The Empire Is Collapsing—
Keep Them Between a Rock and
A Calm Voice of Reason

June 16—The Western-led events over the previous days have only further underscored the dangerous situation in which the world finds itself—stuck between the moral and political bankruptcy of Western countries and at the same time their assertion of unilateral dominance. The “Summit for Peace in Ukraine” held in Switzerland over last weekend is now the latest charade to have flopped, and has confirmed that the West is today utterly unable to mobilize the majority of the world to follow its lead. Aside from the fact that few of the leading non-Western countries in the world sent high-level delegations, with even fewer of those agreeing to sign the final joint statement, it was widely acknowledged during the weekend’s proceedings that no progress can be made without Russia’s participation.

This followed on the heels of last week’s G7 Summit in Italy, where blustering announcements were made which will never come to fruition, such as the demand for Russia to pay $486 billion to rebuild Ukraine, or the new “alliance” between Ukraine and the United States. Not only were these leaders having a difficult time finding President Biden, but they were struggling to determine who would even be in office in the coming months, given their atrocious standings after the recent European Union elections.

Despite these realities, which are obvious to most sentient people in the world, American and European officials have refused to wake up and smell the coffee. Many made bellicose statements toward Russia during the Swiss event, with Vice President Harris even announcing more money for military aid to Ukraine, despite it being a “peace” conference. And, at the G7 meeting, nations ramped up their efforts to crack down on “information manipulation,” insisting that “democracy” must be defended by further controlling free debate domestically. Even worse are the wild moves in the U.S. Congress which threaten to restart a nuclear arms race, including talk about increasing the number of deployed warheads, expanding the enrichment of uranium, and developing new delivery systems for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

In the face of such a widespread rebuke to their policies, the actions of the current Western political establishment can only be described as madness—a Willy Loman-style reaction to mindlessly accelerate toward the tragedy’s inevitable conclusion. However, while it is important to diagnose and recognize this factor of irrationality pushing the world toward a nuclear world war, it’s just as important to be able to respond with a calm voice of reason if the world is to have a chance of survival. Luckily, there are such calm and composed voices weighing in.

Russian President Putin gave a landmark speech to the senior officials of his Foreign Ministry last Friday, June 14, discussing the enormity of the changes taking place in the world, and laying out the choice before Western leaders, as well as others, if they have the wherewithal to respond. He said: “The world is changing rapidly. Global politics, the economy, and technological competition will never be the same as before. More countries are striving to strengthen their sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and national and cultural identity.”

Importantly, he pointed to the universal principle of humanity, which, if realized, would be capable of cementing this kind of new paradigm among nations: “This new political and economic reality now serves as the foundation for the emerging multipolar and multilateral world order, and this is an inevitable process. It reflects the cultural and civilizational diversity that is inherently part of humanity, despite all attempts at artificial unification.” These changes “make it possible to resolve the most complex problems together for the common benefit, and to build mutually beneficial relations and cooperation between sovereign states for the sake of well-being and security of peoples.”

Helga Zepp-LaRouche has elaborated on these concepts even more profoundly in her “Ten Principles of a New Security and Development Architecture,” pointing to the need to ground global relations—and politics generally—in natural law, as opposed to the law of the jungle of today’s “rules-based order.”

The Schiller Institute conference held over the weekend covered this issue in even greater depth, providing a thorough discussion of today’s crisis and what can be done to solve it. Over the course of two days and four panels, the conference focused on the global strategic crisis and danger of war; the emergence of a new, anti-colonial system among a growing portion of the world; the exciting prospects of new scientific revolutions taking place; and the challenging but equally important questions of art, culture, and human creativity which underlie a truly healthy human society. Taken together with the June 12 press conference held at the National Press Club, also covered in detail in this issue, it’s clear that the ideas presented by the Schiller Institute last week, and coming at such a moment of epochal change in the world, will play a vital role in pointing the way forward today.

The circulation and mastering of these types of ideas is what is required to develop the calm and composed voices which will determine whether the world will make it out of this crisis or not. Real ideas—grounded in principle and a love of mankind, as opposed to a hysterical reaction to today’s collapsing neoliberal system—have the power to change history. And at the same time organize an army to demand this.

As Helga Zepp-LaRouche summed up in last week’s press conference “The Danger of Nuclear War Is Real and Must Be Stopped”: “Think as a world citizen, which is the path to a harmonious world…. We have to lift humanity to a higher level of morality if we want to survive this great danger.”