by EIR staff

April 24—The International Peace Coalition (IPC) commenced its 151st consecutive weekly online meeting with an overview by Schiller Institute founder and IPC initiator Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who noted that the Chinese government has called upon its citizens to leave Iran, which may mean that they have information on the immanent resumption of the war with United States and Israel. The continuous two month blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has been caused by this unprovoked war of aggression against Iran, has put the world in acute danger of falling into an economic depression with incredible social consequences. There are already severe shortages of oil, energy prices are increasing, and shortages of fertilizer are endangering the world’s food supply.

Zepp-LaRouche said that there is an urgent need to establish a New International Security and Development Architecture which takes account of the interests of all nations. Although that idea had been dismissed by many in the past, she said, now that the world is collapsing that idea is gaining resonance and people are beginning to ask how international relations among nations can be reestablished based upon principles. The only institution which has called for a such a principled return to international law, other than the Schiller Institute and the IPC, is the government of China which has put forward its four global initiatives, in particular its Global Governance Initiative, which is a framework of how to rearrange international relations based on the UN Charter and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

Other consequences of the collapse of the present system include the Persian Gulf states, which had a business model where they relied on the presence of American bases to guarantee their security, but as it turns out, the United States only protects Israel. These countries are now in a very difficult position, she said, feeling the economic effects of the war. There is an urgent need to discuss: what do we do with this region of Southwest Asia when the war ends? Zepp-LaRouche said that for this reason, the Schiller Institute has put forward an Extended Oasis Plan for the region; the creation of large amounts of new fresh water with nuclear desalination of ocean water brought in by canals; the building of economic development corridors extending from India to the Mediterranean, from the Caucuses to the Persian Gulf.

Pope Leo XIV’s trip to Africa has been a very significant development, she said. In the United States, support for President Donald Trump is rapidly declining, even among his MAGA base. Since the U.S. Congress abdicated the right to declare war, “it is their urgent responsibility to take it back.”

María de los Ángeles Huerta del Río, former Congresswoman from Mexico, warned that most important wars of the 21st Century are fought not with drones and missiles, but with algorithms and the battlefield is the human mind. This is called “hybrid warfare.” Ultraconservative think tanks like the Atlas Network are linked with Silicon Valley tech giants and legions of propaganda influencers. Latin America has become a testing ground for these techniques. We need instead to make it into a zone of “cognitive peace.”  She proposed that the nations of this region reassert the role of national media to combat propaganda, and that they join forces in these endeavors in a “South-South” alliance to stand up to the power of the global media giants, an alliance for “cognitive sovereignty and digital justice.”

Dennis Fritz, U.S. Air Force Command Chief Master Sergeant (ret.) and current Senior Fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network, spoke as a military man who has seen the inner workings of the Pentagon. He said that he has been warning about the Iran war which is happening right now for decades. “How did I know it was coming? I saw the plan” and it goes back to 1992. Retired U.S. four-star General Wesley Clark revealed that after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks he was told by a Pentagon general of the plan for the United States to take out seven countries within five years. “We are the cause of the majority of the problems around the world,” Fritz said. We claim to stand for democracy and freedom, but we destroy those things around the world. We started a war in Ukraine, at the expense of Ukraine, to weaken Russia. The entire world is being held hostage to an economic disaster, due to a war that we started in Iran. We are currently blockading Cuba, starving women and children. The huge sums of money we spend on war could have enormous benefits to the civilian economy.

Zepp-LaRouche responded that the idea of billionaires becoming trillionaires through war profiteering must become a topic of public debate.

Independent U.S. presidential candidate Diane Sare said that she has been in a fight to get the U.S. Congress to assume the responsibility for declaring war, as the Constitution requires in Article I, Section 8. We see partisan posturing; Democrats hope that the war continues so that Trump and the Republicans will be held responsible on election day. Sare and congressional candidate Jose Vega—who has qualified for ballot status as a Democrat and is now petitioning to also get on the ballot as an independent in New York’s 15th congressional district (the Bronx)— are pulling together a coalition of independent candidates across the United States. Regarding the physical economy, she said, “Let’s get real.” We used to understand the relationship between maintaining our infrastructure and meeting the needs of the population.

Mike Callicrate, Kansas cattle rancher and founder of Ranch Foods Direct, warned that we cannot feed ourselves currently, we have lost more than half our ranchers, and we import food from poor countries. “Global food policy should protect people, not predators.”

Jack Gilroy, of Veterans for Peace and Pax Christi, reported on a visit to Washington D.C., where 150 individuals from 5 or 6 different veterans’ organizations went into the U.S. Capitol Rotunda bearing red tulips for the people killed in Iran. Seventy U.S. veterans were arrested as they stood at parade rest.

Larry Johnson is a former CIA analyst and Deputy Director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Counterterrorism from 1989 to 1993. He said that Trump is delusional about his accomplishments and shows lack of emotional control. This is particularly apparent in Trump’s attacks on his former supporters like American conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and former Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (from Georgia’s 14th Congressional District) who have become his critics. The petulant name-calling is what we might expect from a twelve-year-old. At the recent emergency meeting on Iran, Trump began to openly talk about using a nuclear weapon, according to multiple sources. Later in public statements he ruled out the use of nukes, and we hope that he remembers that he said that. Trump said that he is waiting for a specific proposal from Iran, when Iran’s ten-point plan proposal was sent ten days ago. The United States does not have enough ships to have a full blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, despite the claims that they are making.

Johnson said that neither the Iranians nor the Americans appreciate the global consequences of closing the Strait. Those consequences are beginning to be seen now. In particular, the disruption of supplies of urea for fertilizer will devastate world food production. People in our government who are responsible for anticipating and addressing this impending crisis are clueless.

Independent presidential candidate Diane Sare recalled that President Joe Biden was senile, but everyone pretended he was fine, as he pursued a policy of war and genocide. Now Trump continues Biden’s policies, and Trump is also losing his mind, while public figures pretend that his behavior is normal.

LaRouche Organization organizer Tim Rush reported on the activity of delegations of citizens who visited Congress on April 22, reaching roughly 40 offices of leading members of the House of Representatives to hand-deliver letters, both from their constituents, and from leaders of other nations, who emphasized that “it’s a question of world heritage that the founding principles of the United States must be revived.” Co-moderator Dennis Small read from a selection of these international letters, including from a 90-year-old nun in Barcelona, Spain. In response, Zepp-LaRouche sent special greetings to this nun, and called attention to the exemplary role of Spain in the current strategic situation. She said that she hoped that the people of Spain would “encourage the idea” of Spain being kicked out of NATO.

Discussion

Mike Callicrate stressed the importance of restoring a relationship between farmers and ranchers, and the communities in which they operate. Global agribusinesses have strangled food production and created food scarcity.

A participant asked, What if Iran were to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as a benevolent gesture, in the expectation of fairness. Is this thinkable? Zepp-LaRouche replied that the questioner should put herself in the shoes of Iranian leaders who have no reason to trust the United States or Israel, and they must look out for the safety and welfare of their citizens. Dennis Small reminded the meeting that it is actually the United States which is presently blocking the Strait.

A Spanish participant stressed the injustice of the U.S. siege of Cuba, a nation which has often demonstrated solidarity with other developing nations.

In concluding remarks, Zepp-LaRouche stated that the need to unite the international peace movement is more urgent than ever. She referred to the presentation by former Congresswoman María de los Ángeles Huerta del Río as being particularly important, since the issue of “narrative control” has emerged as central in the struggle for peace.

April 17—A highly successful seminar on “China-Europe Dialogue on Global Governance as well as Civilizational Exchange and Mutual Learning,” organized by the Schiller Institute and the Beijing-based Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies (ACCWS) was held in Berlin on April 15. Prominent speakers from Germany and China took the podium and engaged in a dialogue, articulated in two panels, moderated by Stephan Ossenkopp from the Schiller Institute and by Hu Yajuan from the ACCWS.

The event was opened by Gao Anming, editor of the China International Communications Group (CICG), Schiller Institute founder and leader Helga Zepp-LaRouche, and Ms. Yang Chengcheng, minister-counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Berlin.

Gao started his speech by referring to Friedrich Schiller’s Ode to Joy poem. He described the current world situation as characterized by “changes and tensions.” “Power politics poses the biggest challenge since World War II, and a China-Europe dialogue can be a factor of stability.” The construction of a true multilateralism to shape the future of humanity and reform the financial architecture is the task ahead of us. Gao emphasized the importance of the decision, incorporated in China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, to increase the “step-by-step opening” of the Chinese economy. He concluded his speech by calling for deepening reciprocal knowledge, as Leibniz had done 300 years ago.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche started with the positive note that the world has the chance to overcome 500 years of colonialism and should not take the ongoing epochal change as a threat. She chastised the Western attitude of looking at China with “augmented-reality spectacles,” not seeing the tremendous achievement China has made since 1971, when she first visited the country. She then went into the immediate task ahead, of solving conflicts, starting with Southwest Asia, where, if a nuclear war does not break out, there must be an “enlarged Oasis Plan” that includes Africa. The Schiller Institute has produced a report on the perspectives of a tripartite Europe-China-Africa development strategy that is consistent with Africa’s own 2063 Agenda. The second edition of the report is available in a few advanced copies. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Global Governance Initiative also reflects principles laid out by the Schiller Institute’s own proposals. Not accidentally, the organization’s complete name is the “Schiller Institute, Association for Statecraft.”

Promising Perspectives of China-German Cooperation

Ms. Yang welcomed participants and outlined the promising perspectives of China-German cooperation. China’s economy grew 5% in the first quarter of 2026 and will further open itself to foreign investments, as it was stressed during German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Feb. 25-26 visit. She mentioned that BASF had opened the world’s most modern chemical plant in China, as an example of the broad potential for cooperation between the world’s second- and third-largest economies.

The first panel, “Quality Opening as Engine of Global Governance,” was opened by ACCWS deputy director Fan Daqi, who briefly presented the result of a research paper by his institute. The paper shows the complementarity of the two economies and the perspective of cooperation in third state markets. He called for strengthening institutional guarantees. He was followed by Michael Bose, chairman of Automotive Berlin Brandenburg (ABB), who addressed the “complex interrelations” of the automobile industry. Comparing the German auto industry with the Chinese one today, he said, you must admit that the “teachers have become students.”

Shi Shiwei, director of the Research Center for German-Chinese Trade at China’s University of International Business and Economics, detailed the innovative sectors that are significant for Germany where investments should be directed according to the new Five-Year Plan.

Bernd Einmeier, chairman of the German-Chinese Society for Economy, Education and Culture, stated bluntly that “Germany has no idea of what China is.” He highlighted the high symbolism of the treatment given to Merz’s visit to China, as Chinese leaders agreed to receive him on the day of their most important traditional period, the New Year celebrations.

Oliver Lubich, sales manager at Hainan Airlines in Berlin, said that the potential for air traffic between the German capital and Hainan is much larger than the 55 flights currently established by treaty.

At the end of the panel, moderated by Ossenkopp, the speakers joined the podium for two rounds of questions. Importantly, Einmeier pointed to the different quality of teaching in Germany’s dual-purpose vocational schools, and proposed to integrate Germany’s and China’s educational methods. Director Shi criticized the EU 2030 strategy, which is “focused on only one thing,” namely decarbonization.

The second panel, “Civilizational Exchange and Mutual Learning,” was moderated by Hu Yajuan and was opened by Michael Müller, former mayor of Berlin and member of the Bundestag, the German parliament. Müller recalled how he had opposed the idea of “decoupling” from China when the issue was discussed in German political circles, and is happy that it has been rejected. “We should discuss not if, but how to develop cooperation,” he said. His experience as mayor tells him that a lot can be done with partnerships at the municipal level. Another field where cooperation can advance is science. The third issue is BRICS: it is a reality which one must face. Fourth, climate and demography. “There is not one single crisis which either we or China, alone, can solve.” Müller insisted that in a partnership, both parties must have the right also to address critical aspects.

Reason as a Precondition for Learning

Cord Eberspächer, a sinologist and historian at Bonn University, informed the audience that Confucius insisted that “the right content of terms” must be clarified before starting a dialogue. Another way to say this is “reason as precondition,” a curiosity for learning which was key in Leibniz’s fundamental work on China. Unfortunately, this does not occur today. Dialogue is meant differently in China and the West. The West believes that its idea of values is the right one, Eberspächer said in a veiled answer to Müller. So, when Germany sells cars to every country in the world it is called “successful export economy,” but when the Chinese do the same thing, it is called “overcapacity.”

Zhou Hengxiang, Germanist and author, addressed the issue of differences between the German and the Chinese system of law. He gave the example of how the German terms “person” and “man” (human being) are merged in one single term in the Chinese system, thus making it less “clean” to extend the legal term from human beings to corporations, etc.

Rainer Dumpff, CEO of Dumpff Project Management, reported about his decades-long experience in China, from where, as a young man, he wanted to know China in two weeks and soon realized that that was impossible. Among other occupations, he has worked with the aeronautic industry and has represented the Dresdner Musikfestspiele (musical festival) in China.

Yuan Jie, Germanist and columnist, highlighted the recent positive shift in the German government attitude toward China, mentioning statements by Industry Minister Katherina Reiche in a video connection to the inauguration of the BASF plant mentioned above, Merz’s statements on the eve of his visit to China, burying decoupling forever, and the German International Chamber of Commerce calling China “a reliable partner.”

In the following podium’s interviews with the panelists, the question was posed: Where do prejudices come from? Eberspächer, among others, said they come from ignorance, and joined the call for more learning about China in schools.

The event was judged by all participants as a promising starting point toward a paradigmatic change in Germany (Europe)-China relations.

Join the 151st meeting of the International Peace Coalition, Friday, April 24, 11 am ET/ 5 pm CET.

The International Peace Coalition (IPC) arrived at its 150th consecutive weekly meeting on Friday, April 17. The session was opened by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and IPC initiator. She described the current strategic juncture as one where “the world is vacillating between hope and Hell.” The ceasefire in Lebanon seems to have taken effect. The effort to invoke the War Powers Act in the U.S. Congress was defeated by only a very narrow margin, which indicates a sea change underway there, when compared to previous recent attempts. 

Turning to the economic picture, she reported that shortages of food in France might be enough to “cause a second French Revolution.” German industry is just vanishing like a “Summer Sale.” “We could have a repeat of 2008 at any moment,” she warned, where the rising oil prices could trigger a collapse of the debt bubble. We need a global Glass-Steagall reorganization of the financial system, to compliment the proposed Oasis Plan and the World Landbridge.

Diane Sare, independent U.S. presidential candidate, spoke next. Referring to her recent statement, she said, “We can’t afford posturing, we have to actually prevent an escalation,” and called for the U.S. Congress to withhold funding for the war—which is how the Vietnam War was brought to an end—rather than seeking election-campaign drama with an impeachment, or invocation of the 25th Amendment. She said that in her conversations with elected officials, she often hears the lament, “I can’t do anything, I’m only a Congressman”—but the Congress has the power of the purse. The War Powers Act, which has been the subject of partisan battles, gives the President 60 days in which to ask Congress for permission and funding—we are now at day 49.  

Sare concluded by saying, “The President clearly is insane.” She analyzed Trump’s latest tweet spasm, marveling at the wacky hyperbole. She said she was heartened by the fact that Democratic Representative Ro Khanna (from California’s 17th congressional district) and former Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene (from Georgia’s 14th congressional district) have agreed to a dialogue. This could provide relief from what Sare called the “super emotional hyped-up partisan bickering” that dominates American politics, and exemplifies the “dramatically shifting political terrain.” Sare and congressional candidate Jose Vega—who has qualified for ballot status as a Democrat and is now petitioning to also get on the ballot as an independent in New York’s 15th congressional district (the Bronx)—are now working with 15-20 independent candidates. These candidates need our input, because they are poorly educated on economics.

Dr. Abdullah Al-Ahsan,  Islamic scholar and Pakistani Professor of Comparative Civilization, told the meeting, “I was so optimistic when the campuses woke up” in opposition to the Israeli genocide, but the protests were suppressed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims to represent Western civilization, but what is that, really? Zionism’s second leader, Chaim Weizmann, openly sided “with the mind-set of British colonialist mentality.”

Garland Nixon, veteran progressive radio and television talk show host, said that there is “a learning process” for Americans. Some people say “it’s all about Israel” doing bad things, if we could get them under control we could fix the other problems. Others say that Israel is a “cat’s paw” for the United States, they can do things that we want done but don’t wish to do ourselves, and we can pretend we can’t control them. “Israel is just a small piece of the puzzle,” he said, in the larger effort of the U.S. empire to dominate the world. Americans who voted for President Donald Trump are angry: “We voted for economic development, and we got war instead of economic development.” He concluded by raising the issue of morality in foreign policy.

Zepp-LaRouche responded: “Since you addressed the issue of morality, I am very happy that the Pope is taking the role he’s taking.” She had recently published an open letter to the pontiff. “Our western civilization is collapsing, and it is collapsing morally,” she said, adding that privileges for millionaires and billionaires at the expense of everyone else, and the debased sexual activities exposed in the Epstein scandal, are both consistent with that. We need a revival of classical culture, not as art for art’s sake, but for reviving real morality. China’s democracy is much better than the Western model, because they have cultural morality as a goal.

Dr. Al-Ahsan referenced the 14th century Arab philosopher Ibn Khaldoun, who emphasized economic development as a result of human cooperation. In his time, we did not have the compartmentalization of knowledge that we have today. 

Dennis Small shared results of the IPC mobilization to pressure Congress to stop funding the war, as demanded by Diane Sare. For the past 150 weeks, we have had 200-300 people from 30 to 45 nations engaged with IPC. We need those people to mobilize, and get your messages in to the U.S. Congress. A former Minister of Justice and Human Rights in Ecuador wrote a letter to the U.S. Congress. A director of an Italian cultural institute wrote a letter in which he said that “European public opinion and Italian public opinion is watching with dismay.”

General Discussion Period

Zepp-LaRouche emphasized to the participants, “Please do not make the mistake to relax and say, “everything is in order.” This could be the lull before the storm. “We could be at the end of civilization in a matter of days.”

Co-moderator Dennis Speed presented a video of a Catholic priest, speaking on the dispute between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV. He said that “Wars of Choice cannot be moral.” The utterances of the Trump administration cannot be reconciled with the “Just War” doctrine. “What has happened to our politics that such rhetoric can be normalized?”

Zepp-LaRouche added that the Pope is an Augustinian. If philosophy and faith arrive at the same conclusion, then there is no contradiction or conflict between science and faith. “I would just dare to have my own view on the issue of the Just War,” she added. In the era of nuclear weapons, any war can annihilate humanity, and therefore must be rejected as a means of resolving problems. “The idea that you must use violence to make your views heard… belongs to the realm of children’s diseases.”

Dr. Al-Ahsan added, “I don’t understand how a sane individual can keep silent” in the face of what is happening today, and endorsed the remarks of the Pope.

Zepp responded to a question about the Gospel of John, saying she is more prepared to talk about her husband’s conception of the Simultaneity of Eternity. She cited the revolutionary idea of 15th century Catholic Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, that Man, acting in Imago Vive Dei, must continue the process of creation.

An Argentinian/Italian scholar living in Colombia, informed the meeting about The Seville Statement on Violence, a scientific statement which says peace is possible, because war is  not a biological necessity. The Statement was written by an international team of specialists in 1986 for the United Nations sponsored International Year of Peace and its follow-up. Leading scientists debated whether violence is part of human nature, and concluded that it absolutely is not. It is learned from the outside. If violence can be learned, peace can be learned.

In response to questions from the participants about the role of Spain, Zepp-LaRouche said, “Spain has saved the honor of Europe by taking a very clear position against the genocide in Gaza.” If the Atlantic nations decided to cooperate with the Global South, rather than attempting to suppress those nations, we could solve the problems of the world overnight. This is the normal condition of human beings. “We are not condemned to be bestial.”In conclusion Zepp-LaRouche thanked the people who had called attention to the Seville Statement on violence, and voiced her opposition to the Manichean idea that good and evil must coexist. More statements and calls to the U.S. Congress are encouraged. If you would like to submit a statement for promotion contact anastasiammares@gmail.com

April 10—Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and convener of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), opened the IPC’s 149th meeting by discussing the ongoing peace negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan, which must reverse the global political and strategic “debacle” of the last week. She noted that, while U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to annihilate Iran and end its civilization, all while declaring victory for the United States in the ceasefire, the reality is much different. Iran clearly suffered significant damage and loss of life, but after all the bombing, its will remains unbroken. Any plan to split the Iranian population backfired, she said, and the country is more unified than ever. Iran is in full control of the Strait of Hormuz and wanted to demonstrate its ability to stand up to the United States, which it did.

Zepp-LaRouche continued, noting that the United States sought to show it is still a world leader but garnered little support, diminishing its power and prestige. The region is now in shambles, and the world is in disarray. Persian Gulf States no longer view U.S. military bases on their territory as a guarantee of protection; instead, their presence is now seen as a liability. The U.S. has not only endangered the entire region by starting the Iran War, but ultimately the entire world. Trump must now halt the war, as its continuation would threaten the global economy.

The erratic behavior of the United States, Zepp-LaRouche added, makes it uncertain what will happen next. She stated that Trump is the first U.S. president to act purely in the interest of Israel and that, with the exception of Spain and a few other countries, most Western leaders lacked the courage to challenge American policy. The “Coalition of the Willing” is still promoting war with Russia, which led Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova to say that Germany had not learned the lesson from two world wars. Zepp-LaRouche referenced a recent article by Pino Arlacchi—former Undersecretary-General of the UN and Director of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime who worked with the Taliban in 1999-2002 to successfully eliminate opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan—who suggested replacing the UN Security Council with a “peace enforcement mechanism” elected by the UN General Assembly. She referenced nuclear weapons experts such as Dr. Theodore Postol and Steven Starr, who both have warned that if one nation uses a nuclear weapon, many more nuclear weapons will be unleashed. Zepp-LaRouche warned that the entire architecture of the world order is collapsing, potentially resulting in chaos. However, she also suggested that a new order, based on reason and modeled after the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, is possible. She called for an Extended Oasis Plan for the different countries of Southwest Asia, reaching from India to the Mediterranean, from the Caucasus to the Gulf States—to determine which development corridors are most suitable to develop that region as a whole—given that the entire region is an expanding desert, that would have to involve the creation of new water sources. Zepp-LaRouche highlighted Pope Leo XIV’s  positive role in mobilizing people to stop the war.

The next speaker, Col. (ret.) Richard H. Black, former head of the U.S. Army’s  Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon and former Virginia state senator, warned of Israel’s role in keeping the war going. Black said that Israel’s goal is a permanent presence of U.S. troops on the ground, but that President Trump must maintain control over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Black added that U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have an “Israel First” agenda, and that almost the entire U.S. Congress is subservient to Israel. He stated that Israel’s assassination campaign in the Iran War has killed all of Iran’s senior pro-Western negotiators, who are now being replaced by hardliners, which will only prolong the war, a goal of Netanyahu.

Col. (ret.) Alain Corvez, former advisor to the French Defense and Interior Ministries said that Western hegemony is weakening due to the Iran War and that the world balance of power is shifting, predicting that BRICS nations, especially Russia, China, and Iran, will grow in influence. The United States will retain power but have less global influence and deeper divisions at home. Corvez said that both Trump and the Democrats have been unsuccessful in the U.S., and that Diane Sare’s independent U.S. presidential campaign offers a solution and will gain support.

Dialogue of Civilizations and Learning Our True History

Asked to comment, Helga Zepp-LaRouche called on Americans to reflect on their own history during this 250th year of independence, asserting that a return to the policies of Ben Franklin and John Quincy Adams would facilitate collaboration with the Global Majority. She stated that the sooner the West understands and works with the Global Majority, the sooner we can overcome the war and other crises facing humanity.

Pakistani-American academic, Dr. Abdullah Al-Ahsan, discussed the role of the former head of UK’s Arab Bureau, Bernard Lewis and his American sidekick Samuel Huntington in creating the Clash of Civilizations, noting that the government of Iran called for a Dialogue of Civilizations in the 1990s. Instead of pursuing this opening, however, the “War on Terror” was used to divide the world. Al-Ahsan said that civilizations can only thrive when people have dignity and society is based on truth-seeking. He warned that Pakistan is working for a ceasefire, but many of its leaders are “in the pocket” of America and cannot be trusted.

Speaking from Canada, Yakov Rabkin, professor emeritus of history at the Université de Montréal said that he has spent much of his life studying the history of Zionism and the establishment of the relatively young state of Israel, which he described as a “settler colonial entity.” The violence in West Asia, he said, comes from the attempt to expand an ideology of Jewish supremacism in a borderless ethnic national state within the already populated land of Palestine. He said that settlers feel insecure, so they try to expand their borders, but the new borders are equally insecure because of the fundamentally failed nature of their outlook. Since its founding, Israel has relied on military force. He said that Israel has nuclear weapons and will not hesitate to use them to defend itself from an “existential threat,” but this is not a threat to the nation or its people, but a threat to the Apartheid system. Rabkin quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying in 2001 that “America is a thing that we can move easily,” and added that Israel labels anyone who resists this type of manipulation as “antisemitic.” Those who would like to know more, he said, should read his recent short book Israel in Palestine: Jewish Rejection of Zionism.

Intervening In the U.S. Scene

Jose Vega, candidate for Congress in New York’s 15th congressional district (the Bronx), discussed his campaign and a candidates debate the night before where he reiterated his call for the Oasis Plan and for 10,000 new engineers in Gaza and the Bronx. There was a clear freakout from the Democratic establishment when he pointed out that his contender, former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee Michael Blake, was a servant of the Jeffrey Epstein Class.

Diane Sare, independent candidate for U.S. President called on Congress to end the war by simply cutting off all funding—which, she said, was how the U.S. war in Vietnam was finally brought to an end in Aug. 1973. She said that much of the Democratic Party leadership wants the war to continue in order for their candidates to win the U.S. midterm elections. She stated that two of the Democratic Congress members who were responsible for tabling the recent War Powers Resolution—U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (from New York’s 5th congressional district) and U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (from New York’s 8th congressional district)—also take money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and make deals with the “donor class.” Sare mentioned an event she attended the day before on Capitol Hill that was focused on the need to impeach Trump. She pointed out that Trump is just the logical conclusion of over 20 years of political insanity—a 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq based on lies, President Obama’s invasion of Libya, President Biden’s toleration of two years of genocide in Gaza, 200 Congressmen signing a letter attacking South Africa’s challenge to that genocide at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and the Epstein Class controlling the federal government. Therefore, we must remove Trump’s hand from the levers of power, but do so without further dividing the country.

During the question period, Helga Zepp-LaRouche returned to the issue of the Clash of Civilizations, stating that the enemy image shifted from communism to Islam when the Cold War ended. She said that the trick has been to constantly divide people, but we must unite people, who may have differences, using the highest level of debate. IPC co-moderator Dennis Small spoke of Pope Leo XIV’s  efforts to stop the war, despite threats from U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby. He noted that the Pope has called for a worldwide vigil for peace on April 11. Dennis Speed, another IPC co-moderator, added that the Pope will come to the United States in July but has declined an invitation from President Trump to meet him at the White House on July 4, the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, instead spending that day in Lampedusa, an Italian island off the coast of Tunisia, helping migrants attempting to enter Europe from Africa.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche concluded the event by commenting on some of the questions that came in. First she spoke of the importance of the Pope going to Africa later this year. She said that it is important that voices from the Global South are heard and that the Pope spent much of his career in Peru, which gives him insight into the needs of the Global Majority. She said that she is not giving up on the West, but that it needs a “moral revival,”  and that it has been targeted with schemes to dumb down the population with war propaganda and entertainment. Zepp-LaRouche said that people need to challenge their axioms to become wiser and more loving to one another, and that we need great culture, life-long learning, and Socratic dialogues with our neighbors.

Yesterday’s EIR Emergency Roundtable, the third since January, saw an extraordinary online dialogue among 13 international experts from 10 countries, dedicated to shifting the world off its current course of war, and onto the plane of global development and peace. The title of the event, convened on very short notice, was, “A Dialogue of Civilizations: Is There Still Time to Prevent the War Against Iran from Escalating into a Global Nuclear Conflict?”

The April 6 event was an urgent, dramatic call to action which took place even as the United States is unleashing hell on Iran, and U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening them with the Stone Age. The deliberation brought together representatives of the Iranian government in dialogue with forces from around the world who are intent on stopping this trajectory.

The 4.5-hour-long event was organized into two panels, with the first titled, “Can the Iran War Be Stopped Before Nuclear Escalation?” followed by, “Global Infrastructure Development Is the New Name for Peace.” There was simultaneous interpretation available in English, French, German, and Spanish.

Common to all discussants was the notion that Washington has gone “morally insane,” as Professor Postol stated it, and from there came various proposals and initiatives. Chandra Muzaffar called on people around the world to contact the U.S. Congress and institutions, to activate to stop the warfare, and launch win-win development, especially for such longstanding unjust cases as that of Palestine. Ms. Anand of India spoke of mobilizing for the BRICS nations “to showcase their unity” on stopping the warfare, and to “not leave Iran to die.” EIR‘s Dennis Small, who outlined the economic dimension of the collapse of the Collective West, came down for a new economic security and development architecture.

Zepp-LaRouche, after discussing many initiatives concretely, came back, at the end, to the question of personal responsibility. There are two choices. She said you either turn “small,” by denial, indifference, preoccupation with what you know to be lesser matters, and so on; OR, you “reach into yourself for something better. You connect your activity and destiny in the larger issue of humanity.”

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In the article titled, “Russia-U.S. Dialogue Essential to Tackle Global Challenges—Expert,”  Zepp-LaRouche states: “As the Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna correctly noted, it is of the utmost importance, that the representatives of the world’s two largest nuclear powers have an open dialogue, and share ideas about crucial matters. The world is clearly in an epochal change, where the outcome is not clear at all. It could either end up in a catastrophe, or it could lead to a new era in human history, where the earlier methods of conflict resolution through wars, coups, regime change through ‘color revolutions,’ and terrorism are overcome for good, and replaced with dialogue and cooperation for mutual benefit.

“People to people dialogue, among youth, among scientists and artists, sportsmen and, naturally, elected officials on all levels, are an irreplaceable element in this. If such an exchange is connected with a dialogue of cultures and civilizations, where all sides learn about the best contributions of the others, not only will humanity outgrow its present problems, but through such an exchange we will create a new renaissance, more beautiful than all previous ones.”

TASS explained that the recent visit to Washington, D.C. of top members of Russia’s Duma, the lower house of Russia’s legislature, to meet with U.S. congressmen and representatives of the Trump administration, reestablished the Russian-U.S. interparliamentary dialogue which had been shut down for many years. The chief of the Russian delegation, a leading Russian political figure, Vyacheslav Nikonov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, said he believed the visit could be described as historic.

The second TASS article was titled, “Expert Slams Potential Move To Provide Nuclear Weapons to Ukraine as ‘Completely Reckless.’” (here in Russian) According to Helga Zepp-LaRouche, ‘such a step could be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back, since the overall strategic climate is already one of disarray.’” ]As background, TASS explained that Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) had recently reported that the U.K. and France were actively working to provide a nuclear bomb and delivery means to Ukraine. According to the SVR, one option being considered is the French TN75 warhead from the M51.1 submarine-launched ballistic missile.

On Feb. 24, 2021, I published a letter where I demanded that Barbara Boyd and a number of other individuals associated with the Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee (LPAC) “immediately cease and desist, both now and in the future” from “using Mr. LaRouche’s name,

likeness, and potentially other confusingly similar terms.” The content of that statement still stands, and people should reread it. It is, however, urgent that it be updated at this time.

After an amazing, universal approval of every single policy of the Trump administration, as if not only Trump himself but even the worst neocon and neoliberal elements of his team were more infallible than the Pope—such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and his brazen promotion of cryptocurrency and every imaginable form of financial speculation—Mrs. Boyd and her gaggle have definitely abdicated from the human species by supporting Trump’s war of aggression against Iran. When Trump threatens to “bomb Iran back to the Stone Age,” he is openly bragging that he is waging war against the Iranian people, and that is a war crime.

Such unconditional support for Trump, at a moment when the entire civilized world—including those who had some hope that Trump would fulfill his promises to end the wars and not start new ones—is turning away from him in disgust over his rejection of international law, his kidnapping of a head of a foreign country and the assassination of a supreme religious leader of another, and now the mass killing of a civilian population, sheds light on the moral and intellectual demise of the Boyd gaggle, now gathered as Promethean PAC and Promethean Action. That this pitiful bunch has the nerve to compare the greatest intellect of our time, my late husband Lyndon LaRouche, with President Trump, who is known to not read a single page, shows their loss of moral judgment.

Whether these intellectual nobodies were actually taken over before they discovered and announced in late 2020 that they had “irrevocable” differences with the movement of Lyndon LaRouche, by some agency, in order to be groomed to later try to confuse people about the ideas of LaRouche, probably will only be established after a new “Church Committee” of sorts is established—an idea which was vehemently opposed by Boyd earlier, for some strange reason. In any case, there are still some people around who have a vivid recollection of how far she was willing to go for a ride.

Anybody who has the slightest inkling about Lyndon LaRouche would know that he fought his entire life against such barbarism as is now being demonstrated by Trump in respect to Iran, and by Barbarian Boyd.

‘A Dialogue of Civilizations:
Is There Still Time to Prevent the War Against Iran from Escalating into a Global Nuclear Conflict?’

April 6, 2026

10:00 a.m.—3.00 p.m. (EDT); 4:00 p.m.—9.00 p.m. (CET); with two panels

For English: Panel 1 and Panel 2

A Dialogue of Civilizations: Is There Still Time to Prevent the War Against Iran from Escalating into a Global Nuclear Conflict?

Do not make the mistake of dismissing the dialogue about proposed solutions to the war now raging across Southwest Asia that will be aired during an April 6 EIR Emergency Roundtable Dialogue, as “impractical,” “unrealistic” or “out of reach.” There is nothing more “impractical” than allowing the current trajectory of the U.S.-Israeli war of aggression against Iran to escalate into a full-scale nuclear conflict, which would have a high probability of ending all recognizable human life on the planet.

On Monday, April 6, leading international strategic thinkers and representatives from Iran, the United States, Europe, China and various nations of the Global South will engage in a frank dialogue on the nature and origins of the current war against Iran—and its underlying historical and policy origins—and will seek solutions based on organizing a new security and development architecture to meet the legitimate needs of each and every nation in the region and across the planet.

We reject the geopolitics and religious warfare proposed by the likes of Samuel Huntington and his Clash of Civilizations, a doctrine which he intellectually plagiarized from the violently anti-Islamic leading British orientalist Bernard Lewis, an outlook that stems from the Hobbesian view of Man that we are as animals with each at war with all. We instead embrace the outlook stated by EIR Editor-in-Chief and Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche in a March 9 open letter to Pope Leo XIV, calling for a Dialogue of Cultures in the spirit of the 15th century Catholic Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, who has been cited as a model by the Pope, because we must “avoid a descent into an irreparable abyss… (We must instead) cause a change in world history and fulfill the will of God, who for sure did not create the world and gift humanity with reason, to have it destroyed by the lack of it.”

President Trump has announced a “postponement” until April 6 of his threat to bomb Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure, so long as Iran capitulates to America’s demands for unconditional surrender. There is of course no guarantee that Trump will hold off until April 6 on a new round of attacks, and in fact Israel has already continued bombing Iran’s steel plants, the Bushehr nuclear energy facility, and so on.

The policy required for the entire region—from India to the Mediterranean, from the Caucasus to the Gulf—is one of reconstruction and Dialogue of Civilizations, such as the Oasis Plan proposed in 1975 by the renowned American economist and statesman, Lyndon LaRouche, and today updated by Helga Zepp-LaRouche and the Schiller Institute.

“We need to have the idea of joint economic development based on the concept of the Oasis Plan for the entire region,” Zepp-LaRouche stated to the March 27 meeting of the International Peace Coalition. “First, to have canals from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea to the Dead Sea; use peaceful nuclear energy for vast amounts of desalinization of ocean water, to use that to green the desert, to build forests, farmland, orchards, and basically use that water to feed an infrastructure. Thereby we could build development corridors, like connecting the China-Pakistan corridor and the North-South transport corridor from St. Petersburg to Chabahar and possibly beyond into India, and connect it with other development corridors, connecting these countries with Turkiye, with Africa, with Europe. Because in ancient times, that region was the place of the ancient Silk Road, and at that time it was the hub for connecting the three continents through trade, exchange of science, of technology, of art, of ideas, of philosophy. And that is what that region can become again.”

Speakers:

Panel 1 – ‘Can the Iran War Be Stopped Before Nuclear Escalation?‘

10.00 am – 12.30 pm EDT

Moderator: Dennis Speed

• Helga Zepp-LaRouche (Germany), editor-in-chief EIR
• Dr. Mohammad Reza Dehshiri (Iran), Dean of the School of International Relations, Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Zhang Weiwei (China), Professor of International Relations at Fudan University in Shanghai and Director of its China Institute
• Amb. Prof. Dr. Manuel Hassassian (Palestine), Palestinian Authority
• Lt. General (ret.) Ghulam Mustafa (Pakistan), defense analyst, former commander of the Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC)
• Chas Freeman (United States): former Assistant Secretary of Defense, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia
• Purnima Anand (India), President, BRICS International Forum

Panel 2: ‘Global Infrastructure Development Is the New Name of Peace‘

~ 1 pm- 3pm EDT

Moderator: Stephan Ossenkopp

• H.E. Donald Ramotar (Guyana), former President of Guyana
• Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (Argentina), recipient of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize
• Dr. Theodore Postol (United States), professor emeritus of Science, Technology and International Security at MIT
• Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish (Palestine), doctor, professor, author, and peace advocate
• Chandra Muzaffar (Malaysia), founder and President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
• Dennis Small (United States), Ibero-America Editor, EIR

At the Monday, March 30 White House press briefing, a reporter had the temerity to ask Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt what President Donald Trump thought about what Pope Leo XIV said in his Palm Sunday message: That Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying, ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.’” The ever-deft Leavitt twisted the question around, claiming that the troops appreciate that the commander in chief prays for them. She chose not to address the Satanic prayers of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who calls himself the “Secretary of War” and prays for violence and no mercy.

Mohamad Safa, who just resigned from his post as executive director of the Patriotic Vision-PVA at the United Nations because “some UN seniors are serving a powerful lobby and not the UN,” warned: “I don’t think people understand the gravity of the situation as the UN is preparing for possible nuclear weapon use in Iran…. I gave up my diplomatic career to leak this information. I suspended my duties so as not to be part of or a witness to this crime against humanity, in an attempt to prevent a nuclear winter before it is too late.”

Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson posted a letter from a Marine commander asking his troops, “Is your gear packed and ready to go? Are your family affairs in order?” Johnson wrote: “A letter like this can only mean one of two things: 1) It is an elaborate deception campaign to convince Iran that the U.S. is going to attack in hopes that Iran will back down, or 2) He understands that he is sending a portion of the Corps he commands into the valley of death. I am hoping it is the former, but I fear it is the latter.”

For his part, the delirious President of the United States Donald J. Trump made another insane post on Truth Social, which reads in part: “Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched.’”

According to Pope Leo XIV’s Palm Sunday message, if President Trump prays for success in this mission, which is a violation of international law and an intent to commit war crimes, God will not hear him.

Meanwhile, on Monday, March 30, NASA teams arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin the countdown for man’s first orbit around the Moon in over 50 years.The first time human beings orbited the Moon was Christmas of 1968, a difficult year for Americans and world citizens, in which both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy had been assassinated. The NASA astronauts on that flight, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, chose to read the first ten verses of Genesis because “The first ten verses of Genesis is the foundation of many of the world’s religions, not just the Christian religion,” said Lovell. “There are more people in other religions than the Christian religion around the world, and so this would be appropriate to that and so that’s how it came to pass.” They closed their reading of Genesis with the message: “May God bless all of you on the good Earth.”

There is a phenomenon known as the “overview effect,” which is the singular emotion that strikes those who view the Earth for the first time as a whole from outer space. It is described as a sense of wonder, of unity, of the smallness of the Earth and the vulnerability of it, accompanied by a passionate commitment to care for it and humanity.

God will probably welcome a prayer that our astronauts arrive in Moon orbit soon enough to share those images of the Earth with everyone here, in time to prevent us from plunging over the abyss into nuclear war.

Short of putting everybody on the nearest spaceship, LaRouche organizers are planning a series of street deployments and street theater over the coming week leading into Easter Sunday. One wonders if an exorcism were to be performed on Paula White, would there be anything left?

In discussions with associates today, Helga Zepp-LaRouche urged that her open letter to Pope Leo be circulated at houses of worship throughout the week and weekend, particularly at churches on Easter Sunday, April 5. The letter can be found here.