DITORIAL
LaRouche’s Four Laws: Man’s Unique Nature
July 28 (EIRNS)—As the Western banking system is careening into a general, physical-economic chain-reaction breakdown-crisis, which could be sparked even this week by the “stress tests” on the European banks due to be released on Friday, only the adoption of Lyndon LaRouche’s June 8, 2014 “Four New Laws To Save the U.S.A. Now,” can save the trans-Atlantic region. The premise underlying these Four Laws must be understood: the totally unique nature of the human species in the entire universe. Only man creates new forms of existence never seen before and otherwise impossible. Only man creates the future; only man creates the future existence of humanity; and only man creates human creativity itself. Such a creation of a totally new paradigm is the minimum required today if the onrushing collapse is to be avoided.
Such a true human nature is most accessible to visionary scientists,—and there is no true scientist who is not a visionary.
Space pioneer Krafft A. Ehricke, who became a close co-worker with Lyndon and Helga LaRouche during the 1980s, was such a visionary scientist. Writing in the dark days of the early 1950s (in the first volume of his work, Space Flight,), he reached back through millions of years of evolution to recall “the enormous effort” which “water-borne life” had undertaken “to adapt itself to existence on land.” He likened that to man’s stepping out into space,—not through biological evolution, but through the new quality of the human mind.
Thoughts like these permeated the space pioneers,—it is known that Wernher von Braun compared Neil Armstrong’s stepping onto the surface of the Moon, with that “enormous effort” through which life moved from the ocean onto the land.
In a magnificent work written in 1966, which looked back from the future, from the year 2000, on man’s progress in space since 1966, Krafft Ehricke said that now (the imagined year 2000) an average of two flights per month are taking off from Earth for other parts of the Solar System,—plus incomparably more satellite and Moon-launches. Most of the spaceships travelling through solar space are powered by controlled fusion using the deuterium-helium 3 reaction. Ehricke does not simply name this reaction; he goes into great detail about both the reaction itself, and how it can be controlled and used for a rocket engine. But he notes that the deuterium-helium 3 reaction will not hold first place for long,—because already man is moving toward mastery of matter-antimatter reactions.
In a memorable passage, Ehricke recalls how mankind had freed itself from the death-cult of the 20th Century, to embrace its new-found freedom.
“We, in the year 2000, look back at the twentieth century as the years in which the new era was finally born after centuries of incubation in the minds and hearts of great men and women of many nations. The twentieth century is the gulf which separates the last century of the old era and the first century of the new one in which values, outlooks and frames of reference are quite different. The hour of birth, be it of a life or of an era, is the hour of truth in which pain, doubt and fear challenge, and the intensity of their onslaught causes the compensating forces of strength, confidence and bravery to rise to rare peaks of intensity and power. The world seems to break apart under the agony of this unmerciful confrontation of the old and the new. The great symbols of the space age, namely, rocket technology, nuclear technology and modern electronic technology were born in the dark days of World War II. But, since war can never bear peace, the rockets remained missiles, the nuclear devices remained bombs and the radar did not cease to be the ear which was anxiously listening for the signal of death from the hostile world of ‘the other side.’ The past was lost, the future not yet won; and mankind shivered in the feverish chill of hostility, hatred and death-fear unleashed in the succession of wars and confrontations.
“These were the realities.
“Throughout those years, a small group of people of many nationalities, while facing those realities, refused to surrender their vision of missiles-turned-spacecraft, of nuclear power becoming a means of propelling space vehicles to other worlds and of radar waves reporting exciting discoveries from deep space. What they suggested seemed at first impractical, inconsequential and without utility or payoff. But we now know that they had built their case on the solid foundations of long-range logic and realism…. Space became a very real challenge to man; and there was no way back to the old days. There never is.” [“Solar Transportation,” American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series, vol. 10, Space Age in Fiscal Year 2001, An American Astronautical Society Publication, 1967, p.164]
Let us conclude with Ehricke’s retelling of the beginning of the space age with the first successful launch of the first cosmic rocket, the German A-4, later called the V-2, on Oct. 3, 1942.
“Those were the ‘wild west’ days of rocketry and space flight. You didn’t have to be miles away. You could almost stand beside the rocket, and I was on the roof of one of those high-rise buildings, actually looking down to the launch complex, just a few hundred meters distance. And then came the countdown and ignition. The system lifted off with a roar. It lifted up straight, and, of course, we all screamed with delight. It hadn’t exploded on the launch complex. The guidance system seemed to work … it looked like a fiery sword going into the sky. Then came the enormous roar—the whole sky seemed to vibrate. This kind of unearthly roaring sound was something human ears had never heard.
“You know, it’s very hard to describe what you feel when you stand on the threshold of a whole new era, of a whole new age that you know will be coming. It’s like those people must have felt—Columbus or Magellan—that for the first time, saw entire new worlds, and knew the world would never be the same after this…. This is the feeling many of us had.
“For me, it was absolutely overwhelming. I almost fell off the roof, I was so excited.
“When we came down together we congratulated ourselves. We knew the Space Age had begun and Dr. Dornberger made a very moving speech at the time, and said, ‘Well, this is the key to the Universe. This is the first day of the Space Age.’ ” [Marsha Freeman,Krafft Ehricke’s Extraterrestrial Imperative, Apogee Books, 2008, p.16]
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Is the Battle for Aleppo Now a Turning Point in the Syria War?
July 28 (EIRNS)—Yesterday, the Syrian military command announced that it had completed the encirclement of the rebel-held portion of Aleppo, the largest city in Syria and once its commercial capital, by completely cutting the Castello Road, the last route into that part of the city for the armed opposition groups. By doing so the Syrian army, with backing from the Russian Aerospace Forces contingent deployed in Latakia, has made the positions of the terrorist groups untenable.
At the same time, the Syrian government, in concert with the Russian military, is moving rapidly to conclude the situation rather than digging in for a lengthy siege. Yesterday’s military announcement triggered an uproar from international humanitarian aid NGOs that warned that starvation for the 250,000 civilians estimated to still be in that part of the city would soon follow. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Syrian government, in a move that was likely pre-planned for some time, outflanked the NGOs by announcing, this morning, the commencement of a large-scale humanitarian relief operation. “We have been continuously appealing to opposing sides for reconciliation, but every time insurgents broke the ‘silence regime,’ shelled inhabited areas, attacked positions of the government troops. All this caused a bad humanitarian situation in Aleppo city and its suburbs,” Shoigu said at the Russian Defense Ministry this morning.
The Ministry of Defense news dispatch continued, “Therefore, in accordance to the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the Minister of Defense gave orders to start a large-scale humanitarian operation aimed at providing assistance to the civil population of the Aleppo city in cooperation with the Syrian government. International humanitarian organizations operating in Syria have been invited to join the operation.” It described that three humanitarian corridors are being opened for civilians, and for fighters who decide to lay down their weapons, while a fourth corridor is being opened on the Castello Road for armed militants to withdraw.
Shoigu also announced that under orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin, in response to a personal request from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate Gen. Stanislav Gadjimagomedov was going to Geneva with a group of experts, in order to develop joint measures aimed at stabilization of the situation near Aleppo.
At the same time, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has signed a decree granting amnesty for members of armed groups who turn themselves in to the competent authorities and lay down their weapons, and those who set free in a safe way persons they kidnapped. According to Sputnik, the decree says that “Armed fugitives hiding from justice shall be exempt from liability if they surrender and hand over their weapons to the competent judicial authorities or the police within three months from the date of this decree’s publication.”
U.S. Intelligence Haul from War against ISIS
July 28 (EIRNS)—The U.S. military, through its proxies in the Syrian Democratic Forces, has gained a large trove of intelligence about ISIS operations in Syria and beyond during the battle for Manbij, a city that sits astride the ISIS supply routes from the Turkish border to its de facto capital in Raqqa. “American-backed Syrian Kurdish and Arab militias have seized more than 10,000 documents and 4.5 terabytes of digital data in recent weeks” during the fight for that city, reports theNew York Times. An initial American review of the material offers new clues about “foreign fighters, the networks, where they’re from,” according to Brett McGurk, President Obama’s special envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition. Other officials told the Times that the information included the fighters’ identities, countries of origin, routes into Syria and the illicit networks that recruited and ferried them to the region. “Those details are being shared with allies to help stanch the flow of militants,” the Times says.
According to the Times report, “American intelligence agencies estimate that nearly 43,000 fighters from more than 120 countries—including 250 Americans among 7,400 Westerners—have gone or tried to go to Syria and Iraq since 2011.” American analysts estimate that 500 to 1,000 foreign fighters are still entering Syria each month from Turkey. Jean-Paul Laborde, a United Nations assistant secretary general and head of its counterterrorism committee, estimated, earlier this month, that nearly 30,000 of those fighters remain in Syria and Iraq. He told reporters in Geneva that as ISIS loses territory in Iraq and Syria, its fighters are returning to their countries of origin.
Not mentioned in the Times report is whether or not the U.S. military is sharing any information that intelligence haul with Russia. Given the well-known involvement of Chechen terrorists in the Syrian war, it would seem likely that there is information that that would be of great interest to Moscow.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Characterizes Russia-Turkish Relations as Entering ‘New Paradigm’
July 28 (EIRNS)—Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, who earlier this week led a delegation for talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich and other Russian ministers, said Russian-Turkish relations are entering a new paradigm.
Simsek’s statement was backed up by Suleyman Sensoy, the chairman of the Turkish Asian Center for Strategic Studies, who told Sputnik: “The trajectory of development of bilateral ties between certain countries sets the level of interdependence between them.” He went on to say, there have been “profound changes” in Turkey’s foreign policy towards Russia, which are entering a “new paradigm,” and that “the relations with Russia to a large extent define the position and significance of Turkey in the international arena. And thus the Russian-Turkish ties acquire not only regional but global importance.” He said that Turkey has drawn the correct lessons from the crisis in Turkish-Russian relations following the shooting down of the Russian warplane over Syria last November, especially since Russia supported Turkey following the failed coup. Not only will Turkey take all the necessary measures for prevention of similar incidents in the zones of mutual interests, but try to improve relations even beyond what they were prior to the shooting down of the Russian plane.
Deputy Prime Minister Simsek is responsible for financial and economic development of Turkey, Sensoy said, therefore “his words might mean that the new level of Russian-Turkish relationship will first of all mean the improvement of the trade, economic and energy ties between the two.”
Sensoy suggested an improvement in security ties as well is improving Turkey’s relationship with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, even upgrading its status in the organization to that of observer.
Establishment of a Russia-China Joint Agro-Industrial Fund for Far East Russia Proposed
July 28 (EIRNS)—Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary in the Far Eastern Federal District, Yuri Trutnev told TASS today that establishment of a joint agro-industrial fund with China will help Russia to have funds for implementation of new investment projects. “The agro-industrial fund benefits both sides, since we have huge volume of fertile land that can be used for agriculture in our Far East. On the other part, the Chinese economy accumulated huge funds making possible to implement projects quickly and efficiently. As a result we have resources for implementation of new projects and they have environmentally-sound foods and an opportunity to cultivate them on a large territory,” Trutnev said.
The shareholders agreement on establishment of the Sino-Russian agro-industrial development fund was signed in April 2016. First projects are scheduled for presentation at the Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Sept. 2-3.
Last December, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Ministry for Development of Far East of the Russian Federation and National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China in the presence of the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.
China is a major investor in the Russian Far East, with investments from the country reaching $2.4 billion this year.
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Norway Plans To Build Floating Submerged Tunnels To ‘Bridge’ the Fjords
July 28 (EIRNS)—In order to speed up travel along western coast along the Norwegian Sea studded with deep fjords, Norway’s Public Roads Administration has an ambitious plan to solve the problem by building the world’s first floating submerged tunnel system about 30 meters (100ft) underwater, RT reported today. According to the report, issued by the NPRA in early July, the first objective will be to reduce the travel time from Kristiansand, a city located in southern Norway, to Trondheim located by the Norwegian Sea and northwest of Kristiansand. The travel time between these two cities, about 520 miles apart, is now close to 21 hours, because of seven ferry crossings. When all these fjords become “bridged” by underwater floating tunnels, the travel time will come down to close to 10 hours, RT article said. Since the fjords are very deep, building a bridge over the fjord is seemingly non-feasible.
The submerged floating tunnel will be anchored to the bedrock underneath, but it will be able to move and float. The first submerged tunnel will connect Ytre Oppedal and Lavik, passing through the Sognefjord 1,300 meters deep and 1,000 meters wide (4,300 ft deep by 3,300 ft wide), located about halfway between Kristiansand and Trondheim. It involves building a concrete tunnel that cars can drive through which floats 100 feet beneath the surface of a fjord. Each tunnel would be held in place using a float system (pontoons) on the surface. Doing this brings with it a number of advantages. The tunnels are impervious to poor weather, can be constructed regardless of how deep or wide a fjord is, and don’t block ships from passing over them, the article noted.
