EDITORIAL
Xi at Davos: Do Not Be Afraid of Exploring a New World
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—With the eyes of the world on him, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered the keynote address to the Davos World Economic Forum on Jan. 17, laying out what his Foreign Ministry described as “a blueprint for the future progress of human society.”
Xi said that the world financial crisis has been caused by “finance capital taking out excessive profits and by the failure of financial regulation to deal with it,” and that there are growing international calls for fundamental reform. He presented China’s Belt and Road Initiative as an open offer to all nations, because “development is of the people, by the people and for the people,” and is based on increasing productivity centered on the development of science and technology. And he emphasized that the history of man “tells us that problems should not be feared, but have to be faced…. If one is afraid of the storm and exploring a new world, they will get drowned in the ocean sooner or later.”
The utter intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the dying old paradigm was well reflected by one befuddled establishment participant in Davos, Moisés Naím of the Carnegie Institute, who could only sputter: “There is a consensus that something huge is going on, global and in many respects unprecedented, but we don’t know what the causes are, nor how to deal with it.”
But Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin do, as does Lyndon LaRouche and those Americans wise enough to be guided by his scientific and strategic thinking. Will that include the next President of the United States, Donald Trump?
As Putin told a press conference in Moscow, even as Xi was speaking in Davos: “I don’t know Mr. Trump…. I don’t know what he will do in the international arena, so I have no reason either to attack him, criticize him, or defend him.” What is clear, he continued, is that there is “a ‘Maidan’ in Washington not to let Trump assume office … [and] to tie the hands and legs of the newly-elected President related to the implementation of his pre-election campaign’s promises to the American people and the international community.” As for those who leaked the lying dossier, “they are worse than prostitutes; they have no moral limits,” Putin stated with precision.
The stakes are epochal, as Helga Zepp-LaRouche emphasized in a strategic evaluation written for the upcoming issue of EIR:
“The unprecedented hysteria of the mainstream media and the neocons on both sides of the Atlantic over the election of Donald Trump is material for a first-class object lesson on the real dynamic now unfolding on the global strategic stage. It makes crystal clear—even for the most naive adherent of political correctness,—that what is happening has nothing to do with the interests of one party, or one state, against another. It has to do with the methods used by a collapsing empire against the emergence of a new paradigm, the precise content of which has not yet been clearly defined, but which nonetheless represents the rejection of the system of globalization….
“And now we have in Trump someone who has won the U.S. election and who, as Obama said of Putin, does not belong to ‘the team’; agrees with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and an array of conservative military figures that that these regime-change wars must be stopped; and even, as the ultimate desecration of taboos, wants to re-establish normal relations with Russia!…
“This empire is something other than the nations of the United States and Great Britain. It is the oligarchical forces exerting their power through the trans-Atlantic neoliberal financial system and the military defense of the unipolar world order, and they don’t care a whit about the general welfare of the populations in whose nations they happen to live. A global revolution is underway against this empire, which found expression in the Brexit, just as it did in Trump’s victory and the ‘no’ to Renzi’s referendum in Italy….
“Meanwhile, the new paradigm is developing in the form of a new world economic order, in which the BRICS countries and China’s New Silk Road policy are offering win-win cooperation to all of the world’s nations, in which all can only gain through the benefit of all—each through ‘the advantage of the other.’ If Trump succeeds in working with this new combination—which will only become clear after he is in office—it could mean a new era for mankind, in which sovereign nations work together for the future of mankind as a community of common destiny, and the era of empires is finally buried.”
NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER
In Davos Keynote, Xi Places Development at Center of Global Governance
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—In a wide-ranging speech opening up the World Economic Forum in Davos, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a reform of the system of global governance, in what might be labeled “globalization with Chinese characteristics.” Warning of the dangers of a retreat into a defensive protectionism in the face of the financial storms, he said, would be like locking yourself in a dark room, where you will be protected from the rain outside, but will also lack light and air to breathe.
At the same time, he decried the failures of the present global system: the growing inequality, growing poverty, and unemployment. And yet “the history of man tells us,” Xi said, “that problems should not be feared, but have to be faced. We have to meet the challenges and chart the right course for economic globalization…. If one is afraid of the storm and exploring a new world, they will get drowned in the ocean sooner or later.” Referring to China’s own experience, he said “We have had our share of choking in the water and our share of whirlpools,” but “the global economy is a big ocean and you can’t escape from it, nor can you retreat from it.” Xi also warned against a trade war, saying “no one will emerge a winner in a trade war.”
Speaking of the world financial crisis, Xi said that this was not caused by “globalization,” but rather by “finance capital taking out excessive profits and by the failure of financial regulation to deal with it.” While globalization has created significant problems, the mechanism for resolving these problems has failed. “Inadequate global governance makes it difficult to deal with these problems,” Xi said. “There is a resounding call from the international community for a reform of the system of global governance which is now a pressing task,” Xi said. “And all countries are equal members of the international community and deserve to be heard.” He went on, “Global connectivity must be developed in order for all to reach prosperity.” The center of this “globalization” is development, and development is based on increasing productivity centered on the development of science and technology, Xi said. “This is a product of all of us, and not the product of one individual alone,” Xi said. Quoting Abraham Lincoln (and Sun Yat-sen, without naming either), Xi said “Development is of the people, by the people and for the people.”
The world community has to develop a “dynamic innovation-driven growth model,” Xi said. Only through innovation and reform can we deal with the sluggish economy. Secondly, “we should develop an open and interconnected approach to a development of open and win-win cooperation.” Thirdly, “it is crucial to have a sound development philosophy and model,” that is “balanced, equitable, and inclusive…. Priority should be given to reducing poverty, unemployment and inequality.”
Xi assured his listeners that China would stay the course, maintain a solid growth rate, continue its structural reform and opening up, and play a greater role in sharing its growth with others. Xi pointed to the 2016 Hangzhou G20 Summit, which placed innovation in the center of economic development, and to the Belt and Road Initiative, which will hold a major summit in May in China. “If we continue to build a community of a shared future for mankind,” Xi said, “we can create a better world.”
‘Belt and Road’ Gets Backing from ‘Influential German’ Helga Zepp-LaRouche
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—China Radio International’s English website reports today that “China’s Belt and Road Initiative has received the backing of an influential German political activist. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, co-founder of Schiller International Institute, said the Belt and Road Initiative was not only a good idea, but was also very practical. Through building infrastructure, she said, people’s living standards are improved and poverty alleviated, with a focus on development.
“She was speaking at an influential seminar (Jan. 11) in the Swedish capital Stockholm, attended by an audience of about 100 people, most of them dignitaries from Stockholm’s embassies.
“ ‘Geopolitics was the cause of the two world wars, and I think we need to move to the common aims of mankind; I think that is absolutely the substantial challenge for us to solve. And I think the Chinese offer to have a win-win situation of all countries in the world is the only practical initiative on the table,’ said LaRouche.
“The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative brings together some 60 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, to promote trade and co-operation. It was first proposed by Chinese president Xi Jinping in 2013, and consists of two main strands—the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.
“Helga Zepp LaRouche attended the seminar as the co-author of a new book From the Silk Road to the World Land Bridge which has been translated into Chinese, Arabic, and several other languages. In it, she expressed her strong belief that the belt and road strategy is a good paradigm that will replace geopolitics.
“ ‘Well I think it is developing in the right direction, because in the beginning people thought it is either China or Russia, or Central Asia, either north or south, east or west, but in the meantime, strategic partnership between Russia and China, has solved that problem.’
“LaRouche believes that only through development can wars and conflicts be avoided, which she feels are the biggest enemies for development and infrastructure construction, which themselves are conducive to development and the improvement of people’s lives. Co-author Hussein Askary said their book was aimed at making some very practical plans; for example, how Iraq might fit into the Belt and Road idea.
“ ‘You don’t have to send money to Iraq or even to Africa, these countries do have resources; what these countries do need is technology. And this is what China is providing. China is providing technology and is not asking if you have money or not, because when your neighbor becomes richer, you will benefit yourself: you create a market; you create new technology and innovations.’
“Helga LaRouche went on to say that she believes that China will become a real model for country to country relations through cooperative development.” The article is accompanied by two photos showing Zepp-LaRouche speaking at the event, and the slide depicting the “Belt and Road Initiative and LaRouche plans.”
Modi Sees ‘The Development of India and China as an Unprecedented Opportunity’
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—Inaugurating the three-day (Jan. 17-19) annual Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi today, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “The multi-polarity of the world is a dominant fact today. And, we welcome it, because it captures the reality of the rise of many nations. It accepts that voices of many, not views of a few, should shape the global agenda. Therefore, we need to guard against any instinct or inclination that promotes exclusion,” Firstpost news site reported. The theme of this year’s Raisina Dialogue is: “The New Normal: Multilateralism with Multipolarity.”
Pointing to Russia as an abiding friend and that the partnership between the old allies has deepened, Modi in his address said that the U.S. and India will keep on building their relationship up in regard to the strategic partnership. “In my conversation with President-elect Donald Trump, we agreed to keep building on these gains in our strategic partnership. … President Putin and I have held long talks on the challenges that confront the world today. … Our partnership in defense has deepened. The emphasis on energy and trade has shown results.”
In his address, Modi also touched upon the Sino-Indian relations, saying it is not unnatural for two large neighboring powers to have some differences. “In the management of our relationship and for peace and progress, we need to show sensitivity and respect for each other’s core concerns and interests. I see the development of India and China as an unprecedented opportunity, for our two countries and for the whole world,” PTI reported.
Belt and Road Initiative Will Generate New Growth, Say European Business Execs
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—At a Beijing forum inviting Western business executives to that city, Denis Depoux, senior partner of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, said, “It is important for foreign companies to realize the Belt and Road Initiative will generate new market growth points,” the Beijing Municipal Government said in a press release on the event. The forum was attended by top executives of global companies including ABB Group, Schneider Electric, Siemens AG, Philips Lighting Holding BV, and General Electric, which have made plans to form more partnerships with China’s power, infrastructure, transportation and energy companies to tap opportunities created by the Belt and Road Initiative, especially engineering, procurement and construction projects. Vice-president of the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation Li Gang pointed out that “the Belt and Road Initiative, international production capacity cooperation and the development of AIIB are complementary to many countries’ economies.”
Claudio Facchin, president of ABB’s power grid division worldwide, told the forum: “Many of these opportunities come from countries’ surging demand for public services, manufacturing, and infrastructure projects, especially in fast-growing economies such as Turkey, Poland and Qatar.”
Today Sergei Guriev, chief economist at the UN-linked European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, told China Daily on the sidelines of Davos, Switzerland, World Economic Forum, “A global lack of funds for infrastructure investment makes China’s initiative all the more important. In the aftermath of the most recent financial crisis, many countries are burdened with nonperforming loans and sovereign debt, and their budgets have limited space for infrastructure investment.”
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
French Presidential Candidate Urges Independent Policy from NATO
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—Sputnik carried the following interview with French Presidential pre-candidate Jacques Cheminade today, under the headline “French Presidential Candidate Urges France To Lead Policy Independent from NATO”:
Introduction: France has its own national defense and is capable of carrying out an independent foreign policy without NATO, Jacques Cheminade, a candidate in the upcoming French presidential elections, told Sputnik on Tuesday, commenting on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s criticism of the Alliance.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)—On Monday, in an interview with The Times newspaper, Trump called NATO an “obsolete” organization, since it was not much engaged in countering terrorism, arguing its member countries’ contributions were not efficient.
“Only France has organized its own national defense, under the presidency of Charles de Gaulle. The British have their own army, but under Anglo-American rule. France, therefore, has the capacity to set up an independent foreign policy, out of NATO and based on the cause of humanity,” Cheminade said, asked if Europe would try to pursue establishing the EU army to lessen dependence on the U.S. military in protecting its borders.
Cheminade, who is a presidential candidate from the euroskeptic Solidarité et Progrès party, also criticized the military alliance for having paid little attention to the issue of terror financing.
Asked if NATO could have dealt with the issue of terrorism, if it had paid attention to that issue, Cheminade replied, “The main issue is not that NATO was not able to predict the current threat of terrorism, but that some of its members turned a blind eye to it, and others let their allies—Qatar, Saudi Arabia, etc.—support and finance jihadism in the Middle East and beyond, including in Chechnya.”
Contrary to Trump’s and Cheminade’s calls, French President François Hollande has said Europe intended to continue cooperating with NATO in line with its interests and not listening to any “external advice.”
Zakharova: Obama Military Deployments Have ‘Destabilizing Influence on Global Security’
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova issued a statement yesterday which ripped into the military provocations of the outgoing Obama administration.
“Plans of large-scale deployment of armed forces in Europe implemented by the U.S. have the strongest destructive potentials for the whole architecture of European security; create a new military-political reality; introduce sizable imbalance in the balance of power on the continent, and are fraught with long-term destructive consequences on the Euro-Atlantic space. Washington, in fact, is initiating a new arms race, trying to impose on us a confrontational model of relations, similar to Cold War times.”
Zakharova continued: “We are talking about a long-term stationing of American military equipment and personnel in Europe that can hardly be called solely defensive…. This comes against the background of unilateral and unrestricted development of potentials of U.S. missile defense systems in Europe having an increasingly destabilizing influence on European and global security, as well as upgrading of U.S. nuclear weapons deployed on the territory of other NATO countries.”
Russian Lawmakers: No Link of Arms Reduction and Sanctions End
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov yesterday expressed his agreement with Donald Trump’s characterization of NATO as “obsolete,” noting that “NATO is, indeed, a vestige [of the past] and we also agree with that. We have long been speaking about our views on this organization; confrontation is the systemic goal of this organization.” But Peskov was quite cool to the idea of linking arms reduction talks with ending economic sanctions against Russia, as Trump had also suggested. Peskov said that Russia didn’t initiate the sanctions, and has no intention of raising the issue. As for arms reduction, there is nothing to discuss until after Trump is inaugurated, he stated.
A number of leading Russian parliamentarians issued statements opposed to the idea of linking the two issues. Sen. Alexei Pushkov, a member of the Federation Council’s Defense and Security Committee, told TASS: “By itself, the conversation about the possibility of reducing nuclear arsenals is the conversation Russia agreed to…. I do not think that the U.S. should link the removal of sanctions to some agreements with Russia…. Sanctions should be lifted as a result of normalizing Russian-U.S. relations and putting them on a constructive track, because the sanctions are part of the policy of confrontation.”
Sen. Konstantin Kosachev, also of the Federation Council, said, “We consider the sanctions an ill legacy of the team that is departing from the White House, that should be made history along with this team,” he was quoted by RT as saying.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Putin Denounces Campaign against Trump as a ‘Maidan’
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin today told a Moscow press conference that some in Washington “now are ready to organize a ‘Maidan’ in Washington not to let Trump assume office,” and that Trump’s political enemies who leaked the phony dossier are “worse than prostitutes.” Fox News commented that Putin’s remarks had “one-upped even some of the President-elect’s colorful Twitter commentary.”
According to accounts in the Russian media, including Sputnik, Putin analyzed the unprecedented dirty tricks campaign against Trump: “In my opinion, there are several goals; some are obvious. The first is to undermine the legitimacy of the elected President of the United States. Incidentally, in this connection I would like to note that—whether people who do it want it or not—they greatly damage U.S. interests. It seems that they trained for this in Kiev, and now are ready to organize a ‘Maidan’ in Washington not to let Trump assume office. The second goal is to tie the hands and legs of the newly-elected President related to the implementation of his pre-election campaign’s promises to the American people and the international community.”
Putin then took up the issue of the phony dossiers and the charges that Kremlin spy agencies were blackmailing Trump: “These claims are an obvious fake. Trump, when he came to Moscow a few years ago, was not a politician. We did not even know about his political ambitions; he was just a businessman; one of the richest men in America. Is someone really thinking that our intelligence agencies are chasing every American billionaire, or what? Of course not! It’s just a complete nonsense.”
Taking off the gloves, Putin continued: “Prostitution is an ugly social phenomenon. … But people who order such fakes which are now used against the elected president of the United States; fabricate information and use it in the political struggle; they are worse than prostitutes; they have no moral limits.”
Putin then commented on Trump: “I don’t know Mr. Trump; I have never met him, I don’t know what he will do in the international arena, so I have no reason either to attack him, criticize him, or defend him.” And Obama: “You know, there is a category of people who leave without saying goodbye, out of respect for the situation that has evolved, so as not to upset anything. And then there are people who keep saying goodbye but don’t leave. I believe the outgoing administration belongs to the second category.”
President-elect’s Advisor Confirms ‘Trump Has Big Respect for Russian People’
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—In an interview with TASS in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum conference, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s advisor for communications and business, Anthony Scaramucci, commented on Trump’s views on Russia.
“What the new American President is saying is that he has an enormous respect for the Russian people, and the legacy of the relationship that the U.S. has with Russia, which dates back to the Second World War,” TASS quoted Scaramucci as saying. “We were two nations in the heat of battle during the Cold War, yet there was enough mutuality of respect that we kept all of our citizens safe during that period of time…. His belief is there’s probably shared values or shared interests, that we can align ourselves with each other, and this could be mutually beneficial.”
Scaramucci continued: “At the same time, there may be antagonisms that either we have to fix, or we can still stay antagonistic with each other, but he [Trump] is a realist. He has enormous respect for the Russian people and Russian culture and so he is signaling that, hopefully, whatever the hostilities may be, perhaps we can improve them over the coming years.”
Scaramucci elaborated his views on the pitfalls of sanctions, saying: “You know the Russian people better than me. I think the sanctions had in some ways an opposite effect because of Russian culture. I think the Russians would eat snow if they had to. And so, for me, the sanctions probably galvanized the nation with the nation’s President….
“What I think we have to do now is think outside the box. We have to make the world safer; we have to eliminate from the world the threat of radical Islamist terrorism, and we have to figure out the ways to grow the wages for working-class families,” Scaramucci said.
“I think the President-elect has the vision to see enough common interests where, hopefully, in a year the relationship with the Russian people and the Russian government and the United States will be better than it is today. That’s our hope.”
In a separate interview with ITV, Scaramucci, who himself has an extensive background in hedge funds, was critical of quantitative easing. “A global crisis forced a massive monetary intervention. It was a success, but a by-product was asset reflation. 97% of global citizens did not get an uplift…. The top 3% are back where they were in 2007. The other 97% are struggling. We’ve got to listen to the people.”
Former Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti Has Been Invited to Trump’s Inauguration
Jan. 17 (EIRNS)—Former Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti is “(perhaps) the only Italian who has been invited to Trump’s inauguration so far,” Corriere della Sera reports in an introduction to an interview with Tremonti Jan. 16.
Trump’s election is “The end of an era,” Tremonti says, “the end of the utopia of globalization. And, although in a moderate way, this date [Jan. 20] has a historical impact similar to the fall of Communism.” This is the era of the “politically correct” and of the “responsibility to protect,” exporting democracy from Serbia to Syria: This is over now.”
Trump is aware of it. “During the election campaign, the Democrats took him literally, but not seriously. Now he will do things seriously even if not literally. He won’t change economic globalization in favor of protectionism, but he will introduce [import] tariffs and will maintain trade treaties. He won’t cancel totally Obama’s health reform, but he will change it greatly.” On the EU, Tremonti believes that Trump will favor bilateral deals.
