This article appears in the April 7, 2023 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
Dialogue Instead of Weapons—Peace with Russia!
Helga Zepp-LaRouche Addresses
East-West Peace Meeting in Berlin
[Print version of this article]
April 1—On March 27, an important conference took place in Berlin: “Dialogue Instead of Weapons—Nonpartisan Action Against the War.” It was organized by the East German Board of Associations (OKV), founded in 1994.
The initial impetus to hold this very timely conference came through two open letters issued on January 31 by former East German Army (NVA) officers Sebald Daum and Manfred Grätz, to protest against German weapons deliveries (such as Leopard 2 tanks) to Ukraine as dangerous and a scandalous historical amnesia, and condemning the campaign to hold Russia solely responsible for the war in Ukraine. These letters to the Russian embassy created a lot of ferment in Germany, as well as in French military circles.
The Berlin meeting was called to help create a new peace movement across party affiliations and ideological differences in a time of ever-increasing grave danger, including that of nuclear confrontation between the superpowers. The organizers stressed that it is not enough to call for “peace,” we must demand “peace with Russia,” which means “ending the U.S./NATO war in Ukraine and its potential enlargement to the rest of Europe, but also stopping the deindustrialization of Germany by the U.S.”
While the nationwide transport strike that day and sickness of some key speakers prevented quite a few from attending, nevertheless about one hundred participants were there. At the end, a joint resolution was accepted with a broad majority of participants (see below) for broad circulation. Several media were present and reported on the event, such as RT.de and Chinese TV. The proceedings are now available on the website of the organizers.
The long speakers list included the Chairman of the German Peace Council Gerhard Fuchs-Kittkowsky, physics professor and peace activist Prof. Joachim Wernicke, Prof. Wilfried Schreiber (Welt Trends, economist and former NVA officer), and Wolfgang Effenberger (author and former West German military officer).
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who was presented as chairwoman of Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (BüSo), opened the second part of the program. [Her full speech is printed in this issue.] Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and for negotiations, as proposed by China, Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Pope Francis. She laid out in some detail scenarios of U.S./NATO think tanks for dismantling Russia, which has been on the agenda of U.S. neo-cons since the fall of the Soviet Union, including support for terrorists in the Caucasus shortly after President Putin assumed the leadership of Russia. To avoid the immediate threat of nuclear confrontation, all efforts must be focussed on fostering a new international peace movement, cooperating with the Global South. She invited the participants to take into consideration in their deliberations the Ten Principles for a new security and development architecture, which she has issued.
In his speech, former NVA Col. Friedemann Munkelt also stressed the optimistic perspective which the current shift of power to the countries of the Global South signifies for a change in global policies and a solution to the crises.
Several experts stated that Germany has become a party to the war in Ukraine, and therefore has become a potential target of Russian missiles. This policy is in direct defiance of the principle enshrined in the German Grundgesetz (Basic Law), according to which Germany has the duty to contribute to peace in the world.
However, the most acute danger arises through the escalation towards nuclear confrontation, as the change of U.S. nuclear strategy does not exclude first use of nuclear weapons anymore. Prof. Wilfried Schreiber reported that the United States in November 2021 reactivated the 56th (nuclear) Artillery Command based in Wiesbaden, Germany, to be operational by mid-2023. Thus the U.S. is capable of leading nuclear war in Europe with the newest weapons systems at the disposal of this new command, which is responsible for the planning and deployment of the use of middle-range nuclear missiles in Europe. The command (responsible for Europe and Africa) had been deactivated after the 2+4 negotiations on German reunification.
The timing of this operational reactivation coincides with the maneuver “DEFENDER-Europe 2023” in the summer of 2023—the traditional command staff air force logistics maneuver, during which the U.S. transports between 35,000 and 80,000 soldiers to Germany. Prof. Schreiber concluded dramatically, that we are at the edge of a point of no return: “For the United States a limited nuclear war in Europe is possible, but not for us! And, actually, neither for Russia.”
Thus, it remains a matter of political organizing, to stop this predictable march into global apocalypse, with all forces of good intent.
As author Rainer Rupp wrote in the introduction of the conference brochure:
“In the current huge danger, which our peoples are facing, we have no time any more, to quarrel about political party limitations and different socio-political orientations. Instead of discussing about theoretical matters, which divide us, we should concentrate in this situation on what unites us! Namely Peace with Russia!”.
