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On Sunday, the Council of Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation met in extraordinary session in Pakistan, and agreed upon resolutions for coordinated humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, and measures for economic functioning. Follow-up mechanisms were specified to implement the decisions of the OIC. Attending the meeting were 70 delegates, representing member countries, guest nations, international financial and UN aid agencies. The OIC, with 57 member nations, is the largest such world body after the United Nations. But even so, what determines what will happen for the Afghanistan people and nation, the greater region, and world situation, requires a shift in approach to abandon deadly geopolitics, and launch concerted positive action among major powers.This was stressed on Friday, the opening day of the three-day OIC meetings in Islamabad, by Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche, appearing in a discussion on Pakistan’s national television PTV, which covered the OIC proceedings intensively. She said, “In a certain sense, to get all the forces internationally together to help Afghanistan is, in my view, one of the absolute, important historical missions. In a certain, I think the whole destiny of mankind is in a laser, concentrated on what happens in Afghanistan. So I would really hope that all the participating and affected countries would double and multiply their efforts to make saving Afghanistan an issue of the whole world, because right now it is. And I think all channels must be used: media, United Nations, conferences. There must be a drumbeat, a drumbeat of awakening the conscience of the world, because I think this is sort of a judgment of our ability as a human species: Are we morally fit to survive or not?” What is happening this evening is that pledges are starting from OIC nations, on what donations they will commit, for purposes of urgent relief operations. From preliminary reports, the framework that is to administer ongoing aid includes several features. A resolution was adopted unanimously that the OIC will set up a Humanitarian Trust Fund and a Food Security Program. The OIC meeting requested that the existing Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) work with this new Food Security Program for Afghanistan, including using IOFS reserves, when warranted. The Humanitarian Trust Fund is to come into operation during the First Quarter of 2022, under the auspices of the Islamic Development Bank. In Kabul, the existing OIC Mission is to be reinforced with more logistical, financial and staff resources to enable it to coordinate operations with global agencies and partnerships. These include the obvious UN agencies, from UNICEF, to the World Food Program, and other organizations. A priority will be working with the World Health Organization for vaccines and medical supplies. There will be support for the Afghan refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, and for the internally displaced within Afghanistan. An estimated 665,000 people have been displaced just between January and September 2021, over and above the 2.9 million already dislocated within their nation. In brief, 60% of the population of 38 million people face crisis levels of hunger, and lack of necessities for life. The conference welcomed the offer by Uzbekistan to create, with UN efforts, a regional logistics hub in Termez city, to handle the shipment of humanitarian material into Afghanistan. The OIC meeting approved the designation of Ambassador Tarig Ali Bakhit Salah, Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian, Cultural and Family Affairs at the OIC Secretariat, to be OIC Special Envoy to Afghanistan for the OIC Secretary General, to coordinate efforts, and provide reports to the OIC. The Humanitarian Trust Fund is to be up and running within the first quarter of 2022. It is reported by APP (AP Pakistan,) that there was an urgent appeal made for large-scale projects in the multi-nation region, to serve reconstruction and development. In general, this should include energy, transportation and communication projects. Two mentioned were the TAPI Pipeline, and the TAP (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan) electricity transmission line. Participants in the deliberation drew attention to the importance of the 15th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization, which met on Nov. 28, 2021, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. The second area of OIC action, alongside the humanitarian, food-aid and anti-pandemic work, concerns creating the banking, credit and related conditions to serve a re-established functioning economy, and for reconstruction. The Council of Foreign Ministers decided, according to the report by APP, that exploratory talks “to unlock the financial and banking channels to resume liquidity and flow of financial and humanitarian assistance” should commence under the direction of the OIC General Secretariat, and the Islamic Development Bank. APP added that, participants discussed “exploring realistic pathways towards unfreezing Afghanistan’s financial assets.” Here is where the outright clash comes in with the networks in London, Washington D.C. and co-conspirators, which insist on wrongfully withholding $9.5 billion in Afghanistan state assets, sorely needed for government and economic functions. An especially ugly, duplicitous public relations campaign is going on in the United States, where two open statements were issued this past week, crying crocodile tears, asserting that some of the $9.5 billion should be unfrozen, and used to “directly help the Afghan people,” but only if allocated directly through non-Kabul government, non-Taliban, UN or other agencies. One letter was from former military figures, in connection with the infamous Atlantic Council, and the other letter was from a group of 39 Congressmen, either ignorant, gullible, corrupt, or all three. No nation exists without functioning institutions. There is no independence without economic sovereignty. Withholding the funds, or arrogating decision-making over their use means destroying a nation. This will do the job by genocide, that 20 years of military presence and non-development didn’t do in Afghanistan. This is a moral test for the West. What needs to be done with the funds, and in general in Afghanistan is presented in the newly-released EIR interview with Dr. Shah Mehrabi, for 20 years on the Board of Governors of the Da Afghanistan Bank, the central bank of Afghanistan. Our role is indispensable in getting out such policy interventions, along with getting out the truth on the scale of the emergency in Afghanistan, which is being blacked out severely in the Trans-Atlantic media. The Zepp-LaRouche call for Operation Ibn Sina to bring a modern healthcare platform to the country is a call for world action. Shining the light on Afghanistan and mobilizing for what must be done, spreads understanding of the necessity to end the grip of the imperialist foreign policy and globalist financial system everywhere, now in breakdown, and threatening nuclear war. Helga Zepp-LaRouche ended her remarks on PTV Dec. 17 by summarizing, “So in one sense, I think the fate of Afghanistan and the fate of humanity are much more closely connected than most people can imagine.”

Today in Islamabad, representatives of most of the 57 member nations of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation were gathered for the pre-meeting to the extraordinary meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan, which will be held tomorrow. In a statement to today’s opening session of senior officials, the OIC Assistant Secretary General of Humanitarian Affairs, Ambassador Tarig Ali Bakhit Salah, stressed, as reported on the OIC website, “that after decades of war, suffering and insecurity, the people of Afghanistan need relief and peace. ‘It is crucial for the international community to take swift action to ensure that the people of Afghanistan have unimpeded access to life-saving assistance, and that humanitarian support is scaled up. The OIC humanitarian office in Kabul will assume its responsibility in coordination with the various international agencies in delivering the required assistance to the millions of people in need,’ said Ambassador Tarig.”The registered participants at this weekend’s sessions number 437, and many non-OIC delegations are present, including guest nations, UN and other international agencies. The Afghanistan Taliban government delegation arrived today from Kabul, headed by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. He met today with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. On Dec. 17, the opening day of the OIC events, David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Program, gave a stern interview to the U.S. National Public Radio, describing the Afghanistan situation. Speaking from the WFP headquarters in Rome, he said, “I was just in Kabul … out of 42 million people, 23 million are marching towards starvation. I mean, they’re in serious trouble … 95% don’t have enough food to eat. [Out of the 23 million] about 9 million are on famine’s door as we speak. It is Hell on Earth. And now the winter months are here.” He spoke of mothers "having to choose, ‘if I have any money at all, do I buy cooking fuel or heating fuel? Do I freeze my child to death, or do I starve my child to death?’ That’s what they’re facing now…. “What we’re looking at now is a 40% loss of wheat production because of droughts and then COVID economic deterioration. Then on top of all that is the lack of [financial] liquidity because the international community has frozen all the assets that the country normally would have….” The situation within Afghanistan cries out for concerted action, and the scope of what needs to be done—not only here, but throughout Central and Southwestern Asia, has been presented by Schiller Institute, in four different guest TV appearances on Pakistan national television PTV, in its gavel-to-gavel coverage of the OIC events over the past 24 hours. Yesterday, Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche powerfully reiterated her call for Operation Ibn Sina in Afghanistan, named after the great Islamic thinker and physician. Also yesterday, Hussein Askary, Southwest Asia Coordinator for the Schiller Institute presented what stretching the Belt and Road Initiative throughout the region will mean. Today, Harley Schlanger, speaking from Germany for the Schiller Institute, spoke on a PTV panel, which opened with a short documentary on Afghanistan, including the report from David Beasley. Schlanger commended Pakistan for its leading role to organize relief action, and the OIC for its efforts, then he called for three steps: 1) unfreezing the Afghanistan government funds; 2) mobilizing emergency aid; and 3) launching a long-term commitment for full economic development. He pointed out that, after spending trillions of dollars for a war, which caused this crisis, the U.S. and Europe must make a major effort to provide food and medical supplies, using the logistical capacity of the war machine to airlift necessary material. Karel Vereycken, speaking from Paris, with the Solidarity & Progress Party, participated in PTV’s next segment, this one an hour-long panel discussion. He drew attention to the potential significance of the meeting of the “Extended Troika”—the United States, Russia, China and Pakistan—to take place on Dec. 20, following the Dec. 19 OIC meeting. The Schiller Institute is collaborating with individuals and efforts internationally for the needed action in Afghanistan, and for a decisive end to foreign relations based on the neo-British Empire model of perpetual confrontation, and economic subjugation, now pushed in the name “climate emergency,” “rules-based order,” and “democracy.” There are videos in preparation for mass social media use, and other initiatives in rush preparation. Today, an EIR interview with Dr. Shah Mohammad Mehrabi, on the governing board of the Central Bank of Afghanistan (Da Afghanistan Bank), was posted in video and text, in which he addresses in depth what is needed for economic functioning in Afghanistan. The interview is titled, “U.S. Policy Is ‘Suffocating the Afghan People.’” (It will appear in EIR’s issue dated Dec. 24, 2021). In Washington, D.C. this coming week, a group of Congressmen is planning to announce their initiative for the U.S. to unfreeze the $9.5 billion of Afghanistan government funds, wrongfully withheld by the U.S. Federal Reserve and Treasury, on U.S. orders. It is also of note, that the Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites, co-founded by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, and former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders, in late summer/fall of 2020, has issued a press release this weekend, on its 2021 aid initiative to Mozambique, in the spirit of demanding collaboration among the major powers, for both emergency action to save lives, and for full-scale development everywhere, beginning with modern health care systems.

The importance of the Schiller Institute’s emergency Dec. 4 web conference “Omicron: Urgent Need for World Health System” is underscored by the continuing flow of reports of Omicron’s wide presence, even as its exact features are still under study. New cases are reported ranging from the boroughs of New York City, to Hawaii to Australia and points in between. The World Health Organization met today, and issued an advisory to redouble the defensive measures already prescribed to diminish transmission of other well-known variants of SARS-CoV-2. The occurrence of such a variant as Omicron was predictable, and was predicted early in 2021 by virologists, if no concerted world action were taken.The needed action to combat the virus has been outlined repeatedly since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic by Helga Zepp-LaRouche and collaborators, most recently in the Nov. 23 international call by Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former U.S. Surgeon-General, directed to enlist medical experts to help provide leadership. There must be multinational collaboration for emergency measures to save lives—vaccination, treatment, humanitarian aid, and at the same time, steps for launching in-depth construction of infrastructure for health systems in all nations, to end the conditions fostering pandemics. This is a new paradigm, which demands new economic and financial measures to carry it through. The LaRouche Four Laws, involving Glass-Steagall banking reorganization, plentiful and directed credit, and science drivers, are a core part of the mobilization required. The entire “Green” agenda is to stop such a mass regroupment of humanity. The feasibility of this new paradigm is dramatically shown today, in the opening of the beautiful Kunming-to-Vientiane railway, from southwest China to the capital of Laos. This 1,035 km span was a technological feat, and along with that, it is a key part in the Pan-Asian railway, which will connect mainland Asia, through Indochina, all the way through the Indonesian archipelago. A large ratio of the total track runs on bridges and through tunnels in the mountainous tropics. It has the longest bridge in the world, which at one point is 54 stories high. Not only does fencing protect wildlife, but overpasses are built for elephant migration. China’s President Xi Jinping today addressed the opening ceremony by video, stressing that Laos is no longer a landlocked country, but now will be a land-linked hub for the entire region. The technological success and purpose of this grand new rail line demonstrate that the feats involved in establishing hospital systems for every nation, and the infrastructure platforms to support them—power, water, transport, and staff—are not insurmountable tasks, any more than the rail line was. What is required is to defeat what’s standing in the way—the dead financial system, now blowing out in hyperinflation and breakdown, and to put in place the new system prioritizing human beings, nations and development. The ugly and very dangerous geopolitical side of the dead imperial networks was hyperactive throughout this past week, through three sets of multinational meetings. The shrill denunciations of China and Russia barely stopped at calling for war. NATO foreign ministers met in Riga, Latvia Nov. 30-Dec. 1; the OSCE met Dec. 1-2 in Stockholm; and the U.S.-EU Dialogue on China met in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 2-3. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg outdid themselves to call for NATO to stand ready against likely “Russian aggression.” Co-hosts of the U.S.-EU Dialogue on China, U.S.Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Secretary-General of the EU’s European External Action Service Staffano Sannino denounced China for many imputed infractions, such as bullying Lithuania and mistreating Uyghurs. Speaking today at a Brookings Institution event on the Indo-Pacific, the pair praised the new U.S.-EU Dialogue on Security and Defense, which will meet in early 2022, and was announced by Blinken and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. Moreover, Sherman and Sannino said that the respective initiatives of Biden’s B3W (Build Back Better World) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s Global Gateway are “complementary,” and will compete against China’s Belt and Road Initiative. What did they offer to show for this? Nothing. Sherman could only assert that together, they will exert “collective strength” because they will work in partnership with India and the Quad. Even Victoria Nuland, now the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, got into the act. She addressed the Kiev Security Forum by video on Dec. 1, which happened to be on the second day of the NATO confab. Famous for her direct role in violent regime change of the Ukraine government in February 2014, Nuland said to Kiev: “All of the NATO allies were in solidarity with Ukraine today, and making clear that we are resolute in supporting your independence, and we are also resolute in sending the message to Moscow that if it moves again to internally destabilize Ukraine or use its forces to enter the country that it will be met with high impact economic measures the likes of which we have not used before from all of us,” To cap things off, new sanctions were announced yesterday against Belarus targets, by the U.S., Britain, Canada and the EU, which congratulated each other for doing so. Above all this din, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who met with Blinken on the sidelines of the OSCE conference, said very sternly that Russia is preparing proposals for how NATO must limit its expansion toward Russia. This is a follow-on to President Vladimir Putin’s Nov. 18 explicit statement that this must be done, given when he addressed a meeting of his foreign service officials. This is the context in which multinational collaboration against the pandemic and famine is, at the same time, action to stop the geopolitical madness, now promoting confrontation to the point of war. Be sure to attend and make use of the Dec. 4 emergency Schiller Institute conference and ongoing mobilization.

A shipment of 50,000 tons of wheat and life-saving medicines is currently making its way from India to Afghanistan, across Pakistan. On Nov. 22, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan personally announced approval for the transit, which otherwise is prohibited, because in recent times, only exports from Afghanistan to India could cross Pakistan, but not the other way around, due to the enmity between India and Pakistan. Now, for a common humanitarian project, India and Pakistan have set their enmity aside.This is just one instance, not grand, but it is in the direction—the spirit—of Operation Ibn Sina, called for by Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche in October. She calls for a multi-nation, all-out response to the Afghanistan dire situation, by providing emergency aid, and infrastructure-building, with healthcare capacity in the forefront, and an immediate return of the financial assets to the nation of Afghanistan. This is in the interest of all throughout the region, and worldwide. This perspective is urgent for the 38 million in Afghanistan, 95% of whom are without reliable food, as well as lacking water, shelter, fuel and power. The same driving spirit is needed to address the world hyperinflationary breakdown and pandemic, as well as to provide relief for all places of extreme need, including Haiti, Yemen, Syria, Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and elsewhere. Institutionally, this spirit is expressed in a new white paper released today by China, on the eve of the Nov. 29-30 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which meets every three years, and will be held this year in Dakar, Senegal, as well as online. President Xi Jinping will address the Forum by video Nov. 29. Today’s document is titled, “China and Africa in the New Era: A Partnership of Equals.” The hallmark of the report’s message is how the Belt and Road Initiative serves the mutual benefit of Africa and China, and all participating nations. The need for major multinational collaboration against the pandemic could not be more conspicuous than in the latest turn of events on the pandemic virus. Today, a new SARS-CoV-2 variant has been designated a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization, which dubbed it Omicron. First identified in recent weeks in South Africa, which has proficiency in genetic mapping, the virus has since shown to have been present in many places in Africa, and has travelled outside Africa, showing up in Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium. Among features of concern about Omicron, are mutations of its protein spikes which may allow it “to escape,” as the epidemiologists say, the current vaccines. These and other traits are still under scrutiny. The first reaction in the trans-Atlantic countries today was to “pull up the drawbridge, and fill up the moat” to fend off Omicron by banning travel to eight designated African countries. Whatever justifiable role travel bans and lockdowns may have, what is needed overall is what was spelled out Nov. 23 by former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders in her call “Open Letter to Virologists and Medical Experts Around the World to Address the COVID-19 Pandemic.” However, the pathological commitment to geopolitics is still blinding the trans-Atlantic to reality of all kinds, and what must be done. Worse, it hardens people to not give a damn. Look at the latest of what is called the “migrant crisis”—in the Americas and in Europe, which is really a terrible expression of the breakdown of the West. The recent decades of multiple R2P wars and forced austerity have inevitably uprooted millions of people, now roaming in desperation to find some place on Earth to be able to live and work in peace. Look at the English Channel. On one day this month, 1,000 people tried to cross from France to land in Britain. On Wednesday, Nov. 24, this week, 27 people died when their boat capsized, and meanwhile, the same day France interdicted 671 people, preventing them from attempting the crossing. So far this year, 25,000 have sought asylum in the U.K., after crossing the English Channel, and thousands more have entered by other means. On Sunday, Nov. 28, there is to be an emergency meeting of certain European officials. But now a feud is in play between Britain and France. After Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted an open letter to President Emmanuel Macron yesterday, with proposals including that France should take back Channel-crossers, then today, Macron disinvited British Home Minister Priti Patel from the Sunday meeting. Macron denounced the Johnson letter. No one is addressing the causes of the collapse and desperation. This brings us again to the need for activation of people, wherever their location, to exert leadership for the policies that will end this quickening hell. Helga Zepp-LaRouche spoke of this in her Nov. 24 strategic weekly Schiller Institute webcast. After reporting on the latest dismal government-formation process in Germany, with very bad policies, she made the general point: “I can only say, people have to wake up and start to fight for a different policy. And that can only be peaceful cooperation with Russia and China, the development of the developing countries—Africa, Southwest Asia, together with the Belt and Road Initiative of China. So the alternatives are there, but we need a population which is really becoming active….”

Today the Schiller Institute posted a 7-point call, issued by Guus Berkhout, President of the CLINTEL Group, which he presented November 14th, 2021 at the Schiller Institute conference, “All Moral Resources of Humanity Have To Be Called Up: Mankind Must Be the Immortal Species!” Below is the full text, which appears under the headline, “Message to the Young People at COP26: Dear Youngsters, Please Wake Up!” Please, don’t act like a parrot. Be critical against the many false prophets, who are trying to take advantage of you and set you up against the impressive progress your parents and grandparents have realized. Bear in mind that the information these prophets tell you is one-sided and misleading. Deepen your knowledge on the facts of our climate. By doing so, you will discover that there is no evidence that points to a climate crisis. Yes, climate change exists and it is of all times. But don’t worry, the current global warming is gentle (only ca. 0.14° C per decade) and it has already made many, many positive contributions to the quality of life. Do you know that the difference between the mean annual temperature in cold Finland and warm Singapore is more than 20° C. Yet, both these countries are most successful. Mankind is very clever in adapting to very different climates! Declaring current global warming of 0.14° C per decade a catastrophe is totally out of proportion. Think about that, while you are protesting. Did your teachers ever tell you that CO₂ is a blessing for everything that lives on our planet? Far from being pollution, CO₂ is the molecule of life, providing food for plants. Without plants there would be very little animal life and no human life at all. Think about that as well, while you are protesting. Don’t confuse climate change with environmental pollution! They are two completely different phenomena. Climate change is largely caused by the primordial natural forces and environmental pollution is largely caused by human behavior. Climate change requires clever adaptation measures and environmental pollution asks for clever clean production technologies. Please, don’t waste your life by solving a problem that does not exist. Instead, put all your talents and energy in developing a productive sustainable economy. Only then can you realize enough financial means to increase the standard of living beyond the basic needs. When you go back to the unproductive past and make yourself poor, you are no longer in control of your future! History shows that living on planet Earth requires adaptation all the time. If you continue to advance science and technology, you generate new capabilities to adapt to climate change, to protect our natural environment, to conquer the universe and to take care of one another. This is the formula for creating a better world. FINALLY, DEAR YOUNGSTERS, For all of you who have been poisoned by fear of what is to come, forget the dodgy preachers of doom and gloom at COP26; they ruin your future by destroying everything your parents and grandparents have built.

This fall marks the eighth anniversary of the announcement by China’s President Xi Jinping, of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), when he announced the Silk Road Economic Belt in Kazakhstan Sept. 7, 2013 and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in a speech before the Parliament of Indonesia on Oct. 2, 2013. President Xi today addressed a symposium on the project, discussing in detail its many achievements and continuing intent, functioning as the modern-day Silk Road, for the common good of all.Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute President, and long known in China and internationally as the “Silk Road Lady,” for her advocacy of the concept, gave three interviews today, on the occasion of the BRI anniversary. She appeared on CGTN TV, in two interviews, one on Global Business, and another on the Dialogue Weekend program; and she was interviewed on her weekly Schiller Institute webcast, titled, “Most of the World Is Hungry for Change.” (See transcripts in this briefing.) Beginning in the early 1990s, she and her husband Lyndon LaRouche, promoted the idea of the “World Land-Bridge,” of development corridors. The latest books they issued on this were two volumes (2014 and 2018) of The New Silk Road Becomes the World Land-Bridge, along with Extending the New Silk Road to West Asia and Africa (2017). These presented details, region by region, for world economic development. In each interview today, she stressed the urgency for Western nations to rethink, and give up geopolitics and neo-colonialism, which have brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, worsening famine and persisting pandemic. Nations have been deliberately kept in poverty. These conditions, and induced strife, have produced mass migrations. She said on her webcast: “[W]e have to have a rethinking: Germany, the United States, other European countries should stop this geopolitical confrontation and say, ‘we have a pandemic, we have mass famine, we have a refugee crisis of biblical dimensions, and we must join hands and build the infrastructure, hospitals, schools, industry, agriculture, in all of these countries….’ So let’s just build infrastructure! Let’s build up Africa! This is the natural thing, and the Chinese are doing the natural things and we should stop bickering about it, because we should take a moral lesson from the Chinese in this respect.” President Xi Jinping reported that as of August 2021, some 170 nations had, in various ways, cooperated with the BRI. Now today, in terms of combatting the pandemic, 110 of these nations have received some of the 1.7 billion doses of vaccine. Zepp-LaRouche drew attention in her CGTN Global Business interview to the fact that the same principle is involved in what China calls its “Health Silk Road,” and what the Schiller Institute is campaigning for, in calling on nations to collaborate in building a world health system. This means facilities, staff, water, power, food, infrastructure. We have a moment of special opportunity now. A week ago in Glasgow, COP26 ended as FLOP26. It was a failure for its organizers—the gaggle of royals, banksters, billionaires and the like, who want nations to agree to commit suicide, in order “to save the planet.” A critical number spoke out against this in Glasgow, and their view was again restated yesterday in Abuja, Nigeria, by Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama. He said simply, while standing alongside visiting U.S. Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken at their joint press conference that Nigeria is “a gas-producing country … and we’re looking to gas to help to address our energy needs.” So, he called on Blinken to do something to stop the international financial institutions from refusing to lend funding for fossil fuels development. Nigeria has the right to use its resources and develop. Now it is the time for all humanity to step forward and take the lead. Zepp-LaRouche replied to CGTN reporter Michael Wang’s question about her opinion of the BRI at a time of uncertainties in the world: “I think it is, for sure, the most important strategic initiative on the planet right now. Because you say ‘uncertainty,’ I mean, these uncertainties show, for example, in the form of a hyperinflationary tendency: You see the energy prices skyrocketing, food prices, and we may actually head towards a hyperinflationary blowout of the entire system. And at such a moment, to have the Belt and Road Initiative which focusses entirely on the physical side of the economy, can actually become the absolute important savior for the world economy as a whole. So I think the existence of the Belt and Road Initiative is the most important initiative on the planet.”

The multiple crises we face, from the economic breakdown to the death toll and dangers from geopolitics, require collaboration among peoples and nations on solutions; in particular, on ending toleration of “climate emergency,” green destruction. On Oct. 6, the call for this went out as a joint statement from the respective leaders of the European-based CLINTEL, and the Schiller Institute, titled, “A Wake Up Call: The Danger for Mankind Is Not the Climate, but Toleration of a Devious Policy that Uses Climate to Destroy Us!” As co-author Helga Zepp LaRouche, Schiller Institute President, stressed yesterday, we want people to endorse, confer and initiate action, in order to get nations to cooperate on dealing with the current, acute emergencies.The multiple crises we face, from the economic breakdown to the death toll and dangers from geopolitics, require collaboration among peoples and nations on solutions; in particular, on ending toleration of “climate emergency,” green destruction. On Oct. 6, the call for this went out as a joint statement from the respective leaders of the European-based CLINTEL, and the Schiller Institute, titled, “A Wake Up Call: The Danger for Mankind Is Not the Climate, but Toleration of a Devious Policy that Uses Climate to Destroy Us!” As co-author Helga Zepp LaRouche, Schiller Institute President, stressed yesterday, we want people to endorse, confer and initiate action, in order to get nations to cooperate on dealing with the current, acute emergencies.

Collaborators of the international Schiller Institute staged rallies and public street events today in many nations, in a “Day of Action” demanding that the U.S. release the funds belonging to the people of Afghanistan, which have been frozen in the U.S. Treasury, while the Afghan people face starvation. The rallies also got out the message: “A Wake Up Call: The Danger for Mankind Is Not the Climate, but Toleration of a Devious Policy that Uses Climate To Destroy Us!” which is the title of the statement released Oct. 12 by Helga Zepp-LaRouche and Dr. Guus Berkhout, the initiator of the CLINTEL, an organization of international scientists who refute the fake science on carbon and climate change. These documents were distributed at key sites in places from Colombia, to Germany. They included New York City; Houston, Texas; Montreal, Canada; Mexico City; Paris; Berlin; and Wiesbaden. In Washington, D.C., dozens of the international delegations in town for the annual IMF and World Bank sessions received the statements. In the Midwest, activists with the LaRouche Organization hit the campus of the University of Michigan.It is a test of conscience to take the urgently needed action in Afghanistan: muster and deliver the large-scale emergency aid—food, fuel, winter materiel, etc.; start the longer-term infrastructure building as fast as possible; and immediately, release the $9 billion in assets wrongfully being withheld by U.S. authorities, which belong to the people of Afghanistan, and are needed in restarting daily life. This is the only moral, the only reasonable approach. The same power of reason is the only sane response to the rapidly deteriorating economic crises in the Trans-Atlantic and related economies. Look at two examples of the most recent headline situations: In Europe, the same electricity and gas hyperinflation and shortages which were expressed most dramatically weeks ago in Britain, are now spreading across the continent. This week, a German energy retailer declared bankruptcy. In the Czech Republic, an energy company suddenly cut off its 90,000 customers, telling them to seek alternatives with a state company. The situation clearly calls for collaboration across Europe to freeze spot markets, stop speculation, work out contracts to keep supplies moving, make the needed logistics arrangements, and get moving on stopping the green transition to unreliable, so-called renewables. Instead, EU authorities met yesterday, and came up with an energy Tool Box, with no tools. They simply OK’d some stop-gap measures, as, for example in Spain, for governments to aid households and companies facing unpayable energy bills; and they made a vague commitment to one day having an EU-wide energy market. In the United States, the delays in goods production, spare parts, shipping, and related functions are worsening by the minute, with rising energy prices part of the mix that otherwise includes decades of lack of transport and other infrastructure. In agriculture, threats to the Fall harvest, crop shipment, and storage, come from lack of spare parts for machinery, and rising fuel costs. The situation clearly calls for interim emergency measures, sector by sector, to keep vital production and services going, from healthcare delivery, to food processing; while stopping speculation cold, reorganizing banking and credit, and preparing for full-scale economic rebuilding. Instead, President Biden issued a King Canute executive order yesterday, that goods shipments will henceforth be speeded up, because the Long Beach-Los Angeles port complex, the biggest in the nation, will henceforth work 24/7 and no longer take night-time and weekends off. In Washington, D.C., the Group of Seven finance ministers also met yesterday on the subject of the supply-chain crises, and issued a decision to form a task force on supply chains, rather than take any meaningful action. Meantime, the situation is untenable for millions more people each day. There are major labor actions now almost daily in the U.S. This morning, 10,000 workers of the John Deere machinery manufacturer went on strike. The workforce of Kellogg’s cereals processor are on strike. Alabama coal miners are on strike for the seventh month. There is no other recourse in the interest of nations and peoples, than for citizens to step forward and see the “big picture,” as it is described in the joint statement being circulated internationally today, and to act accordingly. The premises and policy recommendations of what must be done are presented clearly in the report, “The Coming U.S. Economic Miracle on the New Silk Road,” the 55-page report by The LaRouche Organization, now available online, and in print. Doing what is right for Afghanistan is the act of conscience necessary to make economic development happen everywhere, for everyone.

A generation ago, a schematic of an economic “Collapse Function”—a hyperinflationary breakdown process, was put forward by economist-statesman Lyndon LaRouche at a conference on Rome, Italy, which makes clear the nature of what we see today. Called the “Typical Collapse Function,” or “Triple Curve,” it shows that if physical production is declining, while the volume of financial aggregates is rising, and monetary values likewise are rising to support the difference, there reaches a phase in which shock and blow-out inevitably set in. He released that in 1994. He also warned repeatedly in the years afterward, don’t comprehend things in any of the simplistic terms of mere price inflation, market correction, supply-and-demand, or some single culpable factor. In March, 2000, for example, during the U.S. gas-pump spike in prices, he warned, “This is simply, predominantly—it is not some ‘market this, and market that’—it’s a hyperinflationary process, which has taken off,” and behind it are larger dynamics.The chain-reactions of breakdown underway today are now dramatic, given the combined effects of decades-long de-structuring of production, with whole sectors of manufacturing and agriculture relocated to cheap-labor sites, and concentrated in dangerous ways, Plus, there is decrepit transportation from years of lack of infrastructure-building in the Trans-Atlantic. Add to this, the sweeping deregulation, spot markets, and speculation. You get shortages and spikes in prices in electricity, fuels, and other necessities. No one can pay—no household, business, government function, etc. Look at the food chain. World food prices are up year on year by 32.8 percent in September, according to today’s UN Food and Agriculture Organization index (for globally-traded foods). In the U.S., prices for crop land and inputs are soaring. Farmland sale prices in Iowa, for example, are setting new records every month, after rising 10 percent year on year. In August, there was an all time record price of $22,300 per acre; but this week, came a new record of $26,200 per acre. For fertilizers, five of the eight major types rose 5 percent in price from August to September; potash jumped up 13 percent. No new, young farmers can get started; veteran farmers face being driven out of operation. Lyndon LaRouche, in addition to his conceptual diagnosis of the crises, provided the solutions and the method by which to think our way out of the crises. His 2014 “Four Cardinal Laws” embodies the principles for action. This outlook will be featured at the November international conference (online) by the Schiller Institute, whose weekend dates and times, for two days of deliberation, are now being made final, for the widest possible outreach and participation. An invitation is forthcoming. What is front and center, at the same time, is the need to completely defeat the green fraud that blames today’s crises on not acting strongly enough on the “climate emergency,” and the “biological diversity extinction emergency.” The green message is: get rid of people and their activities. Klaus Schwab, President of the World Economic Forum, states this explicitly in his latest book, and makes special reference to Africa. (Stakeholder Capitalism; A Global Economy That Works for Progress, People, and Planet, Wiley, January, 2021). After giving specifics on infrastructure building in Ethiopia (rail, agriculture, dams), he says that this has to stop. This African development “reveals the central conundrum of the combat against climate change. The same force that helps people escape from poverty and lead a decent life is the one that is destroying the livability of our planet for future generations. The emissions that lead to climate change are not just the result of a selfish generation of industrialists or western baby boomers. They are the consequence of the desire to create a better future for oneself.” His alternative? He and his crowd of billionaires, royal parasites, mega-cartels and all, are proposing “Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics” by which they intend to dictate whether any enterprise (factory, household, farm, railway, school) is allowed to exist or not. Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche reported on these viewpoints and economic crises on her weekly webcast Oct. 6, saying , “This is fascism, no less than it was with the Nazis….The present green policy is madness. It is fascism with a green face. It will lead to catastrophic results if it’s not reversed.” President Vladimir Putin tore apart all the green flim-flam and geopolitical lies from the U.S. and Europe yesterday, at his energy teleconference with heads of Russia’s economics firms and ministries. The Kremlin swiftly made a transcript available, including many interchanges with participants. Putin pointed out all the stupidities of the Trans-Atlantic spot markets, deregulation, speculation, and the green transition to unreliable wind and solar. He said, "The practices of our European partners [are to blame for the energy crises]. These practices have reaffirmed that, properly speaking, they have made mistakes. We were talking with the former European Commission; all of its activities were aimed at curtailing the so-called long-term contracts and at transitioning to gas exchange trading…. “It turned out—and today this is absolutely obvious—that this policy is erroneous, erroneous for the reason that it fails to take into account the gas market specifics dependent on a large number of uncertainty factors. Consumers, including, for example, fertilizer producers, are losing all price benchmarks. All of this is leading to failures and, as I said, imbalances.” Near conclusion of Putin’s energy confab, Boris Kovalchuk, CEO of RAO Group, an electricity export/import firm, added some dark humor: “Mr. President, In Germany, government agencies produce video clips telling people how to spend winter without lighting or heating, how to put candles into flower pots to warm up a room, and how to make windows draft-proof with duct tape and cling film. Just a few years ago now, this would have been impossible to imagine, as if the Stone Age was back.”

The latest reports on the emergency situations in Afghanistan and Haiti cry out for support action, and at the same time show that international collaboration on responding to extreme human needs at any one place and time, is what will assure the future for all humanity.This was brought out in the remarks by Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche Sept. 30, at the international conference, “The Road from War To Peace,” held by the U.S.-based Grand National Movement for Afghanistan and the Council of Global Relations, when she participated in the virtual event, along with over 25 American, European and Afghan citizens, to discuss measures necessary to achieve the goal of a peaceful and prosperous future for Afghanistan and the region, after 40 years of warfare. She gave an impassioned call for emergency measures to prevent the looming starvation of millions of Afghans due to the destruction of their economy over the years of war, and due to the refusal of the UN and European Union to meet their moral obligation to save the population from the destruction they had wrought. She called for support for Pino Arlacchi, who, as the Executive Director of the UN Drug Control and Crime Prevention Office, had negotiated with the Taliban in the late 1990s, to end opium production in Afghanistan, to be appointed as the representative to oversee the international backing for the development of that nation now. On Sept. 28, the first major shipment of humanitarian aid arrived in Kabul from China; the material included medicines, blankets and other protective supplies for the winter. Food is urgently needed. More than 75% of the population is not eating enough, tweeted David Beasley, World Food Program Executive Director, yesterday, who said that the WFP survey showed that this many are “borrowing” food, and often going without. Winter is coming; people cannot survive; he called for help. Speaking from Kabul Sept. 30, on a four-day visit, the Asia Pacific Director of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Alexander Matheou gave a detailed account. He said that part of the Red Crescent activity is delivering “emergency relief and recovery assistance to 560,000 people in 16 provinces worst affected by severe drought and displacement.” He called for ramping up all kinds of support, appealing for 36 million Swiss francs, explaining that the IFRC will use the aid for provision of water, more drought-resistant crops for the near term, rescuing livestock, and “supporting income generation for those most at risk of spiralling poverty, including women and the elderly.” With severe food shortages and COVID-19, overall, “Some 18 million Afghans are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.” In Haiti, the situation is desperate. Four UN agencies yesterday appealed to the U.S. to discontinue expelling any more refugees to Haiti. Since Sept. 19, the U.S. has sent some 4,600 Haitian migrants on 43 flights from the U.S.-Mexico border area, back to Haiti. Mexico has sent two planes. At the same time, in the Caribbean, authorities in the Bahamas and Cuba report interdicting Haitians fleeing their homeland, trying to reach Florida. Today, a U.S. apology to Haiti was given by Juan Gonzalez, the U.S. National Security Council Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere, who is in Port-au-Prince for a two-day official visit. Speaking of the treatment of Haitians in Del Rio, Texas, he said, “I want to say that it was an injustice, that it was wrong.” But Del Rio is one instance of a standing policy of enforced poverty and cruelty—often of deliberate inaction—that has reached terrible proportions. As of 2020, there were “281 million international migrants in the world, which equates to 3.6% of the global population,” according to the UN International Migration Organization. What is required in Haiti is massive emergency aid, as military engineers know how to provide, and launching rebuilding as laid out in the newly-issued, “Schiller Institute Plan To Develop Haiti.” In August, the Schiller Institute released overview plans for what is required in Afghanistan. The additional dimension involved, is that moving on these emergencies puts a focus on how to collaborate among nations, to intervene to stop the worldwide chain reactions of economic breakdown now gathering speed in the Trans-Atlantic. Just to identify the most obvious: There are energy shortages resulting from anti-fossil fuel, green madness, plus deregulated energy and commodity markets; there are food shortages, transportation disruptions, a sweeping lack of healthcare and other basic infrastructure, and throughout, the pandemic continues, with threat of new variants and breakouts. None of this needs to continue, if emergency measures are taken—for reorganizing banking, building infrastructure, and advancing science, and more— as laid out fully by Lyndon LaRouche, against just this contingency. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, concluded her prepared statement for the Sept. 30 “Road from War to Peace” on Afghanistan, by drawing out the full implications for a new paradigm for humanity: "The Committee of the Coincidence of Opposites is mobilizing presently to get the U.S. and European nations to join hands with Afghanistan’s neighboring countries to solve both the urgent humanitarian catastrophe as well as the real economic development of Afghanistan and the entire region, which was once called the ‘Land of the Thousand Cities,’ which it can become again. “If we succeed in doing that—and I am asking all of you to help in this effort—then the reconstruction of Afghanistan can become the beginning of a new paradigm in international relations and the beginning of a new era of mankind!”

There is a concept in U.S. law known as “depraved indifference.” It refers to the principle that a person is accountable—for trial and punishment, if they stand by while terrible harm befalls an innocent, vulnerable person. Cases of conviction usually involve one or a few people, who could care less whether another lives or dies. But today, we see depraved indifference to suffering and death on a mass scale, which could be prevented.On the “humanitarian” side, we see, for example, the deadly consequences from continuing the economic sanctions the U.S. now has on more than 30 countries, most for extended periods, including Yemen, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and more. And the enforced lack of economic development continues, while the City of London/Wall Street networks rule. In Afghanistan, the refusal of U.S. financial institutions to lift their freeze on that nation’s assets, amounts to an order to shut that country down, and cause mass death amidst chaos, and the pandemic and famine. On the “military” side, we see the creation of AUKUS—Australia, United Kingdom, U.S.A. military bloc, part of the exertion of “Global Britain,” which also portends deadly consequences through confrontation against China and Russia, and deadly armament. Exemplifying the crisis, we have the current, terrible drama of Haitians and their homeland. Today U.S. authorities began a mass expulsion of Haitian refugees from Texas, airlifting them back to Haiti. As of this weekend, there were more than 12,000 migrants, mostly Haitians, camped in miserable conditions under and near the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas, who came across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico. Today, three flights landed 320 migrants back in Port-au-Prince; on Sept. 21, six more flights are expected to arrive there. All told, since Sept. 17, Friday, 3,300 migrants have been removed by plane, or to U.S. detention centers, from Del Rio. Within a day, another 3,000 are expected to be expelled; and all of the migrants removed by next weekend. Mexico, too, intends to begin deportations. These migrants are not displaced just since the Aug. 14 earthquake hit Haiti, but many of them fled years back, after the January 2010 earthquake, and in the hard years since, of no build-up of their nation. Some 4 million people need food in Haiti just to survive, out of their 10 million people, and there are others in need across the islands and territories of 44 million people in the Caribbean Basin. Add to that the dislocation and want in the littoral from Venezuela to Central America. Today, David Beasley, head of the World Food Program, was in Falcon State, Venezuela, to see to the WFP children’s school lunch project, a lifeline for thousands here and millions around the world. Beasley is appealing for emergency funding for the WFP in Haiti, Venezuela, Afghanistan, and for relieving, then ending hunger everywhere. That really means for starting economic development. It is depraved indifference not to understand that. “Can ‘The West’ Learn?” is the pertinent question headlining the Sept. 5 statement by Schiller Institute chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche, focused on Afghanistan, and calling for learning the lessons of the deadly error of prolonged war in Afghanistan. ("Can ‘The West’ Learn? What Afghanistan Needs Now!") But her question applies generally. Can the West learn? Development is the name for peace. It also is the name for stability, justice, security, survival and the future. Last week on Sept. 14 the UN General Assembly began for its 76th session in New York City, and the General Debate period of high-level debates by heads of state or government or foreign ministers runs from Sept. 21-25, and Sept. 27. The Zepp-LaRouche statement will be in circulation, plus another Schiller Institute statement is in the works. In addition, an outline program for development in Haiti will be released in 10 days. Now is the time to join the mobilization.

This Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Schiller Institute is holding an international online event, centered in New York City, titled, “The Path Forward from Afghanistan, 9/11, and the Surveillance State.” Experts—from intelligence specialists to those suing for disclosure of classified documentation—will bring out the truth about the British, Saudi, and corrupt, treasonous U.S. networks behind the attack. Covering up those facts with the Big Lie that rogue bad guys in Afghan caves brought off the air carrier assaults, is a key part of what led to 20 years of destructive, failed warfare in Afghanistan, which is now ended. Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche will speak and participate in the dialogue on what comes next.The event will be preceded Friday evening by a Schiller Institute NYC Chorus concert streamed live from Manhattan, titled, “9/11 Memorial Concert: Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis ‘Agnus Dei’—Peace for Ourselves, and the World.” These occasions are not to be missed. They embody the interventionism needed to act in support of what is required at this moment for initiatives to support reconstruction in Afghanistan, to move the world into a new era of cooperation and betterment everywhere, not destruction. There are reports from the Central Asian region in this direction. Today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China said that yesterday’s meeting convened by Pakistan, which included China along with five other nations also neighboring Afghanistan, marks what will be ongoing collaboration. Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the meeting " signifies the establishment of a coordination and cooperation mechanism by its neighboring countries. This mechanism goes hand in hand with other existing multilateral mechanisms related to the Afghan issue and can complement each other and form synergy…. The hope to host the second conference has already been expressed." On the ground, institutional support has begun. On Monday, the first of three planes flew into Mazur-al-Sharif, with tons of medical supplies from the World Health Organization. The UN logistics service, run by the World Food Program, tweeted photographs of the plane and cargo, to mark the commitment. Today, Doctors Without Borders tweeted that they have been able to keep open the five hospitals they operate in Afghanistan. China announced it will send in 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and $30 million worth of food, medicines, and related aid. The Kabul International Airport is now fully operational, and a flight carrying 100 people, including several Americans, departed today and landed safely in Qatar.. The necessity for a new direction posed by the Afghanistan situation, demands rethinking by all institutions. This was in evidence at today’s heads-of-state annual BRICS meeting, held virtually, hosted by India. All the national presidents spoke. Afghanistan was prominently on the agenda, and President Vladimir Putin stressed that, “the withdrawal of the Americans and their allies from Afghanistan caused a new crisis situation…. Naturally, Russia, as well as its BRICS member partners, advocate for the long-desired peace and stability on the Afghan soil.” He said that the partnership of the BRICS nations is in demand in many challenging situations. “Indeed, the authority of our association is growing, and its role in international affairs is increasing; it is very noticeable.” Also required for a world shift into a positive direction, is the role of citizen leadership everywhere—speaking out on what must be done. On Sept. 5, Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche addressed this, with her statement, “Can the ‘West’ Learn? What Afghanistan Needs Now,” issued for endorsement and for fostering other statements and initiatives from everywhere. In total opposition to this mobilization of humanity, Tony Blair, the instigator of every possible “R2P” (“responsibility to protect”) military invasion he could imagine, appeared today in a Washington, D.C., live-streamed broadcast hosted by the Washington Post. He defended the U.S. and NATO’s 20 years in Afghanistan, and the Bin Laden cover story, and demanded continued U.S.-UK military collaboration anywhere and everywhere against what he described as never-ending ‘extremist radical Islamism.’ The fact that anyone listens to this war criminal simply demonstrates the treasonous nature of the Washington Post.

The massive hype by the war parties in the U.S. and the U.K. that China covered up the “fact” that the COVID-19 virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology has taken a hit, as the 90-day investigation by the U.S. intelligence community, mandated by the Biden Administration, found no evidence that the virus had any source other than through nature. The idea that an intelligence community could determine such a thing was an absurdity from the beginning, but apparently the claims against China were so lacking in evidence that the intelligence agencies did not wish to risk being exposed for carrying out a purely political witch hunt, as happened with their fake “proof” of Russian collusion with Donald Trump in the 2016 election.Some accusations were dangerously preposterous, such as those of Mike Pompeo, who suggested that the virus may have been intentionally created at the lab, and Niall Ferguson, the advocate of restoring the British Empire, who presented faked evidence that China intentionally sent infected persons to countries all over the world. The final report from eight different U.S. intelligence agencies, released to the public with some redactions on Friday, Aug. 27, refuted such nonsense. The report says that one of the agencies claimed “modest confidence” that the virus came from the lab, but that it was purely accidental. Four other agencies said it emerged through natural transmission, although they had “low confidence” in the conclusion since the actual source is yet to be determined. Three agencies said they could reach no conclusions. The report says that there was “high confidence” that it was not a biological weapon, and that the government had no foreknowledge. China’s response, as covered in a front page article in Global Times, was to ridicule the idea that intelligence experts, not scientists, could determine the source of the virus. Quoting Chinese experts, the Times says that the investigation has “ruined the self-proclaimed professional ethics of the U.S. intelligence community.” They also call on the U.S. to “rectify its anti-science attitude and conduct origins tracing in its own country.” [“U.S. ‘Inconclusive’ Intelligence Community Report on COVID-19 Origins ‘Lack of Confidence’: Expert”] The Global Times editorial “U.S. Politicization of COVID-19 Origins Tracing Suffers a Major Setback,” asks, “Why did the U.S. intelligence community fail to even falsify evidence this time? After all, it has done this before.” They point to the “washing powder” which was presented as evidence that Iraq sought to obtain weapons of mass destruction, and U.S. funding the “White Helmets” to make fake videos accusing Syria of using chemical weapons against civilians. But, they assert, “These tricks are indeed hard to implement against China. The COVID-19 origins tracing is a major global issue, and people are all watching. Besides, facing the U.S.’ vicious and slanderous farce, China itself has sufficient capabilities to identify the information, defend itself and make counterattacks.” The editorial strongly protests the claim in the U.S. report that China was “obstructing” the investigation, stating: “Can smearing China stop the Delta variant from raging on in the U.S.? Can it save the more than 600,000 lost lives due to the U.S. government’s ineffective fight against the epidemic?” While some may object that this is “Chinese propaganda,” the facts are clear: China: 122,852 Covid-19 cases; 5,680 deaths U.S.: 38,158,495 Covid-19 cases; 628,456 deaths Recall that China has four times the population of the U.S.. Then, consider that over the past 50 years, the U.S.has systematically taken down its public health system, closing over 1,000 hospitals, while the number of available hospital beds fell from 1.5 million to 900,000. Why was this allowed to happen? Because part of President Nixon’s implementation of fascist economic policies, as exposed by Lyndon LaRouche at the time, was to privatize health care, making Wall Street’s insurance companies, not doctors, the formulators of health policy and the decision-makers for how much treatment would be allowed, based on profitability for stockholders, not the health of the individuals or of the nation. Then consider that in the so-called “developing nations,” under IMF “conditionalities,” even a minimum level of health care has been denied in vast areas of the world. Half of Africa has no electricity, while 800 million people do not have access to clean water. Without electricity and clean water there can be no adequate health care. The Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites, founded by Helga Zepp-LaRouche and former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders in 2020, is organizing for every country on Earth to have a modern health care system, as the urgent first step toward the development required to become modern industrial nations. China not only has such a modern health system for its 1.4 billion people, but is doing everything it can to build such systems in the 140 countries which have joined the Belt and Road Initiative, through what they call the Health Silk Road. It is to be hoped that the United States, having begun the process of ending the “endless wars,” will join with Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran and the Central Asian nations, to build Afghanistan, with modern health systems, rail and road connectivity, and other basic infrastructure—and then extend that process throughout the world. That is the necessary task for the human race today.

The Schiller Institute hosted an international webcast on Saturday, August 21, “Now, More Urgent Than Ever: Afghanistan—Opportunity for a New Epoch for Mankind,” bringing together speakers with wide experience, from six nations—United States, Germany, Pakistan, Canada, and Italy. Three main themes were struck repeatedly in the dialogue: Toss out the “endless wars” paradigm completely, talk to the new Afghan government-in-the-making, and get economic projects going.“Push for quick economic development,” was the advice by Helga Zepp-LaRouche in her opening remarks. Saying that what’s happened in Afghanistan marks “the end of a system,” maybe not as big as the Fall of the Wall and the end of the Soviet Union, but as portentous. There has been a deep-seated problem of conducting never-ending wars, and geopolitical games. This must stop, and it goes beyond Afghanistan as such. She stressed also that, “It is high time to change the axiomatic assumptions about Russia and China.” Besides Zepp-LaRouche on the panel, there were Lt. Col. Ulrich Scholz (ret.) (Germany), a military and philosophy expert; Pino Arlacchi (Italy), former head of the UN Office for Drug Control (1997-2002), now professor at Sassari University; Hassan Daud (Pakistan), CEO, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Board of Investment; Ray McGovern (U.S.) former CIA analyst and co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), and Nipa Banerjee (Canada), Professor at the University of Ottawa. A question was taken up from Khalid Latif, director of the Center of Pakistan and International Relations (COPAIR). The co-moderators of today’s event, Dennis Speed and Diane Sare, pointed out that today’s discussion is a continuation of the dialogue of the July 31 Schiller Institute event, “Afghanistan: A Turning Point in History After the Failed Regime-Change Era,” and several of the same individuals are involved. Sare noted the importance of the Schiller Institute in restoring the dialogue process, saying that, “people are losing the ability to have a dialogue” these days. Instead, we have ideological hysteria, as seen right now, with the fixation on accusations and blame over the logistics of the Kabul evacuation process, with no vision for the people and the future. Within two weeks of the Schiller Institute’s July 31 event, presenting a development overview for Afghanistan and the region, the 20-year U.S./NATO military action came to an end. The Taliban took over Kabul. Today there were meetings in Kabul among Taliban political director Abdul Ghani Baradar, former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation head Abdullah Abdullah, and others toward an eventual formation of a government, to be announced some time shortly after Aug. 31, when the evacuation period concludes. What we don’t need now, said Arlacchi, is “Talibanology”—speculating on their intentions and hypotheticals. Many others agreed, making the point that the intentions to be focused upon, are those of the major powers: What do the U.S. and the European Union intend to do? Will they, for example, work together with other major powers of Russia, China, and India as well as immediate neighbors of Afghanistan—Iran and Pakistan, and the Central Asian nations to the north, on humanitarian aid and economic initiatives? One in three of the 39 million people in Afghanistan are food insecure. There are dozens of thousands of internally displaced people, and thousands fleeing the nation. All this, with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing. Arlacchi reported his own past experience on a wool factory project in Kandahar Province, involving successful negotiations with the Taliban governor. In the July 31 dialogue, Arlacchi reported on the success in nearly eradicating all opium poppy cultivation over the period 1998 to 2000, through his UN program, in conjunction with the Taliban. Opium production then roared back after the U.S./NATO 2001 invasion. Arlacchi said emphatically today, “We should start to make plans on narcotics elimination” right now. On the question of accountability of the Taliban new government and projects, Ray McGovern raised the point that you can and should have a truthful monitoring process, which could come, for example from the United Nations. He raised the specific example of how the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, set up by Congress some years back, actually kept truthful accounts on what the U.S. and NATO were doing in Afghanistan, which documented that U.S. officials were lying about progress there all along. Prof. Banerjee strongly agreed on this point. These Inspector General documents were published in 2019 by the Washington Post, described by McGovern as “the one useful thing done by the Washington Post in the last 20 years.” Principal author Craig Whitlock, has just released his new book, The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War. The features of economic development for the region were summarized today by Daud, whose Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in Pakistan borders Afghanistan, which has “national endowments, minerals, water, hard-working people.” He stressed that, “when the Afghanistan government is strong and stable, it can reach out to China,” and work with the Belt and Road Initiative, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in which it already has observer status. It can become “a crossroads of the region.” In the past, this very region was referred to as a “land of a thousand cities,” Zepp-LaRouche stated in concluding the discussion. The idea of the New Silk Road, is again to create conditions for hundreds and thousands of new cities—science centers, and beautiful, modern new cities. The old paradigm is crashing down, not just in Afghanistan. War can no longer be a means of solving problems.

The EIR weekly out today, has its cover story under the headline, “No Development, No Peace: Start with Afghanistan,” which message applies very strongly to the intense negotiations underway this week in Doha, and for which there is only a limited window of opportunity. Events are happening rapidly. Central to the Doha talks, which have taken place Aug. 10 through today, is the Troika-Plus—China, Russia, the United States, plus Pakistan, as well as the representatives of Afghanistan and the Taliban, added to which are sessions involving other nations, in differing configurations.Meantime, within Afghanistan, the Taliban as of today claims control over the capital cities of 10 of the nation’s 34 provinces, the latest of which is Ghazni, known as the “Gateway to Kabul,” for being 130 km southwest of the capital. The Pentagon announced this afternoon that it will send in thousands of additional forces to assist in evacuating the U.S. Kabul embassy and other sites. The preliminary reports from the Doha talks show little to no result, but the process itself counts greatly. China’s special representative on Afghanistan, Yue Xiaoyong, made the point to Doha News yesterday, that this is only the beginning, and the process must have different countries working together. The Russian envoy, Zamir Kabulov, is reported to have made a three-point proposal: 1) respect a ceasefire; 2) commit to an inclusive, intra-Afghanistan dialogue; and 3) establish an interim, shared power government, with elections to occur in two years. The Afghanistan government proposal, unconfirmed but widely reported as of this briefing, is for creating a shared power government. Among the participants in today’s talks, in addition to the Troika-Plus, are representatives from India, Turkey, and Indonesia. Also on hand are Norway and the UK, and the Organization of Islamic Countries. On Tuesday in Doha, envoys met from the EU, UK, and the United States. The only concept to make any plan work, is for a perspective, and action, on development, and agreement among major powers to make it happen. A variation on this truth that, without development, there can be no peace, is the added truth, that there can be no future at all without development. The process of reverse development—namely “green” destruction of the living conditions which people need to exist and be creative, the basis for advances in continuing productivity—is seen in another classic case of electricity black-out, like the February Texas Freeze, or the January European Near-Crash of the electric grid. This time, it was Down Under. On Aug. 9, thousands of people in New Zealand suddenly were in the dark, when the national electricity generation capacity could not meet demand, and the load-shedding system led to sudden, chaotic outages. Power is back on for most consumers, but politicians are shrieking about whom to blame. In fact, New Zealand was regarded as world leader in low-CO₂ emissions, because of having over 80 percent of its electricity supply from “renewables,” which meant mostly hydro-power for its small population of 4.8 million people. But when the green smarties started adding wind, reaching 6 percent share of national supply from 17 installations, plus adding a spot market for wholesale electricity speculation, and other hallmark green swindles, the stage was set for black outs. In Germany this week, it is notable that two major media are writing warnings against going too far, and too fast, with greenism. Die Zeit called for extending the life of the remaining four German nuclear power reactors. Today, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung lists ways the Green Party plans are unworkable to shunt electricity from Northern Baltic wind parks, to consumers cross country, because green lifestylers potentially en route, refuse to have the lines near their homes, etc. These are only rearguard quibbles, but indicative that reality is finally beginning to set in. This Saturday is the opportunity to go to core principles about what defines a successful economic approach, as presented so powerfully and historically by statesman-economist Lyndon LaRouche, in particular, 50 years ago, at the turning point time of August 15, 1971, when the Nixon Administration initiated floating currencies. The Aug. 14 conference, sponsored by the LaRouche Legacy Foundation, is titled, “So, Are You Finally Willing to Learn Economics?” Helga Zepp-LaRouche announced yesterday, “This will be an Earth-shattering event, and I’m not promising too much!”

In 1993, when, through the courage of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, an agreement for peace between Israel and the Palestians was reached in Oslo (carefully avoiding any role for the British), and signed in Washington by the two leaders, Lyndon LaRouche said the following: “The urgent thing here is that we must move with all speed to immediately get these economic development projects, such as the canal from Gaza to the Dead Sea, going, immediately, because if we wait until we discuss this out, enemies of progress and enemies of the human race will be successful, through people like Ariel Sharon’s buddies, in intervening to drown this agreement in blood and chaos.”As in many, many other potential turning points in history, the wise words of Lyndon LaRouche were not heeded: The development programs were postponed while financial and stability issues were debated; the Oslo Accords were sabotaged; Rabin was murdered “by Ariel Sharon’s buddies”; and “blood and chaos” have followed for the past 28 years. LaRouche’s words echo through the decades, and are just as relevant to the crisis in Afghanistan today as they were in Palestine then—in fact, a successful resolution in Afghanistan, through LaRouche’s “peace through development” approach, is perhaps the last chance to achieve a similar peace across Southwest Asia in the near future. The consequences of failing to follow that approach are more dire today, as the world is pushed ever closer to thermonuclear war. But we can be optimistic that the potential for peace through development is greater today than anytime since the 1990s, when the opportunity for global peace following the collapse of the Soviet Union was squandered. At that time, Lyndon and Helga LaRouche proposed the New Silk Road, to unite the world in a new era of development, free of the British Imperial division of the world into wearing blocs. The British sabotaged that effort, maintaining and expanding NATO, and maintaining the “enemy image” of Russia and China. But China embraced the idea, and, 20 years later, President Xi Jinping launched the Belt and Road Initiative, taking the miraculous Chinese development process to the rest of the world. Now, the vast majority of the world’s nations have joined in that process as members of the Belt and Road. And, it is The LaRouche Organization and LaRouche’s Schiller Institute which are now at the center of that process. The Schiller Institute conferences of the past 15 months have brought together the operative forces in dialogue—from Russia, China, India, Southwest Asia, Africa, and Ibero America, together with Europeans and Americans—to formulate the required economic and political policies for a new paradigm for mankind. The EIR to be published on Aug. 13, will contain transcripts of portions of the historic Schiller Institute conference of July 31, “Afghanistan: A Turning Point in History—After the Failed Regime-Change Era,” which featured in-depth discussion of the development process which can, and must, bring about a peaceful resolution, once and for all, of the imperial “Great Game” in Afghanistan. Rather than British troops marching through the Khyber Pass, the plan is for an extension of the rail line which runs from China through Peshawar to the Gwadar port, as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), to connect through the Khyber Pass to Kabul, and on to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, connecting landlocked Central Asia to the Arabian Sea, and restoring the ancient role of Afghanistan as the prosperous hub of the Silk Road. This great project was formulated at a February conference in Tashkent, and is already underway. Umida Hashimova, an analyst at the U.S.-based Center for Naval Analyses, who specializes in Central Asia affairs, told South China Morning Post that there are ongoing funding discussions with U.S. and Asian development agencies, and that “Construction of the 573-km long railway’s first section, between Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, is expected to begin next month.” The design and technical documentation of the railway will be undertaken by the Russian Railways, Uzbek officials announced following talks with Russian Railways CEO Oleg Belozerov in Tashkent on May 19. The U.S. is engaged in two related institutions. The “Extended Troika,” consisting of the U.S., Russia, China and Pakistan, was established in 2019, and held two meetings this year, focused on finding a solution to the Afghanistan situation following the pullout of foreign forces. Also, there is a “Quad” arrangement involving the U.S., Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan, focused on the railroad development project. It is crucial that the U.S. cooperate with all the countries in the region, especially Russia, China, India and Pakistan, on this crucial test of mankind’s capacity to end the era of geopolitics and create a new Renaissance. There are powerful forces in the U.K. and the U.S., including leading elements of both political parties, which will do all they can to sabotage this project, to counterpose the Malthusian insanity of the Green New Deal and depopulation, which will lead rapidly to more wars. An opportunity for Americans and citizens of the world to reflect on the seminal ideas of Lyndon LaRouche will take place on Aug. 14, marking fifty years since President Nixon ended the Bretton Woods system, confirming LaRouche’s warning at the time. Register here for the conference, “So, Are You Finally Willing To Learn Economics?”

Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday sent a written message to the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation, at which the announcement was made that China would be providing 2 billion doses, and $100 million in funds to COVAX this year. Xi made the overall point that vaccines are a “global public good,” and that health security is in the common interest of all.This is exactly the vantage point from which Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche initiated the Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites in the early months of the pandemic, to stress the higher, common interest involved, and also to mobilize forces to take this up as their shared responsibility. Speaking on how it can help people overcome their limited focus on lesser battles, in a presentation at the July 31 international Schiller Institute conference, she said of collaboration on health security, “who can refuse this?” Now, the necessity of collaborative action for biosecurity is seen in a new disease outbreak in the food supply. In July, Africa swine fever (ASF), a virus disease of pigs, for which there is no vaccine, showed up in the Caribbean, the first time in 40 years it has appeared in the Americas. It is in 11 provinces of the Dominican Republic. The microbe is very transmissible among animals, and also via contaminated clothes, shoes, scraps, etc. The only recourse is to mass kill and dispose of the pigs. It does not hurt humans directly, but pork is a major part of the food supply. China experienced a loss of 50% of its swineherd in 2018-2019, successfully beating back ASF; and has since rebuilt its herds. But the Caribbean—well as Africa, where ASF has been endemic—cannot do this under the current destructive economic system, which has suppressed development, and now, under the Green Deal, orders people to die off, in the name of “saving the Earth.” The point is, morality and natural law are one. With the human response of compassion and creative action, the means to not only solve crises, and also to expand in numbers and levels of living standards and creativity are ensured. Look at the dimensions of what must be taken care of, from recent CDC data: Water: Over 3 billion people are unable to wash their hands safely at home. Some 785 million have no access to basic water services; 885 million people do not have safe drinking water. Sanitation: Over 2 billion people have no access to basic sanitation services. Food: Over 800 million people are food insecure, that is, their supplies are insufficient and/or unreliable. More than 40 million are near the point of starvation this year. Electricity: More than 940 million people, 13% of the world’s population, have no electricity. Of the 87% who have electricity, millions have it intermittently, and at low power. Add to this picture the COVID-19 pandemic, which, as of 18 months ago, has infected 200 million people, with 4.2 million deaths, by official count, which understates the true numbers. Mutations and new outbreaks of other infectious diseases continue. In the United States capital yesterday, orders were given for thousands of residents to boil their water, because their District of Columbia central water was unsafe. Economic development is an imperative. The special strategic opportunity, at present, is for reconstruction and development to mark the future of Afghanistan, after decades of enforced strife and suffering. Today in Turkmenistan, there was a meeting of the five nations north of Afghanistan, at the Third Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan.) They discussed upgrading energy systems and corridors of transit, as well as collaboration against the pandemic. Hussein Askary, Schiller Institute liaison for Southwest Asia, struck the same theme on the significance of supporting Afghanistan as “the place where a new order can develop.” Speaking on a Hong Kong-based podcast yesterday, Askary said: “Now there is intensive diplomacy to make sure that the different parties in Afghanistan can come to the conclusion, that none of them can control the country totally. And it’s better for them to have a reconciliation process. But right now, what China, Russia and the neighbors of Afghanistan can do—and the United States can do, if they wish—what they can do, is help the Afghanis rebuild their country, and that paves the way to stability.”

Today the Schiller Institute brought together in a five-hour intense discussion at an international virtual conference, diplomats and experts from many nations, including Afghanistan, Russia, China, Pakistan, the United States, Italy and others, on the theme: “Afghanistan: A Turning Point in History After the Failed Regime-Change Era.”Helga Zepp-LaRouche (Germany), President and founder of the Schiller Institute, who has been leading a process of institutional and informal dialogue for the past 18 months, said at the conclusion of today’s event, that we now “have a perspective of where to go.” The priority is “to put development on the table, which will be difficult to refuse” by anyone, and give all the support possible to make it happen. The last speaker of the day, Hussein Askary (Sweden), Southwest Asia Coordinator for the Schiller Institute, put it forcefully, that we must “make development the first item” in any talks, not the last. He warned, “Keep the warlords and the British out!” Askary’s presentation, which covered concrete aspects of development, was titled, “Put Afghanistan on the Belt and Road to Peace.” The event was opened by Moderator Dennis Speed (USA), who said that the deliberations would change the usual conception of war or peace, to partake of the diplomacy of formulating policies for mutual understanding and development. He introduced a short 1985 video by statesman-economist Lyndon LaRouche making the point, with reference to President Abraham Lincoln’s record, that the power of infrastructure transforms an economy. Zepp-LaRouche’s opening remarks stressed that we are at a special moment in history, where geopolitical confrontation must be ended, and a new paradigm begun—not only for Eurasian integration and prosperity, but for universal history. She showed the beautiful “Golden Mask” artifact, to make the point of the 5,000 year history of the Central Asian region. Playing a lead role in the discussion from beginning to end was Professor Pino Arlacchi (Italy), who participated from Italy. Currently Sociology Professor at the Sassari University, he was Executive Director of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (1997-2002) and former European Parliament Rapporteur on Afghanistan. He spoke on, “Eradicate Opium in Afghanistan, Develop Modern Agriculture, Build the Nation, Now.” He described his original plan which by 2001 had nearly eliminated opium poppy growing in Afghanistan, which then was reversed under the ensuing years from 2001 of U.S. and NATO military operations. Arlacchi again proposed a plan in 2010, which was thwarted by the EU, Britain and the U.S. Today, Afghanistan is the source of over 80% of the world’s opium drugs. Arlacchi laid out what can and must be done today. The needed approach uses alternative agriculture—supporting farmers to switch to other crops, and similar realistic methods. Arlacchi stressed how relatively inexpensive this is, given the huge leverage by the drug cartels. Farmers in Afghanistan might get $300 to 350 million for their opium crop, which then is worth $20 billion to organized crime in Europe. There are many alternative crops of great use and value, for example saffron. The diplomats presented a sweeping picture of the present situation. Ambassador Hassan Shoroosh (Afghanistan), Afghanistan’s ambassador to Canada, spoke from Ottawa, saying that there is a “new chapter of partnership” ahead, which must be worked out. His talk was, “The Way Forward for Afghanistan.” He said that his country is “positioned to serve as a land-bridge” in Eurasia, and reviewed in detail various transportation corridors, from the Lapis Lazuli Corridor, to the Five Nations Railway route. Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva (Russia) spoke from New York City, where she is Deputy Permanent Representative at the Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN. Her presentation was titled, “Russia’s Outlook for Afghanistan and Eurasia.” She stressed that the goal is stability, and there is no military solution. There are important frameworks among the neighbors in the region, including the CSTO and SCO and bilateral relations. There is a special role for the “extended troika,” which has been in place for many years. There are meetings coming up in the near future. Transport and infrastructure are of great significance. Dr. Wang Jin (China), Fellow at The Charhar Institute, spoke on the topic, “Afghanistan and the Belt and Road Initiative.” He presented four key aspects of China’s concerns: 1) that there are no “spillover” impacts of instability; 2) that there is a future of advancement for Afghanistan; 3) that extremism and terrorism do not gain ground; and 4) that China and Afghanistan have positive ties. From Pakistan, Mr. Hassan Daud spoke. He is the CEO of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Board of Investment & Trade. He pointed out that Afghanistan is one of “the least integrated” economically in the Central and South Asian region, after these decades of strife. He spoke of the great “economic spillover” that will ensue, with Pakistan leveraging its position and resources to become a logistical hub, and extending benefits to Afghanistan through the Belt and Road flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the BRI. We must have “the spirit of the ancient Silk Road” again. He called for more seminars on this, involving scholars, chambers of commerce and others. From the United States, Ray McGovern spoke. He is a former analyst at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and cofounder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. Addressing the topic, “The Real Interest of the United States in Asia,” he made many strong points, including that there must be “accountability” for the string of commanders who lied about what the U.S. was doing in Afghanistan, also in Iraq and elsewhere. He dramatically pointed out that there weren’t even competent “situation estimates” that should have been done, about terrain, weather, LOCS—lines of communications and supplies, and other standard assessments of what the U.S. is doing in places. In 2010, the U.S. Navy logistics was paying $400 a gallon to put gas in the tanks of military vehicles in Afghanistan! He hit hard at the racism involved in presuming you can do anything, anywhere; he quoted Kipling. Many others were involved in the two question and answer discussions, with important exchanges over key topics. For example, Earl Rasmussen, Vice President of the Eurasian Society, raised the point of the necessity to build trust. Dr. Stephen Fischer, an American physician, reported on a year he spent in public health in Afghanistan, working with a provincial reconstruction team. Zepp-LaRouche stressed many times, that in the context of the prolonged pandemic, it is imperative that we move in Afghanistan, and everywhere, for public health and modern medical care infrastructure. Dr. Walter Faggett and Maj. Gen. Peter Clegg (ret.), both with the Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites were able to join the first Q&A discussion. Alaha Ahrar, CEO of Kindness Sharing Project called in from Virginia to ask what would happen to the gains women had made in Afghanistan, if the Taliban should take power? Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva made a concluding point, that it is “important to rise above geopolitics.” She said that in Russia, “at all levels, Including President Putin,” we are ready for cooperation." Helga Zepp-LaRouche called on the panelists, and anyone in the viewing audience, to contribute to the development program perspective under discussion, and mobilize. Professor Arlacchi, who has a new book out, Against Fear: Violence Is Diminishing, The True Threats to World Peace (in Italian) gave parting words that, “peace is stronger than war. Let’s be more courageous. Not a victim of huge deceptions.” The full conference is archived for viewing (a partial transcript appears in this briefing). Now is the time to join the Schiller Institute.

Two of the 11 speakers on this panel are prominent European leaders of initiatives to discredit the core lies and models of the assertion that human activity is causing CO₂ emissions, which is causing destructive climate change. They are Franco Battaglia, Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Modena, who in 2019, was co-sponsor of a petition declaration, signed by many hundreds of scientists, that “There Is No Climate Emergency.” Likewise, Professor Guus Berkhout, Emeritus Professor of Geophysics, who is President of CLINTEL (Climate Intelligence, a foundation). Berkhout is also a member of the Dutch Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. His title was, “Stop Blaming Climate Change for Your Failures.”Battalgia, using graphics, tore apart the global warming climate models, showing how they could not at all predict any past phenomena and trends of record. Meteorologist from Kansas, Mike Thompson, a state senator, used many illustrations to show the solar dynamics in climate change, as differentiated from weather pattern shifts. He denounced the false CO₂ emissions propaganda as “weaponized science.” Berkhout gave an illustrated history on flooding in The Netherlands, his homeland, which suffered great damage this month. In the Maas Basin, flooding was worst where in the feeder streams and tributaries, the pumping stations, canals, and inland dikes have not been maintained. There have been worse floods in the past, and also examples of famous Dutch hydraulic defenses, such as the Delta Delta Works. Berkhout ridiculed EU Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, “who blames all misery on climate change.” A dramatic report on flooding in Germany was provided by Christian Lohmeyer, a farm leader in Lower Saxony, who is on the Board of Landvolk Mittelweser. On July 15, Lohmeyer made a three minute self-video, after hearing from a fellow farm leader in the Ahrweiler district, near Bonn, on the gross inaction by authorities there, who then blamed “climate change” for their own negligence. Lohmeyer denounced the officials and greens, who blame farmers for hurting the environment by growing food, then turn around and do nothing while 100 people die. “It’s not climate change.” He said that 50 farmers came out on their own at 3 a.m. in Ahrweiler with their tractors and equipment to save lives and protect what they could, and nothing at all was done by the authorities! There was not even a contact person. Nothing. Paul Driessen, a well-known science analyst based in the U.S., author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death, gave a review of the track record of green lying in many areas, such as falsifying the number and intensity of hurricanes. He reviewed past blizzards, twisters, and hurricanes, blasting the “con artists” who blame climate change, not lack of defense from bad weather. He ended with a warning about the consequences of making the green electricity shift to “intermittent, unreliable wind and solar.” He said, “If you do, you deserve what you get.” A presentation on “How Future Electricity Security Is Threatened by Wind and Solar Technology and Blackouts,” was given by German specialist, Alwin Burgholte, Professor Emeritus, GADE-Hochschule Wilhelmshaven. He reviewed past outages and causes, e.g. the 2003 blackout in New York, and the near European crash in January 2021, stressing the obvious essentials for stability. Even a minor outage can require weeks of work to reconstruct the grid. The U.S. electricity overview agency NERC (North American Electricity Reliability Corporation) has issued a map of areas of the country where the likelihood of blackouts is very high from June through September 2021, because power generation baseload has become insufficient. Kansas Sen. Mike Thompson reported that his state has 3,100 wind turbines, and plans to add another 1,000. In Kansas, 43% of the electricity comes from wind and solar, which is the second highest in the nation after Iowa, with 49%. The potential disruption to farming and food is enormous, given that Kansas and Iowa each rank first or second nationally in wheat, corn, hogs, eggs and soybeans. Together they are second to Texas in cattle. Minnesota farm leader Andy Olson reported on how “fragile” the electricity systems are throughout the Farmbelt states. He debunked the idea that gas-fueled peaker plants can be counted on as backup when the wind turbines are down. Seven coal-fired plants in Minnesota have been converted to gas, but the logistics and huge expense of getting and using the gas doesn’t work. Angel Cushing, farm leader and activist from eastern Kansas, reported on the green assault against agriculture land use. It comes in the form of zoning, easements, Federal, and green elite maneuvers, done in the name of preserving nature, with fancy code names such as, “viewscape.” There is a “heritage area” campaign. This is all part of the “30×30” assault, to remove 30% of U.S. land and water out of any economic use by 2030, which is in Biden’s Executive Order 14008. This week, the federal Bureau of Land Management held a virtual public comment session on a plan in the works for an “American Prairie Reserve,” centered in Montana, that is to be over 3 million acres, larger than the nation of Lebanon. There are to be only bison, no more traditional livestock grazing.

The Schiller Institute held a virtual international conference July 24, on the theme, “There Is No ‘Climate Emergency’—Apply Science and Economic Development To Stop Blackouts and Death,” just at the time of escalating green hysteria blaming “climate change” and CO₂ emissions for the several severe disasters at present including flooding in North Europe, China and India, the drought and heat wave in Western North America, and warnings of electricity blackouts this summer across large parts of the United States. The presentations and discussion among 20 speakers, representing eight countries, including six states, brought out that these emergencies are not from climate change, but weather events whose degree of damage is directly related to lack of infrastructure. Moreover, if the green agenda is allowed to continue, there will be mass breakdown and depopulation.The panelists included scientists, engineers, retired military, farm leaders, a physician, a state lawmaker and others, many of whom have been leading battles within their respective sectors to debunk the green axioms, and mobilize for advanced power and infrastructure systems. Out of the conference, ideas were exchanged for even more concerted action, involving specific projects of water management, nuclear power advancement, and especially for public health security. The specifics included the Transaqua Project to refill Lake Chad in Africa, the North American Water and Power Alliance in North America, and priorities for nuclear power including micro-nuclear, small modular nuclear reactors and more. Next weekend the Schiller Institute will host a conference—July 31, 10 am EDT—focusing on the strategic importance of getting to work on full-scale development in Afghanistan. One lifelong nuclear technology expert summed up the day’s discussion by saying the dialogue was so powerful, it was on a par with the Davos Forum—a 50 year institution, except that the Schiller Institute event was for the good, and Davos is a bunch of billionaire elites. The keynote was given by Schiller Institute founder and President Helga Zepp-LaRouche. (See accompanying transcription in full). She repeatedly denounced the green axiom that humanity is bad, pollutes and ruins nature. Just the opposite, mankind’s creative nature is coherent with the development of the universe. The conference was opened by a video of a 1985 speech by Lyndon LaRouche addressing this topic, titled “Science is Good.” LaRouche said, “The good is the power of the mind to recognize this principle of reason as the lawful ordering of the universe….” The conference had two sessions, beginning with, “The Economic Effects of Green MAD—Mutually Assured Destruction” which included firsthand reports from Europe and the United States on flooding, electric grid subversion, and land use attacks on agriculture—all from the Green New Deal agenda. (The Panel 1 conference speeches are in this briefing.) Schiller Institute Science Liaison Jason Ross opened and concluded the First Panel, emphasizing humanity’s “relationship to the environment” as actively within our power to affect for the good. Moreover, “we are not an Earth-limited species.” Think what we can be doing with great opportunities, like astronomical observation from the far side of the Moon. The second panel focused on the vision, science and technology for intervening to advance development. It was titled, “Energy, World Health and the End of War: The Power of Energy Flux Density.” The Schiller Institute’s Dennis Speed moderated, with Panel 1 Co-Moderator Diane Sare, Candidate for U.S. Senate in New York.

Intense diplomacy is underway concerning Afghanistan, with the U.S. pull-out now announced to be completed as of Aug. 31, according to President Biden’s press briefing Thursday. Taliban representatives were in Moscow the same day, and also in Tehran. They conveyed a message to China in an interview in “This Week in Asia.” Russian President Putin and other officials have been in close contact with Tajikistan leaders. Today, India Foreign Minister Jaishankar was in Moscow, after making a stop yesterday in Tehran, on late notice, but meeting with President Elect Ebrahim Raisi.This Monday, July 12, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi starts a four-day trip to Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, at the request of the foreign ministers of those three countries bordering Afghanistan. There will be a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers, of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, which is expected to release a joint statement on regional security. On the ground, the Taliban, according to a cross-grid of various reports, control some 85 percent of the territory of Afghanistan, including two-thirds of the border lands with Tajikistan, and key locations on the border with Iran. Earlier this week, Some 1040 servicemen of the Afghan national security forces retreated over the border into Tajikistan for refuge. The danger of prolonged civil war is great, but with the many complicated dynamics, there can also be the contingency of tactical withdrawal in play. The only way forward is through international, strategic cooperation among the major powers, to create the context for development-based change. Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp LaRouche addressed this July 7 in her weekly webcast, giving a short history of the geopolitical strife forced upon this region, up through and including the drug scourge. "If we now look at the situation, the drug production in Afghanistan increased by 45% in the last year. Afghanistan produces over 80% of the entire opium production for the world. Now, if you just leave the situation and don’t do anything to give encouragement and incitement to change that, the danger is that the different forces in Afghanistan will increase the drug production to finance whatever military operations they are conducting. ISIS is now in the north of Afghanistan. “So, I think there should be a serious review: Afghanistan is one of the obvious regions where a change from geopolitics to cooperation is really the reasonable approach. We have been pushing an economic development plan for Afghanistan and the entire region over many years, and for example, in 2012, the Russian representative for the fight against drugs, Viktor Ivanov had proposed from the Russian side a development plan which was quite extensive. It was the idea that Siberian science cities should be mobilized for the industrialization of Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries, and they wanted to make that proposal, which was a comprehensive proposal the subject of a summit of the G8. Now the G7, if people remember, kicked out Russia in 2014, so it became a G7 and that summit unfortunately never took place. But now it is very clear that the only way how you can stabilize the situation in Afghanistan, how you can have any hope for the improvement of human rights, for women, for education, is, you have to have a real plan for industrial development, bringing in infrastructure, industry, modernizing the country by making it wealthy, and that way you can effect the changes which are obviously important. “Now, the previous President Hamid Karzai has mentioned many times that he would welcome the New Silk Road in Afghanistan, and the Chinese have clearly expressed interest; the Iranians and also Pakistan is denying U.S. bases in Pakistan to operate from there inside Afghanistan, by making the argument that if you cannot win the war in 20 year, forget about doing it from bases in Pakistan. “My proposal has been, and is again: that if all the countries that are concerned about the opium, the potential danger of terrorism, should join hands—that is, Russia, China, India, which is also very much concerned about Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and then, the United States should cooperate. They should not have left; they should have brought in the Army Corps of Engineers, and joined hands with these other countries to build up Afghanistan. Now, under these conditions, I think some European countries could also want to be participants in that, because Afghanistan refugees are repeatedly not so great in terms of not being integrated in European countries. So there is an absolute interest of all the countries I just named, to stop thinking in terms of us defeating the other major power for geopolitical purposes, and move to a new phase and overcome the underdevelopment of Afghanistan, and the entire region! “The region should be taken as one, and rebuilt, Iraq, Syria, Yemen; there are lots of things to be done to make this region a prosperous region of the world. And there is a great tradition, the Abbasid dynasty in the 9th century A.D., that was a period where there was the high point of Classical culture, and that is something to reconnect to. I think the United Arab Emirates have done so recently by having a successful Mars mission. Now, that means leapfrogging over long periods of underdevelopment and catching up with the rest of the world in terms of vanguard technologies. And I think you need a vision like that for that region to bring peace and prosperity.”

At the Schiller Institute June 26-27 conference, “For the Common Good of All People, Not Rules Benefiting the Few!”, 37 speakers addressed the most important issues facing mankind today, and defined the level on which solutions can be worked out. This process is glaringly not the approach in the major world institutions at present, which are factionalized between the necessity and prospect of a new paradigm, as against those locked in the old paradigm, with great danger involved for everyone.This was manifest today in the Group of 20 meeting in Italy, the 2021 chair of the G20, at which foreign and development ministers and diplomats met in person—the first time in two years— and some virtually. The focus was on the pandemic and food supply crises. Speaking online, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke of the need for coordinated action against the pandemic, saying sternly that the time for thinking in “zero-sum game” terms is over. There must be real collaboration. In contrast, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas used the occasion to criticize China and Russia for distributing their vaccines to countries as “vaccine diplomacy” for political purposes. Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche pointed out that the Matera gathering is one of a sequence of meetings which defines the framework to direct our efforts to make clear to the world, the type of solutions truly required, using the “spearhead” of the necessity for mobilizing for a world health security capacity. July 26-28 in Rome will be the Pre-Summit on World Food Systems, in conjunction with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program and other UN agencies, which will be followed in September by the Summit of the same name at the time of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. In October is the G20 heads-of-state Summit. The enemy green climate track has the October Biodiversity conference in China, followed by the COP26 in Glasgow in November. The generic title of today’s G20 meeting was, “People, Planet, Prosperity,” with the most repeated word being “multilateralism.” U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken had the audacity to assert that the U.S. is leading the multilateral effort to distribute vaccines internationally. However, Wang Yi tweeted that, “multilateralism is not a high-sounding slogan, let alone gift-wrapping for the implementation of unilateral acts.” What is required, Wang said, is for nations to stabilize and expand the production and supply lines of vaccines and other necessities. Nations with vaccine capacity should lift any export impediments. Italian statesman Michele Geraci, in characterizing the Matera proceedings, said today specifically that it will be a world failure if “multilateralism” is taken to mean that 200 nations retrench, and in the face of crises, do not collaborate to deal with the pandemic, the economic tasks, and famine. Geraci, who has been part of prior Schiller Institute colloquies, spoke today in an interview with CGTN TV. Thus, today’s one-day G20 event, if anything, makes clear the responsibility to rapidly expand the dialogue process of the Schiller Institute, in policy and mobilization. Helga Zepp-LaRouche spoke today in particular, of the concept she had put forward over last weekend’s conference, of the necessity to re-tool the capacity locked up in the military-industrial complex, which, she said, she knows sounds utopian. But if we don’t, it will mean perpetuating the endless war policy, of the MICCIMAT, as it is called by Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst, warning of the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-tank complex. The danger of the “endless” war scenario turning into a final nuclear armageddon scenario couldn’t be made more clear, than by considering what is going on this very week in the up-close military exercises taking place simultaneously by NATO and Russia in both the Black Sea region and Eastern Mediterranean. Zepp-LaRouche noted of last weekend’s Schiller Institute sessions, that the entire conference was guided by the mode of thinking of the coincidence of opposites. Now more and more people are “getting it.” Forge the anti-Malthusian alliance.

The day after the June 16 Putin-Biden Summit, which both Presidents described as constructive, came more official views of what can come next, in a positive direction. In a Moscow interview, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov called the meeting “a new start.” He said that he had been instructed to move, without pause, for follow-up. Regarding the proposal made at the Summit for strategic stability talks, “I would say that we have a chain of direct instructions from the leadership in order to avoid pauses in practical interaction with the U.S….”In Washington, D.C., National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan held an on-the-record phone call with the media June 17, reporting back on the administration’s view of the Biden trip for all three Summits, during which discussion, Sullivan said that Biden will seek a meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping in the coming period. The White House transcript reports Sullivan elaborating, “[W]hat the President said, about there being no substitute for leader-level dialogue as a central part of why he held the summit with Putin yesterday, also applies to China and to President Xi Jinping. He will look for opportunities to engage with President Xi going forward. We don’t have any particular plans at the moment, but I would note that both leaders are likely to be at the G20 in Italy in October…. [W]e will sit down to work out the right modality for the two Presidents to engage.” He referred to two modalities—possibly by phone or by a side-meeting at an international meeting—and then, or “something else.” Immediately following the Sullivan statement, State Department spokesman Ned Price affirmed to South China Morning Post the same message: that the administration foresees a meeting between Biden and Xi. China’s CGTN TV then broadcast this story, with international commentary. These events, measured for their potential, not for their apparent immediate results, make the Schiller Institute international conference June 26-27, and ongoing dialogue, vitally important. The critical element is providing the content of the policy needed—in service of all peoples and the future, and prompting discussion and motion on the means to make it happen. The driver is the urgency for collaborative action for a world health security infrastructure. This is undeniably in the common interest of all, and achievable through joint action. Look at the snapshot status of the pandemic and famine. The Southern Hemisphere is reeling. In Africa, the third wave of COVID-19 is raging in many nations, especially in Southern Africa. The nation of South Africa has deployed the military to try to keep certain commercial functions going. There are pitifully scant vaccines anywhere. In South America, the virus is out of control in many places. This week Paraguay registered 18.9 deaths per million, compared to 2.7 in India, 2.2 in South Africa and 1.1 in the U.S. Following Paraguay in rate of death, and are Suriname, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Brazil and Peru, all with conditions of silent horror. The world food picture is worsening. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s latest estimate is that food prices this year will be 20% higher than in 2020 for imported food for “Low Income Food Deficient” nations—meaning poor nations dependent on commercial or donated food imports. This means suffering and death. The World Food Program warns that 34 million people are at the point of starvation this year. Some 9 million starved to death last year, more than the COVID-19 death toll in 2020. WFP’s David Beasley is in Southern Africa this week on the crisis. He visited WFP operations in northern Mozambique, in Cabo Delgado, a location of terrorism and mass dislocation. Close to 2 million people in the nation are dependent on food aid. Against this backdrop, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, President of the Schiller Institute, also spoke the day after the Putin-Biden Summit, with her evaluation. Participating in an international dweb-program, out of Trinidad & Tobago, she said, "The meeting between President Biden and President Putin yesterday in Geneva is a hopeful step in the right direction. They reiterated the discussion between Gorbachev and Reagan at the time, ‘that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.’ I was very relieved when I heard that, because if you have nuclear war, we are talking about the end of civilization. So this is a first step, but it must be expanded…. “Now, my view is, the best way which could happen, and frankly I think the only way which will succeed, is if the United States and China would join hands, especially in the development of Latin America, of the Caribbean, of Central America: There are so many projects that would uplift the lives of people in Trinidad…. “I think that we need a modern health system in every single country, in Haiti, in Mali, in every country. They need the same kind of health system that we used to have in Germany before the privatization of the health sector; like the Chinese have demonstrated in Wuhan, where they were able to contain the pandemic in two months. But that requires modern hospitals, infrastructure, clean water. There are 2 billion people in the world who have no access to clean water! Electricity. “So I think that if the United States and China, and other countries, would join hands and say we have to defeat this pandemic and the danger of new ones, by helping to build up modern health systems in every single country, then that would be the common mission which would lift everything out of the realm of geopolitical confrontation, and serve the common aims of mankind. And that is what I really think has to happen.”

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) consistently draws capacity crowds at the local town hall meetings he has been having around the state, against the green agenda President Joe Biden announced in his Jan. 27 Executive Order 14008, in particular the “30×30” plan to put 30% of U.S. land and water out of production by 2030. On June 7 Ricketts had a packed crowd of over 100 at the Saunders County Fairgrounds in Wahoo. The next morning, he spoke to a full house of 115 people in Alliance. He has two more meetings over the next 10 days.He denounced the “30×30” decree, saying, “Right now, if you wanted to get to 30% of the United States in conservation, they would have to add on a land mass the size of the state of Nebraska each and every year between now and the next nine years. Another way to think about it is a land mass twice the size of the state of Texas.” At present between 11 and 12% of U.S. land is considered in “protected” status of wilderness or equivalent condition. The “30×30” plot was endorsed today in the “G7 Summit Nature Compact,” released by the leaders of the seven “industrial” nations which met in Cornwall, U.K. on June 11-13. Their Nature document asserts that it, and other green measures, must be done to get to net zero emissions, and to further biodiversity on the planet. It’s a “land grab,” Ricketts said at his meeting. He traced it back to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, “Earth Summit,” in Rio de Janeiro, which, he said, encouraged nations to set aside 17% of their land and waters to remain in a “natural” state. He reported that in 2019, the demand for setting aside 30% of land was contained in a report by the Center for American Progress. When it comes to caring for the land, farmers are best at it—not greenie bureaucrats—has become a common theme. Ricketts was introduced at the Alliance meeting by the Nebraska Farm Bureau Vice President Sherry Vinton, from a ranching family. She said, “It’s every generation’s goal to pass that land down in better shape. They took care of the land yesterday, we’re taking care of 100% of the land today, and we’re going to take care of 100% of the land tomorrow. We don’t need a directive to conserve 30% of the land by 2030.”

Today in England the leaders of the Group of Seven, at the end of their three-day confab in Cornwall, issued their “Cardis Bay G7 Summit Communiqué—Our Shared Agenda for Global Action To Build Back Better.” The B3W, as they call it—Build Back Better for the World—perspective, laid out in 25 pages, is ultra-green, devoid of anything necessary to really combat pandemics and famine, or to build a modern economy. It features outright bankster swindles based on carbon markets. Moreover, the B3W is a blatant ploy against China and the Belt and Road Initiative, which is building real infrastructure across the globe. President Biden and Secretary Blinken brag about it. Who can accept any of this?The appropriate reaction is seen in the referendum today in Switzerland, where the people voted down the “CO₂ Act.” You can hear the echoes, “There’s a limit to a tyrant’s power…” from the Rütli Oath in Wilhelm Tell, by Friedrich Schiller. The Swiss CO₂ Act, which conforms completely with the Paris Agreement and the new B3W, would have made everyday living impossible, with fuel taxes and other so-called decarbonizing measures. It was concocted under the fraud that greenhouse gas emissions must be cut, to keep the planet from overheating. The no vote came from the rural and other constituencies in 21 of the 26 Swiss cantons. Only Geneva, Basel, Zürich and other urban areas voted green. There are other key expressions of sanity and sovereignty. In the U.S. West and farm states, lawmakers and citizens alike are mobilized against the green deal measures in the Biden Executive Orders from January. The special target for nullification is the so-called “30×30” demand in Executive Order 14008, that 30% of all land and water in the U.S. must be taken out of any productive use by 2030, in the false name of cutting CO₂ emissions and favoring biodiversity. This exact 30×30 demand is also in the G7’s “2030 Nature Compact” released today. In opposition, over 50 counties in 11 U.S. states have passed resolutions to nullify this measure. The leading state opposing “30×30” is Nebraska, which has the most irrigated agriculture of all U.S. states, and has over 97% of its land in private ownership. There is a “30×30 Termination” bill in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. But the geopolitical side of B3W ranks as much, or more, venal and stupid than even the green dogma. Biden, at his post-G7 press conference today at Cornwall Airport Newquay, on the way to chum up with the Queen, recounted, “I proposed that we have a democratic alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative: the Build Back Better. And they’ve agreed to that, and that’s underway as the details of that — we agreed that we’d put together a committee to do that and come up with that … we are going to insist on a high standards to be — for a climate-friendly, transparent alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative.” Biden described the B3W: “It’s a values-driven, high-standard, transparent financing mechanism we’re going to provide and support projects in four key areas: climate, health, digital technology, and gender equity. And we believe that will not only be good for the countries, but it’ll be good for the entire world and represent values that our democracies represent, and not autocratic lack of values.” Secretary of State Blinken on CNN this morning from Brussels said that the U.S. will “leverage” private finance for its B3W and take other steps, so it can “do it in a more positive way than China is doing it with its Belt and Road Initiative.” On ABC News this morning, Blinken repeated: “We have a commitment to work together on something called Build Back Better for the World to work on pooling investments, pooling funds, bringing the private sector in to make investments in health, in infrastructure, in technology for low- and middle-income countries in a way that will produce new markets for our own products and also offer a much more attractive alternative to what China is trying to do in these countries.” This has to stop. The anti-Malthusian resistance, from Switzerland to Nebraska and other locations, is vital to spread. The Schiller Institute’s dialogue process, both at the formal conferences and ongoing, plays the critical role of cross-firing and communicating ideas for a new paradigm. There is no time to lose, given the terrible death toll and hardship from the pandemic, famine and economic breakdown. Both the World Health Organization and World Food Program chiefs stressed that in recent days. In Cornwall for the G7, WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that 70% of the world must be vaccinated by 2022, the time of the next G7 meeting, but, he said, that what was pledged at the G7 meeting this weekend is “insufficient.” WFP Director David Beasley on June 10 issued a special appeal for food aid to Ethiopia, where 350,000 people are in dire need, and overall 4 million people are food insecure. He said it was the most sudden and deep food crisis in a single nation in 10 years. The Schiller Institute June 26-27 conference is titled, “For the Common Good of All People, Not Rules Benefiting the Few!”