Volume 4, Number 80

EIR Daily Alert Service

P.O. Box 17390, Washington, DC 20041-0390

• The World Is Responding to LaRouche, Targeting the British Empire
• Trump in Press Conference with Italy’s Gentiloni, Praises Verdi, Pavarotti, and Xi Jinping
• Trump Ignores Anti-Carbon Fanaticism
• Lavrov and Tillerson Talk by Phone on Syria and on Russia-U.S. Relations
• Global Times Editorial: China Will Not Allow Overthrow of North Korea
• Syrian President Assad: The Entire Chemical Weapons Charge ‘Was a False Flag, a Lie’
• New York Times Hysteria over Glass-Steagall Momentum
• Russia and Japan Developing 20 Joint Projects
• Greece and China Sponsor Ten Great ‘Ancient Civilizations Forum’ in Athens
• Erdogan on Major Tour To Meet Leaders of India, Russia, China and the U.S.
• White House Urges Students To Watch President Trump’s Call with ISS Astronauts

EDITORIAL

The World Is Responding to LaRouche, Targeting the British Empire

April 23 (EIRNS)—The Russian and Chinese press this week made a point of covering the campaigns of the LaRouche movement to bring the Trump Presidency to bring the United States into the New Silk Road paradigm of Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, while also increasingly identifying the role of the British in subverting Trump’s efforts to bring the U.S., Russia and China into cooperation for the betterment of mankind. At the same time, political institutions in the U.S. are moving toward collaboration with the LaRouche organizations—the Schiller Institute, Executive Intelligence Review, and the LaRouche Political Action Committee (LaRouche PAC).

On Saturday, representatives of the Schiller Institute and members of a New Jersey-based Tea Party organization joined forces in front of the New York Times—or, as President Trump correctly identifies it, the “failing New York Times.” Signs at the protest included:  “The New York Times Wants War with Russia, Americans Want Peace”; “The New York Times—All the Fake News in Print”; and a poster with the portrait of Goebbels blushing, with the words: “The New York Times Makes Goebbels Blush.”

An article in TASS that evening wrote: “ ‘The whole world laughs at the New York Times,’ Daniel Burke, spokesman for the Schiller Institute, said in an interview with a TASS correspondent. ‘They have become miserly servants of those who seek war and chaos.’ In his opinion, the publication ‘spreads lies about Syria just as it lied about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This is part of a cynical and false campaign to change the regime in Syria—this can easily lead to a Third World War,’ Burke said.” Ruptly, RT’s TV and video service, posted a video of the rally.

Also on Saturday, China Daily published a long article, with pictures, reporting on the April 13-14 Schiller Institute conference in New York City, titled “Belt and Road Initiative ‘New Platform’ for Sino-U.S. Cooperation,” reporting on presentations by Dr. Patrick Ho, founder of the China Energy Fund Committee, Deputy Consul General of the P.R.C. in New York Zhang Meifang, and Deputy Chargé d’Affaires at the Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN Petr Iliichev, who all spoke with Schiller Institute Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche.

EIR has now commenced a daily, short (1-2 minutes) video on the EIR YouTube channel, dedicated entirely to exposing the direct British role in both subverting any cooperation between the U.S., Russia and China, and using every conceivable lie to manipulate the U.S. into a war against Russia and China—a war which could immediately end civilization as we know it. We encourage everyone to subscribe to this daily video.

President Trump, in his meeting with President Xi Jinping on April 6-7 in Florida, accepted Xi’s invitation to visit China, but without setting a date for the visit. While such a visit is of extreme importance for the future of mankind whenever it takes place, Lyndon and Helga LaRouche have strongly encouraged the President to attend “The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation,” which will be held in Beijing on May 14-15. Were he to attend, Trump would be able to meet with both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, along with 26 other heads of state and government who plan to attend the forum, in an environment aimed at creating cooperation for development between the nations on our shared planet. The world must act now to achieve such a new paradigm for world development, as the necessary basis to end the British system of geopolitical military confrontation once and for all, and create a new Renaissance dedicated to the common aims of mankind.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Trump in Press Conference with Italy’s Gentiloni, Praises Verdi, Pavarotti, and Xi Jinping

April 21 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump had a few words of praise in his remarks on Italy during the press conference with visiting Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni yesterday. Trump praised Italy’s “timeless contributions to civilization and progress” as a “beacon of artistic and scientific achievement, from Venice to Florence, from Verdi to Pavarotti” who, he stressed, was a good friend of his.

During the Q&A he was asked about Korea and he took the opportunity to praise China’s President Xi Jinping. “I have great respect for the President of China, I like him very much” he said, stating he believes this is reciprocal. “Some very unusual moves have been done in the last few hours” by China versus North Korea “and I am very confident.”

Trump Ignores Anti-Carbon Fanaticism

April 23 (EIRNS)—While fanatical environmentalists all over the world were hyping pagan Earth worship and calling it “science” on Earth Day, yesterday, President Trump, in two tweets, identified real concerns, instead. “Today on Earth Day, we celebrate our beautiful forests, lakes and land. We stand committed to preserving the natural beauty of our nation,” he said in his first tweet of the day. A couple of hours later, he said: “I am committed to keeping our air and water clean but always remember that economic growth enhances environmental protection. Jobs matter!”

Lavrov and Tillerson Talk by Phone on Syria and on Russia-U.S. Relations

April 22 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had a telephone conversation on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a press release, reported TASS.

“During the discussion of international problems Lavrov expressed regret over the U.S. opposition to Russia’s initiative in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] to dispatch inspectors to Syria for verifying the reports on the use of sarin nerve gas in the town of Khan Sheikhoun on April 4 and the presence of poison chemicals on the Shairat airbase,” the ministry said. “Lavrov and Tillerson agreed to issue instructions for pondering a possibility to organize an independent investigation of the incident under the aegis of the OPCW.”

They also discussed bilateral relations, with Lavrov bringing up Russia’s demand “to return the Russian diplomatic properties in the U.S., which the Obama Administration confiscated unlawfully.”

“Lavrov and Tillerson also agreed on kick-starting the work of a joint expert group at the level of deputy foreign ministers to tap the ways of eliminating the irritants from bilateral relations,” the report said.

Acting State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said in a statement: “The Secretary and Foreign Minister discussed a range of other topics, including the OPCW investigation into Syria’s use of chemical weapons on April 4. The Secretary reiterated his support for the OPCW’s existing investigative mechanism,” the statement said—i.e., no need to send anyone to the scene, just accept the word of the Brits.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Global Times Editorial: China Will Not Allow Overthrow of North Korea

April 22 (EIRNS)—In an unsigned editorial today in the party paper Global Times, China warned the Trump Administration that “Beijing would never sit back and watch foreign military forces overthrow the Pyongyang regime. If it has not done so already, Beijing will rather quickly illustrate their overall position in a clear fashion to both Washington and Seoul.”

The editorial, “Realistic Solution Needed for NK Nuke Issue,” also states that “Washington and Seoul need to reflect deeply over how much they have contributed to Pyongyang’s nuclear program obsession. If Washington refuses to probe deeper into this overall issue and only replies with military force,” there will be a war.

China strongly opposes such a war, they continue, but, reflecting that they are very much aware that the actual target of the threats against North Korea is China, they write, China “must always be ready for war of any kind. Then Washington and Seoul would not have effective ability to threaten Beijing with war, and would respect and consider Beijing’s suggestions on a greater level. Now would be a good time for Beijing to brief Washington on its pre-established position should a war break out.” They imply that China would not necessarily engage militarily if the U.S. attacked North Korea’s nuclear facilities, but state that “it would be in Washington’s best interest if it would take into full consideration the high level of threat that could emerge over a revenge attack on Seoul carried out by Pyongyang. Such a revenge attack would be too heavy for Washington and Seoul to withstand.”

“However,” they continue, “if U.S. and South Korea armed forces cross the Korean Demilitarized Line in a ground invasion for the direct purpose of annihilating the Pyongyang regime, China will sound its own alarms and ramp up their military immediately.”

They conclude: “China should work closely with the U.S. and all related parties in order to inspire Pyongyang to cease its nuclear activities.” However: “Right now more than ever, China has the power to remain steadfast with its own agenda without having to bend its knees to foreign pressure, and this is the underlying stance supported by millions of Chinese people.”

Also, a statement from the Information Bureau of China’s Ministry of National Defense refuted the Western reports that China had mobilized air force bombers and was on “high alert” over the tension on the Korean Peninsula. “The reports are not true,” said the statement, and that Chinese forces were in “standard operational readiness and conducting normal training along the border.”

Syrian President Assad: The Entire Chemical Weapons Charge ‘Was a False Flag, a Lie’

April 21 (EIRNS)—Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stated that “the attack on Shairat airport was a false flag, was a lie,” in an interview with Sputnik published April 21. Assad said that the physical evidence on the ground is incontrovertible: not only did Syria not launch a chemical weapon attack on Khan Sheikhoun, but they did not even inadvertently bomb an ISIS chemical weapons depot on that site, as Russia originally hypothesized. The entire incident was concocted, from top to bottom, to justify a return to a policy of regime change against Syria.

“We formally sent a letter to the United Nations, we asked them in that letter to send a delegation in order to investigate what happened in Khan Sheikhoun. Of course till this moment they didn’t send [anyone], because the West and the United States blocked any delegation from coming, because if they come, they will find that all their narratives about what happened in Khan Sheikhoun and then the [U.S.] attack on Shairat airport was a false flag, was a lie…. So, for us, there was no gas attack and no gas depot, it was a false flag play just to justify the attack on the Shairat base. That’s what happened,” Assad said.

Assad stated that the Syrian army did carry out an air attack in the province of Idlib on April 4, but six hours earlier than the incident reported by Western media. And there is zero evidence of chemical weapons in that area, before or after.

“The attack was already prepared, and they didn’t want to listen, they didn’t want to investigate; they only wanted to launch the attack. We believe it was a false flag for one reason and a simple reason: if there was gas leakage or an attack, and you’re talking about 60 dead in that city, how could the city continue its life normally? They didn’t evacuate the city….

“Even if you look at the pictures, you can see that the rescuers—the presumable rescuers—were rescuing people without masks, without gloves, and they were moving freely. How? This is against all the specifications of the sarin gas that they talked about. You can fake this image, it’s very easy. So, you cannot just base your judgment on images and videos, especially made by al-Qaeda.”

Syria’s official press agency SANA issued the transcript of the full interview.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Igor Konashenkov on April 20 made a similar argument to point to the fraud being perpetrated. “In the past two weeks, not a single OPCW representative was seen there,” at the site of the alleged attack in Syria. “Where do these samples come from?” that the OPCW claims prove there was a sarin gas attack. “Who of the OPCW members was able to study them so fast, while standard procedures stipulate a complex research which requires time, as we can see in the case of mustard gas use in Aleppo?” he demanded to know, according to a report from TASS.

Konashenkov further pointed to the irony that “the charlatans from the White Helmets organization were hustling and bustling inside sarin clouds with no protective gear on…. Although independent experts do not believe that anyone could have remained unharmed in a sarin gas attack, nevertheless, maybe [OPCW head] Mr. Uzumcu has created his own periodic table of elements, instead of Mendeleev’s one,” Konashenkov suggested.

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

New York Times Hysteria over Glass-Steagall Momentum

April 22 (EIRNS)—Under the headline, “Bring Back Glass-Steagall?—Goldman Sachs Would Love That,” financial journalist William Cohan wrote yesterday in the New York Times “DealBook” blog that “Among the many silly ideas floating around Washington these days about how to re-regulate Wall Street is that old chestnut about separating investment banking from commercial banking.”

While repeating the tired line that the 2008 crash had nothing to do with the takedown of Glass-Steagall, Cohan reaches deep into the fantasy world to come up with another excuse, declaring the whole thing to be a Goldman Sachs plot. After all, he notes, the investment banks that were “saved” by the Wall Street “too big to fail” banks—Bear Stearns by JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch by Bank of America—would have to spend billions to unwind their investment banking from their commercial banking under a Glass-Steagall regime, but Goldman never merged with any commercial bank and would get off without any pain.

Referencing Gary Cohn (the head of Trump’s National Economic Council and former CEO of Goldman) who responded positively to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s question regarding the Trump administration’s support for Glass-Steagall, Cohan writes: “What better way for Mr. Cohn to repay his former colleagues than by endorsing a plan that would virtually eliminate Goldman’s remaining competitors and cause them to spend years, and billions of dollars, going down the rabbit hole of separating their commercial and investment banking businesses? Goldman Sachs would love nothing more than a return to a form of Glass-Steagall.”

Cohan admits that the problem on Wall Street is that “people are rewarded for taking big risks with other people’s money,” but pretends Glass-Steagall wouldn’t affect that, while arguing that “the big Wall Street banks are global leaders and the envy of competitors—especially in Western Europe and in Asia.”

The conclusion of this foolish diatribe: “The crafty Mr. Cohn is playing the senior senator from Massachusetts for the fool.”

Russia and Japan Developing 20 Joint Projects

April 22 (EIRNS)—Japan and Russia are developing 20 joint projects in several areas, including energy and medicine, which will be further discussed during the upcoming visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Moscow later this month, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper wrote Saturday.

According to TASS, one issue is to finalize the sale of 10-20% of the shares of the Russian pharmaceutical company R-Pharm to Japan’s Mitsui, the newspaper said, which involves the supply of Japanese drugs to the Russian market as well as expanding cooperation in the production of drugs in Russia.

Another project to be discussed is the participation of Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) in the joint development of oil and gas fields in Russia’s Irkutsk.

These projects, among others, are part of the eight-point cooperation plan to develop the relations with Russia that Abe had put forward during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on May 6, 2016. The plan includes cooperation in the energy sector, small and medium-sized businesses, the promotion of industrialization of the Far East, expansion of the export base, nuclear energy, and the sphere of humanitarian exchanges.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Greece and China Sponsor Ten Great ‘Ancient Civilizations Forum’ in Athens

April 22 (EIRNS)—The foreign ministers of Greece and China are sponsoring the first Ministerial Conference of the “Ancient Civilization Forum,” also called the GC10 (Great Civilizations 10), in Athens on April 23-24. Greece’s Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will host the foreign ministers of Bolivia, Egypt, India, Iraq, Iran, Italy, Mexico, and Peru.

Speaking at a press conference on April 21, the Greek Foreign Minister said, “On Sunday, the meeting of states with a long history of civilization starts. It is relevant today and impacts humanity via ‘soft power’ and economic influence. Initiated by Greece and supported by China, we have organized the meeting of 10 countries with a significant historic cultural baggage…. We will discuss how we can use the possibilities offered by cultural cooperation for the good of the world and of our peoples.”

He went on, “It is a great prospect and opportunity to turn it into a great institution which will prove to international institutions that one does not only need hard power, military or economic power, but also soft power, which should be upgraded.

“Upgrading culture is important because culture brings peace, it doesn’t bring war. It brings education; therefore it upgrades people’s quality of life.”

Kotzias expressed his belief that Greece is a geo-strategic and cultural hub where the civilizations of Africa, Asia and Europe meet, adding that the forum is part of the ministry’s multi-dimensional policy of soft power being followed which concerns utilizing intellectual, traditional, historical and cultural issues.

“In culture, Greece is a great power. Our heritage is particular and it is one sector where we can and should play a role in world affairs. It’s a sector in which Greece has a lot to offer,” he said.

The GC10 group initiative was unveiled in late 2015 by the Greek Foreign Ministry. The “group of ten” of the world’s greatest civilizations is home to almost half of the world’s population.

Erdogan on Major Tour To Meet Leaders of India, Russia, China and the U.S.

April 21 (EIRNS)—Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will have meetings with the leaders of India, Russia, China, and the United States as part of a bid to relaunch Turkey’s foreign policy which should be in the right direction given the leaders he will be meeting.

The first stop of this tour will be India on April 30, on which he will be accompanied by ministers responsible for economy and trade to participate in Turkey-India Business Forum. Erdogan will meet with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Erdogan will then travel to Sochi, Russia, on May 3 to meet President Vladimir Putin with whom he has been a frequent guest and will discuss developments in Syria. Erdogan-Putin will also discuss bilateral economic and energy ties

On May 14-15 Erdogan will attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation along with Putin and will have talks with his host Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as with other participants, and is expected to sign a cooperation agreement on the revival of the ancient Silk Road through new railways and roadways.

Erdogan announced he will meet U.S. President Donald Trump on May 16-17 in what will be the leaders’ first face-to-face meeting since Trump took office in January. The U.S. President delivered the invitation orally to Erdogan during a phone conversation on April 18, in which Trump reportedly told Erdogan: “Let’s meet face to face. Turkey is very important for us; we want to work with you.”

While in the U.S. he will seek to establish “a new framework” for the Turkish-American relationship in Washington.

Erdogan will then travel to Brussels on May 25 to attend the NATO Summit meeting. This will also provide an opportunity for Erdogan to hold bilateral meetings with the last and least important leaders, that is to say European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

White House Urges Students To Watch President Trump’s Call with ISS Astronauts

April 21 (EIRNS)—NASA and the Department of Education, on behalf of the White House, are both mobilized “to encourage classrooms throughout America to tune-in” live, when President Trump places a call to NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, April 24 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT), to congratulate her as she breaks the American record for most total days in space, besting NASA astronaut Jeff Williams’ record of 534 days.

NASA will be broadcasting the call live on NASA TV channels, from NASA’s Ustream and YouTube websites, and on its Facebook page, and is making NASA “STEM on Station” materials available for classroom use.

Trump’s daughter Ivanka and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins will join the President in the Oval Office for the call, while NASA astronaut Jack Fischer, who arrived yesterday for his first stay on the ISS, will join Whitson on the call.

Whitson, a 57-year-old Iowan, extended her third stay aboard the ISS extended for another three months on April 5. By the time she returns to Earth in September she will have clocked at least 663 days of total spaceflight time. She is currently the Commander of the ISS crew, making her the first woman to command the space station twice (she also headed the mission during her second six-month stay in 2007-2008). And with her eighth spacewalk on March 30 (seven hours-plus long), she set the record for most spacewalks conducted by a female astronaut, totalling 53 hours and 22 minutes working out-and-about in space in a spacesuit.

The decision to use the White House call to the ISS to excite young Americans about the space frontier coheres with President Trump’s March 25 Weekly Address promoting NASA and evoking Kennedy’s space program. He also noted on April 18, in a speech at Snap-On Tools headquarters in Wisconsin, that the United States needs the NASA space program psychologically:

“I don’t know if you noticed, recently I signed a very big order: We’re going to spend again on the NASA space program, something we need, and we also need it psychologically…. We are a nation of builders. We are the country that dug out the Panama Canal, that put a man on the face of the Moon, and that linked our cities with majestic railroads and curving highways. We are the country that is always on the cusp of the next invention.”