Mozart Requiem in a New York City church following the rally at the UN, to honor the hundreds of thousands of civilians killed by the U.S. nuclear bombing of two Japanese cities in 1945. A guest conductor from Türkiye, who has conducted music for several other rallies for peace, volunteered to conduct the event. There has been a surge of choristers joining, and an orchestra is being mobilized as well.

Bernie Holland, an activist from the UK, suggested that even if nuclear weapons were to be abolished from warfare, that the bombs themselves should be re-designed to serve as defense of the Earth from asteroids, a plan known as the Strategic Defense of Earth (SDE). He encouraged everyone to read the book written by Mike Billington, Reflections of an American Political Prisoner—The Repression and Promise of the LaRouche Movement, and referenced that the Chinese character for “crisis” is made up of both the characters for “danger” and “opportunity,” which he also compared to Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche’s reference to the “coincidence of opposites” from Nicholas of Cusa. He added that this is also coherent with Buddhist teaching. We must take full advantage of the opportunity of the current crisis, he said, to create a “critical mass of consciousness” among the people.

Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche closed the meeting, noting that the recently released movie about Robert Oppenheimer was bringing attention to the horror of nuclear weapons, and that the Schiller Institute had prepared a leaflet to distribute to audiences at the film, encouraging them to join the August 6 rallies. She supported the call for scientists to join the movement, but suggested that the letter be addressed to “scientists and artists,” since scientists and artists share the love of the positive vision of mankind’s future. She called for participants to spend the remaining days before August 6 mobilizing everyone, especially youth and the Global South, which is experiencing a revolutionary upsurge, turning against the call to war coming from the NATO countries in favor of peace and development in cooperation with Russia and China, convinced to end the age of colonialism once and for all.


How the Earth’s Climate Is Changing and Why

Prof. Carl-Otto Weiss — Prof. Weiss is Advisor to the European Climate and Energy Institute (EIKE); Professor and Director, German Federal Institute of Metrology, Germany. This is the prepared text as edited of his presentation.

In this contribution I show you the results of a cycle analysis of 2,000 years of global climate data, the result of which is that Earth’s climate is determined by three main cycles, and that CO2 plays only an insignificant role.

But first let me mention how I became interested in the question of Earth climate. My research subject was everything related to lasers. Physics of Lasers, technical and scientific applications, e.g., spectroscopy and atomic clocks based on one singe atom, etc., etc. Even in the 1990s, for persons with scientific education, the self-contradictions of the official climate propaganda were obvious. Thus, the official narrative could not be true. We joked about the primitivity of the propaganda.

I did not have time to look deeper. I had 40 scientific coworkers, 10 of whom, to feed them, I had to find about $1 million each year. So that did not give me much time. But at retirement I had time. First I looked into the official models, and it is quite obvious where the fudge factors in the calculations are. But, then, I am an experimental physicist, so I got together with Horst Luedecke to analyze climate measurements.

In particular we did what is called Fourier Analysis, which means looking for cycles in seemingly irregular measurements in time series. Since this is the most common type of analysis in any field of physics or technology, we were surprised not to find any such work in the half-million publications of the climate literature. But then we said, “OK, if nobody did that so far, well, we will do that.” We published our analysis, and the reviewers confirmed that our work and conclusions were correct.

We reconstructed the terrestrial temperature history of the last 2,000 years using published local temperature proxy data [4]. Figure 1 [next page] shows the locations of the measurements on the globe and the type of temperature proxy.

The data comprise several hundred thousand individual measurements. Thus, by averaging to yearly values, the noise in the data can be much reduced. The global temperature history reconstructed in this way (Figure 2, annual data in grey) exhibits all historically known temperature extremes, such as the Roman Optimum (~0 AD), the Medieval Optimum (~ 1000 AD), the Recent Optimum (~2000 AD) or the Little Ice Age (~ 1500 AD). Even details like the Deep Minimum of 1450, known from the biography of Louis XI, show up. As to be expected, the reconstruction yields also the 1870–2000 temperature rise, which is officially claimed as due to human CO2 emissions.

Figure 1. Location of Temperature Proxies. Green: tree rings; Blue: ice cores; Red: speleothems (stalagmites, etc.); Magenta: sediments; Black: other.

“Climate,” officially defined as the 30-year running average of temperature, is shown in Figure 2 (blue curve). The climate curve emphasizes the mentioned temperature features. The correct representation of the known historical temperature variations indicates that the reconstruction is realistic. We then Fourier-transformed annual temperatures (grey in Figure 2). The resulting spectrum Figure 3 shows three dominant cycles with periods of ~1,000, ~460, and ~190 years. These cycles were already known from local studies, (Eddy-, Babich-, De Vries cycles, respectively). This confirms once more that the reconstruction is realistic, and excludes [the possibility] that the dominant cycles could be mathematical artifacts.

Figure 2. Temperature history over the past 2,000 years (grey: annual values; blue: “climate”—30 year running average; red: sum of the three dominant cycles).

For those less familiar with the Fourier transform, we mention that periodic variations (cycles) show up in the spectrum as sharp peaks (such as the three main cycles of Figure 2). Non-periodic variations, e.g., monotonically rising or falling, show themselves in the spectrum as broad continua.

In Figure 3, broad continua are not visible. This suggests already that non-periodic variations in the temperature, such as warming due to human emissions, are absent. However, broad spectral continua may be masked by noise. To exclude such a possibility, we transformed back to the time domain.

Figure 3. Spectrum of the 2,000 years’ annual values, showing three dominant cycles with 1,000-, 460-, 190-year periods.

Figure 4 shows the three main cycles in the time domain (amplitudes normalized for clarity). The sum of the three dominant cycles (red curve, Figure 2) agrees with the climate (blue curve) remarkably well (correlation 0.85). The sum of the three cycles represents, notably, also the temperature rise for 1870–2000.

Figure 4. The three dominant cycles in time domain (amplitudes normalized for clarity).

I emphasize this result again: the warming from 1870–2000 is due to the three main natural climate cycles. And not due to CO2, as claimed in the official propaganda.

The difference between the reconstruction (grey or blue values, Figure 2) and the cycle sum (red in Figure 2) around 2000 AD would be compatible with the recent estimates of CO2 climate sensitivity of ~0.5° for CO2 doubling. (See, e.g., [5] and Figure 5), certainly unimportant for life on Earth. The three cycles with their amplitudes and phases, thus allow calculating the essential climate changes for the past and for the future.

Figure 5. Periodogram of 8,000 years of solar activity, showing three dominant cycles [6]. Note the correspondence of periods with the dominant climate cycles of Figure 2.

We can ask further about the origin of the three dominant climate cycles. I found [6] that these agree remarkably in periods with the three dominant cycles of solar activity (see Figure 4). The mechanism by which solar activity (i.e., “solar wind”) affects Earth’s climate, is well understood [9]. It follows that the cycles of solar activity determine the terrestrial climate.

Interestingly, Scafetta [6] shows that all principal solar activity cycles can be explained by the motion of the planets (particularly Jupiter and Saturn), and the planetary tide forces acting on the solar magnetic field generator (the mechanism by which the tide forces of planets influence the solar activity has recently been clarified [8]).

The main result of our analysis is that the global warming from 1870 to the present is natural and not man made, and that it originates from the three dominant cycles.

The continuation of the three dominant terrestrial cycles into the future indicates cooling until 2070 . The recent continuation of the rise of the climate curve (blue) as different from the cycle sum (red) may indicate the small contribution of CO2 of 0.5°C per doubling of the CO2 content of the atmosphere [5], which is certainly unimportant for life on earth

Summarizing, I mention that this analysis, along with many others, disproves all official propaganda claims of a dangerous warming due to CO2.

A first independent confirmation of our results, namely that the 1870–2000 temperature rise is natural, was given recently, using pattern recognition on temperature proxies [7].

Finally, just to give a taste of the surprisingly primitive propaganda lies, I mention only three of them. Fig. 7. {Slide 7. Three examples of totally wrong propaganda claims.}

References

1. See, e. g., https://www.tmgnow.com/repository/solar/lassen1.html

2. Steinhilber, F., Beer, J., Froehlich, C., Geophys. Res. Lett. 36 L19704

3. See, e.g., Wagner, G. et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28 (2001) 303-306

4. Luedecke, H.-J., Weiss, C. O., The Open Atmospheric Science Journal 11 (2017) 44-53

5. Microphysics of Atmospheric Phenomena B. M Smirnow, Springer Atmospheric Schiences ISBN 978-3-319-30813-5; DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-30813-5

6. Scafetta, N., Journ. Atm. and Solar-Terrestrial Phys. 80 (2012) 296-311

7. Abbot, J., Marohasy, J. GeoRes 14 (2017)36-46

8. F. Stefani, A. Giesecke, T. Weiter; Sol. Phys. (2019) 294: 60

9. H. Svensmark, M.B. Enghoff, N. Shaviv, J. Svensmark, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, DOI

10. 1038/s41467-017-2


Open Letter to Friends, Enemies, and People Who Have No Idea Who I Am

I write as an American who has lived mostly in Hiroshima since 1984 to beg you to attend the Humanity for Peace gathering at the UN on August 6 this year from 13:00 to 16:00. I’m writing because I suspect many of you will look at the list of sponsors and speakers and decide you have something better to do because you don’t want to be associated with some of these kooks. I suspect you think some of them are quite crazy or puppets for Putin or too pacifistic or not pacifistic enough or funded by the CIA or the State Department or the Kremlin or Beijing or Ploughshares or ICAN. Some may even have competed with you for a grant or a lover or maybe insulted you at a public forum. So I am begging you. Just for August 6, 2023, from 1 to 4pm, don’t let it matter. Don’t let anything matter other than standing against nuclear annihilation.

I would be with you if I could, but I’m writing from Hiroshima where there are 300 peace groups and hundreds of thousands of people who care deeply about peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons but where peace people never do anything together because they have “differences.” Some people like certain people while others don’t and, instead, like other people because certain people are too radical, possibly even communist, or not radical enough, possibly even shills for the nuclear industry because they believe nuclear power is OK, or maybe all things nuclear are bad but American bases are a necessary evil, or American bases must go, but Article 9 must stay, or Japan should be a normal country or the Japanese are all peace-demented or A-bomb survivor trees are the best way to promote peace or A-bomb survivor trees don’t grow fast enough given the imminent danger we are in.

I have no idea what you have planned for August 6, but please make sure that it includes standing in front of the UN from 1 to 4pmHumanity for Peace needs a million people there. Humanity needs to frighten the police and the UN and all the rich people in New York. Humanity needs them thinking that millions of humans are scared of what is happening and will vote against anyone who says even one kind word about using nuclear weapons in Ukraine or Taiwan or anywhere else. Nuclear war is humanity’s red line. Don’t even think about it, you $$$$$$$$!!!!

It will do no good to have a few thousand people standing in front of the UN while a few thousand more are vigiling at Ground Zero and a few hundred more are listening to great speeches in Riverside Church. Humanity is being tested. Will we learn to cooperate enough to keep our planet habitable or will the last Russian and the last American die shooting at each other? If we don’t start cooperating soon, we will be extinct by 2050, according to Nature, the magazine. If we end up going extinct this century, it will be because peace people can no longer cooperate enough to get a million people into one place even to stop nuclear war and even in New York.

Sincerely,

Steve Leeper

Chairman, Peace Culture Village

Former chairman, Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation

Former U.S. rep, Mayors for Peace


Press Release: Humanity For Peace Aug. 6 International Demonstrations

Contact us at contact@humanityforpeace.net , Follow us on twitter @4peacehumanity
The danger of nuclear war has escalated to a point that no thoughtful person on the planet can ignore it any longer. Yet, in this atmosphere, there are still some who think there should be more weapons, more sanctions, and who think that a nuclear war can be won against Russia. It is very clear that those who have provoked the war, and continue to escalate it, do not care about the lives of the people of Ukraine or any other nation on the planet for that matter. This is NOT acceptable to those of us who care about the well-being of ALL of humanity — those who do not wish to see the human race wiped off the face of the earth.

We, therefore, call on the citizens of the world to come together and raise our voices against this madness. Humanity For Peace is building a unified coalition, above ideologies, to stop this unfolding escalation towards nuclear war. We refuse to let humanity perish at the hands of insanity.

August 6 will be the 78th anniversary of the unnecessary and genocidal nuclear bombing of Hiroshima by the United States, which was followed days later by the same crime against Nagasaki. Humanity For Peace is proud to announce that on this occasion, August 6, 2023, an international rally will be held to remind the world that nuclear war should never be fought and can never be won. Humanity is better than that, and we must reject the destiny of inevitable war as a morally repugnant and horribly cynical view.

The main rally will be held at the United Nations in New York City, NY, from 1-4pm, which will be live streamed over the internet. In solidarity with this, sister rallies will be held in other cities around the world. Please get in contact with us if you are interested in organizing another sister rally.

There are currently over 20 organizations sponsoring the event. If your organization would also like to sponsor the event, please contact us. More information, including the current speakers list, can be found at HumanityForPeace.net.

As President Kennedy said in his famous address to American University in 1963, war is not inevitable — but only if we work instead to create peace. The leadership in the United States and NATO is currently not working towards this goal, but rather are further escalating and inflaming the situation in Ukraine. For this reason, an international chorus of voices must be raised against this policy, and sound the call for peace!

Join us August 6 — we must make this sentiment the dominant voice in the world!

Location:
Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza
E 47th St, New York, NY 10017
1:00pm – 4:00pm EDT

Our Demands are as follows:

1) The immediate ending of all funding and weapons to Ukraine.

2) Convene immediate unconditional peace talks.

3) The Dissolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

4) A new international security architecture must be created to end the division of the world into blocs, eliminating geopolitics. This new architecture must take into account the security concerns of every sovereign nation, large or small.

Current List of Speakers Include:

Gerald Celente, Founder/Director of the Trends Research Institute and Publisher of the Trends Journal magazine, Founder “Occupy Peace & Freedom.”

Mike ter Maat, 2024 candidate for the Libertarian Party Presidential nomination, former White House economist, professor, entrepreneur & pro-reform police officer.

Scott Ritter, former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and author. He served in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the INF Treaty, served in General Schwarzkopf’s staff during the Gulf War, and from 1991 to 1998 served as a chief weapons inspector with the UN in Iraq.

Nick Brana, national chair of the People’s Party and an organizer with Rage Against the War Machine.

Jose Vega, staffer for the Sare for Senate campaign (NY) and also a LaRouche activist since 2014.

Ahmadou Diallo, President and founder of the Guinean American League of Friends for Freedom, analyst for the Guinean community in New York and other U.S. states.

Rev. Dr. Terri L. Strong, Chairwoman of the Action and Global Concerns Committee for the National Church Women United Organization

Humanity for Peace – Mozart’s Requiem Concert
Following the international demonstration, musicians from around the United States will offer their musical talents in a free concert to the public. Our principal conductor for the concert is Maestro Gürer Aykal, Permanent Conductor and General Music Director of Borusan İstanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, and professor emeritus and former conductor of El Paso, Texas Symphony Orchestra.

Sunday, August 6, 2023, 6:00 pm – 8:00 PM

Location: The Unitarian Church of All Souls at 1157 Lexington Avenue at East 80th Street, New York, NY


Culture Is the Key for Peace

Maurizio Abbate – Mr. Abbate is Chairman of ENAC, National Institute for Cultural Activities, Italy

Dear friends and colleagues from around the world,

We are gathered here today to seek, with all our strength, useful ideas and solutions to resolve the terrible armed conflict that has been raging in the old continent for almost a year-and-a-half. A fratricidal war capable of bringing death and destruction among the civilians in the territories directly involved and a very serious economic and financial crisis in the rest of the world, due to a system of speculation implemented with unprecedented wickedness by the food and energy multinationals. Corporations often controlled by the same masters.

We are well aware that giants such as Vanguard and BlackRock share a majority of the shares of agribusiness multinationals through Monsanto, Cargill and Dupont. The same hold today in Ukraine about 19 million hectares of land devoted to intensive agriculture, which corresponds to 60 percent of Ukrainian agricultural land. Similarly, 100 percent of Ukrainian mines are now owned by multinationals. To ask why war broke out in this part of Europe, starting from those simple figures, therefore seems superfluous.

The important thing, therefore, is not to analyze the causes of the conflict, but rather to try to understand how was it possible that the American public, as well as the European public, always attentive to the problem of peace, thanks to their peace movements, are today almost numbed by what is happening.

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. These were the slogans engraved on the facade of the Ministry of Truth described in George Orwell’s famous novel. This year, the European Union, in an almost grotesque way, has created a Peace Instrument to allocate nearly €8 billion for the purchase of weapons. Buying weapons to prevent conflict and build peace—this is stated, prominently, on the European council’s website. Almost a parallel to the Orwellian Ministry of Truth.

If an institution such as the European Union can alter the foundations of freedoms, that is, the truth, by characterizing the supply of weapons, tools for killing, as useful tools for building peace, then the cultural and moral degradation of the institutions, as well as that of the media that should be exposing such lies, has become self-evident.

Unfortunately, what I have previously stated about the concentration of food and energy production in the hands of a few powerholders is also true for political institutions, the media, as well as those in charge of education. Culture, which, emulating the teachings of Socrates and Plato, should be concerned with developing thoughts and indicating the models of society to be built in order to achieve nobler goals, such as general welfare and solidarity among peoples, is constantly downgraded to a kind of unimportant fashion. Such principles, at the same time, are subordinated to the interests of a few economic powers who have made contemporary society a huge market of precariousness in which everything can be sold or bought. Even the right to life.

A society in which social cohesion is being progressively demolished and upon which continuous alleged emergencies are being imposed, such as climate, health and finance, capable of altering national choices in agriculture, crafts, industry and society.

Therefore, the time has come to stop this neo-barbaric drift caused by the globalization of economy and culture.

A new social and cultural Renaissance must be initiated. To do so, a new paradigm is urgently needed for our Western communities, which must definitively abandon the principle of business as the centerpiece of society and put man with his material and spiritual complexity back at its center. Politics must redefine a harmonious system in which every man and woman has his or her own role in a synergistic and organic way. A society in which human beings must be judged and valued for who they are, for the values they express and succeed in embodying, rather than for what they possess. Only in this way can individual nations, free, independent, self-determined and with their own specificities, become communities again and contribute to the global growth of all humanity.

The differences and peculiarities of peoples, generated by centuries of history and different cultures, must become the driving force to build a constructive dialogue for peaceful coexistence. A dialogue that leads to an equitable distribution of the resources of the planet on which we all live and which are often the cause of armed clashes and unprecedented violence due to the criminal desire to concentrate them in the hands of a few.

As we develop this thesis and try to involve all those who share its aims, however, strong and persuasive signals must be sent out. It is imperative to make it clear to the world that so many free people, not only have no intention of bowing to the deliberate decisions autocratically made by globalist elites, but are ready for a global change of the paradigm imposed until now by those who believe themselves to be the absolute masters.

Confronted with the holders of the major global media in a now imminent head-on clash, networking is needed. It is necessary to organize as many events as possible and use every single television, computer or radio channel to spread the news. Inviting foreign guests to local events must also become a habit capable of disrupting the mantra that only globalization can guarantee freedom, pluralism and democracy.

ENAC, the National Institute for Cultural Activities in Italy, which I am proud to represent, is organizing a conference in Italy with the aim of re-establishing relations between Syria and Italy. Economic and cultural relations that were interrupted for mere political interests and have not been reopened even in the aftermath of the dramatic earthquake that caused thousands of civilian casualties in Turkey and Syria.

At this conference, in which we would be happy to welcome any of those present today, who would like to participate, we intend to send a clear and unequivocal message: While liberalism talks about peace and democracy causing wars and building walls, we respond with the strength of culture, the only one capable of guaranteeing and respecting individual differences while working on building a bridge made of friendship, solidarity and cooperation among peoples.


What Would Erasmus Say About Peace in Ukraine?

Luc Reychler – Prof. Reychler is Professor Emeritus of International Relations, University of Louvain; former Director, Center for Peace Research and Strategic Studies (CPRS), Beglium.

In my presentation I will share an analysis of the current war in Europe and reflect on how Desiderius Erasmus would deal with it.

As one of the greatest scholars of the Renaissance, Erasmus highlighted the folly of religious wars (folly is the pursuit of a policy contrary to the welfare of the people of the states involved), and took on the establishment of his time, whether princes or popes. Their excuses for going to war, were criticized and satirized in writings, as “In Praise of Folly” and “The Complaint of Peace.” He gave peace a voice. His comments, of nearly 500 years ago, are still relevant today, because, although wars are unique, and historically and culturally different, they are universally similar. Wars and counterwars purposefully commit atrocities. (Counterwars are fought against the country that started a war). People, above all the soldiers, are still slaughtered, pierced, burned, shredded, suffocated, tortured, pillaged, etc. And, violence committed during war, is applauded, called righteous and patriotic; the soldiers, dead or alive, get praised with medals. Erasmus warned that wars are attractive for people who have no experience or knowledge about war. His disgust with war is well expressed in the citation “Dulce bellum inexpertis,” or “War is sweet for the inexperienced.”

Before zooming in to the war in Ukraine through Erasmus’s glasses, let me focus on some facets of the war, which are not part of the official discourse in the West. They however invite us to a more balanced, comprehensive and impartial picture.

1. The war was anticipated. Several diplomats and scholars, including myself, expected a war. For example, in 2008, during the George Bush Presidency, William Burns, Ambassador to Russia, who later served as director of the CIA, cautioned that the expansion of NATO to Georgia and Ukraine would have deadly consequences. It would be the brightest of all red lines and create fertile soil for Russian meddling in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.

2. The war could have been prevented. The West, especially America, made war prevention difficult by (a) her expansionist foreign policy, (b) reducing the art of diplomacy to coercive diplomacy and regime change, and (c) underestimating the risks and costs of an escalating proxy war. Hans Morgenthau’s political realism was replaced by neoconservatism that urged democratic states to establish a new international order through military power, sanctions and regime change.

3. Russia started the war and is the main culprit, but the West and Kyiv are co-responsible. There are several indicators of co-responsibility. In 1990 Ukraine defined itself as a neutral country; the country would not become a member of an alliance. NATO would not expand to Ukraine. During the first 24 years of the independence, Ukraine did not experience war. The American interference in the domestic politics of Ukraine, in the name of regime change, was well underway before the Maidan revolution. This meddling in domestic affairs and NATO’s stealthy expansion threatened Russia’s objective and subjective security. Russia spoke of its existential security. The US and NATO ignored the security issue, arguing that the alliance is peaceful and defensive. This public confession is painfully dissonant with the many wars that America, her allies and NATO waged in the 21st Century in the Middle East and Europe (in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and in Serbia to support in 1999 Kosovo separatist movement). The increasing political and geographical expansion of NATO to the Russian borders presented Russia with a crisis and a dilemma: to allow this to happen or to stop the expansion in time and thus avoid a ‘fait accomplis.’

4. There is not enough space for an open discussion in Russia, Ukraine and in the West. An impartial, open and critical discussion about prevention and co-responsibility would have contributed to a sound analysis and forecast, and a rational and realistic policy. It would significantly increase the chances of serious peace negotiations. In Russia, a critical conversation about the war and the eight years of civil war in Ukraine that preceded it, is impossible. That is also the case in Ukraine. In the public spaces of the free and democratic West, all the noses are expected to point in the same direction. An open and critical discussion is discouraged by ‘groupthink.’ This is a political-psychological phenomenon that prioritizes agreement and discourages critical commentary and alternatives. Characteristics are: the illusion of infallibility, the conviction that one’s own morality prevails, the rationalization of one’s own decisions; the stereotyping or diabolizing the opponent, and pressure and sanctions to enforce conformity. This undermines the chances of successful and cost-effective decision-making and forms a one-sided and narrowly informed public opinion. In wars, pacifists and peace researchers tend to be sidelined, sanctioned and stigmatized as traitors, dreamers or psychological deviants.

5. The war in Ukraine is a vicious entanglement of an internal-war and a proxy-war with escalatory potential. It’s an escalation of an eight-year-long civil war in a pluri-national country. Fortunately, so far, it has remained a limited war, taking place within the borders of Ukraine. The war and counter-war has created a lot of suffering and destruction. It’s a mega media event. Diplomacy is down. President Zelinski turned out to be a stand-up diplomat and appears almost daily at conferences or in the living room. It is a cynical war, for which the population and the front soldiers are paying . The Donets Basin in the East has been, for nine years, the most blood-soaked area.

6. The costs are high. During a war it is always difficult to find good statistics; they are usually rude and not reliable. The numbers are part of the psychological warfare. For example, not much attention is given to the casualties and destruction during the preceding (internationalized) civil and secession war in the Donbas. On April 9, 2018, the Washington Post reported that the Donbas was one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. After five years of fighting, more than 10,000 people were killed, 2,800 of them civilians. The war destroyed the infrastructure and a third of the hospitals and schools, homes and election facilities. The number of refugees and displaced citizens was very high. For the current war, Pentagon documents published in April 2023 estimated that Ukraine suffered approximately 125,000 casualties, with up to 17,500 killed in action, while Russians had nearly 200,000 casualties, including up to 43,000 killed in action. The problem with wars, is not only the huge costs (physical, material, economic, social, political, psychological, spiritual and ecological) but also the real and expected benefits and profits. Wars last as long as they are considered profitable by the main protagonists.

7. The war logic prevails. No serious efforts have been undertaken to boost the chances of de-escalation and the building of sustainable peace. Humanitarians and hawks continue to ask for more guns and more war. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg’s one-liner, “Weapons are the way to peace,” is a fitting title for a surrealist painting of Magritte. The war looks like a huge cage fight, in which the outsider-supporters are safe spectators who empower the fighters and encourage them to win.

8. The war will probably end as a lose-lose operation. Violence may continue for a long time, intensify and even lead to a regional and a third world or nuclear war. The loss is not only for the Ukrainians and fighters on both sides of the battlefield (mostly young men, 40 to 50 percent of whom have no military experience), but also for the whole of Europe. For some spectators in the rest of the world, the war is a European tragicomedy.

How would Erasmus respond to the wars in the 21st Century, and especially the war in Ukraine?

I think he would criticize and satirize the excuses for ongoing war; for example, the misrepresentation of the war as the defense of democracy and of the democratic world. He would also tackle the propaganda on both sides. Above all, he would point at the stupidity of the war and the hubris and mediocracy of the warmongers. Only wise people build sustainable peace. Modern and smart weapons have not reduced the actual and potential atrocities of the war; and the weapons of mass destruction are waiting around the corner. Erasmus would also be a whistleblower and name the princes and kings, and the war profiteers who are responsible for the war. He believes, that what cannot be refuted by argument and fact, can be parred by laughter.

As a constructive pacifist, he would add peace-work to his critical analysis. This implies demanding a cessation of the war, because he considers peace to be more precious than the pursuit of triumph, and a frozen conflict less destructive, less costly and less dangerous than a protracted war. The cessation of the war would go hand in hand with the re-establishment of communication and peace negotiations, but also with development. South Korea is a good example of a country that negotiated a cease-fire with North Korea in 1953 and decided (with the help of the US) to use its talents to become a prosperous country. South Korea reminds us that it is not who wins a war, but who wins the peace that determines their future. A cease-fire in Ukraine, combined with efforts to win the peace, could be a formula to end the war.

Erasmus stresses the relation between education and peace. He would recommend that the Erasmian program for education, training, youth and sports, also give attention to the education of sustainable peace building and the prevention of wars.

Finally, he would encourage people to take part in the building of sustainable peace. This may sound like a dream. But as he said 500 years ago, he would remind us that “there are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.


President John Kennedy

SCHILLER INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES: RELEASE OF 186 PROMINENT SIGNERS OF “URGENT APPEAL”

TO RESTORE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY’s PEACE MISSION, SPUR EXPANSION OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE COALITION

July 5, 2023 – In light of rapidly rising threat of nuclear war, the Schiller Institute releases the initial list of 186 prominent signers, from 55 countries on six continents, of Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s Urgent Appeal by Citizens and Institutions from All Over the World to the (Next) President of the United States!. 

The appeal, issued May 17, calls for the Presidency of the United States to return to the peace policy of John F. Kennedy enunciated in his historic address at American University June 10, 1963. On June 10, 2023, the Schiller Institute (SI) accelerated worldwide diffusion of that speech on its 60th anniversary with this international online conference: The World Needs JFK’s Vision of Peace!

The SI urges everyone possible to add their name to the appeal, and to bring it to the attention of every organization concerned with the welfare of mankind that they can. Total current signers are 1300, with translations into 7 languages. The aim is to reach 5,000 before the worldwide peace actions on August 6, the anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, from 100 plus countries. The Institute particularly encourages maximum viewings of the Kennedy speech itself, by individuals, schools, and all categories of other groups, in a spreading world awakening. Here is the full 27-minute Kennedy Peace Address; here, a 4-minute set of video highlights, with subtitles.

The circulation of the Urgent Appeal and Kennedy speech has spurred the formation of a rapidly growing International Peace Coalition, initiated by the Schiller Institute on June 2. The summary press release of its most recent deliberation, International Peace Coalition Charts a Path to the New Paradigm, begins: “On Friday June 30, the International Peace Coalition (IPC) held its fourth meetings with approximately 60 organizers from Argentina, Germany, Guinea, Nicaragua, Span, Sweden Switzerland, the UK, the United States, and other nations participating in the proceedings. The meeting could be best characterized as a strategy session on how to expand the IPC through various means of direct action such as street organizing, social media, political interventions, and classes, with the goal of not only preventing the immediate threat of global thermonuclear war, but laying the foundation for a durable peace – a New Paradigm.”

Please add your efforts to the urgent expansion of the Coalition’s work. Contact the Coalition at questions@schillerinstitute.org.

The conclusion of the Appeal, and initial list of prominent signers:

We the undersigned want America to be again the America expressed in that beautiful speech of JFK. We want the United States to be again a beacon of hope and a temple of liberty. We believe that this is the basis for “peace for all time,” as JFK said.

Initiating signer

Helga Zepp-LaRouche (Germany), founder Schiller Institute

Additional prominent signers

Daud AzimiAfghanistan/GermanyDipl. Ing. (Engineer); Board Member, Peace National Front of Afghanistan
Tse Anye KevinAfricaVice President, State 55, Afrika
Enrique Juan BoxArgentinaSocial communicator
Roberto FritzscheArgentinaProfessor, Dep’t of Economic Science, University of Belgrano
Carlos Perez GalindoArgentinaLawyer
Rubén Darío GuzzettiArgentinaArgentine Institute of Geopolitical Science
Gustavo RussoArgentinaLawyer; Professor of Juridical Sciences
Trudy CampbellAustraliaNorthern Territory secretary, Australian Citizens Party
Christian DierickBelgiumManager, Big Science Technology Club & Lead Energy Expert
William LindoBelizeExecutive member, Peoples United Party
Edwin Alfonso De La Fuente JeriaBoliviaFormer Commander in Chief of the Bolivian Armed Forces
Osman Vladimir Escobar TorrezBoliviaHuman Rights Secretary, Bolivian Labor Confederation (COB)
Max Yecid IbañezBoliviaFormer Secretary of Grievance Resolution, National Federation of Electrical and Telephone Workers of Bolivia
Jairo Dias CarvalhoBrazilProfessor, Philosophy of Technology, Federal University of Uberlândia
Lilian Simone Godoy FonsecaBrazilProfessor of Philosophy, UFVJM, Diamantina campus
Gabriel Tincani RamosBrazilPresident, Union of Socialist Youth — Campinas
Renata Welinski Da Silva SeabraBrazilESG Consultant; Former UNDP Executive Director for UN Global Compact Brazil; author, “A Regulamentação International Ambiental e a Responsabilidade Corporativa”
Julian FellCanadaFormer Director, Regional District of Nanaimo
Dimitri LascarisCanadaLawyer; Peace activist
Mario Guillermo Acosta AlarcónColombiaScientist and writer; General Director, CIFRA (Space Lab City)
Fernando Duque JaramilloColombiaLawyer; Master’s degree in Political Science
Pedro RubioColombiaUnion leader; public policy analyst
Enrique García DubonCosta RicaEconomist
Enrique Ramírez GuierCosta RicaBiologistç consultant
Tom GillesbergDenmarkPresident, Schiller Institute Denmark
Pernille GrummeDenmarkActress; peace activist; former Chair, Artists for Peace, Denmark
Alcibiades Jose AbreuDominican RepublicUniversity professor of mathematics, English and French
Alexis Joaquin CastilloDominican RepublicPresidential candidate of Alianza Nueva República. Lawyer; former Prosecutor of the National District
Ramón Emilio ConcepciónDominican RepublicAttorney at Law, Presidential Pre-candidate for the PRM party (2020)
Ramon Cruz PlacensiaDominican RepublicFormer Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD)
Luis De León FerreiraDominican RepublicPresident of Fuerza Boschista. Educator, university professor at Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (UASD). Politician
Marino J. Elsevyf PinedaDominican RepublicAttorney at Law; notary
Enrique Garcia FrometaDominican RepublicIndustrial engineer, master’s degree in public administration, appraiser and planner
Ramón GrossDominican RepublicPost-graduate Professor, Catholic University of Santo Domingo
Dantes Ortiz NuñezDominican RepublicHistorian; Professor of History, Autonomous University of Santo Domingo
Oscar Daniel Pérez QuirozDominican RepublicTheologian and Psychologist
Domingo ReyesDominican RepublicFormer professor of economics, Ph.D. in Higher Education
Rafael Reyes JerezDominican RepublicJournalist; TV producer, “cara a cara”
Enrique Antonio Sánchez LiranzoDominican RepublicLawyer, author, poet
Caonabo SuarezDominican RepublicPoet; Member of the Coordinating Committee of the Institute for Analysis and Conclusions (INAC), Dominican Republic
Patricia MerizaldeEcuadorFounder and President, International Feminist Poetry Movement, “Women’s Flight”
Ernesto Pazmiño GranizoEcuadorHuman Rights lawyer; university professor; former General Public Defender of Ecuador; former Vice-President, Justice Center of the Americas
Alexis PonceEcuadorRights advocate, National Association of Patients and Vulnerable Families of Ecuador
Napoleon Saltos GalarzaEcuadorUniversity professor; Member of Parliament (1996-1998), Quito
Jacques CheminadeFrancePresident, Solidarité et Progrès; former presidential candidate
Dr. jur. Wolfgang BittnerGermanyAuthor
Joachim BonatzGermanyVice President, East German Board of Trustees of Associations (Ostdeutschen Kuratoriums e.V.)
Dr. Ole DoeringGermany/ChinaProfessor, Hunan Normal University, China
Johannes PosthGermanyGeneral Director, Deutsche Telekom in Ukraine, starting 1996; head, Ukrainian-European Policy and Legal Advice Center, 2002-2005
Dr. Rainer SandauGermanyTechnical Director, Satellites and Space Applications, International Academy of Aeronautics (IAA)
Takis IoannidesGreeceAmbassador of Peace, Hon. Dr Literature, historian, researcher, poet.
Dr. Maria Arvanti SotiropoulouGreeceRepresentative, Greek Medical Assoc. for the Protection of the Environment and Against Nuclear and Biochemical Threat (GMA), Greek affiliate of Internat’l Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)
Raul Anibal Marroquin CasasolaGuatemalaCoordinator of the Citizen Observatory for Peace “La pupila del cielo”, San Cristobal, Verapaz, Guatemala.
Otto Rene Quiñones CariasGuatemalaFormer Legislator (1991-1993); President, Board of Directors of Alternate Deputies
Beatriz Solórzano LeónGuatemalaLicentiateç Parliamentary Technician, Congress of Guatemala
Ahmadou DialloGuinea/United StatesSenior Member, Guinean American League of Friends for Freedom In.
Mamadu DjaloGuinea/United StatesSecretary, Guinean American League of Friends for Freedom Inc.
Khemraj RamjattanGuyanaLeader, AFC (Alliance for Change)
Donald RamotarGuyanaFormer President of Guyana
Oscar Abraham Lanza RosalesHondurasIndustrial engineer, retired; columnist for La Tribuna, Honduras
Andrea SzegóHungaryProfessor (ret.), economics
Dr. Balkrishna KurveyIndiaPresident, India Institute for Peace, Disarmament, and Environmental Protection
Maurizio AbbateItalyChairman of ENAC, National Institute for Cultural Activities, Italy,
Angelo AielloItalyFormer sport director of AC Milan
Prof. Bruno BrandimarteItalyProfessor (ret.), Applied Biophysics, Univ. of Rome, Tor Vergata
Renato CorsettiItalyProf. emeritus; Chair, Progressive Esperanto Speakers
Jorge FloresItalyPoet
Liliana GoriniItalyChairwoman of Movisol
Antonio IngroiaItalyFormer candidate for Italian Prime Minister
Nicola ListaItalyChairman, youth organization of MDC, (Movement in Defense of the Citizen)
Enzo PennettaItalyOrganizer, referendum to end Italian military aid to Ukraine
Vincenzo RomanelloItalySenior Nuclear Researcher and Project Manager, National Radiation Protection Institute (SURO)
Alessia RuggeriItalyTrade unionist
Daisuke KotegawaJapanFormer Executive Director for Japan, IMF; former Japan Ministry of Finance official
Pastor James AdundoKenyaChristian Outreach Ministry
Pastor Amos NyambokKenyaChristian Outreach Ministry
Pigbin OdimwenguKenyaYouth political party leader
Pastor George OutaKenyaChristian Outreach Ministry
Mohd Peter DavisMalaysiaBiotechnologist; biochemist; architect; consultant, deep tropical agriculture; Visiting Scientist, University Pertanian (retired)
Chandra MuzaffarMalaysiaFounder and Director, International Movement for a Just World (JUST); Co-founder, Saving Humanity and Planet Earrth (SHAPE)
Adam OuologuemMaliJournalist, Mali/Washington D.C.
Angel Coronel BeltránMexicoFormer Research Profesor, Physics REsearch Department, University of Sonora (UNISON)
Maria de los Ángeles HuertaMexicoFormer Congresswoman
Dr. Enrique López OchoaMexicoAngiologic Surgeon; Professor of Angiology, University of Sonora (UNISON) School of Medicine
Tenit Alfonso Padilla AyalaMexicoProfessor of Effective Communication, Technological Institute of Sonora
Jaime Varela SalazarMexicoFormer Director, School of Chemical Sciences, University of Sonora (UNISON)
Alex KrainerMonaco/CroatiaAuthor, “Grand Deception: The Truth about Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act, and Anti-Russian Sanctions”
May-May MeijerNetherlandsChair and Founder, Peace SOS
C. (Kees) le PairNetherlandsPhysicist (ret.), University of Leiden; Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Djamila le PairNetherlandsFreelance journalist; Free Assange activist
Mykeljon WinckelNew ZealandFounder, Voice Media
Bolívar TéllezNicaraguaLawyer and university professor, Nicaragua
David AjetunmobiNigeriaTrade union leader, auto sector
Adeshola KukoyiNigeriaFounder, Equilibrium Perspectives in Learning and Development/University of Lagos
Manuel HidalgoPeruPhD in Accounting and Business Sciences; Professor at Universidad Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Perú
Herman Tiu (Mentong) LaurelPhilippinesFounder, Philippine BRICS Strategic Studies think tank; TV and radio commentator; organizer, movement vs. new U.S. military bases in the Philippines
Leo SemashkoRussian FederationGandhian Global Harmony Association
Earl M. BousquetSt. LuciaVeteran Pan-Caribbean journalist/columnist; Editor, Voice of St. Lucia newspaper; President, St. Lucia-China Friendship Assoc.; Chair, St. Lucia Nat’l Reparations Cttee
Natasa MilojevicSerbiaPolitical scientist; former Member of Parliament
Meshack MoxongoSouth AfricaLeader, LaRouche South Africa
Princy MthombeniSouth AfricaSpokesperson, Africa4Nuclear
Ishmail PhaliSouth AfricaMember, LaRouche South Africa; member, Democratic Alliance – South Africa
Motutla Juda PhaliSouth AfricaMember, LaRouche South Africa
Hyung-Joon WonSouth KoreaViolinist; Founder and Director, Lindenbaum Festival Orchestra; organizer, North and South Korean peace concerts
Juan Carrero SaraleguiSpainPresident, Fundació S’Olivar; peace activist
Juan Jose Torres NunezSpainPoet, published author, freelance journalist
Dr. George MutalemwaTanzaniaGlobal Peace Studies for Sustainable Development; Africa Peace and Development Network (Mtandao wa Amani na Maendeleo Afrika (MAMA)
Bishop Lubega Geoffrey BobUgandaMinister
Ruslan KotsabaUkrainePresident, Ukrainian Movement of Pacifists
David DabydeenUnited Kingdom/GuyanaProfessor; former Guyanese Ambassador to UNESCO and China
Bernie HollandUnited KingdomSoka Gakkai International
P. D. LawtonUnited KingdomEditor, African Agenda.net
Dr. Athar AbbasiUnited StatesMayor (ret.), U.S. Army
Muhammad Salim AkhtarUnited StatesNational Director, American Muslim Alliance (AMA)
Bernard Allen-BayUnited StatesCEO, Project Funding Consultants; Vice President, Oklahoma NAACP
David AnderssonUnited StatesCo-Director Pressenza IPA
Deborah ArmstrongUnited StatesJournalist
Dr. Elena BajenovaUnited StatesCreator and Organizer, Anti-War Coalition Group, Arlington, TX; President, Russian International Culture Center
Col. Richard Black (ret.)United StatesFormer Virginia State Senator and Delegate; former head, U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon
Kathleen BoylanUnited StatesCatholic Worker Movement, Washington DC
Lt. (ret.) Robert BrancaUnited StatesLt. (ret.) U.S. Naval Reserve
Ellen BrownUnited StatesAuthor, attorney
Malcolm BurnUnited StatesHost, “The Long Way Around”, WKNY Radio, Kinsgston, NY
Harry J. BuryUnited StatesTwin Cities Nonviolent; Association of U.S. Catholic Priests
Bob CushingUnited StatesChairman, Non-Violence Committee, Working Group for the Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP)
T. Herbert DimmockUnited StatesFounder and Music Director, Bach in Baltimore
Daniel DonnellyUnited StatesLibertarian Party, New York
Brian EarleyUnited StatesCaptain (ret.), U.S. Army
Trevor FitzgibbonUnited StatesPresident, Silent Partner Inc.
Christopher FogartyUnited StatesFriends of Irish Freedom
Graham FullerUnited States/CanadaFormer Vice Chair, National Intelligence Council for Long-term Forecasting, CIA; writer; political commentator
David GeorgeUnited StatesProfessor of Economics (Emeritus), LaSalle University
Jack GilroyUnited StatesPax Christi, Upstate New York
Bennett GreenspanUnited StatesPhysician; expert in nuclear medicine; Past President, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI)
Ephraim HaileUnited States/EritreaEritrean Cultural & Development Center (ECDC) , Eritrean Diaspora Boston
Joyce HallUnited StatesCoordinator, Dallas Pax Christi, TX
Cathy HelgasonUnited StatesMD ;Professor of Neurology. (Retired)
Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Dana HicksUnited Statescomposer, musician, minister
Liz HillUnited StatesLiz Hill Public Relations, LLC
Diana HopeUnited StatesD & D Radio Show,”Delivering the Truth”, NYS, and Beyond
Ivan JonesUnited StatesShop Steward, Local 783, AFSCME (retired)
John JonesUnited StatesBoston Ward 14 Democratic Committee
Frank KartheiserUnited StatesMustard Seed Catholic Worker, Worcester, MA
Bishop Reginald L. KennedyUnited StatesPresident, Ministers Conference of Baltimore and Vicinty, MD
Dr. George KooUnited StatesChairman, Burlingame Foundation; retired business consultant, U.S.-China relations
Janice KortkampUnited StatesCitizen journalist, “American Housewife in Syria” podcasts
Igor LopatonokUnited States/Russian FederationDocumentary film director and producer, “Ukriane on Fire”
Jeff MahnUnited StatesNuclear Engineer (ret.), Sandia Labs, science educator at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.
Joseph MarcinkowskiUnited StatesPax Christi. Veterans for Peace; Houston Peace and Justice Coalition
Imam Radwan MardiniUnited StatesInterfaith leader, American Muslim Center
George McGowanUnited StatesFormer Town Councilman, Lake George, NY; former Republican County Committee, Warren County, NY
David MeiswinkleUnited StatesAttorney-at-law; Past President and Executive Director, Lawyers Committee for 9/11 Inquiry
Suzzanne MonkUnited StatesChair, Patriot Action PAC
James MooreUnited StatesExecutive Committee- ATA, NSRAA, AKI (fisheries and aquaculture)
Darrell NicholsUnited StatesBishop; Former President, NE Ohio NAACP; Former Vice-President, SCLC, Toledo, OH; Captain (ret.), U.S. Army
Nestor OginarUnited States/MacedoniaRetired Professor of English language and literature, New York; Representative, World Macedonian Congress at the UN; Leade, Macedonian Diaspora in North America ; Member, Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archepiscopy
John OLoughlinUnited StatesAuthor, “McDuff Lives! The life and untimely death of Thomas F. O’Loughlin, Jr.”
Jeff PhilbinUnited StatesNuclear Engineer, Technical Consultant, Independent Contractor
Cynthia PoolerUnited StatesBroadcast journalist, peace activist, NY
Earl D. Rasmussen, P.E.United StatesLt. Col. (Ret.), U.S. Army; International consultant
Coleen RowleyUnited StatesFBI Intelligence (ret.); FBI special agent and intelligence expert; whistleblower and author
Stephen SalchowUnited StatesViolinist, violist; member, Solchow Bow Maker and Repair family
Diane SareUnited StatesLaRouche candidate for U.S. Senate – NY
Martin SchotzUnited StatesCoordinator of JFK Peace Speech Committee, Massachusetts Peace Action, Traprock Center for Peace and Justice
John ShanahanUnited StatesDr. Ing. civil engineer; founder of website AllAboutEnergy.net
Paul ShannonUnited StatesMA Peace Action
John C.SmithUnited StatesProfessional Engineer; Senior Project Engineer; PhD candidate, Colorado School of Mines
Steven StarrUnited StatesProfessor, University of Missouri
Jack StockwellUnited StatesMorning Radio Talk Show Host (1995–present), Salt Lake City, UT
Barbara SuhrstedtUnited StatesConcert pianist; President, Board of Directors, Framingham Lomonosov Association for Mutual Exchange (F.L.A.M.E.)
Dr. Mohammad A. ToorUnited States/PakistanChairman of the Board, P:akistani American Congress
Bob Van HeeUnited StatesRedwood County Commissioner, Minnesota
Zaher WahabUnited States/AfghanistanProfessor Emeritus of Education, Former Advisor to the Afghanistan Ministry of Higher Education
Frederick WeissUnited StatesMusician
Javier AraujoVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofBolivariano; former Councilman; current Alternate Councilman
Luisa Báez CatariVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofPresident, Diocesan Union of Confraternities, Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar of Guarenas, Miranda state
José BustamanteVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofSociologist
Reinaldo Cróes AriasVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofEconomist and public accounting professional
Andrés Ramón Giussepe AvalaVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofFormer member, Latin American Parliament
Marco Antonio HernándezVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofSocial media organizer; Bachelor’s degree in education; professor
Alberto Mendoza UribeVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofFundamaraisa Foundation
Emil Guevara MuñozVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofFormer member, Latin American Parliament (2006-2011)
Thaidy TeránVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofCoordinator, Music Ministry, Our Lady of Copacabana Cathedral Church, Guarenas
Kelvin ChifulumoZambiaFounder, Educating Girls and Young Women for Development (EGYD)
Munashe ChiwanzaZimbwabweCivil Engineer

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