The Lead
Epstein and the Bottomless Depravity of the 'Elites'—Urgent Need for a Cultural Renaissance!
by Helga Zepp-LaRouche (EIRNS) — Feb. 11, 2026
Invitation to an Emergency Zoom Conference of the Movement of World Citizens, March 2, 2026
On January 12, 2026, EIR magazine sponsored an emergency international roundtable dialogue to address the total strategic crisis, where international law had been declared “not necessary” by President Donald Trump. What has swept to the surface in the few weeks since that meeting, has opened up an even deeper abyss facing Mankind.
Even the preliminary results of the investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein scandal reveal a moral sordidness which makes Sodom and Gomorrah look pale by comparison. What is coming to the surface are the satanic axioms on which many of the present-day policies are based, from Gaza to the application of unilateral sanctions against countries in order to make life for the populations so unbearable that they rise up against their governments. For years, the knowledge about these moral cesspools existed, but nobody in the so-called “rules-based-order” remembered any rule obliging the legal authorities to investigate the crimes of this murderous self-service store, where the “unscrupulous take what they want,” as German President Steinmeier recently aptly put it.
With the New START Treaty ending on February 5, the last arms control agreement has been buried, leaving the world military situation with a dangerous lack of transparency and giving way to a new arms race, which threatens to proliferate various old and new weapons of mass destruction, and cause enormous devastation of physical economic capacity in favor of a gigantic re-militarization of many economies of the world. While the present stockpiles of nuclear weapons already have the potential to destroy all human life on the planet several times over, the new dimensions of warfare, such as space weapons, cyber warfare, the application of AI in warfighting, etc., are creating a horrifying dystopian perspective of the future, in which the only end result seems to be one of the annihilation of mankind.
And this is where the significance of the Epstein scandal comes in. How can one expect these establishments, who either participated in or remained silent and inactive vis-a-vis these satanic perversions, to all of a sudden put a screeching halt to the murderous lust of the military industrial complex and the unscrupulous speculators, who have no inhibitions about making money off of the war machine, which is killing innocent people as so-called negligible collateral damage, wherever it is ravaging?
Various regional conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine; the looming danger of a new war against Iran; the crisis around Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia; as well as the tensions in the Indo-Pacific and in parts of Asia, all have the potential of spiraling into a larger conflict involving the great powers and even a global nuclear war.
Out of the January 12 emergency meeting came a joint declaration and the commitment by the panelists to reach out to institutions and individuals in as many countries as possible, in order to create both an initiative to reestablish international law by creating a new global security and development architecture, which must take into account the interest of every single nation on earth, as well as initiating an international movement of world citizens who commit themselves to put the One Humanity first.
The absolute pit of human depravity of the Epstein affair is a wakeup call for the entire human species. We must absolutely reverse course and reject this bestial behavior and all the cultural influences which allowed it to become a reality over the recent decades. We have to turn to the best cultural traditions of all nations and civilizations, to the highest expressions of all of universal history, and revive them in an active dialogue of cultures, in order to initiate the most beautiful renaissance of classical culture. Only in this way can we uphold a noble image of Man as being the only species gifted with creative reason.
An international Zoom conference will be held March 2 to address these topics: the creation of a new security and development architecture; the creation of an international movement of world citizens; and the creation of a new cultural renaissance. The two-panel conference will include the participation of distinguished representatives from institutions from all over the world, as well as experts, scholars, scientists and artists.
Become an active organizer for this event. Circulate this invitation among all of your friends and colleagues, and reach out to everybody who must be part of this effort.
Panel 1
8 a.m. (U.S. EST); 2 p.m. (Europe CET); 9 p.m. (China CST)
Institutional speakers
Panel 2
11 a.m. (U.S. EST); 5 p.m. (Europe CET); 12 a.m. (China CST)
Representatives of think tanks and universities
Contents
Strategic War Danger
- Trump Meets with Netanyahu, Insists Negotiation with Iran Continue (↓)
- Russia Watching U.S. Post-New START Actions (↓)
- U.S. Experts Weigh In at Senate Hearing on Post New-START Options (↓)
Science and Technology
New World Paradigm
- Lavrov Proclaims, the World Is Entering a New Era (↓)
- Ethiopia and Ghana Move Forward on Nuclear Energy Cooperation with Russia (↓)
U.S. and Canada
Collapsing Imperial System
- India Farm Groups To Strike on Feb. 12 Against New U.S.-India Trade Deal (↓)
- Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Yells 'Lay Off Starmer! U.K. Bond Crisis Coming!’ (↓)
- Why Was El Paso's International Airport Ordered Closed? (↓)
Harley Schlanger Update
Watch The Daily Update with Harley Schlanger, a short video update available every weekday morning from The LaRouche Organization.
In-Depth
Strategic War Danger
Trump Meets with Netanyahu, Insists Negotiation with Iran Continue
by Carl Osgood (EIRNS) — Feb. 11, 2026
President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for nearly three hours today at the White House where the leading topic on the agenda was Iran. “It was a very good meeting, the tremendous relationship between our two Countries continues,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated. If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be. Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer—That did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible. Additionally, we discussed the tremendous progress being made in Gaza, and the Region in general.”
Netanyahu’s office put out a statement that The Times of Israel described as “relatively terse,” saying that the two sides “addressed negotiations with Iran, Gaza, and regional developments.”
“The prime minister emphasized Israel’s security needs in the context of the negotiations, and the two agreed to maintain close coordination and ongoing communication,” the statement said.
Also present on the U.S. side were Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff.
Russia Watching U.S. Post-New START Actions
by Carl Osgood (EIRNS) — Feb. 11, 2026
Russia will carefully monitor US actions following the expiration of the New START Treaty, but will approach the situation with full responsibility and will not take steps leading to escalation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with NTV channel, reported TASS.
“We will very carefully observe how the American side acts now, after the formal absence of any limiting mechanisms. At the same time, we will treat this situation with full responsibility and do not intend to be the first to take steps toward escalation,” Lavrov emphasized. “What are the Americans going to do? US President Donald Trump has said that this treaty is ‘bad’ and allegedly was being violated. What violations did he see on the Russian side? I do not know. We had serious questions regarding the strictness of compliance with the treaty’s requirements, to which the Americans did not respond,” the minister continued.
Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, meanwhile told Kommersant that Moscow is ready to consider ideas for a new legal framework in the area of global stability, “provided the appropriate conditions are created.”
“First, the United States quit the ABM Treaty under far-fetched pretexts, then ruined the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and unilaterally withdrew from the Open Skies Treaty. Who violated these agreements and how is well known; the Russian side has repeatedly cited the facts,” Shoigu stated. “It is precisely because of Washington that the legal basis for strategic stability has been completely destroyed.”
He emphasized that “Moscow has never shied away from fulfilling its obligations."
U.S. Experts Weigh In at Senate Hearing on Post New-START Options
by Carl Osgood (EIRNS) — Feb. 11, 2026
Walter Pincus—national security reporter for the Washington Post for decades, who then retired to set up his own newsletter called the Cipher Brief—offered his own take on Feb. 10 on what the U.S. might do in the wake of the expiration of New START. He did this in the form of a review of the Feb. 3 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where Rose Gottemoeller, the principal negotiator for the U.S. side of New START and retired Adm. Charles Richard, former commander of U.S. Strategic Command, both testified.
“I do not support trying to do a trilateral negotiation. I believe that these negotiations [with Russia and China] should be done in parallel,” Gottemoeller said. “We have 50-plus years of experience limiting and reducing nuclear weapons with the Russians. We can continue that kind of process [to include tactical and hypersonic nuclear weapons] with them.”
Gottemoeller added: “And by the way, I agree that non-strategic nuclear weapons [should be included]. We did not constrain non-strategic nuclear weapons in the New START Treaty. It was not designed for that purpose. So to fault it for not controlling those weapons is a bit bizarre, but nevertheless, I agreed with the Trump administration during the first term, when they said we need an all-warhead limit in the next negotiation. I think that is definitely the priority we need to proceed on with the Russians.”
Gottemoeller also said: “It’s been my recent experience working with them [the Chinese] in track two [non-U.S. government] settings that they seem very interested in trying to figure out ways to begin a conversation with the United States about nuclear risks … developing better communications, links with them at the strategic level, hotline arrangements, these types of things. I think they are valuable to begin a conversation about the necessity of controlling nuclear weapons at the negotiating table and [for the Chinese] not being so un-transparent about what they’re doing with their modernization. That has to be the first and foremost objective talking to them about what their intentions are.”
She added: “I’ve already spoken about the Chinese. I think they are willing to talk to us now, but it is about risk reduction and the beginning of more predictability and transparency about their nuclear objectives,” matters that up to now they have refused to discuss.
Both Gottemoeller and Richard agreed about the need for the U.S. to increase its nuclear forces.
Gottemoeller said: “I actually agree with the notion that we need to think carefully about the threat that is presented by two nuclear peers by China and by the Russian Federation going forward. And we need to make judicious choices juxtaposed against the other demands on our defense budget.”
Richard was much more specific. He said, “I think that the United States needs to immediately start taking steps, steps that are currently precluded by the New START Treaty … to include uploading [currently stored U.S. nuclear] warheads to our intercontinental ballistic missiles, removing covers off the four [launch] tubes on our Trident [strategic] submarines that are currently empty [of strategic nuclear sea-launched ballistic missiles], and several other posture steps that should be taken now, and not a year from now."
Science and Technology
China Tests Its Moon Rocket and Return Vehicle
by Bill Jones (EIRNS) — Feb. 11, 2026
China on February 11 tested its Long March-10 rocket, which is designed to take men to the Moon, and its Mengzhou return capsule. The tests involved a low-altitude demonstration and verification of the Long-March-10 and a maximum dynamic pressure escape flight test of the Mengzhou capsule. The test featured many firsts, including a new type of rocket, a new type of spacecraft, a new launch pad, and a new mission for the sea recovery of the rocket and spacecraft. At 11:00 am the rocket ignited and lifted off, reaching the spacecraft’s maximum dynamic pressure escape conditions. The spacecraft received the escape command from the rocket and successfully separated and escaped. The rocket’s first stage and the spacecraft’s return capsule were safely splashed down in the designated sea area according to the established procedures.
It should also be noted that sea rescue is something new for the Chinese space program, since their return vehicles from the Tiangong space station otherwise land in the desert. According to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the test successfully verified the functional performance of the rocket’s first-stage ascent and recovery phases, as well as the maximum dynamic pressure escape and recovery of the spacecraft. It also verified the compatibility of the relevant interfaces of various engineering systems, accumulating valuable flight data and engineering experience for subsequent manned lunar exploration missions.
New World Paradigm
Lavrov Proclaims, the World Is Entering a New Era
by Bill Jones (EIRNS) — Feb. 11, 2026
In a speech on Feb. 11 to the Russian State Duma, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov outlined a world which “has entered an era of swift and profound change. Some experts even argue an era of upheaval. One thing is clear, though: This is not a fleeting or temporary development, but a new phase in global development, perhaps even an era.…” The main trend of this phase is a struggle for “a more just and sustainable world” between the “old, former, (concentrated, as I have already said, in the West), and the new, growing centers of development that represent the Global Majority.” “And this struggle is gaining momentum and is affecting almost the entire globe,” Lavrov said.
Western countries have so far been unable to get rid of their “complex of colonial and, I dare say, slave-holding superiority,” he said, pointing in particular to France’s recent attempts to overthrow legitimate regimes in Africa. “Berlin is not much different from Paris,” as the German authorities “are obsessed with revanchist fantasies,” he said. “The current generation of German, French and other European politicians have clearly forgotten about Poltava, Berezina, Stalingrad, and the Kursk Bulge.”
While saying that Russia still adheres to the peace proposals that the U.S. presented to them in Anchorage, he also expressed concern about the recent indications that the U.S. was prepared to jettison key elements in that proposal, which would make it unacceptable to Russia. While he expressed satisfaction that the U.S. National Security Strategy did not characterize Russia as a “rival,” he also indicated that he did not see any practical conclusion coming out of that statement in terms of the U.S.-Russia relationship.
Lavrov condemned the European attempts to sabotage U.S. efforts to negotiate peace in Ukraine, noting also the growing conflict between the Europeans and the U.S. over Greenland. While indicating that the status of Greenland was a matter solely between the U.S. and Europe, only if it became a military region and a possible threat to Russia, would Russia consider it a problem. He added, however, that in communicating with the Americans, Russia keeps warning “against encroaching upon the parts of the world that are far from the United States and in no way affect U.S. security.” He also criticized the attempt to use a possible “Russia threat” to influence the Greenland outcome.
Lavrov pointed to the increasingly close relations between Russia and China as an example of good neighborly relations, and lauded President Putin’s efforts to work towards a new Eurasian Security architecture, an architecture which he hoped would ultimately also embrace Western European nations.
While underlining the crucial importance of the United Nations and UN Charter as the basis for maintaining peace and harmony in the world, he did not mince words about the failure of the UN to act in a non-partisan manner with regard to resolving the conflict in Ukraine, their failure to condemn the banning of the Russian language, and totally turning a blind eye to the oppression of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine from the time of the 2014 Maidan coup until the present. He also criticized the UN for failing to support the Russian-backed resolution condemning all forms of Nazism.
With regard to the latest “Peace Council” proposal, Lavrov indicated that the issue of such a “peace council” had come up at the UN and that Russia, in deference to the Palestinians who wanted to see this passed, had, with China, abstained from voting. At the time, Lavrov said, it was to be focused solely on the Palestinian situation. “Many of the objectives set forth in UN resolutions in this area are not reflected in this American-proposed resolution,” Lavrov said. “The United States refused to cite UN decisions, so China and I abstained. We did not vote against it, given that both the Palestinians and virtually all other Arab states asked us not to block this resolution.” He said that President Vladimir Putin’s proposal, that $1 billion in Russian frozen funds be used to support the Palestinians, represented Russia’s commitment to that general effort.
Lavrov stressed that Russia has “threatened no one,” and that Russia’s “diplomatic efforts are intentionally aimed at promoting fair, equal and mutually beneficial partnership with everyone who is ready to cooperate with us on the same principles.”
Lavrov, on Feb. 10, was awarded the State Duma Medal, the highest award the Duma can bestow.While saying that Russia still adheres to the peace proposals that the U.S. presented to them in Anchorage, he also expressed concern about the recent indications that the U.S. was prepared to jettison key elements in that proposal, which would make it unacceptable to Russia. While he expressed satisfaction that the U.S. National Security Strategy did not characterize Russia as a “rival,” he also indicated that he did not see any practical conclusion coming out of that statement in terms of the U.S.-Russia relationship.
Ethiopia and Ghana Move Forward on Nuclear Energy Cooperation with Russia
by Dean Andromidas (EIRNS) — Feb. 11, 2026
The Ambassadors to Russia of Ethiopia and Ghana have spoken about their governments moving forward with joint nuclear energy projects with Russia.
Russian Ambassador to Ethiopia Evgeny Terekhin told Sputnik that once Russia’s nuclear engineering corporation Rosatom carries out a technical assessment, pre-project construction work for a nuclear power station can begin. In addition, Russia is carrying out a feasibility study for a Russian-built aluminum smelter in Ethiopia. The Ambassador added that Ethiopia’s BRICS accession has elevated bilateral cooperation to a “qualitatively new level.”
Ghana’s Ambassador to Russia Koma Steem Jehu-Appiah told Sputnik in a separate interview that Ghana is interested in purchasing a Russian-built floating nuclear power plant. “I know that our minister of energy was here last year and signed a corresponding agreement. I think this is innovative, and in a conversation with the minister of energy, he said that the country is interested. So, Ghana could purchase such a nuclear power plant,” the Ambassador said.
He pointed out that Russia and Ghana signed an agreement already in 2015 for cooperation in the field of nuclear energy for training specialists, building nuclear power plants and related infrastructure, and providing maintenance services.
U.S. and Canada
Another Year, Another (Just a) Dream of New Jobs in America
by Paul Gallagher (EIRNS) — Feb. 11, 2026
The U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) put out a January employment report on Feb. 11, somewhat delayed but otherwise just like last year’s: “Downward revisions” wiped out the claimed employment increases for the entire previous year, but January popped out, a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new fake of job growth.
The BLS reported 130,000 new jobs created in January, “unexpectedly.” But in its “annual revision” performed each January, the number of net new jobs created in 2025 as a whole, was revised downward by 862,000. So it now appears that actual job creation in Trump’s first year, second term, was negligible at 15,000/month, whereas the first month of 2026 leaped up by a fantastical 130,000.
For two years in a row now, essentially all of the year’s claimed job creation has been wiped away in the “annual revision” done in the following January. This then allows the January job creation figure to be whatever they please—it will be just “penciled in” for later, less noticeable decapitation.
The Grim Reaper of all those jobs, once again, is the Labor Department’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, compiled with a six months’ delay, from actual employment tax data, and therefore fairly accurate.
Stock prices on Wall Street leaped up first thing this morning in response to the fake, but once traders and algorithms read the actual story, it seemed that Hickey did something to the booze.
Collapsing Imperial System
India Farm Groups To Strike on Feb. 12 Against New U.S.-India Trade Deal
by Marcia Merry Baker (EIRNS) — Feb. 11, 2026
Several India farm groups plan nationwide actions on Feb. 12 against the interim U.S.-India trade deal announced last week, whose terms will harm agriculture in multiple ways. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) umbrella association of farmers’ organizations is coordinating a general strike. A member of its coordinating group told the media this week, “Indian agriculture would be left hanging at the mercy of multinational corporations, undermining food sovereignty, rural employment, and long term sustainability.” Over 80% of India’s farmers are family, small-scale operations.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is promoting the U.S.-India deal with wild-eyed geopolitical logic. Farmers anywhere be damned. Speaking on Fox News this week, Greer said that the India deal is a way to put “America First” in trade, by stepping back from China, and using India as an “off-ramp” for U.S.-based transnational companies. He called the India gambit a “global waystation” for companies exiting the Chinese market for an alternative market. He said that the ideal is for production to return to the U.S., but in the meantime, there is a process of “near-shoring” going on, where India can serve as a secondary hub for U.S. companies. Greer refers generally to all categories of trade, from electronics, to food, with the anti-reality, anti-China point applicable.
Under last week’s interim framework for a U.S.-India trade agreement, India is to “eliminate or reduce tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods and a wide range of U.S. food and agriculture products.” India’s tariffs on U.S. agriculture imports, which had ranged from 30 to 150%, are to be cut to zero. Meantime, existing tariffs on Indian agriculture products entering the U.S. are to be in the range of 18%. In recent decades, transnational companies have “off-shored” from the U.S. all kinds of food production to India, for export back into the U.S., from pickles to shrimp.
The U.S. products pushed onto the market in India are to include livestock feeds, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruits, soybean oil, wine and spirits. Dairy is a special concern. The animal feed includes red sorghum, and also DDG—dried distillers’ grains—which the U.S. promotes for export intensely internationally, because it is a byproduct of corn-ethanol, which is a major part of the U.S. crop production profile.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Yells 'Lay Off Starmer! U.K. Bond Crisis Coming!’
by Gretchen Small (EIRNS) — Feb. 11, 2026
The City of London is on edge these days. The Telegraph’s International Business Editor Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, writing as a self-described “hard-bitten old Tory,” published a frantic demand on Feb. 10 that Keir Starmer’s Labour Party stop the “palace coup” underway to bring him down as Prime Minister. It is the looming full-scale U.K. financial crisis which has him panicked, not any love of Labour. “The destructive fools of Westminster are needlessly pushing Britain towards a gilts and sterling crisis,” he cried.
From where he sits in the financial world, “a narrative is taking hold that this country is degenerating into an intractable and feral condition … lacking the discipline to see anything through. This is a dangerous reputation to have for a country that is running a large structural trade deficit, needs constant inflows of foreign capital, and has still not expunged the stain of the Liz Truss episode,” he wrote. We remind that the “stain” to which he refers goes back to 2022, when a head of iceberg lettuce famously lasted longer than the 44 days the Conservative Party’s Liz Truss lasted as prime minister.
“Bond markets have become acutely sensitive to any sign of fiscal slippage anywhere on the planet. They will punish states that stray—even America, with the exorbitant privilege of the dollar,” he continued. He reports that, already, borrowing rates for 10-year British bonds are higher than their U.S., Canadian, Italian, Malaysia or Moroccan equivalents. That Moroccan bonds out-performed U.K. bonds particularly sticks in the craw of this unabashed imperialist ideologue.
Why Was El Paso's International Airport Ordered Closed?
by Gretchen Small (EIRNS) — Feb. 11, 2026
The answer is still out on this one, with more questions than answers as of this evening. Review the timeline:
According to the El Paso Herald, at approximately 08:32 PM (local time) on Feb. 10, the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) issued a sudden “Notice to Air Missions” (NOTAM) advising that no aircraft would be allowed to take off, land or approach the El Paso International Airport within a ten-mile radius for a period of 10 days. Unspecified “special security reasons” were the only reason given. Aircraft flying over the airport at 18,000 Mean Sea Level (MSL) or above were not affected, however, meaning cross-country flights proceeded as normal.
El Paso, located on the U.S.-Mexican border, is a city of 700,000 people, and its airport is an important regional hub. Neither the city’s Mayor nor the area’s Congressmen were notified—and they demanded answers. As the uproar spread nationwide, the closure order on the airport had been lifted by around 8 AM local time on Wednesday morning.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy quickly put out the line on X that the closure was provoked because a Mexican cartel drone was heading towards El Paso. Normal flights could now resume, he reassured, after the FAA and the Defense Department had “acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion. The threat has been neutralized and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.”
This story has been dismissed by multiple sources. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reported the American administration had given her government no information, nor recommended that Mexican air space immediately across the border be closed.
Attention is now zeroing in on the Pentagon and Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth.
According to multiple (unnamed) sources speaking to multiple news agencies, local and national, the closure order was issued because the FAA feared nearby “military testing of anti-drone and anti-laser” weapons for use against cartel drones threatened civilian flights. No cartel drones were involved.
The El Paso airport is some three miles away from Fort Bliss and its drone and helicopter base at Biggs Army Airfield. A second NOTAM issued at the same time over Santa Teresa, New Mexico, also near Fort Bliss, is reportedly still in effect.
This story is not over. El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson told reporters today: “I want to be very, very clear that this should’ve never happened. You cannot restrict air space over a major city without coordinating with the city, the airport, the hospitals, the community leadership... That failure to communicate is unacceptable.”
