Once again we have made history!

On the morning of 29 May 2006 many of you launched our historically unique appeal for peace. Via a simple e-mail protest letter, sent from your PC to politicians in positions of responsibility, you were able to voice your mass "No" to plans for nuclear war. Those mailed were ministers in countries whose governments are publicly considering a nuclear strike.

And your message of "No to nuclear war" (http://www.stopnuclearwar.org/) arrived. Thousands of e-mails landed on the desks of politicians in nuclear armament countries within the first 24 hours of the campaign.

On Wednesday, 31 May 2006 – only 48 hours after the start of our worldwide protest – US President Bush had to concede! He offered direct talks to the Iranian government. The significance of this step cannot be overestimated. It was, after all, the US government that had publicly advocated a military strike against Iran for months – where necessary without recourse to UN agreement in a "Coalition of the willing"! Never before in history had there been such blatant preparation for nuclear war.

And so, precisely 48 hours after thousands of protest letters reached the politicians in nuclear armament countries, this threatening stance could no longer be maintained. The US government was forced, at least outwardly, to signal its willingness for dialogue.

The significance of this step was immediately clear to the whole world. And so, on the evening of 31 May, "Spiegel Online" pronounced this announcement by the US government to be a "U-turn" from its previous policy. So tt was not just a minor change of stance, but a 180-degree change of direction – at least if one can believe the wording of the statements. Spiegel even prefaced its report with the astonishing headline: "Bush reclaims leadership role for peaceful solution", and quoted the words of the US President in his – apparently overnight – enlightenment over the Iran conflict: "I'm certain this problem can be solved by diplomacy, and I'll leave no stone unturned to achieve this."

In its leader article on 1 June 2006, the "New York Times" remarks that Bush did not do this willingly. "After 27 years in which the US has refused to hold substantive talks with Iran, President Bush yesterday, Wednesday, performed a U-turn because it was made clear to him " by his allies, the Russians, the Chinese and finally even by some of his advisers – that he no longer had any other option."

The sparrows are whistling it from the rooftops: Bush's U-turn only occurred under pressure. What the "New York Times" could not have known is that, in the 48 hours prior to the Bush government's announcement of its U-turn, thousands of e-mails from all over the world had reached politicians in the US Congress and political office holders in other countries.

Those of you who sent a protest mail to these politicians in recent days have literally made history, and you have reason to be proud of it!

Yet the "New York Times" also advised caution. This newspaper's leading article on Thursday openly addresses the fact that George Bush's motives must be questioned, and suggests that his offer of dialogue with Iran is one with so many strings attached that it is bound to collapse.

And in fact it is right to doubt the Bush administration's sudden commitment to dialogue. This government acts as political agent for the global pharmaceutical cartel. In view of the collapse of billion-dollar pharmaceutical markets in drugs to treat cardiovascular disease, cancer and above all AIDS, the pharma investment business with disease is fighting for its survival. Millions of people throughout the world, in particular AIDS-affected developing countries, have woken up to this fact and will not rest until the pharmaceutical business with disease has been stopped.

The only escape is to perpetuate this unscrupulous business by means of pharmaceutical dictatorship. Such global dictatorship can only be achieved in the context of international martial law following the outbreak of a world war.

It is not without reason that, six years ago, the pharmaceutical cartel made sure that the most high-profile pharma manager in the history of the US – Donald Rumsfeld – was appointed as minister of war. Since this time the pharmaceutical cartel itself has had direct access to the "button" which is all that separates humanity from a nuclear inferno.

President Bush and the multi-billion-dollar interests of the pharmaceutical and oil business he represents are in a desperate situation. If they are unwilling to countenance the collapse of the billion-dollar pharmaceutical business, they now need nuclear war – as urgently as a drowning man clutches at a straw.

The apparent conciliatory gesture from the US administration, and its declared willingness for dialogue with Iran, does not alter this in the slightest. The wolf has merely bitten its tongue. There are clear historical parallels. Let us not forget the Munich Conference in 1936, in which those in power in Germany at the time deceived the people of Europe with the rhetoric of peace. To pull the wool fully over people's eyes, the same rulers announced that the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin should be called the "Peace Games" – while, simultaneously, plans for the 2nd World War were being laid.

So let us not be fooled by verbal propaganda.

The successes achieved within just 48 hours of the start of our e-mail protest campaign are encouraging. Those of you in particular who have never before undertaken such action should feel encouraged to participate in future. Only when protest letters to politicians become a ceaseless flood will we succeed in halting the ludicrous plans for a "controlled" nuclear war. Only when you enlist the support of your friends and neighbours, so that we become an ever-expanding peace movement, will we succeed in preventing the onslaught of war.

Those among you who have already mailed your "No to nuclear war!" have made history. Those who have not yet joined in can still make history!

Do this for yourself, for your family, children, grandchildren and all future generations!

With warmest wishes

Dr. Matthias Rath MD

Further information and the programme of this worldwide initiative can be found at our website: http://www.stopnuclearwar.org/