EDITORIAL

‘Singapore Model’ of Great Power Cooperation for Peace and Development Is Alive and Well; London Is Not

Sept. 21 (EIRNS)—Every corner of the planet is now being swept along by the political, economic, and cultural sea-change set in motion by China’s Belt and Road Initiative—and by the ideas that underlie that policy, in turn.

It is happening on the Korean Peninsula, where South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s three-day visit to North Korea is leading to new breakthroughs for peace and development, in what was arguably the world’s most dangerous hotspot before President Trump and Chairman Kim courageously met in June 2018 and launched what Helga Zepp-LaRouche called the “Singapore Model.”

It is going on in Europe, where Italy’s government has announced—from Beijing—that “we are very happy to be the only G7 country which has carried on so advanced negotiations on the Belt and Road Initiative,” and that they plan to have a completed agreement with China before the year is out. And where Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “gave the EU the finger” by traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It is underway in Central America and the Caribbean, whose nations are using China’s cooperation with Africa as a model for what they hope to achieve as they join the Belt and Road Initiative.

And it is happening in the United States as well, even if its very participants often don’t recognize it as such.

When Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, the British Establishment’s anointed successor to Barack Obama, Lyndon LaRouche immediately characterized this as an international development—not a national one—that was part of the same global process that had led to the Brexit vote in the U.K. This week, in the face of the most viciously fabricated campaign against the American Presidency since the 1989 railroad and incarceration of Lyndon LaRouche, Donald Trump kicked over the chessboard by announcing that he would declassify the documents that will prove the British authorship of the entire attempted coup d’état against him. Every tree in the forest could fall, as these documents come to light: the entire British control apparatus over the U.S., which has been in place since the murder of JFK, and before, could well be dismantled.

Is it any surprise that all-out political warfare has erupted in Washington, and in foreign capitals, to try to stop Trump from acting? Is it any wonder that Britain and its assets are launching wave after wave of sanctions and attacks on Russia and China, to try to bring them to heel, or at least prevent Trump from working with those governments? Is it a surprise that the liberal media is in a frenzy to black out any real news about Trump’s declassification action, or Korea, or the Belt and Road, with endless pornographic tales of Judge Kavanaugh’s purported adolescent transgressions?

But most alarming of all to the British imperial mind, is the spread of the ideas that underlie the emerging global Renaissance being built around the New Silk Road. What are these ideas? They were stated succinctly by Chinese President Xi Jinping in his July 25, address to the BRICS Summit:

“Science and technology, as the primary production forces, have provided inexhaustible power driving progress of human civilization…. In the unfolding new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, new things will inevitably emerge and take the place of old ones…. In the face of new opportunities brought by new science and technology, every country has an equal right to development. Those who fail to keep abreast of the trend of the times will fall behind and become irrelevant.”

No literate citizen can fail to recognize the imprint of Lyndon LaRouche’s mind, and a half-century of strategic interventions, in such formulations. Back in 1983, in his groundbreaking obliteration of the Club of Rome’s “limits to growth” fakery, published under the title “There Are No Limits to Growth,” LaRouche wrote:

“Man is fundamentally different from the beasts…. Man has the potential of Reason, the power to make creative discoveries which advance his scientific knowledge, and to convert such scientific advances into advances in technology. We are able to discover, with increasing perfection, the lawful, universal principles which order universal creation, and to master nature with increasing power.”

That is the strategic issue of the day.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

New York Times Tries Treason Again

Sept. 21 (EIRNS)—This afternoon, the New York Times once again took up the coup against Donald Trump, not as a news matter, but as a witting psychological warfare instrument for those bent on trying to illegally remove this President from office.  They report, with great fervor, that shortly after FBI Director James Comey was fired by Trump, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed using the 25th Amendment to remove the President from office, and himself wearing a wire to record the President at the White House.  Rosenstein is supervising the Mueller Special Counsel investigation of the President. Rosenstein has heatedly denied the Times story.

This leak occurs in a context where the coup itself is unraveling.  The President ordered the declassification of foundational documents in the coup itself on Monday, Sept. 17, including tweets from Robert Mueller’s central witness, Jim Comey. According to press accounts, “our allies” called to complain, most certainly the British and the Australians who instigated this coup together with Barack Obama and John Brennan. In addition, the so-called gang of eight Senators and Congressmen, who get briefed by the intelligence community, had their knickers in a full knot.

Also this week, Mueller’s first victim, former Trump Campaign volunteer George Papadopoulos began press appearances detailing how he was set up by the British and the CIA in the evidence fabrication phase of the Russiagate investigation, during the Spring of 2016. There is a sitting grand jury in Washington, D.C., hearing evidence concerning fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.  According to various sources, that grand jury is also hearing evidence about criminal abuses of the FISA Court process and media leaks.

The press reporting to date on the story points to Andrew McCabe or Robert Mueller as the source of the leak to the New York Times. McCabe’s memos are reportedly the source of the story, and he has provided those to Mueller.  There is no doubt that Rosenstein has been a corrupt force throughout the ongoing coup against the President. The question which allies of the President should be asking, however, is why is this occurring now?  In this strategic context?  From the gray lady ragsheet that is the chief propaganda arm of the coup?  The President should demand that the Inspector General Horowitz immediately obtain and review the McCabe memos and interview everyone involved in the meeting referenced in the Times and any follow-on meetings under oath, as well as investigating the source of the leak to the New York Times, providing him an immediate report for his consideration by early next week.

Trump Organizes Huge Missouri Rally To Secure Victory in 2018 Elections

Sept. 23 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump told an enthusiastic overflow rally in Missouri on Friday night that his supporters must not be complacent about the 2018 elections. Don’t wait until 2020, he warned. You’ve got to get out and vote Republican in 2018. You are voting for me in 2018. The so-called “resistance” doesn’t accept the will of the American people, he affirmed. They don’t believe you have the right to run your own country. This November you will make your voice heard, just like you did in 2016, he said to cheers.

The overflow Friday rally, held in the Missouri State University’s arena, was billed as support for Josh Hawley, the Republican candidate for Senate seeking to defeat Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill (polls still show the two tied). More than 11,000 people were inside, and Hawley said 20,000 more people more were outside. Local press reported the line to get into the rally was two miles long and started early in the morning, and that people came from around the country.

The spirit of the rally and of Trump’s speech was vintage 2016 campaign, and Trump repeatedly referred to that 2016 victory as a model for what people had accomplished. He spoke of everything from cleaning out the lingering stench at the FBI/DOJ, the Korean potential for peace and rebuilding America, to stopping “so-called ‘Medicare for all,’ ” and keeping foreign aliens from getting free education and health care. And he repeated at the end that Americans will never give in or give up. We will fight on to victory, to make America wealthy, strong, safe and great again.

The biggest vulnerability in the President’s campaign to mobilize energetic support for his Presidency in large parts of the population, is his repeated emphasis on the “all time high” record stock market as a leading reason to vote, right when the trans-Atlantic financial system is heading into a new financial blowout.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

South Korean President Moon Declares ‘Constant Communications’ Era with North Korea Has Begun

Sept. 21 (EIRNS)—South Korean President Moon Jae-in spoke to the press Sept. 20, upon returning from his visit to North Korea, and was very upbeat about prospects for peace on the Korean Peninsula. He said that he would be carrying a private message from North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un to President Donald Trump at the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this month, where he will meet with Trump:

“There are things that the United States wants us to convey to North Korea, and on the other side there are also things that North Korea wants us to convey to the United States. I will faithfully serve that role when I meet President Trump to facilitate dialogue between North Korea and the United States,” Moon announced. He further stated that Kim “expressed his wish to finish a complete denuclearization as soon as possible and focus on economic development.” Moon said that he will also be conveying to Trump his and Kim’s shared desire to sign a statement ending the Korean War, by the end of 2018.

Moon also said that North Korea wants U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to visit North Korea soon. And he said that he hoped that Kim would soon visit South Korea. “I wish there would be an opportunity for my fellow citizens to see Chairman Kim Jong Un for themselves and hear him talking about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, peace, and prosperity with his own voice,” the South Korean President said. Moon also announced that he and Kim had reached several verbal agreements in addition to the written final declaration, including agreements to hold parliamentary talks; exchanges at the level of municipal governments; and operation of a permanent meeting facility at Mount Kumgang for families separated by the Korean War. Moon also asked Kim to lift the North’s confiscation of South Korean assets in the area, which Kim agreed to. Kim also accepted Moon’s proposal that North Korea display its cultural assets during an exhibition to be held in South Korea later this year, to mark the 1,100th anniversary of the establishment of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392). Moon stressed that the two nations have opened an era of “constant communications,” which will include regular summits, cross-border contacts, etc.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Di Maio Tells China TV, Italy Is Ready To Realize Belt and Road

Sept. 23 (EIRNS)—Speaking on Sept. 21 to China Global Television Network (CGTN), Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Luigi Di Maio says that his country is prepared to realize the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative. “The Western world in recent years has failed in developing its economy in a proper way, and its economy kept declining. China, on the other hand, has succeeded in developing its economy in the last 20 years,” Di Maio said. He was referring to the China Task Force set up by the government under Di Maio’s Ministry of Economic Development. “The objective of this team created by the Undersecretary Michele Geraci, who, among other things, is a friend of China and speaks Chinese, is to develop all the relations so that the project of the Belt and Road Initiative could be realized at the end of the negotiation,” he said. “We are identifying the fields of participation, an aviation Silk Road, a cultural Silk Road, a land Silk Road, a maritime Silk Road; a series of fields in which we want to make partnerships government-to-government, and business-to-business with China.” Di Maio said that he would be coming back to China in November to further build on investment and relations which both Italy and China have carried on over the years.

Italy is featured as the Guest Country of Honor at the 17th Western China International Fair in Chengdu. Di Maio said that Italy would also begin investment in innovative startups. “There will be a venture capital plan for innovation by the end of the year,” he said. “France today is investing €2 billion in venture capital in innovative startups. Our country only invests €130 million. We have to get at least to €3 billion,” he said. He also told CGTN that there will be more employment and less poverty with a “guaranteed minimum income” instrument called “reddito di cittadinanza” that will eradicate poverty for 10 million people in Italy living under the poverty threshold.

‘Success of Belt and Road Initiative in Africa Good for Europe’

Sept. 21 (EIRNS)—That is the headline on a Sept. 20 China Daily op-ed by Nader Habibi, the professor of economics at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. His argument closely parallels Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s initiatives in this regard:

“The growing flood of African illegal migrants and refugees has altered Europe’s priorities for engagement with Africa,” Habibi wrote. “Now European leaders are more interested in seeing a genuine improvement in the standards of livings of African countries. And only a genuine improvement in the development and quality of life in Africa can reduce the flow of African refugees into Europe in the long run. In the light of this new priority, China’s economic engagement with Africa can be beneficial to Europe if it contributes to economic development…. China’s economic initiatives in Africa can accelerate the continent’s economic development and provide job and income opportunities for millions of people.”

Habibi concludes: “If the EU is truly convinced that the economic development of Africa is in its interest then it should complement Chinese investments with projects and programs that fill the gap in Chinese projects to ensure maximum development gain for the continent.”

A similar argument was made by Bloomberg Opinion columnist and assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University Noah Smith in an article today: “Future Lies in Africa, and China Knows It.” Smith writes that, while some Western analysts fear that China’s involvement in Africa represents a new form of colonialism, the reality is that China’s involvement there “bears little resemblance to the colonialism of old.” Investments there go well beyond the extractive industries, encompassing business, wholesale, retail, import-export, construction, transportation, and more. And Africans are sharing the benefits of Chinese investment. “Instead of standing on the sidelines and wringing their hands over China’s investments, Westerners and people in other rich countries should be looking to copy or surpass China’s efforts to tap the final frontier of emerging markets.”

China’s Wang Yi in Ibero-America and Caribbean, Offers ‘World of Opportunities’ for Collaboration

Sept. 21 (EIRNS)—China’s State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi is embarked on a five-nation tour of Central and South America and the Caribbean, to consolidate relations with those nations and discuss development projects in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. Beginning Sept. 15 in Costa Rica, Wang went on to Panama and the Dominican Republic and will finalize his trip in Guyana and Suriname on Sept. 22 before heading to New York for the meeting of the UN General Assembly.

Wang’s visit has been characterized by warmth and enthusiasm about the potential for expanded cooperation. As the Dominican Finance and Planning Minister Isidoro Santana explained to Xinhua, diplomatic relations with China, established on May 1 this year, have “opened a world of opportunities for both countries.” In Costa Rica on Sept. 15, Wang signed an agreement with Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez on joint action for cooperation in building infrastructure—railroads, highways, ports, as well as industrial parks, energy projects, and machinery production, and training of scientific and technical personnel. Financial cooperation is to be channeled through the China-Latin America-Caribbean Investment Fund, Xinhua reported.

Minister Gonzalez also pointed to the possibility of Costa Rica and Panama collaborating on joint development projects. Costa Rica has been invited to send a large business delegation to the Shanghai International Import Expo in November.

After inaugurating the new Chinese Embassy in Panama and signing additional agreements, Wang arrived in the Dominican Republic last night, and today met with President Danilo Medina and Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas, and inaugurated the new Chinese Embassy there. A Memorandum of Understanding signed with Vargas establishes a mechanism for periodic consultations on bilateral cooperation in a number of areas. According to the Dominican Foreign Ministry, Vargas expressed the hope that “together we can take actions on behalf of international peace and security,” as the Dominican Republic will be a rotating member of the UN Security Council. President Danilo Medina is expected to visit China at the end of October.

In the context of Wang’s visit to Santo Domingo, the Dominican Regional Development Council wrote to President Medina reporting on investment proposals from the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) to build several large-scale infrastructure projects in the country, citing Beijing’s experience in Africa as a model.

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

New York Post Features Warning of Looming Financial Crash

Sept. 23 (EIRNS)—Today’s New York Post sounds the alarm bell that not all is well with the U.S. and international economy. Under the headline “There Could Be a Financial Crash Before End of Trump’s First Term, Experts Say, Citing Looming Debts,” the article reports that “In 2018, experts say a $247 trillion global debt will be the main reason behind the next cataclysmic financial crash.” This will be far worse than 2008, the article asserts: “In 2008, global debt sat at $177 trillion in comparison to $247 trillion today.”

The article then runs through the various bubbles, such as student loans and auto loans, and explains that some financial experts, such as Peter Schiff, the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, “blame the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks in part for the impending crisis.” Schiff told the Post: “I think we are going to have a dollar crisis—you think the Turkish lira looks bad now, wait till you see when the dollar is imploding and we have a sovereign debt crisis in the U.S. The U.S. government is going to be given a choice between defaulting on the debt, or else massive runaway inflation.”

The warning is well-taken, but the biggest financial problem the world faces is not simply the “looming debt of $247 trillion,” but rather something that the Post article doesn’t even mention: The $1.5 quadrillion derivatives super-bubble perched on top of that debt bubble, which can never be paid—as Lyndon LaRouche has long warned. Nothing short of a bankruptcy reorganization of the entire trans-Atlantic system, coupled with new credit-issuing mechanism centered on promoting a science-driver, high-technology economic recovery, will work.

President-Elect López Obrador Warns that Mexico Is Bankrupt

Sept. 23 (EIRNS)—Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador told a crowd of supporters in the city of Tepic this weekend that it is possible, “because of the situation of bankruptcy that the country finds itself in, that we will not be able to fulfill everything that is being demanded; but let it be clear, we will fulfill everything that we offered during the campaign.”

López Obrador is responding to the gun-to-the-head blackmail and threats that he has been receiving ever since he won the elections, from top City of London and Wall Street banks and credit-rating agencies. One of their key demands is that he guarantee the so-called autonomy of the Bank of Mexico (the central bank), through which they exercise total control over Mexico’s financial system, or else they will unleash financial warfare, devaluation of the peso, and massive inflation.

López Obrador told the crowd in Tepic: “We are going to respect the autonomy of the Bank of Mexico so that there can be macro-economic equilibrium and so that there is no devaluation, and no inflation. If those things happen, it will not be the fault of the President of the Republic, but rather because of external circumstances or bad management of financial policy by the Bank of Mexico, not the government of the Republic.”

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

China Calls in U.S. Ambassador, Recalls PLA Navy Commander Over Sanctions

Sept. 22 (EIRNS)—The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a very sharp statement today, announcing that Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang had summoned U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad yesterday and “lodged solemn representations and protests against the U.S. imposition of sanctions on the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission and its official pursuant to its domestic law.

“Zheng Zeguang pointed out that the U.S. action to impose sanctions on Chinese military agency and official on the ground of relevant military cooperation between China and Russia severely violates basic norms governing the international relations…” the statement continued. “The China-Russia military cooperation is normal cooperation between two sovereign states, and the U.S. side has no right to interfere. The U.S. act has severely harmed the state-to-state and military-to-military relations and affected the cooperation in international and regional affairs between China and the U.S. The Chinese side will take every necessary measure to firmly safeguard its national interests. We strongly urge the U.S. side to correct its mistake immediately and withdraw so-called sanctions. Otherwise, the U.S. side will have to bear all the consequences.”

The South China Morning Post and Global Times also reported that Vice Adm. Shen Jinlong, the commander of the PLA Navy, has been recalled from America, where he was attending a sea power symposium at the U.S. Naval War College; postponed a Sept. 25-27 bilateral military dialogue in Beijing; and warned of possible further measures if Washington does not withdraw the sanctions.

Until now, the U.S. trade sanctions on China have not affected in any way the relations between the two countries’ militaries. But this definitely will.

Global Times Editorial: U.S. Targeting of ‘Thousand Talents Plan’ ‘Runs Counter to Science and Morality’

Sept. 21 (EIRNS)—In terms that are reminiscent of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s focus on the role of unending scientific and technological progress in fostering economic development, which he presented in his remarks to this year’s BRICS summit in South Africa, Global Timeseditorialized yesterday against recent U.S. efforts to cut off U.S.-China scientific and cultural cooperation:

“The U.S. actions targeting China’s Thousand Talents Plan have caused great anxiety among Chinese scientists in the U.S. Washington is quickly expanding restrictions on China-U.S. scientific, technological and talent exchanges…. This runs counter to the development of science and morality. A country should protect intellectual property, but science belongs to all human beings. Academic exchanges are indispensable to the development of science and the flow of talent is a natural result. Whoever violates intellectual property during the process should be condemned and punished, but blocking academic exchanges is anti-scientific and hysterical.

“No one in the world has the right to monopolize talent. Any country or institution can only attract talent through preferential policies. With the largest number of talented people flowing in, the U.S. has been the biggest beneficiary of talent exchanges, but it reacted fiercely against talent returning to China. This is unprecedented. Washington is extremely puffed up with pride politically and culturally. It is also severely misunderstanding the history of human development.”

The editorial concludes: “It is proved that the areas where the U.S. is on guard against China have become a stage for China’s successful independent innovation. From atom bombs through satellites to supercomputers, China made them all. The U.S. has never been open to China when it comes to sensitive technologies Its latest decision is like the trade war. Washington’s purpose is to drag Beijing down, but it will mostly hurt itself.”

Colombia’s ‘Demobilized FARC’ Has Remobilized Back into Drugs and Terrorism

Sept. 21 (EIRNS)—The real consequences of the British Empire-spawned “peace accord” in Colombia are reported in a lengthy New York Times article of Sept. 18, co-authored by Federico Rios Escobar, reporting “from a secret rebel base” inside Colombia, where he was embedded with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). Despite—or rather, because of—the 2016 peace accord rammed through by then-President Juan Manuel Santos (a protégé of Tony Blair’s), over repeated referenda that rejected it, the FARC is back in narco-terrorist action.

“There may be up to 2,800 dissident FARC fighters—about 40% of the number that fought before the peace deal,” that have gone back to the mountains to wage warfare—and traffic cocaine. As part of the peace deal, the FARC was given five Senate seats, without having to even run in elections (where they would undoubtedly have lost). Reports the Times: “One of the FARC peace negotiators was arrested for trafficking 10 tons of cocaine this year—while preparing to take a Senate seat.”

EIR warned from the outset that the real intent of the British “peace deal” in Colombia was to legalize drugs and hand over large chunks of the country to the narco-terrorist FARC.

Who is running the show on the ground? “Among the former FARC leaders now unaccounted for is Ivan Marquez, FARC’s second-in-command, who went missing more than a month ago, leaving many fearing he will re-arm…. The rebels are also seeking out former FARC members who have returned to arms elsewhere, including commanders like Walter Patricio Arizala, known by his alias Guacho, who controls the cocaine trade on the border of Ecuador and this year kidnapped and killed three journalists.”

And who is running the show from the top? London’s Dope, Inc.

BBC reported laconically Sept. 20 that “Colombian cocaine production hit record levels in 2017, according to newly released UN statistics. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says production rose about 31% year on year to some 1,400 tons, cultivated on 171,000 hectares…. Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine, much of which ends up in the U.S., which is the world’s largest consumer.”

The 2017 acreage, according to the UNODC, was 17% higher than in 2016—part of the peace deal “success” story. BBC explained: “On its own, the [Colombian] state of Narino on the frontier with Ecuador has more farmland dedicated to coca than the whole of Peru, which is another large producer. Eighty per cent of the coca has been grown in the same area for the past 10 years, while crops produce 33% more coca leaf—the main cocaine ingredient—than they did in 2012.”