EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR TUESDAY NOVEMBER 15, 2022

Helga Zepp-LaRouche Demonstrates, the Center of World History Has Clearly Shifted to Asia

Nov. 14, 2022 (EIRNS)—A series of international summits is underway in Asia, and the dynamic evident there tells us where the world is going, Helga Zepp-LaRouche today told a group of her associates. ASEAN met in Cambodia Nov. 12-13; the G20 summit will be held in Indonesia Nov. 15-16; and APEC gathers in Thailand Nov. 18-19.

“What is happening is an unprecedented reemergence of the Non-Aligned Movement,” Zepp-LaRouche explained, “of countries that have absolutely resisted any pressure to be drawn into either one or the other camp. The Democracy Summit of Biden some months ago did not yield the desired results. Pressures on every individual country, their ambassadors, to join the condemnation of Russia did not lead to anything. On the contrary, the dynamic is more non-alignment, more countries representing the Global South, more members wanting to join the BRICS. And that is the dynamic which is clearly the dominant one.”

For example, Indonesian President Widodo, who is chairing the G20, stated a few days ago that “ASEAN must become a peaceful region and anchor for global stability, consistently uphold international law and not be a proxy to any powers.” He added pointedly that “ASEAN should not let the current geopolitical dynamic turn into a new Cold War in our region.” Widodo, who stubbornly refused Western attempts to bar Russia’s presence at the G20 summit, also emphasized that peaceful economic cooperation with China is of benefit for all. Zepp-LaRouche noted that, “just in time for the beginning of the Bali G20 summit, Indonesia announced that the Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway is 90% complete, and will be significantly on display for the G20 meeting.”

Instead of complaining about Chinese cooperation with the nations of the Global South, and trying to force them to decouple their economies from China, Zepp-LaRouche argued, the West should offer similar economic development projects.

“If the West wants to be part of this new arrangement, they should do likewise. It’s up to them to provide railways, infrastructure, port investments, and industrial parks to the developing countries, and then it will be a balanced development. But I think the time has definitely passed when simple pressure on countries to join one camp or the other will be sufficient—because the alternative is developing very quickly.”

The overall mood across the developing sector, Zepp-LaRouche continued, is reflected in comments by Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who said that this G20 meeting will be a tough one.

“The world is now on the brink of economic, military and security disasters and World War III is on our doorsteps.... If the leaders (of the G20), or some of them, are not willing or are unable to work together to address the world’s economic and security conundrum, at least they can lower their ego so as not to worsen the suffering of many people across the globe.”

Zepp-LaRouche concluded: “This is the worst crisis in history, ever, because the potential of nuclear war brings with it the potential of annihilation of the human species, and that never has existed like that before.” Noting the rapid motion towards a new international security and development architecture underway in Asia and among the Non-Aligned more broadly, Zepp-LaRouche stated:

“All we have to do is get the U.S. and Europe to agree to that. That is not self-evident. Many people in the developing countries have no way of knowing that there is anything positive in Europe or the U.S., and there are people who say that a radical, unilateral break has to occur. And we (in the Schiller Institute) are the only ones who point out to them that that is, again, geopolitical thinking. Because if you do that, then you end up in the same kind of confrontation of bloc-building which is exactly where the danger of world war lies.”

She laid out the clear alternative:

“We have to get people to think like world citizens and think in terms of the New Paradigm, and that is especially important in the post-election situation in the U.S., where some people are disappointed that the ‘big red wave’ did not take place—as if that would have changed anything! Only if we lift people to a higher level of thinking, the thinking of the One first, the One Humanity, world citizen first, coincidence of opposites. It’s a mindset and it’s especially important now in the post-election situation in the U.S. And that is why we absolutely have to catalyze people to join us in a completely new way of thinking.”