PRESS RELEASE
German-Russian Dialogue in Baden-Baden Hears Zepp-LaRouche
April 28, 2015 (EIRNS)—During her speech at Germany’s prestigious Fourth Cultural and Business Forum "East-West Dialogue," April 24-25, in the southwestern spa city of Baden-Baden, Schiller Institute founder and chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche addressed the danger of the breakdown crisis of the Western financial system and the current confrontationist policies leading to world war. The alternative is the BRICS perspective, she said in her prominent intervention during the first day of the conference before leading Russian and German personalities. Europeans should seize upon this opportunity of a newly emerging world, to find a constructive way out of the crisis. She stressed, that this view is also held by many Americans, who oppose the destructive geopolitics of the Obama Administration.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sent a greeting to the conference, as did other German and Russian officials. It was read at the evening concert by a high-level official of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Zepp-LaRouche’s warnings of a new fascism and war were referenced several times by other speakers afterwards. Alla G. Grasnova, the president of the Russian government’s Financial University, who chaired the organizing committee of the forum, made a very passionate appeal in her closing remarks that day to the participants, to stop this new drive into catastrophe, 70 years after the end of World War II, thanking Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche for her clear stand as a German personality against these dangers and for her overall optimistic approach.
The Culture and Business Forum this year was expanded to the broader notion of "East-West Dialogue," taking into account the new BRICS perspective, instead of just Russian-German relations, as in the past. As a featured speaker, Prof. Shi Ze of the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, who had adressed last year’s International Schiller Institute conference in Frankfurt, spoke on the New Silk Road policy and China’s inclusive "win-win policy." In another speech, he elaborated on matters of energy collobration between Russia and China. His contributions, which he gave in Russian, were very well received.
The Baden-Baden event was addressed by, among other personalities from Russia, senior officials of the Russian Foreign and Finance Ministries and Duma representatives, as well as by leading figures of German-Russian economic relations. One very important aspect of the event and other related conference-events was that it also gave German participants a much clearer idea of the acute danger of the situation in and around Ukraine, which will hopefully lead to effective action to prevent catastrophe.
From the German side, Klaus Mangold, the Russian honorary consul in Stuttgart and former chairman of the Ost-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft (Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations) of German industry, in his speech, denounced the sanctions and the cutoff of official dialogue channels between Europe and Russia. He also urged both Europeans and Russians to realize how urgent it is to engage in official dialogue between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union. That despite the opposition of certain EU governments, in particular the Baltic states and Poland. The catastrophic situation for German industry through the EU/NATO sanctions was highlighted by Mangold and Russian representatives, who reported that during the first two months of 2015, German exports to Russia decreased by 35%.
Russian speakers at the event expressed hope that the BRICS process will lead to new kinds of financial institutions that are focussed on the development of infrastructure and high-tech small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Russia, modelled on the German Mittelstand (small and medium-sized independent manufacturers). While there is the absolute wish to secure and expand relations with Germany and other European countries, it was also made clear by several speakers, that Russia has no choice other than to turn to the Eurasian perspective, in any case.
After two full days of panels, discussions, an evening concert with first-class Russian artists and children’s choruses, and other opportunities to exchange ideas, the conference concluded with a panel on "investments into the future" in culture, medicine and education. There, Zepp-LaRouche gave an inspiring, forward-looking speech on the future of mankind and the new paradigm. Picking up on fears by some in Russia, that China might become too influential in the current turn of events, due to its breathtaking economic development, she highlighted the Russian contribution for the Eurasian Land-Bridge, with a selection of slides of the many seminars to which the Helga and Lyndon LaRouche were invited by leading Russian intellectuals during the last decades, shaping the Eurasian Land-Bridge conception, including the Bering Strait initiative. Quoting from Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin’s statement that all the BRICS countries are cosmic nations, she said that this is the path for all mankind, and is the only way to solve problems such as today’s droughts in California and other huge challenges. She encouraged everybody to focus on the development of human creativity as the sole source to transform the universe to a higher level, which is mankind’s destiny.
