EDITORIAL
Helga Zepp-LaRouche: ‘Change for the Better Is Coming, If You Fight for It’
June 21 (EIRNS)—In her weekly international webcast today, Schiller Institute Founder and President Helga Zepp-LaRouche urged viewers, supporters, government and political institutions, and all thinking citizens to take up the challenge spelled out in her recent statement, “History Is Now Being Written in Asia! The EU Summit Must Follow the Example of Singapore!” With refugee crises and political and economic turmoil afflicting the European Union and the United States, now more than ever, Zepp-LaRouche said, a “grand design” is needed, that will put the discussion on an entirely different level and pose real solutions, rather than succumb to the controlled environment and hysterical debate that have so far led nowhere.
This, she said, is what U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un accomplished in their June 12 summit in Singapore. “It is sort of obvious, that if President Trump and President Kim Jong-un are able to completely transform a very dangerous situation around North Korea within a few months, into the total opposite, from the danger of being the trigger point of World War III, to the absolutely hopeful perspective that North Korea can be integrated into the Belt and Road Initiative, with the support of the United States, China and also Russia … making it a prosperous country … that is obviously the proof that you can turn the worst situation around if you have an inspiration, a vision, and the political will to do so.” These were really groundbreaking developments, Zepp-LaRouche underscored, “and as President Trump had said in his press conference, ‘the past does not determine the future.’ ”
With the collapse of Russiagate in the U.S., President Trump has obviously been freed to deal with the North Korean situation in a creative way, and to pursue his intention of meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, plans for which are underway.
But, Zepp-LaRouche pointed out, the reality is that “the West right now is undergoing a complete destabilization. In Europe, the refugee crisis is threatening to completely rip apart the so-called European unity, which is nonexistent; it could end the Chancellorship of Merkel within less than two weeks, and obviously the border crisis between the United States and Mexico also shows that the immigrant question is out of control and needs to be addressed.”
Leading into the June 28-29 summit of the European Union, Zepp-LaRouche said, what is being proposed by the EU, by different factions of the German government, is “completely unworkable, they’re brutal, they’re barbaric—both the idea to create camps outside the borders of the European Union in North African countries, to basically catch the refugees and deter them from coming to Europe—this is barbaric.” And, all those who were hysterical about Trump separating children from their parents at the U.S. southern border, are complete hypocrites—they’re the same people and the same media “who have no problem in proposing camps in countries which have no clear government control, and there are many reports that people in these camps were put into slavery, sold, raped, tortured. …And naturally, if you don’t address the real root cause of why people are coming to Europe, namely that the conditions in Africa are not yet in any shape to have people live there in many parts, then obviously, this is completely unworkable solution.”
So, Zepp-LaRouche explained, she has proposed in her statement “to follow the example of Singapore, that the EU should change the agenda in their upcoming summit … and put only one issue on the agenda—the real development of Africa. Invite President Xi Jinping, because he has an enormous credibility in Africa for having invested in the railways and industrial parks, in hydropower and many, many projects; and invite some of the African heads of state who had already achieved great results by cooperating with China in these projects.
“If you had the European leaders, Xi Jinping, half a dozen African leaders who would speak for the continent, and they would declare a crash program for the infrastructure development of Africa, not only would it have credibility, because of Xi Jinping’s presence, but it would send a signal to all these governments and to all the young people, that there will be a great opportunity to cooperate in the construction of their own country, so that they would not feel compelled to travel through the Sahara and die of thirst, or drown in the Mediterranean, or be captured by Frontex [EU border] police to be put in something which even the Pope has characterized as ‘concentration camps.’ ”
This is exactly the approach that should be taken in dealing with the U.S. refugee crisis as well, she elaborated. There should be a summit with Xi Jinping, “with leaders of Latin America, and there, do the same thing: Have joint ventures between the United States, China and Latin American countries, to transform the continent and eliminate the poverty which is the reason why people are now flooding into the United States.”
Zepp-LaRouche also emphasized that the Singapore approach is the only way to address the trade war that is evolving, as a result of the U.S. threatening to impose new tariffs on $450 billion in Chinese imports, and those of other nations, with countermeasures being readied from the EU, Canada, Mexico and China. “If the United States and China would engage in joint ventures to develop Central America, Latin America, South America, the trade volume could be increased so significantly, in a multilateral way, that the trade imbalance could be overcome by increasing the trade. I would like to get this message out, in particular, to the voters of Trump who are affected by these policies, the farmers, people who have cross-investments in part in China, in part in the United States, who are in danger of going bankrupt, and that a lot of jobs are in danger as well. I would like to ask them to pick up this proposal, the Singapore solution proposal and get it to Trump. Because I think there are some ideologues in the Trump camp who are also anti-China and who are extreme neo-liberal free-traders and they are giving him advice which is really potentially turning his base away from him.
“But the bigger picture even is the grand design: Trump really has to move away from this trade war, and move towards the cooperation with Latin America, with China, with Russia, for that matter, and be an integral part in development projects in Africa, in Asia, in South America; and if he would do that, I think the world could be in safe waters in a very short period of time. Since it is within reach, I can only repeat my appeal to you: Help us, and move with us, because this is the time you can influence history which you cannot do when everything goes in quiet lanes and quiet roads—but this is turmoil, this is a change in the whole world, and it is in these moments in history when you can intervene, if you have the courage and if you have love for civilization and you have a vision for what to do. Join with us, and help us to turn this situation around.”
NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Kim Jong-un’s Third Visit to China—A View from Global Times
June 21 (EIRNS)—North Korean leader Kim Jong-un conducted his third visit to China over June 19-20, during which he met once again with President Xi Jinping. Da Zhigang, Director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at Heilongjiang Academy of Social Sciences, discusses the subjects of the meetings as he sees them in China’s Global Times today. He writes that the first visit, in March, aimed mainly to fix the strained relations with China. The second, in May, was to exchange ideas before Kim’s meeting with President Trump.
In this third trip, besides sharing a first-hand report of that summit with President Xi, Kim may have discussed China’s role, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, in lifting sanctions. “Lifting sanctions as soon as possible is a prerequisite for North Korea’s economic revival, and Pyongyang needs to turn to Beijing for help,” Da writes.
Additionally, “Kim’s visit might also foreshadow Pyongyang’s shift [from weapons buildup] to economic revival, as North Korea has the need to learn from China’s experience in establishing special economic zones and reform and opening up. A group from the Workers’ Party of Korea visited China on May 16 to observe the country’s economy, agriculture and technology. It shows that North Korea is trying to learn the experiences of economic development from other countries.”
Kim may also be asking for Beijing’s assistance. “China is regarded as a powerful backer of North Korea’s politics and diplomacy by the foreign media, and Pyongyang may ask for necessary aid as it works toward economic reforms and complete denuclearization. By supporting North Korea, China will promote further peace and stability on the peninsula and help Pyongyang work toward opening up. An open North Korea will be essential for logistics and trade cooperation.
“The crux of the regional integration in Northeast Asia is the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and its peace regime. With China promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, North Korea could be an important country connecting Europe in the west and Japan in the east. Kim’s visit not only shows North Korea’s friendly relations with China, but also reflects the urgent need to consolidate the hard-earned achievements on the peninsula after the Kim-Trump summit….”
An unsigned Global Times editorial dated June 20, adds the idea that, “Some Chinese scholars hold that the China-North Korea relationship could develop into a new strategic partnership if the two make an effort to strengthen bilateral ties in the future. Such a strategic partnership would play a constructive role in the region. North Korea’s desire for peaceful development, to ease relations with other countries and build a new international environment, has presented an opportunity for Sino-North Korean cooperation.” Though not itself a party organ, Global Times is owned by People’s Daily, the organ of the Communist Party of China.
In Moscow, Seoul’s Moon Jae-in Proposes Trilateral Tie among North Korea, Russia, South Korea
June 21 (EIRNS)— South Korean President Moon Jae-in, on a June 21-23 state visit to Russia that includes a bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, urged Russia to “join a Northeast Asian economic community amid a historic paradigm shift on the Korean Peninsula in a speech to the State Duma,” Seoul’s Joong Ang Daily reported. He is the first South Korean President to have addressed Russia’s lower house.
“There is grand historic transition underway on the Korean Peninsula. Now the two Koreas step toward the era of peace and cooperation, leaving behind the times of war and confrontation,” President Moon said, the Korea Herald reported.
Expanding his concept of the trilateral tie, President Moon said: “Once a peace regime is established on the Korean Peninsula, that is when an era of South-North economic cooperation will take off in earnest and I believe it must be a three-way cooperation that includes Russia.” The Korea Herald said Moon “insisted his country and Russia could, or should, begin expanding their economic cooperation in areas including railways, natural gas and electricity, so the North can join later.”
“In case of railways, when those of South and North Korea are connected and the cross-border railways are linked with Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railway, direct shipments of goods from South Korea to Europe will be possible,” the President said. “This will be a great economic gain to North Korea, as well as South Korea. And of course, it will be a great help to Russia, too. Also in the case of Russian gas, Russia’s natural gas can be supplied to North Korea through a gas pipeline, and to South Korea, and to Japan through a sea underwater pipeline.”
Chinese Group To Invest €1 Billion in Serbia as Part of the Belt and Road Initiative
June 21 (EIRNS)—A news item from Tanjug reports that “the Sino-RS Investment Group will invest €1 billion in Serbia as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. The funds will be released through the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The money will be used to fund projects in the areas of transport, energy, telecommunications, agriculture, and construction, some as public-private partnerships.
“ ‘The main focus is on transport, airports, ports, bridges, communications, water supply and drainage in urban and rural areas, as well as electricity supply, agriculture, and basic assets necessary for the provision of non-material goods or services—for science, education, culture and healthcare, according to Sino-RS Investment Group President Jin Frank Li.”
The deal was clinched when Tomislav Nikolic, the head of the President of Serbia’s National Council for Cooperation with Russia and China, met with representatives of the Sino-RS Investment Group in early June, Tanjug wrote on June 5. “The meeting in Belgrade was not the first we had with Nikolic, since we already had one in Shanghai together with representatives of PowerChina and the Shanghai Stock Exchange, whose representatives expressed their readiness to participate in the implementation of the project in Serbia,” Li said.
Greece Intends To Increase Cooperation with China
June 21 (EIRNS) —Greek Parliament President Nikos Voutsis is on a mission to China to enhance bilateral political and economic relations. On June 19 he met China’s top legislator Li Zhanshu and Vice President Wang Qishan. Xinhua reports that Li, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), said all-around pragmatic cooperation under the guidance of the two countries’ leaders has produced fruitful results, with joint construction of the Belt and Road playing an important role. He also said that China’s NPC is willing to cooperate more with the Greek Parliament to create a better legal and social environment for building the Belt and Road, and to promote the China-Greece comprehensive strategic partnership.
Voutsis said Greece is willing to actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, and expressed the hope that both sides will have more legislative exchanges to promote friendly meetings and pragmatic cooperation.
“China and Greece are traditionally friendly countries,” Chinese Vice President Wang said. Both understand and respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, he said, and are working to consolidate their strategic trust. Wang said China attaches great importance to its ties with Greece, and is willing to make joint efforts to strengthen exchanges at various levels.
For his part, Voutsis said Greece is willing to promote joint efforts between China and the EU to play a more important role in global and regional security and stability, as well as economic globalization.
U.S. POLITICAL & ECONOMIC
Process To Set Up Trump-Putin Summit Has Begun; London Is Alarmed
June 21 (EIRNS)—U.S. National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis wrote in his Twitter account this morning that U.S. National Security Advisor “John Bolton will visit London and Rome on June 25-27 to discuss national security issues with British and Italian officials and travel to Moscow for consultations on a potential meeting between U.S. and Russian Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.” Marquis did not mention when Bolton will be in Moscow, nor did he specify either the date or the venue for the potential summit, TASS reported today.
“Putin and Trump held a telephone conversation on March 20. According to the Kremlin press service, after the phone call, the top Russian and U.S. diplomats were directed to explore the issue,” TASS reported today.
In earlier coverage TASS cited Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters today about Bolton’s proposed visit, saying, “as far as we know, such a visit is going to take place. This is all we can say for now.” Also before the Marquis posting, TASS had quoted Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying that, “Moscow is open to contacts with the U.S. on all issues, but it will not react to leaks concerning the possibility of a Russia-U.S. summit.”
The British, however, are quite alarmed that a Trump-Putin summit will occur before the July 11-12 NATO summit. Citing unnamed “Whitehall” (British government) sources, The Times of London writes today that the British are “appalled” that U.S. President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin could take place before the NATO summit and his subsequent visit to Britain.
“The prospect of a meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin appalls British officials,” wrote The Times. “ ‘It’s unclear if this meeting is after or before NATO and the U.K. visit,’ a Whitehall official said. ‘Obviously after would be better for us. It adds another dynamic to an already colorful week.’ ”
The Brits fear a meeting between Putin and Trump could endanger NATO’s “shared goals”—meaning shared with the British Empire’s geopolitical aims.
The Times wrote further that, “A senior Western diplomatic source said that a Trump-Putin meeting before the NATO summit would cause ‘dismay and alarm,’ adding, ‘It would be a highly negative thing to do.’ ”
The NATO summit in Brussels “is due to discuss an escalation of measures to deter Russian aggression,” wrote The Times. “ ‘Everyone is perturbed by what is going on and is fearing for the future of the alliance,’ a Whitehall source said.”
Obamatons Demand Trump Block Russian Influence in 2020 Election
June 21 (EIRNS)—Obama-era neo-cons, led by “color-revolution” specialist and former State Department official Victoria Nuland and intelligence expert J. Michael Daniel, demanded that the Trump Administration act forcefully to prevent Russian, or even Chinese, interference in the 2020 election, in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday.
Nuland and former Obama Cybersecurity Coordinator J. Michael Daniel testified that 2016 efforts were “too fractured and too timid” to stop Russia, today’s Washington Post reported.
Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) responded by announcing it will issue a report on the Obama Administration’s approach, to be drafted after upcoming testimony from former lying FBI chief James Comey and fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Nuland warned of attempts to influence 2020 elections—not just from Russia, but China too. She testified, “All of us in the process assumed that what was done in December-January … would be a starting point for what the incoming administration would then build on,” referring to sanctions against Russia.
Daniel testified that no one in the Obama Administration “fully appreciated the scope” of Russian influence operations until well after Clinton lost. He complained that the administration never succeeded in linking experts in government, with private companies whose social media platforms were being exploited by Russians.
Nuland testified that the tendency of U.S. intelligence was to look only at classified information and not open source information such as social media platforms. This must end, she warned.
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Deutsche Bank’s Investment Bank Albatross Must Be Cut Loose
June 21 (EIRNS)—A huge one-day loss by Deutsche Bank’s U.S. investment bank division, reported June 20 by Bloomberg News, more than confirmed the Federal Reserve/FDIC decision to place the U.S. division on the “troubled bank” list. It also confirmed the judgment of German bank consultant Dieter Hein, reported in Tageszeitung June 12, that the global investment bank will continue erupting in large, “hidden” losses until it wears out Deutsche Bank’s diminishing capital, forcing a national bailout or failure.
Deutsche Bank’s first-quarter financial report had omitted the fact—revealed in a May 7 regulatory filing—that its Stamford, Connecticut- and New York-based traders lost an unheard-of 12 times “value at risk” on one day during that quarter. “Value at risk” (VaR) is an estimate made to regulators, by the bank’s risk officers, as to the maximum amount it might lose in a day’s business. “Even a loss of two or three times VaR on a given day is unlikely. Twelve times VaR is extraordinarily unlikely,” said Andrew Lo, a finance professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, told Bloomberg, speaking generally of trading losses. The amount of the loss was probably in the range of $400 million, and the U.S. division lost $46 million for the first quarter as a whole.
While such events do not in themselves bankrupt the bank, they dramatically illustrate what Fed regulators stated in the “troubled bank” designation: That Deutsche Bank’s U.S. division traders and controlling officers have lost the ability to determine their own loss exposures, or even which other counterparties they are exposed to, especially in their complex derivatives trading. Hein told Tageszeitungthat these “shock” losses are hidden in the investment banking divisions and will continue to erupt—even as the bank top management tries in some desperation to downsize the investment bank—until Germany is forced to a massive bailout.
Lyndon LaRouche proposed in July 2016 that Deutsche Bank be recapitalized by the Berlin government on condition that it be simultaneously reorganized (broken up) to restore the commercial bank to the nation-building policies of its martyred chief Alfred Herrhausen, who was assassinated on Nov. 30, 1989.
Angela Merkel Still in Trouble, as Resistance Grows to Her EU Immigration and Budget Policies
June 21 (EIRNS)—German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition is still in trouble. In the midst of the Christian Social Union-Christian Democratic Union coalition crisis, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz met with Bavaria’s Minister President Markus Söder (CSU) yesterday in Linz, Austria, to discuss immigration.
“In Europe we face a choice. Either we return to internal borders, or we secure our external borders,” Kurz said at a joint press conference. He further said that the EU had reached a point where “most countries agree that open external borders are the wrong way.”
Söder spoke of a “turning point in our migration policy” elaborating that if the external border weren’t closed, it would become “a problem for democracy” in Europe. He then approved of Kurz’s idea to create military “secure zones” for refugees in North Africa. He suggested investing more in the potential project to deter refugees from leaving for Europe.
On the same day, Söder also attacked Merkel’s Eurozone budget deal with French President Emmanuel Macron over asylum policy. “We can’t now start introducing additional shadow budgets or try to soften the stability of the currency. Or even try to achieve some solutions with German payments,” he said. “We were always very skeptical about a Eurozone budget, simply because it’s a form of additional budget,” Söder told the Munich daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Meanwhile Die Zeit makes the interesting point that Merkel now needs help from Italy and Greece for her refugee policy within the EU, the two countries that she tormented during the euro crisis. “Italy and Greece in particular,” says the Hamburg daily, “two countries for which the Chancellor’s sympathy is limited … Germany was too harsh, intransigent, with little solidarity for them during the euro crisis—at least that was how the majority of Italians and Greeks felt. And now Merkel needs these two countries to save her position in the Chancery. … What an opportunity for the Italians and the Greeks.”
Indeed, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini threatened to skip the June 29 mini-summit on migration organized in Brussels by Merkel, an event which could determine whether her government survives or not. Salvini, who is leader of the Lega and also Deputy Prime Minister, commented after learning the details of the draft document: “If we go to Brussels to play the script already written by France and Germany, if they expect to send us more migrants instead of helping us, then we shouldn’t even go. We’ll save the money for the trip,” Salvini said. “We want to be listened to. It’s not possible for the French and Germans to dictate their rules while Italy pays, and welcomes [migrant] people.”
OTHER
‘Stop Genocide: Peace and Development for Yemen!’
June 20 (EIRNS)—Elke Fimmen of the Schiller Institute in Germany gave a presentation on the second day of the UN Human Rights Council Session, 38th Session (June 18-July 6) in Geneva. The June 19 seminar, “Human Rights in Yemen,” was sponsored and organized by the Organization for Defending Victims of Violence (ODVV) and INSAN Germany. The meeting was introduced and moderated by Dr. Hassan Fartousi, researcher in international law at the University of Geneva.
At the hour-long event, Fimmen was introduced as delegate from the German LaRouche Movement. The meeting was also addressed by Mathias Tretschog, activist of the Berlin Peace Initiative Stop the War in Yemen, who spoke on the complicity of the West in tolerating this genocide.
As the brutal U.A.E. and Saudi Coalition assault on the vital part city of Hodeidah has escalated since last week, while peace talks by UN Special Envoy Martin Griffith are continuing (including a meeting next week with EU foreign ministers), Elke Fimmen focussed on how to use the new global strategic momentum established with the Singapore spirit to stop the war and establish the new paradigm of peace and development, as Helga Zepp-LaRouche has called for in her statement this week. [“History Is Now Being Written in Asia! The EU Summit Must Follow the Example of Singapore!” posted on the Schiller Institute websites.]
Fimmen detailed the key points for a lasting peace settlement, as had been identified by the Bad Soden Yemen Declaration issued last November by the Schiller Institute conference. In concluding her speech, Fimmen stressed the need to focus on Yemen’s right to development, by presenting the main programmatic points of the new Schiller Institute report “Operation Felix: Yemen’s Reconstruction and Connection to the New Silk Road,” including some key graphics of the report and a picture of the June 6 seminar in Sana’a, where the “Sana’a Declaration” adopted the report, authored by Hussein Askary, as the physical economic basis for rebuilding Yemen and ensuring peace. With the cover of the Yemen reconstruction plan on display throughout her speech, such an emphasis on building a beautiful future out of the present abyss of horror had a very important uplifting and remoralizing effect on the audience.
