EDITORIAL
Helga Zepp-LaRouche: As the Pace Quickens for the World Land-Bridge, Mueller Must Go!
Dec. 7 (EIRNS)—In her weekly webcast today, Schiller Institute chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche, discussed, among other things, the strategic importance of the institute’s Nov. 25-26 international conference in Bad Soden, Germany, and the rapid growth of the “Silk Road Spirit”—there are numerous Belt and Road conferences taking place around the globe—as the only real alternative to the impending global financial collapse, which even the Bank for International Settlements recognizes is on the horizon.
“If you look at the perspective which we laid out at this conference,” she said, “naturally, the significance of the New Silk Road strategically and the unbelievable dynamic that initiative is taking, but also, we have a very specific focus, namely the development of Africa and the development of Southwest Asia, the reconstruction of the countries of the Middle East. Now that there is a possibility that the war comes to an end with the defeat of ISIS, the reconstruction of Syria can begin, and the New Silk Road can be extended also into Iraq, possibly Afghanistan, and hopefully soon, the terrible situation in Yemen can also be addressed by real economic development which obviously is extremely urgent.”
Depicting the diversity of speakers from many different countries, Zepp-LaRouche also reported that “we had a whole section on the development of the Balkan countries; so I think this conference really was in an absolute, stark contrast to the absence of any kind of a vision in the so-called ‘coalition’ discussions in Berlin and also if you look at the miserable result of the meeting between the European Union and the African Union in Ivory Coast which took place more or less at the same time, which resulted in absolutely no perspective. I think it makes really very urgent that we continue the mobilization of getting the European nations into collaboration with the New Silk Road of China.
“And just for the conference, which was really very, very uplifting and people got extremely happy, we published a new study by the Schiller Institute, called ‘Extending the New Silk Road to West Asia and Africa.’ And this is a very comprehensive study, which I would suggest everybody who is interested in the development of Africa or of the Middle East should get … because it pertains to the real future of how mankind can get out of this crisis.”
The conference was “groundbreaking,” Zepp-LaRouche emphasized, and urged viewers to go to the Schiller website and take the time to listen to the speeches, “because you will see there is a whole perspective how we can move Africa into a completely new paradigm, and I think the time is just right for this to happen.” (The conference videos are all available on the Conferences page of the Schiller Institute’s New Paradigm website.) In this context, she mentioned the “beautiful speech by the President of Ghana [see Alertfor Dec. 7], who on the occasion of the visit of the French President Macron to his country made an absolutely self-confident speech that the African nations no longer want to just be at the mercy of Europeans but that they want to take their own fate into their own hands, and that this represents a completely new self-confidence of the Africans, and therefore the perspective we discussed at our conference finds a very, very fertile ground right now: Because Africans are sick and tired of being sidelined by the IMF conditionalities or the World Bank, and because of the Chinese investments, especially in the last ten years, but especially the last four years, there is a completely new confidence that Africa can overcome its underdevelopment.
“But I think there is a new spirit, and whoever is concerned about the refugee crisis or the fate of Africa—or the fate of Europe, for that matter—should get this study [‘Extending the New Silk Road…’] and get onboard with the Schiller Institute to help us to get European nations on a different perspective.”
Host Harley Schlanger raised that right after the Schiller conference in Germany, Zepp-LaRouche traveled to China where she participated in a conference on the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and gave a speech continuing the theme of her keynote in Bad Soden, which was very well received. She also remarked on the breathtaking development in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, where the conference was held. “This region of China has undertaken a development which is absolutely breathtaking, in terms of new industries, new city planning. We visited, as part of the conference proceedings, a city-planning center, where in a very, very impressive way they portrayed how all the modular aspects of the city of Zhuhai was composed to be in the best possible way, connecting population areas, living quarters, industrial areas, research centers, and this was really, as one of the visitors said, ‘city-planning at its best, that is exactly how you should plan a city.’
“And then, for me, the absolute high point, was that we traveled over the new sea bridge which is the largest sea bridge in China: It’s 55 km, and it connects Zhuhai, Macao and Hong Kong; and we came to within about 17 km from Hong Kong. And this is really an absolute masterpiece of engineering. They had to invent 120 patents to build this bridge. For example, it has tunnels and artificial islands, and some of the area of the underground is very soft, so they had to develop new techniques to drive cylinders into the ground, and it was just incredible. Eight years, it took them to build this unbelievable, very, very beautiful and modern bridge. [See Alert for Monday, Dec. 4, 2017.]
“And if you compare that for example with the abysmally slow speed with which even reconstruction of the highways are being done in Germany or elsewhere, it really shows that the New Silk Road Spirit and the idea of the Chinese economic miracle, you know, it is something which used to be German, which used to be the German economic miracle, but people here had forgotten that. … I think we need a completely new view on how we build things, on how we reconstruct our infrastructure, and really we can learn a lot from the Chinese right now.”
As Schlanger pointed out, these wonderful developments stand in stark contrast to the “Cold War spirit” that dominates the West, and especially Washington, with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “Russia-gate” investigation into President Trump which, however, is in the process of falling apart.
“We should remind ourselves that the whole purpose of Russia-gate has nothing to do with Russia meddling in the U.S. elections, or anything like that,” Zepp-LaRouche agreed. “It was entirely an operation to prevent President Trump from having a positive relationship with Russia, and after he changed his line on China … that completely changed and [he and President Xi Jinping] have developed a very good relationship ever since. So the whole operation with the FBI, the Department of Justice, which is still full of people from the Obama/Hillary Clinton clan, in collusion with British intelligence, they set up all kinds of operations in order to box Trump in, so that he couldn’t carry out any of his foreign policy aims.”
However, she continued, “the tide is turning, and given the fact that there also is an investigation going on in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate—by Congressman Nunes [House Intelligence Chair] and Senator Grassley [Senate Judiciary Chair], they are calling on all kinds of people to testify under oath, so it is not yet decided, because Mueller, on his side, escalates also; he’s demanded now the records of Deutsche Bank, on a loan Deutsche Bank gave to Trump at a certain point. But it could very well be that this whole thing becomes a complete boomerang, and that the people who are conducting the ‘Maidan, the coup against Trump, could be the targets of a criminal investigation, themselves, and end up in jail.
“So this is a turn in the events. Naturally, you don’t hear anything about that in the European media, and the mainstream media, but that’s what’s happening now, and it’s even in the mainstream media in the United States. So this is very, very hot, and stay tuned with us to follow this story….
“So I think this whole thing may take a complete change in the interpretation very soon, because if this thing is changed in the United States, and the dossier [‘Robert Mueller Is an Amoral Legal Assassin; He Will Do His Job If You Let Him’] which we produced is now being investigated in the Congress, in the Senate, on many levels in the different states by authorities of all kinds—though I can only advise our viewers again—please, get this dossier, read it, because if you want to know what is really going on in the United States and why is Mueller doing what he’s doing, you find there the best documentation ever. And since we discussed it in the past, already, let me just reiterate: This is the same apparatus which went after my husband in the ’80s and in the ’90s, and our organization in the United States; this is the apparatus which covered up for 9/11, the role of the Saudis, and this is the apparatus which is now trying a coup against the elected President of the United States. So this dossier is definitely a must-read for anybody who wants to find out what is really the ‘Deep State.’ You know, there’s a lot of discussion about ‘Deep State,’ but this discussion does not really address it from the standpoint that it’s really the British Empire, using its corrupt influences in the United States which is doing all of this. So get this dossier and spread it around.”
NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Japan Moves To Further Engage with Belt and Road
Dec. 7 (EIRNS)—The Secretaries General of the two parties of Japan’s governing coalition, Toshihiro Nikai of the Liberal Democratic Party and Yoshihisa Inoue of the junior party, Komeito, are travelling to Beijing later in December and hope to meet with President Xi Jinping, Livemint reports today. It was Nikai who represented Japan at the mid-May Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, in which Schiller Institute Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche participated.
Their trip follows Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s statement to Chinese and Japanese businessmen on Dec. 4, that Japan is willing to cooperate with China on the Belt and Road.
Discussing their trip, Inoue said that Japan may consider joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) launched by China—with nearly 60 founding members, and which now has 80 approved members—if certain conditions are met.
He said he saw strong signals from China of a willingness to improve ties. “They are actively setting up opportunities to explain their thinking and their policies for the future. We didn’t see this much in the past. I think the Chinese side has a policy of improving ties since the Party Congress,” in October.
Livemint concludes its report by noting that Japanese Prime Minister “Abe has said several times that he wants to host Xi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a trilateral summit in Japan by the end of the year. With time running out, Abe said this week he still hoped to hold it soon, and reiterated his desire to visit China next year to mark the 40th anniversary of a friendship treaty between the two countries.”
In related news, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun and China’s Global Timesreport that China and Japan agreed in talks Dec. 5-6, to begin operating a hotline to avoid accidental conflict in the East China Sea. Global Times quoted Chu Yin, an associate professor at the University of International Relations, that “the agreement reached by both sides shows a recovery in China-Japan ties.”
China Extends Loan and Grant Facilities in Zimbabwe, Confirms ‘Our True Friendship’
Dec. 7 (EIRNS)—In a show of confidence in the new situation in Zimbabwe, China has extended a loan and grants for key development projects. They include a concessionary loan for the upgrade of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare, and grants for the construction of the new Parliament Building and for the High Performance Computing Center being constructed at the University of Zimbabwe for a total of $213 million.
The loan and grants will be administered through the Export-Import Bank of China. Zimbabwe’s Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Huang Ping signed the deal in Harare yesterday on behalf of the two governments.
The $153 million loan carries a concessionary 2% interest rate and is payable over 20 years with a seven-year grace period. The expansion of the airport aims to double the airport’s capacity from the current 2.5 million passengers per year to 6 million.
“The government of the People’s Republic of China also gave support to the people of Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle,” said Minister Chinamasa.
“China is the only source of infrastructure financing. If you look at Kenya, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, their source of funding is China. We look forward to China and we have a lot to learn from them. They are the second largest economy after United States of America,” Chinamasa said. He described that the support springs from the state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Dec. 1, 2015, when he pledged to support the construction of the new Parliament Building, and that more deals with China were in the offing, according to the Harare Herald.
For his part Ambassador Huang said: “The Chinese government will continue to support the Zimbabwean government and people in their economic revival and social development. The agreement we have signed today is just a testimony of our efforts and our true friendship that withstands the test of time.” He said China was pleased to be lending financial support to Zimbabwe at “this new juncture of Zimbabwe’s social and economic development.”
Zimbabwe’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa has committed his government to correcting the policy inconsistencies that have prevented the Chinese from expanding their investments in the country, especially in infrastructure.
Preparations Underway for the 15th Russia-India-China Trilateral Meeting
Dec. 7 (EIRNS)—The 15th round of Russia-India-China foreign ministers’ meeting is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on Monday, Dec. 11. In addition to the RIC meeting, a number of bilateral meetings will take place as well, India’s Economic Times reported. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be arriving over the Dec. 9-10 weekend. Meanwhile, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has arrived on Dec. 6. The significance of the RIC lies in the fact that unlike some of the other trilaterals and quadrilaterals, there is a joint communiqué and not separate statements by the three countries, the Economic Times reported.
Lavrov will review bilateral ties with his Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj at their separate meetings. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin will be arriving in New Delhi on Dec. 23. In addition, the Economic Times reported “another senior minister from Moscow will be here in January as Delhi pushes its Eurasian agenda through connectivity initiatives INSTC (International North-South Transport Corridor) & Chabahar Port.”
China will be represented by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and his visit for the RIC meeting will be followed by Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi’s possible trip to Delhi in the third week of December for boundary talks with the Indian National Security Advisor and Special Representative, the Economic Times wrote.
Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with Geospatial World, the General Deputy Director Vitaly Safonov of Glavcosmos, a Russian state launch service provider and a subsidiary of Roscosmos, said “Geospatial Russia is planning to set up ground base stations in India for receiving communication signals of GLONASS. Similarly, [Indian Space Research Organization] ISRO will be allowed to set up IRNSS (now called NavIC) ground stations in Russia,” referring to the countries’ GPS services.
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Jean-Claude Juncker’s Flight Forward Puts Wind in the Sail of Europe’s ‘Populists’
Dec. 7 (EIRNS)—EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s flight forward with his new proposals to give more power to supranational EU institutions will hardly be adopted, and will have the effect of boosting anti-EU sentiment throughout Europe. Juncker’s proposals were presented yesterday in Brussels by EU Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger, who would play a central role were the “reform” adopted. Not accidentally, some German sources see the handwriting of Oettinger, as well as that of Juncker’s main sherpa Martin Selmayr, in Juncker’s proposals.
Juncker proposed four “reforms”:
- Establishing a European Monetary Fund under EU Law
- Bringing the Stability Pact under EU Law
- A EU Budget with expanded revenues and powers
- A EU Finance Minister under the EU Commission
Nobody except EU conspirators liked the plan. The French don’t like it because it is not what President Emmanuel Macron wanted and they see it as a creature of Wolfgang Schäuble (e.g., the article of Jean Quatremer in Libération, Dec. 4); in Germany, they won’t like it because it puts everything under the EU Commission (it could also get trouble from the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe); in Italy, they won’t like it because they see it as a giant Troika of which they will be the first victim.
So, it will probably remain what Germans call “Makulatur” (maculature, the first sheets off the printing press, to be discarded). But it will have a political effect, which leads one to wonder whether the EU is secretly promoting “populist” countergangs such as Germany’s Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD), which will be tremendously boosted by such political stupidity.
The co-chairman of the AfD, Jörg Meuthen, issued a press release attacking Juncker’s “abstruse Euro-fantasies.” The proposal aims “at an even larger redistribution in the Eurozone and a further incapacitation of German taxpayers.” After ranting against the EU’s southern states, Meuthen says that “A European Finance Minister would not be democratically legitimized. An independent EU budget cannot be controlled by any democratic agency. The same goes for the (European Stability Mechanism) ESM, which according to Juncker’s plans would outflank control by sovereign member states.”
The German “vox populi” tabloid Bild ran the headline: “Is Juncker Taking Advantage of Our Being without a Government?”
On Juncker’s cabinet chief Martin Selmayr: He studied European law and went to work for the huge Atlanticist Bertelsmann Foundation in Brussels, before starting a career in the EU Commission. He is the grandson of Wehrmacht Gen. Josef Selmayr, who worked under Reinhard Gehlen in the famous Abteilung Fremde Heere Ost (military intelligence) and was sentenced to 15 years for war crimes in Yugoslavia. In 1950 he was freed and joined the famous “Gehlen organization,” the anti-Soviet espionage group set up by the Anglo-Americans, eventually becoming head of German Military Intelligence (MAD).
U.S. POLITICAL & ECONOMIC
U.S. Asks Israel To Restrain Its Response to U.S. Moving Embassy to Jerusalem
Dec. 7 (EIRNS)—Following the announcement by President Donald Trump that the United States will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the response from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been a little less than triumphant. One reason is that Trump has asked Israel to tone down its response.
On Thursday, Netanyahu said Israel is holding discreet talks with other nations in an effort to get them to follow Trump’s lead. “I would like to announce that we are already in contact with other countries which will issue a similar recognition,” Netanyahu said in a speech at the Foreign Ministry, according to Ynetnews. “I have no doubt that the moment the American Embassy moves to Jerusalem, and even before then, there will be a movement of many embassies to Jerusalem. The time has come.” Praising Trump he said, “President Trump has forever entered the history of our capital, and his name will be proudly displayed alongside other names in the glorious history of our city.”
A State Department document that Reuters claims to have exclusively seen, states, “The United States is asking Israel to temper its response to the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as its capital because Washington expects a backlash and is weighing the potential threat to U.S. facilities and people. ‘While I recognize that you will publicly welcome this news, I ask that you restrain your official response,’ ” the Dec. 6 document said, in talking points for diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to convey to Israeli officials. “We expect there to be resistance to this news in the Middle East and around the world. We are still judging the impact this decision will have on U.S. facilities and personnel overseas,” the document reported.
The State Department has sent out a security alert to all U.S. Embassies in advising Americans to be cautious in light of the possibility that there will be protest demonstrations over this issue.
SCIENCE & INFRASTRUCTURE
African Development Bank Extends $300 Million for Nacala Corridor Railway and Port Project
Dec. 7 (EIRNS)—“The African Development Bank (AfDB) and other participating co-lenders have signed agreements for the financing of the Nacala Corridor project. This is an integrated and transformative infrastructure project which consists of a 912 km railway and a port meant to unlock the Western region of Mozambique and landlocked Malawi. The total project cost is estimated at $5 billion,” the AfDB reported on its website on Nov. 28. “The project has received further financial backing from the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation, Nippon Export and Investment Insurance and the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa, for an overall package of $2.7 billion in loans.”
Upon completion, the Nacala Corridor project will fulfill West Mozambique and Malawi’s dream to connect by rail to the sea, for a cheaper way of transporting goods. Parts of this project have been completed, and last August, the inauguration of the Kachasu Nkaya railway section of the project has now linked Malawi to the Indian Ocean by rail.
Last May, Railway Gazette had reported Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi inaugurating the deep-water port of Nacala-a-Velha. This is the starting point to develop a 912 km “integrated logistics corridor” by rail, serving northern Mozambique, southern Malawi and the Moatize coalfield.
According to AfDB, “the project is expected to have a catalytic effect in the region and create economic benefits for the various stakeholders, including sponsors, governments and the local population. It will enable a significant reduction in transportation costs and increase coal export volumes. Furthermore, additional capacity created in general along the corridor is expected to contribute to creating economic opportunities in the local economy, notably by increasing agricultural trade in the region.”
OTHER
Argentine Judge Escalates Persecution of Senator Fernández de Kirchner, Charges Her with Treason
Dec. 7 (EIRNS)—In a desperate and legally-unsustainable move, reminding one of the anti-Trump vendetta in Washington, Argentine Judge Claudio Bonadio, who has been leading the legal persecution of former Argentine President and now Sen. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, today indicted her on charges of treason and demanded that her parliamentary immunity be lifted so she can be jailed prior to trial. Bonadio, who is acting on behalf of neo-conservative President Mauricio Macri, charges that Fernández de Kirchner “mounted a criminal plan” in collusion with other cabinet members and political allies to cover up Iran’s alleged role in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people.
The alleged coverup, according to Bonadio, came in the form of a memorandum Fernández signed with Iran in 2013, which would have allowed Argentine judges to question the Iranians accused in the case, in Tehran. Although approved by the Argentine Congress, the memorandum was eventually declared unconstitutional and never went into effect.
The Bonadio/Macri move reflects a flight forward that can backfire, given the political unrest existing in Argentina as a result of Macri’s brutal austerity policies, and the fact that Fernández can mobilize large numbers of citizens in defense of economic rights and development. Sentiment against neo-liberalism in the region is also a factor, as seen in former Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s rise in the polls as a potential winner in the next presidential elections, despite his persecution and indictments by the London-directed “Operation Carwash” apparatus, run by the State Department-owned Judge Sergio Moro. Lula’s Workers’ Party has issued a statement of support for Cristina Fernández.
In a press conference this afternoon, Fernández made the obvious point. The indictment came 72 hours before she was to assume her official duties as federal Senator. “This is an invented case based on non-existent facts,” she said. “Bonadio knows it, the government knows it and Macri knows it.” This is an action meant only “to intimidate, terrify and provoke” anyone who might oppose Macri’s brutal IMF-dictated economic policy which has proved to be a total failure. But, she warned, “they will not silence us, or scare us, or discipline us.”
Cristina Fernández emphasized that she has a unique role to play in the Senate—she can be the voice of opposition to Macri’s murderous policies, in a way that others cannot be. They want to intimidate me and hold the Sword of Damocles over my head, as a threat, she warned. But I will not be intimidated. The Argentine people demand solutions to the economic anguish they suffer. That is what should be on the agenda, rather than Macri putting up a smoke screen to cover up the profound social unrest caused by his policies, she said.
