EDITORIAL

Dual Power Situation in Today’s World—Which Path Will the U.S. Take?

July 31 (EIRNS)—The 2018 BRICS Summit can be usefully compared to the Bandung Conference of Asian and African nations in Indonesia in 1955, the first time the formerly colonized nations met without the colonial masters present. The difference, today, is that the BRICS now represents not only the majority of the world’s population, but also nearly half of the world economy, and by far most of the growth in the world economy.

The developments at the BRICS Forum last week, and the many bilateral and multilateral meetings on the sidelines among leaders of the nations and institutions of the “Global South,” demonstrated the new paradigm which already exists in the world today. Governed not by any nation, but by the concept and spirit of the New Silk Road, initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, nearly all the nations of Asia, Africa and Ibero-America—generally described as “developing nations”—have joined together to transform the world through development, just as China, in a few short decades, has placed itself in the leadership worldwide in most categories of infrastructure development, and in many categories of industry and scientific research, while lifting 700 million people out of poverty.

A major result of the BRICS Summit was the dedication to lift all of Africa, finally, out from under the state of poverty and under-development imposed upon it by the colonial powers. India and China pledged to work together to bring their scientific and technological experience to the so-called Dark Continent. Russia pledged to “light up Africa” with energy development, spearheaded by nuclear power, available to all, “built from scratch,” to provide electricity to the 600 million Africans still living in the dark.

The other center this dual power situation, in the West, is in a crisis of historical proportions. The European Union is crumbling, both politically and, in several countries, economically. The Western financial system is a speculative bubble about to burst. The summit between the new Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and President Trump on Monday has sent terror into the oligarchs of the EU, who are warning that the new U.S.-Italian “axis” will disrupt the leadership of Germany and France, whose leaders are increasing discredited within their own nations and across the EU. Recall that Conte supported Trump’s intervention at the June G7 Summit, where Trump informed those leaders of the old paradigm that their association was essentially irrelevant if Russia were not at the table.

The question then remains—which way will the United States go? Trump has insisted that the U.S. must be friends of Russia and China, that there must be no more “regime change” wars, and that he wants to restore the collapsing industrial infrastructure in the nation. Can he do it?

Kesha Rogers, the candidate for Congress in Texas endorsed by the LaRouche Political Action Committee, has issued a statement, “China’s Approach to Africa Shows Us How We Can End Poverty in the U.S.A.” She states that the U.S. “suffers from extreme rates of poverty, suicide, drug abuse, a decline in basic economic infrastructure, and a lack of savings and funding for the future. During the past 30 years while the U.S.A. has been in accelerated physical economic collapse, China has built an economic miracle for poverty alleviation, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty with targeted projects and strategies that address the unique problems of each town. This hasn’t just worked in China, but all across the world, most notably in Africa. The rapid development of the physical economy, through building rail development corridors, and modernizing ports, is now undoing the deliberate policies of colonialism, wars, and economic ruin, of the British Empire.”

This, she concludes, is the model Americans must follow: “This model being implemented in Africa today with the help of China and the BRICS nations, must be adopted in the United States to transform our neglected communities ruined by criminal negligence into bread baskets of economic growth and prosperity.” This is the means, she writes, to achieve the goals set by President Trump, who has “dedicated himself to restoring and expanding the decayed U.S. infrastructure, and increasing positive relations with Russia and China as well as other leading nations around the world.” (See Rogers’ campaign website for her full statement and others.)

Rogers has another plan as well, addressing the new, positive relationship between President Trump and President-elect López Obrador in Mexico. Since Trump has declared that NAFTA must be replaced with a totally new trade agreement, we should not call the new plan the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the North American Belt and Road Initiative, NABRI. In this way. the U.S. can fully participate with China and the other 100 nations in the Belt and Road Initiative in the development of Mexico, and all of Ibero-America, as well as the United States itself. And, as Trump and López Obrador both agree, by creating economic development, jobs and hope for the future, the refugee crisis can be resolved, and the drug cartels which now essentially control Mexico can be defeated.

It is this cooperation between what LaRouche calls the “Four Powers” of Russia, China, India and the U.S., with the other sovereign states which wish to join, which can end the power of Empire in the world once and for all, and bring about a new paradigm for mankind.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Trump and Conte Launch U.S.-Italy Axis, ‘Almost Twin Countries’ for Stabilization, Peace

July 31 (EIRNS)—At his joint White House press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the United States recognizes Italy’s leadership role in the Mediterranean and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced that a joint U.S.-Italy “steering committee” has been established to stabilize Libya, confirming what he had previously said on background to a group of Italian journalists.

Such a “preferential relationship” between the two countries has a historical significance similar to the one sought by Enrico Mattei after the 1956 Suez Crisis, when Italy was the only European country to vote in support of the U.S. resolution condemning the invading powers France and Britain against Egypt. Eventually, Mattei’s efforts were successful under the Kennedy Administration and Aldo Moro. (See EIR June 5, 2009: “Mattei and Kennedy: The Strategic Alliance Killed by the British.”)

The new “axis” between Italy and the Trump Administration has freaked out the EU establishment. Exemplary is a commentary in Die Welt: “Conte is now Trump’s man in Europe. His best friend on a continent which he just called an enemy. A new axis seems to be born: Washington-Rome. It will stand against the old Berlin-Paris axis. ‘We are now partners,’ Trump said. It is a partnership against the dominance of Germany and France, of Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.”

Both Trump and Conte had stressed the significance of the new axis at their joint press conference on Monday.

Trump said, “Today, Prime Minister Conte and I are pleased to announce a new strategic dialogue between Italy and the United States that will enhance cooperation on a range of issues.  This includes joint security efforts in the Mediterranean, where we recognize Italy’s leadership role in the stabilization of Libya and North Africa.”

Conte is fluent in English, but said he would take “the privilege for speaking in my wonderful language,” Italian. He said that both parties had agreed to set up a “steering committee … in the Mediterranean between Italy and the United States.  I would say that we’re almost twin countries in which Italy is becoming a reference point in Europe and a privileged interlocutor for the United States, for the main threats and challenges that we have before us, terrorism, and for all the crises that we see in the Mediterranean and, in particular, in regards to Libya.

“Secondly, the American administration also recognizes that Italy has a leadership role as a promoter country that will lead to the stabilization of Libya.  And of course, this with the great respect for the Libyan population.”

Later, Conte announced that “we are going to organize, in agreement with President Trump, I’m going to organize a conference on Libya.  We would like to deal and discuss all of the issues relating to the Libyan people involving all of the stakeholders, actors, protagonists in the whole of the Mediterranean.  We are going to discuss economic aspects but also social aspects; the protection of civil rights; the problem of constitutional process, of issuing and passing laws (inaudible) to enable Libya in particular to get to democratic elections in a condition of the utmost stability.”

(Translation for Conte from the White House website.)

Trump Blasts the Koch Brothers and Their ‘Bad Ideas’

July 31 (EIRNS)—Demonstrating again that he is capable and willing in a fight to burn bridges with Republican Party Wall Street moneybags, President Trump put out a scorching tweet this morning against the notorious multi-multi-billionaire Koch brothers. The Koch family are leading funders of the Mont Pelerin Society and its movements and centers promoting the feudalist Austrian School of Economics, not to mention every anti-labor politician and outfit they can find.

Startling the recipients of the Kochs’ largesse, the President tweeted:

“The globalist Koch Brothers, who have become a total joke in real Republican circles, are against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade. I never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas. They love my Tax & Regulation Cuts, Judicial picks & more. I made them richer. Their network is highly overrated, I have beaten them at every turn. They want to protect their companies outside the U.S. from being taxed, I’m for America First & the American Worker—a puppet for no one. Two nice guys with bad ideas. Make America Great Again!”

Big Brother Strikes Again—Facebook Pulls Pages ‘Likely To Be’ Russian

July 31 (EIRNS)—The Big Brother thought control police who have imposed themselves on Facebook, Instagram and the other leading social media operations, have moved again to save America from the dastardly villains running “coordinated misinformation efforts ahead of the U.S. midterm elections,” taking down 32 pages and accounts which “resemble Russian activities on the platform during the 2016 presidential campaign.” Mark Zuckerberg announced that he had informed the intelligence community before announcing the move publicly.

Note that to “resemble” something Russian, like the British “likely to be” Russia, now serves as adequate proof to declare guilt via the media. The Wall Street Journal, for instance, headlines the story: “Facebook Pulls Fake Accounts That Mimic Russian Tactics Ahead of Election.” The Journal admits that Facebook officials told them, “We do not have enough technical evidence to state definitively who is behind this,” but then states: “Several lawmakers pointed the finger at Russia.” Super-sleuth Sen. Mark Warner, they report, issued a statement saying this is “further evidence that the Kremlin continues to exploit platforms like Facebook to sow division and spread disinformation.”

The only example the Journal could provide was a call for a counter-demonstration against a “Unite the Right” rally scheduled for Washington in August, something that a dozen Soros-funded NGOs are also calling for.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Lavrov: Europeans Know Ukraine Is Controlled by ‘Radical Nationalists,’ But Won’t Admit It

July 31 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today that West European leaders know that the Ukraine government is under the control of “radical nationalists”—self-proclaimed Nazis, actually—and say so privately, but they will not say it publicly because they would lose face. After all, they held up the Ukrainian government as “a torchbearer of democracy” for so long.  “I don’t know to what extent these misinterpreted prestige considerations, misinterpreted loss of reputation will dominate,” Lavrov said.

“When our Western, at least European, counterparts communicate with the leaders of today’s Ukraine behind closed doors, they tell them some quite unflattering things and seek to have some kind of reaction,” Russia’s Foreign Minister said on Monday, when speaking to the participants in the “Territory of Meanings” National Educational Youth Forum.

“Western partners realize that [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko is impossible to negotiate with in terms of any provision of the Minsk agreements. They realize that he cannot control radical nationalists.”

“We have spoken with our Western counterparts frankly many times, and I have the impression that most of them are perfectly aware of what is going on,” he added.

ECONOMY

JPMorgan CEO Calls Monetary Blowout Top Risk

July 31 (EIRNS)—Anti-Glass-Steagall fanatic Jamie Dimon gave CNBC’s “Closing Bell” yesterday a song-and-dance about how great economic growth is, but when asked what the single biggest risk to the economy is right now, he alluded to the imminent potential for a blowup of the quadrillion-dollar hyperinflationary bubble created by 10 years of Federal Reserve and Western central bank “quantitative easing” (QE).

“I don’t want to scare the public, but we’ve never had QE. We’ve never had the reversal. Regulations are different. Monetary transmission is different. Governments have borrowed too much debt, and people can panic when things change,” JPMorgan’s CEO answered.

He also named a trade war as a risk, but the QE blowout is the threat, the big, looming financial “nuclear bomb.”

CNBC headlined its report, “The Market Is Dealing with Something It’s Never Seen Before That Has Jamie Dimon Worried.”

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Rouhani and Pompeo Respond to Trump’s Unconditional Offer of Talks with Iran

July 31 (EIRNS)—Following President Donald Trump’s statement during his press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte that he would be glad to meet with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani with “no preconditions,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “clarified” (i.e., contradicted) Trump, listing a number of preconditions.

“If the Iranians demonstrate a commitment to make fundamental changes in how they treat their own people,” Pompeo said, “reduce their malign behavior, can agree that it’s worthwhile to enter in a nuclear agreement that actually prevents proliferation, then the President said he’s prepared to sit down and have a conversation with him.” As we have seen, Trump is not always encumbered by statements from his cabinet members.

The Iranians had an interesting response. Hamid Aboutalebi, an advisor to Rouhani, tweeted that “respecting the Iranian nation’s rights, reducing hostilities and returning to the nuclear deal are steps that can be taken to pave the bumpy road of talks between Iran and America.” He underlined that to pave the way for talks with Iran, the United States should return to the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal. This is of course different from what Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last week that there is no point in talking to the U.S., that they cannot be trusted.

Neither side indicated whether any back-channel discussions have taken place about a meeting.

Push-Back in Mexico Against Soros ‘Opium War’ Drive

July 31 (EIRNS)—President Trump’s “No” to drug legalization should cost the Soros-controlled designee for Interior Minister, Olga Sanchez Cordero, her job in the incoming López Obrador Administration, an important social media support network for the Mexican President-elect has suggested.

“El Chapucero,” an internet social media site which played a key role in mobilizing support for the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), launched an attack on the Interior Minister-designee on July 29, warning that she is in danger of being replaced as the designated Interior Minister for her call for drug legalization.

López Obrador hasn’t called for drug legalization since his election, but the minister-designate has, and “there has already been someone who said ‘no’ to this, and he’s called Donald Trump,” the El Chapucero host said. This is “a ‘no’ from the United States of Donald Trump,” coming right in the middle of the developing “romance and honeymoon” between López Obrador and Donald Trump, when they are discussing signing “a new NAFTA agreement which could save the peso.” And legalization is not necessary, nor are Mexicans demanding it, El Chapucero asserted emphatically.

Sanchez Cordero, an extremely well-to-do former Supreme Court justice, has also come out in opposition to the President-elect’s stated policy of cutting all public officials’ salaries, at least with regard to Sanchez’s buddies in the Judiciary. That is adding to her problems, El Chapucero stated.

The Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong of the outgoing Peña Nieto government added his voice on July 27 to those opposing Sanchez Cordero and the drug cartels’ push for legalizing drugs (both marijuana and opium poppies). Legalization won’t reduce the violence in the country; that requires having well-trained and well-equipped police, Osorio said firmly.

Osorio is not from AMLO’s movement, but from the nationalist wing of the PRI party, and he has been named leader of the PRI faction in the Senate come September when the new Congress enters. That bodes well for the otherwise-fractured Congress, since Osorio is known as a patriotic figure, rather than a partisan politician out to score points.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Conte Pledges Joint Italy-U.S. Work on Hypersonic Flight

July 31 (EIRNS)—At the end of his introductory remarks, Conte emphasized hypersonic flight as a joint U.S.-Italian industrial project. “I personally am sure that we can increase and improve the relationship with the United States at all levels, and in particular, in space and aerospace fields.  We already have a great partnership between the Italian Space Agency and NASA, so we hope that aerospace will bring together American technology, Italian technology, so that we can launch a new aircraft that cross the atmosphere and will be able to bring the United States and Italy together in an hour and a half.

“This is a project that I’d like to speak in detail with the American administration,” he said according to the White House translation.

Italy’s tradition in hypersonic flight goes back to Antonio Ferri, who first worked on supersonic flight in Italy 1938-39, and later, in the U.S., pioneered groundbreaking research on hypersonic thermofluid dynamics.

Extreme Heat Wave in Asia Made Worse by Restrictions in Nuclear Power

July 31 (EIRNS)—The heat wave that is hitting Asia has created a dramatic increase in demand for electricity, and an accompanying spike in the “market” price of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which has hit Japan especially hard, OilPrice.com industry website reports. Japan has had to bring into service inefficient and expensive oil-fired electric generating units, as well coal- and gas-fired units, in order to meet demand. Why? Because out of the 50 or so nuclear plants Japan had operating before the March 2011 Fukushima tsunami, only 6 reactors have been brought back into operation.

South Korea, on the other hand, also hit hard by the heat wave, had the bulk of its 24 nuclear plants shut down for maintenance in July. But it began planning for the heat wave. On July 23, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power decided to restart two down reactors in the beginning of August, and delay the maintenance scheduled for two other units, JoongAng Daily reported. All but six of their reactors are now back online, to meet the increased demand.

Hopefully, that will be a lesson learned. The current policy of the South Korean government is to complete two reactors under construction, but make those the last two. The plan is to decrease the number of reactors to 14 by 2038, to eventually phase out nuclear energy.

China has also experienced record heat, and made record LNG imports. Indicative of the price gouging, China’s import of LNG by weight was up 50% in the first half of this year, from the same time a year ago, but the cost was up 84%. But this situation is at least on the way to being mitigated, with about 30 nuclear plants under construction in China.