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 we are in a very dramatic situation and what will happen next is not clear. The continuous two-month blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, caused by this unprovoked war of aggression against Iran, has put the world in acute danger of falling into an economic depression with horrific social consequences. Severe shortages of oil have already resulted, energy prices are increasing, and shortages of fertilizer at the start of planting season are endangering the world’s food supply.

But there are many other consequences to consider, Zepp-LaRouche said. The reputation of the United States has suffered, she said, and until there is a complete reversal of the present U.S. policies, this will continue to have reverberations. NATO is falling apart. It is now reported, she said, that the United States is considering punishing those NATO member countries which did not cooperate, like Spain, which refused to allow its military bases to be used for U.S. operations into the Middle East. That would not be a terrible loss, she said, because NATO should have dissolved already in 1991 when the Warsaw Pact dissolved.

However, more fundamentally worrisome, Zepp-LaRouche said, is the fact that there is generally a state of lawlessness in the world. Many of the institutions and treaties which defined the post-World War II order, and then especially the post-Cold War order, clearly have fallen apart—especially ever since U.S. President Donald Trump declared that he does not need international law and he only respects his own mind.

Zepp-LaRouche said that there is therefore an urgent need for what we have been saying for the last four years, since Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine started, to establish a New International Security and Development Architecture which takes into account the interests of all nations. Although that idea has been dismissed by many in the past, she said, now that the world is collapsing the idea is gaining resonance, and people are beginning to ask how international relations among nations can be reestablished, based upon such principles.

Other victims of the collapse of the present system include the Persian Gulf States, which had a business model in which they relied on the presence of American bases to guarantee their security; as it turns out, the United States only protects Israel. These countries are now in a very difficult position, Zepp-LaRouche said, given the economic effects of the war. There is an urgent need to discuss what is to be done in this region of Southwest Asia when the war ends. For this reason, she said, the Schiller Institute has put forward an Extended Oasis Plan for the region, which includes 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 Caucasus to the Persian Gulf. She announced that the Schiller Institute has just produced an animated video to give these countries a vision of what the future of this region could be.

Zepp-LaRouche said that humanity is facing a tremendous cultural challenge. Do we as a human species have the moral fitness to survive? The danger that the Middle East situation could still escalate into a global nuclear war has not been eliminated. Even though opposition in the United States has been mounting since the U.S. Congress has abdicated its constitutional obligation to decide on a declaration of war, much more is still required.

‘Cognitive Sovereignty and Digital Justice’

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 that 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 propagandists and 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 for decades about the Iran war which is happening right now. “How did I know it was coming? I saw the plan,” and it goes back to 1992. Wesley Clark, a retired U.S. Army four-star general, revealed that, after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, he was told by a Pentagon official 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 is fighting to get the U.S. Congress to assume its responsibility for declaring war, as Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution requires. 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.

Protect People, Not Financial Predators

Mike Callicrate, Kansas cattle rancher and founder of Ranch Foods Direct, warned that we currently cannot feed ourselves. 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 five or six different veterans’ organizations went into the Cannon House Office Building bearing red tulips for the people killed in Iran. Seventy U.S. veterans were arrested as they stood at parade rest.

Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst and Deputy Director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Counterterrorism from 1989 to 1993, said that Trump is delusional about his accomplishments and shows a lack of emotional control. This is particularly apparent in Trump’s attacks on his former supporters, such as 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 he remembers saying that, quipped Johnson. Trump said that he is waiting for a specific proposal from Iran, even though Iran’s ten-point proposal was sent ten days ago. The United States does not have enough ships for a full blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, despite claims to the contrary.

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.

Sare recalled that President Joe Biden was senile but that 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 activist Tim Rush reported on the work 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 leading individuals 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 one 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 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 that 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 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.