EDITORIAL
Schiller Institute Berlin Conference: ‘Creating a Common Future for Mankind, and a Renaissance of Classical Culture’
June 28 (EIRNS)—A press release was issued today by the Schiller Institute, on the international conference it sponsored in Berlin, June 25-26, under the above title. The text of the release in full:
June 28—The Schiller Institute’s international two-day conference gathered more than 300 guests from 24 nations and four continents for an intense and profound dialogue on how to stop the immediate danger of world war, by creating instead a new paradigm of global cooperation and development, based on a dialogue of civilizations and the unique creativity of mankind. Conference participants were very highly alerted to the escalation of western geopolitical confrontation against Russia and China, and the danger of thermonuclear war, and passed a resolution calling for an immediate end of sanctions against Russia and Syria. To end the war and to reconstruct war-torn Syria and the greater region of Southwest Asia, was a key focus of the conference, during which Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, member of the Presidency of Syria, addressed the conference audience and engaged in a moving Q&A via live stream.
Conference participants were also invited to attend a “Musical Dialogue of Cultures,” which was organized jointly by NICE e.V. and Schiller Institute e.V. as a public, admission free concert in a community church. The Camerata Geminiani, the international chorus of the Schiller Institute, and others performed Classical European music in the Verdi tuning, along with choirs presenting folk songs from Russia, Ukraine, and China, before an excited audience of close to 500 guests and 150 musicians. It became clear, that only by creating a new paradigm of mankind—a renaissance of beauty, based on the sharing and promoting of each civilization’s highpoints of their respective cultures, can humanity be saved from the abyss.
The first conference panel of five, “The Strategic Crisis Is More Dangerous Than at the Height of the Cold War,” was addressed by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and president of the Schiller Institute; Chas Freeman, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia; Col. (ret.) Alain Corvez, former advisor to the French Defense and Interior Ministries; Lt. Col. (ret.) Ulrich Scholz, former fighter pilot, NATO planner and lecturer on air warfare; and by American economist and statesman Lyndon LaRouche.
Speaking on the second panel, “The Crisis of the Transatlantic Financial System and How To Overcome It,” were Jacques Cheminade, candidate in the French presidential elections; Marco Zanni, head of the M5S delegation in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament; Daisuke Kotegawa (Canon Institute Japan and former representative of Japan to the IMF); and Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos, former Greek ambassador to Poland, Canada, and Armenia, and former Secretary General of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC).
The third panel, “The New Paradigm Represented by the ‘One Belt, One Road’ Policy,” heard Dr. Ren Lin, Researcher on the One Belt, One Road Policy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in China; H.E. Hamid Sidig, Ambassador and Extraordinary Representative of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Germany; and Egbert Drews, board member of Marwiko AG/Berlin.
Sunday’s deliberations continued the “Silk Road—New Paradigm” panel, with a strong emphasis on Syria and the need to end geopolitical confrontation and foreign-funded terrorism, and to create peace and prosperity in the region. After hearing her prepared video speech on the situation in Syria, the audience had the extraordinary opportunity to engage in a moving 30-minute live video dialogue with H.E. Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban from the Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic, who asked everybody to bring about a new paradigm of creative human development—“an intellectual Silk Road”—instead of war and destruction.
Michel Raimbaud (former French Ambassador to Arab, African, and Latin American countries and former director of the French Office of Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, OFPRA) had opened the panel with a passionate plea to rebuild peace in accordance with international law—in Syria and everywhere else. Hussein Askary, EIR Arabic editor, presented a video on the reconstruction of Aleppo in the context of the New Silk Road, followed by a discussion from Prof. Talal Moualla, board of trustees, The Syria Trust for Development, and Executive Director of “Syrian Cultural Heritage Transformation” project, Ministry of Culture in Syria. The panel was concluded by Bereket Simon, chairman of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and advisor to the Prime Minister, and by a video message from Fouad Al-Ghaffari, chairman of the Advisory Office for Coordination with the BRICS, from the war-torn Republic of Yemen.
Speaking on the fourth panel, “The Frontiers of Science: The New Economic Platform Based on a Fusion Economy and Man’s Future in Space,” were Adeline Djeutie, formerly employed with the IAEA and now an independent consultant from Vienna; Alain Gachet, chairman of Radar Technologies International; and Rainer Sandau, technical director of Satellites and Space Applications of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).
After a classical musical introduction, violinist Gian Marco Sanna, founder and artistic director of The Geminiani Project/London, contributed a discussion on the importance of the scientific musical tuning of A=432 Hz (“Verdi tuning”), which the Schiller Institute has promoted for decades. Hussein Askary presented the “Elephant Clock” as an example of the beauty of the Islamic Renaissance and its connection to the ancient Silk Road. The panelists then joined with Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche and Lyndon LaRouche for the concluding general discussion on how to secure a global collaboration for the common aims of mankind, by focusing on bringing forward the principle of creativity in each human individual, as the only way to stop the present mortal danger for civilization.
For more, contact: Mrs. Leona Meyer-Kasai, Schiller-Institute Berlin, konferenz2016@schiller-institut.de
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Turkish President Apologizes to Putin for Shooting Down Russian Warplane; What Comes Next?
June 28 (EIRNS)—The Kremlin reported June 27 that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had sent a letter to Vladimir Putin, apologizing for shooting down a Russian military jet over Syria and murder of its pilot who had ejected safely last November. Following that incident, Russia imposed trade and tourism sanctions on Turkey, and warned that unless an apology were forthcoming, relations between the two would remain at a minimal level. Moscow’s sanctions severely affected Turkey’s economy and tourism business, while Turkey’s hostilities toward Syria and other countries in the region left it increasingly isolated.
According to the Kremlin readout, the letter focused heavily on the death of Oleg Peshkov, the Russian pilot who was killed after he bailed out of the stricken aircraft in Syria.
“We never had the desire or deliberate intention of shooting down the Russian Federation’s plane,” Erdogan said. Turkish authorities went to great lengths to recover his body and to bring it to Turkey with honors, he explained. “We performed this work at a level worthy of our two countries’ relations.” Erdogan expressed his “sympathy and profound condolences” to the family of the Russian pilot who was killed. “I share their grief with all my heart.” Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yaldirim told TRT TV network that “if necessary,” Turkey is also prepared to pay compensation to Russia for the downing of the plane.
Erdogan’s initiative came at the same time that Turkey and Israel agreed to end a six-year rift, stemming from a 2010 maritime clash between Israeli commandos and pro-Palestinian Turkish activists. A formal agreement between the two was signed today, restoring full diplomatic relations.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov called the letter “a step in a right direction,” and President Putin is planning to phone Erdogan tomorrow. But the Kremlin told Reuters that it will take more than “a few days” to remedy the situation, as there are many issues to be worked out. The chairman of the Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachyov believes that the next step that Turkey must take is to modify its policy in Syria, a point echoed by many others. The Federation Council is the upper house of Russia’s parliament.
Former Pentagon official Michael Maloof told RT that among those issues to be worked out with Russia, is Turkey’s “continuing support for Salafist jihadists in neighboring Syria, the differences between Moscow and Ankara over Syria itself, as well as the pressures coming in from the Saudis.”
Sputnik Covers Solidarité et Progrès Editor on NATO Provocations and Danger of World War
June 28 (EIRNS)—Sputnik today published a lengthy piece, “NATO Buildup on Russian Border Is Like Cuban Missile Crisis Only in Reverse,” based on an article by Christine Bierre, Editor-in-Chief of the Nouvelle Solidarité newspaper. It notes that the paper is the “official organ of the French political party” Solidarité et Progrès, founded by 2017 French Presidential candidate Jacques Cheminade.
The article goes through in some detail Bierre’s warning that “when we talk about the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, only in reverse, this is not just rhetoric.” It includes her report on the deployment of nearly 60,000 soldiers from NATO and allied nations in maneuvers in the Baltic countries, Romania, and Poland, the “most provocative of which were the recently completed Anaconda-16 drills in Poland.”
Sputnik concludes, that “it is unknown how today’s world leaders will respond to what Bierre dubbed the ‘reverse Cuban missile crisis;’ however, maybe it’s time for U.S. leaders to take a hint from Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s playbook, when the latter pulled Soviet missiles out of Cuba, and thus pulled the world back from the brink of catastrophe.”
Sputnik’s coverage of Bierre’s article includes that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had attacked what he called NATO “saber-rattling and war cries.”
Despite Obama, China and Vietnam Strengthen Strategic Ties, Sign MoU
June 28 (EIRNS)—While Obama and his hitman Defense Secretary Ash Carter rant about the rage against China felt by those who have competing territorial claims in the South China Sea—ranking Vietnam high on the list, along with the Philippines—China’s State Councilor Yang Jiechi has just completed a highly successful visit with Vietnam’s top leaders in Hanoi. A memorandum of understanding between the two countries was signed June 27, according to Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Even the Wall Street Journal had to acknowledge that “Vietnam and China agreed to boost cooperation between their coast guards and better manage territorial disputes in the South China Sea.”
Vietnam News fills out the close relationship of the two neighbors: “Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi yesterday met with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phú Trong and President Tran Dai Quang.” President Quang said “Vietnam considers the fostering of Vietnam-China cooperation a foreign policy priority. He said the two parties need to seriously enforce high-level agreements and foster political trust via high-ranking and all-level exchanges. Quang also added that effective measures need to be conducted so that bilateral trade co-operation can develop in a more balanced and sustainable manner.” The President welcomed Chinese investment in major projects in Vietnam.
Vietnam’s English-language daily also reported that, “Regarding maritime issues, Quang suggested the two sides strictly follow high-level agreements, including the agreements on basic principles to resolve maritime issues between Vietnam and China and effectively manage disagreements.”
This is a direct slap at the “internationalization” of the issue by the Philippines and the U.S., by taking it to The Hague.
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
‘Brexit Bank Panic’: New Global QE Talk Gives One Day Reprieve
June 28 (EIRNS)—The U.K. ‘Brexit’ vote, in a June 23 referendum by the British working population to leave the European Union and thereby reject and stop the economic policies of London’s financial empire, produced a two-day trans-Atlantic “bank panic” which abated Tuesday only because of central bank intimations of a new round of global “quantitative easing” programs.
The vote produced a reminder that the London-Wall Street trans-Atlantic financial system has collapsed, and its biggest banks are zombies kept alive by taxpayer and central bank bailouts. The June 25 and June 28 plunges were not of stocks in general, but of megabank stocks, which fell 12-30% in two days; and of the British pound sterling, which fell nearly 10%.
On June 28, comments made by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi were interpreted by financial press and markets to promise “a new global quantitative easing program” wrote Bloomberg. At the same time, Bloomberg reported from the Nikkei newspaper that “Toshihiro Nikai, Chairman of Japan’s ruling party’s general council, proposed a ¥20 trillion ($196 billion) stimulus package to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe” and the Bank of Japan.
And from Italy, stories broke in the international press that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will try, at the EU Summit June 29, to get a suspension of EU “bank bail-in” rules so that he can start a $50 billion “TARP”-like bailout of large Italian banks—or, failing agreement, that he will do it anyway.
This stopped the “Brexit bank panic” for the day. But should such new QE programs not materialize—and they are fantastical, considering all the central banks have printed for London and Wall Street already—the panic will resume.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Yellen Discovers Why the U.S. Economy Is Collapsing
June 28 (EIRNS)—In her June 21 testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen seemed to have discovered why the U.S. economy is collapsing beneath her institution’s policies: human productivity, the loss of it.
“It is a very serious matter that productivity growth is so slow,” Yellen said. “I want to highlight that.”
Yellen complained that it’s not clear what has depressed productivity so much, but she cited a slumping rate of business creation, a slower pace of technological change, and lower capital expenditures showing up in the Fed’s data.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard cited low productivity on June 15, when he cut his interest-rate path projection to just one more increase by the end of 2018.
One economist was quoted by Bloomberg June 22 as noting, “The Federal Open Market Committee as a whole has repeatedly reduced its long-run interest-rate estimate, which [is] a ‘perfect reflection of increasing agreement among the FOMC that productivity will be lower for an extremely long time.’ ”
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
The ‘SCO Formula’: Creating a Common, Humanitarian Eurasian Space
June 28 (EIRNS)—The nations of India and Pakistan were admitted membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on the very same day that Britain’s population decided through a referendum to quit the European Union. This reflects that what is underway, is an integration of Eurasia at a time when the EU is falling apart, noted the Russian analyst, Dmitry Kosyrev, in an article for RIA Novosti that appeared today in the Russia & India Report (RIR).
Kosyrev also said that the SCO is not an alliance but, “an attempt to build a new, modern model of relations between countries, which are united by geography, but divided by a number of distinct features which these countries wish to maintain, rather than be leveled by some strict rules and standards.”
Kosyrev says the SCO is designed to shape the future, and not to restore the past.
“The ‘SCO formula’ at this point looks simple—do not allow any military-political upheavals in Central Asia, and build infrastructure (roads, information databases and legislation) that would connect all the countries into one region. Such infrastructure includes culture and education, active within the SCO framework, creating a common humanitarian Eurasian space. This process is not only enormous—it is in fact eternal. And let us not forget that the SCO is not the entire volume of the relationship between, say, India and Russia and China and Russia, but only with regard to the essentially recreated Central Asian region. That makes it a purely regional project,” Kosyrev wrote.
In a June 20 RIA Novosti article run in RIR, Kosyrev, analyzing the agreement by India, Iran, and Afghanistan to develop Iran’s Chabahar Port, to strengthen in the International North-South Transport Corridor, wrote: “the SCO’s philosophy at the moment is firmly linked with the transit role of its core members—Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Almost all business activities around the SCO are built around various kinds of roads going through these countries and connecting the West with the East (the new Silk Road). Transit roads open new opportunities for investment in these countries.”
Afghanistan’s Ghani Tells SCO Leaders, ‘Our Greatest Common Project Is Revival of Silk Roads’
June 28 (EIRNS)—Afghan Minister of Food and Agriculture Assadullah Zamir, in an interview with China’s CCTV broadcast today, said that Afghanistan has to be a part of the One Belt, One Road Initiative. Zamir was attending the Summer Davos Forum 2016, chaired each year by China, which was held this year in Tianjin. Zamir said, “If you want to transit from Central Asia to South Asia, you have to go through Afghanistan. If you want go from East Asia to Iran you will have to go through Afghanistan. It is an integral part of the Silk Road Belt, as it was of the ancient Silk Road.”
The issue was also broached by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. There he told his counterparts, “Our greatest common project is the revival of the Silk Roads.” Finance Minister Eklil Hakimi is currently on a visit to China, where he has met with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank chief Jin Liqun to discuss Afghanistan’s application to join the AIIB as a full member.
Agriculture Minister Zamir told CCTV that there were two relevant Belt and Road projects on the table in Afghanistan: “We have a railroad plan to build railroads connecting 16 provinces. In addition, work has begun on a five-nation railroad project connecting Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran. The Afghan system would be connected to this larger system,” he said. He also noted that China was very interested in investing in Afghanistan’s natural resources. “Besides, if you try to ignore Afghanistan in this project, the ensuing conditions will lead to more chaos here, which would threaten the very existence of the overall Road and Belt project,” said Zamir.
Planning Advances on South America’s Bioceanic Railway
June 28 (EIRNS)—Bolivia’s Planning Minister Rene Orellana spoke optimistically about the technological viability and cost benefits of the proposed bioceanic train route, the Central Bioceanic Railroad Corridor (CFBC), that will go from the port of Santos in Brazil, pass through Bolivia, and end at the Peruvian port city of Ilo. He appeared June 25 on the “El Pueblo es Noticia” program on Bolivian TV.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has organized tirelessly for the CFBC, as opposed to the northern route which excludes Bolivia, arguing that the southern route will benefit many more countries in the region.
Orellana reported that European and Asian nations have expressed great interest in the southern route, including China, Sweden, Holland, Germany, and India. The Planning Minister will in fact be leading a mission to Germany on July 14, at the invitation of German Deputy Transport and Digital Infrastructure Minister Rainer Bomba, who visited Bolivia last January to discuss the train project, “La Razón” reported June 27. Both China and India have offered financing, and more recently, Dutch companies have expressed interest. Orellana pointed out that the Dutch have successfully built port infrastructure in Holland and Belgium, and discussions are underway on pre-financing.
It is notable, too, that the new Peruvian President, Wall Street banker Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK), has indicated his intention to maintain and increase relations with China, Peru’s most important trading partner. As soon as his election was confirmed, PPK said he intends to travel to China in September or October to discuss strengthening the bilateral trade relationship; he has already visited with China’s ambassador in Lima, El Peruano reported June 26. This year, the two countries will celebrate the 45th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations, and President Xi Jinping will visit Peru when he attends the APEC 2016 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Lima on Nov. 19-20. Peru wants to cooperate with China on minerals processing, in order to export more finished products to China.
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Russia Will Lend Bangladesh over $11 Billion for Its First Nuclear Plants
June 28 (EIRNS)—The cabinet of Bangladesh has approved a loan from Russia, announced June 27, to finance the planned Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. The loan is for a stunning $11.38 billion, out of a projected estimated total cost of $12.65 billion. This is a substantial risk for Russia, but one of dozens of similar deals to bring nuclear energy to more nations, by providing the financial resources. The terms are a repayment period of 30 years, with a 10-year grace period. Annual interest is below 4%. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the plant’s foundation stone in October 2013, reports online daily bdnews24.com, and it is expected that the first unit will be commissioned in 2021, with a 50-year life-span.
OTHER
U.S. China Expert EllisThreatens China, Russia over Nicaragua Canal, Was Peremptorily Deported
June 28 (EIRNS)—Evan Ellis, a China expert from the U.S. Army War College, has threatened the governments of China, Russia, and Nicaragua over the Great Interoceanic Canal being built in that Central American country. In a lengthy diatribe posted to www.latinamericagoesglobal.org June 26, Ellis complains bitterly about his June 14 deportation from Nicaragua, where he was scheduled to carry out an “academic research project” on the great infrastructure project, “sponsored by the U.S. Army War College and supported by colleagues in the U.S. Embassy.”
Apparently the Nicaraguans weren’t convinced that this was all Ellis was up to and deported him after 24 hours. In recounting his tale of woe, Ellis pops off that the canal “is not physically progressing,” that “opposition to the canal project is more widespread than is commonly acknowledged outside Nicaragua,” and that its “financial viability” is questionable.
Ellis complains that the Nicaraguan government has proceeded with great secrecy, and suggests the project is really a giant boondoggle whose beneficiaries will be Chinese billionaire Wang Jing, president of the HKND company that contracted to build the canal, and President Daniel Ortega—not the Nicaraguan people. Thus, he calls for U.S. intervention to protect the “democratic rights” of the Nicaraguan people, with measures that sound very much like regime change.
Ellis’s real fear, however, is that the People’s Republic of China may take over the financing of the project—HKND is a private company—warning that it “will either go forward as a P.R.C.-funded and -built effort … or it will collapse once the November 2016 elections occur.” But, Ellis warns, if China takes over financing, this would allow it to establish a “strategic logistics foothold and a greatly-expanded commercial presence in Central America.” So, the U.S. must work with European stakeholders to insist that China accept “international oversight and transparency” of the project. If it refuses, the U.S. “must be prepared to treat it as an economically-hostile act.”
Ellis also ludicrously proposes that U.S. law enforcement agencies work with other regional allies to monitor the Russian-built Marshal Zhukov regional counter-narcotics training center in Managua to ensure it “is not being used for activities beyond the legitimate training of law enforcement.” Built in 2013, the highly-regarded Zhukov center trains personnel from Central and South America.
