EIR Daily Alert Service, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2017

EDITORIAL

The Mueller/London Subversion Is in Trouble—A Time of Breaking Developments

Dec. 19 (EIRNS)—Today in Washington, D.C. a team of volunteers delivered hard copy of the LaRouchePAC Special Investigative Report, “Robert Mueller Is an Amoral Legal Assassin: He Will Do His Job If You Let Him,” to all 100 Senate offices on Capitol Hill, and relevant committees. This comes amidst a wave of Congressional interrogations and statements about the culpability of a network across the Justice Department, FBI, and British intelligence, acting over recent years to attempt to thwart the Donald Trump candidacy and presidency in particular, and to prevent any initiative in general, for the U.S. to have productive foreign relations with Russia, China and others, and to make a profound upshift in the U.S. economy.

Andrew McCabe. This Deputy Director of the FBI is prominent among the subversives. Today he was called before the House Intelligence Committee, to answer for his many wrongdoings over the past year. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, yesterday said very straightforwardly that McCabe should go: “he oughta be replaced.” Grassley said this was a job for FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz. This Representative (D-FL) headed the Democratic National Committee during the time the DNC commissioned the Washington, D.C.-based Fusion GPS to dish dirt on Trump, which job was contracted to “ex”-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele. Wasserman Schultz was called to answer for this yesterday, before the House Intelligence Committee.

Michael Sussman. This attorney acted to make DNC payments to the Fusion GPS firm, to in turn pay the London-based Steele for the dirty dossier he authored. Sussman was to appear yesterday for questioning, before the House Intelligence Committee.

Bruce Ohr. This demoted, former Associate Deputy Attorney General conducted operations with the British and Fusion GPS, in addition to having his wife work for the latter in 2016. His appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee has been postponed from yesterday, until later this week, because the Committee has just come into possession of new, relevant evidence. And there are more, lesser witnesses.

We are at the stage where the pattern of illegal, immoral actions is blatantly obvious. Coverage has even broken out in the European media. The Danish daily Berlingske Tidende ran an article on the scandal this week, headlined: “Did Obama’s Bureaucrats Make Shady Plans Against Trump?”; with the kicker: “Sensational new revelations in the U.S. seem to show that President Obama’s leading bureaucrats in the FBI and the Justice Department, made plans to prevent Trump from being elected, and that afterwards, he should be toppled by a salacious report.”

For the U.S., Constitutional government itself is at stake. It is a time of breaking developments, many of which have been instigated by the LaRouche movement, and can be used to finally bring down the enemy operations, and make way for ending the old era of economic decline and geopolitics.

Today, statements calling on the U.S. to do just that, came from Russia and China, in response to the issuance yesterday by the White House, of its new “National Security Strategy” (which was commissioned by Congress). The 68-page document is mostly warmed-over Old Paradigm formulations, presenting, as it states, ways for the United States “to succeed in 21st century geopolitical competition.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. called on the U.S. to abandon such “outmoded thinking.” Win-win relations are the order of the day. “The Chinese side is willing to have peaceful coexistence with all countries of the world, including the United States on the basis of mutual respect.”

Today, 10,000 copies came off the presses of the LaRouchePAC policy report, “LaRouche’s Four Laws: The Physical Economic Principles for the Recovery of the United States—America’s Future on the New Silk Road.”

Correction: The reference in Monday’s Alert to the NDI (National Democratic Institute) was mistaken; it should have been DNI (Director of National Intelligence, i.e., Clapper).

U.S. POLITICAL & ECONOMIC

New White House ‘National Security Strategy’ Document Presents Outmoded Geopolitics

Dec. 19 (EIRNS)—The new White House “National Security Strategy” was released yesterday, as commissioned by Congress. The 68-page document begins with a cover letter by President Trump, stating his commitment to protect Americans, then proceeds, after an introduction, with chapters on the “Four Pillars” of U.S. security, ending with, “The Strategy in a Regional Context,” covering six geographic areas, before the Conclusion. The regions are: Indo-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, South and Central Asia, Western Hemisphere, Africa.

The Pillars are: I. Protect the American People, the Homeland, and the American Way of Life; II. Promote American Prosperity; III. Preserve Peace Through Strength; and IV. Advance American Influence.

Among the recurring themes are the two most common, and outmoded geopolitical concepts, that the world is necessarily competitive among nations, and that one nation’s gain is another’s loss. Secondly, the most cited nations are China and Russia, for acting in ways deleterious to the U.S.

The document’s authors are not cited, but it is reported that the principal author is Nadia Schadlow, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Strategy. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she was on the Defense Policy Board, 2006-2009, during the Bush-Cheney years.

H.R. McMaster, National Security Advisor, is acting as spokesman. McMaster gave interviews yesterday on questions of American security, to the BBC and the American National Public Radio (NPR) network, and others. For example, on BBC, McMaster presented bullet-head charges against Russia, conforming to the British Russiagate line, saying, “I believe that Russia is engaged in a very sophisticated campaign of subversion to affect our confidence in democratic institutions, in democratic processes—including elections.”

Trump’s own speech at the time of release of the document, labelled Russia and China as rivals, not enemies or adversaries; he further said that he sought “great partnerships” with them.

However, the document’s sense of confrontation comes right in the beginning, in the introduction. “China and Russia challenge American power, influence and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity. They are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence.”

Later, under Pillar III on “Preserving Peace Through Strength,” the document claims that Russia and China “want to shape a world antithetical to U.S. values and interests.” China, it claims, “seeks to displace the United States in the Indo-Pacific Region, expand the reaches of its state-driven economic model, and reorder the region in its favor.” Russia, it claims, “seeks to restore its great power status and establish spheres of influence near its borders.”

However, here and elsewhere, the document makes the point that the intentions of Russia and China “are not necessarily fixed” and so therefore “the United States stands ready to cooperate across areas of mutual interest with both countries.”

The document targets drug trafficking and other activities of transnational criminal organizations, commits the U.S. to rebuilding its physical infrastructure, though without providing a mechanism for making that happen, and does commit the U.S. to discussions with other states (presumably Russia and China) to reduce the risks of nuclear miscalculation. The document also rejects, in principle at least, the basis of regime change wars. “We are not going to impose our values on others,” it says. “When the United States partners with other states, we develop policies that enable us to achieve our goals while our partners achieve theirs.” The document is available on the White House website.

China, Russia Tell U.S. To Reject Geopolitics, Imperial Confrontation, and Join in New Paradigm

Dec. 19 (EIRNS)—Both China and Russia responded to the just-released U.S. National Security Strategy report labelling them rivals which threaten U.S. security and prosperity, with messages which can be characterized as, “Grow up; it’s time the United States join in the new world developing out there.”

Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today that “after looking through [the strategy], particularly the parts concerning our country, one can see the imperial nature of this document, as well as unwillingness to abandon the unipolar world idea and accept a multipolar world.” The Russian Foreign Ministry statement rejected the strategy’s “confrontational character,” writing that “its key message—peace through strength—is geared not towards constructive and equal cooperation with other countries in the interests of joint resolution of the existing problems, but towards confrontation…. [China and Russia] are being accused of infringing upon world order, which is obviously interpreted as a unipolar world reduced to America’s interests and needs only.”

The Foreign Ministry reiterated, however, that Russia is “ready to build partner relations with the United States. But … really productive partnership is possible only on the principles of equality and mutual respect,” it warned. Likewise, Peskov cited the strategy document’s openness to cooperate with Russia “in the fields which correspond with the U.S. interests,” as the same approach adopted by President Putin, who seeks to cooperate with the U.S. “in areas which are beneficial for us.” Peskov cited as exemplary the exchange of information which was key to stopping a planned terrorist attack in St. Petersburg.

So, too, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying reminded the press today that “the Chinese people are full of confidence” in their nation’s development, while “the development achievements scored by China are universally acknowledged and it is of no avail to attempt to distort the facts on the part of anyone or any country.” If the U.S. does not stop “deliberately distorting China’s strategic intentions, and abandon such outdated concepts as the Cold War mentality and the zero-sum game … it will only end up harming itself as well as others. We hope that the United States can correspond with the trend of the times and the will of the people … and join hands with China to uphold the sound and steady growth of China-U.S. relations.”

The Chinese daily Global Times added some pointed humor, in an editorial today titled “U.S. Security Strategy Blinded by Arrogance, False Beliefs.” The U.S. strategy “showcases Washington’s indisputable insistence on its global hegemony. Neither Beijing nor Moscow will buy it,” the daily intones. The Western Pacific region “has taken on a lively scenario of cooperation,” and even Beijing-Tokyo relations are improving; expanding cooperation on economic development is superseding perceived strategic insecurities. “All the U.S.’s strategic deployment to contain it will be in vain. If Washington keeps bothering itself with this stark fact, it will only drive itself up the wall and in the end, get its own comeuppance.”

Global Times suggested that therefore Washington give “lip service” only to “voices” calling for a tougher stance on China, because “they do not necessarily mean American society is willing to take an antithetical attitude toward China…. After all, the U.S. government often takes on a tough appearance to deal with public opinion pressure. However, if Trump enters the deep-water realm of geopolitics, he will not likely be as good a swimmer as his predecessors.”

Chinese Embassy in Washington Urges Trump to ‘Abandon Outdated Zero-Sum Thinking’

Dec. 19 (EIRNS)—The spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Washington stated today: “The Chinese Embassy has reviewed the National Security Strategy (NSS) released today by the U.S. Government.

“This is a time of uncertainty, with competing thoughts and visions for the world. It is a new era of great reshaping, reform, and development. Peace and development are the themes of this era, and are also the shared aspirations of mankind. Preaching rivalry and confrontation goes against the global trend, and will lead to failure. Only by upholding the principles of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation, as well as through aligning the interests of one country with the shared interests of the international community, can the human race thrive together. It is completely selfish for a country to claim that its own interests are superior to the interests of other countries and to the shared interests of the international community. This mentality will only lead to isolation.

“China and the United States are, respectively, the largest developing and developed countries in the world, shouldering a special responsibility to maintain international peace and stability, and to promote the prosperity and development of the world. How China and the United States view each other, and define the relationship between them, not only affects the interests of both peoples, but also the interests of the international community. On the one hand, the U.S. government claims that it is attempting to build a great partnership with China. On the other hand, it labels China as a rival. The self-contradictory rhetoric of the U.S. betrays the truth that China and the U.S. are becoming increasingly interdependent and have growing intertwined interests. The U.S.’ rhetoric also runs counter to China’s efforts to cooperate with the U.S. on bilateral and global issues.

“For China and the United States, cooperation leads to win-win outcomes, while confrontation can only lead to a lose-lose situation….China will stay on the path of peaceful development, and continue to pursue the mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. China is willing, on the basis of mutual respect, to live peacefully with all the other countries, including the U.S. For the U.S., it also needs to get used to and get along with a developing China. We call on the United States to abandon its outdated zero-sum thinking, and work together with China to seek common ground and engage in win-win cooperation. Therefore we can jointly build a global community with a shared future for mankind, featuring common prosperity and development.”

NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

New Book Publishes Proceedings of 2017 Belgrade Silk Road Conference

Dec. 19 (EIRNS)—The proceedings of the mid-July Silk Road conference in Belgrade, in which the Schiller Institute and EIR participated, have now been published as a book of 500-plus pages with close to 30 speeches.

The conference “Initiatives of the ‘New Silk Road’—Achievements and Challenges,” was organized in cooperation between the Institute of European Studies (IES) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), both in Beijing, and the Belgrade Institute of International Politics and Economics (IMPP), with the participation of distinguished scientists from China and Serbia, experts and researchers from Russia, the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Greece, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was supported by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Belgrade.

The conference’s purpose was to launch a wider discussion on the achievements and challenges of carrying out the New Silk Road/Belt and Road Initiative and the benefits for the long-term, “win-win” perspectives for Asian, European and African countries. A special emphasis was given to China’s cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) within the 16+1 mechanism and the sharing of experiences and recommendations for further improvement and collaboration.

The speech by Schiller Institute representative Elke Fimmen on “The New Silk Road—Its Strategic Importance for World Peace” keynoted the first session of the two-day conference, which dealt with “New Silk Road—Chinese Strategy of World Development.” Its expanded text was published in the current book, with references to the leading role of Schiller Institute founder and Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche in the fight for the World Land-Bridge, including her participation in the May 2017 Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, and EIR Founding Editor and physical economist Lyndon LaRouche’s method of economic science.

Among the many highly-interesting essays, was that of former Greek Ambassador Leonidas Chrysanthropoulos, a long-time friend of the Schiller Institute, whose topic was, “The New Silk Road and Greece.” He harshly attacks the devastating EU austerity policy and counterposes the perspectives for Greece and the whole region of the New Silk Road policy, referencing the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization’s (BSEC) project for the Black Sea Ring Highway, a 7,500 km highway that links the European highway network to that of Asia.

German science journalist Jacqueline Myrrhe, who spoke at the 2017 Krafft Ehricke commemoration conference organized by the Schiller Institute and the Fusion Energy Foundation in Munich, spoke on, “China’s Space Program: Born Out of National Need, Poised To Support Global Progress.” And Dr. Jasminka Simic of Serbia and Prof. Mariana Tian of Bulgaria, who spoke at the Nov. 25-26 Schiller Institute conference in Bad Soden, are featured in the new book, with their respective topics: “ ‘One Belt, One Road’ Initiative: A Solid Foundation for Intra-Regional Connectivity” and “The Participation of Bulgaria in the Initiatives of the ‘New Silk Road:’ Achievements and Challenges.”

All in all, this new publication is a very valuable contribution to develop new and richer insights into the new dynamic in progress, and in particular into the views from Eastern and Central Europe, which for so long have been neglected by the European Union. It also underlines the importance of the decades-long efforts by the international Schiller Institute for a new just economic order.

Syria Goes ‘All-in’ Into the New Silk Road’s Belt and Road Initiative!

Dec. 19 (EIRNS)—That sums up the report on a dialogue workshop held by the Wathiqat Wattan Foundation in Damascus called “Heading East … China,” by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on Dec. 16. The dialogue was opened by Presidential Political and Media Advisor Bouthaina Shaaban, who is also the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Wathiqat Wattan Foundation, and addressed by the Chinese Ambassador to Syria, with participants reported to be from both Syria and Lebanon.

Dr. Shaaban situated the discussion at the highest level. “There is a new world that is being formed not on the basis of hegemony and wars, but on the basis of scientific and technical cooperation among countries. Our role is carrying and disseminating Eastern culture and motivating societies in this direction,” she told participants.

“The Arab region is witnessing a series of transitions, the most important of which is the rise of China as a global, economic, political, and cultural power, especially since China proposed several projects,” including the Belt and Road Initiative, she said, adding that workshops such as this are needed to discuss China’s role in the region and develop their own visions in order to benefit from China’s experience.

On June 26, 2016, Dr. Shaaban addressed the Schiller Institute’s international conference in Berlin, Germany via video hookup, and was scheduled to personally address its most recent conference in November, but was unable to attend because she had to travel to China at the last minute.

According to SANA, China’s Ambassador to Syria Qi Qianjin agreed on the importance of such dialogue, and spoke of China’s interest in going towards the Middle East, from which 60% of its oil and gas imports comes, stating that China will not leave countries facing turmoil behind, including Syria.

Other participants reportedly “recommended establishing universities and institutes to teach the Chinese language and promote student exchange programs to contribute to the Sino-Arab cultural intellectual rapprochement, as well as opening Chinese trade centers in Syria.”

Today Asia Times reported separately that more than 30 Chinese firms have visited Syria this year, including China Energy Engineering Corporation and China Construction Fifth Engineering Division, and the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs has already approved a number of initial aid projects. During the First Trade Fair on Syrian Reconstruction Projects held in Beijing in early August, a Chinese-Arab business group announced a $2 billion commitment from the government for the construction of industrial parks in Syria.

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Italian Economist Alberto Bagnai: The Euro Is ‘Fascist’

Dec. 19 (EIRNS)—Speaking at a seminar at the L’Aquila University June 26, Italian economist Alberto Bagnai called the euro system a “fascist” operation, as it uses compulsory means to reach a political aim.

Bagnai said he used to be a leftist, and voted for the Italian Communist Party, but then, about a decade ago, said he began to ask himself why the Italian left endorsed the euro project, which was doomed to fail. When he asked representatives of the Democratic Party, he explained, they told him, “Of course we know that the euro is doomed to fail, it is written in all economic textbooks. But this will provoke a crisis which will compel the people to do what is necessary to go forward, that is, a real political union” of Europe.

“Monetary Union as a picklock to use the crisis as a stick to obtain political union, to me looked like something intrinsically fascist. For me, the use of violence to reach a political objective is fascism. I am not saying that they are wearing black shirts … but for me European Federalism, to the extent it pursues such a road map, qualifies as a form of fascism.”

Former Central Bank Governor Antonio Fazio, who was against Italy’s entry into the euro, was among the speakers at the seminar. “I was in the position of a general who, being against the war, was forced to obey,” Fazio said. Nevertheless, Fazio recalled that in a hearing in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, he forecast that the Italian economy in the euro would slowly plunge “like in a Bradyseism,” referring to the gradual change in the Earth’s surface above a magma chamber. His forecast has been vindicated.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Someone Wants Libya To Explode Again

Dec. 19 (EIRNS)—On Dec. 17, the expiration of the Skhirat agreement on which the UN-recognized Libyan government in Tripoli is based, Misrata Mayor Mohamed Eshtewi was killed by Islamic militia as he returned from Turkey. Misrata had supplied the main military force backing the Tripoli government of Hafez Sarraj, and according to Italian sources, Eshtewi was probably killed by radical militia under Ibrahim ben Rejeb. A member of the city council, ben Rejeb had threatened the mayor because of his support of Sarraj and also because of his efforts to dialogue with Gen. Khalifa Haftar, who controls Cyrenaica.

The assassination is clearly aimed at sabotaging dialogue between the factions that control the eastern and the western parts of Libya—which is being coordinated by Egypt, Russia, Italy and Libya’s other neighbors—and possibly to also plunge Libya into chaos again.

A few hours before the Misrata murder, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti to talk about Libya. El-Sisi reported on “the necessity of an agreement between Italy and Egypt on the solution of the Libyan crisis,” according to a statement from the Egyptian Presidency. The agreement goes through “the reconstruction of the institutions of the Libyan state, starting with the national army” and including “Parliament, government, safeguarding the Skhirat agreements in view of the elections which will take place in 2018, thus backing the road map presented by UN special envoy Ghassam Salame.” El-Sisi “has stressed the need to strengthen bilateral relations at all levels in order to reach a strategic partnership between the two countries.”

Given that the priority of the national army of Libya is recognition of General Haftar’s demand that all militias be disarmed, Egypt Today reports that last week, el-Sisi had received a large delegation from the Tripoli “government” to discuss “political accords necessary to preserve Libya’s unity and integrity.” And on Dec. 13, the Libyan Government of National Accords (GNA) Foreign Minister Mohamed Siala was guest at a discussion at the Valdai Club in Russia, where he said that elections might be held in mid-2018.

A figure who could play a role in uniting all components of Libyan society, except the radicals, is Muammar Qaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, another Italian source reported. On Dec. 17, Egypt Today announced that Saif Qaddafi is going to run in the Libyan elections: “Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of the former Libyan President, enjoys the support of major tribes in Libya, so he can run for the upcoming presidential elections in 2018,” said Libyan Tribal Chief and spokesperson of the Qaddafi family, Basem al-Hashimi al-Soul. Al-Soul told Egypt Today that Saif al-Islam Qaddafi has prepared his platform which he intends to announce soon. “The platform includes some procedures that Saif al-Islam hopes the United Nations would adopt to help Libya move from the incumbent transitional period to stability. Saif al-Islam plans to impose more security and stability in accordance with the Libyan geography and in coordination with all Libyan factions,” he said.

Saif al-Islam is said to also enjoy Haftar’s support. He is also well viewed in Italy, where he was a close friend of the late Libyan ambassador under Qaddafi.

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