Dec. 15, 2025 (EIRNS)—“NATO has definitely outlived its legitimacy. We must urgently replace it with a new security and development architecture which this time must take into account the security and development interests of every single country on the planet,” Helga Zepp-LaRouche told an international gathering of youth on Sunday, Dec. 14. “I think that is absolutely the only way out of this crisis.”

The tension between two simultaneous and opposite trajectories in the world serves to underscore those wise words: On the one hand, we see a world of the Global Majority that is moving to consolidate relationships of cooperation, mutual respect, and win-win agreements for development; and on the other, a completely hysterical freakout from an increasingly irrelevant, yet nuclear-armed, elite class that would do anything to prevent peace in Ukraine—or to stir up a new conflict somewhere else on the globe.

Take the recent flurry of diplomatic activity on the part of the BRICS nations. Within the past week alone, leaders from China, India, Russia, Brazil, Iran, U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, and Jordan have met in various constellations to discuss bolstering bilateral relations, economic development perspectives, and how to strengthen the role of the BRICS and SCO in shaping a stable and prosperous world system.

Contrast that with the E3 Coalition of the Killing leaders, Starmer, Merz, and Macron, who are determined to sabotage efforts to bring peace in Ukraine—no matter the cost. Those three dwarfs convened in Berlin on Dec. 15, joining U.S. and Ukrainian delegations who had just concluded two days of discussions on a possible peace deal, in order to figure out how to, in the words of Russian Senator Vladimir Dzhabarov, “make every effort to stall and torpedo the peace plan,” despite the fact that strategic defeat of Russia—the largest nuclear power on the planet—is impossible.

But even if one conflict is brought to a resolution, as we may be nearing in the case of Ukraine, the crumbling system of geopolitics has still not been abolished, and as Helga Zepp-LaRouche has repeatedly warned, as one crisis is brought toward resolution, expect that other crises will break out. In Iran, fear is mounting that the psychotic Netanyahu government in Israel will use the recent tragic mass murder of Jews in Australia as the pretext for launching new strikes in Iran.

In the Western Hemisphere, which the recent “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine declared to be the U.S. zone of influence, the situation in the Caribbean remains extremely tense: On Friday, Dec. 12 a midair collision just 40 miles from the Venezuelan coast was narrowly avoided by an astute commercial airline pilot who spotted a U.S. Air Force refueling plane flying towards Venezuela without its transponder on, in just enough time to avoid disaster. Elsewhere in Ibero-America, leaders of nations are being installed—through elections or otherwise, and much to the delight of “Narco” Rubio—which promise to weaken or renounce their relationships with China’s Belt and Road Initiative and step into line with the Western financial interests. The Dec. 14 election of Pinochet admirer and ultra-monetarist José Antonio Kast in Chile, along with promises of Bolivia’s Foreign Minister to replace Chinese mining companies in his country with American ones, are recent examples.

But, thankfully, there is no solution other than to change the entire system.

“If you have a world which is in such disarray, you cannot try to solve these problems one by one,” Zepp-LaRouche said in her address to the youth. “Even if they have their historical and factual specificity—each crisis has its own reasons and dynamic—they are all part of this overall development where you have the end of the system of 500 years of colonialism, and the emergence of a new system whereby the countries the Global Majority are trying to create a new, more just system. That conflict is the deeper reason behind all these regional expressions of conflict. Therefore, you have to try to resolve this in totality.”

Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s call, “Withdraw from NATO! New National Security Strategy Requires New Security Architecture” is to be read, endorsed, and circulated by all who are serious about bringing about such a solution.

Zepp-LaRouche discussed the “hysteria,” provoked by the NSS, which though it has problematic points, it breaks with the presumptions of what the U.S. will support in Europe, NATO, and elsewhere. She encouraged people to read and circulate her Dec. 8 article “Withdraw from NATO! New National Security Strategy Requires New Security Architecture.”

Alastair Crooke noted that the NSS marks a U.S. turn, away from the focus on China and the war in Ukraine, and openly attacks policies of the European leaders and NATO. He said what was needed was for the United States to acknowledge that its sanctions policies had utterly failed in their intent to drive China and Russia out of their leadership role in world affairs.

U.S. Tariffs Are a ‘Shakedown’

In regard to Trump’s use of tariffs, he said that this was claiming to be based on Alexander Hamilton’s promotion of tariffs for the new United States, but that Trump was using them as a “shakedown,” intended to coerce nations to invest in the United States or buy the U.S. debt. This will not work, he said, because of the massive growth of the debt bubble in the U.S.

On the Ukraine war, Crooke is concerned that Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner do not represent the Congress nor any other institutions, but that one is a real estate fiend, and the other is a personal family member of Trump. This is part of the fact that Trump is looking at the relations with Russia and Ukraine in terms of money, over “who gets the money, be it BlackRock or the EU,” as demonstrated by the insane European seizure of the Russian reserves. The Europeans have become “psychotic,” he said, in their wildly false contention that they could “defeat Russia.”

On Venezuela, Crooke noted that President Nicolás Maduro had offered to allow the U.S. oil and mining companies to essentially take over the natural wealth of the country, but Trump said “No.” Why would he turn this down, Crooke asked? It must be seen in the context of China’s counteroffer during the Shanghai Expo in November, to implement a zero-tariff trade policy and invest in the Venezuela oil and mining sector itself, without the conditionalities demanded by the U.S., insisting on being an “ally” and maintaining dollar hegemony. The U.S. now wants to establish something like a blockade, keeping China (and others) out. Crooke doubts that China will simply accept this.

Graham Fuller said that he was “shocked” by the NSS as the biggest shift in world affairs since the fall of the U.S.S.R., and yet, he said, there had been no warning that this was in the works, not from the press nor from the pundits. He also was amazed that Europe appears to have lost its sense of history and is ignoring the dramatic shift in Asia. He asked for Crooke’s view.

‘Davos Values’ Took Over NATO

Crooke responded that it began with the NATO bombing of Belgrade in 1999, without any approval from the United Nations. That led to the transformation of NATO as a force for military defense into an offensive force based on political criteria, which Crooke called “liberal values, the Davos values.” That became universal, with the leaders of NATO and Western nations all coming from the same clique. This was reinforced when U.S. President Joe Biden gave his “Manichean” speech in the UN, followed by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen giving an almost verbatim speech. Thus, the mention of “good vs evil,” “light vs. darkness,” “autocracy vs. freedom” became the standard replacement for serious intelligence and diplomacy, a “lever” for a conflict with Russia—“irrational, and dangerous.” The irony is that Europe now has no democracy at all. Even the EU European Commission leadership is unelected.

Crooke reported that he had been in both Russia and China over the past weeks, and they know this about the West. The Russians, in particular, know that Europe has no money, no weapons nor manpower to fight a war with Russia, yet they promote war all the time. Crooke says he believes they can’t fight such a war, “but they can provoke a war,” and even small countries like Estonia can do so. The intention is similar to Winston Churchill’s use of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to bring the U.S. into a war against Germany. The population in Europe is not ready for war—“they are more interested in holidays and designer shoes.” The preconditions for a solution have been taken down. They are the autocracy they complain about.

Zepp-LaRouche expressed agreement with both Crooke and Fuller. Europe suffers from the neoliberal system, which is getting worse. There are attacks on the Classics, against truth and beauty, and instead, attention is paid to minor things that are “interesting.” The West has become “more and more insane, pornographic.” She referenced Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s comment that the West has turned against the morals of their grandparents, adopting a “post-Christian ideology.” The great poets and scientists are gone. Our friends in the Global South “can’t understand why the West is destroying itself.” We must be more like Asia, which is reaching back to its best (Confucian) traditions for a new cultural era: “We must look back to the Italian Renaissance, the German high culture, to rediscover our earlier contributions to the human species.”

Danger of the U.S. in the Caribbean

Former Guyana President Donald Ramotar then spoke, posing the great danger inherent in the NSS concept of America throwing out international law and threatening to take over South America and the Caribbean. He said that the leaders in the region are terrified, afraid to speak out for fear of American economic or military attacks. “The silence is deafening,” he said. The effort is to push China out, even though it is China that is “building the infrastructure which we have been denied for so long.” It appears that the oil and mining companies are running policy in Washington. Trump’s approach to Russia is admirable, but he doubts that any future President will sustain it. He appreciates the migration problem, “but they must understand that they created this themselves.”

EIR’s Dennis Small pointed out that the virtue of the NSS is that it is “kicking over the chessboard,” putting a hold on the rush to nuclear war. But it lacks any idea of “how to put it together again.” He pointed to Crooke’s emphasis on the debt crisis. He reviewed his work on the massive debt of the U.S. and worldwide, in addition to the $2 quadrillion in derivative debt, demonstrating that the Western financial system is bankrupt. Either this is put through bankruptcy reorganization or there will be collapse and war. That is the story behind the attack on Venezuela: The real target in South America is Brazil and the BRICS.

Crooke noted that China and others are trying to find a way to work with the West to deal with this debt crisis, but they can’t find the means for discussion. If the U.S. bubble bursts, it will cause political and economic crises around the world. Russia and China, in the meantime, must consider means of defending themselves from this threat. “I saw in China that they could easily expand their successful development system to the rest of Eurasia, to everyone’s benefit, while the West simply replies that should they move to do that,”they are attacking the dollar.” Given that Trump changes his mind every day makes it difficult to work with him.

In the Q&A session, Zepp-LaRouche answered questions on Nicholas of Cusa, and another on the Tenth Principle of her Ten Principles.

She stressed in conclusion that the Peace of Westphalia followed 150 years of war and general chaos, until the belligerents recognized it must stop or there would be no one left. That is more real today, in the nuclear age. “Putin’s patience will eventually come to an end.” If the West would get together with Russia and China “all the problems of the world could be solved.” She proposed a global Glass-Steagall based on FDR’s policies.

Michael Billington

Dec. 8, 2025 (EIRNS)—When water turns into ice, there is no change in its chemistry or substance. Nonetheless, the phase change transforms the same material into a new and completely different state. Such is the case today, as the actors on the global stage are confronted with the insanity of today’s reigning policies of war, and—whether consciously or not—are being forced to change.

The most recent spark for this has been the Trump Administration’s new National Security Strategy (NSS), which has effectively declared Europe and NATO enemies of the U.S., not fit for survival into the future. The document’s release four days ago has unleashed unprecedented hysteria from across Europe and could even be the beginning of the end of NATO. There is much that can and should be criticized about the new doctrine, most particularly the fact that it calls for a return to Thrasymachus’ definition of justice as the “advantage of the stronger.” Yet at the same time, it is a complete break with the system which emerged at the end of the Cold War and which has brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any time previously. Therefore, its demise presents an opportunity to create a new system that is more just than its predecessor, and which legitimately takes into account the interests of others.

Former Russian President and currently Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev noted: “It feels more like an attempt to steer a massive ship that’s been moving in the same direction for ages, just by force of habit, and finally decided to change course. For the first time in many years, Washington is openly talking about restoring ‘strategic stability’ in Eurasia and rebuilding ties with Russia.”

Exemplifying the insanity of the old system, and apparently immune to Trump’s criticism, the “Coalition of the Willing” leaders of the U.K., France, and Germany gathered in London on Dec. 8 with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine to plot their next steps in continuing the war against Russia. However, Trump seems to be losing patience with the antics, and the Europeans are losing almost all support from within their own nations. “I’m a little bit disappointed” with Zelenskyy, Trump said Dec. 7. “Russia’s fine with it … but I’m not sure that Zelenskyy’s fine with it.”

At the same time, warnings are being sounded about an attack on Venezuela. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is reportedly worried that a U.S. attack is imminent, and is working overtime to prevent one from occurring. The U.S. military has reportedly confirmed the deployment of a high-powered radar to Trinidad and Tobago that is within range of Venezuela’s shore. If the neocons in the Trump Administration are successful in initiating an attack, “that would inevitably not just be a war between the U.S and Venezuela,” said Celso Amorim, President Lula da Silva’s chief foreign policy adviser. “It would end up having global involvement.”

In discussion with associates on Dec. 8, Helga Zepp-LaRouche said that the new U.S. NSS and the response to it has created “a moment of utmost break in an order which existed in the post-Cold War period.” Zepp-LaRouche reiterated her call for NATO to be abolished, but not as an isolated step. Instead, we must force the recognition that “this whole effort to create a unipolar world after the end of the Cold War backfired tremendously”; the regime-change wars, the unilateral sanctions, unfair trade relations—all of this caused a blowback within the countries of the Global South, which increasingly saw the West as the enforcers of neocolonialism and China, for example, as offering an opportunity to finally overcome this. “Therefore, the only sensible way the world can get out of this crisis is to stop this narrow-minded thinking of geopolitical self-interest, and replace that thinking, which only leads to new conflicts and potentially even the annihilation of civilization.”

“That is why we should intervene with a concerted effort to catapult the whole debate onto the necessary level of a New Paradigm, of a new security and development architecture which must take into account every country on the planet. Otherwise it will not work.”

The following statement has been released by the Schiller Institute for immediate circulation internationally. It was written as a rallying call during this period of change and new strategic openings,  and individuals are encouraged to endorse it. In addition, websites and journals are encouraged to publish this article in full or in part, with attribution to the Schiller Institute.

Dec. 8—Although the recently published 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) was received by some leading circles in Europe with a mixture of gnashing of teeth, temper tantrums, and despair, it should be considered, under the circumstances, as having usefully provoked a crisis that was long overdue. It represents a break with the U.S. President Joe Biden administration’s security doctrine regarding U.S. leadership in a unipolar world order in favor of a more balanced policy toward Russia. But at the same time it advocates for the losing strategy of trying to contain China, and, in particular, stop its economic cooperation with the nations of the Global South, especially in the Western Hemisphere. Under today’s conditions of a financial meltdown of the Trans-Atlantic system, the new document has created the opportunity for a rational reassessment of one’s own security interests and the redesign of the international security architecture.

The document expressly prohibits further expansion of NATO, which de facto rules out NATO membership for Ukraine, since the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” cannot impose such membership against the will of the United States. It also effectively ends the concept of a “Global NATO,” as well as the “interoperability” of the European Union (EU) with this Global NATO.

Instead of huffing and puffing about not needing “advice from outside,” as German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul put it, Europeans would do better to take seriously the admittedly harsh wake-up call contained in the NSS paper, namely that the European continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years if the current trends of economic decline continue. It even warns of a “civilizational erasure.”

The biggest mistake we in Europe could make right now would be to arrogantly dismiss this warning as further proof of U.S. President Donald Trump’s unpredictability. For the “civilizational erasure” of Europe is a threat not only because of the continuation of the current economic policy—massive austerity in all social areas to the benefit of an unscrupulous arms industry—but even more imminently by the absolutely irresponsible and hopeless attempt to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia.

The new United States NSS offers a much-needed opportunity to withdraw from NATO, as it pursues a strategy that has not corresponded to our fundamental security interests for quite some time. NATO should have been dissolved at the end of the Cold War, just as the Warsaw Pact was in 1991, in favor of a peace order for the 21st century—which would have been entirely possible at the time. Instead, NATO transformed itself from a formerly defensive alliance into an offensive alliance. The final straw came when the highest-ranking NATO military officer, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of the NATO Military Committee, gave an interview where he called for a “more aggressive response by NATO to the war in Ukraine.” A “preemptive strike” against Russia, he said, was also conceivable, which could of course be considered a “defensive action.” George Orwell, anyone? “Attack is defense, war is peace!”

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded with unmistakable clarity that Russia had no intention of starting a war with Europe. He had already emphasized this hundreds of times. However, if Europe itself were to start such a war, he added, Russia would be “immediately ready” and such a conflict would be ended very quickly in Russia’s favor, unlike the “surgical” approach used in Ukraine. Russian political scientist Sergei Karaganov was even more direct in an interview with journalist Dr. Éva Péli on October 30 in Moscow, stating that if a major war broke out in Europe, Europe would cease to exist.

While serious efforts are being made by the American and Russian governments to end the war through negotiations, the European “Coalition of the Willing,” consisting of Germany, France, Great Britain, Poland, the Baltic states, and the EU Commission, continues to focus on inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia. It must be clear to any thinking person that this is impossible against what is now the world’s strongest nuclear power, unless one is willing to accept the end of humanity. Following the recent meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó accused these European forces of trying to prevent peace efforts and drag Europe into a war with Russia. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán even warned on Saturday (Dec. 6) in Kecskemet that European leaders had already decided to go to war against Russia and that a large Hungarian delegation would visit Moscow in the coming days.

Despite the fact that in Germany every statement about the war in Ukraine must repeat the mantra that it is “Putin’s unprovoked war of aggression in violation of international law” to avoid being labeled a Putin puppet, the near-unanimous view throughout the Global South and among American experts such as Jeffrey Sachs, John Mearsheimer, Ray McGovern, Chas Freeman, and many others, is that it was NATO’s fivefold eastward expansion by 1,000 km—contrary to the promise made at the end of the Cold War not to expand NATO “one inch” to the east—that triggered the war. By early 2022, offensive weapons systems near the Russian border had effectively created a reverse Cuban Missile Crisis, and Putin’s appeals for legally binding security guarantees were simply ignored.

The war could have ended in March 2022 with the Istanbul Agreement between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which was notoriously sabotaged by then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Now, after almost four years of grueling war and the loss of millions of lives, there is no denying what the former Inspector General of the German Armed Forces and former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Harald Kujat, has repeatedly emphasized: that Ukraine has never been in a position to turn the strategic situation around—and certainly is not now, when entire sections of the front are collapsing, when frontline troops and forced conscripts are deserting in droves, and when international military experts openly discuss the fact that the war has been lost. In this situation, for the highest-ranking NATO officer to talk about preemptive strikes is highly irresponsible and amounts to a call for collective suicide.

In the nearly four years that this war of attrition has lasted, neither the EU Commission nor European heads of state have made any attempt to end the war through negotiations. On the contrary, when a diplomatic solution between Putin and Zelensky was practically agreed upon in March 2022 with the Istanbul Agreement, Europe, and of course then-President Biden, watched in silence as Boris Johnson squelched the opportunity. Now, when there is a justified prospect that the war could be ended by Trump and Putin, and relations between the two largest nuclear powers could be normalized, NATO is talking about preemptive strikes!

NATO is no longer an Atlantic defensive alliance, but considers itself as the military arm to defend the unipolar world order that has been pursued since the end of the Cold War. But that order has long since been replaced by the partnership between countries of the Global South, which are no longer willing to submit to the imperial and colonial structures of the collective West, but are building a new world economic order with their BRICS and SCO organizations, based on sovereignty and mutual and equal development. We must not oppose this new world order, which brings 500 years of colonialism to an end, and allows the nations of the Global Majority to overcome poverty and underdevelopment for the first time. We must rather cooperate with these countries and thus open a new chapter in human history!

In these times of epochal change, several regional crises have the potential to escalate into a major war. Following the ongoing catastrophe in the Middle East, a new and highly dangerous escalation between Japan and China has recently broken out. Now that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has questioned the One China policy, which is indisputable under international law, and even raised the possibility of Japanese military intervention in Taiwan, concern is growing throughout the Indo-Pacific region about the resurgence of militarism in Japan. This is very similar to what is occurring in Europe, and evokes the most terrible memories of the joint action of the Axis powers in World War II, which was responsible for 27 million deaths in the Soviet Union and 35 million casualties in China.

If we have learned anything from the two world wars, we should recognize that now is the time to reconnect to where we left off at the end of the Cold War, when we took the wrong turn. At that time, there was no longer an enemy, so it would have been very easy to establish a new international peace order. Today, 35 years later, the complete fallacy of the arrogant and short-lived prediction of the “end of history” is evident, as is the enormous boomerang effect of the attempt to establish a unipolar world order.

Each respective country must announce its withdrawal from NATO and, at the same time, convene a new conference in the tradition of the Peace of Westphalia, at which a new international security and development architecture must be developed that takes into account the interests of every nation on this planet.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has already proposed a similar approach with his Global Governance Initiative. President Putin has also raised the idea of a Eurasian security architecture. There is also hope because young people in Germany are participating in a school strike, since they neither want to serve as cannon fodder nor shoot people in foreign countries.

We have reached a point in the universal history of mankind where we must leave behind not only half a millennium of colonialism, but also the mindset that led to two world wars in the 20th century: geopolitics. We must leave behind once and for all the barbaric idea that we always need an enemy, that man is a wolf to man, as Thomas Hobbes, the ideologist of the British Empire, believed. This barbaric view of humanity is expressed in NATO’s promotional video “From Foresight to Warfight,” which states: “War will always remain an essential human endeavor. Manipulating the opponent’s emotions and understanding will be just as important as denying access to our spaces. The human mind will be a battle space in its own right.” Anyone who watches this video and does not reject this sick worldview has already lost the battle for his or her own mind.

We are the only species known in the universe that is endowed with creative reason, and we must now use it by putting the idea of one humanity first as we establish a new order.

Accordingly, we, the undersigned, endorse the Schiller Institute’s call for governments to withdraw from NATO, and initiate conferences for a new international security and development architecture in the tradition of the Peace of Westphalia.

Dec. 5, 2025 (EIRNS)—Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and International Peace Coalition initiator, opened the 131st consecutive meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) with news of encouraging developments, beginning with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to India. She said that the soul of Yevgeny Primakov must be happy right now, because the China-India-Russia relationship is flourishing, despite “the efforts of the imperial forces of the world” to divide them. She described this as a setback for “global NATO.”

On the other hand, the “most outrageous and infamous development” of the past days was the efforts of the Financial Times to sabotage the negotiations for ending the Ukraine War, by running the interview with Italian Vice Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone musing about a preemptive strike against Russia.

There are other crisis spots. In Venezuela, Russia may provide military support if it is requested, while Marco Rubio is ranting about Venezuela having a relationship to Hezbollah. The conflict between China and Japan is heating up, and the Israeli assault on Gaza is clearly not over. All these conflicts are extremely worrisome, and highlight the importance of “getting rid of geopolitics for good” with the ideas found in her Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture.

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), opened with a joke, aimed at Vice Admiral Dragone: Italy now has a new tank with five gears: four reverse gears, and one forward gear in case of an attack from the rear. He added that the Ukraine war is essentially over; the Ukrainians may persist and lose an additional 50,000 troops, but the result will be the same as if it were ended now. McGovern hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump has come to realize this. He commented on the narcissism evident in Trump’s repeated demand that he be given a Nobel Peace Prize.

He described it as “a big deal” that Putin gave an interview in India, in which he said that his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi lasted five hours and was “a meaningful, substantive, and highly productive conversation.”

An AI video shared by Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which moderator Anastasia Battle described as “super fun,” was presented. It portrayed an imagined dialogue between Dmitri Mendeleev and Thomas Edison on the theme of the “Putin-Trump tunnel” under the Bering Strait and its potential global effects.

Another video was featured, a video interview conducted by the Schiller Institute’s Harley Schlanger with Avi Shlaim, professor at Oxford University, historian, and author of The Iron Wall and his autobiography, Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab Jew. Shlaim said that he had been reluctant to use the word “genocide” to describe what Israel is doing to Gaza, but the turning point for him was when Israel suspended all humanitarian aid to Gazans. He said that “the Trump peace plan is not a peace plan,” although it is a positive initiative, but it is essentially “a colonial plan for control of the Gaza Strip,” where decisions would be made by foreigners, aided by “Quislings” within the Palestinian community. There are no provisions for any elections or democracy. Looking back on the past decades, he said that “with the assassination of Rabin, hope was lost, and there was nothing to replace it.”

In response, Zepp-LaRouche expressed the hope that Trump’s visit with President Xi Jinping could produce an agreement on building the Oasis Plan, in which case “Trump would deserve not one Nobel Peace Prize, but two!” She renewed her plea for the U.S. to choose cooperation with China, rather than confrontation.

McGovern described the involvement of Jared Kushner in the Ukraine negotiations as a “salutary development,” because it may indicate a realization on Trump’s part of the economic benefits of a negotiated peace. He described Russia and China as being “united as never before.” Since Trump cannot realistically contemplate a military conquest of China, an attack on Venezuela could be a face-saving demonstration of U.S. military might, similar to Reagan’s invasion of the island of Grenada.

A participant sent in a question: would the IPC consider expanding the Bering Strait tunnel into a regional development zone, a “transcontinental world trade village”? Co-moderator Dennis Small recapitulated the Schiller Institute’s history of proposals for the “World Land-Bridge Network,” which would produce such development zones in conjunction with rail development all over the world. We can “leverage” the conflict hot spots around the world to make this happen, he said, since economic development is a necessary prerequisite to real peace. Helga Zepp-LaRouche developed her late husband’s concept of the “development corridor.” Time is increasingly a factor in economic activity, and transportation infrastructure tremendously accelerates commerce.

Organizing Reports

Alan Rivera presented images of the field deployments of the Mexican organization, with displays of a world map that is Pacific-centered rather than the typical Atlantic-centered maps. The display advocates for the BRICS and shows the opportunity for major development projects.

Purnima Anand, who is President of the BRICS International Forum in New Delhi, India, reported on the visit of Putin to her country and his successful meeting with President Modi. She described that nearly 10,000 youth participated in the youth forum and pledged the cooperation of her organization with the Schiller Institute and IPC. Zepp-LaRouche responded by saying that if the young people from around the world can come together, “there is no mountain that cannot be moved.” She invited Anand and all others to take part in the upcoming youth conference of the Schiller Institute.

Christoph Mohs described the mobilization of young people in Germany against the proposed military draft there, showing images of the protests with thousands of students. There were protests in 90 cities across Germany. What was lacking, he said, was a positive vision for the future.

Discussion

Frequent participant John Steinbach lamented the financialization of the economy which ensued after the repeal of Glass-Steagall under Bill Clinton. He remarked that we need to go back to an emphasis on “making things, rather than making money.” Zepp-LaRouche, in response, agreed that the collapse of the financial system is a question of “when,” not “if.” She said that solution requires the Four Laws of Lyndon LaRouche, including the restoration of Glass-Steagall.

A former AfD parliamentarian from Germany decried the war propaganda in his country, reminding his countrymen of the sacrifices Russia made during WWII, and described how he had made public comments to that effect and became a center of controversy. Zepp-LaRouche congratulated him for speaking out, noting that the failure of citizens to speak out is what enabled the Nazis to come to power in Germany.

A Libertarian Party activist in Oregon described an antiwar coalition he is building in that state, and how they successfully defeated a pro-war Republican, making them a one term congressman.

In response to another question, Zepp-LaRouche noted the upcoming 250th anniversary of American independence and called for a second American Revolution, for the U.S. to “find its way back to its own ideas.”

In conclusion, Zepp-LaRouche warned that despite the good news of Putin’s meeting with Modi, Europe is still in the pit of a drive for more war, and there will be no solution until we eliminate “the root cause, which is geopolitics.”

The following article by Helga Zepp-LaRouche was published today on CGTN:

The fourth visit of Emmanuel Macron in his capacity as president of France comes at a moment of strategic turmoil at several crisis spots around the world, on which China and France don’t have identical views. But since the strategic stability in the world requires stable and mutually beneficial relations between China and the European Union, Macron’s visit could help to improve the overall dynamics.

France has a special importance for China ever since several leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC), such as Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, studied in France in the early 20th century. At that time, some 4,000 Chinese young men went to France to study, inspired by the wish to modernize China. Many of them went to study and work in the city of Montargis. Deng Xiaoping was among them. It is there that politicized by the Russian revolution, they decided, in discussion with Mao Zedong, to launch the CPC in 1921.

Such a historical foundation of relations could be beneficial when Europe is struggling for its true identity, divided between the so-called Coalition of the Willing — those who want to continue the war in Ukraine, and the countries that see the advantage of strengthening relations with the BRICS countries as a whole, such as Spain, Italy, Portugal, Iceland, Hungary and Slovakia.

France has gone through five different prime ministers in the last two years, while Macron’s approval rating has recently hit a historic low of below 20 percent. The country is overindebted, and has difficulties agreeing on a budget for the coming year, due to social cuts in various areas. Macron therefore will seek to improve cooperation in economic and trade matters, encouraging more investments from Chinese companies and improved market access for French exports.

During the visit, officials from both nations are expected to sign several agreements in the energy, food industry and aviation sectors.

Given the ambitious orientation of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), with its emphasis on innovation as the driver of the economy, the increased budget for basic research and development and advances in so-called disruptive technologies will open potentially interesting perspectives for more cooperation with France.

France has traditionally been a leading country in aviation, space, nuclear energy and fusion technology, but in recent years has been falling behind. Cooperation with China in these fields could be a welcome boost for the French economy to overcome its present difficulties.

This could also involve third countries. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, where more than 30 states including China are cooperating, is located in south of France. It is an excellent example of international cooperation in the high-tech sector, benefiting all participating states.

The recent opening of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia is another example of such multinational cooperation and successful joint ventures in third countries. For this project, Chinese, Ethiopian, Italian and French firms cooperated successfully to not only provide electricity to Ethiopia, but also to enable it to export electricity to neighboring countries.

With European economies being interwoven, the French economic difficulties are closely related to those of the other European economies, especially Germany’s. The head of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) has just published a report, describing the national German economy as being in “free fall.”

According to BDI President Peter Leibinger, the German economy is “experiencing its deepest crisis since the founding of the Federal Republic,” and he expects production to slump by two percent this year, marking the fourth consecutive year of decline.

With France and Germany, the two largest economies of Europe which are closely tied and both in an existential crisis, Macron’s visit could potentially represent a turning point. China’s success and breakthroughs in many of the most advanced high-tech areas could be an inspiration for Europe. They offer many areas of cooperation, particularly in Africa.

It will also be important to improve and upgrade people-to-people relations, especially an increased exchange of youth, since the young people of Europe can benefit from the optimistic outlook of the young people in China.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on X to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.)

Today in the afternoon U.S. Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to meet in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin, toward confirming terms that can be the basis of settlement of the Ukraine conflict. This follows upon the four-hour meeting yesterday between U.S. leaders, and the Ukrainian delegation—headed by Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, which took place at Witkoff’s Florida golf and residential club. No definitive break nor resolution has come about for either success or failure of this process of U.S. engagement in talks, but the process is valuable, and reality has a way of intervening.

There is no use-value in prognosticating about exactly when and what may result at any exact time in this diplomatic process, which itself is nevertheless useful, in large part because of the context of reality asserting itself. Ukraine cannot continue with the mortal losses it is suffering in being used by the Western geopolitical interests as a proxy against Russia. That is the reality. Demanding Ukraine continue warfare, when a resolution can be found, is immoral insanity.

On display in Brussels today, at the EU Foreign Affairs Council (Defense) meeting of ministers, was exactly that: immoral insanity. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas gave a mad-woman speech about how Europe must continue to back Ukraine to the hilt, and moreover, continue itself to arm and make ready against Russia. She boasted that Europe has already contributed $187 billion to Ukraine, and must continue such support. She praised the Netherlands for announcing it will build an arms production center in Ukraine. She praised the specific EU war preparation programs, “Defense Readiness Roadmap” and the “Military Mobility Package.”

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone (Italy) went even further. In an interview with London’s Financial Times on Dec. 1, Admiral Dragone said that even a pre-emptive strike against Russia is among the many things NATO is thinking about. Though he said, as a feint, that such a strike “is further away from our normal way of thinking and behavior,” Dragone nevertheless clearly raised the prospect as a favorable option.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, leader of the Schiller Institute, today denounced this kind of madness among “top European leaders,” reporting, “we are run by madmen.” Characterizing the world situation, she stressed that, “we have a strategic picture of maximum tension, dangers and potentials,” and the situation “requires our intervention.”

The actions of NATO can be described as “institutionalized madness.” NATO Director General Mark Rutte met with Kallas today at the time of the EU Foreign Affairs ministers meeting, supporting her crazed declarations. Moreover, Rutte spoke on Dec. 1 with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, in a 20-minute call, pledging what amounts to Global NATO expansion. Takaichi’s office afterward issued a read out, reporting: “Takaichi highlighted that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific is inseparable and cooperation between Japan-NATO and NATO-IP4 (Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea) is strategically important. In response, Secretary-General Rutte supported such views, and both leaders concurred on working together to elevate our cooperative relationship to new heights through concrete cooperation….”

Zepp-LaRouche took the gloves off against NATO in an interview with the China Media Group, broadcast widely on CGTN Dec. 1. She identified the expansion of NATO as the fundamental cause triggering the Ukraine conflict, and then painted the broad picture. “Although NATO claims its original intention was peaceful, after the military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and other countries, NATO’s so-called ‘peaceful conduct’ becomes untenable.”

She pointed to the solution, addressing Europe, but with a point universally applicable. “Overall, I think we need to achieve a transformation in the way of thinking in Europe, because wherever you look, whether it’s Venezuela, the Middle East, or Ukraine, all these conflicts would become much easier to resolve if Western countries could change their mindset, turn to cooperation with Global South countries and the global majority, and return to diplomacy.”

Note, as of the time of preparation of this item, that a White House meeting is underway this evening, commissioned by President Donald Trump to provide him “options” for further action in the Caribbean against Venezuela. The prospects are grim, given the known stance for brute force by the advisers he has assembled.

This is the time to expand interventions of all kinds for reason and diplomacy, not warfare. The weekly International Peace Coalition Meeting, serving international collaboration, is Dec. 5, at 11:00 a.m. (ET).

“Many people are well aware that the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a consequence of NATO’s eastward expansion and its deployment of offensive weapon systems around Russia. Russia’s early warning time could be as short as five minutes. Russia has repeatedly stated this. From the perspective of Russia’s national security, this is unacceptable,” said Zepp-LaRouche.

She said that the outbreak of the conflict involves profound factors including geopolitics, security concerns, and historical and cultural identity. NATO’s eastward expansion, gradually approaching Russia, has intensified Russia’s security apprehensions, particularly given NATO’s actions in regions like the Middle East over recent decades that have plunged many countries into turmoil.

“Although NATO claims its original intention was peaceful, after the military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and other countries, NATO’s so-called ‘peaceful conduct’ becomes untenable,” Zepp-LaRouche said.

Zepp-LaRouche said that Europe needs to change its mindset and resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict through diplomatic channels, rather than continuously increasing military and financial support to Ukraine as is currently happening, which does not contribute to conflict resolution.

“Overall, I think we need to achieve a transformation in the way of thinking in Europe, because wherever you look, whether it’s Venezuela, the Middle East, or Ukraine, all these conflicts would become much easier to resolve if Western countries could change their mindset, turn to cooperation with Global South countries and the global majority, and return to diplomacy,” she said.

The 130^th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition took place on November 28. Schiller Institute Founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened the meeting with a survey of turmoil in the world, listing the conflict zones including Ukraine, Gaza, Venezuela, and the emerging conflict between Japan and China. She noted that retired German General Harald Kujat has called on the UK, France and Germany to endorse the recently leaked 28 point proposal for a resolution of the war in Ukraine. President Trump’s administration is divided, with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff favoring diplomacy, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio adamantly opposing the peace proposal. Those betting on a regime change in Russia “should think twice,” she said, because Putin enjoys the support of the Russian population and “Putin is an unbelievably patient and diplomatically-oriented person” whom we should prefer as a negotiating partner.

On the Gaza question, she observed that US policy continues to be terrible, although eleven US senators are now calling for an investigation into Israeli war crimes.

Zepp-LaRouche took note of some recent acts by President Trump, including his statement that he intends to”permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries” following the shootings of two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., and Trump’s unfounded remarks about Whites being persecuted in South Africa, asserting that the country would not be invited to the 2026 G20 summit in Miami, which the United States is set to host. Trump has also revoked the visa for former South African International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor,  who has spoken at IPC and Schiller Institute events.

On the hopeful side, she cited President Putin’s initiative for a new strategic architecture, which he has framed not as a challenge to the West but as a blueprint for a polycentric world order grounded in balance, anchored in organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS.  She said that President Putin’s formulation is essentially the same as her own proposal for a new strategic architecture, as well as Xi Jinping’s Global Security and Global Governance Initiatives.

Richard Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories from 2008 to 2014, began by saying that Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s remarks were “very much in keeping with my own world-view.” He reported on the activities of the Gaza People’s Tribunal, which he called “an important civil society initiative” in response to the failure of the UN and international organizations to enforce the rulings of the International Court of Justice. He explained that these international organizations are unable to take on the “winners of World War II,” leading to a paralysis of the UN and kindred organizations. Veto power gives the most powerful states in the world an exemption from international law, which he said has “really made a mockery of the ‘never again’ pledge after the Holocaust.” The UNSC resolution on Gaza displayed a shocking disregard for what has been done to the Palestinians, and represents “a deception of hard-power geopolitics.” He expressed similar disdain for Trump’s purported “peace plan” for Gaza.

H.E. Amb. Abdullah Shawesh, of the Embassy of the Palestinian State to New Delhi, declared that sympathy for the Palestinians is fine, but we must “change the reality on the ground… everyone in the world can be a game-changer.” One practical measure which he endorsed was that individuals can back the boycott of Israeli businesses and institutions.

Zepp-LaRouche responded that we will continue to fight for the Oasis Plan, and create an international audience for it. To move people we must present a hopeful vision of the future. All of the crises we are discussing are “only symptoms of the collapsing order of the last 500 years,” and regional crises cannot be solved without a new strategic architecture.

John Steinbach, coordinator of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Committee of the of the National Capital Area praised Richard Falk for his role in history. He added that the neocons have urged the use of tactical nuclear weapons, an insanely reckless policy. Steinbach echoed Falk’s opposition to Trump’s so-called peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a plan which he described as “isolated concentration camps within a large concentration camp.” Israeli policy is run by the followers of Meir Kahane and Baruch Goldstein, Steinbach said.

In response to Steinbach and Zepp-LaRouche, Falk concurred that we need a “new framework to manage global security,” a “new architecture.”

EIR Ibero-American Editor Dennis Small offered good news, which is that there exists a “clear economic pathway to resolve the underlying problems.” The answer, he said, was to return to the 1933 Glass-Steagall standard. In the US today, four major banks hold the bulk of financial derivatives. The Federal Reserve’s policy of Quantitative Easing bails this out, and does not rescue useful banking activity. Deposits from the Fed vastly outstrip the loans issued by banks, and the few loans that are actually going out are not for productive lending, but rather for more derivatives speculation. He described how Mexico’s banking system is run by Wall Street and the City of London, and how the Chicago Board of Trade is the global nerve center for derivatives trading. Compare China, he said, where the government regulates finance to ensure that almost all credit goes to actual production. He concluded by asserting that to save our banking system, we must write off over $2 quadrillion in derivatives.

Alberto Vizcarra of Mexico, adviser of the National Front for Saving Mexican Agriculture, analyzed the effects of financial speculation on Mexico’s agricultural sector. Protests and activism, such as the blocking of major highways in 17 states across Mexico, have begun to move the Mexican government to change the mechanisms which are oppressing Mexico’s farmers. The BRICS alliance is proposing international cooperation by producers to combat the influence of the Chicago Board of Trade.

Discussion

A Nigerian asked Zepp-LaRouche how to combat the smuggling of materials in Africa that are related to nuclear weapons production, as well as posing a more general question about how to solve the global crisis. Zepp-LaRouche, on the question of smuggling, said that this is up to governments, and that perhaps a regional security agreement could be reached to deal with the problem. On the broader issue, she reiterated that we are in a transition from the collapsing old order to something different, and that “we need a lot more discussion of the principles of the new order.”

Dennis Small returned to the question of how to envision and create a brighter future, utilizing human creativity which coheres with the natural progression toward higher ordering principles; “Optimism is the law of the universe,” he said, referencing Lyndon LaRouche’s Four Laws.A way out of the present turmoil exists; our job is to guide our fellow citizens to take advantage of it.

Join Helga Zepp-LaRouche in her live dialogue and discuss the issues and solutions that move the world and its people. Send your questions, comments, and reports to questions@schillerinstitute.org or post them in the next live stream.

What sort of madness would lead people, in the face of the collapse of nearly every single global arms control and verification treaty—today only New START remains, until it too expires in February 2026—to explicitly and publicly propose to further proliferate nuclear weapons to the nations of Germany, Japan, and Canada? To argue that this will “strengthen the global order,” and provide “dependable protection against the threats of regional foes, such as China and Russia”?

The madness of those who speak for the bankrupt London-New York financial Establishment, is who, including their policy mouthpieces, such as Foreign Affairs magazine of the New York Council on Foreign Relations.

What sort of madness would cause them to propose to give nuclear weapons to a Germany which, under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, has announced it is girding for war against Russia within years, at most? To argue for nuclear arms to be under the control of a Takaichi government in Japan, which has just announced it could take military action against China to defend Taiwan?

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova drew out the implications of such madness: “We know how Japanese militarism ended. It would be good if those politicians who come to govern Japan remember this, understand where irresponsible statements lead, and refrain from making them.”

This is the same madness which is driving London and its European allies apoplectic over U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest effort to return U.S.-Russian negotiations over Ukraine to the approach both sides had agreed upon in the Aug. 15 Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage, Alaska. They are describing those efforts as “nauseating,” “worse than we thought,” and a “nightmare”—all because Trump and Putin have agreed that the issues which caused the war in the first place must be addressed.

It is also the madness behind Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s obsession with overthrowing the Maduro government in Venezuela, in order to embroil the Trump administration in another bloody forever war of exactly the sort he promised to never launch.

All of this is the madness borne of the desperation of the owners of the financially bankrupt system, who are trying to keep their system afloat through wars and economic looting—when it is no longer possible to do so.

The cure for the problem is therefore at hand. Lyndon LaRouche’s 2014 Four New Laws To Save the U.S.A. Now! Not an Option: An Immediate Necessity begins by stating bluntly:

“The economy of the United States of America, and also that of the trans-Atlantic political-economic regions of the planet, are, now, under the immediate, mortal danger of a general, physical-economic, chain-reaction breakdown-crisis of that region of this planet as a whole.”

The pathway LaRouche specified leading to the reorganization of the global physical economy around scientific drivers such as fusion energy and space colonization, begins with a return to the 1933 Glass-Steagall law of FDR. This would put the $2 quadrillion in speculative assets today asphyxiating the Western financial system through bankruptcy reorganization, and open the door to issuing productive credit in volumes needed to create physical economic conditions worthy of the dignity of Man—all 8 billion plus of us!

That is sanity.