EDITORIAL

Why the British Hate Donald Trump

Sept. 2 (EIRNS)—With only two months before the crucial midterm Congressional elections in the U.S., President Trump is spending about half his time holding rallies around the country, backing candidates who support his program, while denouncing the Democratic Party’s effort to make the election into a referendum for Trump’s impeachment. Candidates whom Trump has endorsed in the Republican primaries have won, even when they were behind in the polls to their Republican opponents before the endorsement, but the outcome of the November elections is unclear.

It can not be overstated how crucial it is for the future of the human race that the Democratic Party effort (backed by a number of neo-con Republicans and almost all the fake-news press) be crushed. The impeachment drive was born in the U.K., by leading elements of British intelligence—former MI6 agent Christopher Steele, former MI6 Chief Richard Dearlove, and former GCHQ Chief Robert Hannigan (who resigned only last year). Hannigan’s meetings with the unstable CIA chief John Brennan launched the frantic effort to prevent Trump from getting the nomination, while Steele prepared the fake dossier to launch the Russiagate hoax, working directly with the Comey-McCabe-Strzok-Ohr-Mueller traitors in the DOJ and FBI, to carry out a coup against the elected government of the United States—the culmination of a nearly 250-year British campaign to take back their colony.

Consider why the British imperial set hates Trump:

—Trump wants to break the imperial divide between East and West, which is at the core of the Empire’s divide and conquer method to assert the power of the Empire. His establishment of legitimate friendships with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin is casus belli to the Empire;

—Trump rejects “free trade,” the core concept of the City of London’s historic control over the world economy, and its campaign to destroy the Hamiltonian “American System” of government-directed credit for productive investment. Trump’s rejection of the TPP, TTIP, NAFTA, KORUS, and especially his successful negotiation of a fair trade deal with Mexico last month, is an equally serious casus belli for the Empire;

—Trump rejects the “Global Warming” hoax, a primary tool of the Empire going back most recently to the racist eugenics movement (run by the British and the Nazis) before the Nazi holocaust, then transformed into “environmentalist” lies, to convince the world that there are “Limits to Growth,” especially for what the Empire considers the “lesser races,” that population must be reduced by any means necessary, and industrial progress reversed to stop “spoiling the Earth.” Trump’s rejection of the “Paris Accord” and appointment of pro-growth cabinet ministers, while demanding re-industrialization of the nation and expansion of energy production, including nuclear power, cannot be tolerated by the Empire;

—Trump opposes “Dope, Inc.,” the biggest business in the world, run out of the City of London, which has taken over the major banks in the U.S., launching the criminal “legalization of drugs” movement through George Soros and Barack Obama. Whatever else is wrong with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he strongly backs Trump’s anti-drug campaign;

—Trump rejects “regime change,” launched through the British creation of the “responsibility to protect,” a euphemism for the destruction of the UN Charter guarantee of sovereignty, and for neo-colonial wars in the developing sector. Trump’s collaboration with Russia to crush the terrorist movement in Syria (funded and armed by the British and the Bush and Obama Administrations), and his intention to get U.S. military forces out of Syria and Afghanistan, is yet another casus belli for the British Empire.

Each of these concepts have been core issues of the LaRouche movement over the past half-century. Fighting essentially alone for most of this time, but depending on the fundamental truth that history is driven by the power of great ideas which are coherent with the laws of the universe, this movement is now poised to bring about a new paradigm for mankind. The framework for this new paradigm exists in the spirit of the New Silk Road—another concept introduced and fought for by LaRouche and his movement—which is now bringing the nations of Asia, Africa, Ibero-America, and even several European nations together under the Chinese-initiated Belt and Road Initiative.

The U.S. economy—the real economy—has begun to move forward again for the first time in decades. The financial system could explode, especially if this progress is derailed, which can only be prevented by adopting LaRouche’s Four Laws for restoring the American System. This requires bringing Russia, China, India and the United States together for a new Bretton Woods symposium, to replace the dying, but dangerous, British Empire system.

If Trump is removed from office, the U.S. will almost certainly return to its status of a “dumb giant” servant to the British Crown, which we witnessed so blatantly under Bush and Obama. The moment is pregnant with the potential for a new, positive future for mankind, if the patriots of our nation, and the citizens of the world, rise to the task.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Donald Trump Defends Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un

Sept. 1 (EIRNS)—President Trump’s interview Aug. 30 with several Bloomberg reporters showed Trump countering much of the crap being dished out by the fake-news media.

In discussing China, Bloomberg intoned that Xi Jinping “is an autocrat, doesn’t have to do midterm elections. He doesn’t….” Trump cut him off, rejecting the common mischaracterization of Xi and China in the West: “He has his own election. He has a different kind of election.”

Bloomberg asked if the reports were true that he would impose a next round of $200 billion in tariffs on China this coming Thursday, Sept. 6, when the comment period runs out. Again he cut them off: “Did you just release a story that I’m putting out $200 billion? Who was the genius [who said] that?” The reporter responded, “Me. Am I wrong?” Trump refused to say.

On Helsinki: “And with Putin, which was actually one of my best meetings because of my talk on Syria, Ukraine, Israel and other things. I think the press covered it unbelievably fake.”

On North Korea: “If you go back to the end of the Obama Administration, we were ready to go to war with North Korea, just so you understand.”

Asked if his goal with China was “to prevent China from becoming the world’s number one economy,” Trump made clear that the problem is not China, but free trade: “No … the best thing that China and I have going, and the U.S. has going, is that President Xi and I have a really great relationship. OK? That being said, he represents China, I represent us. We were going in the wrong direction. The United States—since the WTO, which was probably the single worst trade deal ever made—I called NAFTA the second worst trade deal ever made. And if they don’t shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO.”

On the South Korea trade deal KORUS: “We made a deal with South Korea [in March]. Nobody talks about it. We took the terrible deal that was made by Hillary Clinton where she said 200,000 jobs will be produced—and she was right—for South Korea, not for us.”

On reviving the U.S. steel industry: “Call the head of U.S. Steel…. Great guy. He’s opening up six or seven plants, he’s going to open others, he’s spending billions of dollars. You call Nucor [biggest steel producer in the U.S., mini-mills] it’s like nobody can believe what’s happening with this.”

Asked if he thinks “the President should have the right to be able to approve or disapprove some of the Fed’s decisions?” Trump would not answer directly, but made clear he has no respect for the “independence of the Fed” line used by the monetarists to castrate the government’s influence on the economy: He said that higher rates make it harder to sell our products, and other countries are “cutting their currencies very substantially, far more than they should be allowed to do, and we’re not being accommodated [by the Fed]. I don’t like that.”

On Sessions and the DOJ: Trump listed the illegal acts and the lies of Bruce Ohr, Nellie Ohr, Brennan, Comey, Strzok et al., and asked: “Why aren’t they looking at the other side?”

Asked about the Mueller investigation into “collusion” with Russia, Trump said: “I view it as an illegal investigation. It should never have been. There should never have been a special counsel.” He said he had purposely not gotten involved at the DOJ, “But, you know, at some point I guess that could happen.”

Asked about breaking up the social media giants which are censoring Trump supporters, Trump said: “Many people think it’s a very antitrust situation, the three of them, but I won’t comment.”

President Kenyatta Strengthens U.S.-Kenya ‘Win-Win’ Friendship in White House Visit

Aug. 31 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump welcomed Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta to the White House Aug. 27, a meeting which gives President Trump a personal relationship with the transformed African leadership of today, and which President Kenyatta called afterwards “fruitful,” and a big success.

President Kenyatta told BBC on the eve of his meeting that “there has been dramatic change across the African continent where people are beginning to get a better understanding of themselves, who they are and where they want to be. And we are looking at how we can partner with countries across the globe in partnerships that are not patronizing but those that are anchored on win-win positions.”

Kenyatta demonstrated such statesmanship in his meetings with the U.S. President. He told President Donald Trump in his opening remarks that the U.S. has been a “good, strong, and solid partner,” particularly in supplying much-needed aid to Kenya for anti-terrorist actions. “But more importantly,” Kenyatta went on, “we’re here to pursue and to strengthen our trade and investment ties, which are already very strong…. And we want to see how we can strengthen that going forward for the mutual benefit of our two countries.”

The Joint Statement issued by the two Presidents following their meeting reports that U.S.-Kenyan relations have been “elevated to a Strategic Partnership,” which means there will be “an annual dialogue to advance mutual prosperity,” and that the two agreed to establish “a United States-Kenya Trade and Investment Working Group to explore ways to deepen ties between the two countries.” The Presidents announced that their governments have established direct flights between Nairobi and New York City, “a move that will expand the economic and cultural ties between the two great countries,” and both “welcomed the proposal by United States engineering and construction firm Bechtel Corp. to build a modern superhighway from Nairobi to Mombasa,” parallel to the high-speed rail line built by the Chinese.

Muellergate Is Coming on Fast, as Trump Promises To ‘Get Involved … if I Have To’

Aug. 31 (EIRNS)—President Trump promised a rally in Evansville, Indiana Aug. 30 that if the Justice Department (DOJ) and FBI don’t “start doing their job and doing it right and doing it now … I will get involved and I’ll get in there if I have to.”

His legal team, meanwhile, is nearing completion of a “counter-report” to any report Special Counsel Robert Mueller may come out with. Rudy Giuliani told the Daily Beast on Aug. 30 that the first part—as of now 58 pages long—goes after the opening of the investigation itself as illegal and details the conflicts of interests of top DOJ officials; the second part will respond to allegations of collusion and obstruction of justice.

One head likely to roll next is that of Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, after his Aug. 28 testimony to a closed-door, joint House committee hearing. Giuliani tweeted Aug. 30 that Ohr should face felony charges, for violating 18 USC sec. 208 of the Federal Criminal Code. As he explained: “Ohr’s wife was financially benefitted by Ohr, a DOJ official, advancing the Steele phony dossier. Her firm [Fusion GPS] got some part of the $1.02 million paid by Hillary and DNC. A crime unless he has a written waiver from Obama’s politicized DOJ which is possible.” (A nice touch: Were Ohr to have a written waiver to cough up to exonerate himself, he would implicate higher-ups in Obama’s DOJ.)

Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel on Aug. 31 zeroed in on the implications of Ohr’s testimony for the legality of the FBI’s applications for warrants from the FISA Court. According to her sources, Ohr told the hearing that he had verbally warned the FBI that (British spy) Christopher Steele had both a credibility problem and a “passionate” determination to keep Trump from being elected, and that he told them that his wife, Nellie Ohr, was working on Steele’s dossier project—and financially benefitting from it.

“All this is what Republicans are referring to when they hint that the Ohr interview provided solid evidence that the FBI abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA],” Strassel wrote. She quoted a tweet from Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas following the hearing: “Before yesterday, we thought the FBI and DOJ had not disclosed material facts they were aware of in the FISA application. If Bruce Ohr testified truthfully, we now know that to be the case.”

Judicial Watch revealed Aug. 31 that the Justice Department has confirmed as of Aug. 30 that the FISA Court did not even hold a hearing on the FBI’s request for a warrant to spy on President Trump’s campaign, a request based on the fraudulent dossier concocted by “former” MI6 operative Christopher Steele.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Someone Wants To Boost the Proto-Fascist AfD Party in Germany

Sept. 1 (EIRNS)—There are serious questions raised by the rapid escalation of left-right violence and protests in the Saxon city of Chemnitz, after the death of a German who was stabbed during a city festival over the Aug. 25-26 weekend, the two arrested suspects being refugees from Syria. The news of the death provoked anti-refugee rallies by the right-wing and neo-Nazi elements, which provoked counter-rallies by leftists and related groups. This has escalated over the past days, calling more and more police to the city. Since this weekend is expected to feature rallies and counter-rallies and violent clashes with probably thousands on both side, police units have not only been called in from other Saxon cities, but also from other German states, which have cancelled sports and other public events that usually have police protection.

At the same time, mainstream media are playing the usual blame game, by left against right and vice versa, by the political opposition to the CDU-led Saxony government, including opinion polls that put out the message that the Saxony government is rapidly losing popularity, that either heads must roll or the entire government must step down. A no-confidence vote in the Saxony Landtag (state parliament) against the state government, with early elections following cannot be ruled out.

An INSA poll on Aug. 31 shows the popularity of the governing CDU down to only 28%, with the right-wing opposition party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) up to 25%. A few days more of escalation in Chemnitz, and the CDU will drop behind the AfD, which—should there be early state parliament elections—would win the vote. But whereas the situation in Saxony remains unstable, the escalation there benefits the AfD in two other elections for state parliament—in Bavaria (Oct. 14) and in Hesse (Oct. 28), and continues the destabilization in Germany, undermining its international reputation.

Saudis Admit Targetting Busload of Children for Bombing in Yemen

Sept. 2 (EIRNS)—The Saudis have “admitted” to making a “mistake” when they bombed a school bus carrying children in northwestern Yemen on Aug. 9, killing 40 children and 11 adults. Coalition spokesman Mansour al-Mansour said a coalition probe had found that errors were made prior to the strike, and called for those responsible to be “punished,” reports AFP. He told a press conference in Riyadh that “an order had been given not to target the bus, which was among civilians, but the order arrived late.” Another error was that “the target did not pose an immediate threat and that targetting the bus in a residential area was unjustified at that time,” he said.

Al-Mansour claimed that the bus was originally targetted because it was thought to be carrying Houthi leaders, but the Saudis had made similar statements when they bombed a funeral procession in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a in 2016, killing about 140 civilians.

Intense Diplomatic Efforts Underway To Minimize Idlib Assault in Syria

Aug. 31 (EIRNS)—Statements made from a variety of locations, ranging from Moscow to Geneva, indicate that intense diplomatic activity is underway to try to minimize the amount of fighting that the Syrian Arab Army will have to engage in, in order to liberate Idlib province from the collection of armed groups of various stripes that currently occupy it. The problem, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out yesterday, during a joint press conference in Moscow with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, is that the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat Al Nusra, known by its current name of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), is among those armed groups and must be eliminated. He stressed that the Syrian government is hard at work on reconciliation agreements with armed groups which are seeking to separate themselves from Al Nusra. “We exchanged assessments of the progress of the steps to differentiate the armed opposition ready for dialogue with the Syrian government from the terrorists,” he said.

Turkey and Russia are also working on this problem, as Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan indicated in a speech yesterday. There are also reported to be talks between Turkey and the leadership of HTS to get HTS to disband. “This is the condition set by Moscow to avert a broad offensive…. Its launch hinges on the failure or success of these talks with HTS,” Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP. HTS appeared to leave the door open to that possibility. “The issue of the disbanding—should it ever take place—is one that would be discussed internally by the alliance’s consultative council but not dictated by local or foreign parties,” HTS said in a statement on its propaganda site. The Turks’ ability to get this done is unclear however.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, confirmed much of this activity in remarks to reporters in Geneva on Aug. 30. He acknowledged that there are up to 10,000 al-Qaeda terrorists in Idlib, who need to be defeated, but at the same time there are nearly 3 million civilians who need to be protected.

ECONOMY

Trump to Canada: Fair Deal or No Deal

Sept. 2 (EIRNS)—Following the failure to reach an agreement with Canada on the NAFTA reorganization on the Friday deadline, the White House said talks will continue. However, President Trump tweeted:

“There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal. If we don’t make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out. Congress should not interfere w/ these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off. Remember, NAFTA was one of the WORST Trade Deals ever made. The U.S. lost thousands of businesses and millions of jobs. We were far better off before NAFTA—should never have been signed. Even the Vat Tax was not accounted for. We make new deal or go back to pre-NAFTA!”

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Italy and Hungary Challenging the EU Refugee Policy

Sept. 1 (EIRNS)—Challenging the EU’s “pro-migration” policy, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini have pledged to create an “anti-immigration axis,” Gatestone Institute, a neo-con outfit, reported today. Meeting in Milan on Aug 28, Orbán and Salvini vowed to work together with Austria and the Visegrad Group—the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia—to oppose a pro-migration group of EU countries led by French President Emmanuel Macron, according to Gatestone.

At a joint press conference following their meeting, Salvini said: “Today begins a journey that will continue in the coming months for a different Europe, for a change of the European Commission, of European policies, which puts at the center the right to life, work, health, safety, all that the European elites, financed by Soros and represented by Macron, deny.” (Gatestone inserts that Soros is a “billionaire Hungarian philanthropist.”)

In Orbán’s remarks, he is quoted as saying: “European elections will be held soon, and many things must change. At the moment there are two sides in Europe: One is led by Macron, who supports mass migration. The other side is led by countries that want to protect their borders. Hungary and Italy belong to the latter…. Hungary has shown that we can stop migrants on land. Salvini has shown that migrants can be stopped at sea. We thank him for protecting Europe’s borders.”

South African International Relations Minister on Solidifying China-Africa Ties

Sept. 2 (EIRNS)—Lindiwe Sisulu, the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, reports that the Forum on China Africa Development (FOCAC) is founded on the principles of South-South cooperation, provides a basis for mutual benefit and support, while, at the same time, serving as a vehicle through which Africa and China can stimulate growth and unlock new opportunities in trade and cooperation. “The relationship between China and Africa is based on more than just trade: It is a partnership aligned to Africa’s development goals, as contained in the [African Union’s] Agenda 2063 and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development,” she writes in a guest column published on South Africa’s News24 website. “FOCAC is a multilateral platform for exchange and cooperation, covering various aspects of politics, trade, economy and culture.”

At the last FOCAC summit, held in Johannesburg in 2015, China pledged support to Africa’s development. Xi’s announcement, then, “included new measures, which were implemented from 2016 to 2018, and were aimed at addressing the three bottlenecks in Africa that are hampering development in the continent: poor infrastructure, lack of skilled personnel and lack of capital sources,” writes Sisulu.

“It is expected that the summit will adopt the new Beijing Action Plan (2019 to 2021), which will chart a new course of China-Africa friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation across various fields in the next three years,” she continues. “The focus will be on political and economic cooperation, social development cooperation, cultural and people exchanges, peace and security, and international cooperation. As partners, China and Africa also aim to strengthen the Belt and Road Initiative, which advances infrastructure and boosts trade.”

Lavrov Rules Out Normandy Four Meeting in Wake of Zakharchenko Assassination

Sept. 2 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has ruled out any Normandy Four summit meeting in the aftermath of the Aug. 31 assassination Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in southeast Ukraine. “In the current situation, it is impossible to talk about the next Normandy format meetings, as many of our European partners want,” he said, reports TASS. According to Lavrov, “this is a serious situation that needs to be analyzed.”

“We are looking into the matter,” he insisted. “Ukraine’s provocation is obviously aimed at derailing the implementation of the Minsk agreements,” he continued, and that the Kiev authorities have failed to comply with the Minsk accords.

There had been some reports of discussions among the Normandy Four powers, Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, of another summit among the four leaders to address the situation in the Donbas region, though a time frame had not yet been agreed on.

Haitian Diplomat Sees López Obrador’s Election in Mexico as ‘Paradigm Shift’

Sept. 2 (EIRNS)—Mexican President-elect Manuel Andrés López Obrador, or AMLO as he is known, met on Aug. 29 with 22 ambassadors from the Regional Group of Latin America and the Caribbean, or GRULAC, in what was described as a warm and “fraternal” gathering “among family and neighbors.”

Speaking on behalf of the group, Haitian Ambassador Guy Lamothe described AMLO’s historic election as a “paradigm shift of great importance,” which offers hope for a closer future relationship between Mexico and GRULAC to solve the pressing problems they all face. He highlighted the need for an “orderly” migration process. Mexico can become a “beacon of cooperation” for the whole region, he predicted, inspiring optimism that such cooperation will “promote and build our America” and create “an international order…for all and among all.”

Ambassador Lamothe’s statements, and subsequent remarks by AMLO and his Foreign Minister-designate Marcelo Ebrard, point to the issues of regional economic development and migration which López Obrador has already raised with President Donald Trump, and which the Schiller Institute is addressing in its proposed North American Belt and Road Initiative (NABRI), to include China, the U.S., Mexico and other Central and South American nations.

For Mexico, Lamothe said, migration is an important issue because it is “an importer and exporter of migrants.” In a press conference after the meeting, the ambassador addressed the “lack of economic resources … migration occurs because people seek greater opportunities in their lives. How to resolve this? The issue is to offer more investments in those countries” whose citizens are fleeing. Wealthier countries can, in a framework of cooperation, address the “lack of economic resources” by increasing foreign direct investment to help create jobs, he said. If they are employed, “migrants won’t feel the need to leave their own countries.”

Philippine LaRouche Society Head Butch Valdes and Others Launch New Political Party

Sept. 2 (EIRNS)—Butch Valdes, the head of the Philippine LaRouche Society, has founded a new political party in the Philippines, together with other leading citizens, called the Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP, Union of Democratic Filipinos) which name is taken from the revolutionary movement against the 19th century Spanish occupation. The party put forth a list of potential candidates on a slate for the Senate elections next year at their founding conference on Aug. 31.

Their slogan is: “We will be a Party of Principle, not Convenience; a party of Ideas and not Personalities.” They support President Rodrigo Duterte, but are an independent party (Duterte is not really a member of any party, although he joined one in order to run for President).

Their immediate focus is on three domestic issues (the election fraud in the country run by George Soros; the misuse of a Dengue fever drug by the former government, which has killed hundreds of children so far; and the outrageous cost of electricity due to privatization, but their broader issues address the global crisis: Agro-industrial and infrastructure development through collaboration with the Belt and Road Initiative; a review of the debt structure; peace through development and “A Friend of All Nations and an Enemy of None”; a Science and Classical Culture emphasis in education, for a Renaissance Philippines; food self-sufficiency; defense of the family from drugs and violence.

Archbishop Oscar Cruz issued a public letter to the conference, which said there had been an “inversion of values” in the country, which has undermined the family, and the government has become “a den of thieves.”  He points to the new KDP party as “a bright light emerging from all the darkness that is Philippine politics. There is a group of men and women who are striking a different tune in the chaotic noises of the body politic…. From my solitary vantage it is a daring implementation of the Lord’s instruction of his ministry: ‘I did not come to be served, but to serve.’ It is with heartfelt joy that I congratulate the rising of a new political party, of inspired and courageous Filipino Patriots, determined to address the issues which have long caused much suffering for our people.”

There was extensive and excellent press coverage of the founding conference in both TV and printed media, including a two-minute spot on CNN-Philippines.

OTHER

Argentina—The Face of a Dying Global System

Aug. 31 (EIRNS)—The dramatic events of the past three days in Argentina—a currency run that devalued the peso by 35%, intensifying financial and political chaos and social upheaval— isn’t, as some financial commentators insist, “an Argentine problem.”

Rather, it represents the face of a dying global system, the “old paradigm” of rampant financial speculation and indebtedness—casino economies— economic looting and human misery which is in its death throes. President Mauricio Macri is wedded to this decaying system.

Although a large Central Bank dollar auction today stemmed the peso decline slightly, following yesterday’s 13% drop, the situation remains precarious. A new package of measures will be announced Monday, Sept. 3 which could include reducing the 2019 fiscal deficit target to zero (from the original 1.3% of GDP), implying more vicious austerity. Finance Minister Nicolas Dujovne will fly to Washington the same day to meet with IMF officials, to work out revising the terms of the current $50 billion standby loan to speed up all disbursements through the end of 2019.

Seared in the memory of Argentines are the events of December 2001—IMF looting that culminated in unprecedented financial collapse and a debt default, food shortages and poverty, widespread protest, and a President Fernando de la Rúa who fled the Casa Rosada (the presidential palace) in a helicopter.

The fear now is that this is another 2001. Panic and rage are palpable among the population. The economy’s supply chain, industry and banking system are in complete disarray; in anticipation of rising inflation (now at 30%), businesses aren’t delivering products to stores, supermarkets, restaurants, etc. until there’s some definition of prices. Given the abrupt changes in the exchange rate, suppliers are changing prices of their products on a daily, if not hourly, basis, while many businesses have shut down until Sept. 3 to gauge the government’s next actions. Macri, meanwhile, is being referred to in many quarters as “Mauricio de la Rúa.”