That is the question that will be posed—and answered—this Friday, May 24 at the 51st consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), which was initiated nearly a year ago by Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche.
Segments of the population, mainly younger adults, are clearly beginning to awaken to the reality of the crisis and the urgent need to change course. A few leading political layers in the U.S. and internationally are also beginning to recognize that merely escalating with the same failed policies is a recipe for thermonuclear war. For example, the recent decision of the International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan to charge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders with war crimes and crimes against humanity, reflects the belated recognition that it is essential to uphold the law equally for all, or the duplicity and double-standards will bring the entire structure of legality crashing down, with unforeseeable consequences.
But such actions are still few and far between—especially when gauged against the reality of the onrushing breakdown crisis that is sweeping the West.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche was blunt during her weekly Dialogue webcast on May 22:
“We are on the edge of a catastrophe. Any thinking person is flabbergasted, absolutely shocked by the fact that the Western Establishments are completely unable to recognize the outcome of their policies. If you are a member of the Establishment, let’s say in Europe or in the U.S., and you look at the result of the policies of the last 30 years, what do you see?
“You see collapsing economies, at least in Europe. In the U.S. it may be less obvious, because they still pretend that they have major financial power—but that is a giant on clay feet as well, which can crash and crumble at any moment. You see a collapsing financial system. You see disenchantment of more and more segments of the population from their governments. You see the cultural collapse in the U.S., where the suicide rate of youth is going up. You see that the entire NATO policy towards Russia has not functioned; it backfired. Russia is not ruined; the Russian economy is going; the German economy is crashing against the wall.
“All of these negative factors are the result of neo-liberal policies of the last 30 years, but you do not see any sign of recognition or reflection where any of the main protagonists pushing these policies would say: `Okay, this was a mistake. The Green Deal was a mistake; the energy change in Germany was a mistake.’ No, you don’t see any of that, but you see more of the same. And if people are so detached from reality as we see right now, you really start to worry about their mental health.”
Zepp-LaRouche pointed to the May 22 tactical nuclear exercises by Russia as indicative of the insanity of the continuing provocations by the West of both Russia and China. These are not routine exercises, she emphasized, but were called “explicitly in response to what [French President Emmanuel] Macron said about [deploying] Western troops in Ukraine; to [British Foreign Secretary David] Cameron stating that Ukrainians are free to use [British] Storm Shadow cruise missiles to reach the territory of Russia, which was reiterated again by [U.S. Secretary of State Tony] Blinken in the clearest form, even after the announcement by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that they would hold such maneuvers.”
Zepp-LaRouche concluded forcefully that, as of now, the Western Establishment is “doubling down, and it’s an unwinnable situation. And I think we’re getting extremely close to the edge of a catastrophe.… People have to wake up. This is seconds before twelve [midnight] of World War III.”
Join the IPC in its 51st weekly meeting this Friday, May 24 at 11 a.m. Eastern.
