{"id":114088,"date":"2026-01-10T10:28:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T15:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schillerinstitute.com\/?p=114088"},"modified":"2026-01-12T11:08:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T16:08:51","slug":"the-benighted-era-of-shock-and-awe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/blog\/2026\/01\/10\/the-benighted-era-of-shock-and-awe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benighted Era of Shock and Awe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jan.&nbsp;9, 2026 (EIRNS)\u2014The 136th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition opened with remarks by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and International Peace Coalition initiator. She warned that, in the wake of Donald Trump\u2019s attack on Venezuela, \u201cthere is no more international law, and it has been replaced by \u2018might makes right\u2019 and the law of the jungle.\u201d She then introduced Dennis Kucinich, former U.S. Congressman from Ohio and former U.S. Presidential candidate. Kucinich said that we are at an inflection point where we will either stand for peace, or watch the world disintegrate around us. He said that in addition to the Venezuela war, the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE operatives demonstrates the lawlessness of the Trump administration. This breakdown of order is leading us ever closer to another world war. \u201cWe are tiptoeing through the graveyard of history, pretending that a nuclear war can\u2019t happen,\u201d Kucinich said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to Bring The World Back From The Brink\u2014 IPC Meeting #136\" width=\"860\" height=\"484\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dypsYzIzl-c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zepp-LaRouche then noted Trump\u2019s announcement that he wants to increase the military budget by 50% to $1.5 trillion, which should be seen in conjunction with the rearmament of Germany and Japan. Both Trump and JD Vance have stated that they want to take Greenland, and the spokeswoman for the Trump administration has statedly plainly that a military option is on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said it was important not to forget the attempted drone attacks on the residence of Russian President Putin. Europe\u2019s \u201cCoalition of the Willing\u201d wants to station troops in Ukraine after a peace deal, which is \u201cludicrous\u201d because the potential stationing of NATO troops in Ukraine is what started the war in the first place. She said that the killing of Renee Nicole Good was bad enough, but what was worse was Trump and Vance taking the side of the ICE agent who killed her. \u201cThe only tiny element of positive news,\u201d Zepp-LaRouche acknowledged, was the unprecedented public reaction against the sanctions on Swiss Col. Jacques Baud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Richard Falk is professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor\u2019s Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories from 2008 to 2014. He analyzed the failure of the postwar framework established in 1945, which allowed the five nations that were winners of the war a privileged position, an unrestricted veto that was not contingent upon international law. There was one rule of law for the winners, and a different one for everyone else, which was \u201cwoven into the normative order,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Nuremberg and Tokyo trials only held the losers accountable for their crimes.\u201d Trump\u2019s vision for the world is dominated by geopolitics, not the rule of law. The attack on Putin\u2019s residence and the Venezuela intervention were designed to be immune from the restrictions of international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zepp-LaRouche reiterated her view that geopolitics has been the cause of two world wars, and thanked Falk for shedding new light on the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Col. (ret.) Alain Corvez (France), international consultant and former advisor to the French Defense and Interior Ministries, said that there are certain states, particularly the U.S. and Israel, which do not respect the UN Charter, and the Charter is therefore finished. He just returned from Iran, where he saw the unabashed lies of the international media. Life is difficult for the Iranians after 45 years of sanctions, and there are legitimate demonstrations, which the U.S. hopes to harness to make a \u201ccolor revolution,\u201d which will not succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prof.&nbsp;Fernando Garz\u00f3n (Ecuador) is Director of Solidarity with Palestine and former consultant on Defense Policy Strategies. He agreed with Corvez that there are developments in Iran which, like Venezuela, are being misrepresented by the international media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He described two models: The military operational model which has been increasing, such as in Gaza, and includes the use of AI, typified by Palantir, for military purposes. In Gaza there was a kind of experimentation which is now being applied in Venezuela, not solely by the U.S., but also with coordination with Britain and France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second model is governance, where military campaigns are associated with investments. The oil companies had begun to negotiate well in advance of the kidnapping of Maduro. The \u201cGaza Riviera\u201d scheme, promoted by Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff, applies a method where violent military actions are used to impose a business arrangement. An extremely important counterweight to all of this is the BRICS, which is trying to return to a civilized approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A snippet was aired of an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Lr0HnH2QQ38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Interview with Diego Sequera from Venezuela,<\/a>&nbsp;who said that Americans are suffering economically and fed up with the endless wars. Trump\u2019s oil grab will be financed by taxpayers, not Exxon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former Guyanese President Donald Ramotar observed that the Trump administration is trying to destroy the rule of law inside the U.S. itself, using the military domestically under various pretexts. The murder of Renee Nicole Good is one indication. This is contributing to the deterioration in the international situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Co-moderator Dennis Small said that the last ten days have seen a phase change, including three major developments: the drone attacks on the President of Russia; the attack on Venezuela and the threats against other nations; and the \u201ccold-blooded assassination\u201d of Renee Good. Small described this as \u201cthe Era of Shock and Awe,\u201d the idea that using sheer terror, you can change the way the world functions. They are turning Venezuela, Cuba and others into \u201cGaza West,\u201d the approach of \u201ccomplete strangulation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Presidential candidate Diana Sare had announced her candidacy earlier than planned, in response to the Venezuela attack. She said that the CIA was probably involved in the drone attack on Russia\u2019s President, and this was directed at Russia\u2019s ability to respond to a nuclear attack. Russia provided the evidence to the U.S. military. Did Trump fire anyone? No, he went ahead with an attack on Venezuela and seized a Russian tanker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Small announced that there will be an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/nj1xmBNdrIs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">emergency round table discussion<\/a>&nbsp;on Monday, Jan.&nbsp;12 on \u201cHow To Bring the World Back from the Brink.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Humanitarian activist Rafed Aljoboury pointed out that the Venezuela attack happened immediately following Netanyahu\u2019s U.S. visit, and asked, why would Iran aid America to suppress the resistance in Iraq? Colonel Corvez replied that the U.S. has always been against Iran. The Iranians did not associate themselves with U.S. in Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Frequent participant John Steinbach noted that Israel has a long history of acting as a U.S. proxy, collaborating with the worst right-wing regimes and suppressing independence movements all over the world, so this should be understood when we look at Israeli involvement in Venezuela. He asked Professor Falk to compare international law to the so-called \u201crules-based order.\u201d Falk replied that there is a \u201cgeopolitical de facto veto\u201d when we speak of international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Small responded to Aljoboury: if we try to go back and re-litigate each dispute among nations, we will lose. We must use the approach of the Treaty of Westphalia. It has always been British geopolitics that has manipulated very real grievances to play divide and rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zepp-LaRouche said that the previously existing order, the attempt to impose a unipolar world, provoked a backlash and now we have chaos. President Putin has called for a new Eurasian Security Architecture, but if you have an order which does not include everyone, it won\u2019t work. She has carefully studied President Xi\u2019s Global Governance Initiative, and approves of it as a starting point for discussion. Her&nbsp;<a href=\"\/?p=93184\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Schiller Institute proposal<\/a>&nbsp;and the Chinese proposal are the only two universal plans on the table. Either we learn to think of the One Humanity first, or it cannot work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>EIR<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jan.&nbsp;9, 2026 (EIRNS)\u2014The 136th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition opened with remarks by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and International Peace Coalition initiator. She warned that, in the wake of Donald Trump\u2019s attack on Venezuela, \u201cthere is no more international law, and it has been replaced by \u2018might makes right\u2019 and the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":114089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[798],"tags":[842],"class_list":["post-114088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-peace-coalition","tag-lang-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114088"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114118,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114088\/revisions\/114118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}