Aug. 21—On Friday, August 21, the International Peace Coalition (IPC) held its 168th consecutive weekly meeting. In her opening remarks, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the IPC, said that this may be our most important meeting ever. Two regional wars threaten to go out of control, and the use of tactical nuclear weapons is now a topic for casual discussion. This has been recently confirmed by former U.S. Congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene, who said that she is not guessing when she says that there is an open debate in the Pentagon and in the Trump administration of using tactical nuclear weapons, but rather she knows from direct sources that this is a live discussion. Elbridge Colby, the so-called “U.S. Under Secretary of War for Policy,” has confirmed on the record that the Pentagon is re-examining U.S. nuclear employment guidance in order to give the President what he calls “rational nuclear options” in a regional conflict with Russia or China—and he maintains that, unlike U.S. Nuclear Posture Reviews, this does not need to be approved by Congress or even be made public.
Zepp-LaRouche said that President Donald Trump should admit that he has lost the war in Iran, but instead he is vacillating between saying he is talking to the Iranians and saying there are no talks—most recently warning of crushing sanctions against Iran and any country working with it. However, Iran has survived 47 years of sanctions, and it is the United States which is bankrupt, with the federal deficit now passing the $40 trillion mark. According to media reports, Iranian officials have threatened to attack U.S. military bases in Europe if the U.S. intensifies the war.
Israel continues the genocide in Gaza, but has been committing similar atrocities in the West Bank. But President Trump is unable or unwilling to control Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The fighting in Ukraine is also escalating, but all of these wars are a consequence of the economic crisis, and the desire by Western countries to maintain the 500-year-old colonial system of looting. Zepp-LaRouche stressed the urgency to circulate the letter which appeals to Pope Leo XIV to intervene by calling for a summit of global leaders to address the need for peace and nuclear disarmament. A former head of state and a former head of government have already endorsed the letter.
Ray McGovern, a retired CIA analyst and founding member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), said that he started the day this morning the same way he starts every morning—reading the news from EIR, and highly recommended that people read an Aug. 20 article by EIR contributing writer Jason Ross, titled, “Development Is the New Name for Peace: The Summit That Should Be.” McGovern questioned how Elbridge Colby could even talk about changing official nuclear doctrines without first consulting with the Russians. He has been watching the Russians—and the Soviets before them—for over six decades, and said that the Russians are “an open book,” and make their nuclear policy crystal clear.
Nobody Is ‘Superior’ in a Nuclear War
Colby is “still wet behind the ears” with no experience and no understanding of what war is. McGovern used to brief Colby's grandfather, the late former CIA Director William Colby, on the Russians. Elbridge Colby wrote that he wants “nuclear superiority,” but, according to McGovern, this is not possible; nobody will be superior in a nuclear war—which is why it is called “Mutually Assured Destruction.”
McGovern stressed that President Trump is not well physically nor psychologically and could lead the world into a nuclear war either deliberately, accidentally, or by responding to an Israeli “false flag” provocation. An Israeli instigation is what prompted President Trump to start the Iran War. Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz which is the equivalent of holding a nuclear weapon. Would Trump, out of desperation, resort to nuclear weapons? Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, recently spoke on the Judging Freedom podcast, where he said that the U.S. military leadership would not allow Trump to use nuclear weapons. McGovern said that he prays that Wilkerson is correct, but that there is no assurance.
McGovern spoke of several incidents that almost resulted in nuclear war, such as in 1983 when a Soviet radar indicated a missile attack from the United States. The Russian officer in charge, Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov, refused to launch a counterattack, suspecting that there was a technical problem with the radar system and that there was no real threat. Another crisis, in Nov. 1983, was averted when the CIA's Mel Goodman—with whom McGovern said he was proud to work on Soviet foreign policy—bypassed all his superiors and went directly to CIA Director Bill Casey to warn that the White House had to stop an ongoing NATO military exercise called Able Archer 83, which was misunderstood in Moscow to be preparation for an attack on the Soviet Union.
McGovern also reported another close call, relevant to a President’s mental condition, apparently referring to an incident which occurred in April of 1969, when an inebriated President Nixon ordered the Joint Chiefs to draw up plans for a tactical nuclear strike against North Korea, after learning that North Korean fighter jets had shot down an unarmed U.S. Navy EC-121 reconnaissance spy plane over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 Americans on board. Henry Kissinger, serving as Nixon’s National Security Advisor at the time, got on the phone with Joint Chiefs and convinced them to forestall any action until the President sobered up.
We are currently facing a level of danger not seen since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, said McGovern, and again put the biggest concern on President Trump's mental state.
Jack Gilroy, a leader in Pax Christi, spoke of the growing circulation of the letter calling on Pope Leo XIV to bring world leaders together to address the need for peace and nuclear disarmament. Gilroy said that the Pope is seen as a moral leader and is respected by people of all faiths. In the past, Gilroy could meet with his congressman, but recently the congressman has given excuses to cancel meetings. Ironically, the last meeting was canceled because the congressman was on an AIPAC-sponsored trip to Israel.
Garland Nixon, a media personality and political analyst, said that the members of the European oligarchy are the most rabidly pro-war because they are hysterical about the end of the 500 years of colonialism and looting. The British always had the goal of controlling shipping choke points, but now the Houthis have more control than the British Navy. Nixon said that these oligarchs are angry, furious, and irrational at the fall of their colonial hierarchy. Nearly everybody calling into his show wants to know how they can help.
Colonialism and Nuclear War Are the Same Issue
Dennis Small, Ibero-America editor for EIR, said that the 500 years of colonial looting and the drive for nuclear war are the same issue. Elbridge Colby is married to a Brazilian, Susana Cordeiro Guerra, who is the vice president at the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean. In Brazil, Guerra is a protégé of the Finance Minister Paulo Guedes, a former student of Milton Friedman and one of the looters of the “Chicago Boys” under former President Jair Bolsonaro. (Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup d’état to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election, which he lost.)
Donald Ramotar, former President of Guyana, said that several of the Western countries are desperate to “turn back the clock” to keep the 500 years of colonialism alive.
Jose Vega, an independent congressional candidate for New York’s 15th Congressional District (the Bronx), spoke about his campaign and the website TheTorresFile.com, which documents the money and corruption around incumbent Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres.
Moderator Anastasia Battle gave a report about the Aug. 18 “Christian Crusader March” which took place in front of the Dearborn City Hall in Michigan, with Christian nationalists attempting to provoke the large Arab community with anti-Islam rhetoric. However, activists and faith leaders from many denominations came out to defend the community and peaceful unity.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche closed the event stressing that “We are all in one boat”; that we are One Humanity. We need to promote the Extended Oasis Plan to end the cycle of violence and educate 30 to 50 percent of the population—and join with the Global Majority. The world wants peace and stability, not wars and genocide. In recent weeks, military leaders have warned that we are sleepwalking into another 1914 war crisis. We must circulate to every institution and every thinking person the letter of appeal to Pope Leo XIV.
