EDITORIAL
President Trump Continues His Assault on British Imperial Shibboleths
Oct. 15 (EIRNS)—President Trump, while holding massive rallies several times a week around the country to directly connect with the population in the weeks preceding the crucial midterm election Nov. 6, has also made himself available to the “fake news press” far more often than before, where he is directly attacking the imperial mental constructs imposed on the population by the former governments and their controlled media outlets. Sunday night, CBS’s “60 Minutes” ran an interview with the President by Lesley Stahl, whose disgusting and disrespectful performance was quite handily judoed by the increasingly comfortable President Trump.
Climate Change? The climate changes, Trump said, but, “I don’t know that it’s manmade…. Scientists also have a political agenda.” This totally refutes the genocidal IPCC report demanding de-carbonization and stopping meat consumption.
Defend the Western Alliance? “What’s an ally? We have wonderful relations with a lot of people, but nobody treats us much worse than the European Union.”
Will you pledge not to shut down the Mueller probe? “I don’t have to pledge to you…. I’m the President, and you’re not.”
Did Russia interfere in the election? “They meddled. But I think China meddled too. And I think other countries—” (quickly cut off by Stahl, going back to Russia).
Are you going to impose more tariffs on China? “They want to negotiate. I have a great chemistry also with President Xi of China. I don’t know that that’s necessarily going to continue.”
Since his speech to the UN on Sept. 25, President Trump has taken the gloves off in defense of the fundamental tenets of Western Civilization, defined at the Peace of Westphalia—the sovereignty of nations, based on the will of the people, and in concert with the interests of all other nations. This is blasphemy to the Lords of the Empire, both in the City of London and on Wall Street. Globalization—the modern euphemism for global imperial control—has failed, says Trump, bringing only economic subservience to international financial institutions, imperial wars, supranational courts imposing imperial rule, criminal drug cartels, and economic decay.
Trump is letting it be reported—without conformation as yet—that he plans to meet Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin soon after the election, hopefully then free of the Russiagate lies and the Democrats’ impeachment scam.
It is our responsibility to assure that he also returns to his earlier commitment to American System reform, with Glass-Steagall and Hamiltonian national banking, as presented powerfully in Will Wertz’s presentation to the Manhattan Project on Saturday, “Cutting the Gordian Knot with the Sword of Damocles.” Only this can unleash the scientific and technological potential of our nation and all other nations, in the spirit of the New Silk Road. Trump’s intention to rebuild American industry, to “make America great again,” and to “make their nations great again” (as he said of the Ibero-American nations in his UN speech), depends absolutely on the success of our effort to make LaRouche’s Four Laws intelligible to the American people, and bringing the U.S. into cooperation with the Belt and Road Initiative. Japan has fully embraced the BRI; Italy has broken from the EU and embraced the BRI; all of Africa embraced the BRI at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation on Sept. 3-4; and Ibero-American nations are now turning to China and the BRI, and fighting for their right to participate. In no case does this mean turning away from the United States—in fact, President Trump’s defense of sovereignty at the UN was enthusiastically received by the nations of Asia, Africa and Ibero-America.
Nonetheless, the world knows that Trump is surrounded by powerful figures who are desperate to undermine his intentions. In his “60 Minutes” interview, he told Lesley Stahl: “I don’t trust everybody in the White House…. It’s a tough business. This is a vicious place. Washington, D.C. is a vicious, vicious place.”
To hold the trust of the American people, he must first defeat the coup-mongers and the impeachment party; then re-establish his personal relationships with Xi and Putin; then restore the American System; then invoke a new Bretton Woods conference with the world’s great powers to create a new world credit system, to end the British Empire once and for all—peace through development.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Trump Rips Into the Institutions of the Empire in ‘60 Minutes’ Interview
Oct. 15 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump, as part of his organizing blitz before the midterm election, has been expanding his access for the “fake news press,” while also holding multiple mass rallies around the country. On Sunday night, CBS ran a 20-minute segment of its interview with Trump by Lesley Stahl on their “60 Minutes” broadcast. Despite Stahl’s constantly baiting him with questions straight from the MI6 style book, and constantly cutting him off, Trump showed himself to be increasingly comfortable in his office, and ripped into the imperial axioms which obedient Americans are expected to accept. Some examples:
Lesley Stahl: Do you still think that climate change is a hoax?
President Donald Trump: Something’s changing and it’ll change back again. I don’t think it’s a hoax, I think there’s probably a difference. But I don’t know that it’s manmade. I will say this. I don’t want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don’t want to lose millions and millions of jobs. I don’t want to be put at a disadvantage.
Stahl: I wish you could go to Greenland, watch these huge chunks of ice just falling into the ocean, raising the sea levels.
President Trump: And you don’t know whether or not that would have happened with or without man. You don’t know.
Stahl: Well, your scientists, your scientists—
President Trump: We have scientists that disagree with that…. You’d have to show me the scientists, because they have a very big political agenda, Lesley. Look, scientists also have a political agenda.
Stahl: You have also slapped some tariffs on our allies.
President Trump: I mean, what’s an ally? We have wonderful relationships with a lot of people. But nobody treats us much worse than the European Union. The European Union was formed in order to take advantage of us on trade, and that’s what they’ve done.
Stahl: But this is hostile.
President Trump: You know what’s hostile? The way they treat us. We’re not hostile. We’ve been the stupid country for so many years.
Stahl: Are you willing to get rid of that Western alliance…, are you willing to disrupt the Western alliance? It’s been going for 70 years. It’s kept the peace for 70 years.
President Trump: You don’t know that. You don’t know that.
Stahl: Is it true General Mattis said to you, “The reason for NATO and the reason for all these alliances is to prevent World War III?
President Trump: No, it’s not true. Frankly, I like General Mattis. I think I know more about it than he does. And I know more about it from the standpoint of fairness, that I can tell you…. I think he’s sort of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth.
Stahl: The First Lady, Melania. She said that there are still people in the White House that she doesn’t trust and that you shouldn’t trust.
President Trump: I feel the same way. I don’t trust everybody in the White House…. I’m not a baby. It’s a tough business. This is a vicious place. Washington, D.C. is a vicious, vicious place. The attacks, the— the bad mouthing, the speaking behind your back. But, you know, in my way, I feel very comfortable here….
Stahl: Will you pledge that you will not shut down the Mueller investigation?
President Trump: Well, I don’t pledge anything. But I will tell you, I have no intention of doing that. I think it’s a very unfair investigation, because there was no collusion of any kind…. I don’t want to pledge. Why should I pledge to you?
Kremlin Spokesman Confirms, U.S. President Did Not Accuse President Putin of Murder
Oct. 15 (EIRNS)—In President Donald Trump’s “60 Minutes” interview with Lesley Stahl, she asked why Trump never attacks Putin, to which Trump responded: “I think I’m very tough with him personally. I had a meeting with him. The two of us. It was a very tough meeting and it was a very good meeting.”
Stahl then asked, “Do you agree that Vladimir Putin is involved in assassinations? In poisonings?” As Trump often does, he pushed the question aside, answering: “Probably he is, yeah. Probably…. But I rely on them.”
This was quickly turned into headlines in the fake news press that Trump had accused Putin of ordering the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t take the bait, telling the press, as reported in TASS: “U.S. President did not come up with any direct accusations. Moreover, there can be no substantiated accusations against the Russian President.”
Peskov also agreed with Trump that the Putin-Trump meeting had tackled “tough” issues: “All questions were put in a very straightforward manner,” he said. “In this respect the meeting was really tough, because both presidents openly mentioned the irritants that exist in bilateral relations. The problems were candidly called by their real names. In that sense the meeting was tough.”
However, he said: “As for the manner of the conversation—if he went beyond diplomatic politeness—well, he did not. Everything was within the established bounds.”
Robert Mueller Not a Factor in Midterms: Voters Are More Concerned with Real Issues
Oct. 15 (EIRNS)—In the Nov. 6 midterm elections, American voters have no interest in what Special Counsel Robert Mueller is doing, nor do candidates—not even Democrats—want to bring him up, Politicoreports today.
“Debates have all but ignored the story, focusing instead on kitchen-table topics, like the economy, healthcare and taxes,” Politicoexplains. Even some vulnerable Democrats are emphasizing how often “they’ve reached across the aisle.”
Voters have more pressing concerns. Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin reports that “in our state, we’re losing 70 to 80 dairy farms a month. I can tell you that in rural Wisconsin that’s what people are asking me about … it’s just immediate to them.”
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz told Politico, “Washington reporters live in a different world than the American people. That’s been true for two years, where the media is obsessed with the latest and constant slams on the President. People in Texas are interested in jobs.”
Political operatives from both parties say Democrats and Republicans don’t want to discuss the Mueller investigation “in no small part because it isn’t breaking through with everyday Americans already deluged by the onslaught of Trump stories.”
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Chatham House Announces It Wants To Dump Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Oct. 15 (EIRNS)—Dr. Neil Quilliam, the Senior Research Fellow on the Mideast at the Royal Institute for International Affairs (RIIA), also known as Chatham House, the top imperial think tank in the U.K., issued a report on Oct. 9, titled “The Saudi Leadership Has Made It Clear It Will Act with Impunity,” which openly declares that it is the British intention to bring down the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). As the Saudi royalty has been, from its inception, a creation of the British Empire, such a declaration indicates that MBS has gotten out of their control and must be deposed of.
Quilliam, who was the “Prince of Wales and King Faisal Scholar” at King Abdulaziz University, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from 1998-2000, points to the disappearance of opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi from the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and MBS’s rejection of any criticism, as the excuse for demanding his ouster. But he identifies the actual problem (in the eyes of the Empire) as MBS’s plan to modernize Saudi Arabia, his Vision 2030. As Quilliam writes: “Irrespective as to whether [Khashoggi] has been killed or transported back to Saudi Arabia, the move has laid down an indelible marker that the new Saudi leadership will brook no criticism of its transformation project Vision 2030 levelled from within or outside the Kingdom.”
He blames the problem on U.S. President Donald Trump: “U.S. policy has inadvertently given carte blanche to the leadership to act with impunity. The Kingdom’s international partners have very little leverage over its domestic or foreign policies.”
He writes: “The detention of activists, including high profile clerics, women activists, business leaders, journalists, social media commentators and senior members of the ruling Al Saud family has become commonplace since King Salman appointed his son, Mohammed bin Salman (known as MBS), as Crown Prince in June 2017. Most analysts [read: the British Empire] have attributed these measures to the Crown Prince’s overzealous desire to introduce far-reaching social and economic changes at rapid speed and, at the same time, take full ownership of the process.”
It would appear that the Empire was quite pleased with the old paradigm, where the neanderthal Saudi royalty kept the country in feudal backwardness while funding and arming Wahhabist terrorist networks to carry out hit-jobs against targets defined by the British Empire, not least being the 9/11 attacks. But the Russian intervention, and Russia’s de facto cooperation with the Trump administration, has defeated the Saudi-funded al-Qaeda/ISIS fanatics in Syria and Iraq. MBS has stated (through subordinates) that, although the Saudis once backed Sunni extremists, they have now stopped. MBS’s genocidal war against Yemen is apparently not enough to satisfy the Empire’s lust for population reduction.
Chatham House intones: “In part, analysts and commentators sympathetic to MBS’s reform agenda have argued that his shock and awe tactics in both domestic and foreign policy are critical for the success of Vision 2030 in shoring up domestic and international confidence in the project. While there have been signals along the way that all is not what it seems—notably, the Ritz Carlton purge, the detention of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the diplomatic spat with Canada and the arrest of Saudi cleric Salman al-Auda—Khashoggi’s disappearance finally lays this benevolent interpretation to rest.”
Making it clear, he writes: “MBS has come in and altered the rules of the game.” No question whose game Quilliam has in mind. He spells out the Empire’s plan for so-called regime-change: “First, investor confidence in Saudi Arabia is already beginning to nosedive and will ultimately undermine any success that Vision 2030 might have hoped to achieve. Second, the combination of failing to meet the rising expectations of Saudi youth and simply silencing voices of dissent will likely give rise to widespread discontent [i.e., color revolution]. Third, Western governments will need to re-evaluate the nature of their partnership with Saudi Arabia, from both ethical and economic viewpoints. The prospect that Vision 2030 may be derailed will damage their economic interests and standing with the Saudi population.”
ECONOMY
China’s Leading Role in Syrian Postwar Reconstruction
Oct. 15 (EIRNS)—A lengthy article which appeared yesterday in the South China Morning Post looks at who will participate in the postwar reconstruction of Syria, which the World Bank estimates will cost nearly $400 billion. Whereas recent international trade fairs have demonstrated that non-Western international stakeholders are interested in playing their part, the U.S. and EU have largely been excluded, due to their own obstruction, from such discussions. There is strong interest from Russia, Lebanon, and Iran, but the main input for Syria’s reconstruction comes from China.
On Sept. 15, the 60th Damascus International Fair concluded, attended by more than 200 Chinese companies. The Damascus fair was the first successful resumption of a previous venue that facilitated foreign direct investment and joint venture deals for overseas companies wanting to do business in Syria. But persistent U.S. sanctions against Syrian and Syrian-allied institutions prevented U.S. and EU companies from being invited to this year’s fair. With little competition present, China pledged to manufacture its own cars within Syria, and provide mobile hospitals, and it reaffirmed its ambition to develop Syria’s postwar infrastructure.
The U.S. and EU countries were, however, allowed to attend the 4th International Trade Exhibition for Rebuilding Syria, which concluded on Oct. 6. Although they were allowed to attend, Western participants were not exactly welcome. One manager at a major Syrian tile manufacturing company was quoted as saying, “I don’t hope that the West will come here, because it had a big hand in the war against Syria.” At the same time, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who is leaving her post at year end, has intimated that the U.S. is not even interested in helping “rebuild Syria,” calling the notion “absurd.”
But at July’s China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, promises of $20 billion in loans for infrastructure development were accompanied by a nearly $100 million package dedicated to humanitarian assistance for Syria, and for Yemen, where a Saudi-backed war has created unimaginable humanitarian disaster. Chinese reconstruction promises lead to greater cooperation with a stable postwar Syria. With support from Syrian President Bashar al Assad, China could link Damascus into the China-Central Asia-West Asia economic corridor as part of its Belt and Road Initiative and strike a deal for the development of, and access to, Syria’s Mediterranean port of Tartus.
These ambitions do not seem far from reality. On Oct. 9, a container ship capable of holding 10,000 containers docked at Tripoli, Lebanon, inaugurating a Chinese-developed shipping line between Beijing and a port less than 30 km from the Syria-Lebanon border.
Senator Bagnai Challenges, Let the EU Start Enforcement Proceedings against Italy
Oct. 15 (EIRNS)—Speaking at a public event in Florence, Italian Senate Banking Commission head Alberto Bagnai said that the Italian government does not fear EU enforcement proceedings for violation of budget rules. “It is better to pay a fine of 0.2% GDP than to lose 4% of GDP in one year because of austerity policies,” Bagnai said.
“Under current EU rules, our budget does not respect some prescriptions and therefore it is perfectly likely that there will be a violation proceeding. It would not be the first time: There are countries with more open violation proceedings than us, there are countries violating other parameters. We will timidly and respectfully remind you that we maybe would like to be treated equally. After that, if it must be, it shall be violation.”
In an article posted today on the website of his economic association,
Bagnai exposed Reuters disinformation terrorism against Italy,
exemplified by a wire saying that the Italian government plans to triple the deficit next year, backtracking on its previous pledge to narrow the budget gap.
The current deficit is going to be 1.8% this year according to most estimates, Bagnai said, and therefore even a planned 2.4% for next year is not triple. It is three times the fully theoretical figure of the deficit originally planned by the previous government for next year, but—and here comes the second false information—“The Italian government did not backtrack: it changed. I suspect that this may hurt someone at Reuters, and I am sorry for this, but it’s not my fault: it’s democracy.”
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Duma Speaker Observes U.S., European Elections Show Voters Reject Old Parties and Politicians
’s Presence in the Region a Reality
Oct. 15 (EIRNS)—In the Oct. 11-12 summit in Washington of the Central American Alliance for Prosperity—the Northern Triangle nations of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala—Vice President Mike Pence had only one threatening message to the three heads of state present: Forget about China. It’s not in our “long-term interests” for Central America to cozy up to “non-transparent” China, he said.
The three Presidents nonetheless pointed to certain facts of reality. While these three impoverished nations have, at great sacrifice, contributed funds to comply with their part of the Alliance for Prosperity—on security, drug trafficking, and immigration, for example—as Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said, “so far, we have not received a cent.” He asked Pence to intervene with the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, or other international financial institutions to help Guatemala get “$15 billion for infrastructure projects.”
The Alliance for Prosperity was initially billed as a program to aid in the Northern Triangle’s economic and infrastructure development, but instead turned out to be a free-market boondoggle, dependent on private capital that never materialized. Honduran President Orlando Hernandez pointed out that every year, the U.S. cuts the budget for funds to the region.
“We need to have assurances that we will have the necessary budget.” China and Russia are increasing their presence in the region, their intentions must be understood, he said, but “we also need to know more clearly what we can expect from our friend the United States.” He observed that he had paid special attention to what President Donald Trump had said in his UN General Assembly speech, about sovereignty and non-interference.
El Salvador’s Vice President Oscar Ortiz put it this way: The three nations involved are committed to success; we “respect each other’s sovereignty, respect our Constitutions, our own legal frameworks,” and as for ties with China, “I want to say clearly that there is no threat to the excellent relationship with our partner, the United States.” Establishing ties with another nation is completely normal, he said. “El Salvador is one of the most open countries in the world; more than 170 countries have trade relationships with it. So China is not out of the picture. It’s a constitutional decision, and I believe that we have to find opportunities with everybody in the world, and that we have a relationship based on mutual respect.”
Bavarian Election Spells Disaster for Merkel’s Coalition
Oct. 15 (EIRNS)—The governing Christian Social Union (CSU) and the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) suffered a dual disaster in the Oct. 14 elections in Bavaria for state parliament (Landtag): It will not only determine politics in the future state government; it will also have repercussions on the national Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats, which, together with the CSU, form the national government coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).
None other than former CDU Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, a longtime adversary of Chancellor Angela Merkel within the Christian Democrats, said shortly before the Bavarian elections, that her “position is no longer as strong as before” and that the Bavarian vote would “cause shake-ups in the political parties,” which implies reshuffling at the top of the CSU: Chairman Horst Seehofer is likely to be replaced, and may also lose his national post as Interior Minister. Similar pressure against the party leadership is also building inside the SPD, where reshuffling is also likely.
Many expect shakes-ups to occur at the top of the CDU at its December national party convention. Schäuble has long been calling for a “rejuvenation” of the CDU executive. He has repeatedly endorsed Health Minister Jens Spahn, who had served as his assistant finance minister, as a candidate to replace Angela Merkel as party chair. The call for Merkel’s replacement will grow further after the Hessen state elections on Oct. 28, where the governing CDU is expected to lose a significant number of votes for Landtag.
Spahn’s hard-line austerity orientation has earned him support among mainstream media in the United Kingdom and the United States, some of which have already portrayed him as “the man after Merkel.” It should be noted that just recently, Spahn had a surprise meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton in the White House; furthermore, that Katharina Schulze, who heads the Green slate, learned “election campaigning” in the 2008 U.S. Presidential race, while working for the Obama campaign in Texas.
The Greens took 17.5% of the vote for the Bavarian Landtag yesterday—double their 2013 vote—which is already a political disaster. A bigger disaster is that they also took the state capital, Munich, and came out as the major party in nearly all cities with a population of more than 100,000. In Munich, the Greens got 31.1%, against the CSU’s 24.3%; and the SPD won only 12.7% of the vote.
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Lawrence Kudlow Stresses Need To Question, Examine Idea of Manmade Climate Change
Oct. 15 (EIRNS)—Interviewed yesterday on ABC’s “This Week” program, Lawrence Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, asserted that the Oct. 6, 2018 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is “overestimating” the danger of manmade climate change. President Donald Trump had made the same point in his interview on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night.
“I’m not denying climate-change issues,” Kudlow said. “I’m just saying, do we know precisely, and I mean worth modeling, how much of it is manmade, how much of it is solar, how much of it is oceanic, how much of it is rainforest, and other issues? I think we’re still exploring all of that. I don’t think we should panic. I don’t think there’s an imminent disaster coming, but I think we should look at this in a level-headed and realistic way.” He did not question whether or to what extent Earth’s climate is determined within the Solar System or galaxy.
Kudlow’s remarks set off predictable hysteria among leading Democrats and some Republicans, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) labeling Kudlow’s statements as “so irresponsible, so dangerous,” particularly “since we are in a crisis mode, and you have an administration that virtually does not even recognize the reality of climate change!” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sounded rational in comparison, telling CNN’s “State of the Union” broadcast, that, while sea levels and temperatures have risen measurably, there is no way to determine humans’ exact role in this. The “public’s interest” has to be considered in this debate, he argued.
|
|
|
|
