Harley Schlanger

The book "Peril", authored by Woodward and Costa, raises disturbing questions about the role of U.S. military leadership in sabotaging President Trump's efforts -- and now those of President Biden -- to end the "endless wars." The same U.S.-British military-intelligence-corporate networks behind the 9/11 terror attacks, and the subsequent coverup, ran the attempted regime change coup called Russiagate, and continue to oppose replacing geopolitical confrontations and wars with peaceful cooperation. It is now an urgent priority that citizens get behind the demand for a full investigation of the coup plots, and support the shift to a new era based on multilateral efforts to achieve peaceful economic development.

The moment of opportunity opened by the end of the war in Afghanistan, for multilateral cooperation for economic development, could close very quickly. A False Flag event, occurring in the midst of almost daily military encounters by U.S.-NATO forces with Russian and Chinese military forces, could lead to a devastating war, either by miscalculation, or intent! Dialogue is essential, as Gen. John Hyten, Vice-Chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed in a speech two days ago. We also present a preliminary report on the smashing defeat of the California Recall. Lyndon LaRouche famously warned, in 2003, that Recall is dangerous, as it is designed to manipulate momentary emotions, to undermine the American Presidential System, and replace it with a parliamentary system.

It is still unknown whether the withdrawal of U.S./NATO forces from Afghanistan is the end of the era of endless wars, or a move to a new phase of geopolitical confrontations, directly challenging Russia and China. The push for continued war comes from the onrushing financial collapse, for the same reason that the wars were launched following the 9/11 attack: wars are used, by the globalist financial and corporate cartels who fund the war hawks, to justify the imposition of emergency measures, including austerity economic policies and the surveillance state. That is why it is necessary that LaRouche's economic policies, for collaborative mutual economic benefit, represent the only real alternative to chaos.

The first 9/11 documents declassified as a result of President Biden's order show active involvement of Saudi officials in the events of 9/11. What must be answered now is 1.) Who in the U.S. government covered up the Saudi role for 20 years?; and 2.) Who benefited from the coverup? The place to begin to answer these questions is with Lyndon LaRouche's forecast on January 3, 2001, in which he warned that a "Reichstag Fire" event would be used by the Bush administration to impose emergency crisis management policies.

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, which led to the "forever wars" which he still supports, Blair reiterated all the talking points used by the Shadow Government to justify geopolitical provocations, huge military budgets, and imposing the Surveillance State. We take up the question of whether 9/11 was an "inside job"; will Biden's declassification order relating to documents on the Saudi role make a difference; and what is the significance of changes in financial regulatory policies introduced by the Chinese government? For a full, in-depth analysis of 9/11 and its destructive aftermath, and how to change the direction from geopolitics to peaceful cooperation, be sure to register for the online conference of the Schiller Institute on Saturday, September 11, beginning at 2 PM EDT.

While some irresponsible idiots, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, are calling for the U.S. to send troops back to Afghanistan, there are developments underway that are kept out of the western media. What, for example, are the Chinese and Afghanistan's neighbors saying and doing? China has a vested interest in seeing that Afghanistan does not become a safe haven for terrorists, nor drug traffickers. China's Foreign Minister reiterated that, while China welcomes the pledges coming from the Taliban interim government, recognition depends on following through with a commitment to tolerance, and combating terrorism and drug trafficking. Did you know that the Taliban had nearly shut down opium production by 2000? Only after the 2001 U.S.-NATO overthrow of the Taliban government did drug production take off again -- not surprisingly, especially in the province of the country under British control! Join us for this weekend's 9/11 events: Friday September 10, 7pm -- 9/11 Memorial Concert, Beethoven's Agnus Dei: Peace for ourselves, and the worldSaturday September 11, 2pm -- Manhattan Project Meeting, Afghanistan and the Surveillance State. Where Do We Go From Here?

Calls from supporters to postpone the upcoming COP26 conference in Scotland indicate that the whole fragile edifice on which the global Green New Deal is built is unraveling. As we have pointed out, few developing sector nations will surrender their sovereignty, and their development goals, to comply with the demands coherent with the fake science behind "man-made climate change"; and large nations, such as China, Russia and India are intent on advancing energy systems which will increase the Energy-Flux Density of their economies, a necessary precondition for real economic growth. It is precisely these technological advances which are under attack by the City of London-Davos Malthusians, who are promoting instead "sustainable" and "renewable" energy systems, which will assure a rapid depopulation of the planet -- which is what they intend!

After 20 years of coverup of the real story of what was behind the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S., Pres. Biden has ordered the declassification of documents which have been hidden by government agencies, especially the FBI. LaRouche said, as the attacks were happening, that Osama Bin Laden would be blamed, but he is a "controlled entity...not an independent force." Yet, the truth about the role of the Saudis and U.S. intelligence in creating and deploying Al Qaeda has been buried, to protect the guilty. Join us this Saturday at 2 PM EDT for a forum, "9/11/2021: The Path Forward from September 11, Afghanistan and the Surveillance State." See Helga Zepp LaRouche's statement, "Can the West Learn? What Afghanistan Needs Now"

Sept. 3—On August 31, just hours after the last U.S. plane left the Karzai International Airport in Kabul in keeping with President Biden’s withdrawal deadline, he defended that decision in an address to the American people. “The decision about Afghanistan,” the President said, “is not just about Afghanistan. It’s about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries.” Biden’s statement, if followed through, represents what the Schiller Institute’s President Helga Zepp-LaRouche called a “phase change in international politics.” Since the collapse of the Soviet Union from 1989-91, U.S. policy has been shaped by a triumphalism predicated on the belief that America was now the world’s only superpower.Those nations which refused to surrender their sovereignty to the U.S.-led post-Cold War order were subjected to crippling sanctions and the denial of credit by international financial institutions. Acting with a hubris shaped by the belief that, in a unipolar world, Americacould impose its will as it pleased, American officials, urged on by the British, and with backing by their NATO allies, launched repeated regime-change wars against those who rejected the arbitrary rules defending the “western values” of the so-called Rules-Based Order (RBO). It was in defense of this order that the “endless wars” were launched, including the 20-year war in Afghanistan which ended this week. In a separate comment on the end of the war, Secretary of State Blinken, who routinely hoists the flag of the RBO everywhere he goes, stated on August 30, “The military mission is over. The diplomatic mission has begun.” Though he was speaking about the removal of U.S. officials from Afghanistan, it seems that, in the context of Biden’s speech the next day, he could have been speaking about the end of a foreign policy in which launching destructive wars had replaced diplomacy. Whether this is true is not yet determined. Both Biden and Blinken continue to justify disengagement from the “small wars” in Southwest Asia as a necessary precondition to concentrate on the alleged threat from Russia and China, especially to fulfill the delayed “Pivot to Asia” initiated under President Obama. Starting a New Era? The “end of an era” theme has been seized upon, by many who are critical of Biden for following through with the withdrawal from Afghanistan, to insist that on the contrary, the era must {not} end, America must {continue} deploying its military power to counter the alleged “malign, authoritarian intent” of Russia and China. Ironically, Trump, who campaigned in 2016 on the slogan of ending the “endless wars”; who negotiated the deal with the Taliban signed in February 2020 setting the timetable for withdrawal; and then tried unsuccessfully to withdraw U.S. troops; has joined with his own most outspoken critics in attacking Biden, calling on him to “resign in disgrace.”War hawks among the anti-Trump crowd, such as leading neocons William Kristol and Rep. Liz Cheney, have called for Biden’s resignation or impeachment. A common theme of those in the Military- Industrial Complex, who profited outrageously from the wars, and who are already nostalgic for the “forever wars,” is that Biden’s action means the United States cannot be trusted to stand up for “western values” in the future. This line has been pushed especially hard by key figures from the United Kingdom. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who should face a war crimes tribunal for his role in launching the wars in southwest Asia, attacked not only Biden but Trump, and the American public, saying that the decision was made “in obedience to an imbecilic slogan about ending ‘the forever wars.’”Going a step further was British Defense Minister Ben Wallace, taunting America by saying it is no longer a “superpower.” A superpower, he declared, “that is also not prepared to stick at something, isn’t probably a superpower either. It is certainly not a global force, it’s just a big power.” The present preoccupation of the War Hawks and their sponsors from what former CIA analyst Ray McGovern calls the “Military-Industrial-Congress-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank Complex” (MICIMATT) is advancing a military counterweight to Russia and China. This includes the push for NATO expansion, to incorporate Ukraine and Georgia in NATO; escalating the Color Revolution against Belarus; establishing a “Pacific NATO” to defend Taiwan and counter China in the South China Sea; continuing the regime-change drive against Syria with Caesar Sanctions and occupation of territory; continuing the war in Yemen; etc. Given the now-acknowledged failure of the 20-year war in Afghanistan, such a bold global agenda would be laughable, except that there are many indications of serious intent including statements in the last days by both Biden and Blinken on Ukraine and China.Zepp-LaRouche insists that this agenda, based on British geopolitics, must be ended now. In posing the question, “What’s next?” she has put the Schiller Institute (SI) in the forefront of the mobilization for an alternative that represents a decisive break with the British geopolitical doctrine behind these wars. She has campaigned relentlessly for a shift to peaceful cooperation for economic development. In two recent SI conferences, one before and one after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, a panel of experts was convened to discuss a development perspective, predicated on a mobilization of Afghanistan’s neighbors to support the extension of China’s Belt-and-Road Initiative into Afghanistan and Southwest Asia, with corridors of development, as the key to peace for the long-suffering war-torn region.*1

What does it mean to say that we have reached the "end of an era"? It's good we are no longer putting U.S. troops in harm's way in Afghanistan. But was this merely a way of shifting troops to beef up the military deployment to contain and confront Russia and China? Or is it possible to really end the era of geopolitical provocations, and live in a world committed to peace and economic cooperation? What the war hawks and proponents of empire fear is that the American people will rally behind a rejection of the policies of the last thirty years, of a "unipolar" world controlled by U.S. military power deployed under City of London and Wall Street direction, and instead restore the American system of physical economy at home, and collaborate with other nations for mutual benefit.