TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2016
Volume 3, Number 25
EIR Daily Alert Service
P.O. Box 17390, Washington, DC 20041-0390
• A Moment of Great Opportunity—But Don’t Lose It—Override The Obama Veto
• Senate JASTA Vote Set for Wednesday Morning; It’s American Patriots vs. Saudi $Sycophants
• Five GOP Members Issue ‘Dear Colleague’ Letter—Support JASTA!
• Senate Moves for Override of Obama
• CBS News’ ‘60 Minutes’ Threatens Nuclear War against Russia
• Obama’s Use of Terrorism Impossible To Exaggerate, or Deny
• Russia Will Accept No Further Unilateral Steps in Syria
• Britain’s Telegraph Editorializes that JASTA Threatens ‘Londonistan’ Terrorism
• Duterte: I Am Crossing the Rubicon in Relations with the U.S.—Turning to Russia and China
• Deutsche Bank Falling; Debate over Whether To Bail Out and How
• Corbyn Wins in Landslide as Blairites Continue To Attack Him
EDITORIAL
A Moment of Great Opportunity—But Don’t Lose It—Override The Obama Veto
Sept. 26 (EIRNS)—The battle is on over the crucial JASTA law, between President Obama and the survivors, families, and first responders of the 9/11 attacks. It will be decided, with the American people needing to be involved en masse, today and tomorrow.
Those survivors and families have never received justice, in the courts or otherwise, against the actual sponsors of the 9/11 attacks, now shown to include Saudi Arabia in particular. For 15 years they have watched Bush and Obama pursue wars in countries with no connection to 9/11, spreading terrorism throughout the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia. Britain and Saudi Arabia have been Bush’s and Obama’s partners in those wars, while terrorist recruiting went on unchecked in London and was funded worldwide by the Saudis.
Justice requires the 9/11 families and first responders be able to sue those sponsors. So this battle is over the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act—JASTA. Congress passed it overwhelmingly, and Obama vetoed it; he said, to protect the “sovereign immunity” of Saudi Arabia.
And Britain’s Telegraph added its editorial today: “Barack Obama Was Right To Veto the 9/11 Act and Protect U.S. Allies like Britain”!
Every Member of Congress must feel Americans’ pressure to defeat that veto, today and tomorrow when they will start voting to override it. This is an unparalleled opportunity to defeat and check the Obama war policy, for the future.
But if it is not defeated—if Obama succeeds in protecting his war partners and instead defeats Congress’ vote for justice against them—then his and Hillary Clinton’s way is open to provoke a war confrontation with Russia—unsurvivable thermonuclear war.
There was no Obama concern for “sovereign immunity” when it was stripped from Argentina in the U.S. courts so that vulture funds could loot billions from it. There was no Obama support for legislation to protect the sovereign immunity of African debtor countries against vulture funds that bought up their sovereign debt and demanded immediate payment in full.
Obama just wants sovereign immunity for Saudi Arabia, while it pursues an invasion, war crimes, and near genocide in Yemen supported by Obama’s arms sales, and when it has been clearly shown to be involved at high levels in the 9/11 attacks.
The veto was treason. If it stands, and he protects his war partners from Congress and the American people, Obama has a free pass to escalate to all-out confrontation with Russia. Merely look at CBS News’ ”60 Minutes” choosing Sunday night to put on a presentation claiming nuclear war is “closer than you believe” and that this is Russia’s policy! Merely look at the German Focus magazine’s interview with a senior al-Nusra (al-Qaeda) figure in Syria, who boldly states “America stands on our side.”
But the fight to override the veto of JASTA is a moment of great opportunity to end this perpetual war and terrorism. No American who can reach his or her Congressional office, should let the moment of opportunity—and justice—pass.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Senate JASTA Vote Set for Wednesday Morning; It’s American Patriots vs. Saudi $Sycophants
Sept. 26 (EIRNS)—The U.S. Senate will vote on an override of Obama’s veto of JASTA on Wednesday morning, following two hours of debate, The Hill announced today. Obama needs 34 votes in the Senate to sustain his veto of JASTA. If the override passes the Senate, JASTA will go to the House for a vote on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning.
The 9/11 families and their supporters, LaRouche PAC and others, are mobilizing intensively for the override.
Five House Republicans have released a letter refuting the “scare tactic” of the Obama/Saudi backers: that passing this bill will open up individual American citizens to foreign lawsuits; this tactic was put out in a letter circulated by House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Ranking Democrat Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA). Their letter made the bogus claim that “Other countries could respond by adopting similar policies, which would threaten U.S. personnel with any number of foreign civil and criminal penalties, and also subject U.S. service members to risks of foreign trials and discovery processes, including requirements to risk disclosing sensitive information and testify under oath.”
JASTA allows no such action against individuals. It dictates that a foreign state is subject to U.S. litigation for any international act of terrorism in the U.S., or the wrong act of any government official “while acting within the scope of his or her office”. If foreign government were to enact new laws that allow claims against U.S. personnel, it would not be reciprocating, but rather engaging in a transparent and unjustifiable act of aggression, and the United States would be expected to respond by making clear the economic, diplomatic, social, and military consequences of such aggression, as it would in any other case.
Five GOP Members Issue ‘Dear Colleague’ Letter—Support JASTA!
Sept. 26 (EIRNS)—Five Republican House Members released a potent “Dear Colleague” Letter in support of JASTA today:
“As we approach the historic JASTA override vote, a number of arguments are being made against this carefully drawn legislation. These arguments, particularly the contention that American military and diplomats would be put at risk, are entirely inaccurate. We would ask you examine the enclosed memorandum and vote to override the Presidential veto and give 9/11 families their day in court.”
Signed: Rep. Peter T. King (NY), Rep. Dan Donovan (NY), Rep. Ted Poe (TX), Rep. Chris Smith (NJ) and Rep. Lee Zeldin (NY)
Drawn up by Rep. Peter King’s Legislative Director, Jamie Tricarico Matese, the Memorandum states:
“JASTA’s immunity provision concerns only the immunity of foreign states under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), and has nothing to do with the immunity of individual foreign officials or employees. As the Supreme Court unanimously held in Yousef v. Samantar, the FSIA has no bearing whatsoever on the immunity of individual foreign officials and employees from suit in U.S. courts, which is instead governed by common law immunity doctrines. Those common law doctrines provide expansive immunity to individual foreign officials and employees, with the State Department typically having complete control over such immunity determinations. JASTA does nothing whatsoever to disturb the expansive immunities foreign officials and employees enjoy from suit in U.S. courts under this common law framework.
“In addition to the fact that they enjoy immunity under common law doctrines, JASTA’s substantive cause of action is not available in a suit against an individual employee or official of a foreign government for acts undertaken in the scope of their office or employment. JASTA’s substantive cause of action arises under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). … 18 U.S.C. section 2337(2).”
Senate Moves for Override of Obama
Sept. 26 (EIRNS)—The Senate is moving forward with a pledge by leadership to try to override President Obama’s veto of JASTA. Today’s The Hill suggests, “The showdown could end with lawmakers nixing the President’s veto for the first time in his administration.” It notes that the legislation that Obama has vetoed passed both the House and Senate unanimously, pitting Obama against Congressional Democrats. It reports Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and GOP nominee Donald Trump both support the bill. Senate leadership voiced confidence after the veto that they would have the two-thirds supermajority necessary to override it. If they succeed, the House must also vote to reject Obama’s veto.
New York Sen. Charles Schumer, expected to be the next Democratic leader, joined Republicans Friday, Sept. 23, in criticizing Obama’s move. “This is a disappointing decision that will be swiftly and soundly overturned in Congress,” Schumer said in a statement. “I believe both parties will come together next week to make JASTA the law of the land.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who spearheaded the bill along with Schumer, said the veto and the President’s “refusal to listen to the families of the victims taken from us on September 11th” is “disappointing.”
“I look forward to the opportunity for Congress to override the President’s veto, provide these families with the chance to seek the justice they deserve, and send a clear message that we will not tolerate those who finance terrorism in the United States,” the Senate’s No. 2 Republican said in a statement.
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
CBS News’ ‘60 Minutes’ Threatens Nuclear War against Russia
Sept. 26 (EIRNS)—CBS News’ ”60 Minutes” presented a completely falsified history of the past two-and-a-half years last night, with the obvious aim of blaming the heightened danger of nuclear war entirely on Russia, and threatening nuclear war in return.
Segment host David Martin, the network’s senior Pentagon correspondent, said, before even airing any interview footage, that until three years ago, the United States and Russia were partners, “but that was before Russia invaded Crimea, using military force to change the borders of Europe. And before its President, Vladimir Putin, and his generals began talking about nuclear weapons.”
The segment includes an interview with former NATO commander, retired Gen. Philip Breedlove, who tells Martin that the Russians consider nuclear weapons a normal extension of conventional conflict. “I think to them the use of nuclear weapons is not unthinkable,” he said. One of the theses that Martin is pushing is the idea of “escalate to deescalate”; that the Russians would use nuclear weapons as a means of de-escalating a conventional conflict. Rear Adm. Steve Parode, the Director of Intelligence for the U.S. Strategic Command, told Martin that he thinks that the Russians feel “that fundamentally the West is sociologically weaker, and if they were to use a nuclear weapon in the course of a conflict between, say, NATO and Russia, they might be able to shock the Western powers into de-escalating; freezing the conflict; into calling a cease-fire.” Not mentioned is that this was essentially NATO’s nuclear strategy during the Cold War, to use nuclear weapons to overcome the Soviet conventional advantage in armor in Central Europe.
All of this serves to coverup the reality that it is President Obama and his British controllers who are increasing the threat of nuclear war, with their confrontationist policies not only against Russia, but against China as well.
Obama’s Use of Terrorism Impossible To Exaggerate, or Deny
Sept. 26 (EIRNS)—A great deal is being exposed, following the U.S. and “coalition” air forces’ bombing of the Syrian Army Sept. 17, which indicates that the Obama White House’s relation to terrorism goes beyond “unintentionally” spreading it through regime-change wars. Two years ago the fired head of U.S. Defense Intelligence Gen. Michael Flynn revealed that the White House willingly accepted, in advance, the formation of a terrorism “Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria as the likely outcome of its Syria regime-change policy. But it has more actively used and supported that “Caliphate” of “ISIS” and “al-Qaeda.”
Syria’s Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari charged at the UN Security Council Sept. 25, that his country’s intelligence knows the location in Aleppo where the jihadi group Ahrar al-Sham is storing chemical weapons agents, in preparation for a “false flag” chemical attack to be blamed on the Syrian government. Ja’afari added that on Sept. 6, two “American experts” were observed visiting that location, and then left Syria via Turkey. The 2013 sarin attack which killed and sickened people in Damascus should be recalled: It was immediately and emphatically blamed on Syria’s government by the United States and NATO; but its actual origin has still not been established.
Was the Sept. 17 U.S. airstrike on Syrian Army troops in Deir ez-Zor carried out in direct coordination with ISIS? Hadiya Khalaf Abbas, the Speaker of the Syrian parliament, told Lebanese Al Mayadeen TV that “The Syrian Army intercepted a conversation between the Americans and Daesh [ISIS] before the air raid on Deir ez-Zor.” She apparently did not provide any details, however, saying, instead, that they would be made public later.
Russia Will Accept No Further Unilateral Steps in Syria
Sept. 26 (EIRNS)—The Syrian war exploded at the UN Security Council, yesterday during an emergency session called by the U.S., U.K. and France in an effort to stop the Russian-backed offensive in Aleppo. Judging from the news reports, it was an attempt to indict the Russian and Syrian governments for war crimes, which Russia and Syria turned back on the U.S. and its allies, charging them with supporting terrorists.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin replied by declaring that Russia will no longer accept unilateral measures. “We have always been making concessions, at least tried, and reached agreements with the Syrian government,” he said. “In the long run, it all ended in militants’ regrouping, receiving reinforcement and staging new offensives.” Then, he said, a demand followed that the Syrian government unilaterally stop flights of its warplanes as a preliminary condition. “First they said for three days. We agreed. Then they said, ‘No … we need seven days.’ No one knows why. Such tactical tricks cannot go on endlessly. We will agree on no further unilateral steps.”
The American side, in his words, “has actually acknowledged its inability to influence the groups it controls … and separate moderate groups from terrorists and “draw relevant division lines on the ground.”
Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari told the Security Council that Syria will remain committed to combatting terrorism, and that others must stop exploiting the Syrian people. He vowed that the Syrian government will not relinquish a single inch of its territory, stressing that politicizing the humanitarian crisis will only extend it, increase Syrians’ suffering, and encourage the spread of terrorism. He mocked the U.S., U.K., and French representatives who, it seemed, are “rediscovering the wheel when they said that the Syrian government is seeking to reclaim Aleppo. Imagine the scale of this monumental discovery made by the representatives of three permanent member states in the Security Council, as if Aleppo is a city in Djibouti or Afghanistan or in Brazil!”
Ja’afari charged that the U.S., U.K. and France, the countries that had called the session, had repeatedly blocked resolutions in the council to denounce terrorist attacks using suicide methods in Syria, and that now they’re engaged in a bid to “rescue” armed terrorist groups that they falsely label as “moderate opposition,” adding that this always happens when they are on the verge of being defeated. They are forgetting, he said, the imagery of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in Aleppo beheaded by Nour Eddin al-Zenki, an anti-Assad group that the U.S. actually supports.
Britain’s Telegraph Editorializes that JASTA Threatens ‘Londonistan’ Terrorism
Sept. 26 (EIRNS)—In a signal editorial today, Britain’s Telegraph reminded the war party in the U.K. and United States that London, as well as Saudi Arabia, has terrorists at risk from JASTA. The Telegraph strongly defends President Barack Obama’s treasonous defense of his partners in war and terrorism against the U.S. Congress’ Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.
“Barack Obama Was Right To Veto the 9/11 Act and Protect U.S. Allies like Britain” is the editorial headline. It states that “The main aim of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) was to enable relatives of those killed or injured in the 9/11 attacks to take legal action against Saudi Arabia, whose citizens were involved in planning the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.” Artfully put, since those “citizens” have been shown to include Prince Bandar, then Saudi Ambassador to the United States.
But, the Telegraph editors continue, “Mr. Obama felt compelled to veto the legislation because of the potential harm it could inflict on key allies, such as Britain.” The reason is clear: sponsoring terrorism, and the broad-scale recruitment of terrorists that has taken place in what many countries call “Londonistan,” with no interference from British authorities.
“Britain’s intelligence and security agencies, MI6 and MI5, are also concerned about the implications of the proposed legislation, as it could make them vulnerable to hostile lawsuits by American lawyers attempting to prove that British-based jihadists have been involved in terror plots against U.S. targets.”
The policy of waging “regime change” war and supporting the spread of terrorism against nations, is a British imperial policy, followed by both George W. Bush and Obama. The Chilcot Commission, exposing Tony Blair’s Iraq War, and the House of Commons report which drove David Cameron out of politics due to his Libya war, prove that.
The Telegraph’s editorial reminds Americans of the real stakes in seizing the chance to override Obama’s veto of JASTA, and end his treason.
NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER
Duterte: I Am Crossing the Rubicon in Relations with the U.S.—Turning to Russia and China
Sept. 26 (EIRNS)—Speaking to the press today, Philippine President Rodrigo (Rudy) Duterte said that he is vastly expanding relations with Russia and China. He said he conveyed this change to Russian Prime Minster Dmitry Medvedev when they met at the ASEAN Summit early this month in Laos. “I’ve been talking with Prime Minister Medvedev; we had a one-on-one talk and I said, ‘I think I’m about to cross the Rubicon with the United States, at least for the next six years. I will need your help in everything—trade, commerce—and I will open up.’ ”
He added that this did not mean totally degrading relations with the U.S.; only that there will be stronger ties to Russia and China, reported the Philippines Daily Tribune.
Duterte added that he does not care if American businesses in the Philippines, particularly the airlines, go bankrupt, the Tribune said. “Withdraw your investments, go ahead. Be my guest. I will tell my countrymen I am responsible; bear with me, but I will make the correction right away. I will open up the other side of the ideological barrier—China, Russia, come. You behave, I have six years to go. I will see to it that you will not be sad…. I’m going to invite China and Russia, put up a new airline here.”
Duterte also said that he has made commitments to both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Medvedev that he’ll visit Beijing and Moscow sometime soon (a Beijing visit is now scheduled for late October). Duterte said the alliance being planned with Russia and China will be economic, and not military-oriented, although he is anxious to buy military hardware from Russia. He said both countries had agreed to “give me the softest loan, payable in 20-25 years.”
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Deutsche Bank Falling; Debate over Whether To Bail Out and How
Sept. 26 (EIRNS)—As of Monday, the debate is on in Germany over whether the government will bail out the failing Deutsche Bank, in spite of the “no-bailout” policy it has insisted on in Europe. The bank ruled “most systemically dangerous in the world” by the IMF, led a worldwide selloff of financial stocks and sinking of bond yields Monday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly ruled out a bailout on Sept. 23, after having talked to Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan, and also refused to intervene with the U.S. Justice Department to lower a $14 billion fine it is demanding from Deutsche Bank for the latter’s rampant mortgage securities fraud in the United States from 2000-2008.
That was followed, however, by a Bloomberg interview with the CEO of Allianz Global Investors AG, Andreas Utermann, who insisted the German government must bail out Deutsche Bank “should this become a self-fulfilling prophesy with the share price going down too low,” because the bank is so interconnected with all of German Finance (including Allianz, although he didn’t say so).
Members of Merkel’s Christian Democrats in the Bundestag then reiterated that there must be no bailout; one said, “There is no similarity between Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers.”
Debate over how and whether the bank could be bailed out raged all over the financial media.
In the bank’s Monday plunge, its stock fell to €10.6 from €11.5; its contingent convertible bonds dropped to 73 cents on the euro from 80; and the price of credit default swaps on its 5-year bonds soared to nearly 500 basis points, essentially equal to the cost of Lehman’s before its bankruptcy.
With more than 20 times the largest derivatives exposure Lehman ever had, Deutsche Bank is far more dangerous.
OTHER:
Corbyn Wins in Landslide as Blairites Continue To Attack Him
Sept. 26 (EIRNS)—There could be some surprises coming out of Britain in the future. Jeremy Corbyn, as expected, won a challenge to his leadership by a landslide, capturing 62% of the vote. The Blairites continue to act against him with their “He is unelectable” campaign, despite the fact that the Labour Party has over 500,000 new members which compares to the Conservative party’s 120,000 or so.
While the Conservatives continue to lead in the polls, the Guardian’s chief economist Larry Elliot warns that Prime Minister Theresa May’s political honeymoon could end very soon. Elliot makes the point that a new financial crisis could occur at any moment, and sink May and the Tories as it did to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Labour Party after the financial crash of 2007 and 2008.
Both Corbyn and his shadow Chancellor John McDonnell are preparing the party for just such a possibility for an early election as this week’s Labour Party conference takes place. They are calling for an “interventionist” government that will bring Britain out of its recessions.
Laying out Labour’s economic policy, McDonnell said Labour would push for £250 billion investment in infrastructure and the real economy and a £250 billion National Investment Bank along a network of regional development banks as well. He also said that there would be no more support for TTIP or any other trade deals that promote deregulation and privatization. He did not mention Glass-Steagall, as he has done in the past, but he warned the City of London financial center, “our financial services must understand that 2008 must never happen again. We will support financial services where they deliver a clear benefit to the whole community—not just a lucky few. We’ll work with the finance sector to develop this new deal with finance for the British people.”
McDonnell ended his speech with a call for a return to an economy that fosters optimism.
Reach us at 1-800-278-3135 or www.larouchepub.com
