We’re Facing Nuclear War, or a New Paradigm—Don’t Sit on the Fence!

Oct. 21, 2026 (EIRNS)—When asked during her webcast of Oct. 21 whether over the past week the world has moved closer to a devastating war or a new paradigm of peace, Helga Zepp-LaRouche pointed to the underlying dynamic that is driving so-called “current events” across the globe: “I’m afraid that both options, the new paradigm and the total degeneration of the strategic situation, are both within reach,” she said. “How this will play out, I cannot say. All I can say is that in a period like that, when it’s very clear that the old order is no longer functioning, and the new order is not yet shaped… that it is this kind of period where the activity of the individual acting as a world historical individual, together with other such individuals, is what makes the difference.”

That is the standpoint from which organizers with the LaRouche movement and collaborators worldwide have been mobilizing to intersect the growing ferment among students, farmers, truckers, fishermen, and tens of thousands of others raising their voices against the austerity policies of their governments. It is not enough, however, to protest the injustice, organizers are saying; one must know what to do to get humanity out of this mess.

A potential shift in the dynamic in the direction of a new order may come at the November APEC Summit in Shenzhen, China, with a mooted tripartite meeting between Presidents Trump, Putin, and Xi moving closer to becoming a reality. On Wednesday, in briefing reporters on Russian President Putin’s earlier meeting with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, “None of the capitals—neither Moscow, Washington, nor Beijing—rejects this idea. Our Chinese friends, the hosts, will engage, or, probably are already engaged in preparing for it, and if circumstances are favorable our Chinese friends will, of course, include such a meeting in the Shenzhen program. Our side made some practical suggestions for the content of possible trilateral talks.”

Ushakov also confirmed that the Russian side is open to the possible resumption of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the United States (recent plans for which were sabotaged by Ukraine’s bombing of Russia during its September elections), starting the second week of November and focusing on “establishing a system of security for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends.”

The conscious role China and Russia are playing in moving the world toward a new kind of paradigm should not be underestimated—it certainly isn’t by warmongering elites in the West, nor by leaders in China and Russia themselves. As the Putin–Witkoff meeting was taking place, Chinese Premier Li Qiang was also in St. Petersburg meeting with his counterpart, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and later with President Putin. Both leaders detailed not only the steady development in relations between their nations—such as the fact that bilateral trade volume has gone up more than 30-fold over the past 25 years—but more fundamentally, the strategic importance of their relationship. “We uphold the spirit of mutual respect and comprehensive results,” Li said. “In doing so, we have created a model of high-quality cooperation and a high level of mutual trust between major powers and neighboring countries.”

The reaction on the part of the Western elite should also not be underestimated. “The war drive,” Zepp-LaRouche said, “which is unfortunately very visible, especially in Europe, is clearly nourished and fed by the realization of the powers that be that they are running up against increasing difficulties to keep the system together financially. So, armament and warmongering seem to be the way to distract the population, and even prepare for war.”

Seen in that context, the possibility of a renewed attack on Iran by Israel, the U.S., or both—in which the use of Trump’s “Mother of All Bombs,” or even a tactical nuclear weapon, cannot be ruled out—grows more likely. The fact that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a not-so-secret secret trip to Israel on Monday to meet with Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Katz only underscores the urgency of an intervention to shut down the war dynamic entirely.

Such an intervention could be made by Pope Leo XIV, whom Zepp-LaRouche and hundreds of other prominent leaders for peace are calling upon to organize a global leaders’ summit to address the questions of peace and nuclear disarmament. Leo, who initiated a call with Putin on Oct. 16 in which he “reaffirmed the Holy See’s commitment to promoting dialogue and peace,” will travel to Assisi, Italy, on Oct. 27 to lead 80 religious leaders from around the world in issuing a new appeal for peace.

You—yes you, too—can intervene. Join the International Peace Coalition meeting this Friday. Mobilize with the appeal to Pope Leo. Join the campaigns of Diane Sare for President and Jose Vega for Congress, which are intervening into the United States with sane leadership to bring the U.S. back to the principles of goodness that it was founded upon.

“It’s a period in which one should not sit on the fence,” Zepp-LaRouche urged, “but take sides and try to try to bring humanity into a new paradigm where hopefully these dangers are put behind us for good.”