HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE WEBCAST

Can We Get the U.S. To Cooperate
To Set Up a New Global Credit System?

This is the edited transcript of the Schiller Institute’s June 8, 2022 dialogue with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, conducted by Harley Schlanger. A video of the webcast is available here.

Harley Schlanger: Hello, I’m Harley Schlanger and welcome to our dialogue with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute. Today is Wednesday, June 8, 2022.

World Financial System About To Blow

In ten days, we’ll have an extraordinary conference, a follow-up to the series of conferences the Schiller Institute has sponsored to address the need for a new security and financial architecture. That conference is titled: “There Can Be No Peace Without the Bankruptcy Reorganization of the Dying Trans-Atlantic Financial System.” I think, Helga, that’s the place we should start, because right now it’s looking like there’s not going to be peace, unless we can push through a bankruptcy reorganization.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche: Yes. And obviously, the $64 million question is, can we get the United States to cooperate with Russia, China, Europe, and other nations, to set up a new global credit system which would be the solution to this crisis?

This is a question which I had posed in a Schiller Institute conference on May 26 to Ray McGovern and Col. Richard Black (ret.). This is highly significant, because the whole world is in such turmoil right now. The war danger—there are those who want to have the war continue until “Russia is ruined” as German Foreign Minister Baerbock is continuously saying, or U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin who wants Russia to be “cut to pieces,” and many others who are talking like that. But there are also many countries now in a position where they do not want to be drawn into a geopolitical conflict between the U.S. on the one side, and Russia and China on the other side; and there are those who are pushing for negotiations, to get peace.

But the big question everybody has in mind, or if they don’t think about it, it is the background: Can the United States be brought into a combination of countries that addresses the fact that the financial system is about to blow out in a hyperinflationary collapse, or not? That in all likelihood is the question which will determine the outcome of this horrendous crisis.

Now, the good news is that there are forces in the United States who are for that policy. That is very little known in the rest of the world, because the mass media are uniformly blacking this out. But we just—and when I say “we,” I mean the LaRouche forces in the world—we just accomplished a major breakthrough in the form that Diane Sare won the nomination to be on the ballot as a U.S. Senate candidate in the state of New York, by collecting far above 45,000 petition signatures, and this has not been challenged by the electoral authorities.

That means that in all likelihood, unless Sen. Charles Schumer, who is her rival, would challenge this, Diane Sare will be a candidate as an independent on a LaRouche ticket in the upcoming November election, and she will be the leading voice for this program to have Glass-Steagall, to have a national banking system in every country, to have a new credit system, and go for a crash program for fusion power and space cooperation, to increase the productivity of the world economy.

This is really good news! Already the video of the April 26 interview we did with Col. Richard Black has reached 800,000 views. Senator Black is a conservative patriot in the Republican Party, and Ray McGovern is one of the founders of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). If you take Col. Black, Ray McGovern, and Diane Sare, they all represent different angles of the political spectrum of the United States. I think it’s important for the rest of the world to become more and more aware that there is such an opposition to the present course of confrontation. And this means that there is a hope that the United States can go back to its policies of the American Revolution, to the policy of Lincoln, FDR, Kennedy, and that we can hopefully solve this crisis in a peaceful manner.

Now, that may seem like a long shot, but that whole discussion will be featured at our upcoming Schiller Institute conference which you just mentioned, Harley, and that conference obviously comes at an extremely important moment because there are now more and more people who are aware of the danger, that we are in a more dangerous situation than at any time in world history, more dangerous than during the Cuban Missile Crisis. But very few people outside of ourselves, if any, are talking about addressing the reason why we are in this war danger, which is the absolutely desolate condition of the world—especially the trans-Atlantic financial system and what to do about it.

That obviously has to be answered with the Four Laws of my late husband Lyndon LaRouche, and Diane Sare is absolutely the spokeswoman for that outlook. She will obviously be a very prominent speaker at our upcoming conference, so you should really help to make that conference known, because it adds a new perspective which most people are unaware of. It completely changes the view of where we are strategically.

Growing Rejection of Western Anti-Russia Bloc

Schlanger: The nature of the conference will be a discussion of division, globally. Because, as you were just talking about, people like McGovern, and Col. Black, and Diane’s campaign, internationally, we see people stepping forward, openly rejecting joining with the Western bloc against Russia. In the last days, we’ve had an extremely interesting speech given by Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar. What did you make of that? I thought it was very important that he came out as clearly as he did, that he’s not going to allow his country to be bullied into choosing sides.

Zepp-LaRouche: I think that is a growing trend of the times. The spirit of the Non-Aligned Movement is clearly reawakening. There are many countries, and entire blocs of countries that do not want to be drawn into the conflict between the U.S. on the one side, and Europe (one must unfortunately say), and Russia and China on the other side. And what Dr. Jaishankar said at the Bratislava forum was: Look, India represents one-fifth of the world population. It’s probably the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world, and it absolutely therefore has the right to pursue its own interests, and it will not be drawn into one or the other camp.

Now, this is very important: The same position is practically pronounced by many African countries, and as a matter of fact, the present head of the African Union, Senegal President Macky Sall, was just in Sochi; he met with Putin, and he basically discussed why the sanctions should be lifted against Russia, because that is the major cause for the shortage of grain and fertilizer.

In the past, Sall had come out, together with many other African countries, also not wanting to take a side in this conflict, but by being neutral and defending their own interests. The same, emphatically, is true for many Latin American countries, where Biden was just trying to convene the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. Biden did not invite Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, and that caused the anger of many other Latin American leaders. For example, President López Obrador of Mexico is not going for that reason, and he said the continued blockade against Cuba is a gross violation of human rights, it’s actually “genocide.” These are pretty strong words! And also, the presidents of several of the other countries, like Honduras, Guatemala, and two or three others are also not going for the same reason.

So much for the alliance of the democracies against the so-called autocracies! Many of these countries want to have trade and commerce relations with China, and they’re not condemning Russia in the way it is being demanded by the U.S. and British and the EU.

There is a clear division occurring in the world, where many countries are heading toward cooperation, making the people who are pushing confrontation really stand out more and more as war mongers. One of them is the head of the Atlantic Council, Fred Kempe, who again said the same thing: “Ukraine must win, Russia must lose,” and the war has to go on forever. The British, naturally, are sending again heavy weapons systems to Kyiv, just prolonging the suffering. I think that while the tragedy is that war continues, and many more people are dying, the idea that Ukraine must win is almost impossible for many reasons, which the military understand much better than the politicians who have completely different interests than that of the people.

I think we are in a very, very undecided situation, and therefore, our conference comes at an extremely important point, and you should all register, and get the word about this conference out as widely as you can.

Attempts at Mediation

Schlanger: The link for registration is at the Schiller Institute website, and it’s right there at the top of the page.

Helga, there’s a lot more we can say about this question of the division. I think one of the important things is that there’s been an effort by a number of countries to have more negotiation. French President Macron offered himself as a mediator, and that was denounced in Europe. There was an attempt by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov to go to Serbia to meet with Serbian President Vucic, and he was denied airspace to travel! So, it’s clear that this division is real.

What do you think of the possibility that was raised by Macron? Are you seeing the potential for breakup, or fissures developing within the NATO countries?

Zepp-LaRouche: I think the situation becomes so absolutely outrageous, in real terms; if you think for several NATO countries—I think it was North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria—that denied Lavrov’s airplane to fly in their countries’ airspace to get to Serbia where Lavrov wanted to attend a big conference. This is really a blatant violation of international law, to deny a major country—or a small country for that matter, would be equally bad—but to deny [a sovereign state] the ability to conduct foreign policy, is really one more of these continuous provocations and escalations. Anybody in Europe who is thinking through, that if it comes to war as a result of these escalations, Europe would vanish! There would be not much left of Europe if it would come to a nuclear war.

I think the more reasonable people, those who are not completely rabid warmongers, are having second thoughts. Macron offered that France should have such a mediation role. And in these days of total war propaganda, you cannot even say you want to have peace! And you are immediately called a “Putin agent,” and that you are pushing Russian propaganda: This is just completely crazy. If you say you don’t want to go up in World War III and have no mankind left as a Putin agent, you are just reasonable! And those people who are pushing for continuation of the war are risking the elimination of humanity.

One “Putin agent” who just spoke out—and I’m saying this, naturally, ironically—is Pope Francis, who made an urgent appeal to the leaders of the world to not drive the world into a catastrophe and to go for negotiations. And that is the only reasonable thing to do.

Financial ‘Hurricane,’ or Orderly Bankruptcy Reorganization?

Schlanger: While all of this is occurring, we’re seeing financial disintegration. You mentioned before the discussions that Putin is having with others, about making sure grain can be delivered, because we have not in any way escaped the danger of large-scale starvation.

But we’re also seeing some in the West beginning to acknowledge that a financial crisis is going to hit with a huge thud. One of those was Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, who said we’re about to have a “hurricane” come. Why do you think he’s putting out this warning now?

Zepp-LaRouche: Well, because you can see how the central banks are dancing around between wanting to fight inflation because the hyperinflation, which is visible—and it is a hyperinflation—is making certain categories so expensive, like food and energy, that large segments of the population in the so-called “rich” countries, are not making it anymore. And naturally the developing countries are going under, like Lebanon and many others who are in terrible crisis. So, the central banks want to play around with the idea of increasing the interest rate to fight the inflation, but naturally, that involves the immediate danger of a blowout of the overindebted corporations and emerging markets.

So, you are sitting on a complete powder keg, and I think Jamie Dimon is one of the people who knows, when he says a very big hurricane may be coming, then that’s exactly what is coming: It is the danger of a complete blowout of the financial system and a breakdown crisis of undescribable dimensions.

And that is why the idea of an orderly reorganization of the system, starting with a global Glass-Steagall, capital controls for the developing countries, is so absolutely essential. You can actually see that in some parts of the world, there are preparations being made. There was just a very important conference in Bishkek [Kyrgyzstan], where the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union met, and they discussed the installment of a new financial system, based on principles of physical economy. One of the leading economists of Russia, if not the leading economist, Sergei Glazyev, just said in another interview that he is absolutely convinced that a new financial system, a new credit system is emerging, and that a new international currency will be established by a coalition of many countries.

You see this already happening, that all the sanctions against Russia and many other countries, what that has accomplished, is that these countries by pure necessity are turning to alternative ways of doing commerce. Russia, India, and China are now doing trade in rubles, in rupees, in renminbi. So, a new financial system is occurring.

And the West, the Europeans, and the United States—and unfortunately now Japan is in that camp—pretend that everything can be pushed through by mere force. But it leads to, the danger is—this discussion of a complete split. There are people who say Europe can manage: “We don’t need trade with Russia, or even with China,” because supposedly the East European markets are so fantastic. This is ridiculous!

If you take all the East European markets, except Ukraine which is in a complete economic catastrophe, you are talking about tens of millions of people, and when you are talking about this other formation I was just mentioning—China, 1.4 billion; India, 1.4 billion, and then you take many other countries in addition—you are talking about the vast majority of mankind, and if Europe thinks they can do without that, they will have a very rude awakening. I think they are driven by ideologues and not people who have any knowledge about the economy.

Schlanger: Speaking of people who have no knowledge of economy, you saw a real contrast this week, with Joe Biden speaking out on inflation. He said, on the one hand, it’s good, because it’s a sign of a recovery; on the other hand, it’s bad, because it’s caused by Putin! Janet Yellen, former Federal Reserve Chair, currently Treasury Secretary, admitted that she was wrong when she had said that inflation was going to be modest. But she still has no program. And then the current Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is caught, as you pointed out before, between the danger that if he raises rates too much, he triggers a chain-reaction debt default, and if he doesn’t raise it, you’re going to have hyperinflation.

In contrast to that, Vladimir Putin gave a very interesting interview June 3, where he identified the cause of inflation as the monetary policy, and also the green policy. You mentioned Glazyev; what did you make of Putin’s remarks?

Zepp-LaRouche: Well, I think Putin’s analysis is to the point. Anybody who followed the past 14 years, since 2008—the money-printing of trillions and trillions of dollars and euros which were pumped into the system have created this entire bubble. I think Putin is also absolutely right that the increase in the price of energy and food was there long before the Ukraine situation erupted. It’s becoming more and more clear that you cannot make a narrative because it fits your goals and interests, when the reality is galloping in a completely different direction.

Breaking Through the Mind-Control Narrative

Schlanger: That’s important: Reality versus narrative, because all we’re being fed in the West are narratives. If you try to get to narratives, it seems as though there is much more direct, almost fascist-style censorship being carried out, including here in Germany.

Zepp-LaRouche: What is actually going on is causing a lot of people to wake up. If you say anything which is not the official narrative, about Putin and Russia and so forth, if you dare to say that there was a history before, that you have to take it back to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the promises not to expand NATO, if you dare to mention any of that, you are slaughtered right away, and you are called a “Putin agent.”

Interestingly, this happened in a TV show in Germany with a moderator Markus Lanz who interviewed Ulrike Guérot and an FDP politician Marie Agnes Strack-Zimmermann who is a real militarist, bellicose woman. What happened on this show is that Miss Guérot dared to say that there was a prehistory and there should be negotiations.

Ulrike Guérot is mainstream; she is as establishment as you can get. She used to be in the European Council of Foreign Relations (I don’t know if she’s still there); she’s now a professor in Bonn, and she was ripped apart on this program. This is causing now a huge debate, especially in the alternative blogs and websites, where people are aware of the fact that you have something which some people, who come from the East, say it’s much worse than the Stasi [East German secret police]. With the Stasi in the G.D.R. people knew who was a Stasi agent, and when these people were around, they would just shut up and not talk.

It’s now much, much worse, because you don’t know who is popping up as somebody who will denounce you if you say just one wrong word. Other people say it’s worse than Goebbels, because it’s complete control of what is allowed to be said and what not.

And I find this really remarkable, because these are all journalists and politicians who were there and knew ahead of time, before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in February, that they were pro-Atlanticist and had a certain idea about the world. But what has happened since this so-called “change in history,” as [Chancellor Olaf] Scholz is calling it, “Zeitenwende,” these people all turn into raving attack dogs, and it is an atmosphere which is created which is absurd. It’s the worst in Germany, for sure.

For example, in Italy, you have many in the military who are saying things which in Germany if you said them, you would get immediately slaughtered. For example, Brig. Gen. Fabio Mini, who used to be the commander of the KFOR troops under NATO command in Kosovo, basically said it was not Putin who caused the war, but it was the fact that the Ukrainian army, with the consent of the U.S., was preparing an attack on Crimea, and that they had also amassed a very large part of the Ukrainian army along the border, the line which separates Donbass, and that the shelling of the Donbass had increased 20 times in the days between Feb. 21, and Feb. 24. So, in a certain sense, what Putin did was a reaction to prevent this attack from occurring.

That, by the way, has been said by many others. For example, there is a Swiss military analyst, Jacques Baud, who said the same thing, and many other military people have expressed the same thing.

So, it’s very interesting, that just a few days ago, Ellen Taylor, who is the daughter of the U.S. chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunal [Telford Taylor], came out and said exactly the same thing. She said that she was as a young child in Nuremberg, and that the NATO expansion does fulfill a conspiracy to prepare a war of aggression, and that the establishment of missile systems and bases along the Russian border is an expression of such a conspiracy to prepare a war of aggression.

She has a right to have that view, because she has a certain experience: She said that, and I think, if you cannot discuss the prehistory of how a conflict evolved, it basically precludes the possibility that you can find a solution. Because a solution has to take into account the interests of all sides. If you can’t do that, if you go for a total defeat of one side, when it is practically impossible, given the fact that you are talking to the second largest, or maybe the largest nuclear weapons power on the planet, it is really a very ominous situation.

But I think this mind control or the effort to have a complete top-down control of what is allowed to be said—what about democracy? What about human rights? This is going to boomerang in a big way.

June 18-19 International Schiller Conference

Schlanger: Well, it already is boomeranging. Helga, you’ve been playing a leading role at the center of this mobilization for a conference to establish a new security and financial architecture. As we come to the end of the program, I think it would be very worthwhile for you to just give us your sense of what we intend to accomplish with the June 18-19 conference. And I’d just like to add, everyone watching this should share this video and get your friends, your neighbors, your sparring partners, get them all registered for this conference, because this is where we’re going to create a consensus to move to a new system. So, Helga, give us your sense of what you hope to accomplish?

Zepp-LaRouche: We need a coalition of people who say that the world is in the worst crisis ever. We have never been in such a danger, to have nuclear war, a Third World War, which would be the extinction of the human species; we have never seen such a global breakdown crisis of the financial system, expressing itself in hyperinflation. We have a world famine which threatens 1.7 billion people on the planet. We have a pandemic which is not over, and many regional conflicts, like China-Taiwan, new signs of worry around Iran.

So we want to have a new paradigm: We have to have a coalition of countries and voices and forces in the world, who basically say, we have to move away and above geopolitics, and we have to have a new financial system, we have to have a new world economic order which allows the survival and wellbeing of every human being on the planet, and that is the will of the majority of the human species. As a highlight of this conference, we will have Diane Sare, who will be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in New York. And this is hope, because she will be a leading voice in the next several months, until the November election: So, if you want to get to know the opposition in the United States, you absolutely have to tune into this conference and become an active organizer for it.

Schlanger: And again, you’ll find the link at the Schiller Institute website. Register now, and help us register hundreds more. We need this voice heard round the world, but especially throughout the United States and Western Europe.

Helga, thanks for joining us today and we’ll look forward to talking to you next week.

Zepp-LaRouche: Yes, talk to you next week.