First Steps To A New Peace Paradigm

This Friday, August 9, the International Peace Coalition in memory of those killed by the 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic blasts, is inviting everyone to join an emergency assembly. The recent assassinations in Lebanon and Iran, carried out by the Netanyahu government of Israel, are but the beginning of a conflict that, if it extends to Iran, could quickly escalate to a nuclear confrontation.

As Col. Douglas Macgregor said on a podcast in April of this year, “I think, the greatest fear that I have, is that once Iran has been attacked decisively in some fashion by Israel, we will involve ourselves, and contribute to it. And when that occurs, Russia will intervene. Russia will not permit us, with the Israelis, to destroy Iran. Simply isn’t going to happen…. And that puts us in a difficult position, because the Israelis may use, at some point, nuclear weapons.”

There is a second, deeper problem. The present drive to World War Three, including the potential use of thermonuclear weapons, is fueled by the unacknowledged, but nonetheless fully-under-way meltdown of the post-Bretton Woods monetary system.  This meltdown involves, according to certain economists, $2 quadrillion in speculative derivatives debt, against the world’s $100 trillion GDP (much of which is waste.) This debt can never be paid.  And it is a debt that China and Russia did not incur, or was criminally imposed on other nations of the Global South, who certainly cannot pay.

The way out that has been offered through various proposals—the Belt and Road Initiative, the LaRouche Oasis Plan, the Chinese Global Security Initiative, and various peace proposals from Brazil and the nations of Southern Africa, have up to now been rejected. That is unacceptable for the human race. We must fight our way to a new security and development architecture.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, chairwoman of the Schiller Institute has proposed such in her “Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture.” In a recent speech in Orvieto, Italy, she said:

We have to conspire to put this idea of a new security and development architecture on the table, which includes every single country on the planet. Because the present constellation of governments is so difficult—to put it diplomatically — I have also called for the creation of a Council of Reason. That is the call to elder statesmen, retired military, people from science, from culture, who have merit in having contributed something important, to step forward and advise governments and suggest solutions. Because I think the present crop of governments is not fit for the job.

Obviously, the electoral process is very difficult, and many obstacles are there. But I think if we would find in every single country on the planet, in all continents, the wisest people who would step forward. There are examples in history; for example, the Council of Florence in the beautiful Italian Renaissance was such a council, bringing together the wisest people from the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church. They managed to get unity in Christianity, at least for a certain period. The Peace of Westphalia itself was such a council of the wisest; also, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which helped South Africa to get over apartheid was such a precedent. So, we need to come up with new solutions because the fate of humanity has never been so much in danger as right now.