May 10, 2025 (EIRNS)—Friday night into the early hours of Saturday morning, as India and Pakistan exchanged missile strikes on targets within one another’s territory, the possibility that the conflict between the two nuclear-armed powers would escalate out of control loomed large. By Saturday afternoon, it was announced in a flurry of social media posts by U.S. President Trump, Secretary State Marco Rubio, and senior officials in both India and Pakistan that the two sides had agreed to an immediate and complete ceasefire and, according to Rubio, “to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site.” Though the situation remains fragile—each side accused the other of violations overnight into Sunday, May 11—the de-escalation of a trigger point that very well could explode into global conflict is confirmation of the fact that we may just be able to think our way out of this crisis.
Doing that successfully requires of all men and women of goodwill—elected world leaders emphatically included—that we not react to momentary events, but understand the historical dynamics underway that give rise to them. The focus given by Russia over the past week to the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazism, a victory achieved by a cooperative and extraordinary effort among nations for a common and existential cause, has been crucial in that respect. Against that backdrop, both Russia and Pakistan have shone a light over the past several weeks on the British Empire role in building the post-war hand grenade that threatens to explode in a variety of theaters of supposedly local conflict today.
One such very dangerous hand grenade is Southwest Asia, where President Trump will travel next week, visiting Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., and Qatar. The notable absence of Israel on the list of destinations, along with Trump’s May 6 announcement of a ceasefire with the Houthis and the planned resumption of U.S.-Iran talks on May 11, has made many—the genocidal and embattled Netanyahu quite notably—nervous about what forces will ultimately decide the fate of the region.
However, none of these conflicts will be solved unless the root causes are addressed; lasting peace will only come through justice, fairness, and development. In the case of Southwest Asia, that means a Palestinian state and LaRouche’s Oasis Plan; more generally, it means we replace the old and evil system of geopolitics.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the world to take the lessons of that defeat of fascism 80 years ago to create a new, post-colonial world system. In addressing world leaders at a reception following the May 9 Victory Day parade—an event attended by 29 heads of state and government—Putin said: “The solidarity and fortitude in attaining a common goal is an example of invaluable importance … for us now as we again have to address the issue of sovereign rights of states and peoples to their identity and independence, to the very possibility to live in accordance with the historical, cultural and spiritual traditions of their forefathers, and create a system of security and international relations based on the principles of real equality and respect for each other’s interests.”
A new and truly human world system to replace that of geopolitics has been called for repeatedly over the past five decades by Lyndon and Helga Zepp-LaRouche as a vital necessity for the survival of mankind. In her 2022 “Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture,” Zepp-LaRouche lays out the mission: "A new world economic order is emerging, involving the vast majority of the countries of the Global South. The European nations and the U.S. must not fight this effort, but by joining hands with the developing countries, cooperate to shape the next epoch of the development of the human species to become a renaissance of the highest and most noble expressions of creativity!
“Let us therefore create an international movement of World Citizens, who work together to shape the next phase in the evolution of mankind, the new epoch! World Citizens of all countries, unite!”
Those who wish to bring about such a new renaissance will come to the Schiller Institute conference on May 24-25, “A Beautiful Vision for Humanity in Times of Great Turbulence!”
