EDITORIAL
What’s at Stake in the Coup Attempt against Trump
March 8 (EIRNS)—In an extraordinarily welcome sight since Tuesday, American and Russian military forces have met and been patrolling nearly beside one another—clearly in coordination—outside the city of Manbij in Syria, providing calm around that city while Russian forces deliver aid to it. This event follows simultaneous Russian and American bombing of ISIS outside Palmyra while Syrian forces drove ISIS out of that city; and a three-way meeting of the U.S., Russian, and Turkish chiefs of staff and their staffs on the Syria war on Monday.
U.S.-Russian cooperation against international terrorism is occurring in reality in Syria; a beginning.
It is ironic that the most prominent media coverage of the Manbij development—with photos and a 1945 picture of American and Russian troops greeting each other at the Elbe in the defeat of Hitler—appeared in the London Times. It is this cooperation, not only against terrorism, which has made the British security and intelligence establishment, and the Obama political circle, furious. It has made them try to force President Donald Trump out of office “by resignation or impeachment,” as a friend of Barack Obama told Britain’s Daily Mail. It has even led some British, German, and French “media leaders” to publicly discuss assassinating Trump. And it has made some Democratic leaders—the ones who refused to allow talk of impeachment when Cheney and Bush had plunged into a disastrous Iraq War by lying to Congress and the United Nations—strive to set up impeachment of President Trump for opposing war confrontation with Russia.
What is at stake is a much greater promise than cooperation against terrorism. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated again March 7, that his country’s goal is the cooperation of the United States, Russia and China, beyond stabilizing the world, to generating worldwide economic, technological, and scientific development. The modern infrastructure projects China has initiated in 60 countries along the “New Silk Road” offer the “platform for the brightest prospects in the world,” said Wang, if the greatest powers join in them. “The Belt and Road Initiative belongs to the world.”
This is where the “great infrastructure building program” that President Trump talks about will find its driver. The prospect of this new paradigm, is what the Obama/British coup against Trump intends to stop.
It is British intelligence which has been generating secret research and charges of “Trump-Russia” collusion for the past year, leading to the open McCarthyism and Obama war against Trump of the past two months.
But the American people voted for a new direction, above all in restoring a productive economy, living standards and productive employment. Their response to EIR and LaRouche PAC mobilizing for that new paradigm—even in all the town halls and rallies organized on apparently partisan lines—shows how to defeat Obama and his British backers.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Wang Yi Stresses ‘Win-Win’ Rather Than Zero Sum in Sino-U.S. Relations
March 8 (EIRNS)—In a broad-ranging press conference on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reported that the Sino-U.S. relationship “is transitioning … in a positive direction through intense cooperation and joint efforts on both sides.”
Wang pointed out that last month’s phone conversation between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump “had set the direction and paved the way for bilateral relations,” adding that “as long as we act on the consensus reached between our Presidents, follow the principle of no conflicts and no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, there is no reason why China and the United States cannot become excellent partners.” Both nations have many shared interests, Wang underscored, “so we should pool our efforts to enlarge out shared interests, rather than building one’s success at the expense of the other, because it is just not possible.”
The Chinese Foreign Minister praised U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who will be visiting China soon, as a “good listener and a good communicator.”
In the same press conference, Wang Yi also emphasized the importance of China, the United States and Russia working together. Relations among the three should not be a “seesaw game,” he asserted, but rather the three should work with each other to pursue “win-win, rather than zero-sum outcomes … we believe the three countries can develop healthy and positive relations so that jointly we can fulfill our responsibilities for world peace and development.” He stressed that Russia-China relations are as strong “as they have ever been,” and that the two will improve strategic coordination on both international and regional issues, and together “act as a stabilizer in an otherwise turbulent world.” “[The relationship] has stood the test of international vicissitudes,” he said, and it won’t be weakened by any external factors.”
Looking toward the May 14-15 Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, Wang Yi described this initiative as “the most popular public good and the platform for international cooperation with the brightest prospects in the world.” The idea of the Belt and Road Initiative came from China, he said, “but it belongs to the world with its benefits flowing to all countries.” In this context, he also mentioned the BRICS grouping, which, despite the ups and downs of its individual members, hasn’t lost its “luster, but will shine more brightly if its members stay united.” Wang also indicated that they would also explore the “modalities of BRICS Plus,” indicating the possibility of expanding the BRICS to other countries.
As the rotating chair of the BRICS this year, he said that China intends to work with member-nations to review its own experience, “plan the future,” and usher in the “second golden decade of BRICS cooperation.”
Letter to ‘New Silk Road Lady’ Helga Zepp-LaRouche from Yemen’s Foreign Minister
March 8 (EIRNS)—The Chairman of the Yemeni Advisory Office for Coordination with BRICS Fouad Al-Ghaffari published the following short statement on social media today, including a screenshot of Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s interview with Chinese English TV (CCTV) in 2015.
“On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, the New Silk Road Lady, Helga Zepp-LaRouche received a letter sent to her by Yemen’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Engineer Hisham Sharaf, in appreciation of her call for making Yemen a pearl in the necklace of the New Silk Road. In response, Mrs. LaRouche has expressed her appreciation of this letter, and reiterated the Schiller Institute’s principled position of standing with the people of Yemen against this destructive war, and for the return of the national dialogue to find a political solution for the crisis in Yemen, and embark on the process of reconstruction and development and integrating Yemen in the maritime and land New Silk Roads.”
EIR can confirm the receipt of a letter from Yemen’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Hisham Sharaf Abdullah, dated March 1, addressing Mrs. LaRouche as the “New Silk Road Lady” and Chairwoman of the International Schiller Institute. Mr. Sharaf expressed his gratitude for Mrs. LaRouche and her “international team around the world” who have taken a great stance in support of the people of Yemen against “the murderous Saudi-Emirati aggression machine.” This stance, he stressed, combined with her persistent call on Yemen to adopt the BRICS paradigm and turning Yemen into a “pearl in the necklace of the New Silk Road,” have represented a powerful motivation for the Yemeni people to win the battle they are leading, and prepare the launching of the process of reconstruction and building of the country.
Mr. Sharaf is a member of the new national government cabinet in Sana’a, Yemen, which was voted by the Yemeni Parliament last November. Since 2011 Mr. Sharaf has served as deputy and minister in several ministries. According to Wikipedia, he holds a civil engineering degree, which he received from Pennsylvania State University in 1983. He obtained a Master’s degree in projects administration, with a minor in the computer field from Catholic University of America in 1988.
The UN does not recognize the national government in Sana’a as the representative of the Yemeni people, but recognizes the President-in-Saudi-exile, Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, as president. Hadi’s term had ended when he fled to Saudi Arabia, where he was used as an excuse to launch the genocidal bombardment of Yemen in March 2015. Hadi was not elected by the people of Yemen, but was appointed by the Parliament for a limited term in the midst of a chaotic political situation in the country.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Ground Is Shifting under Obama/British Coup Effort To Overthrow Trump
March 8 (EIRNS)—President Trump’s charge on March 3 that his campaign headquarters had been wiretapped by the Obama Administration, has caused a shift in the battleground of the London/Obama attempt to force Trump out “by resignation or impeachment.”
As Washington’s The Hill reports in a lead article today, Trump may “turn the tables” on Obama. The fact that the Obama Administration intelligence agencies were intensively conducting surveillance on Trump’s campaign and close advisors, looking for Russia connections, has effectively been clear since the start of the scandalizing of then-National Security Advisor Gen. Michael Flynn in late January. But it was only the “scandalous” alleged products of that surveillance which were dominating media coverage and political debate. Since Trump’s March 3 charge, attention has turned to the surveillance itself and the continuous leakage of its real and alleged results by the NSA, FBI, and CIA. That conduct combines the elements of McCarthyism, and the Watergate scandal, against Obama’s operations.
Now come investigations by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, foreshadowed by Sen. Chuck Grassley’s charge in his Judiciary Committee March 7, that Democratic Sen. Al Franken had ambushed Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the latter’s confirmation hearing with a just-released story based on intercepts leaked to Congress. House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) said again today that he has seen no evidence that Russia intervened to help Trump win the election, and said “I do not believe that to be the case.” His Committee’s hearing is set for March 20.
The Hill, as if rediscovering the New York Times anti-Trump campaign, writes “The Times ran a story on inauguration day titled ‘Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides,’ which described how ‘American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump.’ And the Times has reported that Obama-administration officials left behind clues leading to ties between Trump and Russia so their successors might follow the trail.” And it comments that Obama’s denial of having personally ordered surveillance in Trump Tower was a very narrow and weak denial.
But it is clear that beyond CIA, FBI, or FISA Court-ordered surveillance, the gushing leaks of secret information had to have as their origin the NSA, which immediately also means Britain’s GCHQ intelligence command. NSA veteran Walter Binney, interviewed by the Intercept March 7, said this surveillance was more likely done under Executive Order 12333 than FISA court orders. And the fact that the FBI partially funded British intelligence agent Christopher Steele’s opposition research against a U.S. Presidential candidate, Trump, will also be investigated in Congress.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Nunes: ‘Who’s Behind the Leaks?’
March 8 (EIRNS)—In a press conference this afternoon, following a classified hearing that included FBI Director James Comey, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, refused to be drawn into press speculation about alleged “Russian contacts” with Donald Trump’s associates.
Asked whether he were confident that no evidence of such contacts exists, he replied that other than the case of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, “we still have no evidence” of any other contacts. To reporters obsessing over Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ contact with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Nunes indicated there is clearly disagreement between Sessions’ report on the nature of his Russian contact and what “some” Senators are saying, and urged “level heads to prevail” to resolve the situation.
Nunes underscored, in response to a question about a possible independent investigation, that his committee is the appropriate place for an investigation to occur, as it has broad jurisdiction over intelligence agencies. The committee has longstanding concern about Russian activities, he explained, but pointedly added that it is still waiting for the information that went into an Obama administration document from early January. It needs to know “what the FBI can provide us … and also who’s behind the leaks.”
To one reporter who cited a New York Times article today on British and Dutch intelligence claims about meetings between Trump associates and Russian officials in European cities, Nunes replied sharply: “I don’t have anything that would lead me to believe that this was the case.” He dismissed as “far-fetched” concerns by unnamed Obama administration officials that the Trump White House might destroy incriminating intelligence in its possession.
Unnamed Obama administration officials? “If they have information, it would be easy for them to stand up in a press conference, like I’m doing, and state those concerns,” Nunes replied. “Why don’t you guys chase them down and sit outside their house” and “ask them about their concerns?”
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
U.S. and Russian Patrols Jointly Keep Syrian City from Attack
March 8 (EIRNS)—A replay of U.S. and Soviet troops meeting on the Elbe? The Times of London illustrates its coverage of U.S. and Russian troops in Manbij, Syria, with that very image, noting that this is the closest cooperation on the battlefield between Moscow and Washington since World War II. No such encounter as the Elbe handshake has actually occurred, but the Russians and the Americans are only five miles apart, patrolling villages to the west of Manbij in order to keep Turkish and Turkish-backed FSA forces from attacking Kurdish militias in the city, as the Turkish government has repeatedly threatened to do, but which both Moscow and Washington have been seeking to prevent. With the U.S.-Russian presence outside the city, the Turks seem to be backing down. It “makes no sense to launch an operation in Manbij without the co-operation of Russia and the United States,” Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirm said after the tripartite meeting among the military chiefs of the U.S., Turkey, and Russia in Antalya, Turkey, yesterday. A Pentagon official said, yesterday, that the U.S. troops are in Manbij to “reassure and deter.”
The Russians, who brought relief supplies for the local population with them, are embedded with Syrian army forces who have liberated most of the territory between the Kuweires air base outside of Aleppo city and the Euphrates River and south of Al Bab and Manbij. Syrian troops are reportedly not in Manbij, itself, but are patrolling areas to the west and south.
Chinese Foreign Minister Warns of War Danger in Korean Peninsula
March 8 (EIRNS)—Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during a press conference on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress, yesterday, warned that events on the Korean Peninsula could spin out of control and into war.
“The two sides are like two accelerating trains coming toward each other, and neither side is willing to give way,” he said. “Our priority now is to flash the red light and apply brakes.” Wang Yi called on South Korea to stop the deployment of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system, the first elements of which arrived in South Korea yesterday. “It’s not the way neighbors should behave to each other, and it may very well make the R.O.K. less secure,” he said, calling on Seoul to refrain from going too far along the wrong path.
Wang warned that those who pursue the THAAD deployment in South Korea will end up hurting themselves, as well as others.
“China’s suggestion is, as a first step, for North Korea to suspend nuclear and missile activities, and for the U.S. and South Korea to also suspend large-scale military drills,” Wang said. Such a “dual suspension” would allow all sides to return to the negotiating table, Wang said. “Holding nuclear weapons won’t bring security; using military force won’t be a way out,” Wang said. “There remains a chance of resuming talks; there is still hope for peace.”
Experts consulted by the Associated Press suggested that Wang’s proposal, which was reportedly put forward without prior consultation with either the Washington or Seoul, is aimed at putting pressure on U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who arrives in the region later this month, to discuss, among other things, the North Korean problem. According to a State Department release, Tillerson will arrive in Tokyo on March 15, continue on to Seoul on March 17, and then travel to Beijing on March 18.
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Report on European Banks Shows Disaster Coming
March 8 (EIRNS)—The Bloomberg report March 7 which focused on European banks’ failure to lend into the economy, presented, in addition, a completely pathological European financial system which is ready to crash. Four aspects of the report make clear how dead are the European economies, and how near their banks to a collapse which will take down the City of London and Wall Street.
First, the deposits of Europe’s non-financial companies in the banks rose by an extraordinary 18% in 2016, and by $848 billion since 2014, despite those banks paying no interest and in some cases charging negative interest on those deposits. The companies, perceiving no demand or prospects of economic activity around them, are paying to hoard their cash rather than use it.
Second, the banks themselves put an additional $1.16 trillion into the European Central Bank as “excess bank reserves” since 2014, despite having to pay the ECB negative interest to keep those reserves. They had no use for lending it, also seeing no demand. Insane policies on budget and economic austerity throughout the entire Eurozone have eliminated demand for credit, and the big banks have done the rest.
Third, the major banks in the “northern” European countries and in London, also used the $1.8 trillion they received from ECB purchases of bonds from them since 2014, just like the $848 billion in additional customer deposits, for anything but lending. Their lending increased by only about $175 billion in that period and is still below the level of 2012. Aside from capitalizing themselves with it and paying it to their shareholders to increase their stock price, the 20 largest European banks dramatically increased their reserves against bad-loan losses, by 27% in 2016 alone.
These banks, not surprisingly, remain unprofitable and are getting more so. Income of the 20 largest Eurozone banks fell 5% in 2016 and their net profits dropped by 50% to €33 billion for the 20 banks combined. For comparison, Wells Fargo Bank alone, despite a very damaging scandal, made more than half that much profit in 2016. This is the critical problem which threatens to set Deutsche Bank’s huge derivatives bubble exploding at any moment.
Fourthly, the capital flow continues and is accelerating from the banking systems of the superindebted countries such as Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal, to the “strong” countries’ banks. This is anything but strength; it guarantees one of those superindebted countries’ systems will trigger a general bank blowout—unless quickly reorganized on Glass-Steagall principles and saved by national credit issuance to create productive demand.
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
China-Made Maglevs Less Expensive than Subway Systems
March 8 (EIRNS)—Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review journal looks at urban transit systems based on maglev technology, as they are being developed in China already, with a pilot track at Changsha having operated smoothly and reliably for about one year of service. More such trains will be built in projects totalling $8.7 billion.
“As automobiles increase rapidly and fuel road congestion in China, developing urban transit systems is an urgent task,” Nikkei writes. “Developers have installed subway systems in large cities, but construction costs 500-800 million yuan per kilometer, due to the digging work involved. Aboveground maglev rails cost just 200-300 million yuan per kilometer.”
“It costs one-half to one-third of what it costs a subway to build, and requires less space to install rails,” an official of the Changsha project developer told Nikkei Asian Review. With these advantages, maglev train projects are increasing rapidly in China. China Railway Construction in October created a wholly-owned subsidiary to step up maglev construction. The company has reached an agreement with the government of Qingyuan in Guangdong Province, and plans a 30 km network costing 10 billion yuan. The target is to begin operations at the end of 2018. China Railway Group, a major developer with former ties to the Railway Ministry, is building a 20 km maglev system to open this year in a Beijing suburb, at a cost of 12 billion yuan.
Similar networks are envisioned for Urumqi, in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and to link the Sichuan Province cities of Deyang and Chengdu—the latter being the city from which most freight trains depart for Europe.
South Korea also has had an operating maglev which began operation in February 2016. It is the Incheon Airport Maglev, which has a speed of 110 kph and operates automatically. The 6.1 km line, which will soon be expanded to 37 km, was built by Hyundai Rotem. The project began in 2006 with technology development fully in South Korea.
