EIR Daily Alert Service

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EDITORIAL

Things Will Work Out Just Fine

May 18 (EIRNS)—Last night’s appointment of Robert Mueller as a “special counsel” was a fraud, a farce and an outrage from the get-go.  To begin with, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein’s order starts out by stating it as fact that Russia interfered in the U.S. elections—even though no evidence of that has ever been presented.  And then, the man named as “special counsel,” former FBI Director Robert Mueller, has a long record of proven corruption.  He was a leader of the “Get-LaRouche Task Force” which framed-up Lyndon LaRouche on false charges in 1988, after years of efforts.  Then he was named FBI Director days before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and spent the next 12 years as FBI Director covering up the evidence of the Saudi-British authorship of those attacks.

Could anyone worse have been found to lead this fishing expedition?—to be allowed spend virtually unlimited time and money in investigating and prosecuting anyone he chooses, on whatever grounds he decides?  From an FBI which regularly creates crimes in order to “solve” them?

Some of President Trump’s words to the graduating class of the Coast Guard Academy yesterday, before the announcement that a “special counsel” had been appointed, are even more appropriate now.

Amidst a lengthy discussion of the history and role of the Coast Guard, President Trump said, “Now, I want to take this opportunity to give you some advice.  Over the course of your life, you will find that things are not always fair.  You will find that things happen to you that you do not deserve, and that are not always warranted.  But you have to put your head down and fight, fight, fight.  Never, ever, ever give up.  Things will work out just fine.

“Look at the way I’ve been treated lately—(laughter)—especially by the media.  No politician in history—and I say this with great surety—has been treated worse or more unfairly.  [Except Lyndon LaRouche—ed.]  You can’t let them get you down.  You can’t let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams.  (Applause.)  I guess that’s why I—thank you.  I guess that’s why we won.

“Adversity makes you stronger.  Don’t give in.  Don’t back down.  And never stop doing what you know is right.  Nothing worth doing ever, ever, ever came easy.  And the more righteous your right, the more opposition that you will face.”

Later, after alluding to what he had accomplished at the start of his Presidency, he added, “And we are setting the stage right now for many, many more things to come.  And the people understand what I’m doing, and that’s the most important thing. I didn’t get elected to serve the Washington media or special interests.  I got elected to serve the forgotten men and women of our country, and that’s what I’m doing.  (Applause.)  I will never stop fighting for you, and I will never stop fighting for the American people.”

Now the outrageous appointment of a “special counsel” occurred in a very specific context.  On one level, President Trump had frightened the enemy when he showed again that he is prepared to fight, when he rightly fired FBI Director Comey—another rotten apple.  But this is not the important point.  Remember Lyndon LaRouche’s remarks when Donald Trump won the Presidential election.  He said that this was not an American event, but a world one.  The world had rejected Obama and everything he stood for, in effect.

In its world context, the appointment of the special counsel was only an impotent rearguard action against the onward march of the World Land-Bridge reflected in the Beijing Belt and Road Forum of May 14-15, and developments unfolding around the globe since then.  It occurs at a time when we can consolidate a victory for Lyndon LaRouche’s Four Laws, with the United States joining fully in the Belt and Road.

We’re coming off a historic victory.  We must be tough as nails with the population.

The special counsel appointment, the Russia hysteria, and the crazy talk of impeaching the President, are all nothing but evil lies.  At bottom, even many of those who are spreading them (like Sen. Chuck Schumer, for one example), actually know that they are all evil lies.  But they have convinced themselves that we live in a universe where evil lies will win out in the end—precisely because they are evil.

That may have been true before, but it’s not true any longer.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

The World Wants To Work with the U.S., Couldn’t Care Less about U.S. Press War on Trump

May 18 (EIRNS)—Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary Gen. John Kelly dismissed out of hand the inevitable question on “Russia-gate” at the press conference at the State Department with visiting Mexican Foreign Minister and Interior Minister today.

Tillerson’s response to the question of whether President Trump has lost credibility and leverage internationally, and if their work with foreign counterparts had been affected by the “investigations,” etc. was particularly pointed:

“There is a great sense of expectation and I think a great welcomeness of America returning to the scene.  Many of the leaders, particularly in the part of the world we’ll be traveling —the Middle East, Central Asia, and even parts of Africa—are ready for [the end of] a period of what they view to have been neglect to outright dismissal of their concerns. They’re ready for re-engagement with America.

“The purpose of this trip, is really one of conveying a message that America is back in terms of our role as a convener, our role as a facilitator to address the daunting challenges that exist in that part of the world, most particularly the challenge of global terrorism and how we confront global terrorism as a global peoples.  It is not just one nation’s challenge; it is one that’s shared by all of us.”

China Investment Corp. Plans Expanded Investments in the U.S., Opens New York Offices

May 18 (EIRNS)—In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published May 17, Tu Guangshao, president of the China Investment Corp. (CIC) sovereign wealth fund, reported that “there is a potential for Chinese companies to make more investments in the U.S. and vice versa.” One sign of that is that, tomorrow, CIC will open offices in New York City, replacing the office in Toronto, which until now, had been CIC’s only overseas representative office.

Tu explained that CIC is particularly looking at U.S. projects in highways, rail, and high-tech manufacturing plants, emphasizing that CIC can become a stable source of long-term capital for U.S. infrastructure and manufacturing projects, as well as helping U.S. companies to expand their operations in China’s market.

In January of this year, CIC chairman Ding Xuedong indicated that CIC wanted to change $50 billion of its holdings of U.S. Treasury debt into an investment in building of new infrastructure in the United States. Ding’s estimate of the investment needed to build a new and modern economic infrastructure in America was a very large $8 trillion—far beyond President Trump’s $1 trillion program—which, he said, would not be invested by the U.S. government and private investors alone. Schiller Institute chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who addressed two roundtables at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing this week, has enthusiastically supported such a proposal, noting that it would represent an exciting new level of Sino-U.S. collaboration to rebuild the U.S.’s decaying infrastructure.

In the Journal interview, Tu notes that, in the past, the U.S. investment environment has frustrated CIC direct investment, and pointed to the “overly strict scrutiny and opaque investment-review process” of U.S. authorities. Chinese officials have complained about the unfair review process by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), and Tu is urging U.S. authorities to improve the transparency of the process.

Can Trump Finally Bring Peace to the Middle East?

May 18 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump will be involved in intense diplomatic activity while in Saudi Arabia, attending three separate summits held over the weekend of May 20-21.

There will be a Saudi-U.S. summit consisting of bilateral meetings between King Salman and his staff and Trump. The second summit will include nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Trump, and the third, the Arab-Islamic-American summit, will include the U.S. President and leaders of several Arab nations.

On the occasion of these summits, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi gave an interview to Egypt’s national dailies yesterday, in which he emphasized that President Trump can play a pivotal role in mediating between Israel and the Palestinians. As reported by Sputnik, President el-Sisi said the Palestinians and the Arabs “are ready for peace. Israel believes that a chance has appeared…. For sure there is a chance, and if properly used, the solution will be found and this confrontation will fade into history.”

The key figure in this solution is Trump, the Egyptian President said. “Trump is a great man who is not satisfied with anything but success, and we have confidence in his abilities and his promises.” He also urged Israel “not to waste the opportunity to make peace,” and stressed that he’s very optimistic about the outcome of the Arab-Islamic-American summit.

U.S.-Mexico High-Level Meeting Advances Anti-Drug Fight in the Americas

May 18 (EIRNS)—The very day Colombian President “Sir” Juan Manuel Santos came to Washington in hopes of selling his “peace” with the FARC cocaine cartel as something other than outright legalization of drug production, trafficking and consumption, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly received Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray Caso and Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, for talks on how to strengthen collaboration in destroying the drug cartels which Santos and his British sponsors are trying to legalize.

In a joint press conference at the end of “frank and candid” discussions, all four U.S. and Mexican officials made clear that the working relationship of the two countries against drug production, trafficking, consumption and violence had been strengthened. Tillerson thanked the Mexican delegation for “very, very useful and fruitful conversations.” Osorio said the meeting “gives us a good path to follow in the fight against drug trafficking,” which, he noted, “is very important for both countries and the continent,” as organized crime related to drug trafficking is “one of the largest risks to the health, security, and, of course, the development of the peoples in Mexico and the U.S.”

Emphasis was put on intelligence sharing, and joint strategies against production, cross-border distribution, weapons trafficking, and cash flows. The crucial question of the controlling role of the Wall Street-London financial system itself over the entire Dope, Inc. apparatus, continues, however, to be the glaring missing element in the anti-drug strategies.

Tillerson and Kelly’s statements, in no uncertain terms, are explicit that the Trump administration is committed to reducing drug use inside the United States. The scourge of rampant drug legalization carried out under Obama’s regime is over.

“America must also confront the reality that we are the market. But for the seemingly endless demand by addicted users and the successful recruitment of young and vulnerable new users, there would be no market,” Tillerson stated. “We as Americans, parents, and friends of those who become addicted or would-be targets, must take new approaches as well.  We Americans must own this problem. It is ours.”

Tillerson said that “stopping the cross-border flow of drugs is an essential step in putting an end to widespread addiction and drug-related violence.  Too many families in America have been devastated by illegal drugs and we must stop this epidemic in its track.  No parent should endure the nightmare of a child succumbing to drug addiction.  By aggressively confronting the cartels operating in the United States and Mexico, we’re striving to stop merchants of death who have already helped cause unspeakable pain to so many on both sides of the border.”

Kelly announced that the administration is going to develop “a comprehensive drug demand reduction program in the United States that involves everybody”: professional sports, Hollywood, governors, mayors, parents, priests. Americans must understand “that playing around with drugs on a weekend for fun ultimately ends or results in the lives lost in Mexico… Colombia or Central America,” of military, police, reporters and media people, prosecutors, judges.

The Mexican proposal for a conference on Central American development has been taken up. Kelly announced that they are co-sponsoring a Central American Security and Prosperity conference in Miami in the summer.

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Euro-Exit Debate Becomes Official in Italy

May 18 (EIRNS)—Shockwaves are expected from Brussels, Paris, and the EU banking center in Frankfurt, when EU circles realize that in Italy a debate on “Italexit” has started, not among radical leftists or right-wingers, but at the most official establishment levels.

University of Chicago economist Luigi Zingales, who publicly endorsed Glass-Steagall one year ago, has opened the debate in Il Sole 24 Ore, the daily owned by the Italian industry association Confindustria. Zingales has hosted articles by pro- and anti-Euro economists, including Prof. Alberto Bagnai, and yesterday drew the conclusions of the first round of articles.

Zingales wrote that “the main conclusion is that the euro is a political choice, not an economic one.”  In the debate, economists’ arguments have been rebuked: Advantages such as price stability and low cost for sovereign debt are offset by real economic results. “From 2008 to 2013, domestic demand in Italy has dropped 16%. How much more recession should we still undergo, before we are competitive again?”

Political considerations are two: European unity will prevent wars, and the euro has an “orthopedic” function, namely forcing economic policy choices.

Concerning the first consideration, “do we really think that Italians and Germans feel they are closer to each other today, than 20 years ago, when the euro was introduced? If we read the pages of this newspaper, there are some doubts.”

Concerning the second consideration, the “institutional corset” “was exactly the reason why Argentina chose to peg its currency to the dollar at the beginning of the 1990s. It did not go well.” On the contrary, the “institutional corset” might become too painful and the patient can rebel with a violent reaction. “This would be the worst of the possible worlds.”

Fact: “It is not enough to state that the euro is irreversible. Italy faces the risk of being kicked out (as Greece was threatened with in 2015) or being forced to leave in the midst of a severe economic or political crisis. Thus, independently from our political opinions on the euro, it is important to understand not only what it costs for Italy to leave the euro, but how much those costs could vary as a function of how the exit occurs. The next interventions will be dedicated to this issue.”

Secretary Mnuchin’s Sophistry on Glass-Steagall—No Need for Banking Separation

May 18 (EIRNS)—In an appearance today before the Senate Banking Committee, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin engaged in several levels of sophistry on Glass-Steagall, claiming that he is for a “21st Century Glass-Steagall,” just not one that involves separating investment banks from commercial banks, or breaking up the megabanks, as is called for in the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act of 2017 (S.881) co-sponsored by Senators Elizabeth Warren, Maria Cantwell, John McCain, and Angus King.

So, as Senator Warren (D-MA) demanded to know, what is he for? She reminded him that both President Trump and the administration have repeatedly said they support a “21st Century Glass-Steagall,” that it was included in the Republican Party platform, and that Mnuchin, himself, had stated in his confirmation hearing that “we need a 21st Century Glass-Steagall.” Now, she argued, “you’re saying the opposite.”

An increasingly uncomfortable Mnuchin then claimed that “there are aspects of it [Glass-Steagall] that may make sense, but we never said that we supported full separation” of investment and commercial banks. Senator Warren challenged him: “There are aspects of Glass-Steagall you support, but not breaking up banks and separating investment banks from commercial banks? What do you think Glass-Steagall was if that’s not right at the heart of it?”

True to his Wall Street banker pedigree, Mnuchin insisted that “integration of commercial and investment banks has gone on for a long time—that’s not what caused the problem during the [2008] financial crisis…. We do not support separation of banks and investment banks … that would have a very significant impact on liquidity and lending” on the economy, and the financial markets, he warned. Describing Mnuchin’s statements as “something straight out of George Orwell,” Warren again challenged him: “What does it mean to be in favor of a 21st Century Glass-Steagall, if it doesn’t mean breaking up the banks, those two [investment and commercial] functions?” Unwilling to respond, Mnuchin was reduced to saying that he’d be happy to meet with Warren to explain himself, and pleaded that he never knew that the bill she is co-sponsoring is called “the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act,” with which he clearly didn’t want to be associated.

New Russian Ambassador to U.S.: Both Governments Are Bound To ‘Cooperate Positively’

May 18 (EIRNS)—TASS reports today that the Foreign Affairs Committee of the State Duma (lower house) has confirmed the nomination of Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Antonov as Russia’s next ambassador to Washington. In this context, TASS quotes Antonov as saying that “we all are facing a huge task to improve relations. Nobody speaks about retreating. But we need to convince our U.S. counterparts that equal and good-neighborly relations, based on mutual respect, are in the interest of both countries’ peoples.”

He continued: “I believe everybody agrees that Russia and the United States are just bound to positively cooperate,” pointing out that both nations are permanent members of the UN Security Council, and are “responsible for global peace and security. The global situation is complex, which shows that we should stand together in the fight against the scourge of international terrorism,” he said. In addition, he underscored, “the U.S. and Russia share many strategic goals and tasks,” such as the fact that both seek to preserve the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, as well as conventions prohibiting chemical and biological weapons, and “other mechanisms aimed at strengthening global peace.”

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

U.S., South Korea Discuss ‘Bold, Pragmatic’ Approach to North Korea, Trump Meets with Seoul Envoy

May 18 (EIRNS)—According to South Korea’s presidential envoy Hong Seok-hyun, who met yesterday with President Donald Trump for 15 minutes, the U.S. President is willing to try engagement with North Korea under the right conditions, Reuters reported. Hong said that the U.S. is looking forward to working with Seoul to resolve the North Korean issue, the Korea Times reported.

This coheres with reports from last Tuesday’s meeting between Trump’s Senior National Security Director for East Asian Affairs Matthew Pottinger, and South Korea’s former ambassador to Geneva Chung Eui-yong, in which the two agreed to mobilize “all available means,” including dialogue “under the right conditions” and explore “bold and pragmatic steps” with the aim of encouraging North Korea to abolish its nuclear program, the Korea Times reported.

In a briefing today, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesman emphasized that Trump has said he will not have talks for the sake of talks, which, the spokesman said, “reiterated our joint stance that we are open to dialogue, but the right conditions must be formed.”

In addition to Hong Seok-hyun, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has deployed lawmaker Moon Hee-sang, of the Democratic Party of Korea, as special envoy to Japan. Later this week, special presidential envoys will travel to China, Russia, the European Union, and Germany. Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong will travel to the Vatican, according to the Korea Times. Today, special envoy Lee Hae-chan, a former prime minister and current member of the National Assembly, is in China to discuss the THAAD missile deployment.

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