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The world, as Helga Zepp-LaRouche warned, is “hanging between hope
and disaster,” and the outcome depends on whether action replaces
inertia.
There are openings. The continued dialogue between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin,
described by both sides as productive, marks a meaningful path forward
toward ending the conflict playing out in Ukraine.
Alongside diplomatic movement forward in this one respect, there
are countervailing forces pushing the world toward wider war: U.S.
arms transfers to Taiwan, China’s encirclement of the island in response, Europe’s
rearmament drive, and preparations to station long-range missiles in Germany that would again
place the continent on the nuclear front line. Ukraine’s drone attack on Putin’s residence—made
not long after the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting on Dec. 28, was denounced
by a self-described “very angry” Trump, as an action that leads away
from peace.
Trump’s total support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, including backing up Israel “100%” when it comes to the
Gaza peace plan whose implementation it is stalling, is setting Trump
up for being convinced to order further strikes on Iran.
Where diplomacy appears, Anglo-NATO forces invested in
confrontation move to overwhelm it.
These are not separate crises. Ukraine, Taiwan, and Gaza are
symptoms of a single failure—the refusal to replace geopolitics with a
security order grounded in development. Without that shift, every
ceasefire remains fragile, every negotiation exposed to provocation,
every peace merely a reprieve.
Equally decisive is the internal front. The suppression of dissent
across Europe and North America takes the form of sanctions on
journalists, criminalization of protest, and expanding
surveillance. Societies preparing for war silence the very voices
needed to change course.
Yet an alternative is visible. Türkiye’s rapid construction of 455,000 homes after the 2023
earthquake demonstrates what is possible when state power is mobilized
for life rather than destruction.
What could the hundreds of billions spent on weapons have done, if
spent instead on rebuilding cities, expanding infrastructure, and
removing the roots of conflict?
Acting to change history’s trajectory now means insisting on a new
security and development architecture—making economic reconstruction
the measure of security. The door leading to that future is still
open. For now.
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