EDITORIAL
Putin’s Question Is Right: Have Americans Gone Mad?
June 5 (EIRNS)—This week will see another round in the now nearly year-long McCarthyite, hysterical fit of “liberals” and “liberal media” in the United States against Donald Trump’s intention to restore fundamental relations of cooperation with Russia—and, with China.
One leading Democratic bloodhound, Sen. Mark Warner of the Intelligence Committee, admitted on television on Sunday that there is no evidence of Trump “collusion” with Russians: “only plenty of smoke,” said Senator Warner. So the “liberals” rush on, then, to charge Trump’s “obstruction of justice” by firing the FBI Director.
The right question was directed to Americans by Russian President Putin in his NBC News interview, in which he was repeatedly charged with subverting and trying to control the United States: “Have you all gone mad?”
After nearly a decade of economic failure, and even despair in some parts of the American population, do the “liberals” now want to resurrect J. Edgar Hoover and Sen. Joe McCarthy to provide excuses?
There has emerged in the world—since the crash of America’s banks and economy nine years ago—a new economic order of infrastructure development, credit for high-technology industrial development, science and space exploration. It is being expanded around China’s Belt and Road Initiative, or “New Silk Road” of economic growth and connectivity; and Russia is fully engaged in it. So are Asian, African and South American countries, including America’s key allies in Asia, Japan and South Korea.
If Americans want their economy rebuilt, and again to be a leading industrial power, scientific power, space exploration power—they will want cooperation with these initiatives of economic progress. They will want the cooperation President Trump has begun with President Xi Jinping’s China.
And there is the increasingly effective international battle against ISIS/al-Qaeda terrorism and mass bloodshed, in which Putin’s Russia is playing a driving role.
U.S. economy policy needs to be changed: the Glass-Steagall Act restored, a Hamiltonian national bank created; space exploration made a great national mission again.
But relations of cooperation with China and Russia, and with the new system of the New Silk Road, are essential in restoring the United States’ own leading capacities. Those who want impeachment—some, even assassination—of the President for this, must have temporarily gone mad.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
‘The Kissinger Back-Channel to Moscow’
June 5 (EIRNS)—“Major U.S. media outlets insinuate that President Trump’s advisors are traitors for secretly talking to Russians, but they ignore the history of Henry Kissinger doing the same thing for Richard Nixon,” investigative historian Gareth Porter wrote in a Consortiumnews piece posted on June 3.
Porter cites details of Kissinger’s 1968 back-channel with Moscow which helped lay the groundwork for later détente with Russia, using material reported in Naval War College historian Richard A. Moss’s recently published “authoritative” book-length study of that back-channel. As Michael Flynn and Jared Kushner are “accused” of doing, Kissinger initiated back-channel contact with Russians after being named as Nixon’s choice for National Security Advisor, but before Nixon or he had been sworn in. In Kissinger’s case, he first began his back-channel contact not with the Soviet Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Dobrynin, but with Boris Sedov, a man he knew to be a KBG agent whom he had met with when Sedov visited Harvard. Later, once in office, Nixon and Kissinger set up a secure phone line in the White House to Ambassador Dobrynin.
All this was done by sidelining the U.S. intelligence agencies, National Security Council staff, and the Pentagon, who were not told about these back-channel discussions.
“The Trump transition team’s reasons for wanting a private channel of communication with the Russians that would not be visible to the U.S. national security bureaucracy were precisely the same as those of Nixon and Kissinger,” Porter notes. To wit, Moss’s report, in an opinion column on the Kushner affair, that Dobryin’s memoirs quote Kissinger telling him that their exchanges had to be confidential because “the Soviet side … knows how to maintain confidentiality; but in our State Department, unfortunately, there are occasional leaks of information to the press.”
Moss, speaking for himself and not for the Naval War College, told Porter in an interview, that “better relations with the Russians would be a good thing,” and “if Kushner and [Russian Ambassador] Kislyak were discussing how to defeat ISIL that would be a perfectly legitimate thing,” Moss told Porter
Porter is angry: “The insinuations from Brennan and others that Trump’s advisors may have somehow crossed the line into treason is itself the crossing of a dangerous line into McCarthyism,” he rightly charges. “And the mainstream U.S. news media is participating enthusiastically in the campaign to impugn the loyalty of Trump’s advisors….”
Is Trump Putting Pressure on British-Saudi Terror Support?
June 5 (EIRNS)—As a sudden split opened among the Gulf Sunni Arab countries and Saudi-British ties have become an issue in the terror-struck British election, President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor made remarks about the Gulf countries on June 4 which are unusual for any senior U.S. government official. Two weeks ago, Trump met with the Gulf leaders, hosted by Saudi King Salman, and declared them a new and unified force against international terrorism.
National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster spoke to the American Jewish Congress June 4. While his remarks were generally on Trump’s desire to seize the opportunity for an Israel-Palestine peace agreement, he also made pointed remarks about support for terrorism.
“Our Arab partners are friends of America but too often adversaries of each other,” McMaster said. But he continued, “Many have been sources of terrorist funding and propagated an extremist Islamist ideology.”
As to whether this would end, General McMaster said, “None of us will be impressed by mere words” from these Arab partners. He said the Trump Administration is developing “clear metrics” by which to measure promises from them to cut off the flow of money to extremist groups and slow the spread of extremist rhetoric.
McMaster also repeated, however, the attack on Iran expressed by Trump in Riyadh, charging that Iran is “acting through a proxy network to keep its Arab neighbors engaged in sectarian conflict.”
Obama Moles Were Desperate To Head Off Normal U.S. Relations with Russia under Trump
June 5 (EIRNS)—A few days after President Donald Trump took office, top Trump administration officials requested Victoria Nuland’s former bailiwick, the State Department Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, draw up proposals for steps to lower tensions with Russia, which had been driven to a frighteningly dangerous breaking point under President Obama. Yahoo! News Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff reported on June 1 that the goal was to improve relations with Russia as part of a deal in exchange for Russian cooperation in the war against the Islamic State in Syria. Included as possibilities were the lifting of economic sanctions and a return of Russian diplomatic territory seized by Obama in violation of international law.
Nuland’s cronies, and other Obama holdovers at State went berserk, calling one another, crying “Please, my God, can’t you stop this?” Isikoff recounts the tale of their mobilization, clearly assuming that all Americans are so loony as to be horrified to learn how President Trump tried to carry out his campaign commitment to improve relations with Russia.
Two former officials at State spoke on the record to Isikoff. Dan Fried, former chief coordinator of sanctions policy, reported that he had “received several panicky calls from U.S. government officials who told him they had been directed to develop a sanctions-lifting package and imploring him, ‘Please, my God, can’t you stop this?’ ”
Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Tom Malinowski (an Obama political appointee) told Isikoff that “he too joined the effort to lobby Congress after learning from former colleagues that the administration was developing a plan to lift sanctions—and possibly arrange a summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin—as part of an effort to achieve a grand bargain with Moscow. It would have been a win-win for Moscow, said Malinowski, who only days before he left office announced his own round of sanctions against senior Russian officials for human rights abuses under a law known as the Magnitsky Act.”
Malinowski reported he and Fried called Maryland Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, aides to John McCain, and others, to get them to introduce legislation to require Congressional authorization for lifting any sanctions. Cardin and that other crazy neocon, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), did so on Feb. 7. Cardin admitted the accuracy of Malinowski’s story in an e-mail from a spokesman to Isikoff stating: “I can also confirm that the senator did hear from senior Obama officials encouraging him to take sanctions steps, but that he had already been considering it as well.”
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
What Triggered Saudi Diplomatic Attack on Qatar?
June 5 (EIRNS)—This morning, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt all cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, because, they said, of Qatari support for Islamist groups and its relations with Iran. The four countries are also planning to cut all air and sea links with Qatar, and the Saudis were planning to close their land border with the country. Qatar was also expelled from the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. The diplomatic cutoff and effort to isolate Qatar comes about two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump was in Riyadh, where he singled out Iran as the key source of funding and support for militant groups.
“It seems that the Saudis and Emiratis feel emboldened by the alignment of their regional interests—toward Iran and Islamism—with the Trump administration,” said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Gulf expert at the U.S-based Baker Institute. “[They] have decided to deal with Qatar’s alternative approach on the assumption that they will have the [Trump] administration’s backing.” The Qatari government responded by declaring that the cutoff is “unjustified” and “based on claims and allegations that have no basis in fact.”
What triggered this latest outburst in the often fractious relations among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council? This latest campaign against Qatar came immediately after U.S. President Donald Trump had met with GCC leaders in Riyadh. The Saudis started it by saying that Qatar is dividing the line of the GCC, which is focused on attacking Iran. In the past few days, they added the accusation that Qatar (and Qatar alone?!) is financing and siding with al-Qaeda, ISIS, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Of course, this is a truth with modification, because the Saudis are the main supporters of Islamic jihad. It appears that they want to carry out another palace coup against Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani; the Saudis have a replacement from a rival family currently living in Saudi Arabia.
The larger context, however, is that an epoch is about to end. ISIS and Al-Nusra are about to be eliminated in Syria and Iraq. The Syrian-Russian-Iranian-Hezbollah camp is winning; the Anglo-Saudis are losing. It is more relevant that Trump wants to collaborate with Russia there. In addition, the Saudis’ war on Yemen has also failed, and their forces and allies are in shambles and are fighting each other; in Aden, for example. So, for the British and Saudis, it is time to escalate in a new front, Iran. Now, following Trump’s and Saudi King Salman’s declaration that Iran is the biggest threat to security in the region, the Emir of Qatar sent a letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declaring that Qatar considers Iran a friend and important actor for stability in the region. This seriously provoked the Saudis.
It is no secret that Qatar has been an important tool of the British and President Obama to support terrorism and the regime-change operations. But they were always doing this in collaboration with the Saudis, the U.A.E., and Turkey. It is interesting that the Saudis are now attacking Turkey for changing its position on Syria, and showing willingness to cooperate with Russia. It is the old paradigm’s death convulsions, and its children are in disarray.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Philippines To Benefit from Belt and Road
June 4 (EIRNS)—Contrary to the analysis of Corr Analytics, a United States-based think tank which has been reported widely by fake news, the Philippines is not falling into a debt trap at the hands of China, according to Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno. According to Diokno, Corr “misleadingly claimed” that soft loans from China carry high interest rates. However, this is false, the chief of the Department of Budget and Management said, given that the Philippines maintained excellent investment-grade level for several years now.
He went on to say that the Philippines will continue to accept official development assistance from other countries. “If other countries want to help, then they are welcome, but if there are strings attached, then we’ll just say, ‘No, thank you,’ ” he said. The Philippines has recently rejected a grant from the European Union, saying it entails policy intrusion on the part of the EU.
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Glass-Steagall To Be Debated in House Rules Committee
June 5 (EIRNS)—Representatives Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) and Walter Jones (R-NC) will argue Tuesday evening in the House Rules Committee for their amendment to replace the Republican Party’s Financial CHOICE Act with the Kaptur-Jones bill to restore the Glass-Steagall Act. They will be witnesses testifying to the Committee.
The debate on this and other amendments will be streamed on the Rules Committee website, starting at approximately 5:00 p.m. EDT June 6. The only bipartisan amendment is that of Kaptur and Jones.
Glass-Steagall has not been debated before on the House or Senate floor or in a House Committee. If Kaptur and Jones succeed in having their amendment ruled germane, it will set up a debate on Glass-Steagall vs. the CHOICE Act, which is similar, for Wall Street, to Britain’s destructive 1986 “Big Bang” total deregulation of the City of London. If the GOP-dominated Rules Committee rules against the amendment, Kaptur and Jones can still speak against this when the CHOICE Act comes on the House floor.
Representative Kaptur’s press release today said, “Kaptur and Jones have long been proponents of restoring Glass-Steagall protections to the banking system. The Return to Prudent Banking Act was reintroduced in February of this year, and has the bipartisan support of 50 co-sponsors. Support for the proposal was also in the Democratic and Republican Party platforms.
Threat of Corporate Debt Blowout Grows: Evidence from U.K.
June 5 (EIRNS)—EIR recently warned of a looming collapse of a corporate debt bubble in the United States, where corporate debt has shot up to double its size in just six years, has been used for “financial engineering” rather than capital investment, and is showing increasing signs of default.
The same threat exists in Britain, where a comparable corporate debt bubble is matched by a bubble of household debt which is not only of record size, but growing at a record rate. In both countries, economic growth, which might support the debt masses, is very slow.
The IMF, in its Global Financial Stability Report, warned that a sharp interest rate rise in the United States would set off debt defaults of roughly 20% of all corporations, a tidal wave of debt collapse. But in Britain, according to a new report, just a one-quarter point rise in interest rates will set it off.
The June 5 London Times covered a report by the Association of Business Recovery Professionals, or bankruptcy experts. The Association is known generally as “R3,” for “Rescue, Recovery, Renewal.” Its report found that just a one-quarter-percent rise would trigger defaults by as many as 80,000 businesses, 1 in every 25. And this was rising rapidly; last September, R3 had found that just 1 in 100 companies would be knocked out by a quarter-point rate rise.
In addition, R3 found that 96,000 companies—about 1 in 20 across the U.K.—cannot repay their debt; “they are only able to pay interest on their borrowings.”
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Prominent CDU Members Blast Merkel Climate Policies, Paris Accord
June 5 (EIRNS)—The Berlin-based “Konservativer Kreis,” a group of Merkel critics inside the Christian Democrats, has gone public with the call for the German government to make an about-turn in its policies on climate change. In a six-page memorandum, the CDU dissidents demand “an end to the moral blackmail by climate researchers” and “a farewell from the special German anti-emission targets.” The memo contests “a solitary role of the greenhouse effect” and “a one-sided negative view on global warming.” The “opportunities offered (ice-free northern passage, new fishing opportunities, raw materials exploration) by the melting of the polar caps are probably even greater than potential negative ecological effects,” the memo’s authors say.
The memo particularly attacks the so-called “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),” calling it a “world rescue clownshow,” which is spreading calculations “based on increasingly aggressive political targets, particularly the CO2 emissions reduction.” The objective of limiting global warming to 2° Celsius, is not realistic, the memo declares.
The German approach on the reduction of emissions is “aggressive policy,” which will not lead to success but only cause “massive social perturbations” via political and economic frictions created, instead, the memo warns. The German policy is not, as officially proclaimed by Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government, a model for the rest of the world, but a deterrence, and the massive state (implicitly by taxpayers) subsidies to wind and solar energy production under the Renewables Energy Law (EEG) must be abandoned; instead a strategy of adapting to global warming must be taken.
The Konservativer Kreis includes a number of leading CDU Bundestag members, such as Wolfgang Bosbach, Arnold Vaatz, Veronika Bellmann, Thomas Dörflinger, Stephan Mayer, Johannes Selle and Hans-Peter Uhl. Most of these have also been critics of the EU and German bailout policies, especially on the issue of Greece.
India’s Space Agency Launches Heaviest Rocket, Promising Space Progress
June 5 (EIRNS)—The state-owned Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has successfully launched the 640-ton Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III from its launching station in Sriharikota, in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh today. The rocket uses indigenous CE-20 cryogenic engines, unlike the ones made earlier which were partly based on Russian technology.
The event is considered a major milestone in India’s fast-progressing space program since this launch ensures ISRO’s capability to launch satellites weighing 4 tons. In fact, today’s launch carried the GSAT-19 satellite, weighing 3.14 tons, the first such Indian satellite that can provide Internet connectivity from space, FirstPost reported.
Launching of the GSLV Mark III is also important from two other aspects that drive India’s space program. Indian space scientists are now preparing for launching astronauts into space by 2024 and the success of CE-20 cryogenic engine is a step in that direction.
In addition, India is seriously contending for the multibillion-dollar satellite launch market since its launch costs are significantly lower than its competitors’. The GSLV-III makes India a member of the small club of heavy-lift satellite launchers. So far, only the space agencies of the United States, Russia, France, China, Japan and Europe are capable of launching satellites weighing 4 tons, or more.
The successful launching of GSLV-III and placing the GSAT-19 satellite was celebrated nationwide.
