The Lead
Sound the Alarm on the Nuclear War Danger
by Marcia Merry Baker (EIRNS) — Aug. 31, 2026
On Day One of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s 26th annual heads of state summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan today, leaders representing 3.4 billion people, from the 10 member nations, along with leaders of 17 partner nations and guests, conferred in bilateral meetings on how to proceed for the betterment of the world, stopping war and want. Tomorrow will be plenary presentations and an expected Bishkek Declaration. The official theme of the event is: “25 years of the SCO: Together Toward Sustainable Peace, Development, and Prosperity.”
Meetings in Bishkek included Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Putin and Indian Prime Minister Modi. Turkish President Recep Erdogan and Putin. Xi Jinping and Kyrgyzstan President Sadr Japarov, who is hosting Xi on a state visit, discussing, among other things, infrastructure projects affecting connectivity in all Eurasia. Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian met with Putin, with Modi, and other leaders including Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. There were many leaders and meetings.
The preliminary reports coming out of the SCO confab show that the focus of the extraordinary number of consultations taking place reiterates the need for peace and diplomacy in the world, in direct rejection of the current hallmark positions of the collective West, which is that might-makes-right in both military and economic terms.
The United States, alongside Israel, after six months of making war on Iran, with no “victory,” resumed bombing over the weekend, hitting Iran’s Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran then responded by targeted strikes on U.S. sites in Jordan and the UAE. The European war-making alignment continues its backing of Ukraine, extreme rearmament, and demonizing Russia, while the economy of Europe itself is in breakdown. EU defense ministers will meet in Ireland tomorrow, locked in this destructive mode.
But the most dramatic event of the day, is how the new economic warfare campaign launched by the United States against the world, in the name of harming Iran— “Operation Economic Outcast”—is already a non-starter after barely a week in progress. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the U.S. policy Aug. 24, and reiterated it yesterday and today at the Group of 20 finance officials, who are meeting in North Carolina, preparatory to the G20 heads of state summit set for Florida this December. Bessent told AP Aug. 30, that nations must break off relations with Iran, and if they don’t, “This is going to be financial violence if we have to. We are showing people that we know who you are, you know who you are, and this has got to stop.”
The world responds. Today, Prime Minister Modi and Pres. Pezeshkian discussed how to increase the trade and economic relations between their two nations. This follows China having already stated it will not honor the Bessent decree.
Bessent is in a flight forward at the Ashville, NC gathering. Today he thanked the EU officials present for supporting the U.S. “Operation Economic Outcast,” while media say his other support is confined to the UK, Japan, and Bahrain. What the U.S. “Outcast” initiative has done is spotlight the pending blow-out of the entire dollar system. Bessent and Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh tried to fend off questions, by saying “growth” will allow handling of debt, and minimizing the U.S. $40 trillion government debt. When a reporter asked about why the U.S. is buying-back its own Treasury notes, Bessent deflected by saying, EU Central Bank head Mario Draghi did it in Europe. Japan did it bigger than anyone.
The immediate danger amid all this glaring Western decline, and Global Majority advance, is the recourse by some still in positions of power to resort to use of the “nuclear option” in warfare. It’s for the sane to sound the alarm in all possible ways.
Join those circulating the letterfor an urgent world meeting, “Appeal to Pope Leo XIV To Organize a Global Leaders Summit To Address the Questions of Peace and Nuclear Disarmament.”
Join the dialogue on the alternative to war and breakdown. The EIR will co-hostthis Friday Sept. 4 an online Roundtable, “An Alternative to War and Looting in the Americas.” This event features speakers for a dialogue on the kinds of projects and approach also now raised at the Bishkek SCO summit, and Sept. 1-4 in Vladivostok at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum. Sept. 12-13 in New Delhi, India will host the annual BRICS heads of state summit.
Contents
Strategic War Danger
- Washington Blames Iran for U.S. Resumption of Warfare (↓)
- Two Warnings against First Use of Nuclear Weapons: Forbes, Nour News (↓)
New World Paradigm
- India and Iran Leaders Meet in Bishkek, Conferring on Peace and Trade (↓)
- Presidents Putin and Xi Met at the SCO (↓)
- President Putin and Prime Minister Modi Met at the SCO Summit (↓)
- Xi Jinping in Kyrgyzstan for State Visit and SCO (↓)
Collapsing Imperial System
- Treasury Sec. Bessent at G20 Meet Orders Nations to Cut Iran Ties (↓)
- Early Warning: EU Wants Citizens’ Savings to Fund Rearmament (↓)
Science and Technology
U.S. and Canada
- Chinese Chip Maker CXMT Files Suit against U.S. Defense Dep’t over Listing as ‘Military’ (↓)
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Paused 1,800 AI Data Centers (↓)
Harley Schlanger Update
Watch The Daily Update with Harley Schlanger, a short video update available every weekday morning from The LaRouche Organization.
