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Open Letter to Canadian Parliamentarians
A New Peace of Westphalia, Now an Urgent Necessity To Prevent a Thermonuclear WW III: —A Concert of Nations Must Resolve to Implement a New Security and Development Architecture for All Nations!
26 April 2023
April 26, 2023 Most World War II archives are accessible to scholars and to a small number of dedicated historians whose field of research is sometimes referred to as ‘Universal History,’ a term properly defined by Friedrich Schiller who, in 1789 discussed such a noble enterprise in his inaugural lecture at Jena University: “What Is, and to What End Do We Study, Universal History?” [Schiller Universal History (schillerinstitute.com)] Schiller brought the discussion to a much higher level than the often quoted truncated phrase of American philosopher George Santayana“…We must study history if we are to avoid repeating the errors of the past…” Why is Schiller relevant to a future peace negotiation between Ukraine, the Western co-belligerents and Russia, some of you may ask? Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the founder of the International Schiller Institute, answered that question, 35 years ago, when she wrote: “We have arrived at what Friedrich Schiller, the great German ‘Poet of Freedom,’ called the ‘punctum saliens,’ a ‘jumping-off point’ from which we can –if we muster the resourcefulness and courage to do so – emerge from the crisis with a new and just world order, and launch mankind into the true Age of Reason.” To eventually replace the bloody work of war with the above mentioned ‘new and just world order’, will require diplomats at a future peace conference who can put themselves in the shoes of a specialist of Universal History and be familiar with the inner workings of the Treaty of Westphalia, which finally put an end to 30 years of religious warfare in Europe. These negotiators will have to know quite well the history of these warring nations: What was the highest cultural period, the renaissance period for each nation at the negotiating table? The cultural high point of German culture was the Weimar culture of the early 19th. Century, the period of Schiller and the Beethoven, and quite a few other great cultural giants. For the United States, many historians would argue that this was the period of the Presidency of John Quincy Adams who was not interested in going forth and seeking monsters to destroy; no intervention in the affairs of sovereign states abroad. The Treaty of Westphalia (1648) The tragic shortcomings the 1919 Versailles Treaty and its immediate consequences on the world have been clearly identified by competent historians. Chroniclers unfortunately tend to simplify history by putting the accent on dates, such as 1939, rather than the historical processes which over a short span of two decades, for example, created another world catastrophe for untold millions! It was the lack of any serious discussion at Versailles of a key Treaty of Westphalia principle [1], that one party must formulate a reciprocal offer to guaranty the ‘the advantage of the other.’ What are the best conditions that will foster the maximum development of the creative powers of the citizenry of the former opponent’s nation? This must be put on the table, Why? Because this approach is the best guarantor of a future peaceful nation: a progressing economy, a more advanced society technologically, culturally, and morally. Such a nation, if it is not humiliated at the peace conference and is allowed to benefit from a competent reconstruction policy, will in the following decades, not easily fall prey to the racist diatribes of a synthetically created warlord that comes along, nearly always catapulted on the scene to serve both the geopolitical aims of an external financial oligarchy and an internal armaments cartel, the ‘merchants of death,’ known since 1961 as the ‘Military-Industrial Complex.’ General Eisenhower warned the United States and the world about the designs of the Industrial-Military Complex [2] when he left the U.S. Presidency after his second term in office. Immediate short-term economic confidence-building measures Parliamentarians in the Trans-Atlantic area can begin the peace process by initiating immediate actions, by attaining reachable goals, which can help as confidence-building measures, until a Concert of Nations actually sit down to discuss *a New Security and Development Architecture for All Nations, either at the United Nations or some other appropriate venue. These immediate actions could include the following: 1- Canada should investigate, with a small group of impartial nations at the UN, who is responsible for the sabotage of the Black Sea Grain Deal, which is being blocked because Western financial-intelligence forces have created conditions by which Russia is not able to sell its wheat, nor its fertilizers, contrary to what was agreed upon by all parties. 2- Canada should hold a Parliamentary inquiry to get to the truth of who destroyed the Nord Stream Pipeline. Should not the findings of senior investigative journalist Seymour Hersh [3] on this matter be actually looked at seriously, instead of being rejected out of hand, as did some partial Western politicians? 3- Most importantly, Canada’s Parliament should also hold hearings on the required Glass-Steagall-type legislation which, given the worldwide banking crisis (i.e. mainly the derivatives problem) which is not abetting. Glass-Steagall is presently being discussed and debated in several Parliaments around the world, most notably in the Parliaments of Switzerland, Italy and the U.S Congress. Why the World Now Requires an International Glass-Steagall One of the benefits of enacting an international Glass-Steagall type legislation is that this creates the conditions for an urgently needed revival of the physical economies of nations around the world, by promoting mutually beneficial economic relations between the Trans-Atlantic region and Eurasia. We are convinced that only with such an approach can the necessary resources for future generations be secured, and the present plunge towards world war be stopped. All nations of the Trans-Atlantic region must enact a law which would separate commercial banks from investment/speculative banking entities, based upon Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Glass-Steagall bill of June 16th, 1933.[Banking Act of 1933 (Glass-Steagall)] Up until the beginning of the 1980’s, the principles of Roosevelt’s reform were in place in most nations, in the form of strict regulation, and ensured that the banking sector mainly took on the character of commercial banks, and access to private accounts for risky speculative operations was impossible. A National Banking system in the tradition of Alexander Hamilton, within the framework of a new Credit System, must provide long-term credit with low interest rates for productive investments, which would in turn increase the productivity of the economy by promoting an increase in energy-flux density, and in scientific and technological progress. The reconstruction of the real economy should be facilitated through long-term treaties of cooperation between sovereign nation-states, which would launch well-defined infrastructure and development project. These contracts represent a de facto new credit system, a New Bretton Woods system, in the tradition of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The purpose of re-enacting Glass-Steagall and implementing a Credit System is by no means only an improvement of technical details in banking, but rather, how the economy can ensure the survival of humanity over a period spanning many generations into the future, whilst increasing the productive powers from one generation to another. Human beings must once again be at the center, and the very purpose, of economics. Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture On November 24, 2022, Mrs. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the founder and chairwoman of The International Schiller Institute issued a set of Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture [4] “to be discussed and if agreed upon, be realized. These ideas are meant to be food for thought and a dialogue among all people concerned to find a basis for a world order guaranteeing the durable existence of the human species.” Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche is quite aware, as regards her above referenced Ten Principles of a New Security and Development Architecture, that the first seven are well established historical principles, familiar to the diplomatic community, it is for sure the principles numbered eight, nine and ten, which will present a greater difficulty to reach some form of agreement, since these three principles pertain to the philosophical conceptions regarding the true nature of man. Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s Tenth Principle: Tenth: “The basic assumption for the new paradigm is, that man is fundamentally good and capable to infinitely perfect the creativity of his mind and the beauty of his soul, and being the most advanced geological force in the universe, which proves that the lawfulness of the mind and that of the physical universe are in correspondence and cohesion, and that all evil is the result of lack of development, and therefore can be overcome.” The Present Historical Role of Canada In these greatly troubled times, all mankind cries out implicitly for new beacons of hope of a better, more secure order in mankind’s affairs. Canada’s true self-interest and prosperity lies in its willingness to join a new community of principle of sovereign nation-states dedicated to the establishment of a more just new world economic order. The soon, expected-to-be, first test of this new dedication will be the establishment of a Westphalia type of treaty agreement with the nations of Eurasia, reminiscent of Cardinal Mazarin’s famous "advantage of the other". Such a new adopted positive mission would certainly guaranty the security and sovereignty of a prosperous Canada in the present and in time to come. Sincerely yours, Gilles Gervais [1] Principles of Westphalia We paraphrase the two key principles: Article I begins: (In other words, peace among sovereign nations requires, according to this principle, that each nation develops itself fully, and regards it as its self-interest to develop the others fully, and vice versa—a real “family of nations.”) Article II says: Instead, the fact that each and every one, from one side and the other, both before and during the war, committed insults, violent acts, hostilities, damages, and injuries, without regard of persons or outcomes, should be completely put aside, so that everything, whatever one could demand from another under his name, will be forgotten to eternity. [Excerpts from the March 11, 2022 Executive Intelligence Review article , The Economic Policy that Made the Peace of Wesphalia, by Pierre Beaudry] |