At the end of this week, August 8 is Day Ten, decreed by President Trump last week, for Russia to meet his deadline for making progress toward resolution in Ukraine. Or else, Trump pledged to impose more economic warfare by tariffs and sanctions. This strategic threat is among the swirl of important events, and life and death crises, which Helga Zepp-LaRouche, leader of the Schiller Institute, warned of today, as what we must expect as “foreseeable and unforeseeable,” all the while mobilizing to engage expanding forces to understand developments from the highest overview, and from concept solutions, not “disinformation, lies and narratives.” This perspective is critical.
On Wednesday, August 6, it is expected that Trump’s special envoy Steven Witkoff, will be in Moscow for meetings. This was confirmed today at the Kremlin by spokesman Dmitry Peskov, after Trump told the media last night. Peskov made very measured remarks overall about this, and in answer to questions about threats. Asked about Trump’s July 31 announcement that he had ordered two nuclear submarines into “appropriate regions” regarding Russia, Peskov noted that submarines are deployed all the time, “This is an ongoing process.” When asked about Trump objecting to remarks made by Dmitry Medvedev last week, Peskov pointed out that the West—for example in Europe—has many who make tough statements; and as for policy, it is made by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin. He said that Russia “does not wish to become involved” in an exchange over nuclear threats.
A very grave weapons policy announcement was made today from Moscow. The Foreign Ministry issued a statement that Russia is lifting a moratorium it unilaterally imposed on itself in 2019, on deploying any ground-launched missiles within ranges between 500 and 5500 km. This self-ban was made at the time Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty in 2019. The INF Treaty had been signed in 1987 by the U.S. and U.S.S.R. In principle, there was time to get it back on track since 2019. But today, the Russian statement says, there are U.S. missile systems with INF range beginning to appear in both Europe and the Western Pacific, which now means “the conditions for maintaining a unilateral moratorium on the deployment of similar systems have ceased to exist.” Russia will proceed to deploy its weapons as deemed appropriate.
Moreover, the strategic showdown of the Collective West against Russia is not just a “military” question, and not just “pending.” The economic side is active and belligerent as well. For example, threats by Washington for India to reduce or end its many-sector trade dealings with Russia (especially for oil and arms) have reached the showdown stage. Today India issued a statement, with six stern points. The last is, “The targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.”
Going beyond these stated, open clashes, there is the prospect of a false flag economic/military incident perpetrated against Russia—in the realm of another North Stream pipeline sabotage. Today, a pre-emptive warning release was issued by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), citing British intelligence for preparing two scenarios regarding staging false accidents (a fire or breakdown) to hit vessels in the “shadow fleet“—carriers of Russian goods, under other documentation—either for an open-seas eco disaster, or in a port of a Russian trading partner. Then the West would demand “investigation” and control of all shipping. This is coherent with the new NATO “Baltic Sentry” mandate, formed in January 2025 for controlling the Baltic Sea from Russian “threats.”
What is the meaning of this confrontationism gone mad? What is going on? Take lessons from 80 years ago, when World War II was ended. The Nazis were defeated, but the imperialist circle of Churchill and all were fully deployed to terrorize the world, restoring their colonialist power, for purposes of defeating and carving up the U.S.S.R., suppressing China, forcing the U.S. into submission, and keeping Europe down. Churchill had his “Operation Unthinkable” (British war plans against the Soviet Union) and got his way with President Truman to needlessly drop atomic bombs on Japan. This was August 1945. These are the same circles down to the present day.
A decisive blow to expose this British imperialist-centered menace will be released this week by The LaRouche Organization, in a white paper exposing the British intelligence intent behind the Russiagate hoax, which was perpetrated to promote the showdown with Russia.
Today it was made known that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered the start of a grand jury investigation of the principals involved in perpetrating the Russiagate hoax, for criminal charges.
There is no time to lose, to cross-mobilize with the many individuals and organizations on the move to demand an end to the nuclear threat, to urgently end the genocide in Gaza, and build toward a new world security and development architecture. Over the weekend in Australia some 300,000 people demonstrated in the capital for Netanyahu to be stopped. A lead banner was, “March for Humanity, Save Gaza.”
The International Peace Coalition this week, its 114th weekly Friday meeting, invites people the world over to come together, to collaborate on upcoming demonstrations and concept solutions. The meeting is titled, “Hiroshima and Gaza—Never Again!” The invitation begins: “On the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we honor those that were lost and demand that nuclear war and genocide never be committed…..We gather our forces for peace to unify for this cause. Join us this Friday with Scott Ritter, Ray McGovern, Anthony Aguilar, and others.”
