EDITORIAL
Coup-Plotters Frantic To Sabotage Trump’s Asia Trip
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—As President Trump prepares to leave for Asia this week, for crucial meetings with Xi Jinping, Shinzo Abe, Rodrigo Duterte, Moon Jae-in, and perhaps also Vladimir Putin—meetings which could bring the United States directly into sync with the new paradigm for mankind emerging from China’s New Silk Road process—the British Empire’s flunkies in the U.S. are frantically trying to discredit or even indict the President, to sabotage his intention to form friendly and constructive relations with China and Russia.
Legal assassin Robert Mueller’s indictments of Paul Manafort, who was briefly Trump’s campaign manager in 2016, and George Papadopoulos, who was likely a British plant in Trump’s transition team (with no apparent influence), has been plastered all over the nation’s press as if it were the first blow in bringing Trump down. Trump responded with tweets saying that the charges against Manafort have nothing to do with either himself, nor with Russia, adding that “Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar.” David Gergen, the CNN commentator, gave it away Monday night by warning Trump that he should not undertake his Asian trip while he is facing such a deadly legal attack. Hogwash.
China, in the meantime, is rolling out the red carpet for Trump’s presidential visit—the first by a head of state since the historic 19th CPC National Congress, which concretized the transformation of world history initiated by Xi Jinping’s launching of the New Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road during his first five-year term.
The barrage of media attacks on Xi in the U.S. and British press—as a ruthless dictator, “the new Mao” and “the new Stalin,” among others—cannot cover up the reality of the incredible pace of development, within China, and across the developing sector nations of the world, through the Belt and Road Initiative. Even the IMF and such historic British banking institutions as HSBC are forced by reality to report the transformation taking place internationally due to China’s initiative—if only because they want to contain it.
The difference between the two futures facing mankind is stark. Xi Jinping presented a vision for China and the world for 2050, with China becoming a fully developed nation, while helping to lift the world’s formerly colonized countries out of poverty to become modern industrial nations. He bases this on the concepts of a “community of common destiny,” and a “new type of great power relations.” He fully backs President Trump’s stated intention to work closely with China and Russia in this new type of great power relations, driven by the New Silk Road vision for a common destiny of progress for all.
Then there is the current lack of vision in the West. The British imperial interests behind the coup attempt against Trump are the same City of London and Wall Street forces which have driven the western economies into industrial decay, the collapse of infrastructure, the demise of our nuclear industry and our space programs, a horrendous drug epidemic, vast unemployment and increasing rates of poverty and suicide.
Yet the means to escape this dying culture are in our hands. While the New Silk Road is the pathway, the evil of the bankrupt gambling institutions in London and on Wall Street, which have taken control of most of our government institutions, must be destroyed if we are to realize such a vision. Franklin Roosevelt showed that this is possible with his New Deal, imposing Glass-Steagall to clean out the filth on Wall Street, and establishing Hamiltonian national credit to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and unleash the productive powers of labor and scientific development.
Just as Robert Mueller implemented the “Get LaRouche Task Force” in the 1980s, precisely because Lyndon LaRouche was spearheading a movement to achieve that higher vision for mankind, so is Mueller today still functioning on behalf of the Empire, frantically trying to keep the world divided, to stop Trump from bringing the United States into cooperation with China and Russia.
LaRouche’s Four Laws incorporate the FDR approach, adding the urgency of a new era of cultural and scientific cooperation among sovereign nations, to create a truly universal renaissance for the future of mankind. This is no time for complacency. The path is clear, and victory in the short term is possible, and necessary, if the world is to avoid global chaos and war.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Virginia State Sen. Richard Black Talks to RT about Legal Assassin Mueller and Hillary Clinton
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—Virginia State Sen. Richard Black, who once headed the Army Judge Advocate General office at the Pentagon, was interviewed by RT on the Manafort indictment. The news agency asked if he was surprised that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment had nothing to do with Russia or Trump, he replied:
“Not at all. In recent weeks, the whole Russian narrative has fallen apart. It turns out that the DNC, probably with Hillary’s approval, actually paid for the dossier upon which this entire investigation is based. The dossier, widely discredited, was a product of a British intelligence MI6 agent by the name of Steele. It’s very difficult to imagine that Steele was able to produce this without some involvement from British authorities.
“So, if anything, we have some evidence linking Great Britain to interference in the American election.”
As for the charges against President Trump’s onetime campaign manager Paul Manafort, he said: “If you were to do a witchhunt against all the lobbyists in Washington, you’d sweep up a lot of very powerful people.”
As to Hillary Clinton, he called the Clinton Family Foundation “one of the most corrupt institutions in all of history. While she was in office, the Foundation raised $2 billion—that’s two thousand million dollars!—much of it from foreign sources that wanted to influence American policy, much of it from the Mideast, the Saudis.” He called for a special prosecutor to investigate the Foundation.
Pat Buchanan: Target Brit Agent Steele To Get at the Truth Behind Coup against Trump
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—Pat Buchanan today posted an article on the Manafort indictment, writing that the real issue is the complicity of the FBI with British intelligence. He quotes Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley: “The idea that the FBI and associates of the Clinton campaign would pay Mr. Steele to investigate the Republican nominee for president in the run-up to the election raises questions about the FBI’s independence from politics, as well as the Obama administration’s use of law enforcement and intelligence agencies for political ends.”
This he says, raises several questions:
“What was the FBI’s relationship with the British spy who was so wired into Russian intelligence?
“Did the FBI use the information Steele dug up to expand its own investigation of Russia-Trump collusion?
“Did the FBI pass what Steele unearthed to the White House and the National Security Council?
“Did the Obama administration use the information from the Steele dossier to justify unmasking the names of Trump officials who had been picked up on legitimate electronic intercepts?”
He notes that John Podesta, in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, claimed he “did not know that Perkins Coie had enlisted Fusion GPS or the British spy to dig up dirt on Trump. Yet, when Podesta testified, the lawyer sitting beside him in the committee room was Marc Elias of Perkins Coie, who had engaged Fusion GPS and received the fruits of Steele’s undercover work.”
Buchanan continues: “Here one is tempted to cite Bismarck that, if you wish to enjoy politics or sausages, you should not inquire too closely how they are made. Thus we have Free Beacon neocons, never-Trump Republicans, the Hillary Clinton campaign, the DNC, a British spy and comrades in Russian intelligence, and perhaps the FBI, all working with secret money and seedy individuals to destroy a candidate they could not defeat in a free election. If future revelations demonstrate that this is what went down, it is not only the White House that has major problems.”
Lavrov Accuses Kurt Volker of Sabotaging the Normandy Peace Process in Ukraine.
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed “regrets” that the U.S. special representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker is undermining the peace process underway by the Normandy Four—Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine. “Most recently [Volker] was in Kiev,” Lavrov said today, according to Sputnik, “where he made a number of statements, from which it became clear which alternative to our project curators of the Ukrainian authorities were preparing. Mr. Volker said that it was necessary for peacekeepers to occupy the entire Donbas, encircle it, and only then the U.S. will support President Poroshenko in his actions to implement all obligations [of the Minsk agreement], including the announcement of an amnesty, giving Donbas a special status according to [German President] Steinmeier’s formula, and holding elections.”
Volker also said that the representatives of the Donbas would be excluded from negotiations about peacekeepers and the peace process, another breech of the Normandy process.
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Europe Should Join, Not Sabotage, Russia-to-Europe Gas Pipeline, Argues Foreign Minister
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today called out European attempts to sabotage (another) Russia-to-Europe gas pipeline project. Speaking in Moscow to a meeting of the European Business Association, Lavrov said that the Turkish Stream pipeline that Russia is building to Turkey could be extended to deliver natural gas to “other European countries,” but “only after obtaining substantial legal guarantees from in Brussels,” referring to EU headquarters.
Lavrov’s proviso is in response to the plan announced by the European Commission in September, to “negotiate” with Russia to get it to abide by EU rules in regard to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would infringe on Russia’s most basic right of the sea. The EU plan, Lavrov said, “is absolutely groundless. There is no reason to apply the extraterritorial law of the European Union in the Baltic Sea.”
The EU Commission was making the outrageous claim that it could impose its “rules” on the offshore portion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Turkish Stream is a replacement for the South Stream pipeline, which was to deliver gas under the Black Sea to Bulgaria, then Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia, but was cancelled by Bulgaria under pressure from the EU.
‘Finance Watch’ Group Denounces EU Rejection of Bank Separation
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—Finance Watch, an independent organization which describes itself as a defender of the public interest in financial matters, denounced the decision by the European Commission on Oct. 24 to withdraw its legislative proposal for Bank Structural Reform (BSR)—i.e., to stop any consideration for bank separation.
A press release from Finance Watch says: “Separating systemically important banks’ retail and commercial banking from their investment banking activities should be a necessary element of overall financial regulation to address systemic risk and reduce the probability of another financial crisis.”
The statement notes that supervisors and resolution authorities have been given power to at least be certain that the big banks “can be wound down in a crisis in an orderly manner and without triggering contagion.” But, they continue, “In practice, however, it remains to be seen if any of these new powers are exercised, let alone enforced, in the face of relentless resistance by the industry and rapidly declining political support.”
Christian Stiefmueller, Senior Policy Analyst at Finance Watch, said: “The demise of the bill is as regrettable as it was—by now—predictable. The fact that not even [EU Commission] Vice-President Dombrovskis’ intervention one year ago succeeded in reviving the effort is testimony to the iron grip the financial industry’s lobby still exerts on governments and legislators. Bank Structural Reform would have gone a long way towards solving the ‘too big to fail’ problem. Instead of taking preventive action to contain systemic risk and ward off future crises, we have, it appears, chosen to chance it. A great opportunity to make the financial system more resilient has been missed.”
The statement continues says that bank separation (Glass-Steagall type legislation) would “focus large banks on serving the economy again … [and] cut the hidden umbilical cord by which public support for deposit banks is used to feed banks’ trading activities…. It would in fact avoid a situation where the short-term oriented, deal-based, investment banking culture can negatively influence the long-term, relationship-based culture of commercial banking; bring financial stability and prevent contagion between banks and make resolution possible for all banks—even the very largest. This greatly decreases the risk that taxpayers will once again have to bail out banks; avoid the economy seizing up if one investment bank fails. Separating all trading activities (not just proprietary trading) from commercial banking activities would make it easier for investment banks to fail safely.”
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Beijing Leadership Is Preparing for President Trump’s Trip to China
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—The government’s China Global Television Network (CGTN, formerly CCTV) runs an unsigned opinion piece today, titled, “Why Trump’s Upcoming China Visit Is Important.” It reports on yesterday’s briefing that China’s Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai held on U.S. President Donald Trump’s Nov. 8-10 trip, saying it is an honor to host Trump as the first world leader after the 19th CPC Congress to visit China. He said because there are differences in foreign policy, “that is why we need this high level communication.”
Cui, who turned 65 this month, has been asked to postpone his retirement in order to help ensure that President Trump visit to China is successful. Cui had previously said he would be stepping down, but as Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reports, “Sources said Cui remaining in the post underlined just how much importance Beijing was placing on Trump’s trip.”
President Xi Jinping said yesterday, according to Xinhua, that he is looking forward to President Trump’s trip, and that “we are optimistic about the prospects for Chinese-U.S. relations,” ahead of the meeting with President Trump. President Xi was speaking to America business leaders who are members of an advisory board to Tsinghua University’s business school in Beijing. Speaking in the Great Hall of the People, President Xi promised to open China’s economy wider.
Nigeria Moves Forward in Nuclear and Space Technology
Oct.31 (EIRNS)—Nigeria and India have agreed to cooperate in space technology, with a focus on improving agriculture. The agreement resulted from a visit of the India High Commissioner (ambassador) to Nigeria. Nigeria’s Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu said his country wants to make the economy knowledge-based and innovation-driven, reports the Nigerian Tribune. Onu said Nigeria was committed to developing space science because of the enormous role is could play in improving people’s standard of living, especially in agriculture and communication. Nigeria will learn from India’s capabilities and its ability to manage its huge population, said Onu, and India would learn from Nigerian experience in remote sensing and resource exploration. Nigeria is Africa’s largest country in population, with some 182 million people.
At the same time, Nigeria must provide electricity to its 182 million citizens. Nigeria and Russia’s Rosatom have signed a “road map” agreement for cooperation in nuclear energy. As Sputnik reports from Abu Dhabi, the agreement, which was signed on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, includes a multipurpose nuclear research center, and construction of a power plant.
South Korea and China End Confrontation, Prepare Summit
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—South Korea and China took a dramatic step Monday to end the conflict which has increased tensions between them since former President Park Geun-hye, under pressure from Obama, allowed the U.S. to deploy that THAAD missile system in the country, giving the U.S. radar capacity deep into Chinese territory. Although there were never formal sanctions imposed, there was a drastic cutback in tourism and investment into South Korea, and an unofficial boycott of Korean business within China, affecting Hyundai, Lotte, and others.
South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha announced on Oct. 30 three measures, which appear to have been pre-arranged between Beijing and Seoul, aimed at restoring relations. They include: South Korea would not pursue additional THAAD missile system deployments (without agreeing to remove the existing system); pronouncing that South Korea will not be part of the unified U.S. ABM system; and that there will be no trilateral military alliance between the U.S., Japan and South Korea.
Kang added: “I believe these measures will allow us to overcome difficulties in our relationship and quickly enter a normalization track.” She said that preparations were under way for a bilateral summit at APEC, and that plans for President Moon Jae-in to visit China within the year were also in the works.
Also, the new South Korean and Chinese senior representatives to the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue are meeting for the first time today in Beijing.
Great Silk Road Center To Be Established in Kazan, Tatarstan
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—At an UNESCO-related event on Oct. 28 in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky announced that a working group on the establishment of a Great Silk Road Center will be created, with its headquarters located in Kazan. Medinsky offered Tatarstan advisor to the Russian government Mintimer Shaimiev to chair this group, about which Shaimiev promised to consider. The two agree that the greatest scientists, historians, archaeologists, and culture scholars need to be attracted to the group’s work, reported Realnoe Vremya, a Tatarstan online newspaper.
“It is a historic road that crosses 15 countries. This is why one country will be able to master only a part. It is a huge contribution to the conservation of historical sites. As such a big number of peoples and religions are attracted, in my opinion, a very right, correct approach has been found. The Silk Road is already studied by corridors—in parts. We already have the first example—the first corridor China-Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan was nominated in 2014. Russia is a huge country, we should not stand on the sidelines,” Mintimer Shaimiev commented on the new project.
The choice of Kazan as seat of the planned center is of interest, because the envisaged high-speed rail route, a joint Russian-Chinese project, will go from Moscow to Kazan.
India Ships Wheat to Afghanistan via Iran’s Chabahar Port, Opening New International Trade Route
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—India has sent its first shipment of wheat to Afghanistan via Chabahar Port in Iran, located in the southeast corner of Iran on the Gulf of Oman. “The shipment is part of a commitment made by the government of India to supply 1.1 million tons of wheat for the people of Afghanistan on grant basis,” said the Indian Foreign Ministry in a statement. “Six more wheat shipments will be sent to Afghanistan over the next few months.” As of now, the wheat will be transported to Afghanistan by road from Chabahar through the Zahedan-Zaranj-Kabul Highway. India has built the Zahedan-Zaranj highway and is in the process of developing the Chabahar Port.
The first shipment establishes the India-Afghanistan trade route skirting Pakistan, which does not allow any land link between India and Afghanistan. According to Express News Service (ENS) today, the wheat shipment establishes three other objectives. To begin with, the activation of Chabahar Port shows India’s keenness to get the port functioning. Also, Chabahar speaks for India’s commitment to improving Indo-Iran relations. There were apparently some apprehensions in Iran that under alleged U.S. pressure, India would slow down improving its relations with Iran. The shipment also clears up that issue.
In addition, “Chabahar Port will also improve Afghan-Iran partnership and provide a crucial leverage for Kabul, as a transit between Central Asia and the Arabian Sea. It could further link Russia and provide another warm water outlet for Moscow. For the Afghans, Chabahar is not just about Indo-Afghan trade; it is an opening of a huge new world,” ENS wrote about India and Iran’s landlocked neighbor.
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
China’s First Astronaut Receives UNESCO Award
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—China’s first astronaut, Yang Liwei, has been awarded UNESCO’s Space Science Medal, on Oct. 27 Xinhua reported. The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization just established the medal in June. Three other laureates for this year are the first female in space, Valentina Tereshkova of Russia; the first Cuban in space, Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez; and the first Japanese Commander of the International Space Station, Koichi Wakara. Yang’s award was accepted by China’s delegate to UNESCO in Paris, Shen Yang.
In a message delivered on his behalf, Yang said that a UN flag was aboard his Shenzhou 5 spacecraft on his 2003 mission, to demonstrate China’s willingness to use outer space for the benefit of all mankind, and bespeaking China’s support for the United Nation’s principles. Yang said, “In the future, we are willing to work with all countries and regions that are committed to the peaceful use of outer space, with the aim to contribute more to the promotion of scientific progress and peace and development of the world.”
Europe Would Be 100% Wrong To Depend on Private Sector for Space Technology
Oct. 31 (EIRNS)—Europe should not follow the example of the U.S., and depend upon the commercial market for its space technology, French military specialist Philippe Bensussan told Defense News on Oct. 27. An expert on infrared technology for civilian and military applications, Bensussan fears that the U.S. model could gain traction in Europe, because of tight government budgets. Innovation is essential he says, requiring sustained funding.
“It is important European agencies understand … no one is going to fund technology that will take 10 years to develop, with return investment 15 years away,” he said. He is afraid, he said, that European governments will “back off and expect the private sector to back us.” This, he said, “would be 100% wrong.”
