From Volume 5, Issue Number 11 of EIR Online, Published Mar. 14, 2006

This Week You Need To Know

LaRouche: Iran Is Not the Problem; We Must Defeat Globalization

Here are Lyndon LaRouche's remarks to a private seminar in Berlin on March 6.

First of all, on the Iran crisis, the probable remedy in the short term, will come from negotiations between Russia and the government of Iran, because there is no other visible intermediary at this time which could probably do the job.

What we're looking for, is a time-buying operation. This was very unfortunate, bringing this crisis on from the United States and Britain, at this time, upon Iran. Iran had just had an election. It had things, internal affairs, to sort out after the election. And to bring this on, which was totally unnecessary, has created a danger for civilization, which Europe, in general, could not handle, and which is a problem for us in the United States itself, caused by Cheney.

I believe that there is a very good chance of success, of the intervention of Russia, as my opinion is echoed, I believe, by ElBaradei, the key negotiator. Europe can not at this point generally handle it, because Europe has internal problems also, in trying to deal with the United States, which would make it difficult for Central Europe, Western Europe, to deal with this problem at this time. So, I'm looking forward, optimistically, to the success of the Russian negotiations.

Now, if that were not to work out, we have a number of problems to discuss: First of all, what would be the effect of an attack if it came from the United States or some source sponsored by the United States? And what is really behind all of this nonsense? Were the attack to occur, it would probably result in a drive of the price of petroleum up to $100 to $150 a barrel, which would then be a crisis for Europe and other parts of the world in general, because we have a fragile economic situation, and the sudden zooming of the oil price to over $100 a barrel, would be a crisis.

However, it goes much beyond that. At this time, we have already a major financial crisis under way, in terms of hedge funds, in terms of the things that happened in Iceland and New Zealand and so forth, and the world in general is going through a financial-economic crisis, headed toward a general collapse. So, under these conditions, the spread of a crisis in the petroleum-producing countries, nominally in Southwest Asia, which affects both Iran and the Arab countries adjoining it: There's an immediate danger to the Saudi oil fields under those kinds of conditions. If that were to go down, you can imagine what the effect would be, in terms of price of petroleum and the effect upon the economy of Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world. So, this is something that has to be prevented. The consequences of an attack on Iran, would be of that nature....

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