EDITORIAL

U.S. Midterm Elections—The Issue of War and Peace

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—Beyond the chaos scenarios orchestrated for maximum confusion and anxiety in the days before the U.S. midterm elections, the threat is growing greater of international confrontation, which can lead to war. In this context comes the significance of the various upcoming meetings between the heads of state of the U.S., Russia and China. It was important that today, President Trump and President Xi Jinping spoke at some length by phone.

Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche discussed the strategic danger of war in her weekly webcast today, in which she also reported on her meetings in Moscow last week. Many people there expressed their forebodings. At present NATO is conducting the largest NATO maneuver— “Trident Juncture”—since the Cold War. At the same time, Russia will conduct some missile tests later this week.

Reviewing the situation, Zepp-LaRouche said, “we are really in a very, very heightened danger, and I think people should really understand that we must have a better relationship between the United States and Russia, and the United States and China, because once these things get out of control, it could mean the end of civilization, and the complete annihilation of the human race. This is what we’re talking about, when we’re talking about the midterm elections, and people should take that to heart.”

In that context, she placed stress on the heads of state meetings, saying, “in just ten days from now, Putin and Trump will meet in Paris on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, and I think this is a very important point.” She described the history leading up to that terrible war, pointing out the geopolitical interventions of the British Empire. “Now, when the World War happened, it was four years of horrifying slaughter of people.  Soldiers were in the trenches for four years, slaughtering each other without meaning, without sense. The result of it was, that the entire generation of Germans were so traumatized by the war, that they were completely uprooted; they were then the basis for the Nazis to recruit, and this is what led to World War II, naturally, together with the terrible conditions of the Versailles Treaty. So we had two World Wars….”

Now, today, we face the danger of war. It is often said, that Americans don’t really have a sense of the horrors of war, because modern United States was never directly invaded. But the impact is grim of the Vietnam War, the rotations of soldiers through Iraq and Afghanistan, and now you see the suicide rates among veterans and the young.

Zepp-LaRouche summarized, “So, I think in a sort of terrible irony of history, it is these foreign wars which is resulting in a situation where people know that Trump is right, when he says let’s not have these interventionist wars anymore.

“I think this [Nov. 11 meeting] is a very important occasion, and I’m very hopeful, and almost certain that Trump and Putin will use the occasion of this First World War centennial commemoration to make a dramatic proposal to change policy. And I think this is what people should have in mind on Nov. 6.”

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Presidents Trump and Xi Had a ‘Long and Very Good Conversation’

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted about his phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping today, that it was a “long and very good conversation.” He went on to write that the two leaders “talked about many subjects, with a heavy emphasis on Trade. Those discussions are moving along nicely with meetings being scheduled [Nov. 30] at the G20 in Argentina.”  He also said that the two had a “good discussion” on North Korea.

The Chinese readout said that the call was initiated at the request of President Trump. President Xi said that the two exchanged “in-depth views on the current relations between the two countries…. Mutual benefit and win-win are the nature of China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation, and the economic teams of the two countries should strengthen contacts and conduct consultations on issues of mutual concern, in order to push for mutually acceptable solutions on China-U.S. economic and trade issues.” President Xi said he was looking forward to meeting with President Trump in Buenos Aires at the end of the month.

Sen. Lamar Alexander in Beijing Insists China and U.S. Are ‘Competitors, Not Adversaries’

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—Leading a seven-member delegation of pro-Trump Republican legislators to Beijing, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), along with the members of his delegation, met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang today, and said the two countries are “competitors but not adversaries,” and that mutual respect can get them through current difficulties

Premier Li said that the China-U.S. relationship has been maintaining its development, despite twists and turns, since it was established nearly 40 years ago. “A healthy and stable relationship is in line with the interests of the two countries, so both sides should make joint efforts in driving it along the right track, on the basis of important consensuses reached by the two heads of state. I hope you members of the Congress could play positive roles in this area,” he said. A full report was posted to the Premier’s page of website of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.

The U.S. delegation’s visit to China is tacitly tied to the Nov. 30 summit between President Trump and President Xi Jinping in Argentina. This resembles the visit of Republican lawmakers to Moscow over June 30-July 5, prior to the July 16 Helsinki summit between President Trump and President Vladimir Putin. On that occasion, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had met with the lawmakers.

Kudlow Says U.S.-China Policy Talks, ‘Not an Arbitrary Deadline,’ Will Determine Tariffs

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—In an interview with CNBC yesterday, Larry Kudlow, the director of President Donald Trump’s National Economic Council, said that whether or not new tariffs are imposed on China, will depend on “policy talks” between Presidents Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting at the end of this month, not on some “arbitrary deadline.”

Pressed by CNBC on whether Trump will definitely impose new tariffs on China, Kudlow admonished the interviewer, “don’t get ahead of your skis. We may have a very good meeting in Argentina with President Xi. I’m not sure—the agenda hasn’t yet been worked out. These things are very hard to predict.” But, he insisted, “nothing is set in stone right now.” The two heads of state will definitely have a face-to-face meeting in Buenos Aires, he said, and “it’s possible some good things could—I say could—come out of the President Trump-Xi talks. It’s possible.”

Kudlow also reminded the CNBC interviewer of remarks that Trump had made to other media, that if there were an amicable meeting with Xi, a lot of tariffs might be pulled back. The U.S. President “wasn’t promising or forecasting; he was just giving a very important hypothetical.” The Chinese know “what our list of asks are,” he explained. They know what we want. “We haven’t had intense talks, but there is always communication.”

Soros Paid Fusion GPS To Rake Up Muck on Donald Trump in 2016

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—George Soros, the pro-drug legalization moneybags of the Democratic Party and a promoter of Hillary Clinton, has been identified, according to a New York Times report, as one who paid $1 million to the Democracy Integrity Project, which used the research group Fusion GPS as a contractor in a quest for dirt on Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, Sputnik reported today.

Fusion GPS, in turn, hired Christopher Steele, a former MI6 officer, to compile a dossier on the alleged Russian meddling into the 2016 U.S. presidential vote and collusion with Donald Trump campaign, which is the basis for Robert Mueller’s Russiagate witch hunt.

The Soros involvement came as a follow-up to last year’s scandal, that broke out after reports that the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton helped fund the infamous dossier through the DNC’s law firm Perkins Coie.

A Strange Séance on 43rd Street

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—The failing New York Times attempted, frantically, to reassemble George Soros into something resembling a respectable person in today’s edition. The made-up claims and artifices used by the Gray Lady in this respect would tickle Edgar Allan Poe, who chronicled such an effort in his short story, “The Man Who Was All Used Up.” If you know Poe’s story, the narrator encounters a pile of clothing and artificial limbs lying on the floor, which begins speaking to him. A man then slowly assembles himself using all artificial parts. As is typical of this newspaper, the actual George Soros is nowhere to be found in the article.

The Times describes Soros’ fanatical drive to turn the United States into an opium den, as “drug reform.”   His disgusting crusade which looted Russia and subverted its intelligentsia on behalf of the City of London, is described as “service” on behalf of the United States. His currency speculations, which also destroyed whole countries, are described as “intriguing” investment decisions. The Times goes out of its way to mischaracterize Soros’s confessed adolescent role under the Nazis, working under forged identity papers in his native Hungary to confiscate the property of his fellow Jews. In a 1998 CBS “60 Minutes” interview about this perfidy, Soros admitted it, and maintained that he had no guilt or regrets. Had he not acted in this way, somebody else would have, he said. The experience formed his character. The Times’ only reference to this well-known but inconvenient reality, is to state that Soros lived under the Nazis as a “Christian.” But what can you expect from a newspaper which openly praised Adolf Hitler in his early incarnations?

The central purpose of the Times piece is name-calling: Pinning an anti-Semitic label on those who see that Soros is evil, particularly President Donald Trump. The fact that Soros is funding British spy Christopher Steele’s post-FBI existence, and Soros’s continued direction, participation, and funding of the regime-change operation against the President, including many of the operations of “Resist,” of course, have nothing to do with Trump’s dislike of George Soros, and are never mentioned to the reader. In this exercise, the Times also omits the Israeli government’s recent characterization of George Soros. While condemning recent anti-Semitic incidents in Hungary, the Israeli Foreign Ministry emphasized that its statement was not “meant to delegitimize criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself.”

Finally, the Times asserts that all of the facts now in circulation about George Soros are attributable to Lyndon LaRouche and unnamed Eastern European tyrants. They link to the New York Times’ original coverage of LaRouche’s criminal conviction. But even the footnote to that article makes clear that the Gray Lady can’t even do straight news coverage of a court case when it comes to their bte noire, Lyndon LaRouche. As the footnote explains, LaRouche was not convicted of substantive fraud charges, as the Times article about that event falsely asserted.  Rather, the correction footnote explains, LaRouche was convicted of a broad conspiracy. In truth, this was exactly the same type of “Klein conspiracy” Robert Mueller is now using against the Russians he indicted for an alleged small-bore social media campaign in 2016. Klein conspiracies are famous abuses of the conspiracy laws, which allow prosecutors to cheat and convict people of made-up crimes.

The Times’ futile reconstruction effort, of course, fails miserably. Soros is, simply, a man who is all used up. The stuff people recount against him is provably and devastatingly true. The only error made by his detractors is to believe he has any kind of power any longer. He only has his money and such fame as comes from being a thoroughly British project—an aging and overused hitman for the City of London.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

‘Climate Is Right’ for Yemen Talks To Move Forward, Urges State Department

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—The State Department issued a statement yesterday, following up that made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday, calling for a ceasefire and negotiations in Yemen. The State Department’s deputy spokesman Robert Palladino urged the Houthi group to immediately cease missile and drone strikes into Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and told the Saudi-led coalition to halt air strikes in populated areas in Yemen, reports Reuters. “We have come to the assessment that the climate is right at this time to move forward,” Palladino told reporters. A U.S. source familiar with the issue told Reuters that one of the driving factors is the progress made by UN special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths, during a September visit to the Houthi-held capital, Sana’a.

Griffiths welcomed the calls for renewed talks and a ceasefire. “I urge all concerned parties to seize this opportunity to engage constructively with our current efforts to swiftly resume political consultations to agree on a framework for political negotiations,” he said. “We remain committed to bring the Yemeni parties to the negotiations table within a month.”

The Houthi official responsible for foreign affairs, Hisham Sharaf, praised Griffiths’ continued efforts, but urged Western governments to take concrete steps to enforce a ceasefire to create “conditions conducive to peace far away from any pressure or dictates,” the Houthi-run Saba news agency said.

Nonetheless, the Saudis have reportedly deployed a large force of as many as 30,000 troops around the port of Hodeidah, Reuters reports. “Thousands of Yemeni soldiers trained by the [Saudi] coalition have been sent to the outskirts of Hodeidah, in addition to modern weaponry including armored vehicles and tanks … in preparation for a big operation in coming days,” said one source. Hodeidah is a strategic port through which 70% of the country’s imports enter.

Iran Welcomes Pakistan’s Offer To Help Mediate in the Yemen War

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—Speaking to Associated Press Pakistan at the Turkish Republic Day reception on Oct. 29 at the Turkish Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, Iranian Ambassador Mehdi Honardoost said his country welcomes Pakistan’s efforts to mediate a peaceful resolution of the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. He said that the mediation would prove positive for ensuring peace in the region.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a nationally televised address on Oct. 24, “I will make all-out efforts to get resolved Saudi Arabia-Yemen conflict by acting as a mediator. We will also try our best to play a mediatory role in bringing all the Muslim nations together,” according to The Dawn on Oct. 26.

Last August, following his electoral victory in Pakistan’s general elections but before assuming power as prime minister, Imran Khan had issued a statement that Pakistan would like to play a positive and effective role between Iran and Saudi Arabia, The Dawn had reported. Subsequently the Iranian Ambassador Honardoost paid a visit to the prime minister-in-waiting, during which Honardoost had welcomed the mediation offer, calling the situation in the region “sensitive,” and affirming that “Iran will welcome any proposal from Pakistan aimed at bringing peace in the region.”

Qatar Backs U.S. Call for Ceasefire in Yemen

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—Qatar’s Foreign Ministry endorsed the Trump Administration’s renewed initiative to bring the war in Yemen to an end. In a statement today, the Foreign Ministry said it is “an encouraging step towards a political solution and an end to the suffering of the Yemeni people,” RT reported. “Thirty days from now we want to see everybody around a peace table based on a ceasefire, based on a pullback from the border and then based on ceasing dropping of bombs,” Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said at an event at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Oct. 29.

Qatar’s endorsement of the U.S. call is significant. Qatar has been at loggerheads with Saudi Arabia for years and was increasingly leaning towards the anti-Saudi alliance that exists in the region. Its closeness with Turkey became highly visible. However, in the chaotic condition that emerged in Southwest Asia following the Oct. 2 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and Turkey’s high-profile gamesmanship to undermine Saudi Arabia, Qatar remained silent.

Russian Military Reports Progress in Idlib, Warns Chemical Arms Provocation Still a Threat

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov delivered a briefing to reporters on the situation in Syria at the Defense Ministry yesterday, during which he gave a progress report on the implementation of the Russian-Turkish agreement on Idlib. In short, he reported that a large number of heavy weapons have been removed from the buffer zone between jihadi-controlled and government-controlled territory, and that some 36,000 civilians have left Idlib via the humanitarian corridor run by the Syrian government, and that some of them have received medical care from the Russian military. “At the same time, we note that Ankara has not succeeded in completing the fulfillment of its obligations, although, I repeat, Turkey is making significant efforts for this,” he said.

Even as some normalcy is returning to Idlib, terrorist groups continue to try to destabilize the situation, Konashenkov reported. There are continuing efforts to organize a chemical weapons provocation. On Oct. 27, he said, terrorists of the Turkestan Islamic Party delivered 20 containers of chlorine to several locations for their provocations. (“East Turkestan” is the separatist name for China’s Xinjiang Province. See “The Phenomenal Development of Xinjiang, and the Feudal Lords of London Who Want to Stop It,” in EIR Nov. 2, 2018.) The White Helmets are actively recruiting civilians to participate in making fake videos in return for food. “Six special radiation, chemical and biological reconnaissance vehicles were deployed at Russian posts in close proximity to the demilitarized zone in Idlib province,” Konashenkov reported. “The crews of these vehicles will regularly assess the radiation, chemical and biological conditions.”

UNSC Meets on Ukraine, as West Rejects Local Elections in Breakaway Donbas Republics

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—The UN Security Council met on Oct. 30 to discuss the situation in the Donbas, Ukraine, apparently focusing on the plans of the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic to hold elections in the aftermath of the assassination of D.P.R. leader Alexander Zakharchenko. However, the dominant view coming out of the meeting is that the elections should not take place. “[We urge] all parties to avoid any unilateral steps that could deepen the divide or depart from the spirit and letter of the Minsk Agreements,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary A. DiCarlo, in reference to the Nov. 11 elections planned for both the D.P.R. and the Luhansk People’s Republic. “Any such measures, taken outside Ukraine’s constitutional and legal framework, would be incompatible with the Minsk Agreements,” she claimed, calling upon all parties to “recommit” to their full implementation and help usher in peace and stability to all of Ukraine.

Britain, France, Poland, the Netherlands and Sweden (but not the U.S.) issued a joint statement claiming that the elections would be “illegitimate” and “contravene commitments” made under the 2015 Minsk agreements, and urging “the separatists to abandon the plans for ‘elections.’ ” It also called on Russia to “bring its considerable influence to bear to stop the so-called ‘elections’ from taking place.”

Denis Pushilin, the acting leader of the D.P.R., was livid already when it became clear that the D.P.R./L.P.R. election representatives who had been invited to the UNSC meeting by Russia would not be permitted to address the Council, which he called “at least wrong and non-objective.” Pushilin added that the UN Security Council never holds a meeting when civilians are being killed by Ukraine armed forces, or when the Kiev regime is otherwise engaged in every effort to sabotage the Minsk agreements. “But, the UN Security Council has decided to discuss the issue of elections in the Donbas republics, which in no way run counter to the Minsk agreements,” which, he said, envisage such elections, though they’ve never yet been held. “In any case, elections in the Donetsk People’s Republic will he held. They will be transparent, open and will comply with our laws, our constitution and all international norms and standards,” he said.

NATO-Russia Council Discusses INF Treaty

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—The NATO-Russia Council met in Brussels yesterday at the ambassadorial level, for three and a half hours. Both sides are being fairly tight-lipped about the discussion. Judging from the NATO statement, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stuck to the U.S. position on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, that is, blaming Russia for its possible demise. He repeated the U.S./NATO accusations regarding the Russian 9M729 missile and complained that Russia has not responded to the concerns about it. “While we stand ready to continue dialogue on this issue with Russia, as an Alliance we are also committed to take effective measures to continue to ensure the safety and security of all Allies.”

The statement issued by the Russian mission to NATO only said: “The Russian delegation highlighted the importance of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) as a factor of European and global stability.”

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

India, Russia, Iran To Meet on International North-South Transport Corridor This Month

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—An Indian official statement said India, Russia and Iran will hold a trilateral meeting on Nov. 23 in New Delhi to make the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) operational soon, Indian media reported on Oct. 30.  “The INSTC is the shortest multimodal transportation route linking the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf via Iran to Russia and North Europe,” India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in the statement, Iran’s PressTV reported. On Oct. 27, India’s Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu met with a Russian business delegation, where he said “all issues may be resolved in order to operationalize the [INSTC] route as early as possible,” wrote PressTV’s report.

Once operational, the corridor will allow India to send its goods to Bandar Abbas, Iran by sea, from where they will be transported to Iran’s Bandar Anzali on the Caspian Sea by road. Next, they will be shipped to Astrakhan in Russia and transported into Europe by rail. The route will cut the time and cost of delivering goods by about 30% to more than 40%. Compared to transitting via the Suez Canal, the corridor will reduce the transport time between Mumbai and Moscow to about 20 days. The estimated capacity of the corridor is 20 to 30 million tons of goods per year.

Last week, senior officials from India and Afghanistan had met their counterparts in Tehran to discuss a full commissioning of the Chabahar port that the three countries are jointly developing. It was the first meeting of the Coordination Council of the Chabahar Agreement, coming in the face of U.S. fresh sanctions against Iran, PressTV reported.

African Union Wants for Major Corridors To Link Up the Continent

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—Newly appointed African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development Raila Odinga said priority should be given to highways stretching thousands of kilometers between Cairo and Dakar, Senegal, Cairo and Cape Town, South Africa, and Mombasa, Kenya and Lagos, Nigeria reported Construction Review Online on Oct. 31. Odinga, Kenya’s former prime minister, said he believes the roads were essential if Africa is to achieve economic independence.

“My belief is that having reliable road infrastructure and railways linking all corners of Africa will open up the continent and make it a gateway to the 21st century. Through my new position I am determined to take Africa to economic independence,” Construction Review Online quoted his statement.

Some of the planned routes on the Trans-African Highway include Tripoli, Libya, to Windhoek, Namibia, (9,610 km); Cairo, Egypt, to Dakar, Senegal, (8,636 km); and Algiers to Lagos (4504 km). Only one of these routes, the 4,500 km Trans-Sahelian Highway between Dakar and N’Djamena in Chad had been completed, with the help of China, as of his Oct. 20 appointment.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Argentina’s Macri Dismantles Scientific, Technological Infrastructure

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—Taking his orders from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Argentina’s neo-liberal President Mauricio Macri is dismantling his nation’s scientific and technological infrastructure, developed over decades and internationally renowned. Along with Brazil, Argentina possesses the most advanced scientific infrastructure in South America, vitally important for its—and the continent’s—development. Those capabilities in both nations are now on the chopping block.

For this reason, on Oct. 22, some 1,200 scientists from around the world wrote an open letter to Macri, denouncing his attack on science, warning that his austerity policies are “collapsing” Argentina’s science and technology sector. Today, it admonishes, the premier institution for training scientists, the National Scientific and Technological Research Commission (Conicet), the National Agency for the Promotion of Science and Technology, and public universities engaged in scientific research, are “on the verge of paralysis.” Looming now, it says, is an “exodus of highly-trained scientists,” like that of the 1990s.

The latest victim of Macri’s budget axe is the Integrated Technology Services (STI) company, founded in 1991, which together with the state-run satellite company, Arsat, and the National Space Activities Commission (CONAE), has participated in building all of Argentina’s satellites. Because of budget cuts and cutbacks in satellite and nuclear production, STI couldn’t meet its payroll and had to close its doors.

In comments to Página 12, Guillermo Rus, the former vice president of Arsat (which Macri has tried unsuccessfully to privatize), reported on STI’s financial woes, but also warned that INVAP, the premier state-run company that has built nuclear reactors and satellites, and is known internationally for its high-quality work, is also in trouble because of budget cuts. The IMF-approved 2019 budget eliminates all financing for space activities. INVAP had to go into enormous debt, Rus explained, just to meet its payroll. The Arsat-III satellite project has been suspended. CONAE, whose budget has been slashed since 2016, has a 2019 budget that is one-quarter of that of 2016.

OTHER

DOJ Asset, ‘Lava Jato’ Judge Sergio Moro To Become ‘Super Justice Minister’ in Brazil

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)— Judge Sergio Moro, the U.S. Department of Justice asset who has run the “Lava Jato” anti-corruption wrecking ball against Brazilian institutions for the last two years, announced today he had accepted the invitation of President-elect Jair Bolsonaro to join his government. He will assume the position of “Super Minister” in a post that will combine the Justice and Public Safety, Comptroller-General, and Control of Financial Activities (COAF) ministries into one entity. This does not bode well for Brazil.

Moro announced his decision after a one-and-a-half-hour meeting with Bolsonaro in Rio de Janeiro, accompanied by the next finance minister, neo-liberal economist Paulo Guedes. The latter had reportedly taken note of Moro during the recent electoral campaign, and recommended that Bolsonaro consider him for a ministerial position.