EDITORIAL
Lavrov Addresses Roots of New Paradigm in Christmas Interview
Dec. 25 (EIRNS)—In his Dec. 25 interview with RT, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed the roots of the “multipolar world” now coming into being, as the dangerous fantasy world of the Bush/Obama years, of the U.S. as the “Only Superpower,” comes crashing down along with the western banking system.
Lavrov said: “I think that the concept of a multipolar world came into being not 10, but rather some 20 years ago. It was put forward by Yevgeny Primakov when he served as Russia’s Foreign Minister, in 1996-1998. He was also behind the initiative to set up the Russia-India-China (RIC) three-sided cooperation framework, which operates to this day…. The RIC framework paved the way to what we now call BRICS, when Brazil and later South Africa joined the Russia-India-China trio. I believe that this is indicative of the trend towards the emergence of what we call a polycentric world order.”
In December 1998, Primakov, who had become Prime Minister as of September 1998, visited India, where he called for the formation of a strategic triangle among the three giant nations of Eurasia—Russia, India, and China. Then, in March 1999, Primakov scheduled a visit to Washington to meet with President Clinton, almost certainly to discuss his strategic triangle concept and appeal to the U.S. to support it, or even to join it. Al Gore, then the Vice President (or President of Vice, as LaRouche called him), sabotaged the meeting by calling Primakov, who was already on his plane heading to the U.S., and telling him that the U.S. would be bombing Yugoslavia during his visit.
LaRouche responded in the EIR of April 2, 1999: “The members of the Principals’ Committee, including Vice-President Al Gore, knew beforehand, that Russia’s Prime Minister would cancel his visit to Washington the instant he were informed that the bombing of Yugoslavia would begin during the period of his scheduled visit. President Clinton had signalled to all with the brains to hear a clear Presidential signal, to the effect that there would be no bombing of Yugoslavia during the period of Primakov’s visit. Gore et al. were desperate to prevent the visit from occurring. Gore, going behind the President’s back, intercepted the Russian Prime Minister, a mere two hours before his scheduled arrival in Washington, informing the Prime Minister that the bombing would probably occur during the time of the visit!”
Primakov ordered the plane to return to Moscow. LaRouche headlined his article: “Gore Provokes Total War!” That warning, regarding Gore and his fellow British assets Obama and Hillary, still stands today.
A few months later, in October 1999, Lyndon LaRouche speaking at the Rhodes Forum, expanded on Primakov’s vision, and his probable intention, by calling for a “Four Powers” consortium, with Russia, China, India, and the U.S., as the necessary basis for ending the British Empire and establishing a new paradigm embracing all sovereign nations, cooperating for peace and development. LaRouche said: “Therefore, the task, as I defined it, is, if Russia, and the United States, and China, and India, agree, as a group of countries to initiate and force a reorganization of the world financial and credit system, under these conditions, with long term agreements, of the same type that Franklin Roosevelt had uttered before his death, in 1944, under key nations, the intention of Roosevelt all these years later, could have been realized, and we could do that today.”
This is the history which Lavrov is referring to today. Lavrov added (in RT’s paraphrase): “A global financial reform that would account for new centers of economic growth and the dwindling role of the dollar is what drives the transition. The G20 format is likely to be the driving force of the reform, with roughly half of the group sharing Russia’s goal of decentralizing world finances. As for a new set of rules, they will grow organically as the world transforms.”
As we head into the New Year, bringing about LaRouche’s vision for the “Four Powers” to collaborate in creating a new world order based on the common aims of mankind is urgent, and, more than at any time in the past, totally possible.
Editor’s Note: As usual, we will skip the EIR Daily Alert issue for Monday, Jan. 1, 2018.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
More Hits on Coup as LaRouchePAC Accelerates Campaign: McCabe Quitting
Dec. 23 (EIRNS)—The mobilization of the LaRouche Political Action Committee against the year-long British assault on the Presidency using “legal assassin” Robert Mueller, has doubled in force, in effect. LaRouchePAC now has two mass pamphlets circulating in the United States, one exposing Mueller’s corrupt history back to his 1980s attempt to legally assassinate LaRouche himself; and the other showing the economic and scientific programs the United States under Trump could be pursuing, if the Mueller coup attempt is thoroughly defeated.
The coup attempt continues to be weakened by new exposures.
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe announced his resignation “under Republican attacks” as the Washington Post reported late Dec. 23. McCabe, who is 49, said he intends to remain for a few months until his full pension vests before leaving. Fired FBI Director James “Comey’s right-hand man,” McCabe clearly had led a group of FBI lawyers and prosecutors out to force Trump from office. McCabe had just been grilled by three Congressional committees, whose members said his answers were unsatisfactory and contradicted other FBI witnesses.
British MI6 agent Christopher Steele has started to forswear his lying dossier, in a British court case against him, the Washington Examiner reported Dec. 20. In the case by Russian businessman Aleksej Gubarev (which EIR has reported previously), Steele submitted to the court: “The briefings [i.e., his briefings to MI6 and to the FBI/DOJ] involved the disclosure of limited intelligence regarding indications of Russian interference in the U.S. election process and the possible coordination of members of the Trump campaign team and Russian government officials.” [Emphasis added.] Steele also said he “understood that the information provided might be used for the purpose of further research, but would not be published or attributed.” But previously, and personally, “he had briefed the New York Times, Washington Post, Yahoo News, The New Yorker and CNN in person. He later briefed Mother Jones magazine via Skype”; all clear invitations to publication.
These admissions further illuminate the corruption of intelligence officials led by James Comey (FBI), John Brennan (CIA) and James Clapper (DNI). They knowingly triggered the wide publication of Steele’s British dossier by their Jan. 6 ambush and blackmail briefing of President Trump, their “J. Edgar Hoover moment.”
And the House Intelligence and House and Senate Judiciary Committees are hot on the trail of what else the FBI did with it and for it.
Politico reported that House Intelligence Committee members have evidence that may show why FBI Chief Counsel James Baker was just demoted a day after accompanying Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in testimony before the Committee. Baker, they believe, was in communication with journalist David Corn before Corn became the first to publish the claims of the British dossier, in Mother Jonesmagazine Oct. 31, 2016. Corn had interviewed Christopher Steele himself: “[A] former senior intelligence officer for a Western country who specialized in Russian counterintelligence, tells Mother Jones that in recent months he provided the Bureau with memos, based on his recent interactions with Russian sources, contending the Russian government has for years tried to co-opt and assist Trump—and that the FBI requested more information from him.” But Corn continued, in his Oct. 31, 2016 piece: “A senior U.S. government official not involved in this case but familiar with the former spy” told him the spy “has been a credible source with a proven record of providing reliable, sensitive, and important information to the U.S. government.”
House Republicans told Politico that official was the FBI’s Baker, who would thus have provoked the first publication of British agent Steele’s claims against Trump.
The Nation, in a long 2017 review of “Media Malpractice in Russiagate” by Aaron Mate Dec. 23, wrote: “The basis for the ‘virtually uncontested truths’ of the year’s biggest story remains the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s January 2017 report, which accused Russia of hacking Democratic emails and using social media to influence the 2016 election. Yet the report openly acknowledges that ‘its conclusions are not intended to imply that we have proof that shows something to be a fact.’ Nearly one year later, we have yet to see a shred of proof.”
VIPS Tells Trump, Iran Is Not the Sponsor of International Terrorism
Dec. 23 (EIRNS)—The senior intelligence group, Veterans Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), has written an open letter to President Donald Trump about the lack of evidence for the constant American diplomatic and political claim that Iran is a leading state sponsor of terrorism—lately “the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism” has become de rigueur. That this is false, is adequately proven in the long letter, posted on Dec. 22 on their Memos page on ConsortiumNews, and signed by the entire VIPS board. It recalls that George W. Bush was restrained from war in 2007, by intelligence assessments which reported that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons programs; now, Trump should get honest intelligence as well.
“The depiction of Iran as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism is not supported by the facts,” they state. “While Iran is guilty of having used terrorism as a national policy tool, the Iran of 2017 is not the Iran of 1981. In the early days of the Islamic Republic, Iranian operatives routinely carried out car bombings, kidnappings and assassinations of dissidents and of American citizens. That has not been the case for many years. Despite frequent claims by U.S. officials that Iran is engaged in terrorism, we simply note that the incidents recorded annually in the U.S. Department of State’s ‘Patterns of Global Terrorism’ rarely identifies a terrorist incident as an act by, or on behalf of, Iran….
“Iran’s relationship with Hezbollah also has evolved radically. In the early years of the Islamic Republic, Hezbollah was often a proxy and sub-contractor for Iran. But … Hezbollah has become an entity and political force in its own right…. Hezbollah, which is now part of the Lebanese government, also has turned away from the radical, religious driven violence that is the hallmark of the Sunni extremists, like ISIS.”
VIPS further specifies: “The U.S. government’s own list of terrorist attacks since 2001 shows a dramatic drop in the violence carried out by Iran and an accompanying surge in horrific acts by radical Sunni Muslims who are not aligned with Iran. The latest edition of the Global Terrorism Index, a project of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, shows that four groups accounted for 74% of all fatalities from terrorism in 2015—Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and ISIS. Thirteen of the 14 Muslim groups identified by the U.S. intelligence community as actively hostile to the U.S. are Sunni, not Shi’a, and are not supported by Iran:” The letter lists them; the 14th is “the Houthis.”
Kenneth Starr Bemoans that Wonderful Mueller Investigation Is in Deep Trouble
Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—Former Special Prosecutor Ken Starr is most concerned that his dear friend and most admired former colleague Bob Mueller has lost control of the coup attempt against President Donald Trump, and calls for turning things over to a Watergate-style Senate Select Committee to be sure the job gets done. Starr ran the witchhunt against President Bill Clinton over Whitewater, which morphed into the honeypot sting operation with Monica Lewinsky—recall that the LaRouche organization was virtually the only defender of Clinton at the time, exposing the British roots of the operation to bring down the President.
Starr whines that, although Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is right to claim his agents have First Amendment rights to hold political opinions, nonetheless, “what has been revealed thus far implicates the integrity of the entire process. Unfortunately, in these hyperpartisan times, Mueller has chosen poorly by having smart but deeply politicized senior aides.”
In a Washington Post op-ed dated Dec. 22, Starr writes: “I continue to believe in the honor and integrity of both men [Mueller and Rosenstein], whom I not only know well but also served with during a period of years. But neither the special counsel nor the deputy attorney general have been served well by key personnel. To the contrary, recent revelations of deep-seated bias against President Trump within the Mueller staff call for both a thoroughgoing reevaluation of the executive branch’s approach and a fundamental reset.”
He continues: “The cascading revelations of anti-Trump bias should give all fair-minded observers pause. The appearance of politically inspired prejudice of power-wielding investigators and prosecutors has taken hold in the public consciousness.”
He is, of course, primarily concerned with getting Trump out of office by any means necessary. He covers up for the Brits by referring to the Steele dossier only as an “infamous Fusion GPS dossier,” and he strongly opposes the appointment of another special prosecutor to investigate the FBI or Mueller and his team. “What to do? From my perspective, the answer lies not in appointing more special counsels or anointing an internal senior counsel. Don’t go there.” Stick to Trump, not the British coup, he pleads.
So, move the coup attempt to yet another Congressional investigation, he suggests. “Specifically, it’s time to consider the appointment of a bipartisan Select Committee, preferably in the Senate, with highly experienced, respected members chosen by the majority and minority leaders. This is the Watergate model. The Select Committees mandate would be broad—to examine all issues relating to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign and to open the hearings to the fullest extent practicable.” I.e., cover up the coup attempt under Mueller and the rest of the Obama team of criminals.
On Orders from Wall Street, Peruvian President Kuczynski Survives Impeachment Vote
Dec. 22 (EIRNS)—Prominent Boston banker, President of Peru Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK) yesterday survived an impeachment vote in the Peruvian Congress by a vote of 78-19, short of the two-thirds super-majority of 87 votes required for approval.
Kuczynski is the latest prominent Ibero-American politician caught up in the “Lava Jato” (Carwash) corruption scandals, in which the Odebrecht construction company, a world-class Brazilian construction engineering firm with activities in dozens of countries, is charged with paying bribes to politicians. As EIR has documented, the entire Lava Jato affair was concocted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and State Department, using their Brazilian asset Judge Sergio Moro and others, to carry out regime-change operations and coups d’état against countries and leaders working with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. These are the same individuals at the DOJ who, for the same strategic reasons, are involved in the illegal assault against U.S. President Donald Trump, based on instructions and fraudulent documents provided by British intelligence.
Thus, Lava Jato has been used to:
- Overthrow the Dilma Rousseff government in Brazil and threaten former president Lula da Silva with jail;
- Destroy Brazil’s advanced technology economic capabilities, including its nuclear and space programs, as well as its national oil company, Petrobras;
- Target Argentine former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner with removing her parliamentary immunity to also imprison her;
- Jail Ecuador’s Vice President Jorge Glas and target former President Rafael Correa for the same;
- Target Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela for destabilization, and perhaps more.
In all of these cases, the targeted leaders are actively involved in promoting China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and, as with the BRICS nations, adopting policies to link their countries to the Belt and Road global alternative to the collapsing Wall Street financial system.
Not so Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. And therefore Wall Street and the City of London pulled levers and deployed their assets to make sure that Kuczynski survived the impeachment vote, and did not become collateral damage of their Lava Jato operation. The bankers’ intention was signaled on Dec. 18, when the Economist Intelligence Unit announced that the entire impeachment proceeding was causing “political noise” that meant a downward revision in the EIU’s growth forecast for Peru.
And then in the Congressional impeachment proceedings, the leftist Nuevo Peru party of Veronika Mendoza did an about-face, and changed their previous support for impeachment to cast their ballots against impeachment—thereby giving PPK the margin he needed to survive. Mendoza is a classic case of a political leader manufactured abroad, with a cultivated profile of total backing for environmentalism, indigenism, gay rights, and so on. The daughter of a Peruvian father and a French mother, Mendoza has a graduate degree in psychology from France’s Sorbonne University—the same Sorbonne which for decades has been the control center of so-called “indigenist” movements across Ibero-America, and especially in Peru. The case of Jacques Soustelle is infamous in that regard, including the top-down control of the Sendero Luminoso Peruvian narco-terrorists by those very French/Sorbonne networks. Much of the Sendero-influenced left in Peru today overlaps networks backing Mendoza’s political activities, including her recent presidential campaign.
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Moscow Condemns U.S. Decision To Provide Lethal Anti-Tank Weapons to Ukraine
Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—The Russian government has reacted very strongly to the U.S.’s government decision to provide anti-tank missiles to Ukraine.
The Dec. 23 Wall Street Journal, in an article entitled, “U.S. To Send Antitank Weaponry to Ukraine, Entering New Phase in Conflict” reported that, “President Donald Trump has signed off on a decision to provide Ukraine with lethal defensive weaponry, including portable antitank armaments, U.S. officials said Friday, in a major shift in the years’ long conflict…. The decision to send Javelin anti-tank missiles places Washington closer to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The administration notified Congress on Friday, U.S. officials said.”
The FGM-148 Javelin, is a light-weight, portable anti-tank missile system, that uses automatic infrared guidance.
“The United States has crossed a line by announcing its intention to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Dec. 23, in a statement posted to the Foreign Ministry website. “U.S. weapons are capable of leading to new casualties in our neighboring country and we cannot remain indifferent to that.”
“The United States is clearly prompting [Ukraine] to new blood shed,” Ryabkov said. “Kyiv’s revenge-seekers have already been shelling Donbas everyday and are unwilling to hold peace talks, while dreaming about doing away with the disobedient population. And the U.S. has decided to give them the weapons to do it.”
“Washington is trying to present itself as an intermediary, but it is an accomplice in fomenting a war,” Ryabkov stated, and that “Russophobia is obstructing the views of many” in the United States.
Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said, “This decision undermines the work on implementation of the 2015 Minsk agreements. In fact, [this decision] supports Kiev’s ‘party of war,’ that is, the political forces which are for use of force in settlement of the Donbass problem. This is unacceptable.”
Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Russian Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee asserted, “Washington’s recent decision, alas, … is in favor of war, not peace.”
McGurk: Western Powers Will Not Support Syria Reconstruction with Assad in Power
Dec. 22 (EIRNS)—The U.S. government still wants to change the regime in Syria. Since the Russian intervention against jihadi terrorists in Syria has greatly strengthened the government of Bashar al Assad, the U.S. is left with refusing to support economic reconstruction in government controlled areas of the country. Brett McGurk, the Trump Administration’s special envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition, delivered his last briefing for 2017 at the State Department, yesterday, in which he praised U.S.-Russian military deconfliction and contributing to the defeat of ISIS, but made clear that there’ll be no Western support for reconstruction until there’s a political settlement in Syria that is acceptable to the United States.
The coalition has made clear, he said, “that there will be no international [double-talk for U.S. and EU—ed.] reconstruction assistance for regime-controlled areas of Syria absent that political process really moving ahead in a credible way that can ultimately lead to a political transition.” This means, he said, that if the process gets to the point of UN-sponsored elections, as called for in UN Security Council resolution 2254, “that Bashar al-Assad will no longer be in power in Damascus.” McGurk’s threat, as arrogant as it is, might not mean much in the long run, however, if China and others get fully involved in reconstructing Syria, as they are moving toward. Chinese involvement will not only mean real reconstruction, but the incorporation of Syria into the new paradigm of the New Silk Road.
McGurk’s briefing was the usual mixture of geopolitical posturing and some indications of progress, particularly with respect to the Russians. In McGurk’s view the deconfliction line is working and other matters in Syria can’t be dealt with without engaging the Russians. “We’re not coordinating operations but making sure we don’t have any accidents. That’s extremely tense from time to time, but overall that has gone quite well and accelerated the pace of operations,” he said on the deconfliction line. “So the engagement with the Russians has actually, I think, contributed to the demise of ISIS at least in the caliphate.”
Empire’s Queen Seeks To Depose South African President Zuma and Smash ANC Immediately
Dec. 25 (EIRNS)—In South Africa, we clearly see the true face and source of interventions into the electoral and political affairs of sovereign nations. The same Brutish forces behind the ongoing, attempted coup against Trump are escalating their calls for the early ouster of President Jacob Zuma.
Following the recent razor-thin defeat of the Zuma-backed candidate to succeed him in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party electoral conference, openly British-linked sources and spokesmen are demanding Zuma’s early ouster by the victorious, London-backed candidate Cyril Ramaphosa by available political-legal maneuvers.
What is driving this, as LaRouche South Africa leader R.P. Tsokolibane makes clear in a Dec. 24 statement, is the imperative of the British Empire of money to disrupt the BRICS and the leadership that Zuma and South Africa must provide for the development of Africa.
Immediately after Ramaphosa’s election, Fitch Ratings and the First National Bank (one of South Africa’s big four banks) began oinking about the need to depose Jacob Zuma, whose term should run for another 15 months. Such an action would also fracture the ANC.
Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, in his sermon on Christmas Eve at Cape Town’s St. George’s Cathedral, declared, “I cannot see how the ANC will make a clean break with the past and set us on a new course, unless the new leaders elected at Nasrec [in Soweto] last week, supported by their MPs in Parliament, act boldly and quickly to replace Mr. Zuma as President of the country, and to follow that up with a carefully targeted Cabinet reshuffle.
“If they don’t,” Makgoba threatened, “we can see their fate written in the histories of other liberation movements in the world who have failed to adapt: They will lose power. If Mr. Ramaphosa wants the ANC to get a new lease of life, he and the new leadership will need to cut the umbilical cord which ties them to the Zuma era, quickly and decisively.” Makgoba’s boss is Her Majesty the Queen, who is, by law, the supreme head of the Church of England. Makgoba insists he does not intervene in politics: Fair enough. He is only the messenger. (Makgoba is Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s successor.)
The numerous British-steered opposition parties, like a pack of Her Majesty’s hunting hounds, are all calling for Ramaphosa to force President Zuma out before the Feb. 8 State of the Nation address.
But it remains unclear whether Ramaphosa will follow the advice of his British masters—advice that would destroy his ability to rule in the future and would plunge the country (as the Brits desire) into political chaos. So far, Ramaphosa has said nothing publicly, and without his support, the barking of these British dogs is just that. And Zuma and his faction who have in recent days become more aggressive in their fight-back against what they now openly call regime change and color revolution, orchestrated by foreign sources.
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
You Can’t Make High-Speed Rail Lines with 30-mph Killer Curves
Dec. 23 (EIRNS)—Attempts across the United States to upgrade 80- to 140-year-old freight rail lines into short-distance “high-speed” passenger lines flowed from bits of the $8.8 billion in high-speed rail funding in the 2009 ARRA or “Stimulus Act” of Barack Obama, who claimed to be a high-speed rail enthusiast.
As the Wall Street Journal reported today, the Amtrak Cascades between Portland and Seattle was one of those lines, in this case a freight line dating originally from 1891 which was upgraded to allow passenger travel at 80-100 mph.
But the Journal describes how higher speed rail on the cheap has a glaring problem—low-speed curves—and they are seen all over the country on such old freight lines. In the Washington State crash, with three fatalities, the original plan to get rid of the curve where the crash occurred, including a new rail trestle at a different location, was abandoned due to its cost. The State Transportation Authority decided it “wasn’t necessary to support the number of planned round trips.” The mistake was the more egregious because the 30-mph maximum speed curve into the trestle over the highway, was also on a significant downhill grade. But this is what has tended to happen in case after case of these upgrades to what should really be called moderate-speed passenger rail.
The widespread occurrence of these low-speed curves on old freight lines creates the rail equivalent of “dangerous intersections” where local agencies try to make them moderate speed. Positive train control systems would handle the problem by automatically braking the train well in advance; but they, too, nearly always get postponed due to cost, as was the case with the deadly Amtrak Cascades crash.
This is not the way to build a national network of high-speed rail corridors—for passengers, freight, or both—but only illustrates how badly one is needed.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Russia signed agreement to build nuclear power plant in Sudan
Dec. 22 (EIRNS)—Rusatom Overseas, a branch of Russia’s nuclear company, Rosatom, and Sudan’s electricity ministry have signed an agreement in Khartoum to build a nuclear power plant in Sudan, the Russian nuclear company said in a statement, Sputnik International reported today.
“The development of nuclear technology will allow Sudan to deal with its energy security problem. It is a strategic project which will determine the nature of relations between our two countries for a long time,” Rosatom said. “As part of a feasibility study for the nuclear power plant construction project, the choice of site will be examined and the key parameters will be defined,” including timing and funding, it said without giving further details.
Almost a month ago when the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visited Russia, a nuclear cooperation agreement between the two nations was signed following his talks with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. That document created a legal framework for cooperation between Russia and Sudan in creating and improving the nuclear infrastructure of Sudan in accordance with international recommendations, Asharq al-Awsat had reported at the time.
China, Russia, and Iran Commence the Reconstruction of Syria
Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—China, Russia, and Iran are putting together plans and packages for the urgently needed reconstruction of Syria, after six and one-half years of war by British-organized terrorists has reduced large swathes of that nation to rubble.
The United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has said rebuilding Syria will cost at least $250 billion—and it likely will be significantly higher.
Bloomberg reports Dec. 23, in “China Makes Move in Syria as U.S. Says No Rebuilding under Assad,” that Qin Yong, vice-president of the China-Arab Exchange Association, estimates there could be about $2 billion of Chinese investment in the first stage. Qin disclosed he’s been escorting Chinese companies to the Syrian cities of Damascus, Homs and Tartus, and “they are eyeing projects to build roads, bridges, airports and hospitals and restore electricity and communications,” according to Bloomberg (a part of Qin’s activity was reported in a prior briefing).
Bloomberg continued, “That may just be the beginning, because Syria fits into Chinese strategy. The country was a key link on the ancient Silk Road and President Xi Jinping’s most ambitious plan involves building a new one: the multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to weave a Chinese web of trade and transportation links across Eurasia and Africa.”
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin expounded upon Russia’s plans during his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al Assad in Damascus last week. The Dec. 18, Al Masdar News reported that Rogozin announced projects, to be built jointly with Syria, in “oil producing facilities, infrastructure facilities, railroads, ports, and the energy sector.” Rogozin also spoke of joint Russian and Syrian plans to develop Syria’s phosphate deposits. “There’s a big phosphate deposit in Syria. In many countries this product is in high demand,” Rogozin was quoted by RT. Rogozin also proposed that Russia uses Syrian ports to ship “Russian wheat not only to Syria, but via Syria to Iraq and nearby countries.”
At the same time, Iran has signed an agreement with Syria to repair portions of Iran’s power grid, and to build a 540 megawatt capacity power plant in Latakia province.
The British are moving forcefully to block all Western participation in Syrian reconstruction, locking them into an outmoded geopolitical worldview. In April, the EU, Arab nations, and the United States had committed to $9.7 billion for humanitarian aid and rebuilding in Syria. But in September, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson abruptly announced, that the funds would be not be forthcoming until there were “a political transition,” meaning that President Assad must be removed first.
On Dec. 14, Russian President Putin rebuked this madness, stating, “All people of goodwill around the world should understand that if we do not resolve this together, it will be their problem.”
Oblivious to reality, on Dec. 19, British-Israeli asset, Rep. Elliot Engel (D-NY) introduced into Congress, on behalf of himself and others, H.R.4681, titled, “No Assistance for Assad Act,” which would attempt to make as U.S. policy that “United States assistance … for recovery, reconstruction, or stabilization” would be withheld for that part of Syria under the government of Bashar Assad, and would only be available for parts of Syria outside the control of the sovereign government. This will be debated in January 2018.
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
China Builds World’s Largest Amphibious Plane for Emergency Response
Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—A four-engine amphibious aircraft, the world’s largest, roughly the size of a Boeing 737, took its maiden flight in the coastal Chinese city of Zhuhai today.
Global Times reports that the AG600 can “carry 50 people during search-and-rescue missions, collect 12 tons of water in 20 seconds for fire fighting and transport up to 370 tons of water during a single flight.” Its primary use will be for maritime rescue, fighting forest fires and marine monitoring. It will be available for both civilian and military emergencies.
