EDITORIAL
New Silk Road Proceeds, Europe and U.S. Running Out Of Time— Must Join Now
June 20 (EIRNS)—President Trump today pulled the rug out from under his war-mongering enemies who were using fake pictures and hysterical accounts of illegal immigrant children being “torn from their mother’s breasts” on the border, by issuing an order that families should be detained together rather than using separate facilities for the children. The frenzied stories in the media, 24/7, and foul-mouthed rants from Hollywood “celebrities,” were aimed at diverting attention from Trump’s role in the historic events bringing peace to Korea, and from the exposure of the crimes of the FBI in the “Get Trump” campaign orchestrated by British intelligence.
The same persons demanding war on Syria, military confrontation with Russia and China, and legalized drugs in the United States, facilitating the control of Central and South American nations by the narco-traffickers from which the immigrants are fleeing—these are the same people now playing tapes of babies crying and posting fake pictures of children in cages—as if they cared—in order to demonize Trump.
The written report and the Congressional testimony on Monday and Tuesday by the DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, although confined to his findings in the Hillary Clinton email probe, confirmed that the firing of former FBI Director James Comey was fully justified—which obliterates the Mueller “obstruction of justice” ploy against the President—while also making clear that the extreme bias of Peter Strzok, who ran the FBI’s Russiagate investigation and was appointed to Mueller’s witchhunt team, would be a primary factor in the continuing investigation of the Russiagate scam by Comey and Mueller. Other FBI officials with similar bias were also identified, although not named as yet.
These revelations have already freed Trump to finally arrange a full-scale summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, most likely to occur in July. This terrifies the British, who recognize that Trump and Putin, acting together, will almost certainly find a means for ending the war in Syria, and potentially make that the basis for a broader solution to the other disastrous crises across the Southwest Asian region. They are all, after all, instigated from the same source—the British imperial masters who set up Sykes-Picot, who sponsored the Saudi Kingdom, established a permanent state of war between Jews and Arabs in Palestine, and instigated the genocidal wars in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen, supporting jihadist terrorist movements against secular governments.
Trump is determined to end the regime-change policy, to be friends with Russia and China, and to pull American forces out of Syria, South Korea, and other locations where the U.S. military has functioned as enforcers of British imperial policies. Together with Putin, such a new strategic paradigm can be officially established.
But the economic devastation left by the “permanent warfare” doctrine under Tony Blair, George Bush, and Barack Obama, must also be resolved if peace is to be achieved. Helga Zepp-LaRouche has called for the EU Summit at the end of this month to invite China and leaders of African nations to attend, to change the agenda to the urgent necessity for Western nations to join with China in the New Silk Road to rebuild the war-torn nations of Southwest Asia, and to create modern agro-industrial nations across Africa. This, she states, is the only solution to the refugee crisis which is tearing Europe apart.
LaRouche PAC’s Kesha Rogers, who is running an independent campaign for Congress in Texas, supported Zepp-LaRouche’s call, and added her own call to apply the same simple truth to the immigration problem in the U.S.—end the legalization of drugs, and join with China in the development of Central and South America, both because it is the only means to end the flow of people fleeing the terror and poverty in their homelands, but also because it is simply the correct and moral thing to do for the future of humanity.
America should be doing nothing less.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
President Trump Signs Executive Order To End Separation of Families at the Border
June 20 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order this afternoon putting an end to the policy that separated parents and children who had illegally entered the United States across the southern border.
Speaking with a group of Republican Congressmen and other officials at the White House, Trump said, “[W]e want to keep families together. It’s very important. I don’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated.” Pointing to pictures of children separated from their parents, which have been plastered all over the media, he stated that “they’d affect everybody,” but acknowledged that he was torn. “We want the heart,” he said, “but we also want strong borders and we want no crime,” the Associated Press quoted him as saying.
President Trump described his action as “somewhat preemptive,” emphasizing that it would “be matched by legislation.” He also announced that he is cancelling the annual Congressional picnic scheduled for tomorrow, because “it didn’t feel right” to hold it at a time when this issue remained so unsettled. The Executive Order will allow children to stay in detention with their parents for an extended period of time.
In comments to the press from the White House, Trump underscored that the immigration problem “has been going on for 50 years, longer. This has been going on under President Obama, under President [George W.] Bush. This has been going on for many, many years. We’ll see if we can solve it. This is not something that happened just now.” Trump also stressed that Democratic support is needed to pass legislation to deal with the problem, especially in the Senate.
MI6’s Christopher Steele Visited State Department in October 2016, Before U.S. Election
June 20 (EIRNS)—During a hearing today on the U.S. government’s response to Russian “meddling” in the 2016 election, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, reported that MI6 operative Christopher Steele visited the State Department in October 2016, and briefed officials on the contents of his dirty dossier on Donald Trump.
As the Daily Caller writes today, Steele’s visit to the State Department before the November 2016 elections had not been previously reported. This fact was revealed in Burr’s exchange with Victoria Nuland, then-Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, who went through contortions to distance herself from Steele, although admitting she first saw memos from him on the dossier in mid-July 2016. It was Nuland who also signed off on a meeting between Steele and the FBI’s legal attaché in Rome in late-June 2016.
But she insisted to Senator Burr that she never saw the entire Steele dossier “until it was published in the U.S. press.” Nuland had also asserted last February that she decided to refer the dossier to the FBI, as it didn’t fall under her purview. Today, in twisted syntax, she emphatically stated that she “actively chose not to be a part” of Steele’s October 2016 briefing, also claiming that she “was not aware of [it] until afterwards.” Hardly believable.
But as the Daily Caller pointed out, Burr’s revelations “suggest [the State Department] maintained interest in Steele and his report longer than previously known.” The House Intelligence Committee is also looking into the State Department’s handling of the Steele dossier, and specifically wants to know what Nuland and other officials did with the Steele information. What’s clear is that Steele had plenty of contact with the entire gaggle of Clinton operatives, among them former State Department official Jonathan Winer, a Steele associate since 2009 who passed summaries of the dossier to others at State, including to Secretary of State John Kerry. At the very least, Kerry was briefed on the dossier, although it’s unknown whether he met with Steele during the latter’s October 2016 visit.
Winer was also the source for journalists Michael Isikoff and David Corn who wrote articles based on Steele’s allegations prior to the 2016 election.
Your Liberty Should Not Be Left to the Free Market, Says U.S. Energy Secretary
June 20 (EIRNS)—Talking with reporters on June 15, during the G20 Energy Ministers meeting in Argentina, Energy Secretary Rick Perry stressed that preventing the premature shutdown of coal and nuclear power plants is “not singularly an economic issue.” He cited security risks to the electric grid from terrorist groups and cyber attacks, and reminded reporters that the electric grid also provides the power for U.S. military bases.
That prompted his statement that, “You would not want to wager that your liberties and your freedoms in a country … should be left solely to the free market.” No criticism of the “free market” and parallel call for federal intervention have been made before by the Secretary. But reality has asserted itself, with the recognition that it is the “free market” which is forcing the shutdown of nuclear plants, and that the Administration is going to have to take the “free market” on, in order to stop it from turning a windmill-infested former industrial and scientific power into an miserable, impoverished country.
The Hysteria and Lies against Trump Reach New Levels
June 20 (EIRNS)—The level of controlled hysteria and political vitriol unleashed against President Donald Trump regarding the separation of children during criminal proceedings of their parents reached new levels over the past 24 hours. Democrats announced a nationwide demonstration for June 30, centered on the White House, complete with recordings of babies crying, claiming they are of separated children (does anyone not know that all babies cry?), pictures of children in cages, and so on.
Hollywood, of course, is the source of the most extreme. After Robert De Niro screamed “Fuck Trump” at the Tony Awards event, Peter Fonda today issued a tweet in all caps, which has since been deleted: “We should rip Barron Trump from his mother’s arms and put him in a cage with pedophiles and see if mother will stand up against the giant asshole she is married to. Fuck.”
Melania Trump notified the Secret Service.
With President Trump ordering an end to the separations, we will see what they come up with next.
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Saudi-Led Coalition Takes Hodeidah Airport, as City’s Humanitarian Crisis Worsens
June 20 (EIRNS)—Multiple media sources confirm that forces of the Saudi-led coalition have seized control of the Hodeidah airport, while still attacking—and bombing—pockets of Houthi resistance in the surrounding area. Battles have reportedly spread to residential neighborhoods, Reuters reported.
Those civilians who can, are leaving the city for such Houthi-controlled areas as Sana’a, Raymah, and Wusab. But many lack the financial resources to leave. Saleem Al Shamiri, livelihood coordinator at the Norwegian Refugee Council, reports on the alarming water shortage in the city, which is heightening the danger of further cholera outbreaks. “People are saying water has been disrupted in parts of Hodeidah already; some areas even prior to the war were not even connected to the main water supply,” he said.
Coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki insisted to Al-Arabiya TV that the port is operating normally, and that “we have humanitarian and development plans for when we liberate the city.” The UN World Food Program reported yesterday that it is hurrying to unload three ships at the port with enough food for 6 million people for one month. In a letter to the UN, the U.A.E. government said it has 50,000 metric tons of food aid in Yemen to deploy as needed in Hodeidah. This includes aid on 10 ships, 100 trucks, and a planned “air bridge” to drop in up to 14,000 tons of food, the Wall Street Journal reported.
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Dodd-Frank Allowed Credit Default Swap Bubble To Grow Again
June 20 (EIRNS)—Michael Greenberger, former Commodities Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) Director of Trading and Markets, has exposed a “loophole” in the Dodd-Frank Act that has allowed the Credit Default Swap (CDS) bubble to grow again to over $10 trillion globally. (The figure is still far from the $60 trillion-plus achieved before the crash in 2007, but it is still large enough to bring down the system if there is a chain of insolvencies in the underlying debt.)
The loophole was provided by a footnote that allows foreign affiliates of U.S. banks to trade CDS without the capital and other requirements mandated by Dodd-Frank. Thus, four U.S. banks (Citigroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs) handle 90% of CDS trading.
All these banks had to do, was to instruct their foreign subsidiaries to check a box in CDS contracts saying that the deal was “de-guaranteed” by the parent bank.
The CFTC has known this for at least three years but has done nothing, Greenberger says in a report for the Institute for New Economic Thinking.
Maybe this is a chance for Glass-Steagall, Greenberger writes: “There are recent important Congressional statements by even outspoken proponents of weakening Dodd-Frank, showing a strong political distaste for Congressionally enacted financial deregulation that loosens regulatory requirements for the very biggest U.S. bank holding companies; and any legislation advanced to repeal Dodd-Frank swaps regulation might also be the target of a bipartisan legislative effort to reinstate a ‘modern day’ Glass-Steagall in a format which would cause banks with federally insured deposits to stop or substantially cut speculative swaps trading.”
However, even now state prosecutors and regulators could “enforce Dodd-Frank on behalf of a state’s citizens.”
Building Nuclear Reactors Could Cost Less, as They Do in Asia
June 20 (EIRNS)—Nuclear power plant building costs could be reduced by 35%, a study published on June 6 by the U.K. Energy Technologies Institute found. An earlier study had examined nuclear plant costs globally since 2010, and found that costs have increased by 20%. But not everywhere. The U.K. study found a huge difference in cost in the U.S. and Europe as compared to Asia, and although the findings are not surprising, the data and the authors’ recommendations are very useful.
The advantages in China, South Korea, and Japan (pre-Fukushima), the report states, include a more productive workforce; “more experience in delivering large, complex construction projects” (which the U.S. and Europe have hardly done in decades); “China benefits from the ability of state-run enterprises to make large decisions quickly once the political direction has been set” (in the U.S., there is no federal direction); “All three countries benefit from cultures where litigious responses are extremely rare” (in the U.S., “environmentalists” have tied up nuclear projects in court, sometimes for a decade).
China, Russia, and the U.A.E. are building plants in clusters at sites, increasing efficiency by sharing infrastructure and bulk purchasing, which was the original plan for U.S. sites. New technology is key, the report states, as more advanced nuclear concepts are more efficient.
The study’s authors point to the cost of financing as a key driver of cost. “The government must play a role in supporting financing process.” It is estimated that a 1% reduction in the cost of capital for a new nuclear project could lead to a 10% reduction in the price of delivered power.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Ibero-American and Caribbean Countries Coordinate on the Belt and Road Initiative
June 20 (EIRNS)—As reported by the Mexican news agency Notimex today, nations of the Caribbean and of South and Central America are clearly coordinating to take full advantage of their participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). At a meeting at the Ecuadorean Embassy in Beijing, representatives of Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico signed a document expressing their desire to fully understand all aspects of the Belt and Road Initiative and to ensure that the different interests they represent will be taken into account as their participation deepens.
This group intends to undertake as a first project a study on the nations involved, carried out by the China-Veracruz Studies Center (Mexico), the National University of Costa Rica, the Guayaquil (Ecuador) Catholic University, and the University of Changzhou. Additional support comes from China’s Public Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange Center, and the Embassies of Ecuador, Cuba, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic, as well as the Mexico-China Chamber of Commerce, the Ecuador-China Chamber of Commerce, and the Dominican-China Chamber of Commerce.
Notimex also reports comments by Ecuador’s ambassador in China, Carlos Larrea, who emphasized that the document represents “cooperation in a new scenario (of the Belt and Road), which should be known, evaluated, and processed academically in a constructive manner [made available to] the institutional political sectors of each country involved.” By understanding the Belt and Road Initiative in depth, he said, the participating countries can take maximum advantage of it in many different areas.
China Establishes Belt and Road Science Research Alliance in Shenyang, Near North Korea
June 20 (EIRNS)—The conference to establish the “One Belt And One Road” Scientific Research Institute Alliance was held in Shenyang, formerly Mukden, on June 14. The timing is significant, as it will facilitate extending the New Silk Road into East Asia following the Moon-Kim summit on April 27, the Trump-Kim summit on June 12, and Kim Jong-un’s third visit to China June 19, as well as Russia’s pledging to restore and expand economic connections in North Korea.
Shenyang, in Liaoning Province, is the closest major Chinese city to the North Korean border. The new institute will involve scholars from 40 research institutes from 18 cities at home and abroad, according to a Shenyang Municipal government release.
South Korea Foreign Minister Confirms U.S. Has Plan for North Korea Denuclearization
June 20 (EIRNS)—Speaking to foreign journalists in Seoul today, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said “U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo does, indeed, have a plan for North Korean denuclearization,” and she spoke about what kind of role she anticipated South Korea would play in the process, Asia Timesreported today.
Related to that development, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in an interview with Russian media ahead of his June 21 state visit to Moscow, said that Seoul, Moscow, and Pyongyang can implement several major trilateral infrastructure and energy projects if stability is reached on the Korean Peninsula. One such project could be a railway that will be able deliver goods from Russia to South Korea through North Korea, RT reported today.
“Once the Trans-Korean Main Line is built, it may be connected to the Trans-Siberian Railway. In this case, it will be possible to deliver goods from South Korea to Europe, which would be economically beneficial not only to South and North Korea but to Russia as well,” Moon said. A gas pipeline coming from Russia to North Korea, to be extended to the South, is another possibility, he said. “We can also build a gas pipeline via North Korea, so that not only South Korea will receive Russian gas, but we will also be able to deliver it to Japan.”
Moon also discussed the possibility of connecting the three nations’ electricity grids, which would create opportunities for further cooperation, especially with Japan. “We can also establish a power line that would allow us to receive electricity from Russia.” Moon was confident that “implementing these plans may contribute to the economic prosperity of all countries on the Eurasian continent.”
Malaysia’s Mahathir Wants Warships out of South China Sea, Offers Peace Formula
June 20 (EIRNS)—In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said warships should not be in the disputed South China Sea. “I think there should not be too many warships. Warships create tension…. Someday, somebody might make some mistakes and there will be a fight, some ships will be lost, and there might be a war. We don’t want that,” he said.
Describing his peace plan, Mahathir said that one way to keep the peace in the South China Sea would be for the waters to be “patrolled by small boats” that would be “equipped to deal with pirates, not to fight another war.” When asked by the daily who should be involved in these patrols, Mahathir replied that countries from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were a natural choice because “the whole sea is surrounded by ASEAN countries.” He continued that “if China wants to participate with small boats, they are welcome. Anybody, even the U.S. if they want to participate—but don’t bring battleships here.”
When asked about his government’s position on the South China Sea, the Malaysian prime minister said he just wants Malaysia to continue occupying the disputed islands that it currently holds. “There are certain rocks which we have developed into islands. And we hope that we will stay on those islands, because it is a part of our keeping the sea safe from pirates and others. So we want to retain, of course, about four or five islands that we have occupied,” Mahathir told SCMP. “The rest—whoever thinks it is theirs, they can occupy.”
Kim Jong-un Visits Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
June 20 (EIRNS)—On the second day of his China trip, D.P.R.K. Chairman Kim Jong-un visited the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, indicating his interest in learning more about the advances made by China during its period of reform and opening up. After his meeting with President Xi Jinping yesterday, Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, also invited Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, to tea for a further chat. Kim said that his current visit has served as an opportunity to deepen the friendship between himself and President Xi. He vowed to work with Chinese comrades to upgrade bilateral ties to a new high, and to play their dual roles in safeguarding world and regional peace and stability. Kim also said that he believed that under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Xi at the core, and the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will definitely be realized.
Xi said that since the reform and opening-up, the Chinese people have carried out self-reform and innovation, and China is happy to see that the D.P.R.K. made a major decision to shift the focus to economic construction. He said that China supports the D.P.R.K.’s economic development, the improvement of people’s livelihood, and its development path that accords with its national conditions.
At the Foreign Ministry press briefing today, press spokesman Geng Shuang said that China hopes that “relevant parties” will take positive measures to address the D.P.R.K.’s legitimate concern and establish a peaceful mechanism on the Korean Peninsula.
OTHER
Clock Is Ticking on Angela Merkel’s Chancellorship
June 20 (EIRNS)—Yesterday’s warm words of support by French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin will not suffice to yield Merkel a negotiating success on the migrants issue at the June 28-29 EU summit. Should her idea of an all-European solution acceptable by all EU members fail, Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has announced he will make use of his office’s jurisdiction and begin from July on with strict controls at the Bavarian borders with Austria and Czechia to reduce the inflow of migrants.
Merkel has threatened to use the jurisdiction of her own Chancellor’s office, instead, which points to a final showdown between her and Seehofer. This could be accepted by neither Seehofer nor by his CSU—in which case, “the end of the alliance between CDU and CSU is imminent,” Germany’s leading news daily Die Welt writes. And that implies the likely end of Merkel’s chancellorship. As a new opinion poll done for the daily shows, 75% of the Germans believe Merkel will fail at the EU level.
The CDU has 200 seats in the Bundestag, the CSU 46; should the latter walk out of their coalition, Merkel would be left with her own party’s seats plus the 153 of the SPD—3 votes short of the required absolute majority of 356. The CSU could even pose an ultimatum: to not rejoin the government as long as Merkel remains in office. Merkel could naturally invite or arrange with another party, such as the Greens or the FDP to join or support the CDU-SPD rump coalition, but that would mean several weeks or months of talks before there were any, if at all, positive conclusion.
So far, these are all scenarios, as the CSU has not yet made the split and walked out. The CSU may also back down in the end, but that would weaken the CSU in the October elections for Bavaria’s state parliament, with losses blamed on those who were pulled over the table by Merkel. None of that would make Merkel’s government more stable.
