Dec. 4, 2024 (EIRNS)—In her weekly webcast, Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche observed that “what we see right now is an unbelievable destabilization of the entire world architecture…. One has the feeling that the entire foundation of the world—the world system as we have known it in even the recent period—is shaking, is crumbling.” She also made the point that: “the world has never been closer to the danger of nuclear extinction.”
A quick look around illustrates her point clearly. On Wednesday, Dec. 4, the French government collapsed after the National Assembly passed a vote of no-confidence, ending Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his cabinet’s mere three months in office. Barnier thus becomes the shortest-serving Prime Minister in France’s Fifth Republic, and the latest example of the instability gripping almost every aspect of the Western world.
Then in South Korea, havoc has broken loose following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law late Tuesday night, Dec. 3. After the decision was rescinded Dec. 4, many members of President Yoon’s government have resigned, and there are widespread calls for Yoon himself to step down with an impeachment resolution now in the works. It turns out that what the French and South Korean leaders should be concerned with is not the Russians or the North Koreans, but with their own people who are increasingly enraged by their leaders’ callous behavior.
Indeed, the collapse of Europe and the West in general is the motive force behind this drama. The Purchasing Manager Index for Europe continues to plummet, reaching levels that indicate a “strong contraction” in their economies, and this before the disastrous ban on combustion engines which is set to come into force in January—despite protests from across the continent. In the U.S., EIR now has found that debt is ballooning across all sectors—not just in the federal government—and has reached a combined total of $100 trillion in 2024, up from $62 trillion only ten years ago.
In the meantime war abounds, not only in Ukraine, and in Israel and Palestine, but now moving into Syria and potentially Georgia, as the Anglo-American permanent bureaucracy pulls new strings when their old ones aren’t working. The policy of the unipolar and imperial order is still marching forward, despite its egregious failures, all the while carrying a partially-resisting population along with it. Journalist Tucker Carlson pointed that out in a video announcing the upcoming release of his Dec. 3 interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, when he said: “We are, unbeknownst to most Americans, in a hot war with Russia—an undeclared war, a war you did not vote for and that most Americans don’t want but it is ongoing.”
The relevant point to be made here is that there is an additional factor beyond merely identifying a problem and reacting against it, the recognition of which will determine if we will make it out of this situation alive. Mass upheaval is growing, and actions are being taken to oust those deemed responsible; but what the Western world is actually experiencing is an unfolding tragedy, a tragedy which stretches beyond the tenure of any leader currently in power. Contrary to textbook definitions of “tragedy,” today’s situation was not caused primarily by the leadership of society or by their poor decisions. Rather, as Lyndon LaRouche wrote in “The Coming Eurasian World” in 2004: “both the selection of, and the relevant failures by that leadership are determined by the systemic features of the culture and institutions within which both that selection of leadership, and the forces acting upon its behavior are operating.”
In other words, surviving today’s crisis will not be accomplished merely by rejecting those failed leaders and their decisions which brought us to this moment, but by the understanding and creation of new principles upon which a future-looking society and world must be built.
This will be the subject of the Schiller Institute’s Dec. 7-8 conference “In the Spirit of Schiller and Beethoven: All Men Become Brethren!” taking place this weekend. Register now and take these next two days to organize up a storm for it.
