Volume 4, Number 100

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

• Trump in the Middle East: Unite against Terrorism, Solve the Israeli-Palestinian Divide
• China Investment Corp. Inaugurates Opening of New York Offices
• Chinese Investment in U.S. Triples to $46 Billion in 2016
• It’s Not a Crime? Who Cares! Says Brennan Center, in Defense of Color Revolution Coup
• Alan Dershowitz: President Trump Facing a ‘Kangaroo Court’ and ‘Star Chamber’
• LaRouche: British Gambit To Paralyze Trump with Impeachment Campaign Won’t Work
• Warnings of Coup Being Attempted against President Trump
• New Deconfliction Plan with Russia Announced at Pentagon
• Poroshenko Blatantly Deploys Illegal Tanks to Donbass; Meets with Merkel
• Ontario To Build Toronto-Windsor High-Speed Rail Corridor
• Chinese Ambassador Reiterates Call for U.S. to Join Belt and Road Initiative
• North and South Korea Met at the Beijing Belt and Road Forum

EDITORIAL

Trump in the Middle East: Unite against Terrorism, Solve the Israeli-Palestinian Divide

May 21 (EIRNS)—President Trump today delivered a speech to a meeting of 20 leaders of Muslim nations—but not Iran—in Riyadh. His speech called for a universal war on terrorism as a basis for uniting the world for peace and development. The speech should end at least one aspect of the hysteria and lies being used in the “color revolution” to destroy his Presidency—that he is anti-Muslim. He noted that 95% of those killed by terrorism are Muslim, stating: “With God’s help, this summit will mark the beginning of the end for those who practice terror and spread its vile creed.”

There are clearly problems to be addressed regarding the Saudis, whose support for Wahhabism has been the primary ideological base for the terrorist scourge internationally, while much of the funding and arming of the terrorist operations came either directly from the Saudis, or was channeled through the Saudis by the British and the Bush and Obama administrations. The Saudis are now engaged in a hideous war on Yemen, with British and American weapons, creating one of the most severe humanitarian disasters in modern times.

However, the world has changed, dramatically, over the past year, and especially over the past week. The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing last week marks a phase change in the history of mankind—a new world economic order has been officially established, based not on zero-sum, dog-eat-dog geopolitics, but on win-win physical economic development and cultural cooperation. Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., and other Gulf and Arab nations sent high level representatives to the Forum. As Helga Zepp-LaRouche has consistently argued, and as has been increasingly promoted by the nations of the Middle East, the New Silk Road is the unique basis for rebuilding the region from the destruction wrought by both the terrorists and the deadly and criminal wars of destruction waged by Trump’s two predecessors in the White House.

In contrast to Bush and Obama’s regime-change wars, waged through the colonialist mentality of a “responsibility to protect” (“white man’s burden”), destroying governments and countries when they refused to submit to the West’s direction, Trump has taken a different track: “We are adopting a principled realism rooted in common values, shared interests, and common sense,” he said in Riyadh. “We are not here to lecture. We are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship. Instead, we are here to offer partnership based on shared interests and values to pursue a better future.”

There is a danger in Trump’s acceptance of the blanket denunciation of Iran. In his speech, he accuses Iran of offering “safe harbor, financial backing, and the social standing needed for recruitment” to terrorists. He seems to be ignoring ISIS, al-Qaeda, and the other deadly Wahhabist terrorist organizations funded by or through the Saudis, when he denounces Hezbollah and Hamas, and even praises the Saudi war on the Houthis in Yemen.

But the changed world condition gives hope that these issues can be resolved. At the root of the instability in the Arab world is the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Trump is the rare case of a U.S. President who has stood up against the British division of the world between the so-called “free world” in the West and the so-called “Godless communists” in the East, promoting instead that the most powerful nations on Earth—the U.S., Russia and China—have every reason to work together as friends. This is the global context in which all geopolitical divisions can be replaced with win-win solutions.

President Trump said in his speech: “In that spirit … I will travel to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and then to the Vatican—visiting many of the holiest places in the three Abrahamic Faiths. If these three faiths can join together in cooperation, then peace in this world is possible—including peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Ultimately, this vision of a peaceful and prosperous future depends on mankind as a whole coming together through an understanding of our diverse cultural characteristics, but our common humanity. As Helga Zepp-LaRouche said in her speech to the Forum in Beijing on May 14: “The New Silk Road must—as the ancient one did—lead to an exchange of the most beautiful expressions of culture of all participating countries in order to succeed. The true meaning of win-win cooperation is not just the material benefit of infrastructure and industrial development, but of making the joyful discovery in other cultures of the beauty of their classical music, poetry, and painting, and, by knowing them, strengthen our love for mankind as a whole.”

This must be our mission.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

China Investment Corp. Inaugurates Opening of New York Offices

May 20 (EIRNS)—On Friday in New York City, the China Investment Corp. (CIC) sovereign investment fund inaugurated the opening of its New York City offices, holding an investment seminar as well, presided over by Madame Hong Zhang, chief representative of the New York office. The seminar dealt with, among other topics, policies of the U.S. and China and related investment opportunities.

According to CIC’s website, CIC President Tu Guangshao emphasized that establishing offices in New York is a “strategic move,” aimed at deepening partnerships and improving investment capabilities. The goal of the New York representative office, he said, is to refine and strengthen CIC’s investments in the U.S. which “are of great significance to the overall development of CIC.”

Additionally, according to the government authorized portal China.org.cn, Tu said that the New York office will conduct research on the North American economy, financial market and regulation policies, strengthen cooperation with business partners, collect project information and provide support for headquarters. “It will also stay well-connected with local government agencies and regulatory bodies to enhance CIC’s reputation and image as a responsible institutional investor,” he said.

Tu reported that he is optimistic that China and the U.S. will expand cooperation on investment, as both are in need of closer bilateral ties. He predicted that if Trump’s pro-business policies are implemented, these will lead to increased labor productivity, capacity utilization and corporate spending. “As an effective source of funding for these policies, foreign investment will serve as an important driver for the U.S. economy,” he said. He expressed the hope that the New York office can serve as a link for CIC and its global network, but effectively leveraging New York City’s role as a global financial center “to enhance engagement and cooperation with local institutions to boost CIC’s overseas investment opportunities particularly in the U.S.” as reported on CIC’s website.

Among those attending the inaugural seminar were some of CIC’s major business partners, members of its International Advisory Council, Acting Consul General of the Consulate General of China in New York, heads of the New York branches of People’s Bank of China and other of China’s major financial institutions.

Chinese Investment in U.S. Triples to $46 Billion in 2016

May 21 (EIRNS)—Chinese companies invested $46 billion in the U.S. in 2016—triple the 2015 investments—and are expected to continue increasing investments in 2017. Xinhua reports today on a study done by the Rhodium Group and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, showing that the two-way direct investment hit a record high.

The study showed that the previous imbalance in foreign direct investment (FDI), with the U.S. investing far more in China than China investing in the U.S., is now a “two-way highway.”

In the last seven years, Xinhua reports, “[E]mployment by Chinese-owned firms in the United States had jumped ninefold, to 140,000 jobs last year. By the end of 2016, all 50 states and 98% of congressional districts hosted operations of Chinese companies.”

According to the joint report, more than 90% of Chinese FDI in the United States in 2016 focused on services and advanced manufacturing. Previously, Chinese investments were primarily real estate.

China’s huge sovereign fund China Investment Corp (CIC) opened an office in Manhattan, announcing the intention to invest in infrastructure and manufacturing.

It’s Not a Crime? Who Cares! Says Brennan Center, in Defense of Color Revolution Coup

May 21 (EIRNS)—An article in The Hill by Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty & National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, lets it all hang out in the color revolution attack on the U.S. Presidency.

Under the headline “Criminal or Not, the Public Deserves the Truth about Trump and Russia,” Goitein concedes that the actions under investigation by the Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller are probably not criminal, but who cares? The “main danger,” she says, “is not that the administration will interfere, but that lawmakers and the public will think a criminal investigation is enough. It never was, and Mueller’s appointment does not change that.” A prosecutor is only interested in “whether there is enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime occurred,” she says, and “generally, citizens learn nothing unless a criminal charge is brought.” (This is, of course, not true, since the FBI is constantly leaking material to contribute to the treasonous coup attempt against Trump.)

But, argues Goitein, “Our concern is not just whether Trump’s campaign criminally colluded with Russia—although that is no minor matter. It is also whether Trump’s ties to Russia, a hostile foreign power, affect his willingness or his ability to act in America’s best interests. It would not be illegal, for instance, for Trump to owe enormous sums of money to Russian government-controlled banks or to financiers within Vladimir Putin’s orbit, based on business transactions that happened before he became president. But Americans have a right to know if their president is indebted to the enemy.”

If we were to substitute “the United Kingdom” for “Russia” in that statement, and refer to British Empire-controlled banks, it would be a slam dunk that the United States under Bush and Cheney and Obama were controlled by “a hostile foreign power.”

The intent of Goitein and her Brennan Center is to demand a “select committee of Congress, with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, and with a chairman and vice chairman from the different parties,” to carry out a McCarthyite witchhunt in public. “Or it could take the form of an independent commission, established and empowered by Congress but operating outside government,” she opines.

Whatever it takes to carry out a coup against the elected President of the nation, and keep Russia as “the enemy.”

Alan Dershowitz: President Trump Facing a ‘Kangaroo Court’ and ‘Star Chamber’

May 20 (EIRNS)—Harvard Law Prof. Alan Dershowitz, who is not such a savory character, nonetheless penned a useful article published in Newsmax Saturday warning that with the naming of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate President Trump’s Russian ties, Trump will be subjected to a legal proceeding more akin to a Star Chamber than anything remotely connected to the U.S. Constitution.

As for alleged Trump-Russian ties, he points out, “even if there were such direct links, that would not constitute a crime under current federal law. Maybe it should, but prosecutors have no right to investigate matters that should be criminal but are not.”

As for the “kangaroo court” quality of Mueller’s investigation, Dershowitz points out that the investigation will be conducted in secret, behind closed doors. “Witnesses will be denied the right to have counsel present during grand jury questioning; they will have no right to offer exculpatory testimony or evidence to the grand jury; inculpatory hearsay evidence will be presented and considered by the grand jury; there will be no presumption of innocence; no requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, only proof sufficient to establish the minimal standard of probable cause. The prosecutor alone will tell the jury what the law is and why they should indict; and the grand jury will do his bidding. As lawyers quip: they will indict a ham sandwich if the prosecutor tells them to.”

There is nothing in the Constitution “that mandates such a kangaroo proceeding,” Dershowitz states. “All the Fifth Amendment says is: ‘no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury.’ The denials of due process come from prosecutorially-advocated legislative actions. The founding fathers would be turning over in their graves if they saw what they intended as a shield to protect defendants, turned into a rusty sword designed to place the heavy thumb of the law on the prosecution side of the scale.”

Apparently, Dershowitz ruffled quite a few feathers at CNN a few days ago when he made the same arguments, saying that he didn’t think Mueller had any jurisdiction, because no crime had been committed. This provoked indignant howling from London’s obedient servants at CNN, such as Anderson Cooper, that anyone could suggest such a thing.

LaRouche: British Gambit To Paralyze Trump with Impeachment Campaign Won’t Work

May 19 (EIRNS)—American statesman Lyndon LaRouche today commented that the British-orchestrated campaign to politically paralyze U.S. President Donald Trump with their continuing “impeachment” attempted coup d’état—now being widely discussed in British media such as the Telegraph and the Economist— will not work. This is too big for the British, LaRouche elaborated. The Trump victory in the U.S. elections last November was not a national, U.S. phenomenon, but a global one; and it’s not going to be as easy to stop as the British think, given the developments coming off the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing and other strategic considerations. “I’m confident,” LaRouche said.

LaRouche’s comments were prompted by an article published in the Telegraph on May 19 by British intelligence stringer Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, whose experience in orchestrating U.S. impeachment drives for the British goes back to his attacks on President Bill Clinton. Evans-Pritchard, on the eve of Trump’s first trip abroad as President, is spreading the black propaganda line that Trump might already be incapacitated, in much the same way as President Richard Nixon was incapacitated by then-Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, who “instructed U.S. military officials to ignore any order from the Oval Office to use nuclear weapons.”

Evans-Pritchard asserts that the key to overthrowing Trump is to pull Republican support away from him, which he admits is still strong. But what happens next? He quotes Sir Jeremy Greenstock, former British UN ambassador and now chairman at Gatehouse Advisory Partners: “America can be very powerful if it decides to act hard. Xi Jinping and Putin will probably wait and see whether Trump self-destructs.” Evans-Pritchard then raises the question: How will Trump behave “when the special prosecutor [Robert Mueller] starts to let rip with a volley of subpoenas.”

An article in the City of London’s Economist makes a similar point: Use the drumbeat for impeachment (which they admit has little chance of succeeding) to make sure Trump cannot do anything whatsoever of policy significance. What they do not put in writing, but remains true, is that such drumbeats and political chaos have historically been used by the British as the smokescreen behind which to conduct assassinations of American Presidents they wish to dispose of.

In an article appearing in the May 20th print edition, headlined “Deep Breath, America,” the Economist begins by dwelling on how the naming of Robert Mueller as a special prosecutor “is a terrible blow for Mr. Trump,” and claims that the situation reminds everybody of the impeachment of Richard Nixon.

Warnings of Coup Being Attempted against President Trump

May 19 (EIRNS)—Voices, from differing parts of the political spectrum in the U.S., are raising the warning that nothing less than a coup d’état is being attempted against the United States Presidency itself.

For example: Robert Parry nailed it yesterday when he compared the “soft coup” being run against Trump to those carried out against Ukraine 2014, as Lyndon LaRouche’s movement had previously charged. He wrote in his Consortiumnews on May 18 (“When the Trump Coup-Makers Cometh”): “So what did you think a U.S.-styled ‘soft coup’ would look like? What we’re seeing regarding the intended removal of President Trump is not that much different from what has happened in dozens of other countries, whether Iran in 1953 or Ukraine in 2014 or Brazil in 2016. This one just has a few extra American touches.”

Former Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich identified the attack on President Trump as an attack on the U.S. Presidency itself, in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity two days ago: “The intention is to take down a President. Now, this is very dangerous to America. It’s a threat to our republic. It constitutes a clear and present danger to our way of life…. We have to be asking: What is the motive of these people? Who’s putting these leaks out? Why doesn’t somebody come forward and make a charge, and put their name and their reputation behind it, instead of attacking through the media and not substantiating their position?

“This isn’t about one President. This is about the political process of the United States of America being under attack by intelligence agencies and individuals in those agencies,” Kucinich specified.

Hannity, separately, delivered an editorial statement yesterday, warning that “There is a massive effort afoot in Washington to destroy President Trump and throw him out of office. It is nothing short of a plot to subvert the will of the American people, and undermine the very foundation of this republic…. It’s time for the American people, those ‘irredeemable deplorables’ who went to the rallies and voted for him, to stand up for what they voted for.”

As Daniel McCarthy, editor at large of the American Conservative, of which Pat Buchanan is a co-founder, warned today, “if [Trump] is impeached and removed on anything but the most ironclad and universally accepted grounds, the country will experience a great paroxysm, not of violence, one hopes, but a much more radical rejection of the political establishment in both parties, and of the beyond-partisan deep state, than anything we have seen before. The crisis of legitimacy that led to Trump’s election in the first place will only get worse. The brutal truth is that an impeachment is already underway—not of the president, but of Washington’s entire political elite.”

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

New Deconfliction Plan with Russia Announced at Pentagon

May 20 (EIRNS)—Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford announced at the Pentagon Friday that a new counter-terror policy in Syria has been adopted by the U.S. and Russia, to allow operations in the same regions.

“We had a proposal that we’re working on with the Russians right now,” Dunford said. “I won’t share the details, but my sense is that the Russians are as enthusiastic as we are to de-conflict operations and ensure that we can continue to take the campaign to ISIS and ensure the safety of our personnel,”

As the Syrian forces, with Russian support, are moving in on Raqqa, General Dunford said, as reported by CNN, the U.S.-Russia cooperation is focused on Deir ez-Zor, where ISIS forces are expected to go from Raqqa. These plans are in addition to the existing hotline which is intended to prevent unintended encounters between U.S. and Russian aircraft.

General Dunford noted that the U.S. military is prohibited by law from coordinating directly with the Russian military, but the two are setting up the “de-confliction zones” which allow coordinated, but not joint, operations in targetted areas.

Under the new channel of communications, the official for planning future operations on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., routinely talks to his Russian counterpart, Dunford reported. He said he spoke personally with Russian Chief of Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov. “We speak routinely when we need to, to work through the deconfliction.”

Dunford and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who was also at the press conference, said that the new strategy included a delegation of authority from the President to General Dunford, and from Dunford to his field commanders, allowing them to take actions against ISIS on their own. Mattis said: “no longer will we have slowed decision cycles because Washington, D.C. has to authorize tactical movements on the ground.” CNN described this as a “rebuke of President Barack Obama’s administration, which was criticized by some military officials for micromanaging tactical decisions in the field.”

General Mattis also announced a shift to a policy of surrounding ISIS held cities rather than driving ISIS out of them. Mattis said: “The foreign fighters are the strategic threat should they return home to Tunis, to Kuala Lumpur, to Paris, to Detroit, wherever. We carry out the annihilation campaign so we don’t simply transplant this problem from one location.”

Poroshenko Blatantly Deploys Illegal Tanks to Donbass; Meets with Merkel

May 21 (EIRNS)-Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko proudly deployed what he called “another batch of beautiful T-80 tanks to the Ukrainian Airmobile Forces on the front line” in Donbass, despite this being a violation of the February 2015 Minsk II ceasefire agreement, Sputnik reports today.

Poroshenko is in Germany meeting with Merkel, who is reportedly mildly rebuking Poroshenko, and calling for a new meeting of the two of them with Vladimir Putin and the new French President Emmanuel Macron—the Normandy Four—to try to revive the Minsk agreements. She is also reported to be pushing for Kiev to tighten the screws further on the Ukrainian population—“further reforms,” as she puts it.

Perhaps Poroshenko will eventually notice that China is talking about building a subway system in Kiev while his beloved EU is squeezing the country to death.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Ontario To Build Toronto-Windsor High-Speed Rail Corridor

May 20 (EIRNS)—CBC News reported Friday that Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has accepted a proposal for a high-speed rail corridor from Toronto to Windsor, across from Detroit, saying it is “exactly what our economy needs.” The train will have stops in Kitchener-Waterloo and London, and is scheduled to be completed by 2025, with work starting in about four years. The first phase, from Toronto to London, could cost anywhere from $4 billion to $12 billion, Wynne said.

“We decided it was time to take a serious look at an idea that’s been around for decades,” Wynne said at the Friday press conference. She said “This is where our economy thrives, is along that corridor. It’s exactly what our economy needs.”

The project would use a combination of existing track and new rail lines dedicated to the high-speed train, officials told CBC News.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said, “I think this kind of infrastructure announcement, quite frankly, is transformational for the region in terms of becoming a global, technology super-cluster. I think the province recognizes that, if we’re going to compete in a global economy, investing in this kind of infrastructure—long overdue in Canada—is an important part of where we need to go.”

Phase two, from London to Windsor is estimated to be completed by 2031.

Wynne said: “I am absolutely committed to doing this. I know, I know there will be critics. But you know, one of the reasons this hasn’t been done up until now is that there have been critics, and there have been people who have said, ‘No, no, no, put the brakes on, we’re not going to do this.’ And so we’re not going to let that happen this time.”

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Chinese Ambassador Reiterates Call for U.S. to Join Belt and Road Initiative

May 19 (EIRNS)— Speaking on May 18 at the Gala Dinner of the Committee of 100, the premier group responsible for defending the interest of Chinese-Americans, Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai, drew a link between the Belt and Road Forum and the meeting between the China’s President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump at the U.S. President’s vacation home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. “The summit defines the future of U.S.-China relations, Cui said. “And the Belt and Road Summit has far-reaching implications for mankind. And there is a connection between the two events,” he said.

“We are living in a world of change,” Cui continued. “While there are advances in many fields, there is also great income disparity, job loss, and global challenges. If I might borrow an analogy from traditional Chinese medicine, I would say it is always important to orient toward the causes of disease, which traditional Chinese medicines defines as ‘qi’ [life energy], which I’m not sure how to translate. But when qi is disrupted, there is disease, so that bringing qi back to its normal functioning is the remedy. Our missing qi is connectivity. Uncoordinated policies and unconnected infrastructure have kept us apart. China has proposed a future of shared destiny. And the key lies in connectivity. The Belt and Road Initiative offers the right tool. It aims to realize physical connectivity and soft connectivity,” Cui said.

“The BRI promotes more than building roads. It is a type of connectivity that would lead to peace and prosperity. But it demands inclusiveness and looks for common ground. If we learn from each other, it will make us stronger,” Cui said.  “We are encouraged by the positive response from the international community to the success of the Belt and Road and China is ready to work with all parties, including the United States, to translate these grand ideas into reality.”

North and South Korea Met at the Beijing Belt and Road Forum

May 19 (EIRNS)—Hankyoreh newspaper reported that the South Korean representative to the Beijing Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation had a substantial meeting with the North Korean delegate to the Forum—the first meeting between Seoul and Pyongyang since deposed President Park Geun-hye unilaterally shut down all economic and political contacts after the fourth North Korean nuclear test in January 2016.

The head of the South Korean delegations, Minjoo (Democratic) Party member of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seok, announced to Hankyoreh that he had met before the Forum’s opening on the morning of May 14 with the head of the North Korean delegation, Minister of External Economic Relations Kim Yong-jae. “I met with Minister Kim, who had arrived beforehand, and we ended up having a conversation as a matter of course,” Park said. Park said he had first expressed his government’s objection to the North Korean missile test which had taken place that morning, but then proceeded to spend “some time talking about various issues,” as Hankyoreh put it.

Most importantly, Park said: “I got the sense that the North has some hopes for inter-Korean dialogue.”

Park was cautious about predicting any talks right away, saying that “There are constraints when it comes to resuming dialogue,” implying that some indication of a willingness to freeze the nuclear and missile tests is necessary first.