EDITORIAL
Mobilize for LaRouche’s Four Laws; Mobilize for Mankind’s Future
Oct. 9 (EIRNS)—We are poised on the cusp of a double, deadly crisis immediately facing humanity. A total blowout of the derivatives-sodden trans-Atlantic financial system could happen at any time over the course of the month of October, of this coming week, or even as early as this Monday, October 10. It will not take much to set off the equivalent of a thermonuclear chain reaction in the financial domain. The system is that far gone—as every informed international banker knows, but almost none are prepared to admit out loud.
And then there is the drive to launch war—thermonuclear war—against Russia, that is being pushed by a defeated and desperate Barack Obama, on behalf of his British controllers. Senior American intelligence professionals are openly decrying this as “extraordinarily provocative and dangerous,” and warn that “there’s almost a collective madness that is taking hold of many Americans…from Barack Obama on down.”
“Will it be civilization or will it be the bankers’ cartel which comes out on top of this crisis?” Helga Zepp-LaRouche asked on Sunday in a discussion with LaRouche movement organizers. “We have to get going for Glass-Steagall, because that, together with LaRouche’s Four Laws, is the only remedy against the danger of a meltdown of the system.” The Four Laws, drawn from Alexander Hamilton’s discoveries which built America’s original economic and social strength, include, in addition to the restoration of Glass-Steagall, the separation of commercial from investment banking, a return to national banking with which to generate credit for building the physical economy, with a focus on the frontiers of science, including fusion power and the restoration of America’s dying space program.
In that same discussion, Lyndon LaRouche stressed that victory canbe achieved. “The current system has run out. But the point is, there are also reserves which could be developed, that is, by an aggressive program of development.” LaRouche stressed the Hamiltonian approach supplied by his Four Laws, which alone can reverse the breakdown crisis that the planet is facing. He emphasized that the tremendous defeat that the American people delivered to Obama with the Congressional override of his JASTA veto, shows what can be done. The JASTA bill, now U.S. law, allows the families of the 9/11 terrorist attack to sue Saudi Arabia for their leading role in the attack.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche elaborated:
“This situation is more serious than the JASTA bill, because much, much more is at stake…. As one of the 9/11 family members said: The aim of this mobilization is not just what happened in the past, but that justice must be done also for future generations.
Mrs. LaRouche referred to the “Living Memorial” in New York over the weekend of the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attack, where the Schiller Institute conducted four performances of the Mozart Requiemtogether with a group of African-American spirituals, concerts which drew nearly 4,000 attendees, in honor of the victims of 9/11 and all other terrorist attacks around the world. “You have to evoke that high spirit of the concerts,” she said, “the Mozart Requiem, the spirituals, and that power which was able to move people during our mobilization. Because if the United States would implement Glass-Steagall and Lyndon LaRouche’s Four Laws, then the world can be saved. You have to have that mission in mind.”
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Former CIA Official: Collective Madness Taking Over Americans on Russia
Oct. 9 (EIRNS)—Larry Johnson, a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) and a former CIA and State Department official, was interviewed yesterday by RT under the headline: “Collective madness taking hold of Americans over Russia.” Johnson reviewed the latest developments in U.S. escalation of tensions against Russia—ending cooperation, threatening “costs” to Russia, talk of a war crimes investigation, etc.—to conclude: “This is really a very unwise move and frankly I find it frightening.” Asked if U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is serious or just grandstanding with his statements, Johnson said:
“I am hoping he is not serious. Unfortunately, this heated rhetoric out of Kerry is buttressed by some Republicans as well. There’s almost a collective madness that is taking hold of many Americans…. Frankly, it just reflects a lack of leadership at the top, from Barack Obama on down.” Johnson also emphasized that “the U.S., whether it wants to admit it or not, has been helping to fund radical jihadists in Syria. That has to stop.”
One sign of the insanity that Johnson is pointing to was an Oct. 7 op-ed in the Washington Post by Carl Gershman, the president of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), in which he effectively called for the forcible removal from office of Russian President Vladimir Putin, using the tenth anniversary of the death of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya as the occasion. Gershman attributed Politovskaya’s death directly to Putin by simply declaring that Putin saw her as his enemy, and you know what happens to the enemies of Putin. “The United States has the power to contain and defeat this danger [of Putin],” Gershman concluded. “The issue is whether we can summon the will to do so. Remembering Politkovskaya can help us rise to this challenge.”
“That Gershman would so directly call for the ouster of Russia’s clearly popular president represents further proof that NED is a neocon-driven vehicle that seeks to create the political circumstances for ‘regime change’ even when that means removing leaders who are elected by a country’s citizenry,” writes Robert Parry in a response posted in Consortium News. In blasting the Gershman op-ed, Parry provides a refresher course on just what the NED’s history of regime-change operations since its creation in 1983, through its supposed promotion of “democracy.” The NED, Parry points out, played a key role in the overthrow of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, resulting in the installation of a neo-Nazi dominated regime. Beyond the methods that Gershman used, Parry writes, his “public musing about the U.S. somehow summoning ‘the will’ to remove Putin … is extraordinarily provocative and dangerous, an example of classic neocon hubris.” This is a case where “the neocons’ latest brash ‘regime change’ scheme might be their last—and the last for all humanity.”
Moscow Defense Ministry Warns against ‘Dilettante Illusions’ Regarding Russia’s Capabilities
Oct. 7 (EIRNS)—Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Igor Konashenkov yesterday delivered a clear warning to those in the United States and elsewhere who are playing with the idea of launching direct military operations against the Syrian armed forces—and by extension against their Russian allies.
Konashenkov, recalling the Sept. 17 U.S. air attack against Syrian army positions near Deir el-Zor that killed over 60 Syrian soldiers, advised that “we have taken all the necessary measures to prevent any such ‘mistakes’ with regard to Russian servicemen and military facilities in Syria.” He elaborated that the S-300 and S-400 air defense missile systems deployed to Syria would be a “surprise” to anyone operating aircraft over the country. He specifically warned that “any dilettante illusions about stealth planes could collide with disappointing realities.”
Obama’s Drive for Nuclear War: The Military Side
Oct. 8 (EIRNS)—Everything of a strategic nature now being undertaken by the U.S. military is aimed at Russia. During remarks delivered to the annual conference of the Association of the U.S. Army on Oct. 6, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford previewed the new National Military Strategy document, a document that heretofore has always been public but will now be classified. Among other things, he said that the document will re-evaluate what constitutes war. This is directly aimed at Russia, which has been accused of actions in Ukraine that are warlike in intention, but fall below the threshold of actual war. According to Defense News, Dunford argued that Moscow was specifically seeking to undermine America’s ability to project power and “the credibility of our alliances” because those two capabilities represent the “centers of gravity,” from which the U.S. military draws strength.
Obama’s clone Hillary Clinton, in a campaign speech in September, declared that Russian cyber attacks (whether proven or not) should be considered military in nature, and responded to by military force. Perhaps she has forgotten what Edward Snowden revealed about NSA cyber warfare.
Obama’s Drive for Nuclear War: The Political Side
Oct. 8 (EIRNS)—On the political side, there is an effort underway to supposedly strip Russia of its veto in the UN Security Council, and to impose sanctions on Russia for its actions in Syria. On Oct. 4, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a statement in which he called on the Security Council to “adopt criteria to restrain members from using the veto when there are serious concerns that war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide may have been committed.” Such a fantasy provision would permit the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, a move he has repeatedly requested, according to the UN statement. While Al Hussein also charged that the use of so-called “hell cannons” by armed Syrian opposition groups against populated neighborhoods of western Aleppo may also constitute war crimes, it’s obvious that his proposal is aimed mainly at Russia, as no armed opposition group in Syria has a Security Council veto. One will also find the Obama Administration behind the proposal. “Russia holds a permanent seat on the UN Security Council,” shrieked U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power on Sept. 25. “This is a privilege and it is a responsibility. Yet in Syria and in Aleppo, Russia is abusing this historic privilege.”
Is Norwegian Nobel Committee Trying To Salvage FARC Drug Legalization Deal in Colombia?
Oct. 7 (EIRNS)—Friday morning, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced it had awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Tony Blair protégé, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, in what Associated Press called a “big boost” to Santos’s efforts to salvage his “peace” agreement with the world’s largest cocaine cartel, the FARC. The announcement came five days after the Colombian people rejected the deal in an Oct. 2 referendum, to the shock and surprise of pundits worldwide. Clearly a deal to allow the murderous drug cartel to continue its crimes under cover of law was unacceptable to the people of Colombia.
Olaf Njoelstad, Nobel Committee secretary, told AP that there had been “broad consensus” on choosing Santos, although, the committee conspicuously did not include Santos’s counterpart in the FARC, Rodrigo Londoño, in the honor, as is traditionally done where there are two parties in a successful peace negotiation. That might have been a bit too much.
Nonetheless, the FARC’s chief negotiator, Ivan Rodriguez, gushed from Havana that “we’re not going to destroy what we’ve designed, and that has received so much international praise.”
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
British Daily Star: ‘Deutsche Bank’s Collapse Could Take Down the World Banking System’
Oct. 9 (EIRNS)—The London tabloid Daily Star chose to print the truth Sunday about the Deutsche Bank crisis, headlining their article: “Deutsche Bank’s Collapse Could Take Down the World Banking System.” That quote came from political analyst and author Thom Hartmann, who elaborated: “It’s entirely possible it could take down the world banking system, much like the failure of Lehman did, because neoliberal economic policies have made the world—and, particularly, the banking world—so interpenetrated and interconnected.”
While Deutsche Bank’s CEO John Cryan met through the weekend with U.S. Justice Department officials and has still not reached a deal to reduce the $14 billion fine imposed on Deutsche Bank, other bank officers continued lying through their teeth about the bank’s solvency. For example, Chief Risk Officer Stuart Lewis told Germany’s Die WeltSunday edition, Welt am Sonntag, “The risks in our derivatives book are massively overestimated.” He explained that €46 trillion in derivatives exposure at Deutsche appeared large, but reflected only the notional value of the contracts, while the bank’s net exposure to derivatives was far lower, at around €41 billion.
Deutsche Bank was also a central topic of discussion at the Institute of International Finance, IIF, (the bankers cartel), which held its Oct. 6-8 membership meeting in Washington in parallel with the Oct. 7-9 IMF/World Bank annual fall meeting.
Reuters reported that French and other European banks were openly panicked about Deutsche Bank and the overall situation, citing as an example Frédéric Oudéa, the chief executive of French bank Société Générale: “This new world of low interest rates and even negative interest rates is something that is very difficult. It is a game changer, not just for banks but for the whole financial industry.” Goldman Sachs Group President Gary Cohn, however, pronounced that everything is fine, and told the IIF meeting that the U.S. banking system was in the “best shape it has ever, ever been by far.”
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
China’s People’s Daily Covers Americans’ Hatred of Both Presidential Candidates
Oct. 9 (EIRNS)—China’s People’s Daily ran an editorial Oct. 8 which cut to the chase on the U.S. presidential election campaign.
“U.S. citizens are becoming more and more frustrated by the political campaign,” they wrote, commenting that the new round of revelations about both candidates “will add more flames to the already chaotic political show.” The editorial notes that, “according to a recent Gallup poll, 60% of registered voters view Donald Trump as the least favorable candidate in 25 years, and Hillary Clinton as the second least favorable.”
With impeccable timing, on the eve of the second presidential campaign debate tonight, Donald Trump has been skewered over the last 48 hours, based on recordings going back 11 years and more, of lewd and offensive sexual comments about women, etc. Most of the revelations are not based on “open mike” or other secret recordings; they are from on-the-record interviews he gave to different reporters, radio shows, being on-set for TV shows where he was wearing a mike, etc.—that have been available all along. One set of releases hit on Oct. 7; then a second wave hit on Oct. 8. Lots of top Republican political figures have withdrawn their endorsements for Trump, and/or have called on him to resign the candidacy and leave the way open for Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence. Not surprisingly, Trump has flat-out refused, and is sticking to his guns. Is any of this a surprise?
This is coming from Hillary Clinton and Obama, Lyndon LaRouche commented today.
Meanwhile, WikiLeaks has released partial transcripts of some of Hillary Clinton’s highly-paid speeches before Goldman Sachs and other banks, which have her supporting “open trade and open borders”; musing about how it’s necessary to have “both a public and a private position” on hot political issues; that it is an “oversimplification” to blame the 2008 financial crisis on U.S. banks; and praising Obama’s “Catfood Commission” call for raising the Social Security retirement age. Is any of this a surprise?
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Philippines to Obama: We Don’t Need Your Aid
Oct. 7 (EIRNS)—“Go to Hell with your aid.” Was this Philippine President Duterte again telling the U.S. that the Philippines was no longer America’s Little Brown Brothers? Close—but in fact it is a quote from President Sukarno of Indonesia in 1964, after the assassination of JFK (who supported Sukarno) and the launching of a “regime change” operation against Sukarno from London and Washington, as part of America’s tragic turn to British imperialism and colonial wars.
But Duterte said essentially the same thing yesterday: “Go away, bring your money to somewhere else. We will survive as a nation.” Speaking to police officers in the southern city of Butuan, Duterte said: “How do you look at us, mendicants? We will survive. Even if we’ll go through hardships, we will survive. But we will never, never compromise our dignity. If you think it is high time for you guys to withdraw your assistance, go ahead, we will not beg for it.”
And the President is not the only one standing up to Obama:
Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay posted on his website a statement called “America Has Failed Us.” It reads in part: “Breaking away from the shackling dependency of the Philippines to effectively address both internal and external security threats has become imperative in putting an end to our nation’s subservience to United States interests.” He said that despite being granted independence in 1946, “the former colonial masters held on to invisible chains that reined us in towards dependency and submission as little brown brothers not capable of true independence and freedom.” He said the “carrot and stick” policy had been “effectively used all through the long years since our independence to force Filipinos into submission to American demands and interests. This is what [President Duterte] is now trying to liberate us from.”
Gen. Delfin Lorenzana (ret.), the Defense Secretary, speaking to the foreign press today, was asked about Duterte’s charge that the CIA was out to assassinate him. He said he asked U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg about it, who said “We don’t do that.” It is not known whether Lorenzana reminded the Ambassador of Obama’s weekly drone kill list. Lorenzana did note, however, that President Duterte “keeps saying to us in private, ‘I don’t think I can solve this problem during my time,’ ” asking them to continue the mission if he were to be assassinated. Lorenzana said Duterte was “not fatalistic,” but was aware that “a person’s life is very fleeting.” He then said his country had faced similar attacks from the U.S. during the time of Marcos, concluding: “Personally I welcome this development. It’s time maybe to reassess our relationship. Maybe we should reassess what we should be getting from the alliance…. It’s part of maybe growing up. We should not be too dependent on one country,” adding that he was looking to China and Russia for possible arms purchases and other help.
The Philippine Secretaries of Finance, Budget and Socioeconomic Planning spoke at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, on Oct. 5, with all three extremely optimistic about the Duterte commitment to reversing the economic disaster left over from the past administrations, openly admitting that the poverty rate in the country was the worst in ASEAN, that the wealth gap was horrendous, that the “oligarchy” living in Manila had ignored any development outside of the capital (although the infrastructure in Manila was also disastrous), and that agricultural output and farmer income was literally declining from an already low base. When an American “wealth management” financier rose to warn them that “Duterte’s statements and behavior” was causing her clients to pull out of the Philippines, so they better stop him, Finance Secretary Dominiguez responded that he had been meeting with Canadians, Japanese and others who are very anxious to invest in the country, and that the government would be meeting with China this month to discuss infrastructure investments. “If some of you in the U.S. are having second thoughts about investing,” he said, “it is too bad for you to miss out, but we have plenty of investors.”
This is a powerful model for the world’s developing nations of the necessary fight against Obama’s imperial war mongering and economic looting. It is of note that the paltry U.S. aid to the Philippines consists of an expected $188 million for 2017, and a few worn out Coast Guard vessels now and then. The U.S. long ago stopped building any infrastructure in the Philippines, or anywhere else for that matter.
Indian Policy Planners Call for More Chinese Investment in India
Oct. 7 (EIRNS)—Speaking at the India-China Investment Conclave, Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, Arvind Panagariya, said that with China’s help with investments, the Indian economy can grow fivefold by 2030, India’s Business Standard reported today. NITI Aayog is the new economic long-term planning unit that the Modi government established in 2014 to replace the decades-old Planning Commission. NITI Aayog members were handpicked by the Prime Minister’s office.
“What China has achieved in the last 15 years, India has the potential to accomplish in the next 15 years and there are great prospects of India reaching $8-10 trillion,” said Panagariya, adding that there were various areas of common interest between India and China and there is a possibility that India can achieve what China already has under its umbrella, Business Standard reported. “India can benefit from Chinese experience in manufacturing, urbanization and creation of enough high productivity jobs in the country. Though China’s exports to India far exceed its imports from India, by and large India has kept its market open. Political sustainability requires a solution to address the imbalance in trade, however,” Panagariya said.
Attending the Conclave was a high-level Chinese delegation led by Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China. Xu is on a two-day visit to India as a feature of the Strategic Economic Dialogue between the two nations. “China and India are powerhouses of Asia and the world. There is a need to have more consensus of cooperation in this region,” Xu Shaoshi said.
World Bank’s President: ‘Without China, We’d Have No Chance To Even Think about Ending Poverty’
Oct. 9 (EIRNS)—In what may well have been the only sane public comment uttered by participants in the Oct. 7-9 IMF/World Bank meeting in Washington, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim responded as follows to a journalist’s question about the role of China in achieving the stated goal of ending extreme poverty by the year 2030:
“Well, first of all, without China we’d have no chance to even think about ending extreme poverty. China lifted 700 million people out of extreme poverty over the last two to three decades. So there’s still people living in extreme poverty, but not very many. China, itself is determined to bring that number down to zero in the very near future. In terms of our work in Africa, well, of course, this is one of the places that we have to focus the most in terms of ending extreme poverty.”
Otherwise, an editorial published by the Jamaican Observeraccurately summarized the proceedings: “IMF, World Bank have no solution for global economic malaise.” The IMF did manage to issue a final communiqué; but to the degree that their gobbledygook is intelligible at all, their policy proposals read like an anti-Hamiltonian manifesto: “Monetary policy should remain accommodative;” “structural reforms are key to raising potential growth and would benefit from synergies with other policies;” and “we will monitor potential financial stability risks associated with prolonged low or negative interest rates, systemic market liquidity risks, and nonbank intermediation.”
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
China Backs Bioceanic Rail Route Through Bolivia, President Morales Announces
Oct. 7 (EIRNS)—Bolivian President Evo Morales announced Oct. 5 that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was visiting the country, had backed the proposed bioceanic rail project to link the Peruvian port of Ilo with Brazil’s port of Santos, going through the Bolivian cities of Cochabamba, Oruro and La Paz, Página 7 reported today.
Morales said he had discussed the matter with Wang Yi when the two met personally, and added that he had “convinced” the Chinese Foreign Minister that the route traversing Bolivia as well as Brazil and Peru (as opposed to the northern route, which only goes through Brazil and Peru) is more important and more practical. “The Brazil-Bolivia-Peru bioceanic train guarantees trade among six South America countries,” Morales said referring to Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and Peru, AFP reported, adding that Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will be able to use the Parana-Paraguay Waterway to connect to the train.
Peruvian diplomatic sources have told EIR that China is favorable to both rail routes. EIR has long proposed both routes as well, since they are both technically solid and South America clearly needs more than one high-speed rail corridor across the continent, linking the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts.
In a couple of weeks, Morales will meet with Peru’s Vice President Martin Vizcarra to discuss the project, and then on Nov. 4, will have further discussion with Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK), when both countries’ cabinets meet in Sucre. At that meeting, Morales said, “we are going to consolidate the [bioceanic] train [project].”
Morales also reported that he hopes to normalize relations with Brazil’s President Michel Temer, “to guarantee the bioceanic train for [regional] integration.” When Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff was ousted by an international bankers’ coup, Morales had recalled his ambassador from Brazil for consultation, and relations between the two countries remained tense, although they did not break diplomatic ties.
