March 9, 2025 (EIRNS)—It’s almost daily that historic events are unfolding, underlining the dramatic nature of the historic process currently underway in the world. Larger than the new Trump administration in the U.S., the scale of this process encompasses a historic change that spans at least the past 500 years of colonialism and neocolonialism, even if many shifts have been set into motion following Trump’s inauguration. Most importantly, all underscore the need for an entirely new security and development architecture to replace the disintegrating “rules-based order.”
In Ukraine, the Western-backed proxy war against Russia appears to be on its last legs. Russian troops have ostensibly maneuvered behind Ukraine’s front lines in Kursk—the territory Ukraine had seized from Russia last August in a futile bid to distract from its losses in Eastern Ukraine—marking the beginning of the end for Ukrainian troops in the region. Reports indicate that Ukrainian troops are losing ground by the hour and will likely be entirely run out of Russia’s Kursk region very soon. Occurring on the eve of Zelenskyy’s trip to Washington along with his enablers from the U.K. and France, this loss would mean Ukraine’s position in any potential peace negotiations would be even worse than it is currently, and further underscores the abject failure of the West’s effort to “weaken Russia.”
Another area this is expressed is in Syria, where large-scale fighting has erupted over the previous days. Reports are coming in that civilian fatalities number in the hundreds—and may be far higher—as Christian, Alawite, Druze, and other Syrian minorities are being targeted for elimination by Syria’s al-Qaeda-linked regime. As EIR has warned for more than a decade, the attempt to topple the government of Bashar al-Assad since the Obama administration would, if successful, lead to mass death throughout Syria and beyond. It appears that we are now witnessing that tragic result of the failure to abandon that policy sooner.
But perhaps the most glaring manifestation of the collapse of today’s oligarchical rules-based order is the events unfolding in Europe. Rather than accepting a peaceful settlement in Ukraine and a future relationship with Russia, European leaders are hell-bent on escalating even further in their obsession against Russia. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wants to invest €800 billion in a “Rearm Europe” plan, while Germany’s expected future Chancellor Friedrich Merz wants €400 billion for arms and €500 billion for “infrastructure”—which will largely serve military purposes.
If Europe continues to chart a war path and oppose Trump’s moves toward peace with Russia, “then they are making a catastrophic historical mistake,” Helga Zepp-LaRouche wrote in a statement released March 9. She continued: “If they then also attempt to finance the enormous lack of military capabilities by creating money outside the regular budgets, they are repeating Hjalmar Schacht’s policy of Mefo bills from the 1930s. At that point, the great war with Russia and with all the countries with which Russia is in a strategic partnership would become a self-fulfilling prophecy!”
The events of today scream out for a new system—a new security and development architecture which leaves behind forever the failed beliefs and axioms of the past. While the Trump administration has shown hopeful signs in this direction, much remains to be seen as to whether it can consciously act on such a new set of axioms to guide its policies or fall into the quicksand and chaos of the old. The reports of direct U.S.-Hamas negotiations—behind the back of Israel—offer another hopeful indication that statecraft and diplomacy are being rediscovered in the West.
The relevant question one may ask: “What are the guiding principles and axioms of this new architecture of which you speak?” Part of the answer to the question requires an understanding of the relationship between economics and security—the lack of either undermines the other. As Zimbabwe Minister of Foreign Affairs Amon Murwira said March 6 in explaining why his country has now applied to become a member of BRICS: “According to our constitution, we must not only be Pan African, but also join progressive groups that are good for the socioeconomic growth of our country and for promoting peace in the world and normally, peace is fostered through economic development.” (emphasis added)
In other words, one must think differently about what it means to secure peace from decades and centuries of colonialism and war, as Zepp-LaRouche’s Ten Principles for a New International Security and Development Architecture make clear. Today, an Oasis Plan for Southwest Asia, finally resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestine, can be a kickoff for other major economic development initiatives worldwide—overturning the era of geopolitics and empire for good. It would be a fitting end to the teeth-gnashing and temper tantrums of today’s rules-based order.
