EDITORIAL
Who Is Behind the Nuclear Terror ‘Mistake’ in Hawaii?
Jan. 14 (EIRNS)—The drive to destroy President Trump has reached a fever pitch. Virtually the entire Western media, and much of the political leadership, who have ranted against Russia and against Trump’s imagined “collusion” with Putin, are now aware that the “Russiagate” operation, set in motion by British MI6 operative Christopher Steele, is collapsing—and, in fact, they themselves now face exposure and possible criminal prosecution for their own crimes, including treason. Desperate to stop Trump’s effort to restore good relations with Russia and China, and to save themselves from such criminal prosecution, they have unleashed a campaign to portray Trump as a deranged madman and a racist.
In the midst of this, the state of Hawaii, and by extension the entire country, was driven into a state of absolute terror Sunday morning when the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency sent out an “Emergency Alert” to every cell phone in the state, reading: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
Within three minutes the warning was determined by military officials to be totally false, but for the next 38 minutes the vast majority of the residents and tourists in Hawaii were not informed of that fact, and were subjected to the horror of believing they and their families were about to die. People were calling loved ones to send a last message that they loved them. Cars were abandoned on the highways, as people ran for shelter, but knowing that there was nowhere to hide.
Investigations are proceeding, but the report that it was simply a mistake—someone pushing a button by accident—is hardly credible. It must be noted that the U.S. media have barely covered the major breakthrough in relations between North and South Korea, or that South Korean President Moon Jae-in publicly thanked President Trump for his role in bringing about the negotiations by implementing both tough sanctions and simultaneous diplomatic measures. Instead, the media and most political leaders have ignored that reality, while escalating the fear-mongering and the warnings of a preemptive war as almost inevitable.
The next issue of the EIR weekly magazine will carry an article titled: “Trump Versus Durbin: Who Is the Real Hypocrite Fostering Institutional Racism? Why Is This Happening Now?” It shows that the campaign to paint Trump as a racist, led by the Democratic Senator from Illinois Dick Durbin, is coming from precisely those who have turned much of Central America and the Caribbean into drug-infested and economically destroyed hell-holes, through their imposition of “free trade” pacts and the legalization of drugs, leaving these nations at the mercy of the banks and the drug gangs. They have done nothing to reverse the economic destruction of Africa, which only now, through China’s New Silk Road process, is beginning to come out from under the hell of colonialism and post-colonial looting. Who are they to call anyone racist?
The direct connection of this filthy campaign against Trump to the Russiagate scam was exposed most clearly by notorious race-baiter and Obama operative Rev. Al Sharpton, who ranted on CNN on Saturday night that the “real proof that Trump is a racist” is that he “never has anything bad to say about Vladimir Putin, our sworn enemy.”
This new defamation approach to destroying Trump will also backfire, as did the British “Russiagate” fraud—if the Trump Administration proceeds with its stated commitment to launch a massive infrastructure program, to reverse the de-industrialization of the United States over the past decades, and joins in the New Silk Road process of building nations across the globe. As Lyndon LaRouche has always insisted, there is no solution to the racial tensions that persist in the U.S., nor to the tensions over immigration, outside of full-scale development and industrialization of our nation, and also all other nations, providing jobs and hope to all people. This is precisely what has been set in motion by the New Silk Road, first proposed by LaRouche in the 1990s, and now taken up with gusto by the Chinese, who are calling on the U.S. to fully join in the effort. China has lifted 700 million citizens out of poverty, and plans to end poverty altogether by 2020. Europe and America can certainly do the same, if we relegate geopolitics to the dustbin of history, join the New Silk Road, and restore the American System as presented in LaRouche’s Four Laws.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Tulsi Gabbard Wants President Trump To Talk Directly with North Korea
Jan. 14 (EIRNS)—Hawaii’s Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D) delivered a blunt message on both CNN’s “State of the Union” and ABC’s “This Week,” that Americans across the country and leaders in Washington, D.C. had better realize, as Hawaiians had in experiencing 38 minutes of terror yesterday, that “nuclear attack is not a game,” and the “decades” of regime change policies responsible for creating the nuclear threat must be ended.
CNN’s Jake Tapper tried to get Gabbard to join in bashing President Trump as responsible for the North Korea danger. Instead, Gabbard, in both interviews, pointed to decades of policy failure by Democrats and Republican administrations alike, and called upon the President to sit down himself and talk with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.
North Korean missiles are not the only threat, she pointed out. Russia and the United States also “have thousands of nuclear weapons pointing at each other which could be launched at a moment’s notice. So, understanding what is at stake here when we’re talking about nuclear war and the threat of nuclear war hanging over our heads, it’s not just the President making a decision to launch a nuclear weapon. It’s these kinds of mistakes that we have seen happen in the past that bring us to this brink of nuclear war that could be unintentional,” she told Tapper.
“We’ve got to get to the underlying issue here, of why are the people of Hawaii and this country facing a nuclear threat coming from North Korea today…? I’ve been calling on President Trump to directly negotiate with North Korea, to sit across the table from Kim Jong-Un, work out the differences so that we can build a pathway towards denuclearization, to remove this threat.”
She specified that in order for those negotiations to be successful, “they have to happen without preconditions … a learned lesson from the decades of failed leadership … where they set these unrealistic preconditions.
“But the second issue is understanding why North Korea has developed and is holding on so tightly to these nuclear weapons. Because they see it as the only deterrent against the U.S. coming in and overthrowing their regime there,” she said.
She elaborated to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos: “Our country’s history of regime-change wars has led countries like North Korea to develop and hold on to these nuclear weapons because they see it as their only deterrent against regime change. And this is what is important for President Trump to recognize, that it is critical that we end our policies of regime change wars, to provide that credible guarantee that the U.S. is not going to go in and topple the North Korea regime, so that these conversations can begin towards denuclearization.”
Startled, he asked if she was saying that North Korea’s nukes are our fault?
“What I am saying, is that Democrat and Republican administrations, for decades, going back over 20 years, failed to recognize the seriousness of this threat, failed to remove it, and we know that North Korea has these weapons, because they have seen how the U.S. guaranteed to Qaddafi that ‘we’re not going to go after you, you should get rid of your nuclear weapons.’ He did, and then we went and launched an attack that toppled Qaddafi, launching Libya into chaos,” she replied. Then the same happened in Iraq, when we toppled Saddam Hussein. Now, she stated, we see President Trump decertifying a nuclear deal with Iran which prevented it from developing nuclear weapons.
Stephanopoulos couldn’t contain himself: Was it a mistake to take out Qaddafi and Saddam Hussein? Gabbard: “Yes, it was.”
President Trump Charges that FBI’s Behavior toward Him Is ‘Treasonous’
Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—In a broad-ranging interview with the Wall Street Journal published Jan. 11, President Trump charged that the actions of FBI agent Peter Strzok, as seen in his texts to his lover, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, was “treasonous … what he tweeted to his lover is a treasonous act.”
Trump asserted that “what went on with the FBI, where a man is tweeting his lover that if she [Hillary Clinton] loses, we’ll essentially go back to … the insurance policy, which is—if they lose, we’ll go to phase 2, and we’ll get this guy out of office.” In other words, overthrow the President. I mean, this is the FBI we’re talking about … I think that is treason.”
The President repeated his charge that the entire Russiagate investigation is a hoax, and the Democrats know it, but “are milking it to a fare-thee-well.” What has happened, in fact, he continued, is that “they make up a crime, and the crime doesn’t exist, and then they say ‘obstruction.’ And how could there be obstruction on firing Comey?” He recalled that at the time James Comey was fired as FBI director, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had written a strongly-worded letter saying that the firing was justified.
Former FBI Director James Comey “has proven to be a liar and a leaker,” Trump affirmed. “He tries to act like a choir boy,” but what he did with Hillary Clinton “was outrageous. He saved her life, because with all those charges—I call it ‘Comey one, two and three’… she should have been taken out of the campaign and put on trial.” Trump recounted the Clinton “fiasco … where they did the interview with no tape recorder, with no swearing in, with no this, with no that….” Moreover, “the FBI was a mess … was in turmoil. Everybody hated Comey,” and wanted him fired, “but as soon as I fired him, they said, ‘oh he’s wonderful—he’s wonderful, how could you do that?’ ”
As for the possibility that President Trump might be charged with obstruction for firing Comey, Trump replied that “of course there was no obstruction … there was no crime,” arguing that he should be given credit for firing Comey, because many things that have been found since then, would have remained hidden.
Working with Russia, China, and India Is a Good Thing, Affirms U.S. President
Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—Speaking to the press with Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway after their meeting Jan. 10, U.S. President Donald Trump was asked about Russiagate. His response echoed Lyndon LaRouche’s critical concept of the “Four Powers”—United States, Russia, China, India—as the necessary partnership required to defeat the British Empire.
Trump said: “Working with countries, whether it’s Russia or China or India, or any of the countries that surround this world and encompass this world, is a very good thing. That’s not a bad thing.”
He also said that he was for a strong military, massive amounts of oil and gas, and a great deal of energy, and stating: “Hillary, my opponent, was for windmills, and she was for other types of energy that don’t have the same capacities at this moment, certainly.”
Mueller Knew Taking Trump Transition Team Emails from GSA Was Breaking the Law
Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—Trump’s transition team lawyers have learned that Special Counsel Robert Mueller knew, when he got the transition team emails from the General Services Administration (GSA)—tens of thousands of them—that the GSA was only holding them for the transition team, “Trump for America,” and did not have the right to turn them over. The transition team learned, apparently from a leaker, that GSA General Counsel Richard Beckler had written to Mueller explaining that the GSA could not turn over the emails without approval from the transition team. Beckler was then hospitalized and subsequently died, while Mueller got the emails from his replacement, knowing it was illegal.
The transition team’s lawyer, Kory Langhofer, is calling on the GSA to provide a copy of Beckler’s memo. “The GSA had no right to access or control the records but was simply serving as Trump for America’s records custodian,” Langhofer wrote. He said that the GSA “unlawfully” handed over “thousands of private and privileged [presidential transition team] emails to the Special Counsel’s office, and failed to notify [Trump for America] of the production,” CBS News reports today.
Ken Nahigian, Trump for America’s executive director, said the request to the GSA is intended to respond to the agency’s role in the “unlawful seizure of Transition documents by Mr. Mueller.” Nahigian said the agency’s cooperation with the special counsel without the knowledge of the transition team “will irreversibly chill the operations of future presidential transition teams.”
Another nail in the coffin of the criminal operations of Robert S. Mueller and his British Empire masters.
Trump Comments on His Own Character
Jan. 13 (EIRNS)—In his Jan. 11 interview with the Wall Street Journal, President Donald Trump made a revealing comment on his own character.
The Journal reporter was shocked when Trump said: “I’d probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong-un of North Korea.” Trump said: “I think you people are surprised.”
WSJ: Just to be clear, you haven’t spoken to the North Korean leader, I mean when you say a relationship with Korea…
Mr. Trump: I don’t want to comment on it. I don’t want to comment, I’m not saying I have or I haven’t. But I just don’t….
WSJ: Some people would see your tweets, which are sometimes combative towards Kim Jong-un….
Mr. Trump: Sure, you see that a lot with me and then all of a sudden somebody’s my best friend. I could give you 20 examples. You give me 30. I’m a very flexible person.
Nunes Wants Congress To See FISA Surveillance Documents ‘ASAP’
Jan. 14 (EIRNS)—House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes told fellow Republican Congressmen last week during closed-door meetings (reportedly, in two such meetings) that he wants all 435 members of Congress to see the same Department of Justice documents from the Obama period that he has seen, which demonstrate “major abuses” of government surveillance by the FBI and Justice Department under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), targetting U.S. citizens.
“Major abuses” politely implies “committed a crime.”
Fox News (citing “three sources familiar with the conversations”) and the Washington Examiner reported Nunes’s remarks on Jan. 12. Both say that Nunes wants that to occur “ASAP,” even as early as this week, certainly by the end of January.
Things could get explosive fast. The Daily Caller reported on Jan. 8, that the House Intelligence Committee “was able to review Friday all FBI and DOJ documents on the Trump dossier, former MI6 British agent Christopher Steele who authored the dossier, and Fusion GPS, the political opposition firm that hired Steele. DOJ also provided any Obama administration applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court based on the dossier, which could approve the surveillance of the Trump transition team or Trump associates, according to a source with direct knowledge of the case.”
Nunes’s threat to open contempt proceedings against the FBI and Justice Department forced Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to finally agree on Jan. 3 to give the committee access to those documents which had been subpoenaed over four months before.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Russian and U.S. Ambassadors Meet, Plan Joint Efforts To Improve Relations
Jan. 14 (EIRNS)—Russia’s Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov and the U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman met Jan. 11 in Washington, and, according to Antonov, speaking to TASS, they established a friendly relationship and worked out concrete measures jointly to improve relations between the two nations.
Antonov told Russian reporters at a reception at his residence in New York on a “Day of Russian Press,” that, “I consider Huntsman a clever, smart professional. The meeting was good, it was constructive, and I estimate as positive Huntsman’s mood towards development of the Russian-American relations.”
TASS reports that the two diplomats outlined “joint steps,” aimed at improving Russian-American relations. Antonov said that Huntsman “would be working with the Department of State, with the White House, and he would be working at Capitol Hill, which is especially important. We shall be working together to restore the relations.”
He also stated that under the current conditions it is impossible to hope for quick improvement of the bilateral relations. “Unfortunately, we have confirmed with regret, it would not be possible to do it promptly…. It will take many efforts from both sides. We have analyzed all the bilateral concerns, all the bilateral problems.”
Panamanian Rail Project To Extend Silk Road to Central America and Beyond
Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—Details are emerging on the ambitious proposed high-speed train from Panama City to the Costa Rican border, and the enormous potential it represents for the extension of the New Silk Road and World Land-Bridge.
There is intensifying diplomatic activity, with delegations going to, and coming from, China—the next group of Chinese experts is scheduled to arrive in Panama in the next 12 days, according to President Juan Carlos Varela, Telemetro network reported Jan. 7. In late December, a Panamanian delegation returned from China, where it toured CSR Corp., which will build the railroad, and delegation members were stunned by the scope of the plan which was presented to them as part of the New Silk Road.
The idea is to build two sets of double-tracked rail lines—one for passengers, which will only go as far as the city of David, and the other for freight, which will go 50 km further to Paso Canoas on the Costa Rican border. From there, China’s idea is clearly to extend it all the way through Costa Rica and the rest of Central America to Mexico, and use it to vastly increase regional shipping of cargo to and from China (whose ships through the Panama Canal reportedly now return only 40% full). They expect that this sharp rise in regional trade will require expanding both the Colón and Panama City ports (at either end of the Canal), airports, and other major infrastructure.
China Airlines is also now negotiating direct flights to Panama from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai to start in March 2018. And, they also discussed running cruise ships from Panama City for high-end Chinese tourists!
In Costa Rica, which itself established diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China in 2007, discussion is underway as to the implications of this project for that country. In a Dec. 19 article in the daily La Nación, titled “Panama Challenges Costa Rica,” former Planning Minister Carlos Manuel Echeverria points out that “Panama, with its Canal and location, is already part of this (New Silk Road) and the challenge that it has posed to Central America, without saying so but which is self-evident, is that of continuing that railroad up to Mexico. Otherwise, the one that is planned [inside Panama] will only be marginally useful.” He recalls that as far back as the 1980s, and earlier, there were plans to build a Central American railroad as a key component of regional integration. Today, with all that’s going on, “Why would we remain outside the Silk Road?… It would be a crass mistake not to think strategically” and be left out of this exciting development, he underscores. In just a few years, Panama has made huge advances, with an expanded Canal, a new large airport, a subway system, major buildings, etc. So now, Echeverria argues, it’s time for Costa Rica to be bold, to “radically change its way of thinking, organize itself and act,” starting with “thinking big.”
One important obstacle that will have to be overcome in order to extend the high-speed railroad up into Mexico, is the fact that every Central American nation lying between Costa Rica and Mexico still has diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and not the P.R.C.—a geopolitical anachronism, if ever there was one. The Chinese have made it abundantly clear that Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Belize will see little or no Chinese investment unless and until they adhere to the One China policy.
So, in addition to bridging the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama, it will also be necessary to resolve what might be called the “Taiwan Gap,” in order for the World Land-Bridge to fully connect South America, through Central America, into Mexico and North America, and beyond to the Eurasian Land-Bridge.
Putin Caught Red-Handed Interfering in the Elections of Yet Another Country… Russia
Jan. 13 (EIRNS)—According to a poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, more than 81% of Russians who plan to vote in the March 2018 presidential election will cast their ballots for President Vladimir Putin. A distant second is Pavel Grudinin, the Communist Party candidate, with 7.6%. Putin will not be running on any party slate, but as what TASS calls a “self-nominee,” filing at least 300,000 petition signatures from voters for ballot access. The elections will be held on March 18.
On Jan. 12 the U.S. State Department issued a ludicrous travel warning to U.S. citizens, classifying Russia as a country where there is danger of “terrorism” and “harassment.” “U.S. citizens are often victims of harassment, mistreatment and extortion by law enforcement and other officials,” the official statement said. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had some choice words in response:
“In our opinion, this is another unsubstantiated statement, whose primary goal is to trigger another round of anti-Russian hysteria in the U.S., and to cultivate blind fear of Russia among Americans,” she said during her weekly news conference. “Can anyone furnish at least one such example [of harassment] with U.S. citizens? We looked through all the archives, but we haven’t uncovered such facts. These recommendations do raise eyebrows.”
Chinese Foreign Minister Visits Africa, Refutes Western Claims about Debt Problems
Jan. 14 (EIRNS)—Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Rwanda and Angola over the past two days, the first of four African nations he will visit on his first trip abroad in 2018. China will host this year’s summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The aim of the summit will be to “dovetail China’s Belt and Road Initiative with African countries’ development strategies, thus boosting industrialization and modernization, and raising the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Africa to a new level,” Xinhua reported as Wang’s message.
FOCAC, joining the 52 African nations, China and the African Union, has held a summit every three years, alternating between Beijing and an African capital, since its founding in 2000. A three-year action plan between China and the African countries is adopted at each summit. Beijing hosts the FOCAC summit in 2018.
At the conclusion of his visit to Angola today, Wang told a joint press conference with Angolan Foreign Minister Manuel Domingos Augusto, that China is not concerned about Angola’s debt. Angola’s foreign debt is over $40 billion now, much of it owed to China. With the price of its major export, oil, still low, Western bankers talk of Angola’s “debt crisis.”
Xinhua reported that Wang was confronted by a reporter raising the Western canard that “China’s financing has increased the debt burden of African countries,” and carries political conditions attached.
Wang was blunt: “Such a claim, which is made with ulterior motives, is an outright false accusation…. China’s financing is in response to Africa’s demands for self-development. A country has a huge need for capital in its primary stage of economic take-off and industrialization and Africa is no exception,” he said. He continued that “China also passed through this process; these are temporary problems,” reported Angolan media.
Furthermore, Wang insisted, China does not attach political conditions. “Like African countries, China also had memories of a bitter past when, with its economic lifeline controlled by foreigners, it was unfairly treated and even exploited and oppressed. Therefore, when providing aid to and engaging in cooperation with Africa, China will not repeat what Western countries did and will never impose its own views on others.” China follows the principle of mutual benefit and win-win results, Wang said.
Beijing will continue to do its part in helping Africa develop itself, Wang concluded, citing two Chinese sayings: “only the feet know if the shoes fit,” and “people have a sense of natural justice.” The African people are in the best position to decide who is Africa’s true friend and most reliable partner.
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Paris and Beijing Inaugurate Joint Fusion Research Center
Jan. 13 (EIRNS)—On the heels of President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China last week, the Sino-French joint fusion research center was inaugurated on Jan. 11 in Hefei, which is the site of the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the home of the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The French side is led by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the French Atomic Energy Commission. Science and Technology Daily, published by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, reports that the framework agreement to establish a joint research center was signed last November. Its main purpose is to carry out research in support of the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) international fusion project, under construction in France.
The center will start its joint research on Europe’s Tungsten Environment in Steady-State Tokamak (WEST) machine as its first project. Chinese and French scientists will work on technical challenges that ITER will face in operation, including developing and verifying key components. After joint laboratories have been set up by both parties, they will conduct research on both countries’ fusion machines.
The umbrella agreement includes joint bidding on contracts for fusion projects, fusion science and experimental physics research, safety and technical standards on “projects of mutual interest,” and joint work on the next generation of fusion reactors.
China and France, the newsletter reports, have a long history of cooperation in thermonuclear fusion energy, going back to the 1980s. It started with cooperation between France’s Tore Supra tokamak and China’s HT-7 device, which has “gradually transformed” into the currently operating machines.
OTHER
Putin Meets with Russian Media, Makes Observations on Kim Jong-un, Russiagate, and Ukraine
Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin held a wide-ranging press conference with the heads of Russian print media and news agencies on Jan. 11 in the offices of Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Commenting on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he said the North Korean leader “has solved his strategic task—he has a nuclear device, and a global-range missile with a range of up to 13,000 km, which can now reach practically any point of the globe, at any rate any point on the territory of a potential enemy,” reported Vestnik Kavkaz.
Now, Kim Jong-un is interested in cooling the situation down, the President said: “He is an absolutely competent and already mature politician,” and that the difficult task of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula should be solved only through dialogue, through negotiations. “I think that this is possible in the long run no matter how difficult it may seem if all participants in this process, including North Koreans, will be sure that their security can be guaranteed without nuclear weapons,” he said.
On the allegations that Russia’s interfered in the U.S. election and the Trump team’s colluded in it with Moscow, President Putin said that “the domestic political situation in the U.S. will not settle down. We all see and understand that the Russian card is being played in the U.S. domestic politics. The U.S. President is being constantly threatened with impeachment and this intimidation is based on Russia’s alleged meddling. I would like to stress once again that this is nonsense. It is absolutely ridiculous. There was no collusion and no interference on our part. Stressing this again, I hope that sooner or later this political bustle comes to an end and there will be proper conditions for improving our relations,” according to the Kremlin press service transcript.
Putin also observed that the Ukraine crisis was being turned into a “frozen conflict,” which was in nobody’s interest, including Russia’s. “Russia would be fairly content if the Minsk Agreements were carried out in full.” He also stressed that even in 2014 Russia began transferring “several trainloads” of “military property and equipment back to Ukraine from Crimea.” “I want to say that we are ready to continue the process. We are ready to hand over naval ships to Ukraine that are still in Crimea, we are ready to turn over air force and armored equipment. To be honest, it is in miserable shape, but that is none of our business, it is the same condition as when we got it.”
However, Putin also said that despite the crisis, “trade between Russia and Ukraine increased last year, and the increase was significant.”
