EDITORIAL
Reality Is the Global New Paradigm Shift; Localist Propaganda Is Dangerous!
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—This week, LaRouche PAC delegations from Manhattan, and several Eastern states, came to Washington, D.C. to personally engage Congressmen in the necessity to act to re-instate Glass-Steagall and LaRouche’s “Four Laws,” to deal with today’s strategic crisis. This policy initiative—along with cross-country pressure on Congress—comes at a time of non-stop media fixation on President-designate Donald Trump’s latest and possible Cabinet appointments. “Who are they?… How bad are they?” etc. The media barrage, and even the appointments themselves, serve to confuse and de-mobilize anyone listening.
It’s important to resist any such localist, “bottom-up” characterizations of what is happening. There is nothing local here: “Trump” electoral surprises are happening all over the world, and more will occur in coming weeks. Electorates the world over are rejecting the whole era of “globalization” for a new paradigm, still being shaped. EIR Founding Editor Lyndon LaRouche stressed on the day after the Presidential elections that the Trump vote was not a “local” event. Rejecting Hillary Clinton was greater than individuals; it was part of a global dynamic shift. LaRouche cautioned today, “It’s dangerous to allow that [localist confusion] to happen. You’ve got to get free of it. It destroys our ability to think, and to solve problems.”
Avoid anger, then, over individuals; think of the potential.
This is reality. There is a dynamic underway internationally for a new paradigm for all mankind, embodied in the Eurasian New Silk Road. There is a strong leadership drive by President Vladimir Putin, and President Xi Jinping and others, in the way forward, laid out for decades by Lyndon and Helga LaRouche.
Today in Moscow, Putin gave a speech from this vantage point. He spoke of the Eurasian Economic Union, “linking up with China’s Silk Road Economic Belt project, [that] will enable us to build a big Eurasian partnership.” He was speaking on the occasion of the second annual “Primakov Readings International Forum” in Moscow, to commemorate the leadership heritage of Yevgeny Primakov. Putin said, “Mr. Primakov also believed that it would be very difficult to adequately address today’s big challenges without a serious partnership between Russia and the United States. Sadly, Russia-U.S. relations have deteriorated considerably over these last years, but this is not our fault. Now that the election campaign is over in the United States and a new President will soon enter the White House, we hope that this will create an opportunity to improve these relations, which are so important not only for our two peoples, but also for ensuring international stability and security….”
The idea of new relations is reverberating throughout Ibero-America, after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s six-day tour earlier this month, that included the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru. Senior Mexican diplomat Sergio Ley has called for Mexico to now “diversify” its foreign trade relations, and no longer have 80% of its trade be with the United States. He said that there now is “an extraordinary dialogue at the highest level” between Mexico and China.
In opposition to this active, new paradigm of international, mutually beneficial relations, come the last-ditch efforts from the geopolitical has-beens, to cause more harm and death. France, Britain and the Obama Administration are mobilizing against Russia over Syria. Today, France announced it will host a meeting Dec. 10, including leaders from the U.K., U.S.A., Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia and others, on how to oppose “the logic of total war” that they claim Russia and Syria are perpetrating.
In reality, in Aleppo the Syrian government is successfully driving back the terrorists; and Russia is mobilizing support and relief supplies—including field hospitals, for the thousands now freed and in need.
NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER
After Xi Jinping’s Ibero-America Trip and TPP Demise, Mexico Is Looking to China
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—In the wake of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Ibero-American tour, and discussion at the just-concluded APEC summit in Lima, there is intensifying discussion in Mexico on the need to deepen its relations with China and Asia, given the certain death of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and uncertainty about a Trump government’s trade policies.
According to SDP Noticias on Nov. 23, Mexico’s Economy Secretary Idelfonso Guajardo reported he had been approached informally at the APEC summit by China’s APEC Senior Official Tan Jian, about possible Mexican interest in joining the 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which China is forming, and which does not include the U.S. Tan Jian indicated that Peru and Chile are also interested in RCEP.
Guajardo said he replied that Mexico “won’t rule out anything,” but doesn’t want to abandon the TPP, despite its uncertain future. What is clear, is that there is intense talk and activity going on at various levels in Mexico on expanding ties with China.
In an interview with Notimex, published Nov. 29, former Mexican Ambassador to China Sergio Ley, now head of the Asia-Pacific department of the Mexican Council on Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (Comce), reported that there is “an extraordinary dialogue at the highest level” taking place between Mexico and China, and noted that China represents a great opportunity for Mexico. Now is the time to “demystify” that nation, he said, not be scared that “the border to the North is closed to us,” and diversify foreign trade, looking to the Asia-Pacific region.
China R&D Center Opens for Mass Production of Nuclear Plants
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—Three of China’s state-owned nuclear power companies have jointly built a research and development center in East China’s Shandong province, to solve the technical challenges in China’s program to mass produce its indigenous third generation nuclear plants.
China plans to not only build plants to meet its domestic needs, but is targetting the Hualong One reactor for mass production and export. China has depended upon foreign suppliers for its nuclear plants until now, but has been preparing its own reactor design for commercial operation, and reducing the components it imports from overseas.
The new center will have 10 institutes, tasked to work on various areas of research, such as the utilization of nuclear power, radiation protection, waste treatment, according to the center’s director Shu Guogang.
President Putin Addresses U.S.-Russia Relations at Primakov Readings International Forum
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—In a speech today before the Nov. 28-30 second annual Primakov Readings International Forum in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin recalled the brilliant diplomatic skills and strategic thinking of the “original thinker” Yevgeny Primakov, who served Russia in many capacities, including foreign minister and prime minister, throughout his long career, to address crucial issues facing Russia, and the world, today. High on the agenda was the subject of U.S.-Russia relations.
The gathering, which was established to honor Primakov’s legacy after his death on June 26, 2015, was hosted by the Institute of the World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), where Primakov served as deputy director in 1970-77.
On U.S.-Russia relations, Putin pointed to Primakov’s belief “without a serious partnership between Russia and the United States,” it would be difficult to address the world’s “big challenges.”
Putin took on the issue of regime change by referencing Primakov’s authority on Middle East affairs. Even prior to the “Arab Spring,” he said, Primakov warned “about the disaster that would ensue” if secular Middle Eastern regimes were toppled. His words proved true, sadly, Putin intoned, and then, “the Middle East was plunged into the series of bloody conflicts and has become a hotbed of terrorism and religious extremism.”
This is why, Putin insisted, cooperation among “all the concerned influential international players is an essential conditions for normalizing the situation in the Middle East.” It is in this context, “that our initiative to form a broad front for fighting terrorism should be made reality.” Unfortunately, he added, this hasn’t yet happened, “but there is no alternative.”
Primakov understood the need for compromise and peaceful resolution of conflicts in international affairs, as well as “the inadmissibility of intervening in the affairs of sovereign states by bypassing the United Nations Charter,” the Russian President asserted. He had the “truly strategic vision” that allowed him to “look into the future and see how unviable and one-sided” was the model of a unipolar world. It was Primakov, Putin said, who first advocated trilateral cooperation among Russia, China, and India which then evolved into the BRICS (with the addition of Brazil and South Africa), “which is gaining weight and influence in the world.”
Freight Maglev Development Coming on the Agenda
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—The Swiss government has okayed a feasibility study for a test track for the “Cargo sous terrain” concept for an “Underground Cargo” tunnel freight-transport system based on the principle of magnetic levitation. The first section of the tunnel system, which is intended to relieve the country’s highways of 10% of freight, will cover 67 km from the logistics hub at Härtingen to Zürich. Construction of this section would cost SFr3 billion of the entire system’s cost of SFr33 billion.
In a related development, the maglev group Swiss Rapide is involved in a feasibility study for an “Evacuated Tube Transport” system projected in India, along with the development of a grid for maglev passenger transport. The state-owned Indian railway company has commissioned the study, which will be carried out by the Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) within the next six months. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. has signalled interest in the Indian maglev plans as well.
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Russia Ambassador Grushko Says NATO Is Not Ready To Abandon ‘Russian Threat’ Myth
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—Alexander Grushko, Russia’s ambassador to NATO, said yesterday that there are no signs that NATO is ready to abandon its “Russian threat” myth anytime soon. “NATO still pursues the policy determined at the Wales and Warsaw summits. This policy is aimed at obtaining the central role in ensuring the Euro-Atlantic security once again, using the so-called ‘Russian threat’ myth. There are no signs yet that NATO countries are willing to abandon this course,” he said. Making matters worse, he said, is NATO’s cutoff of cooperation with Russia, even in spheres of mutual interest, such as countering terrorism. “If we speak or resolving the current crisis concerning the European security, then of course, our efforts should particularly be aimed at restoring cooperation in the spheres of mutual interest,” he said. “Obviously, NATO should abandon the discredited policy of restraining Russia and stop strengthening its eastern flank, as these activities do not enhance NATO members’ security….”
Grushko pointed to the example of ongoing NATO exercises aimed at alleged “Russian aggression.” In northern Norway, U.S. Marines are exercising with the Norwegian military on countering a “Crimea-like” scenario. CNN reported that the Marines, with their Abrams tanks, are so close to Norway’s border with Russia that CNN reports discussions with Norwegian border guards who can see into Russian territory. “Norwegian police are investigating more than 10 sightings of unidentified drones observing the U.S. and Norwegian maneuver,” reports CNN.
In Lithuania, NATO’s Exercise “Iron Sword” has been underway since Nov. 20, with 4,000 troops from 11 NATO members, including all three Baltic states, as well as the United States, the U.K., Germany, Canada, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Luxembourg. The scenarios involve offensive and defensive operations against a simulated attack across two Lithuanian training ranges, one of which comes within 10 km of the Russian border.
Normandy Four Meeting in Minsk Produces No Resolution on Ukraine
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—The Normandy Four foreign ministers, from Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, met on Nov. 29 in Minsk, Belarus, to discuss a roadmap for implementation of the Minsk agreements on the conflict in southeast Ukraine. To no one’s surprise, however, the meeting ended with no result. “The Minsk agreements are miring,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, after the meeting. “It is still impossible to agree on the sequence of steps in the sphere of security and political reforms.”
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier complained that both Ukraine and Russia had hardened their positions, and there was no political agreement in sight on holding local elections in Donbass, as demanded by Russia and the Kremlin-backed separatists.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Russia was playing a waiting game to allow Western divisions on the Ukraine crisis to widen—a reference to the May 2017 presidential election in France, apparently.
Meanwhile, Oleksander Turchynov, the head of the Kiev regime’s National Security and Defense Council, is inviting NATO into the Black Sea for joint patrols with Ukrainian forces. “We are ready and we are discussing this option. The thing is that the Russian Armed Forces are dominating the Black Sea following occupation of Crimea. There is no real alternative to them at the moment; there is no strong NATO fleet in the Black Sea. It was not necessary in the past, but now there is such necessity,” he told Interfax-Ukraine in an interview: “I am positive that NATO should be actively present in the Black Sea, and Ukraine is prepared to render full support, from offering our ports as hosts to starting joint activity of our Navy and NATO units,” he said.
French Foreign Minister Announces Paris Meeting To Oppose Syrian Government Success against Terrorists
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced today that he would be convening a meeting of countries rejecting the “logic of total war” in Syria. “I will be meeting on Dec. 10 in Paris, with the European countries, the Arab countries and the United States, which support a political solution in Syria and reject this logic of total war,” Jean-Marc Ayrault said to reporters as he left the weekly meeting of France’s Council of Ministers, reported Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency. “It is time for the international community to wake up because, before our eyes, a tragedy is taking place,” he said. “We are not the accomplices of [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad; we are not complacent to him,” Ayrault continued.
The invitees for Dec. 10—the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan—reflects that Ayrault is acting as an accomplice of the terrorist groups in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria that have been waging war against the Syrian government. Those groups have been directly supported by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, while the United States, France and Britain are supporters of regime change in Syria.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Rep. Tim Ryan’s Strong Challenge to Pelosi as Democratic Leader
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—U.S. House Democratic Caucus Leader Nancy Pelosi was re-elected as Democratic Leader today without the solid support she enjoyed in the past, defeating challenger Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) 134-63. The vote was by secret ballot.
Pelosi has run the Democratic Caucus for 14 years, and Ryan’s near one-third vote from the Caucus represented a strong showing based on deep discontent with the Democratic Party campaign which resulted in electing Donald Trump. Many Democrats, the Washington Postreported were “stunned that almost a third of the caucus was willing to vote for a backbench lawmaker with no major policy experience.”
Ryan said, “We’re going to win as Democrats if we have an economic message that resonates in every part of the country.”
To secure votes, Pelosi tried to win over junior lawmakers by offering new or modified positions in the Democratic leadership.
Representative Ryan said, “Democrats must adopt a progressive economic message that focuses on large, direct infrastructure investments, affordable health care, portable pensions and public-private [sic] investments that promote manufacturing.”
The U.S. Is Poised To Ditch Obama’s Destructive Space Policies
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—Former NASA executive and Congressional staffer Chris Shank has been named to the Trump “landing party” (transition team) for NASA. “The team’s job is to do an initial review and identify pressing issues that the new administration will have to address quickly.” Usually, for NASA, there are not such “pressing issues,” but best would be if a thoughtful review is done quickly, and sanity restored. For nearly eight years, the Obama White House has proposed programs Congress opposes, such as climate change research and the Asteroid Redirect Mission, and has cut programs Congress supports, such as the manned programs and new launcher, and lunar and planetary exploration.
Considering the group of rabid free marketeers were being mooted for the NASA transition team, Shank’s appointment would appear to be a positive sign; he was on the staff of the House Science Committee members, and a special assistant to NASA Administrator Mike Griffin from 2005-09, when Griffin led the Constellation program.
Now, in the transition, GOP leaders of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee have sent a letter to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, questioning the claim in a Nov. 16 post by NASA, that the scientific community now supports the universally-hated Asteroid Redirect Mission, in which astronauts would risk their lives to go look at an asteroid. The mission was designed by the Obama Administration to occupy astronauts during the 15-20 years that NASA is supposedly preparing for its imaginary manned mission to Mars.
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Massive Bets Placed Against Italian Assets
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—Massive bets have been placed against Italian assets, warned Raffaele Jerusalmi, the CEO of Borsa Italiana, the Italian stock exchange. He said in a Nov. 29 press conference, “There are colossal short positions on Italy, in the U.S.A. and countries where large investors are based.” Jerusalmi added that those investors are “deeply convinced” that Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will lose the Dec. 4 referendum on Constitutional change. Renzi has vowed to resign if the referendum fails.
SCIENCE & INFRASTRUCTURE
ESA Poll Shows 88% of Europeans Support Its Space Exploration Program
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—An opinion poll carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA) in its 22 member states found 88% of those polled supporting the space program of the agency; 96% even were convinced that space offers opportunities that do not exist on Earth but should be pursued. Reviewing this poll, former German astronaut Thomas Reiter, now chief ESA coordinator of International Space Station-related affairs, said there is reason to be optimistic even in spite of the endless budget controversies at the European level. The €8 billion spent during the past five years have generated €14.5 billion in economic benefits for Europe and its citizens.
“But there is also the political aspect of international cooperation. This functions well in spite of the conflicts on Earth,” Reiter said. “There are 95 states taking part in the ISS project, and up there objectives are pursued that are for the good of all mankind.”
Reiter also spoke in optimistic terms about the lunar dimension of space development, particularly the far side of the Moon, because it may serve as a launch site for deep space missions in the future.
Bernhard von Wyhe, head of ESOC communications at the ESA center in Darmstadt, Germany, also addressed the “bridge function” which space technology has for mankind. He said that “common space projects promote human identity, even back during the Cold War. Space travel is a project of cooperation.”
Hungary Sticks To Nuclear Power Project with Russia
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—Having averted repeated attempts by the European Commission to walk out of its “Paks 2” nuclear power deal with Russia, Hungary took note yesterday of an Austrian threat to even take the issue up at the European Court of Justice, but confirmed it will not change its policy. Envisaged Russian government support for the financing of the project, which the Brussels Commission opposes, is at the center of the controversy.
Janos Lazar, who heads Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s office, said that whereas the juridical route will not contribute to a solution, bilateral talks between Hungary and Austria would. Hungary will provide Austria with all requested information on the Paks 2 project, in which construction of the first reactor block will begin in 2018 and be completed by 2023, both power blocks of 1,200 MW each requiring investments of €12.5 billion.
Four Soviet-era, Russian-made nuclear power reactors are already in operation at Paks, some 100 km south of Budapest, and supply 40% of the nation’s power needs.
OTHER
House of Commons Lets Tony Blair Off the Hook on Iraq War Inquiry
Nov. 30 (EIRNS)—In today’s “Opposition Day Debate” in the House of Commons, MPs voted down by a vote of 439-70, the motion introduced by the Scottish National Party (SNP), calling for an investigation into former Prime Minister Tony Blair for his “premeditated and calculated commitment” to U.S. President George W. Bush and for “grievously misleading” the U.K. into the disastrous Iraq war.
SNP leader Alex Salmond had demanded that Blair be held accountable for what he charged was “very much a personal campaign, unbeknownst to cabinet and indeed to Parliament.” Based on evidence in the Chilcot Report, he said, a vote against Blair would be an opportunity to “create a precedent where any future Prime Minister will know he or she will have to account for their actions,” the Guardian reported.
Much of the opposition to the SNP motion was based on the argument that the focus on Blair was an attempt to “pillory or scapegoat one individual,” as the Labour Party’s shadow foreign office minister Fabian Hamilton put it, for what was “an institutional and international failure.” Others asserted that the Chilcot Report had cleared Blair of “deliberate misbehavior.” Of the 439 votes opposed, 150 were from Labour, leading the Daily Telegraph to crow that this was a major defeat for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who did not participate in the vote.
