Time to Stop the Unthinkable!

“It should be clear to any alert observer that we are potentially on the verge of a global nuclear war in the short term, which can be triggered by a further escalation of either of two conflicts, the Ukraine war or the Israel-Hamas conflict. What makes this situation so dangerous in the immediate term is that Western leaders are not insisting on an immediate ceasefire and diplomatic solutions, but are taking sides unilaterally. And the United States is clearly preparing in the medium term to wage a simultaneous war against Russia and China, which would be a nuclear one in either case.”

Such is the assessment of Helga Zepp-LaRouche, as laid out in an article written Oct. 21, under the title “Whom the gods would destroy… On the way to World War III”. She goes on to call for a “global mobilization” in favor of immediate ceasefires in both regions, and for support for the Chinese proposal for a Southwest Asia Peace Conference. Beyond that, on a higher level, a new global security and development architecture “that definitively does away with geopolitics” is needed.

Indeed, Israel’s government has warned that the offensive in Gaza will be “long and intense” and “hard to stomach”, as others speak openly of the “extermination” of the Palestinian population, and the humanitarian catastrophe spins out of control. Israel threatens to open a second front against the Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in the worst case, Iran could become a party to the conflict. The Biden Administration has already heavily deployed naval forces and aircraft carriers in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The danger in Ukraine has not lessened, although NATO’s strategy has obviously failed there. Washington has now approved delivery of the ATACMS, missile systems with a range of over 300 km capable of reaching deep into Russian territory, and the White House is demanding over $100 billion in new defense funds, for Ukraine and Israel among others (cf. below). In response to these developments, Russian President Putin announced from Beijing, after a long meeting with Xi Jinping, that Russian fighter jets, carrying hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, will now carry out permanent patrols over the neutral zone of the Black Sea. Such missiles can easily reach the Eastern Mediterranean as well as all targets in Ukraine.

Western European leaders, for their part, have jumped on Washington’s bandwagon only too willingly. German Chancellor Scholz has been the most outspoken, promising “unconditional support” to Israel. But as Zepp-LaRouche points out in her article, the question is “which Israel”? The one wielding totally disproportionate violence to wipe out the Palestinians, or the one whose citizens are calling for the immediate ouster of Netanyahu and denouncing the fact that he and his allies have armed and financed the Hamas to weaken the Palestinian Authority and sabotage a two-state solution (cf. SAS 42/23)?

To prevent the conflicts in Ukraine and Southwest Asia from escalating into a world war, all citizens should demand that their respective governments promote peace initiatives, as well as the implementation of UN Resolution 242, unanimously adopted on Nov. 22, 1967. In addition, Helga Zepp-LaRouche concludes, the “Oasis Plan” proposed by Lyndon LaRouche in 1975 provides “the necessary economic development program that must be the basis for any pacification of the region”.

The full article by Helga Zepp-LaRouche can be read in English translation here.