EDITORIAL

Now for the Real Fight—Against Wall Street

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)—Beginning with its Internet post-election broadcast at 1:00 p.m. EST Wednesday, LaRouchePAC believes that Americans can now resume the fight that really matters for their future and the nation’s survival.

They can pick up where they left off in straightening out the battle against terrorism, when they forced the Saudi/British role out into the open this Summer and defeated President Obama’s attempt to veto the “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.” Now there is a chance to win justice against Wall Street, starting with a new Glass-Steagall Act.

Both Donald Trump, who promised to re-instate Glass-Steagall, and Hillary Clinton, who opposes it on behalf of Wall Street, knew that it is an immediately crucial action issue for Americans. The former Commodity Futures Trading Commission head Bart Chilton was asked in a Bloomberg interview on Election Day, if any of Trump’s policies might be strong enough to be enacted by Congress under a Clinton White House. Chilton replied, “This is surprising—but Donald Trump wasn’t very clear about much in his program, but one thing he was clear on: bringing back the Glass-Steagall Act.”

It represents the economic justice which large numbers of Americans want, and can now really fight for.

Wednesday’s Internet broadcast at www.larouchepac.com will make clear what success in that battle, can lead to. We must have national credit issued for productive employment and productivity, by tackling high-technology infrastructure projects. This in turn needs a “science driver” for the recovery of the economy, at the frontiers of fusion power and space exploration. That means collaboration with the Asian powers working on the “New Silk Road” projects both on Earth and in space.

Americans agree on this, on employment that is productive and must pay more; on a new national infrastructure; on ending 15 years of continuous, disastrous wars under Bush and Obama.

We face the next two months with a Wall Street puppet still in the White House; perhaps with another one elected to follow him. That Barack Obama has completely failed the American people, and left them economically devastated and dying since the 2008 crash, was bluntly admitted by Bill Clinton himself at a private fundraiser a year ago, in damning remarks that finally became public only on Election Day.

And Hillary Clinton “ain’t Bill”; after four years serving as Obama’s “puppet’s puppet,” she has become a rich woman by being paid huge sums to talk at 50 secret strategy meetings of top Wall Street and London bankers. She belongs to Wall Street; they bought her fair and square. The American people can look for nothing from her. Only war: Obama’s policy, but escalated, of wars and war provocations against Russia and China.

Whoever has “won” the Presidential election, millions of Americans have come to understand that progress for the nation now depends on their own actions; and are ready, and hopeful enough, to act.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Red Cross: Jihadis Prevented Medical Evacuations from East Aleppo

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)—Plans to evacuate civilians from eastern Aleppo for medical care apparently fell through in recent days, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is blaming the jihadis. The original plan was to evacuate 200 patients, with their families.

“During the discussions, the number of 200 went to 10 persons with families—that was the final figure articulated in the discussion, and even this didn’t happen, because we didn’t have enough security guarantees to carry out this medical evacuation,” Robert Mardini, the ICRC’s regional director for the Middle East, told Sputnik. “So nothing happened.”

“Last week, when the medical evacuations were discussed, we didn’t get the security guarantees from the groups inside Eastern Aleppo,” Mardini said when asked which side did not provide the guarantees for medical evacuation.

The Russians, meanwhile, have continued the humanitarian pause in air strikes against targets in the jihadi-held parts of Eastern Aleppo. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday, that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to continue the pause, on condition that the jihadis don’t resume offensive operations.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Mike Huckabee: ‘Hillary Ain’t Bill’

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)—I know both Clintons, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee told Fox & Friends this Election Day, and “Hillary ain’t Bill,” a statement with which Lyndon LaRouche heartily agreed. As Huckabee put it: “Bill has a true empathy for people who are working class. It’s one of the reasons that even in the worst of scandals, he’s still remained popular…. Hillary ain’t Bill. I wanna make it as clear as I can: She ain’t Bill. She does not have that empathy. And if working-class people think they’re gonna have a friend in the White House with Hillary, boy, are they in for a rude awakening if, God forbid, she gets there.”

Fox had asked Huckabee about the Daily Caller’s leak just yesterday, of a speech which Bill Clinton had given to a closed-door Democratic fundraiser in Canton, Ohio, a year ago. He had expressed horror over the drop in the U.S. life expectancy under Obama’s no-hope presidency—the same Obama presidency which Hillary has spent her campaign promising to continue, should she be elected. As in his recent speech calling Obamacare “crazy,” the former President pointed to the brutality oppressing working Americans which Hillary refuses to attack. Bill did not mention Obama by name, but he didn’t need to.

Bill had told the fundraiser that the second Democratic Party Presidential debate, which had taken place a few days before, between Hillary, Governor O’Malley, and Senator Sanders, was great, except that “the number one story of the week, which you will identify with in Ohio, in a Democratic debate, was never mentioned: 84% of the American people, after inflation, had not had a raise of 1 cent since the financial crash.

“We have incredible debates all over America that shouldn’t exist between people in different racial groups because they don’t trust law enforcement anymore. And in the middle of all this we learned, breathtakingly, that middle-aged, non-college-educated white Americans’ life expectancy is going down and is now lower than Hispanics,’ even though they make less money. And the gap between African Americans and whites is closing—but unfortunately not because the death rate among African Americans is dropping but because the death rate among white Americans is rising.

“Why? Because they don’t have anything to look forward to when they get up in the morning.”

Rail Freight Volume Is Up Now in China; In the U.S.? Down, Down, Down

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)—Rail freight volume in China rose 8.4% year-over-year this past October, Xinhua reported yesterday. Hit by the ongoing collapse of the world economy, China’s rail freight volume had fallen since March 2013, for 32 consecutive months, but beginning this past August, that has been turned around, increasing year-over-year each month since August, “an indicator of economic activity,” as Xinhua noted.

In announcing the figures, China Railway Corporation credited the rise to “a stabilizing economy” and improved commodity markets. As CCTV commentators made clear, the change was not an accident or some whim of the markets, but brought about by deliberate Chinese government efforts to both increase domestic economic activity and shift the profile of Chinese exports, in the face of adverse international conditions.

And in the U.S.? “Total U.S. freight rail traffic, as measured in carloads and intermodal units, fell 6.1% in the week ended Oct. 8, from the same week last year,” the Association of American Railroads (ARA) reported on Oct. 16. That figure is a full 10% drop from the same week two years ago. Both of the components of rail freight were down: Carloads (transporting oil, coal, grains, chemicals) fell 5.9% in the week, and intermodal (containers and trailers), which accounts for about 46% of total traffic, fell 6.4% from a year ago, and 6.5% from two years ago, Business Insider reported on Oct. 16, citing ARA data.

Annual U.S. rail freight volume dropped from 2006 to 2015, as seen in an ARA chart, a trend which only accelerated in 2016. Bank of America reported in January 2016 that rail volume was falling at a faster rate than at any time in the past six years, with carloads declining more than 5% in each of the past 11 weeks on a year-over-year basis.

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Focus on Wall Street Crimes Will Continue after Election

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)—The major crimes of Wells Fargo and other of the biggest Wall Street and London banks, will continue to be a focus of Congress in the immediate aftermath of the election, continually posing the question of restoring Glass-Steagall.

A group of Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee—Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, and Sherrod Brown—have initiated a stream of letters to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) head Mary Jo White and other regulators, detailing suspicions of Wells Fargo’s criminal activities. As a result, the slow-to-act SEC has begun an investigation of Wells Fargo’s broker-dealer unit, since whistleblowers have told the Senate Committee that fraudulent brokerage customer accounts were created there, as well as in the retail branches. Wells Fargo has just paid a second, $50 million fine to the Consumer Financial Protection Board for excess charges to foreclosed homeowners, for new appraisals of their lost homes! And the Senators have been informed that Wells Fargo blackballed the thousands of employees it fired, damaging their ability to work, while richly rewarding the senior supervisors who pressured the employees to commit fraud.

Wells Fargo’s corruption now smells so, that the “reputational” damage may threaten the bank itself in the coming period. The Senate Banking Democrats clearly seem to be preparing the way for new, more damning hearings on Wells Fargo.

Today’s Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC had launched another investigation into fraud—derivatives fraud, in this case—against JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, and Bank of New York Mellon. The type of derivative is oddly named American depository receipts; they are derivative, or betting, securities, issued to U.S.-based investment funds by banks, based on European-listed stocks the banks have bought. These banks, however, were issuing the derivative securities without owning the stocks, directly violating their derivatives contracts.

JPMorgan Chase’s recent crimes, from sponsoring the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme on, are the sole subject of a whole new book just published—necessarily, a long one—entitled JPMadoff…. Its most recent fine to the SEC, $267 million for defrauding customers on the prices of financial products, was levied as recently as three months ago.

Moreover, there remains Rep. Maxine Waters’ stated intention to legislate the breakup of Wells Fargo, “and if it breaks up other banks, so be it.”

McDonald’s vs. Florence: Case Study for TTIP

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)—As is clear from the charges raised recently by Belgium in its fight against CETA (EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement), a local entity will be doomed in the world of CETA and Obama’s TTIP (Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). This is dramatically clear in the current legal dispute  by McDonald’s, against the city administration of Florence, Italy.

The dispute acquired international notoriety when last month, McDonald’s filed a lawsuit against the city of Florence for €18 million in damages. McDonald’s is accusing the administration of backtracking in a deal to allow McDonald’s to open a fast food restaurant in the Piazza Duomo, just in front of Brunelleschi’s cupola, Giotto’s belltower, and Ghiberti’s bas-reliefs.

Indeed, negotiations had been held over an offer by McDonald’s to comply with strict rules that allow only food produced with local products, a sit-down-only restaurant, etc. However, after a mass mobilization of Florentine citizens, thousands of whom signed a petition, Mayor Dario Nardella backtracked and declared he was against another “pigsty” in the city center.

Italy has national legislation that allows local administrations ample autonomy in deciding whether commercial activities are respectful of the “cultural patrimony” of the cities and towns. This includes traditional food and commercial activities and has led to a unique situation in Europe, where Italy is second only to Greece with the least number of McDonald’s: 9 per million inhabitants. With the largest flow of tourists visiting Italy every year, it is feared that many of them would prefer cheap McDonald’s to traditional Italian restaurants.

McDonald’s has filed a complaint at the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) claiming that the Italian legislation is in conflict with EU competition rules, and is demanding damages of €18 million.

Under the TTIP or CETA, such litigation would take place before supranational arbitration courts, which by definition are against any national sovereignty or privilege, and the city of Florence would be doomed.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Duterte Visits Malaysia and Thailand

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)—Following high-profile and successful visits to China by both Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, the two ASEAN leaders will meet during Duterte’s two-day state visit to Malaysia, beginning today. Duterte will also meet with the Filipino community in Malaysia on Wednesday night.

Duterte will discuss his peace-talk plans with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Malaysia has been involved in earlier, failed talks. It should be noted that the Malaysians and the Filipinos (as well as the Indonesians) are of the same Malay racial heritage. It should be noted also, that Jose Rizal, the hero of the Philippine independence movement against Spain (who was executed by the Spanish in 1896, before the United States drove the Spanish out of the country), proposed a uniting of the three nations into “Maphilindo,” and that in the 1960s, Indonesian President Sukarno renewed the concept, which was undermined by the British.

The Western press has been full of whining and crying about both Malaysia and the Philippines turning to China, essentially trashing Obama’s anti-China “Pivot” to Asia.

Philippine foreign policy spokesman Charles Jose told the press: “The Philippines looks upon Malaysia, both as a brother nation and as a dependable partner, not only bilaterally but also within the larger context of the BIMP-EAGA [Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area] and our beloved ASEAN community.” Duterte has called on Malaysia and Indonesia to join forces in ending piracy, kidnapping, and other criminal activities in the high seas within the sea borders of the three countries.

The issue of sovereignty over Sabah—a province of Malaysia over which the Philippines also has historical claims—may or may not be discussed, said Jose.

Duterte will also visit Thailand before returning home.

Russia, China Agreements Focus Heavily on Far East Development

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)—A large part of the new agreements signed between Russia and China during the visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to St. Petersburg, focussed on the Russian Far East. Energy, as always, was a big issue, with the development of the Russian Far East gas to China, the “Power of Siberia” program, and the Yamal LNG project in the Arctic region, being further consolidated.

There were also further agreements for the development of nuclear energy. Rosatom will be building new power plants in China, and an agreement was signed for cooperation on building floating nuclear power plants and fast-neutron reactors.  The two sides also agreed to increase cooperation in space after 2017, when the present agreement, which covers the time period 2013-2017, comes to an end.

Agriculture has also become a major element in the economic and trade relations between Russia and China. Thirty percent of Russian exports to China are agricultural. A bilateral agricultural investment fund involving $2 billion was set up last year following a deal between Chinese authorities and Russia’s state investment fund. Already in 2004, Dongning Huaxin, a Chinese company based in the northeast region of China, set up an agricultural joint venture in Russia aiming to create an integrated project including plantation operation, processing, and warehouse services. Their investment there now is over $100 million and has given birth to an “agricultural park” that now spans 165,000 hectares, or 637 square miles. Data from the provincial authorities of Heilongjiang, in China’s northeast, show the province alone has around 120 enterprises currently investing in agricultural programs in Russia. These programs are located in five provincial regions in the Russian Far East.

Perhaps not unrelated to developments in Russia, the State Council of China, today, passed legislation with a detailed plan for the revival of industry in the northeastern region China which borders Russia.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Progress on Russia-China Nuclear Cooperation

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)—In the context of the St. Petersburg meeting between Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and China’s Premier Li Keqiang yesterday, at which a joint statement was released about cooperation on the development of peaceful nuclear power, Rosatom announced today that soon the contracts for the construction of two additional reactors at the Tianwan nuclear power plant will be completed.

“The heads of governments support the joint construction of two Russian-designed reactors at the Tianwan nuclear power plant site, and plan to charge an operational draft for the signing of an intergovernmental protocol for the project, and will promote the conclusion of the respective contracts,” Rosatom’s statement said.

Tianwan runs with two reactors currently, while two more are under construction. Rosatom’s statement concerns reactors 5 and 6.

According to the Medvedev-Li statement, Sputnik reports, “Russia and China plan to launch joint construction on other Chinese nuclear power plants and intend to develop cooperation on floating nuclear power stations and fast neutron reactors.”

In a related development, China General Nuclear announced at a press conference on Nov. 4 that it has signed the purchasing agreement for the pressure vessel needed for its first floating nuclear power plant. The 60MW offshore reactor is being designed to produce electricity, and also for heat and desalination. It is targeted for islands or in coastal areas, or for offshore oil and gas exploration. A demonstration small reactor is planned for 2019.

This puts the project on a similar timeline as Russia’s floating nuclear plant, which has seen a much longer development time.

Erdogan: Greenpeace Is ‘in the Darkness’

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)—Presiding over yesterday’s ceremony opening 158 new power stations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed Greenpeace for obstructing Turkey’s energy projects: “We are trying to build up a system based on technology transfer in nuclear power stations. We have simply made a revolution in hydroelectric power plants. We have also faced serious obstructions on the issue, such as Greenpeace activists. They have always been trouble in our Black Sea.”

Pointing to the fact that without most of the nuclear and coal-fired power plants, the West, “would have plunged into darkness,” Erdogan continued, “Why don’t they take it to the street in Western countries which use coal and nuclear energy the most? Why don’t these campaigns take place there? Because the concerns of those who finance these campaigns from the backstage are different. They pretend to be enlightened, [but] you are in the darkness. We do not want humanity to live in the darkness,” Erdogan said. “Their aim is not to protect our environment.”

The 158 new power stations have an installed capacity of 5,620 megawatts and cost $5 billion. They include 23 gas-fired power plants with the capacity of 1,716 MW. These were followed by a coal-fired power plant with the capacity of 1,400 MW. Turkey’s installed power capacity exceeded 73,146 MW by the end of 2015 and now has reached 78,000 MW.

Erdogan said his government has started preparations for a third nuclear power plant; Turkey’s first nuclear electric power plant is scheduled to be operating by 2023, and two other power plants will start producing in the following years. The first nuclear power station is being built by Russia’s Rosatom, the second is a Franco-Japanese project between France’s Areva and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and the third project is a joint venture between Westinghouse and the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. (SNPTC) of China.

“We must build these three energy plants,” Erdogan stressed. He pointed out that some external hands had attempted to stop Turkey’s every step toward building the nuclear power plant projects. He slammed the West’s double standard against Turkey.

“Don’t pay attention to the West’s so-called environmental attacks,” he said.

In his remarks yesterday, Erdogan stressed the mix of energy resources for Turkey’s energy sector. “As long as we can use renewable resources and coal reserves efficiently, we will be able to open new horizons for our country by closing our current account deficit,” he said, adding that the country also took big steps in developing its hydro-power capacity and nuclear power capacity in recent years.

OTHER

Ferdinand Marcos To Be Buried in the Heroes’ Cemetery

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)—The Philippines Supreme Court has rejected the motion by the remnants of the anti-Marcos Filipinos to stop President Duterte’s order to have the late President Ferdinand Marcos buried at Libingan, the Heroes’ Cemetery, where past presidents and military members are buried. The case was brought by the remnants of the anti-Marcos crowd—those who have not come to terms with the way in which the country was destroyed by the U.S.-orchestrated military coup against Marcos in 1986, and the subsequent destruction of his great development programs, which turned the country into the ASEAN basket case. The court’s 9-5 ruling culminates the raging political brawl over the issue.

The son of Marcos, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who was almost certainly cheated through vote fraud out of winning the Vice-Presidency in this year’s election, thanked the high court for its action, and expressed his gratitude to Duterte. “It is our sincerest hope that this will lead the nation toward healing,” he said.

A growing majority of Filipinos now recognize that the ouster of Marcos—one of the first “color revolutions” run by neocon idol George Shultz—was a both a mistake and a disaster for the nation.

Marcos’s daughter Imee Marcos, now the Governor of Ilocos Norte province, said: “Let us help Apo President Duterte. Let us help him achieve his wish for unity, that the Philippines be whole and be healed. Thank you! It’s still Marcos! It’s still Duterte! Let the Supreme Court decision be upheld.”

Marcos was tricked into leaving the country during the 1986 coup, put on an American plane believing he was going to his home province, but landing in Hawaii. After his death in 1989, President Cory Aquino refused to let his body be returned to the Philippines, but the subsequent President Fidel Ramos allowed him to be buried in his home province of Ilocos Norte in 1993.

Today’s decision was written by Justice Diosdado M. Peralta, who told the press that the majority of the justices desired national healing and reconciliation. He said Marcos, “should be viewed and judged in his totality and not just his sins. While he was not all good, he was not pure evil, either. Certainly, just a human who erred like us. There are certain things that are better left to history.” Associate Justice Jose P. Perez said that Duterte’s election as President showed that, “there was no longer a national damnation of Marcos.”

Lyndon LaRouche was almost the only world figure who recognized the nature of the U.S.-run “regime change” coup against Marcos at the time. EIR articles before and after the coup documented in detail what was actually happening, rather than the lying press accounts, as well as the intention of the coup: to make a horrible example of Marcos, that the United States would no longer tolerate national leaders building modern nations, taking away the British Empire’s right to loot the people and the resources of such nations.