EIR Daily Alert Service
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2017 Volume 4, Number 19 EIR Daily Alert Service P.O. Box 17390, Washington, DC 20041-0390
EDITORIALThe Four Powers that Can Bury the British EmpireJan. 26 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke as follows yesterday before the lower house of the Russian Federal Assembly, the Duma. “We believe that as Russia, the U.S. and China build their relations, this triangle should not be closed or directed toward some projects that could worry other states. [They should be] open and fair. I am convinced that the economic structure of Russia, the U.S. and China is such that there is a great deal of complementarity in the material and economic sphere. “As for international security problems, these three countries play a very important role. Russia and China have restrained attempts to introduce confrontational, force-based solutions into world politics. We expect that Donald Trump, who has confirmed his commitment to focus primarily on U.S. [domestic] problems and to abandon interference in the internal affairs of other states, will do the same.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded to Lavrov’s statement today, saying, according to TASS, “China, Russia and the U.S. are the leading global powers, and they are the permanent members of the UN Security Council. We have great responsibility for global peace, stability and development.” Beijing has been deepening relations of strategic partnership and cooperation with Russia, and has also been making efforts to develop trust-based relations with the U.S., she said. “Therefore, China plans to intensify cooperation with the U.S. and Russia and to make common contribution to solving the tasks and challenges of the modern world.” She also noted that the Russian side has repeatedly said that it attaches great importance to Russian-Chinese relations and gives a high assessment to them. “We welcome this,” she said, adding that the relations of strategic partnership and cooperation between the two countries have reached the highest level, and both sides plan to jointly work on the issues of regional and global peace, stability and development. The fourth of the “Four Powers”—as named by statesman Lyndon LaRouche, and organized earlier by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his own struggle to put an end to the world rule of the British Empire—is India. Today, on India’s Republic Day, Russian President Putin sent greetings to India’s President and Prime Minister, which said that the special and privileged strategic partnership with India is an invariable priority in Russia’s foreign policy. None of the breaking developments in today’s world can be understood without first grasping the reality that this potential has now come into being. As Lyndon LaRouche foresaw, building on the foundation laid by Franklin Roosevelt, this four-power force, if it is consolidated, can put an end to the British Empire forever, and move the world decisively and forever into the New Paradigm. This is the task before us. THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDERKing of Jordan Meets Russia’s President Putin in MoscowJan. 26 (EIRNS)—King Abdullah II of Jordan was in Moscow for an official meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Jan. 25. Commenting on the Jan. 23-24 Syrian peace talks held in Astana, Kazakhstan, brokered by Russia, along with Turkey and Iran, Abdullah said: “We recognize Russia’s crucial role in resolving this [Syrian] and many other regional issues. We do fully support the settlement process launched in Astana and appreciate Russia’s role and its involvement in this process.” The King expressed the hope that “the Syrians will have a common inclusive future,” while the corresponding negotiations will continue in a variety of formats, including in the one under UN aegis in Geneva. On the fight against terrorism, the King said, “I travel a lot around the world. I have talked with many leaders and tried to convey our stance, your stance. Unfortunately, not everyone adheres to such views—not everyone listens to us—but today I am glad to be here again, to visit Moscow and reaffirm that we are bound by serious and strong friendship with you. We also have a common vision, which will contribute to stability and the normalization of the situation in the region.” For his part, Putin said: “I would like to thank you for supporting the process launched in Kazakhstan’s capital. Thanks to our joint effort, the process is developing on the basis of a very important decision that has been achieved—the cessation of hostilities, the ceasefire between the government forces and armed opposition.” Iran Wants Triangular Cooperation with Pakistan and ChinaJan. 26 (EIRNS)—Triggered by a number of factors that have created a high level of optimism within Eurasia, the chairman of Iran’s Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, met the chairman of Pakistan’s Senate Defense Committee, Mushahid Hussain, and stressed the need for enhancing further cooperation, the Middle East Monitor site reported today. Talking to the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the Iranian official said that having strong relations with Pakistan is an integral part of Tehran’s foreign policy. During his ongoing, three-day (Jan. 25-27) visit to Pakistan, Boroujerdi will hold talks with his counterparts in the two Houses of Pakistan. He will also meet with Chairman of Pakistani Senate Raza Rabbani, and Speaker of National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. He is also scheduled to meet with the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, and other senior officials, Mehr News Agency reported on Jan. 25. Middle East Monitor reported that Boroujerdi stressed the need for Iran, China, and Pakistan to form a triangle of cooperation which will benefit the three countries. The key to this three-way relation is the China-funded development of Gwadar Port in the Balochistan province of Pakistan, which will be a central hub in boosting economic relations between the three. The western route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which will end up at Gwadar Port, is close to the Iran-Pakistan border. Closer cooperation would enable Iran to use the CPEC once it becomes fully functional. South America’s Bioceanic Railroad Will Connect to Asia-Pacific ‘Economic Dynamism’Jan. 26 (EIRNS)—In a press conference yesterday, Bolivian Vice President Álvaro García Linera presented an exciting perspective on the potential of the Central Bioceanic Rail Corridor (CFBC), which, when built, will link the Peruvian port of Ilo on the Pacific with the Brazilian port of Santos on the Atlantic, traversing Bolivia. He spoke just as the public works ministers of Paraguay and Bolivia, Ramón Jiménez Gaona and Milton Claros, respectively, joined by Peru’s Vice President and Transportation Minister Martín Vizcarra, were meeting in Berlin with Rainer Bomba, Secretary of Transportation and Digital Infrastructure, to discuss financing of the project. When the CFBC is built, García explained, it will “not only connect the central part of our country with a modern rail system, but will also connect the Brazilian, Paraguayan, and part of the Argentine economies with those of Peru and the Asia-Pacific, primarily China, Korea, Japan, and India, which today constitute the new epicenter of economic dynamism of the 21st Century,” Abya Yala-TV reported. The financing of the CFBC, estimated to cost $10 billion, remains to be pinned down. Last December, China’s Ambassador to Bolivia Wu Yunshuan said that China wants to collaborate on the project, and indicated it could offer “up to” $40 billion in financing, while stipulating that this would depend on the scope and quality of the project. In his remarks yesterday, García Linera reported that China “on several occasions” had indicated its willingness to finance the project. He also reported that he expects negotiations with Brazil to be concluded in the next few months. Brazilian participation has been on hold since last August’s coup against President Dilma Rousseff. At the conclusion of yesterday’s Berlin meeting, Rainer Bomba pledged his government’s “full support” for the bioceanic project, and pledged to “find investors” to finance it. He also announced that his office will set up a branch in one of the three South American nations involved, in order to coordinate more closely on the CFBC. Aside from German government officials, German and Swiss railroad executives also participated in the meeting, representing Fichtner, Molinari Rail AG, Stadler Pankow GmbH, and Gauff. COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEMDraghi Saves the Queen! Half the ECB Bail-Out Program Has Gone to the City of LondonJan. 26, 217 (EIRNS)—In a recent letter to Italian European Parliament Members Marco Valli and Marco Zanni, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi revealed that half of the entire Assets Purchase Program (APP) of the ECB has been used to bail out the City of London! This revelation comes forward this week, on the occasion of a reply sent by Draghi to Valli and Zanni, in response to an inquiry by them on certain matters. On Jan. 23, international financial headlines covered two remarkable aspects of Draghi’s letter: He acknowledged that Italy could consider leaving the euro system, but, secondly, if it did so, it must pay €359 billion, which the ECB tallies as Italy’s current debt in the “TARGET2” clearing system among Eurozone central banks (Eurosystem). In other words, ransom money. A closer look at how this “TARGET2” process works—whose Italian balance, Valli denounced this week as “illegitimate and technically rebuttable,” shows that the whole system has been deployed to bail out the City of London. Briefed on the details, economist Lyndon LaRouche pointed out, that this is a further indication of the nature of the euro project as imposed by Thatcher and Mitterrand on Germany in 1989. The APP works in such a way that the ECB purchases a quota of sovereign, corporate, and asset-backed securities from banks, in order to provide those banks with liquidity. The ECB does not purchase those bonds directly, but does it through respective national central banks (“The Eurosystem”). Banks are immediately provided with liquidity by the ECB, and balances among national central banks (NCBs) are settled through the so-called “TARGET2” clearing system. Draghi reported that “almost 80% of bonds [were] purchased by national central banks, and roughly half of the purchases were from counterparties located outside the euro area, most of which mainly access the TARGET2 payments system via the Deutsche Bundesbank.” For further explanation, Draghi refers in his letter to a March 2016 ECB monthly report, which says: “Credit institutions domiciled outside the euro area participate in TARGET2 via a Eurosystem NCB, not least in the case of major international banks operating in the City of London.” So far, the ECB has provided European banks with €1.4 trillion of liquidity through the APP. The program will continue at least throughout 2017, so that at the end of the year the banks will have received almost €2 trillion—which means that the City of London has received almost €1 trillion from the ECB, using the Bundesbank as conduit! Prominent European Leaders Call for Lifting of Russia SanctionsJan. 26 (EIRNS)—Former EU Commission President Romano Prodi called for lifting EU sanctions against Russia before the Trump Administration lifts the U.S. sanctions, so that Europe can occupy its position as the preferred partner for the Russians again, a position undermined by the sanctions regime. Prodi said this in an interview with the Italian La Stampa daily. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in Budapest yesterday that his country’s economy has lost €6.5 billion in trade with Russia during the past three years, mostly in the agriculture exports which were hard hit by the Russian countermeasures to the EU sanctions. Measured against the €90 billion of total exports of Hungary, €6.5 billion is a substantial loss, he explained, urging that sanctions be lifted at the next EU Summit in March. Matthias Platzeck, chairman of the German-Russian Forum, said at an event of the Forum in Moscow, that in the wake of President Trump’s stated intent to improve U.S. relations to Russia, the European sanctions no longer made sense and should be lifted. STRATEGIC WAR DANGERRussian Defense Ministry Takes a Swipe at British Trident Missile FailureJan. 26 (EIRNS)—The Russian Defense Ministry today took a not-too-indirect swipe at the failure of the recent British Trident missile test, while criticizing the Royal Navy’s “escorting” of Russian warships through the English Channel, and statements by British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon about the Russian aircraft carrier task force returning home from Syria via the English Channel. “We have paid attention to British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon’s statement about the Russian aircraft carrier task force that is passing the English Channel on its way home after a successful combat mission,” Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Igor Konashenkov said. “Such statements, and shows of escorting our warships, are geared to divert attention of British taxpayers from the real condition of the Royal Navy. “First, Russian warships need no senseless escort services, as they know the navigation passage and their course,” he stressed. “And secondly, we would suggest Mr. Fallon pay more attention to the British Navy since, according to the British media, there are plenty of grounds for that.” TASS notes that he was referring to the fact that “Britain’s The Sunday Times reported earlier about an abortive ballistic missile launch from a British submarine.” U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMICTurkey Ready To Give Lessons to Trump on Building InfrastructureJan. 26 (EIRNS)—Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced yesterday that Turkey is ready to help President Donald Trump in his bid to rebuild and expand the U.S.’s infrastructure. “Trump has disclosed his most assertive project, saying ‘I will build railways, roads, airports.’ Well, we are ready. If they need experience, it’s here. This is no joke. America has no high-speed trains, but we do,” Yildirim told officials of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara on Jan. 25, reported Hurriyet Daily News. “Nobody should see Turkey with different eyes. The opening of the Berlin Airport was recently postponed for the sixth time, while we are set to make the opening of the first phase of the world’s largest airport on Feb. 26, 2018,” he said. While one of the Trump Administration’s priority projects is to build a new tunnel under the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey—the first new crossing in 50 years—Turkey, in the last 10 years alone, has completed two tunnels and a bridge across the Bosporus Strait, between the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. Duterte: Investigate CIA, FBI Role in Botched Raid, Killing 44 Philippine Special ForcesJan. 26 (EIRNS)—Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has directly accused the U.S. CIA and FBI, along with former President Noynoy Aquino, as responsible for the botched Jan. 25, 2015, Philippine Special Forces raid aimed at killing a terrorist, but which led to the slaughter of 44 Philippine Special Forces by insurgent forces. Duterte is setting up a Commission of Supreme Court Justices and others with full power to investigate and summon witnesses. The Philippines Daily Inquirer reported that Duterte “said the commission could ask the United States government about their participation and find out where [the] reward money went.” Duterte was addressing the families of the slain soldiers on Jan. 24, before the second anniversary of the botched raid in Mamasapano, Mindanao. Aquino’s criminal role lies in the fact that he put himself in charge of the operation, ahead of his cabinet ministers and military chiefs, and is suspected of having issued a “stand-down” order to troops in the area who could have responded to the cry for help, when the Special Forces were surprised by an overwhelming force of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). The FBI had issued a $5 million reward for the capture or killing of the terrorist Marwan. He was caught and killed, but the MILF and BIFF then surrounded the Special Forces and killed 44 of them, some with torture, and severely wounded others. The U.S. CIA units in Mindanao at first denied any role, then admitted to sending helicopters to pick up the dead and wounded, but it is widely believed that they also used drones in the attack, at least for surveillance—and probably ran the entire operation. It is also likely that the Obama White House was directly overseeing the operation—which would explain why Aquino, a puppet of President Barack Obama, took personal command. In remarks addressing Aquino in his speech to the families of the victims, Duterte said: “Let it be brought out in the open. It was an American adventure with the cooperation of some, and apparently with your blessing.” SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTUREAngola’s First Deepwater Port under Construction, To Receive Chinese FinancingJan. 26 (EIRNS)—The Chairman of Fundo Soberano de Angola (FSDEA), Angola’s sovereign wealth fund, Jose Filomeno dos Santos, said today that the Export-Import Bank of China would make a loan of up to $600 million, and his fund would provide about $180 million, for the construction of a deepwater port in the northern province of Cabinda, which would have a total cost of $1.1 billion, Global Construction Review (GCR) reported today. Angola is Africa’s second-largest oil producer, and the commodity accounts for around 45% of GDP and 95% of exports. The project is expected to generate around 20,000 jobs, FSDEA said. Formerly called Portuguese Congo, the province of Cabinda, on the Atlantic Ocean, is separated from the rest of Angola by a narrow strip of land that belongs to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The province is also bordered by the Republic of Congo. Construction work commenced last year, and the first phase is expected to be complete by the end of 2017. This will include a terminal with a 630-meter quay and alongside depth of 14 meters, connected to the shore by a 2 km bridge. A ship repair facility and free trade zone are also part of the first phase of the project, JOC.com reported on Jan. 25. According to the GCR report, “the second phase will involve the extension of the quay to 1.5 km and the construction of an access road. In the third phase, the quay will be extended to 1.9 km, more cranage will be added, and an oil jetty may be built.” OTHER‘India Lost a Valued Friend’: Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin Dies in New DelhiJan. 26 (EIRNS)—Having been in India for almost 28 years, half of them as Russia’s envoy, Alexander Kadakin died of a heart attack in New Delhi today, while still on active duty. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his personal sadness at Kadakin’s death. Modi tweeted: “Deeply saddened at the passing away of Ambassador Alexander Kadakin. He was an admirable diplomat, a great friend of India, and a fluent Hindi speaker, who tirelessly contributed to stronger India-Russia ties.” India’s External Affairs Ministry said that in Kadakin’s passing away, India lost a valued friend. Russian President Vladimir Putin, expressing his condolences, said that Ambassador Kadakin, over his years of work at the Foreign Ministry, had held various senior posts in the central staff and abroad, and had always been distinguished by his professionalism and analytical and creative abilities, and was a truly erudite person. “Mr. Kadakin was firm and consistent in defending our country’s interests, played an active part in resolving important foreign policy tasks, and made a particularly big personal contribution to developing Russian-Indian relations, which are one of our foreign policy priorities,” the President said, as posted on the Kremlin website. Kadakin, who had been at the Soviet Embassy in New Delhi during the 1970s and 1980s, was sent as Russia’s Ambassador to India in 1999 for a five-year term. He was sent again in 2009, and died as an Ambassador-in-service. On a number of occasions, Kadakin had met with EIR representatives in New Delhi, and on two separate occasions had met with Lyndon LaRouche and Helga Zepp-LaRouche during their visits to India. |
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