EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2022

Helga Zepp-LaRouche on Leading China TV: The World Is Threatened by Nuclear War

Feb. 26, 2022 (EIRNS)—Schiller Institute founder and Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche gave an interview this morning to presenter Wang Guan on CGTN’s “The Hub” broadcast, one of the leading programs on China’s English-language network, broadcast internationally. She warned, that without the world coming to an agreement on a new strategic architecture, with the right to development for all nations, then we are sleepwalking into nuclear war.

Asked about the current Russian military action in Ukraine, Zepp-LaRouche said:

“President Putin had made very clear that red lines had been crossed. He said at one point, there is no place for me to retreat to, and the West did not listen to that. Then, on Dec. 17, he asked from NATO and the United States legally binding security guarantees, that NATO would not expand further to the east, that no offensive weapons would be put on the Russian border, and that Ukraine would never become a member [of NATO]. And he did not get an answer. I think that the West made a big mistake by not listening to legitimate, expressed security concerns of Russia, and now we are on the verge of something which could go completely out of control.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already discounted the “mother of all sanctions” being imposed on Russia, Zepp-LaRouche said, quoting him that if the West had not made Ukraine the issue, “they would have found another issue.” Putin, she continued, “said the real aim of all of this is to prevent the economic development of Russia.... It will be painful for Russia, but I think the West is inflicting much more damage on themselves. And it has to be condemned completely.”

Asked about her petition for a “new strategic architecture,” she insisted this is not only for Europe:

“I’m calling for an international security architecture, which involves the security interests of all nations on this planet, including Russia and China. I think the historical precedent is the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, because, after 150 years of religious warfare in Europe, and the tremendous destruction, all the participating powers came to the conclusion that a continuation of the war would not be to the benefit of anybody, because nobody would live to enjoy it. And we are in a similar situation: If you really look hard at the situation, the danger is the nuclear annihilation of the entire human species. And I think it is that which has to sink into the consciousness of everybody, and then there has to be a process like the Peace of Westphalia, where a solution has to take into account the interest of the other, the interest of every other. And that means the security interest of Russia, the security interest of China, of the United States, of the Europeans and all other nations. The second principle of the Peace of Westphalia was that, for the sake of peace, all crimes which were committed by one or the other side have to be forgotten; and thirdly, that the role of the state is important in the economic reconstruction after the war.

“Now, the equivalent of that today, means that all powers have to address the real, crucial issue, that the reason why we have the conflict in the first place, is the fact that the neoliberal system of the West is collapsing. Therefore, the first act of such a new architecture has to be a global Glass-Steagall banking separation, where the casino economy, which is the reason the West is getting so desperate, has to be put to an end. Then, we have to have a national banking system in every single country, and a new credit system in the tradition of the Bretton Woods system, which provides cheap credit for the development of the developing countries. If these measures would be agreed upon, a durable peace would be possible.”

Wang raised the question about those who argue that Putin wants to restore the Soviet Union. Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche responded:

“I don’t think so. I think the only people who are pushing geopolitical blocs right now are those behind President Biden, who tried to create this ‘alliance of democracies’ against the so-called autocratic governments. I think that the agreement between President Xi Jinping and Putin on Feb. 4, where they made a strategic alliance between Russia and China based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, is open to everybody. I think any new order which is meant to lead to peace must be inclusive, and I think the overcoming of geopolitics, basically going to a principle where peace is only possible through development—that has to be accessible for all.”