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China: Failed Bloc Policy in Europe Not Needed In Asia

May 10, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Color Revolutions, General updates, Geopolitics updates, World war danger updates

China: Failed Bloc Policy in Europe Not Needed In Asia —

May 7, 2022 (EIRNS)–Global Times lead editorial today expressed the outrage in China at the new military cooperation between Japan and the UK, following the Thursday signing of a Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) between Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Fumio Kishida in London. They write: “NATO, which created division in Europe and waged wars around the world, is trying to apply the tricks of `bloc politics’ and `confrontation between camps’ to the Asia-Pacific region. For a long time, the UK has propagated on several occasions `the globalization of NATO’ and the `need to preempt threats in the Indo-Pacific’ and to ensure the island of Taiwan `is able to defend itself.’ Within the Asia-Pacific, Japan is abnormally active in catering to such a scheme. It seems Tokyo wants to be the `traitorous guide’ for NATO’s expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.”

The editorial warns that Japan is planning to dump its pacifist constitution and “resurrect its militarism.” Noting that Kishida visited Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand before travelling to Europe, the editorial says his efforts to get these ASEAN nations to join in bashing Russia and China did not succeed: “Asian countries that received Japanese officials have kept vigilant toward Tokyo’s remarks and been reluctant to echo Japan. Not until in the UK, which wants to recover its glory, has Kishida felt some `warmth of a friend.’ This will easily make people recall the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in the 20th century.”

 Asia has remained peaceful in recent decades, they add, because Asian nations “have been seeking common ground while putting aside differences. With vision beyond ideological and geopolitical divergence, Asian countries have engaged in pragmatic cooperation in the globalization era. These made Asia the most vital and dynamic region in the world and made `Asian century’ a lasting discussion topic in the international strategic sphere.” It is now clear that the western security model has failed, they add, and bringing that failed model to Asia has the “intent to undermine regional peace and stability…. Asian countries must remain on high alert. History over and over again showed that a country’s security cannot be based on other countries’ insecurity…..  The NATO military bloc is poison, not an antidote, to the security anxieties and tensions in the region…. Vigilance against and rejection of the `NATO expansion into Asia-Pacific’ should become the strong consensus and collective consciousness of all countries in the region.

Dump the ‘Rules Based’ NATO World Order: Produce Food To Fight Famine, Not Weapons To Prolong War!

May 5, 2022by tobi in Agriculture, General, Geopolitics updates, World war danger updates

This article was published by The LaRouche Organization. A PDF can be printed here.

April 27—A major clash is now out in the open, between those nations and leaders backing measures to end the Ukraine conflict and produce more food to prevent famine, and those financial and political interests, centered in the Trans-Atlantic, perpetrating their “rules-based,” sanctions-based order, who want more weapons to Ukraine, and who couldn’t care less if it prevents settling the conflict or creates desperate hunger. We face the risk of nuclear war.

Who is for a food mobilization? The informal list ranges from India, to Argentina, to nations in Africa, as well as Russia and China. It includes all the farmers in Europe, the U.S. and India, who have been protesting for years, just for the right to be able to continue to produce food. And it includes the Schiller Institute, which has been leading the fight on precisely this issue.

Those opposed to the economic measures required to produce more food, include the U.S. government, the European Commission, G7, and financial networks in the IMF, World Bank, World Trade Organization (WTO) and others, especially hiding behind “free” trade rules, “green” limits, and non-food “human rights” concerns. Now, 1.7 billion people are headed to famine, warns UN Secretary General António Guterres.

India put the question on the world agenda April 22 in Washington, D.C. A joint press conference was held by two top Indian representatives, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Taranjit Singh Sandhu at the end of the annual spring summit of the IMF/World Bank. Sitharaman reported that she had told summit officials that “countries like India, which have potential for exporting agricultural production, particularly cereals, have faced difficulties with the WTO.”

The “difficulties” she politely referred to, include the WTO rules-based subversion of the sovereign right of governments to support their farmers, maintain food reserves, export, and even attempt to have food self-sufficiency. Since its founding in 1995, the WTO rationalizes suppressing nations’ food supply, by declaring that food security comes only from “access to world markets,” not from your own country developing its farm sector. According to WTO rules, India supports its farmers more than 10% of their costs, so India cannot be allowed to export wheat and rice, or they violate the rights of American, European and other farmers to sell grains!

Farm Mobilization

Stop this deadly tyranny. Support farmers everywhere in the world, and get the food to everyone in need—from Afghanistan, to Yemen, to Africa, to Haiti.

First, implement emergency measures, coordinated by leaders from the major producing nations, to get inputs of fertilizer, fuel, seeds, chemicals, machinery—now disrupted—to support farmers to the hilt in targeted locations that can produce the most exportable crop in the shortest time, like India. For wheat, for example, this means, maintaining and increasing the 200 million metric tons (mmt) exported annually. Double it as soon as possible. Make up for the loss of 19 mmt of yearly wheat exports from Ukraine, and rebuild as soon as possible. Do the same for rice, oils, beans, and all other staples.

Secondly, launch the infrastructure to support modern agriculture everywhere—water, power, transportation, crop science, agro-industrial capacity and food processing. Yes, this means replacing the monetarist system now in breakdown from speculation, financial bail-outs, and decades of no productive investment.

The goal is to double world food production as soon as possible, reaching a world output in the range of over 4 billion mmt of grains (all types), from the current 2.7 mmt. Over 800 million people were food insecure before the pandemic and hyperinflation, and now a billion people could reach starvation in the coming year, without our acting.

Allies for Production

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi told President Joe Biden earlier this month that India has grain to help fill the world wheat gap, worsened by the Ukraine crisis and sanctions, if the WTO lifts its restrictions. In Argentina, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero made clear on April 23 that his nation will do everything possible against hunger, but will not join the sanctions against Russia. Argentina sees food security as a key topic to discuss at the June Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California. Russia is providing fertilizer to India, Brazil and other nations.

These commitments to fight the food crisis are just part of the worldwide realignment underway, essential to defeat Global NATO’s onslaught for war and starvation. The West is pouring arms into Ukraine, opposing any diplomatic negotiations for a resolution. The West is demanding we blame hunger on Russia, while preventing any increased food production drive to stop starvation. This is insane.

Join the Schiller Institute’s drive as a policy forum toward the convoking of an international conference to bring about a new security and development architecture, in the interests of all nations.

Lt. Col. Daniel Davis (ret.) Warns: Nothing in Ukraine Justifies Risking Nuclear War with Russia

May 5, 2022by tobi in General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Russia, Ukraine, World war danger updates

May 4 (EIRNS) – Lt. Col. Daniel Davis (ret.) of Defense Priorities sharply warned against the danger of nuclear war with Russia, in an article published yesterday in {Responsible Statecraft}. Davis is a 21-year Army veteran and a well-known whistleblower on Afghanistan and other matters. Although he criticizes Russia for invading Ukraine, and even supports economic sanctions against Russia, Davis draws a bright red line at the point that nuclear war enters the discussion.

“Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s proposed AUMF is the latest salvo from D.C.’s elite pushing the U.S. in the wrong direction to do more in Ukraine,” he states. “Any war between Washington and Moscow stands a disturbingly high chance of going nuclear; an outcome that must be avoided at all costs.”

Joining the growing chorus of voices in the U.S. and internationally who have started to speak out about the danger of nuclear war, Davis is emphatic: “The United States should not fight a war—any war—unless it is absolutely needed to prevent an actual or looming attack on our people or homeland. Period. War is not a tool to compel others to do our will. It is not an appropriate means of `punishing’ an adversary for engaging in actions we don’t like—and that includes Russia…. It would be the height of irresponsibility for American policymakers to take actions that make war with a nuclear superpower likely….

“If we pushed beyond the limits of supplying Kyiv with weapons and into direct confrontation with Russia, and then an American city was subsequently scorched with a Russian nuclear blast, I can assure you that no American would believe the cost was worth trying to help Ukraine. It wouldn’t even matter if we flattened Russian cities in response, once the nuclear genie is let out, most of both countries could be turned into a nuclear wasteland.

“There is absolutely nothing related to Ukraine that could, in any way, justify the risk to American citizens and cities of a nuclear explosion resulting from a war between our two countries. It is time to stop any consideration, at all, of an intentional military action that could spawn a direct clash between Washington and Moscow. It bears repeating once more: there is nothing, at all, at stake in the Ukraine-Russia war that justifies risking actions which could eventually result in the nuclear devastation of America.”

Helga Zepp-LaRouche Responds to German Heavy Weapons to Ukraine

May 1, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Helga statement, article, transcript, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, World war danger updates

Faced with a Looming Nuclear War with Russia: Has the Bundestag Lost Its Mind?

An Appeal to Citizens: Don’t Let Germany Get Drawn Into Nuclear War with Russia —

April 30, 2022 (EIRNS)—Helga Zepp-LaRouche wrote the following as the lead article in the German weekly newspaper Neue Solidarität for the May 5, 2022 issue, which has been translated from the German original. (https://www.solidaritaet.com/neuesol/2022/18/hzl.htm)

The irresponsible and highly dangerous decision of the German government and Bundestag to give into the pressure from the U.S. government, NATO, and the warmongers in their own ranks, and agree to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, must immediately be reversed! It represents an acute danger for the existence of Germany, as it makes us—together with the United States, Great Britain and other NATO member states that are also providing a vast arsenal of weapons to Ukraine and training Ukrainian troops in their own countries or, according to Figaro journalist Malbrunot even inside Ukraine—a party to the war. It is also a big step in a spiraling escalation toward a nuclear Third World War! Instead, Germany and France must push, with great force, for an immediate cease-fire and a diplomatic solution.

The Biden Administration is trying to mask its participation in the proxy war against Russia, with repeated statements by President Joe Biden that the military option in Ukraine is not on the table, because no one wants to trigger World War III. But given the massive arms shipments, the various aid amounting to $14 billion in the past two months, and now another $33 billion on top of that, and given the sharing of intelligence with the Ukrainian armed forces, as is openly admitted by the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, the United States is already de facto a participant in the war.

Bruce Fein, an American constitutional law expert and former associate Attorney General in the Reagan administration, argues that the U.S. and NATO member countries are already co-belligerents in the war. John B. Henry, the Chairman of the Committee for the Republic, which includes well-known former diplomats and members of government, is of the view that, under international law, this gives Vladimir Putin the right to take military action against the U.S. and those countries.

After Chancellor Scholz had refused on April 22 to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, because he wanted to do everything possible to avoid an escalation that could lead to World War III, just three days later, his intention had evaporated. German Defense Minister Lambrecht announced just in time for the major meeting at the U.S. air base in Ramstein on April 26, to which U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had invited military leaders from 40 countries, that the government coalition had decided the day before to supply Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine. So much for statements by the Chancellor or for Germany’s sovereignty—they are obviously meaningless.

Secretary Austin announced that from now on, such meetings would be held once a month at the Ramstein air base, which houses the headquarters of the “United States Air Forces Europe” and “Air Forces Africa,” the NATO “Allied Air Command Ramstein,” as well as the “U.S. Air and Space Operations Center,” which controls drone strikes in the Middle East and Africa. The purpose of such meetings will be to optimize and coordinate the weapons production by arms industries in the various countries. Interestingly, the largest and most modern American military hospital outside the U.S., which is largely financed by Germany, is also located there. Obviously, decisions of greater import are taken in Ramstein than in Berlin, including as to whether or not Germany will be a party to the war in Ukraine.

So far, NATO and Western governments have turned a deaf ear to Putin’s warnings about crossing red lines, although he has repeatedly shown that his words are followed by deeds. This time, we should heed the warnings. In a meeting with lawmakers in St. Petersburg on April 27, one day after Lambrecht’s announcement, Putin said that in the event of outside intervention and the creation of an unacceptable threat to Russia, retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast. Russia, he added, has the tools for that purpose that no one else has at this point, and they will be used. All the decisions, he said, have already been made.

On the same day, April 27, the Wall Street Journal carried an article titled “The U.S. Should Show It Can Win a Nuclear War,” in which former Undersecretary of the Navy Seth Cropsey maintained that the U.S. should prepare to win a nuclear war if it did not want to lose it. U.S. warships should be armed with nuclear weapons, he wrote, and destroy Russian nuclear-missile submarines that are the main base of Russian second-strike capability. A similarly insane fantasy underlay the U.S. “Global Lightning” exercise, held in late January, which practiced an extended maneuver involving a hybrid of conventional and nuclear methods of warfare.

The idea that a limited nuclear war is possible and that it could be “won,” and that small nuclear weapons that are “usable” should be deployed, is madness. Nuclear arms expert Ted Postol has made an absolutely compelling case, most recently in a dialogue, on why the use of even a single nuclear weapon will inevitably lead to a general nuclear war, leading to the use of all existing nuclear weapons. And all the political morons who lightly talk about the need to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, even if it means the risk of nuclear war cannot be ruled out, belong in a locked hospital ward, not in positions of political responsibility.  (The Postol remarks were made in a recent interview with Robert Scheer.)

Postol describes the effect of nuclear weapons: “We’re talking about a wall of fire that encompasses everything around us at the temperature of the center of the Sun. That will literally turn us to less than ash, if this thing gets going. I can’t emphasize how powerful these weapons are. When they detonate, they’re actually four or five times hotter than the center of the Sun, which is 20 million degrees Kelvin. They’re 100 million degrees Kelvin at the center of these weapons.”

Human beings can’t imagine the scale of such heat, he explains. He himself has written articles repeatedly about the consequences of nuclear weapons on cities, for example. Postol said, “This is something beyond anything that human beings have been able to imagine. And I don’t know how to emphasize how dangerous this is.”

He further describes that a single nuclear weapon would wipe out an urban area with a radius of 5 miles, or an area of about 75 square miles, that it would take only 20% of the American ICBMs available “to destroy all of Russia’s ICBM, land-based ICBMs—maybe a thousand,” and thus 80% of the warheads could be used for other purposes (for example against targets in Russia, China or Germany). Russia, he goes on, because of its less capable early warning system, had to set up an automated response in the event the Russian leadership were killed in a surprise U.S. nuclear first strike. Russia’s unfortunate inability to improve its early warning system, according to Postol, has resulted in a “doomsday weapon” that makes the situation much more dangerous because a fatal error could trigger a nuclear war.

It should be clear to every thinking person—and the 586 members of the Bundestag who voted for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine are obviously not among them—that the Federal Republic of Germany becomes a co-belligerent because of that, and thus becomes a target in the event of war. Ramstein, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Büchel, Pirmasens, Baumholder, to name just a few targets, would burn up.

Rather than pursuing a course of suicide and the end of humanity in a misconceived loyalty to the Alliance, Germany must work for an immediate ceasefire and diplomatic negotiations. Rather than letting ourselves be whipped up into a hatred of Russia (and China) by commissioned war-mongering journalists and gun-toting women, we need to start doing our own thinking again. It is not the policy of détente that has led to the current crisis—it allowed for the peaceful reunification of Germany after all, it is the expansion of NATO five times to the East and the obstinate refusal of the political and military establishment to respond to Putin’s demand for legally binding security guarantees.

We are indeed living through a turning point, but not in the way the “narratives” of mainstream politicians and media would have us believe, rather the attempt to maintain a unipolar world in which only the U.S. and U.K. are in charge, has failed. The majority of nations in the world are in the process of building a world order based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and enabling the economic development of all.

Germany will remain non-sovereign and an occupied country for only as long as we allow it to be so in our minds. We must work now for real peace, for a diplomatic solution, and beyond that for a new international security and development architecture that guarantees the survival of humanity. Become active with us to make that happen!

—zepp-larouche@eir.de

Add your name to the petition To Convoke an International Conference to Establish A New Security and Development Architecture for All Nations ; and watch, and circulate the April 9, four-panel international conference which was a crucial initiating step in bringing that new architecture into being.

Schiller Institute Petition Presented at Symposium in Algiers

March 13, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, General updates, Our initiatives (petitions, etc), World war danger updates

Mar. 12 (EIRNS)–The Schiller Institute participated in a symposium at the University of Algiers this morning on the crisis in Ukraine. Harley Schlanger, a spokesman for the Schiller Institute, was one of three speakers. His address was titled “Economic Warfare Against Russia Deployed to Prevent Economic Integration of Eurasia with Western Europe.”. He concluded his presentation with the call for convening an emergency conference to establish a new strategic and financial architecture, and asking the participants to join us. The host said he would make sure that the participants receive the petition. 

There was a twenty-minute Q&A, which followed the presentations. Other speakers were a Russian professor from Ukraine, Leonid Savin (whose website is subtitled “Carthago delenda est”), who presented a very thorough review of the background to the decision to take military actions in Ukraine, and a professor from the university. Savin joined with Schlanger in emphasizing the need to move from a unipolar world – which both agreed will not survive – to one of multipolar cooperation.

Webcast: Ignoring Crossing of Red Lines is a Sign of Insanity

May 1, 2022by tobi in General, Helga Video, Helga Webcast, World war danger updates

In a statement issued yesterday, in commenting on the turn-around by the German government on delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine, Schiller Institute chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche asked, “Has the Bundestag Lost Its Mind?” In discussing this and other indications that U.S.-NATO escalation against Russia is moving close to crossing the red lines which define Russian security concerns, she said that it is urgent to drop the present dangerous course, and return to diplomacy. By becoming “co-belligerents”, as defined by international law, former Reagan Assistant Attorney General Bruce Fein said Putin would have a right to strike those countries.

She used the example of German Foreign Minister Baerbock’s comments that there is “no way back” to the pre-war period as a prime example of this insanity. Can’t nations acknowledge that the present course is wrong? At a time when starvation threatens nearly one-fifth of the world’s population, why are western nations escalating their attacks on Russia and China? It’s not surprising that many former colonial nations are refusing to back the U.S. and NATO. She said that China’s emphasis on experimental projects of seed development to fight hunger resonates with the former colonial nations. Why have western nations done nothing to address this?

She concluded with a brief summary of her late husband’s commitment to creating a new financial system as the basis for peace, which underlies her call, and the Schiller Institute’s mobilization, for a new strategic and financial architecture. She urged viewers to join us, to make this happen.

Petition: Convoke an International Conference to Establish A New Security and Development Architecture for All Nations

Pakistan TV Interviews Helga Zepp-LaRouche on ‘Economic Fallout of the Ukraine Crisis’

March 12, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Economic development updates, Finance, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Helga media coverage or interview, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Pakistan, Sanctions, World war danger updates

March 8, 2022 (EIRNS)—Pakistan’s PTV interviewed Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche and senior Pakistani economist Amer Zafar Durrani with 30 years of expertise in development for fragile and post conflict states, on the topic, “Economic Fallout of the Ukraine Crisis,” by host Faisal Rehman, who has interviewed Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche multiple times. Rehman asked Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche three questions, and at the end Mr. Durrani insisted “I think you should hear what Helga says. I think she’s right,” about why the war started in the first place and how to end it.

{We publish here only the portion of the “Views on News” show containing her remarks. For the full show, go to this link.}

FAISAL REHMAN: Coming to you, Ms. Helga Zepp-LaRouche. Interestingly, since you are based in Germany, and Germany is one of those countries which is highly dependent on the Russian energy imports, looking at the current scenario where the Germans were initially pretty reluctant to be a part of this role, but now we have learned they are sending these anti-tank guided missiles to Ukraine, they’re also giving them night-vision goggles, the vests, the equipment and so on—now, that is a problem. And this is not the first time that the major issues have erupted from Europe: First World War, Second World War.

Now, this is the third time that a major power has invaded another country. We’ll keep these issues, the political and geo-economic issues, aside for the moment, but, Ma’am, looking at the current scenario it seems that, uncertainty is going to prevail. That has affected the stock markets, they’ve gone down. When you talk about the commodity prices, they have gone up, they’re surging. Oil prices, God knows where they will end. Today I was listening that the Americans have banned the import of Russian oil.

What if Russia stops exporting it to the European Union? These are the winters, and it is just not possible that they can switch on and switch off from Russia. So, the point is now, where is it leading? What are people thinking? What are you going through? What sort of experience are you people having? Let’s throw light on that.

HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE: I think it’s important to differentiate between cause and effect: This financial system of the trans-Atlantic sector has been going towards bankruptcy for a very long time, because it’s based on axioms which are favoring the speculators and the money makers, and not the common good.

So, you can maintain that for a while, but it was clear, since the latest 2008, when we had an almost systemic crisis, that this system was bankrupt. And what the central banks did since was to just keep pumping money—they call it “quantitative easing,” negative interest rates—and in that way you have an incredibly indebted system which is hopelessly bankrupt. It has been hopelessly bankrupt for at least 10, 15 years, and the more you keep it going, by pumping more money, the more it becomes unsolvable, unsalvageable.

And now, basically, they have decided to put the blame on Putin. But the reality is, it was not Putin and him declaring military action or war on Ukraine which triggered that, but people have not been listening to Putin. Putin has been saying this since 2007, when he spoke at the Munich Security Conference, where he said the expansion of NATO was not acceptable, because it threatened the security interest of Russia. He has been very patient, as a matter of fact.

Now, naturally, you can say war is horrible, and it’s a terrible thing that it came to that, but the sanctions, in a certain sense, are trying to cover up the fact the Western system has been bankrupt for the whole time; the inflation was there before the Ukrainian crisis erupted; the Federal Reserve promised last year they would increase the interest rate to fight the inflation, but they couldn’t, because they knew that if the Federal Reserve would start to taper, to increase the interest rate, you would have an immediate wave of bankruptcies of the emerging countries, of the large, indebted firms; so they did not taper, and therefore the inflation is there.

Now, naturally, if you impose such hard sanctions, this is now putting into a chain reaction a situation which means this system is hopelessly out of control: You will have a terrible crisis. The food prices will increase. We already had a world famine before this whole thing developed, but now with the fertilizer, which comes from Russia and Ukraine, being blocked, the food prices will go through the ceiling. And we need a radical reform very quickly, because otherwise this thing can completely go out of control.

So, Germany is unfortunately headed by a government which is not standing up to the pressure from the British and United States, and this Chancellor Scholz declared last Sunday that Germany is practically a war economy. It is absolutely terrible, and if the cause is not changed quickly, we are heading toward a real catastrophe and possible World War III.

REHMAN: Now, talking about Germany, one more quick point, because Germany is one of the largest economies in Europe, and even at the global level. You’re talking about the fertilizer issue, Ma’am, around 15% of the global fertilizer manufacturing is taking place in Russia and Ukraine put together. Ma’am, and on top, when you talk about sunflower cooking oil, that is being widely used all over the world, you talk about maize, you talk about corn, you talk about barley, which is a major source of beer production, you talk about wheat, a lot of people, especially in the third world, they’re dependent on that commodity to feed themselves. Now, that is going to have a lot of effect. Though Pakistan had a great wheat production, still the Prime Minister in fact informed that we will be importing a certain amount of wheat from Russia, and they’ve signed a deal, also.

Talking about the food production, Ma’am, it is generally believed that Ukraine, alone, can produce food for about 600 million people—600 million, remember that is 60 crore in our language, whereas about 40 million or around 43 million is the total population of Ukraine, so the export factor is so important.

Now, looking at these figures, Ma’am, let’s suppose this conflict continues, which it seems it will, despite the fact the Russians are having a major fit regarding this particular war, a lot of direct and indirect support is being given to Ukraine. World Bank is preparing an aid package of $3 billion; European Union is talking about more money pouring in, and supplying them with military hardware also. At the same time, today, I was listening to one of the Democratic Senators in United States, and he was saying that he is raising a fund around $10 billion that could be used for the military hardware purchase or otherwise. So if this is the phenomenon, the whole Western world on one side, though the Americans will not get affected much, either they’ll be able to sell their oil and replace the Russian—but that is going to take time—or, they can also have a lot of oil support from Canada. That means that Europe is going to be the major sufferer, and that is something which should not happen. Your take?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, the problem, as I said, is the present government in Germany, the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, these are people who unfortunately have completely taken the line of the United States, of the British, of NATO, which means that they’re in a geopolitical confrontation against Russia and China.

The real reason of all of this, is they want to get rid of Putin, they want to have regime change, they want to contain the rise of China—all of these things are potential triggers for World War III. That is why I’m saying—you cannot just discuss it in the context of “they will do this, and then they will do that.” I think we are in a breakdown crisis of the system, the trans-Atlantic forces are determined to have a war if they cannot maintain their system. They see that the Asian countries are rising, especially China is rising, the Belt and Road Initiative is gaining more and more momentum, and they say, rather than allowing these countries to rise when we are collapsing, we will have a war! And there are some very crazy people who think that you can even have a prolonged, protracted nuclear war: If you look at the recent NATO maneuver, Global Lightning, which took place at the end of January and beginning of February, which had this idea that you can have a winnable, regional, protracted nuclear war.

I think this is absolutely insane. And the more reasonable people say, if it comes to that, it will be a global war. It will be a world war. That is why I am saying, we have to have an urgent rethinking, and the Schiller Institute has been promoting the idea of a conference, to have an international security architecture, which must be global. It must include Russia; it must include China; and it must basically address the fact that the Western financial system is absolutely bankrupt, and all the tensions come from that fact. Therefore, you have to have a global Glass-Steagall banking separation, you have to put national banks in each country, and you have to have a new credit system to provide cheap, long-term credit for development.

I think these ideas must be demanding, because you see, there are more and more countries right now that do not want to be pulled into this, because they know it’s deadly! I think it’s very good that Prime Minister Imran Khan refused to take a position for one side or the other and maintains that Pakistan must be neutral. The same thing just happened with India. India abstained in the vote in the UN General Assembly and in any case, they did not want to be put into the “Quad,” which was the whole game. Argentina just decided to be part of the Belt and Road Initiative. And there are more and more countries that realize we need a new system.

And I think what is the most urgent question is that a debate occurs internationally, by as many forces as possible, to have a new paradigm, to have a world order based on the UN Charter, based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, the whole Non-Aligned Movement conception that went into the Bandung Conference, these ideas have to be revived urgently. And I think it is especially the independent countries, like Pakistan, like India, and on that point I think they are very much similar right now, who take a stand that the system must be changed, because it’s like before World War I: If you continue like this, a catastrophe will happen. And do we have to repeat history? I don’t think so….

REHMAN: Peaceful coexistence, what a beautiful term, but it does not seem that it’s going to happen like this now: Divisions and divisions and then adversities, and God knows what’s happening out there….

And Helga, that is about the short-term economic impact. Now, we do see, there’s going to be a lot of problems. My own brother lives in London, and he said the energy cost has gone up significantly, and we never thought this was going to happen, and this is just multiplying. And a lot of analysts believe that this is just the beginning.

Now, 2022 could be the most interest[ing] year: Global economy was already suffering for the last two years, because of this pandemic. The moment they started recovering and we could see some positive indicators and everything, and now we see this war! And this is not only limited to Europe, this is going to have its impact on Asia, on U.S.A., Canada, even Africa, I would say!

So, let’s suppose if Russia is engaged, which I believe Russia will be, in Ukraine, some sort of [inaud], Afghanistan-like situation is created once again in Ukraine. This time, Pakistan is not the partner, but let’s suppose Poland, Hungary, and other European Union countries, or NATO countries, keep supporting them indirectly, and keep giving them these weapons through which they can attack the tanks, helicopters, even the Russian jets. Let’s suppose if this war continues for another couple of months, what do you see happening to Europe in general? And Germany in particular?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Frankly, I don’t think that that is what’s going to happen, because I think that the Russians have not even used the totality of their troops, they have not used the totality of their weapons systems, and many military men in Germany and elsewhere, but in Germany, say that there is no way how Ukraine can win this war. The people who will suffer the most are the Ukrainians. They will be chopped up and murdered and die, as a result of the West not listening to Putin! And I can only repeat: It was not Putin’s fault: He said it very clearly, he said, I have no place to retreat to. So here are the security guarantees I want from the United States, and from NATO; and then the answer from these two places were not anything, they just answered on some secondary questions, like resuming arms control negotiations, but they did not want to guarantee that NATO would not continue to expand to the East, and that Ukraine would not become a member, and that there would be no offensive weapons at the border with Russia.

So then Putin said, “I have to take care of the fact that there has been a genocide in east Ukraine, in the Donbas”; 14,000 people have been killed, they have produced many documentaries in the meantime showing that there was actually a continuous war by the Ukrainian armed forces against these two republics, and that Nazis have been used! And there is also no question: The Schiller Institute did a documentation in 2014 where we documented the existence of Nazis, the Azov Battalion, the followers of Stepan Bandera, which were kept by the secret services in the postwar period—by MI6, by the CIA, by the BND—and we documented it as the Maidan coup was happening! So the whole discussion that “there are no Nazis,” it’s just simply not true, and the big scandal is that the Western governments have backed a coup in 2014, which brought the Nazis into the government, into the Rada (the Parliament), and into the armed forces. And when Putin now says he insists on a demilitarization and a de-Nazification, because that is crucial to the security interest of Russia, the West must listen to him! And I think that while right now, the European governments are completely crazy—I mean, they’re in a brainwashed condition; if you listen to the media, Goebbels…

REHMAN: I would totally agree with you, on that. This is exactly what is happening, but I’m so sorry to cut you off, Helga. We’ll definitely be having you on other shows and we’ll talk more about it. But since I’m running out of time, I would like to say thank you very much for your contribution and your comments.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche Briefs ChinaPlus Radio ‘World Today’ Broadcast on Germany Decision to Arm Ukraine

April 29, 2022by madeleine in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Geopolitics updates, Helga media coverage or interview, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, World war danger updates

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and president of the Schiller Institute, was interviewed on April 27 about the German government’s decision to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine.

CHINA RADIO INTERNATIONAL: You’re listening to World Today…. Germany has for the first time announced the plans to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht says the government has approved the delivery of Gepard tanks equipped with anti-aircraft guns. The decision comes as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held talks with dozens of NATO member country counterparts over the Ukraine war at an American air base in western Germany on Tuesday.

Joining us now on the line is Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, a Germany-based think tank. Hello, good afternoon. Thank you very much for joining us.

HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Yes, hello.

CRI: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has actually for weeks been resisting calls for Germany to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine. He has been suggesting that such a particular move might trigger a direct military confrontation between NATO and Russia. So, with that in mind, how would you look at Germany’s latest decision?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: I think it is a complete catastrophe. This government endangers the life and security of the German population. They have made an oath, the German Chancellor and others, that they would protect the interests of the German people and protect them against harm, and this is a complete violation of that oath. It is quite telling that this occurred on the very day that Austin had this meeting in Ramstein [Air Base]—I mean, this was a complete violation of German sovereignty. He’s holding court, and this decision by the German government will only prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people. They’re cannon fodder in a proxy war between NATO and the U.S. and Russia; and obviously, the attitude on the side of these people is to fight this to the last Ukrainian.

It’s a complete catastrophe, because when Foreign Minister Lavrov said this could lead to World War III and a nuclear war, this is being ridiculed by the German media in cartoons, as if it would be just scare-mongering. I think we are in a very, very dangerous situation.

CRI: Hmm, indeed. As we heard from Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, the threat of nuclear war really should not be underestimated. But we understand that for decades, Berlin has actually been maintaining a policy of not exporting weapons to any particular conflict areas. So help us understand, what’s the rationale behind that policy? And now what’s the war going on in Ukraine: Do you think it is fair to say that Germany has abandoned that particular policy?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, this thing makes very obvious that Germany is an occupied country, that it’s not sovereign, and what you have seen in the last days in media and in the parties, is that in all of these institutions you have Atlanticists who have been making a drumbeat, saying, “Oh, Germany is not a reliable ally.” But in reality, this delivery of heavy weapons makes Germany a party in the war, and therefore a target if this thing continues to escalate.

Part of the problem is also the EU, because Josep Borrell, who’s the so-called “foreign minister” said this situation will be “decided on the battlefield.” He has never mentioned the idea of diplomacy or that there should be negotiations. And it’s completely insane to try to settle conflicts in the 21st century with war! It’s madness! I can only say, it’s complete madness.

CRI: So, critics, including some officials in Ukraine, have accused Berlin of dragging their heels on giving heavy weapons to Ukraine, and on some of the other possible measures, like a possible embargo of Russia energy imports. Do you think those criticisms that I mentioned are fair to Germany?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, the reality is, George Friedman, who is a strategic analyst in the United States, he already said in 2015 in a speech in Chicago that the German-Russian relation is the only threat to the United States, because the combination of German technology and capital, and Russian raw materials and labor, would be the only counterweight to the United States. Now, one result of it is that this relationship between Germany and Russia, as of now, has been completely ruined, and this, in light of German history. One should not forget, Russia lost 27 million people in World War II.

The idea to have an embargo against Russian oil and gas, is more insanity, because there are many leaders of the industry who have said this would mean millions of unemployed, entire sectors of industry would collapse; so it’s really an aggression against German interests if such demands are made.

CRI: So, realistically speaking, is Germany capable of sustaining its supply of heavy weaponry to Ukraine, if we talk about a scenario where this conflict between Russia and Ukraine becomes a protracted war?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, it’s obvious that Germany has a significant arms industry, and they would naturally be happy, like the military-industrial complex in the United States, to deliver these weapons. But the effect on the rest of the economy—you know, you already have massive inflation in food prices, energy prices; if this continues you will have social chaos. The poorer parts of the population already can’t make it to the end of the month. And it’s a complete outrage that there are billions and billions being expended for weapons, when you have a world famine of 1.7 billion people facing starvation. I’m really upset, and I hope you can hear it, because this should not happen! This is really something which needs to be reversed.

The people who are responsible for this, they can commit suicide if they want, but they have no right to completely drive Germany into a catastrophe.

CRI: By the way, do you think President Putin has a point when he said, recently, in a meeting with UN chief António Guterres, that this increasing Western delivery or Western supply of heavy weapons to the battlefields in Ukraine are making Kyiv, making Ukraine a sort of unreliable partner on the negotiation table? Do you think he has a point in saying that?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, I think the reality is that Zelenskyy is a complete puppet. He’s an actor, and he plays the script which is being written by British public relations firms who basically tell him what to do, as is the United States. The reality is, if you look at the statements by Biden, Boris Johnson, Stoltenberg, they have no mentioned once, the word “peace negotiations.” They only say, “more weapons, more weapons.” So I think it’s not Zelenskyy, it’s the U.S., NATO and the British.

CRI: Well, I guess from Washington’s perspective, they might argue, “OK, we are returning our diplomats back to Kyiv, we have nominated a new ambassador as the U.S. ambassador to Kyiv”: That is a signal that Americans pay attention, attack greater importance to diplomacy.

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, I wish your words would be right, because I think any reasonable person in the world must agree that we have to have to have an end to this war immediately. The Ukrainian people are being slaughtered, and I think what should be discussed instead, is President Xi Jinping at the Boao Forum made a very important proposal to have a Global Security Initiative. And I think the problems of the world are so big, that you need such a global approach, and in that context, the Ukraine situation can be settled also. Because it’s much more complicated. It has very little to do with Ukraine. The Ukrainians are the cannon fodder in a geostrategic confrontation from the United States against Russia—and China, by the way.

CRI: So we understand Russia has suspended, or is suspending natural gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria, after these two particular countries refused to pay for the energy supplies in Russian rubles. Do you expect Moscow to take this kind of action against more European Union countries?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, we should remember that the Russian reaction is coming in reaction to the West confiscating $300 billion in Russian assets, after they took $9 billion from the Afghani people. So the dollar system is not regarded as safe any more, and therefore, Russia and many other Asian countries are reorienting and trying to create an alternative financial system based on gold and other commodities. And you have right now, massive agreements between Russia and India, Russia and China, and many others. I think if it would come to such an embargo, or cutoff from oil and gas from the side of Russia, or the other way around, I think Russia in one sense would cope better than Germany! Germany and Europe would go into a real economic crisis. So the people who are pushing Germany and others in this direction are really not acting in the interests of Germany or the European countries.

CRI: Thank you very much for your analysis. That was Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, a Germany-based think tank.

Listen to the podcast here.

Imran Khan Refuses to Denounce Russia

March 8, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, World war danger updates

Pakistan’s Imran Kahn Refuses to Denounce Russia

Mar. 7 (EIRNS)–In response to a letter signed by twenty European Union ambassadors in Islamabad last week, demanding Pakistan denounce Russia, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Kahn retorted: “What do you think of us? Are we your slaves . . . that whatever you say, we will do?” Khan remarked while speaking at a political event.

The EU letter was in response to Pakistan’s abstention from voting on a United Nations General Assembly motion denouncing Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, “I want to ask the European Union ambassadors: Did you write such a letter to India?” Khan said as reported by Sputniknews.com. Khan also reportedly said that Europe has failed to condemn India over Kashmir, where Pakistan and India have fought two wars.

Kahn added that in return for Pakistan’s assistance to the NATO alliance in Afghanistan, instead of thanks, Pakistan had received condemnation.

On Sunday Khan said that Pakistan is “friends with Russia, and we are also friends with America; we are friends with China and with Europe; we are not in any camp.” He went on to say that Pakistan would remain “neutral” and collaborate with those working to end the Ukraine conflict.

Earlier last Friday, a spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry stated at the press briefing that it was “not usual diplomatic practice” for envoys to make public requests like their letter, “and we have made that clear.” He added, “We took note of that and in a subsequent meeting with a group of ambassadors, we expressed our concern about it, because as I said that is not the way diplomacy should be practiced, and I think they have realized it,” he added.

Some European envoys who shared the joint statement on Twitter reportedly erased the tweets some time after.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta Warns: “One Fifth of World’s Population About to Face Food Crisis”

April 21, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Agriculture, Economic development updates, Finance, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Sanctions, World war danger updates

April 29 (EIRNS) – The Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta warned yesterday that a recent U.N. report estimated that “the Ukrainian conflict is putting 1.7 billion people around the world at risk of hunger,” noting that “the global food price index has reached historic highs as wheat prices rose by 20% in March.” EIR reported on that same study one week ago.

The Russian publication filled out the picture with a couple of interviews. Associate Professor at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Oleg Kalenov noted: “Forecasts say that Ukraine’s wheat exports will halve, so the market is going to face a shortage of 9.5 million tons of wheat. Besides, countries may fail to receive wheat from Russia because of delivery and payment issues stemming from political reasons.”

Executive Director of the Capital Market Department at Univer Capital Artem Tuzov, pointed out that “Certain countries are extremely likely to face starvation unless the sanctions impeding Russian wheat exports are lifted.”

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