EDITORIAL
The Tide Can Shift Suddenly over the Coming Days
Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—As Helga Zepp-LaRouche emphasized in her webcast of Oct. 19, the tide can shift very suddenly over the coming days. The fixed and firm axioms of decades can be thrown out the window in favor of an alternative whose existence was not even suspected months ago—but an alternative which offers realistic hope at last. As the days tick down toward his Asia trip beginning Nov. 3, President Trump has not given up his project for good relations with Russia, despite all that has been thrown at him. And he has a personal friendship with China’s Xi Jinping, and has expressed support for the world-transforming vision of the Belt and Road Initiative. Meanwhile, Russia and China have patiently built up an extremely deep relationship of work and trust between their two countries over decades. As the founder and chairwoman of the Schiller Institute Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche said, if these three great nations now come together and give up geopolitics in their relations with each other, the precondition for world peace has been met.
If “Russiagate” is beaten back, in part through our own efforts, and President Trump moves towards full participation in the Silk Road, both overseas and in building infrastructure in the United States, then the world will enter into a new era.
If this seems a wild fantasy to some of you, it is not, any more than the New Silk Road itself was a fantasy when it was only an idea in the minds of Lyndon and Helga LaRouche—an idea which they carried throughout the world, winning people over to it, long before it was finally adopted by the government of China.
If such a sudden change is not a real possibility over the coming weeks, then tell me why the adversary is so frightened? Why the never-ending crescendo of Russian collusion charges against Trump—many refuted within days—even after nine months of myriad such charges with no evidence? And even more striking, because more sudden and unexpected—why has our free press suddenly decided, in unison, during just the past days, that Xi Jinping is a reincarnation of Joseph Stalin, who is imposing a terrible police state on China?
Why? Simple. The dinosaurs smell the coming end of the Age of the Dinosaurs.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Tillerson Challenges ‘Predatory Economics’ of the Belt and Road, Proposes ‘Alternative Funding’
Oct. 20 (EIRNS)—Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, speaking at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington on Oct. 18, made a direct attack on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, reflecting the common but totally fraudulent lines of attack from the neocons and the “leftovers” at the Obama State Department. Speaking about his trip to India and Pakistan this coming week, Tillerson said: “China, while rising alongside India, has done so less responsibly, at times undermining the international, rules-based order even as countries like India operate within a framework that protects other nations’ sovereignty.”
He said the U.S. “seeks constructive relations with China, but we will not shrink from China’s challenges to the rules-based order and where China subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries and disadvantages the U.S. and our friends.” He referred to “predatory economics,” claiming that China is using financing mechanisms in their investments in foreign nations “which result in saddling them with enormous levels of debt. They don’t often create the jobs—infrastructure projects should be tremendous job creators in these economies, but too often, foreign workers are brought in to execute these infrastructure projects. Financing is structured in a way that makes it very difficult for them to obtain future financing, and often times has very subtle triggers in the financing that results in financing default and the conversion of debt to equity.”
These arguments are patently false, as has been abundantly demonstrated by EIR, among others. The debt, unlike the speculative bubbles in the West, is backed up by huge infrastructure and industrial plants, while the agreements regarding Chinese labor is contracted to be in the 10-20% range in most projects.
“Predatory? Who is predatory?” asked Helga Zepp-LaRouche, suggesting that John Perkins send an autographed copy of his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man to Secretary Tillerson. She continued that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the New Development Bank, the Silk Road Fund, and other Chinese funding mechanisms for development were set up precisely because the IMF/World Bank networks were failing to build the needed infrastructure the world desperately needs.
Tillerson did not call for trying to restrain China’s Silk Road investing, but rather called for “alternative financing measures,” and said that he had discussed this at the August Ministerial meeting of the East Asia Forum. He said, “We will not be able to compete with the kind of terms that China offers,” blaming that not on the west’s private sector, which demand guaranteed profits from foreign governments, but on China, for government lending to state sector firms.
Tillerson claims he wants to help developing countries that China’s policy threatens their “longer-term ability to control their country, control the future of their country, control the development of their economy in a rules-based system,” and “retain your sovereignty,” and that “We will come with other options for you.”
Despite the rather ridiculous claim that the West was looking out for developing nations’ sovereignty, Zepp-LaRouche responded to Tillerson’s offer of “other options:” “If Tillerson comes up with something as good as the Belt and Road, or better, the whole world will be grateful.”
Fusion GPS Stonewalls Efforts To Get at British Connections behind Its Anti-Trump Deployment
Oct. 21 (EIRNS)—There are several developments in the ongoing actions by Fusion GPS, the funder of the Christopher Steele dodgy dossier, to thwart Congress from getting knowledge of Fusion’s clients, financial records and British connections, involved in Fusion’s anti-Trump deployment. On Oct. 18, two of Fusion’s top executives appear before the House Intelligence Committee, but they pleaded the Fifth Amendment, and said nothing, on grounds it could be incriminating.
The two witnesses were Peter Fritsch and Thomas Catan, who are partners, along with Glenn Simpson, of Fusion. Simpson is expected to come before the Committee in November. Simpson has already appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In his 10-hour closed-door session last August, he refused to divulge the names of his clients for the anti-Trump dirty dossier work. It is generally thought that the Fusion GPS client list involves a Bush camp person, then a Clinton person, and lastly the FBI directly.
Besides these Fusion GPS officials, the Committee also subpoenaed the banking records of Fusion, going back to August 2015. TD Bank was given until Oct. 23 to produce the documents of Fusion, its customer. The August 2015 start point is a month before Fusion was hired to assemble dirt on Trump. Yesterday, Fusion filed for a court injunction that TD Bank must not be forced to comply and supply information, offering a slew of arguments about the Financial Privacy Act, First Amendment rights, and that Committee Chairman Devin Nunes doesn’t have authority.
Judge Tanya S. Chutkan gave the Congressional Committee until today to give its response. (She is on record as a contributor to multiple Obama campaigns.) Stay tuned.
Meantime, EIR’s new dossier, “Robert Mueller Is an Amoral Legal Assassin: He Will Do His Job If You Let Him” is having an ever-widening impact, on focussing on the British hand behind the treasonous Russiagate operation against President Trump.
Putin Hits Out at Western ‘Free Speech’ Hypocrisy
Oct. 20 (EIRNS)—During the Q&A after President Vladimir Putin’s address at the Valdai Discussion Club meeting Oct. 19 in Sochi, RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan asked about the “real harassment” of RT and Sputnik news agencies in the U.S., including harassment of journalists at their place of work, forcing them to register as foreign agents, and of course accusing them of being the main culprits in alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. election. She also said that “Hillary Clinton said that the alleged Russian interference in the elections, for which we are primarily blamed (half of the CIA report on this topic was about Russia Today and Sputnik, and my name was mentioned 27 times in it) is comparable to the 9/11 attacks.”
Putin responded, stating that the capacities of the Russian press “cannot compare with what our colleagues have in the U.S., in Europe; they simply cannot compare. We do not have so-called global media, mass media with global reach. This is the monopoly of the Anglo-Saxon world, primarily the United States. Indeed, we have been told all along that it is absurd and even undemocratic to pressure any lawfully functioning media outlets, to close or persecute them, to exert pressure on journalists. There is only one democratic way to fight things one does not like, for both the authorities and the opposition: to express your opinion, but to express it so vividly, colorfully and brilliantly that people would believe you and accept your point of view, follow you and stand by you and support your position. All the rest is undemocratic.
“What we see happening around our media now—I repeat, they are far less powerful than the U.S. or British media—I simply do not know how to describe this. ‘Confusion’ is too mild. They have turned everything upside down.
“Regarding interference or non-interference: everyone knows, the whole world knows what the British or American media do. They directly and constantly influence internal political processes in almost all countries. How else are we to interpret what the media do, especially those outlets that work in, say, the political segment of the media?…
“[S]ometimes I see what Russia Today broadcasts. Its team includes journalists from various countries: Americans, and British, I believe, and Germans, too. They do excellent work. Really talented people. I sometimes marvel at the courage and talent they possess to lay everything out so clearly, precisely and fearlessly—my hat is off to them. Apparently, this is the key to Russia Today and Sputnik’s success, but it is also what they are hated for; anyway, it has nothing to do with democracy….
“Therefore, in this case, all we can do is mirror their actions and rather quickly at that. As soon as we see any moves that limit the activities of our media in any way, a proportionate response will follow.”
The complete transcript of President Putin’s speech and the subsequent Q&A is posted at the President’s Kremlin website.
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
U.S. State Department Admits That Terrorists in Syria Use Chemical Weapons
Oct. 20 (EIRNS)—The State Department issued a travel warning for Syria on Oct. 18 which reports what the U.S. government has never admitted before: Terrorist groups in Syria use chemical weapons. “No part of Syria is safe from violence,” the warning says. “Small arms fire, improvised explosives, artillery shelling, airstrikes, kidnappings, arbitrary arrests, and the use of chemical weapons transpire with little or no warning, significantly raising the risk of death or serious injury.” In the paragraph that follows, it reports that “Tactics of ISIS, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and other violent extremist groups include the use of suicide bombers, kidnapping, small and heavy arms, improvised explosive devices, and chemical weapons.”
The State Department admission did not go unnoticed in Moscow. “This is the first official recognition by the [U.S.] State Department not simply of the presence, but, I emphasize, the use of chemical weapons by Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists in that part of Syria to commit terrorist attacks, about which we repeatedly warned,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said this morning, reports Sputnik. In Idlib province, “only one case of the use of chemical weapons is known in Khan Sheikhun,” Konashenkov recalled. “However, the U.S. accused government troops of [conducting] this chemical attack. And those who [actually] organized it, they called a ‘moderate opposition,’ Konashenkov said.
Trump Orders Administration To Deter Conflict with Russia
Oct. 20 (EIRNS)—U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will lead an effort to deter conflict with Russia and work to improve relations. “The President has given us very clear guidance on our relationship with Russia. He has taken a very strong stand in the Middle East and Ukraine, for example, in confronting Russia’s destabilizing behavior,” National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said Responding to questions at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies on Oct. 19, as quoted by Sputnik. “But what he wants us to do as well is to make sure we deter any kind of a conflict with Russia. We don’t think this would be in anybody’s interest. But the third area he told us to focus on is to foster areas of cooperation.”
McMaster said Secretary of State Tillerson has been given the lead in fostering cooperation, pointing to “initial glimmers” of hope as a result of the policy, including the de-escalation zones in Syria. “There are so many areas where the United States and Russia could cooperate that are in our mutual interest,” McMaster said. One of those areas, McMaster said, was North Korea, where Russia has considerable influence to pressure on North Korea to change tack, as a “last chance to avoid severe consequences,” he said.
On Ukraine McMaster said: “I think it’s becoming clear to Russia that it’s not in its interest to perpetuate this conflict in Ukraine, and it’s imposing costs on Russia: economic costs, credibility costs.”
Putin Fears Srebrenica-Type Massacre in Ukraine
Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—During the extensive question and answer session that followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s presentation to the Valdai Discussion Club conference on Oct. 19, he took a question on the current situation in Ukraine in which he expressed Russia’s fears of what could happen in the Donbas region should Russia close its border with the two breakaway republics as the Kiev regime has been demanding. In his response, he stressed that the crisis began with the U.S.- and European Union-backed violent overthrow of the elected government of President Viktor Yanukovych, who, according to Putin, only wanted to reconsider some of the language of the EU Association Agreement. “The current situation is the result of the unconstitutional armed seizure of power in Ukraine, and Europe is to blame, because it backed it,” Putin said.
Putin went on to reiterate that it is the Kiev regime that is failing to implement the Minsk agreements, even though Russia is constantly blamed for this, but then he got to the meat of the matter. “If they fail to adopt the amnesty law prior to resolving political issues and providing these territories with a special status in accordance with the law adopted by the Rada [parliament] and extended for another year recently, then closing the border between Russia and the breakaway republics will lead to a situation similar to Srebrenica. There will be a bloodbath. We cannot let this happen.”
Although Putin refrained from saying it, the whole point is that Nazis control the current Ukraine government, as Lyndon LaRouche has repeatedly pointed out.
The Srebrenica massacre occurred in 1995 during the Bosnian war in the former Yugoslavia, when 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred by Bosnia Serb troops despite being under the nominal protection of UN peace-keepers.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Putin on Xi Jinping and 19th Communist Party of China National Congress
Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—In the course of a fascinating dialogue with the Valdai Discussion Club on Oct. 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin answered a question from a Chinese participant about President Xi Jinping and the speech he had just given to the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC).
“As you may know, during our meetings we publicly call each other friends. This speaks to the level of the relationship that has evolved between us on a human level.
“However, in addition to that, we uphold the interests of our states. As diplomats say, they are often very close or identical. An amazing situation has evolved and, God willing, it will continue for as long as possible: we always reach consensus on every issue, even seemingly controversial ones; we always come to terms, look for compromise solutions and find them.
“Ultimately, these agreements benefit both states because we move forward, do not become fixated, do not stop, do not drive the situation into an impasse, but resolve contentious issues and move on, and new opportunities arise. This is a very positive practice.
“As for the ongoing party congress in China, we are also closely following it, and I note the unusual openness of this party congress. I believe there is an unprecedented number of journalists and members of the international community there. There is no doubt that everything that the President of China has said, his speech and the ongoing discussions, show that China is focused on the future.
“We are seeing both difficulties and prospects. As noted earlier, China has wonderful economic prospects: 6.8% GDP growth, I believe, in the first three quarters of this year. This may be a little less than before, but it makes no difference. I believe that the ongoing changes on the labor market and in the economy as such are behind this growth. On the whole, China, on a par with India that is also demonstrating very good economic growth today, is certainly a global economic trader.
“We have the highest country-to-country trade with China and enormous joint plans, including some in very significant, serious spheres, like outer space, high technology and energy. All of this is laying the groundwork for developing our future interstate relations.”
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
International Effort Allows Thousands of Researchers To See Gravitational Waves
Oct. 20 (EIRNS)—Through a global effort that involved about 70 observatories, involving about 100 instruments on the ground and in space, and more than 3,000 researchers around the world, scientists announced on Oct. 16 that for the first time, they have observed gravitational waves created by the collision of two neutron stars. Gravitational waves had been observed in the past, but were produced by the collision of two black holes, which left no visible signatures on the sky. The source of the gravitational waves detected on Aug. 17, however, also produced gamma rays, X-rays, radio waves, infrared radiation, and visible light. Each emission lasted a different amount of time—gamma rays for 1.7 seconds; visible light for several days—but it was the synthesis of the measurements from the breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum that lifted the veil on the phenomenon that had produced these effects. Professor Soebur Razzaque from the University of Johannesburg who contributed to the research explained in a release issued today by the university, that the visible light was produced by the “burning” of radioactive materials in the stars, which produced the heavy elements we find in the universe, including gold and platinum.
In a blow-by-blow recounting of the discovery, National Geographic on Oct. 16 quotes Andy Howell from the University of California, Santa Barbara: “We saw a totally new phenomenon that has never before been seen by humans. It’s an amazing thing that may not be duplicated in our lifetimes.” But it is these singularities, which Einstein could “see” in his mind, that push forward the frontiers of science.
Discovery of a Huge Lunar Lava Tube That Could Support a Future Colony
Oct. 20 (EIRNS)—Scientists at the Japan Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) have found that detailed analysis of radar sounding data sent back from Japan’s Selene lunar orbiter indicates there is a large cave located underneath an area of volcanic domes on the Moon’s near side. This lava tube, scientists believe, was created during volcanic activity about 3.5 billion years ago. Lava tubes are found in volcanic regions on Earth, including Hawaii, Iceland, Australia, Sicily, and the Galapagos Islands.
There were preliminary indications of subsurface voids or caverns on the Moon, from gravity data taken by NASA’s GRAIL spacecraft, and photographs of holes on the surface, taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and by JAXA’s Selene. JAXA scientists then aimed Selene’s radar sounder system into the hole at various angles, and the reflected electromagnetic waves disclosed the existence of a cave about 310 miles long and 300 feet wide. Junichi Haruyama from JAXA said, “We’ve known about these locations that were thought to be lava tubes…but their existence has not been confirmed until now.” Looking ahead, Haruyama added, “We haven’t actually seen inside the cave itself, so there are high hopes that exploring it will offer more details.”
The technical article is published in Geophysical Research Letters, and details the distinctive radio echo pattern the scientists found near the entrance to the small hole that had been seen initially. The images from the spacecraft are stunning.
It has been suggested that such an underground chamber could be used as a base for astronauts and their equipment, protected from the radiation and extremes of heat and cold at the surface. Scientists are also anxious to investigate the caverns themselves, where the material has been shielded probably for billions of years, from the radiation and temperature extremes on the surface.
The broad media coverage of this exciting find has included headlines such as: “Scientists One Step Closer To Colonizing the Moon,” and “Potential Human Habitat Located on the Moon.”
South Korean ‘Jury’ on Nuclear Power Votes To Continue Two Stalled Plants
Oct. 20 (EIRNS)—A South Korean commission of 471 experts and political figures assigned to decide whether or not to sustain President Moon Jae-in’s shutting down construction on two major nuclear power plants has voted by nearly 60% to restore construction. State commission head Kim Ji-hyung reported today that the commission “recommends to the government the policy of resuming the construction of Shin Kori No. 5 and No. 6,” reporting 59.5% in favor. A recent poll conducted by Realmeter showed the population evenly split on the issue.
Moon campaigned on shutting the plants under construction, and phasing out all nuclear power over the long term. Construction was suspended in July when the reactors were about 30% complete and around $1.4 billion had already been spent on the project, Sputnik wrote today. However the commission also endorsed “scaling down” nuclear generation, by cancelling future projects and not extending the operation of existing reactors.
South Korea, which recently entered the global nuclear market with a $20 billion, four-reactor project in the U.A.E., will find it will not be possible to sustain an industry for export without a vibrant domestic industry.
Rebuild Puerto Rico with Nuclear Power
Oct. 20 (EIRNS)—Nuclear is a viable option for rebuilding the electricity system for Puerto Rico, writes Nuclear Navy alumnus Will Davis for the American Nuclear Society. After recalling the fact that Puerto Rico had a demonstration nuclear power plant in the 1960s, he recounts that the Puerto Rico Water Resource Authority, which was the local agency involved in the 1960s Westinghouse project, had ordered an operating nuclear plant in 1970, but after “lingering” for a number of years, the plant order was officially cancelled in 1978.
Davis explains that having no fuel resources, and having to import all of the energy it uses, the cost of electricity on the island is three times the average on the U.S. mainland. Nuclear is the perfect solution for rebuilding the island.
Davis proposes that with the 6,000 MW generating capacity that the island needs, “it’s not unreasonable to consider one or two nuclear power plants.” These could be full-sized plants, or modular small nuclear reactors to start. In a situation such as the recent Hurricane Maria, in the future, Davis writes, “the nuclear power plant could literally be sitting, operating, waiting for the power lines to be put back up without concern of having to acquire more fuel,” and without concern for the transportation difficulties created by such disasters.
To illustrate his point, he notes the photos of destroyed solar farms after the hurricane.
Apollo Astronaut Tom Stafford: The Space Program Has ‘Lost 16 Years’
Oct. 21 (EIRNS)—“Righteous Apollo-era anger,” is how Popular Mechanics writer Joe Pappalardo describes a recent talk given by legendary astronaut Gen. Tom Stafford (ret.) at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. Stafford flew twice on the Gemini Program spacecraft in the 1960s, and on the Apollo 10 mission, May 18-26, 1969, which was a dress rehearsal for the lunar landing. He commanded the Apollo-Soyuz joint mission with Soviet cosmonauts in 1975.
“We lost 16 years,” said the 87-year-old astronaut, referring to President Bush’s 2004 announcement of a Moon-Mars program, which was never funded, and President Obama’s cancellation of the Constellation program. In fact, as Pappalardo recounts, as far back as 1990, Stafford led a study for President George H.W. Bush that detailed a Moon-Mars program, which the Congress rejected. And President Clinton ended any discussion about a return to the Moon.
Stafford was very critical of the fact that NASA no longer dictates the design of spacecraft, with close supervision of the contractors. Stafford is not impressed, says Pappalardo, with the companies that are now given that responsibility. “The issue is safety and trust,” he said. “It’s like President Reagan said: Trust but verify.”
Recalling that in five years, NASA built the launch facility, spacecraft, and rockets to take astronauts to the lunar surface, Stafford asked, “Why can’t we? Why can’t we do it again?”
