Today in the Syria Times, a “Special Interview” with Helga Zepp LaRouche, President and founder of the Schiller institute, was posted by Editor in Chief Reem Hadad, who said in the introduction that the Institute’s “motto is ‘mobilizing globally for a New Paradigm of Mankind.’ The Schiller Institute is currently conducting a series of conferences … to try to gain support for the idea that only a ‘Peace Through Development’ approach can resolve the situation….”

On Syria specifically, Zepp LaRouche said in the interview, that, “An economic development plan for all of Southwest Asia must be put on the agenda, and all neighbors from Russia, China, India to Egypt—and hopefully including the U.S.—must be won over to participate.” The interview publicizes that Mrs. Bouthaina Shaaban, the Political and Media Advisor to President Assad, will be a speaker at the May 8 Schiller Institute conference, “The Moral Collapse of the Trans-Atlantic World Cries Out for a New Paradigm.”

Total opposition to this approach was shown May 6 by the U.S. State Department, which announced that U.S. unilateral sanctions against Syria will be continued for another year. This amounts to a death sentence for millions, given what is well known, that 13 million Syrians already lack food and medical supplies, and basic living conditions of shelter, water and sanitation. But in keeping with its geopolitics, the State Department rhetoric was bloodthirsty in lying about Damascus and its “backers,” including blaming them for keeping out humanitarian aid. “The United States condemns the Assad regime’s, and its Russian and Iranian enablers’ brutal violence and human rights violations and abuses.”

Such rhetoric goes beyond venality, into pre-war madness. It coheres with the U.S. Strategic Command’s casual talk of preparing to win a nuclear exchange.

The same day as the State Department’s sanctions decree on Syria, particulars of the dire situation in Syria were released in the new “2021 Global Report of Food Crises” by the World Food Program (WFP) and other agencies (Global Network Against Food Crises) which covers 55 nations in extreme need of food. The terrible impact of sanctions was explicitly identified. The “Forecast 2021” for Syria warned, “Continued sanctions, a war-torn economy, and the effects of a depreciated Syrian pound will also contribute to high numbers of acutely food-insecure Syrians…. Between December 2019 and 2020, food prices rose 236%…” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said on May 6 that 34 million people across some 40 nations (Syria included), are at risk of dying of starvation in the coming months, without relief intervention. He spoke to the online conference of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, (SIPRI). Beasley called for nations to mobilize “systems of support” to avert mass death. He pointed to UN Security Council Resolution 2417, passed unanimously in 2018, that says hunger cannot be used as a weapon of war.

Thus, the May 8 conference, and the dialogue process it fosters and reflects, is now a critical world rallying point for voices to sound out for reason in national and human relations. We are in an emergency situation.

The commitment to this outlook was stated today by Wang Yi, Foreign Minister of China, at a High Level Meeting of the UN Security Council, which China chairs for the month of May. The Zoom forum was titled, “Maintaining International Peace and Security; Maintaining Multilateralism and the International System with the United Nations at the Core.” It was attended by foreign ministers of Russia and the United States, and several other of the current UNSC 15 member states.

Wang Yi chaired the meeting and stressed that, “There must be dialogue and cooperation,” and he attacked the extensive unilateral use of sanctions. In contrast, Secretary of State Blinken, while using the word multilateralism, spoke in his customary code words for geopolitical attacks on other nations, such as vigilance for “human rights.” He called for “non-traditional partnerships”—cover-term for anti-China, anti-Russia blocs.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was stern. He denounced the moves to create “narrow partnerships.” He denounced the call for a “summit of democracies”—made by President Biden for this year, as “a new club created on an ideological basis.” Lavrov reiterated President Putin’s call for a meeting of leaders of the Permanent Five of the UN Security Council. When it comes to “human rights,” Lavrov said that the right to life is fundamental.

Attend and grow the ranks: May 8 International Schiller Institute Conference