EDITORIAL
Trump-Putin Summit Can Change the World—Emerging Fascist Force Wants To Stop It
June 26 (EIRNS)—In June 1968, Lyndon LaRouche issued a document called “The New Left, Local Control and Fascism,” describing the emergence on the anarchist “68ers” he had observed first hand at the student strikes at Columbia University. Forty years later, in 2008, LaRouche referred back to that document: “In that report, I compared the second of the two strikes on that campus with the way in which members of the Communist and Nazi parties had swapped chunks of their memberships back-and-forth during the weeks of the famous Berlin trolley-car strike of the period leading into the Nazi takeover of dictatorial powers through Hermann Göring’s organization of the fire at the Reichstag building. From Spring 1968 onward, what was emerging as the clearly defined majority of the so-called ‘New Left,’ in both the U.S.A. and elsewhere, was essentially the rise of a fascist movement, as the close examination of the second 1968 Columbia University student strike should have warned any close observer who was thinking seriously. I knew very well what I was talking about back then, and I know it much, much more clearly, and in much greater detail, forty years later, today.”
Today, after eight years of the Barack Obama Administration, the truth of that insight can no longer be denied. President Trump has just carried out an historic intervention into the North Korea crisis, working together with China and Russia. Now he is preparing for a summit with Vladimir Putin, intending to resolve the Syrian war and end the threat of global nuclear war. What is the response from those who graduated from the “New Left” of the 1960s and 1970s into positions of power and influence today, in the Congress, in the press, in Hollywood, and in the general population? Consider: Congresswomen calling for members of Trump’s Cabinet to be harassed and intimidated wherever they are, “in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” Famous actors from Hollywood calling for people to seek out the schools where the children of Trump administration officials attend, “and surround the schools in protest.” Restaurant owners throwing Trump’s press secretary and her family out of their restaurant, and following them to another restaurant to continue the harassment. Is this not fascist terror? Will it lead to people getting killed?
We are poised today at a punctum saliens, the point of a paradigm shift in history, either for good or for evil. The President has withstood the hysteria of the British-instigated coup attempt against the government of the United States known as Russiagate. He is prepared to extend his collaboration with China and Russia in the Korea crisis to the even larger crisis in the Arab world, a crisis driven by the illegal and genocidal wars, again instigated by London, but carried out by London’s “dumb giant” under Bush and Obama. The refugee disaster in Europe, as well as the “illegal immigrant” crisis in the U.S., can only be resolved by Trump extending his collaboration with Russia and China to the economic side of the global crisis—fully joining in the New Silk Road process, applying American technology and skills to massive international development projects across Africa, Southwest Asia and Ibero-America, while also bringing the New Silk Road to the United States. Then will America be great again.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Preparations for Putin-Trump Summit Continue
June 26 (EIRNS)—President Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow tomorrow (June 27), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced today. Peskov named as Russia agenda items for tomorrow’s discussions “the issues of international stability and security, the disarmament issues and well-known regional problems and certainly, bilateral relations,” in the framework of the preparation for a possible Russian-U.S. summit, according to TASS. Asked whether Bolton would meet with Putin, Peskov answered that “If such a meeting takes place, we will inform you about it.”
Speculation abounds, as do wild outbursts of hysteria welling up from the proponents of the old geopolitical order, over the realization that this summit might, finally, actually occur. Typical is this afternoon’s Washington Post article (“After Diplomatic Equivalent of a Multiple-Car Pileup, U.S. Allies Brace for NATO Summit”), quoting unnamed European diplomats muttering that they can’t decide which would be worse, Trump meeting Putin before they can work him over at the NATO summit, or afterwards, when they “would not be able to mop up the mess.” Trump’s successful June 12 summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un has added to the fear that he might reach agreements with Putin which will overturn the Old Order’s applecart altogether. They may also be worrying that Trump may do to NATO what he did to the G7.
The City of London’s Financial Times cites an unnamed senior Russian official to the effect that the summit will be held after President Trump’s July 13 visit to the U.K. following the July 11-12th NATO summit, and that the two countries have reached a preliminary agreement on a host country, which is not Austria, but one “logistically more convenient.” Britain’s Daily Telegraph couldn’t restrain itself from publishing worried rumors that Trump might go to Moscow and attend the World Cup final on July 15. An unnamed senior U.S. official told Reuters this afternoon that the Finnish capital of Helsinki is being looked at as a possible location for the summit. Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto sent out a tweet in response to questions about the summit, reporting only that “Finland is always ready to offer its good services if asked.”
Where it is held is not the meat of the issue; that it be held is vital.
Trump Keeps on Slamming Criminal DOJ/FBI Operation Against His Presidency
June 26 (EIRNS)—President Trump rightly has called for any testimony before Congress by FBI agent Peter Strzok to be broadcast on national television. Strzok—lead case officer on both the FBI’s Clinton email investigation and its “Get Trump” Russia-Trump collusion investigation—was subpoenaed to testify today before a closed-door session of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees. But as Trump tweeted on Monday night: “the hearing of Peter Strzok and the other hating frauds at the FBI & DOJ should be shown to the public on live television, not a closed-door hearing that nobody will see. We should expose these people for what they are—there should be total transparency!”
One is reminded of the Pecora Commission hearings into the crimes of Wall Street mandated by Franklin Roosevelt, which were broadcast nationwide on radio, winning the support of the American people for FDR’s Glass-Steagall and other measures to end the crimes of the financial oligarchy.
According to an unnamed Judiciary Committee staffer, a public hearing with Strzok will be held “soon,” Politico reported today.
As for Sen. Mark Warner’s braggadocio remarks at a Martha Vineyard fundraiser over the weekend, that only he and Special Counsel Mueller know what’s coming up out of Mueller’s investigation, but people should “buckle up… it’s going to be a wild couple of months,” Trump pointed out: “Why is Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), perhaps in a near drunken state, claiming he has information that only he and Bob Mueller, the leader of the 13 Angry Democrats on a Witch Hunt, knows? Isn’t this highly illegal? Is it being investigated?”
Warner as much as admitted that his arrogant big mouth might land him in big trouble, telling reporters yesterday that his comments were “a bad joke…. You know how seriously I take this investigation…. We’re going to follow the facts.”
Energy Secretary Perry Argues Opposition to Coal, Nuclear Keeps Billions in Poverty
June 26 (EIRNS)—In his keynote speech today at the triennial World Gas Conference in Washington, Energy Secretary Rick Perry blasted the ideologues whose “stubborn opposition” to the use of fossil fuels takes no consideration as to the impact on the lives of billions of people in developing nations. Perry has been tasked by President Trump to find a way to keep U.S. coal and nuclear power plants from shutting down, to protect the economy and national security. That is also the priority for developing nations.
The most virulent, irrational argument against the use of coal is the supposed environmental impact of carbon. As CNBC reports, “Perry has publicly denied the scientific consensus” that there is climate change that is caused by human activity, including use of fossil fuels. Perry stated that forecasts indicate that fossil fuels will still be providing 75% of the world’s energy in 2040. Countries that have reserves of coal will continue to increase exploitation of this domestic resource. “For the sake of our fellow human beings,” Perry said, every nation has the right to “responsibly use every fuel at its disposal.”
The environmentalists are using the same fight, even the same green arguments, to kill the nuclear industry.
At a media round table yesterday, Perry told reporters that the U.S. must step up to bring the latest technology into the nuclear industry, or be left out of the international market, with foreign orders for nuclear power plants going to Russia or China rather than Westinghouse. And if the U.S. talks to India and Saudi Arabia, which are in the market for clusters of nuclear plants, but “we let our industry collapse for whatever reason, then it puts the future of nuclear power in the U.S. in jeopardy,” because it sends a message that “America is really not committed to nuclear power.”
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
General Strike Paralyzes Argentina, as Population Says ‘No to the IMF’
June 26 (EIRNS)—A 24-hour general strike, called by the CGT labor federation, in Argentina, and backed by other trade unions, citizen groups, small businesses and social organizations, completely paralyzed Argentina yesterday, to demand a change in the Macri government’s economic program and reject the austerity demands of the International Monetary Fund. The IMF inspires intense hatred in Argentina.
In effect, the strike, which left the streets deserted in cities around the country, was a plebiscite on the neo-liberal policies President Mauricio Macri has imposed on the nation for the past two and a half years, to devastating effect: greater poverty, joblessness, destruction of the internal market and rewarding speculation instead of productive investment. It came just as Macri was trumpeting his “victory” in obtaining a $50 billion standby loan from the IMF, with brutal austerity conditionalities.
Going into next year’s presidential elections, Macri is desperate to avoid further social conflict, to convince investors to put their money into the country. After the strike, the government announced it will reopen negotiations with the CGT and other trade unions, and lift the previously set ceiling of a 15% wage increase—untenable given a 30-40% inflation rate—but insisted at the same time there will be no deviation from the IMF’s program. Macri’s own cabinet members admit the IMF program will plunge the country into a worse recession, but say the “pain” must be endured.
But such erstwhile allies as Eduardo van der Kooy, editor of the pro-government daily Clarín, are telling the President that whatever “victories” he claims to have won on the international front—an IMF loan, or having Argentina just classified as “an emerging market”—means nothing domestically. Macri has to get his act together, van der Kooy warns, stop blaming his problems on former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner—time to stop beating that dead horse—and come up with a coherent strategy or lose his bid for reelection.
Taiwan’s President Going Over the Top Against China
June 26 (EIRNS)—Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen gave an interview to AFP on June 25, denouncing Beijing as “expansionist” and a threat to the world. “This is not just Taiwan’s challenge,” Tsai said, “it is a challenge for the region and the world as a whole, because today it’s Taiwan, but tomorrow it may be any other country that will have to face the expansion of China’s influence…. Their democracy, freedom, and freedom to do business will one day be affected by China…. We need to work together to reaffirm our values of democracy and freedom in order to constrain China and also minimize the expansion of their hegemonic influence.”
This comes in the wake of the massive campaign in the West over the past months to portray China as aggressive, intending to take over Asia—or even the world—through the Belt and Road, and “militarizing” the South China Sea and ports around the world. It also come in the wake of Panama and the Dominican Republic’s dropping their diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of Beijing, with more to come.
Tsai has refused since her election in 2016 to acknowledge the 1992 Consensus, in which both sides acknowledged “One China with two systems,” but this outburst is the most extreme.
Tsai said she would be willing to meet with Xi Jinping, but without preconditions—meaning she will not acknowledge “One China.” She pointed to the Singapore summit, claiming she should not have to concede on One China.
Global Times’ lead editorial today is titled: “Behind Taiwan Leader’s Ravings Is Panic.” It calls the interview “one of Tsai’s fiercest attacks against the mainland since she came into office. Different from the past, Tsai described cross-Straits affairs as the mainland’s confrontation against the democratic world, urged the West to jointly contain the mainland and openly sold Taiwan as leverage for exterior forces to intervene in China’s domestic issues. Tsai has maintained her political hypocrisy. She refused to acknowledge the 1992 Consensus, and as a result, all official communication across the Straits halted. Yet, Tsai talked glibly about her wish for a meeting with the mainland’s leader, which is impossible.” They say that Tsai has panicked “following a series of failures.” They also say that Tsai’s administration “has pinned all its hopes on the international community, or more precisely, the U.S. Washington is using Taiwan as a cheap pawn.”
EU Military Intervention Force To Include Britain after Brexit
June 26 (EIRNS)—Nine EU member states yesterday signed off on the establishment of a joint European military intervention force, an initiative which has won the backing of the U.K. as it seeks to maintain defense ties after Brexit. Spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron, the European force will be designed to deploy and coordinate forces rapidly to deal with crises around the world. Some Brits refer to this as the government’s effort to have the “EU without the EU.”
Defense Ministers from France, Germany, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Spain and Portugal signed a letter of intent in Luxembourg on June 25 to begin building up the intervention force in 2021.
France’s Defense Minister Florence Parly told Le Figaro French daily on June 24: “Defense Europe requires a common strategic culture…. The deadlines and decisions in the EU are still much too long compared to the urgency that can arise of a critical situation in a country where Europeans would consider that there is a strong stake for their security.”
The European Intervention Initiative is outside the EU’s structures, and so it will allow for full U.K. involvement after Brexit. “This is clearly an initiative that allows some non-EU states to associate,” said Parly. “The U.K. has been very good because it wants to maintain cooperation with Europe beyond bilateral ties.”
A French government source said the involvement of the U.K. was key, as the two military powers shared similar cultures and analysis approaches to how to tackle a crisis. “That culture is not shared between every EU member state,” the source said. The initiative is expected to aid joint planning on events such as natural disasters, crisis intervention or the evacuation of citizens from hotspots.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Europe Must Work with China To Develop Africa, Urges Veteran Singapore Diplomat
June 26 (EIRNS)—National Singapore University professor and former Singapore UN Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani hit the nail on the head when asked by China Global Television Network’s (CGTN) “The Point” host Liu Xin last night what he sees as Europe’s strategic future and what Europe needs to be looking at now. The subject of the interview was Mahbubani’s book Has the West Lost It? A Provocation, which Mahbubani calls his “gift to the West,” a warning that Western leaders need to wake up and face the reality that there is a new world coming, in which India and China play leading roles, and it is in the West’s interest to recognize and participate in that new world.
Mahbubani answered Liu’s question about Europe very briefly. It is no secret that Europe is lost, Mahbubani answered, and its long-term strategic challenge comes from Africa. He cited “an amazing statistic.” That is, that in 1950, Europe’s population was twice that of Africa’s. Today, Africa’s population is more than twice Europe’s. But by 2100, Africa’s population will be 10 times the size of Europe’s! That is why Europe should be working with China to develop Africa, he said. That’s where Europe’s interest lies.
Precisely the argument made by Schiller Institute chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche in her June 18 call for the June 28-29 European Union summit to bring in Xi Jinping and African leaders to discuss development, which the Schiller Institute is now circulating in at least 10 languages. [http://newparadigm.schillerinstitute.com/blog/2018/06/18/history-is-now-being-written-in-asia-the-eu-summit-must-follow-the-example-of-singapore/]
Interestingly, Mahbubani published a CNN column immediately following President Trump’s election in 2016, titled “Why Trump Should Work with China,” wherein he argued that America’s number-one priority must be economic growth; infrastructure spending is the way to meet the expectations of the millions who voted for Donald Trump; and the U.S. needs to cooperate with China in order to restore U.S.’s “distinctly Third World” infrastructure. “Given the current condition of the global economy, a massive infrastructure collaboration project between America and China would be like an economic dream made in heaven. Both the American and Chinese peoples would benefit,” he argued.
Global Times Demonstrates How ‘West Misunderstands China’s Role in African Continent’
June 26 (EIRNS)—Mark Kapchanga, an economic analyst at Global Times from Kenya, writes under the above title that Mike Pompeo, in a June 18 speech in Detroit, identified Africa’s two primary problems correctly—terrorist insurgencies and lack of economic development. But, he writes, Pompeo wrongly concludes that “Africa will see actual growth with a Westernized model of development,” rather than through the Belt and Road.
Kapchanga writes: “African countries and their leaders have grown sick and tired of such stereotyped thoughts coming from Western nations. History has proved that America and European countries are behind Africa’s underdevelopment. They not only colonized Africa but also stripped it of resources and displaced people from their lands….
“Instead of Western powers always complaining about China’s presence in Africa,” Kapchanga writes, “they should transform and improve their strategies for the continent…. Africa cannot be developed through conditionalities that only massage the whims of America and Europe. Through the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Europe and America bullied African countries for more than three decades. Those nations seeking access to the General Account of the Fund had to commit themselves to explicit conditions regarding the conduct of their international policies. Ultimately, African countries in need of financial support to boost their infrastructure, education and health failed to do so as the conditions were too tough…. With the urge for greater development, China filled in the void. Its support to Africa has been less bureaucratic and almost without conditions.
“As Pompeo and his fellow Western leaders continue complaining about China and its relations with Africa, youths in the continent are grinning, having secured jobs in various projects being pursued by China. In Kenya, for instance, thousands of youths continue to earn an income from the construction of the standard gauge railway whose construction is now being extended from Nairobi to Naivasha….
“Africa’s development can only be shaped by Africans. Europe and the U.S. can therefore involve African leaders in designing the kind of investments and relations that fit them. If they continue condemning China on its relations with Africa, the continent’s ties with Beijing will only get stronger and thrive all the more.”
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Storied Nuclear Company Is Studying Nuclear Propulsion for Mars
June 26 (EIRNS)—One of this country’s nuclear companies which was the foundation upon which the U.S. built more than 100 nuclear power plants, has received a contract from NASA to create conceptual designs for a nuclear thermal reactor that could power a spacecraft to Mars. AP reported on June 22 that BWX Technologies will carry out the work at NASA’S Marshall Space Flight Center, and that BWX opened an office in Huntsville, Alabama last week. NASA’s work on nuclear reactors for propulsion goes back to the early 1960s, and has been carried out in fits and starts since then.
In 2015, BWX Technologies was spun off from the Babcock and Wilcox (B&W) company, to handle the company’s government and nuclear work. B&W began manufacturing high-pressure boilers in 1867. In 1953, it built components for the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine, and for Shippinport, the first U.S. utility-owned nuclear plant. B&W manufactured the largest nuclear components, including pressure vessels and generators.
Today, BWX, headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia, supplies nuclear fuel and components to the government for submarines and aircraft carriers.
