EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR THURSDAY JULY 28, 2022

Old Wine in Old Bottles

July 27, 2022 (EIRNS)—The ongoing severe crisis around the supply of Russian natural gas to Europe is underscoring for even the most obtuse that the old ways just don’t work anymore. Many in Europe are scrambling to respond to the crisis; some are even trying to figure out a new way to do things, but by and large they are doing that while refusing to abandon the old axioms that got us into this mess in the first place—the defunct, British system of free trade and globalization which is now in a full-fledged systemic breakdown crisis.

Especially in the U.S. and the U.K., there are those who are insistent on pouring the old wine into the same old bottles. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova captured the irony of the situation in comments today to Sputnik radio station: “The isolation of Russia, announced by the West, has turned into the West’s self-isolation from the rest of the world... They are only placing themselves in an increasingly stupid position and pushing themselves deeper into a dead end,” the Russian diplomat emphasized. “And now, they are unable to comprehend that their bet is starting to go against them more and more with each passing day, affecting the economic and political situation, leading governments to fall, causing a deep political crisis and a brutal internal political divide in the U.S.”

Therein also lies the significance of the target list published by the Ukrainian government’s “Center for Countering Disinformation,” a list of 78 individuals—the first 30 of whom were all speakers at conferences of the Schiller Institute—whom they accuse of promoting “Russian propaganda” for opposing NATO’s war of aggression against Russia. Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche has pointed out that, behind this hit-list, is the fear of the British and their American allies that their entire Ukraine “narrative” can be broken, and with it their drive for war against Russia and China.

As readers of the LaRouche publications are aware, the solution is hidden in plain view. Put the old, failed system into bankruptcy reorganization; wipe out close to $2 trillion in speculative financial bets; and organize a New Bretton Woods System to provide abundant, low-interest credit for high-tech international infrastructure and other development projects, which will provide the basis for true win-win cooperation among different cultures and civilizations. As Lyndon LaRouche explained in a Feb. 25, 2000 address to Peruvian accountants:

“What we will have to do, is to essentially revive the pre-1971 or pre-1966 type of Bretton Woods System on a global scale. And I would propose there are a number of differences that have to be included in that. First of all, we’ll have to repeat the successful experience of the postwar period, up till 1971, because that, for us, is a proven precedent of a workable system. Extending the system to include developing countries in the way we did not in the postwar period, is one of the fundamental changes that will have to be made.

“For example, I’ve emphasized that you can not build a workable system, without including major powers, such as China and India, as partners in managing the new monetary system.”

Like China and India, Russia is also well-disposed to the kind of policies LaRouche elaborated. In a July 25 discussion with members of his government, President Vladimir Putin again emphasized that, “despite the obvious difficulties, the current situation gives us a unique opportunity to attain an entirely new level of development and to fully realize our potential in science, technology and research.”