A Story Club: Global Politics S2 E5 streamed live on FB from the US (San Francisco), India (Dehra Dun) and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, Thursdays 12pm EDT | 9am PDT | 9:30pm IST repeated Friday on the UNC Network in Trinidad and Tobago 6pm AST

Today the West -- embodied by that imperial relic known as the G7 -- is embarking on a New Cold War directed at China and Russia.

What a far cry from the end of the original Cold War in 1990 when the promise of a New World Order and globalisation sought to bring the world together in a cooperative spirit. That decade saw a lot of progress in developing countries, so much so that by the 21st century, the BRICs emerged as some of the world's largest economies, displacing the old G7 grouping from their position as the world's leading industrial nations.

However, the rise of Russia and China, in particular, has been greeted with hostility and fear by the West and NATO, and new "Berlin Walls" are being attempted to once again pit the world into warring and competitive camps.

How will this affect global development, especially for developing countries? For those of us who are part of neither the G7 nor Russia and China, what are our options? Do we take sides or do we remain neutral?

To discuss these issues, I am privileged to have as my guests Helga Zepp-LaRouche from Germany -- the centre of the old Cold War with the Berlin Wall -- and Ralph Maraj from Trinidad and Tobago.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche is the President and founder of the International Schiller Institute in Germany, and the Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität party (BüSo) (Civil Rights Movement Solidarity). Together with her late husband, the American economist, theorist and political leader, Lyndon LaRouche, she was at the forefront of spearheading the New International Economic Order for a just global economy in the 1970s and 1980s, and the World Landbridge which became the foundation of the New Silk Road in 2013.

Ralph Maraj is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as a holder of other Ministerial positions. Notably, he has held Cabinet-level positions across opposing administrations in the 1990s. He is also an accomplished playwright and actor, starring in what many -- including me -- believe is the best film ever made in Trinidad and Tobago, Bim, about the rise and fall of an outsider politician.