International Peace Coalition

The NATO Summit: A ‘Shell of Bravado’

by Daniel Platt

[Print version of this article]

July 12—The 58th consecutive meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) was opened today by Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who characterized the recent NATO summit as “incredibly bellicose.” Numerous ironies permeated the event with U.S. President Joe Biden ostentatiously saber-rattling, while the whole world wonders whether he will be replaced, given his painfully obvious fragile mental competence. Other putative NATO leaders are not in much better shape politically.

Zepp-LaRouche stated provocatively that NATO leaders are, in effect, declaring democracy to be outmoded, by trying to create mechanisms that will lock the war drive in place, to protect it from the winds of change sweeping the Anglosphere. They hope they can prevent any change “if there is electoral change,” working to make NATO “Trump-proof.” The dramatic demise of Biden makes a second Trump presidency more likely, and Trump has expressed skepticism about NATO. Some of the more rabid war-party European leaders are likely to fall from power. So this group seeks to insulate their policy from the ever-present threat of democracy.

The nations of the Global South no longer agree to the status of being colonial subjects. Zepp-LaRouche said that the Anglophiles have always had the option of taking the “stretched-out hand” of China and Russia, who have made continuous, good-faith efforts to bring an end to conflicts. NATO fanatically opposes a negotiated peace. She said: “The entire narrative of NATO ... hangs on the fact that you can’t negotiate with Putin”; this is wrong, and the proof is that there was a negotiated settlement in March 2022, until it was sabotaged by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“We have an alternative shaping up” with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s diplomacy. The EU war fanatics have once again shown their disdain for democracy, by seeking ways to get rid of Orbán ahead of the expiration of his term as EU President. Orbán is bringing together smaller dissident parties in European nations, building a coalition to oppose the war drive.

Col. (ret.) Richard H. Black, former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon and former Virginia State Senator, said that PM Orbán, disgusted with the NATO summit, flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald Trump, whom he believes has a plan to end the Ukraine war. “There is no doubt that he can do it quite promptly,” Black added, warning that NATO “continues to encroach on the borders of Russia…. There is a belief that the United States, through NATO, should be able to dictate the policies of all nations.” The United States is, in essence, NATO; a four-star U.S. general has been in charge of NATO for all of its 75 years. Originally a defensive alliance, “NATO has become this hyper-aggressive, predatory force.”

Prof. Dr. László Ungvári, President (emeritus) of the Wildau University of Technology in Germany, reminded the participants that Hungary has been a nation for 1,000 years, which has been victimized by many wars, and loss of territory. NATO declarations don’t mention peace and the Ukraine-organized “peace summit” in Switzerland was “childish,” not even inviting Russia. He emphasized the Hungarian policies of Christianity, Family and Peace, asking do these nations starting war not have children? He had the impression that politicians these days do not have knowledge, and without knowledge you can never have peace. Knowing each other’s cultures is how we will never have war.

Former U.S. diplomat, CIA official, and Islamic scholar Graham Fuller found this NATO summit to be a “shell of bravado,” highlighting that NATO has two dissidents, Orbán and Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan. He recalled that Ahmet Davutoğlu, a onetime prime minister of Türkiye, had introduced a no-enemies, no-conflict foreign policy virtually overnight, on the principle “we do not have to go that route if we do not want to.” It infuriated the West, but it could happen again. He emphasized the idea that the organizing between Hungary and Türkiye hopefully will inspire braver, more creative thinking from other European nations, who are otherwise cowardly and without any independence of thought.

Luis Bernardo Díaz, dean of the Faculty of Law at the Pedagogical University of Tunja in Colombia, one of the magistrates of the International Opinion Tribunal, reported that the Tribunal will hold hearings July 27 on genocide in Palestine, and was very happy to have been invited to further collaborate with the IPC.

French activist Etienne Dreyfus offered video clips of recent interventions against public officials. These interventions were described by Solidarité et Progrès party leader Jacques Cheminade as “a sort of underground channel which is speaking with more and more force in the country,” adding that the French population is “on the verge of understanding” the need for peace, development, and security.

Two Romanian activists spoke, warning that European nations being drawn into the war policy will become targets. These policies have been implemented without the consent of the population.

In response to a question from Independent Congressional Candidate (NY-15), Jose Vega, on how to view our lives right now in this time of crisis, Helga Zepp-LaRouche said that “a beautiful world is in reach ... because of many individuals who had the courage to go against the odds of their time.” They showed that one can “put the well-being of humanity ... above your personal interest, and we should be thankful to the long line of such individuals. It’s a decision you make.” She added, “I’m optimistic that we can put this idea of geopolitical interest behind us,” and avoid the “terrible straitjacket of going from one war to the next.”

A Peruvian said that his nation is celebrating the second centennial of Peru’s independence from Spain. He recalled that Lyndon LaRouche showed that the present system is bankrupt and dying, and this must be addressed, beyond the war danger. He asked whether there is a subterranean architecture that manipulates governments: did Nazis who were recruited by the West after WWII have a significant role in “nationalist” formations?

A former 40-year Pentagon employee discussed the neocons and the Wolfowitz Doctrine, saying, “We really told them that we would not expand NATO.”

Two participants, an African leader and an American priest, gave very personal, heartfelt pleas for peace, for which they were thanked by Zepp-LaRouche, who said that in the final analysis, we must become better people. Regarding the Peruvian activist’s question about Nazi networks after World War II, she warned that many people today who profess to be combating a resurgence of Nazism are warmongers, and in effect, Nazis themselves. She called them the “extremist center.” She repeated her call for a project to put together a research project into what actually happened during the past 30 years. She urged the participants to use the Orbán initiative as a focus for organizing; we need massive support for Orbán from the Global South, to defeat those in the Anglosphere who are trying to demonize him.