The Lead
The Vaccine Against the ‘Epstein’ Virus—A Cultural Renaissance
by David Shavin (EIRNS) — Feb. 08, 2026
Now that the Super Bowl is over, U.S. citizens are in jeopardy of getting engulfed in the Epstein Bowl. Several more Western officials, exposed in the Epstein files, were “out-ed” over the weekend—U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the head of British Prime Minister Keith Starmer’s office, a former French Minister. There’s no doubt, they are all deserving fellows. As Shakespeare’s Antony says of Brutus and his lot: “So are they all. All honorable men.” Yet, does anyone doubt that, once that Epstein stone was lifted, there was enough to crawl out to fill the headlines for weeks, months and years to come. The actual news would be a headline on a Western leader of the last 30 years not compromised by the stain of Jeffrey Epstein and those who deployed him.
What else would one expect in a world where the Western elites are addicted to feeding a speculative bubble with a notional value of $2,400 trillion, propped up by U.S. national debt soon to race past $40 trillion—and that propped up by over 750 military installations in over 80 countries? And this is not to mention the proposed 50% increase in the U.S. military budget. (Perhaps some genius envisions a race to have defense spending win out over the interest payments on the national debt - however, no one should bet against the capacity of the debt bubble to crush all competitors.)
When asked a similar question last week whether the diseased, Epstein-related fantasy world shared by Western leaders is possibly shining a light upon the war mania, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov highlighted a perhaps even more frightening reality—that nobody needed the Epstein files to recognize the shocking reality, as a clear-headed look at the West’s treatment of post-Soviet Russia was sufficient. He contended that presidents and prime ministers never had to bow down to “what is known as the deep state…. But they steer a line that consists in deceit and implies immunity to feeling ashamed or blushing for lying to a partner. This is a fact and there are many people of this sort.” He alluded to Europe’s “Coalition of the Willing” and their addiction to permanent war.
In fact, the Soviet Union was treated so much better than the Russian Federation that overthrew it. The 1990s privatization schemes that handed pirates real assets for pennies on the dollar; the bringing of nuclear launch capability to Russia’s borders; the violent 2014 coup in Ukraine; and the deliberate unabashed lying behind peace accords from 2015 to 2022. What state of mind could plunge forward, treating a country with the most nuclear weaponry in the world in such a fashion, and think some good would come from it? Did it take the sexual fantasies and the get-rich-quick fantasies engendered by the Epstein phenomenon to recognize there might be a problem?
Two days ago, the U.S. and Iran had a meeting in Oman. That should not be such big news, yet it is what the U.S. did not do with Russia for years. That same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, possibly triggered by that meeting, told the White House that he had to move up his scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump, and had to fly in a week earlier. That same day, Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, at the International Peace Coalition meeting, referenced the “unforeseeable consequences” of a hit on Iran and the “impending Damocles sword” of the dollar-based financial system. She then laid out the challenge: Watch those who created the Epstein blackmailers of this world regale one and all with the corruption of their former puppets, while they install a fresh batch—or inoculate the world against such imperial schemes by doing what human beings are made to do: Build a cultural Renaissance.
The Super Bowl is behind us. As of Monday, Feb. 9, there are five days to build up the central driver of that cultural Renaissance, the Feb. 13 International Peace Coalition. On Monday, begin with “End the Rule of the Epstein Class”](https://www.laroucheorganization.com/end_the_rule_of_the_epstein_class), then spend two days organizing people around your favorite parts. By Wednesday, Feb. 11, plunge into Zepp-LaRouche’s weekly strategic overview. And every day, non-fantasy updates are available here and here.
It has been said that Martin Luther King, Jr., after the shocking violence in Selma, Alabama in 1963, adopted the strategy of a march from there to Montgomery, the state capital—as it was necessary for the nation to have a vehicle that allowed it to not merely react or block out what had happened. Rather than a one-day event, it was calculated and designed to take about five days, but a sustained five days, where the underlying reality could be driving the thought processes. In its own way, the next five days, in organizing for Friday’s meeting, in treating your neighbor and your family as people worthy and capable of escaping the nightmare epitomized by the Epstein phenomenon, is perhaps the most realistic and timely first step in carving out how a cultural Renaissance is fashioned. If you make it through day one, you’ll be amazed how those extra pounds of fantasies seem to melt away.
The “cultural Renaissance” vaccine has withstood the test of time.
Contents
Strategic War Danger
- Russia Detains Two in Attempted Assassination of General Alekseyev (↓)
- Azov Commander Justifies Assassination of Russian General Alekseyev (↓)
- Israel and U.K. Pushing for Expedited Schedule on Hitting Iran? (↓)
Collapsing Imperial System
U.S. and Canada
- Does Trump's Perversion of Monroe Doctrine Stem From 'Nazi Crown Jurist' Carl Schmitt? (↓)
- Ukraine Intel Warns of U.S.-Russian Economic Projects (↓)
- The Parade Continues as Three More Officials Are 'Epstein'-ized This Weekend (↓)
Harley Schlanger Update
Watch The Daily Update with Harley Schlanger, a short video update available every weekday morning from The LaRouche Organization.
