EDITORIAL

Final Day Before Elections—Learn the Lesson of ‘The Great War’

Nov. 4 (EIRNS)—Monday, Nov. 5, the last day before the most important U.S. midterm election in history, will see Donald Trump speak at three rallies—in Cleveland, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The fake-news press is hysterical that Donald Trump may have overcome the British-instigated McCarthyite witch hunt against him, aimed at provoking a war with Russia and China. This is exemplified by the War Party’s leading newspaper, the Washington Post, whose lead opinion column today by Dana Milbank is titled: “We Have No Excuses Now. Our Eyes Are Wide Open.” Included prominently in Milbank’s list of Trump’s evil ways is that “he took Vladimir Putin’s word over that of the U.S. intelligence community, accepting Russia’s denial that it interfered in our election.”

The issue of war is the issue of this election.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, looking ahead to the critical meeting to take place between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on the heels of the election, on the sideline of the event honoring the 100th Anniversary of the World War I Armistice, taking place in Paris on Nov. 11, issued a statement: “Sleepwalking—Have We Learned How the First World War Came About?” In reporting on her October trip to Moscow, she writes that her many meetings with representatives of leading institutions gave her a “first-hand impression of what the Russian point of view of the strategic situation looks like. From the various steps taken by the West and NATO—NATO’s expansion up to the Russian borders, the build-up of the missile defense system in Romania and Poland which can be transformed into an offensive system within a very short time, the cancellation of the ABM Treaty, and now of the INF Treaty, as well as the different ‘narratives’ portraying Russia as the enemy image and Putin as a demon—the Russian leadership has very clearly drawn the conclusion that a major war cannot be ruled out.”

World War I had no legitimate cause. The British believed in the Halford Mackinder doctrine of “geopolitics,” that in order to sustain their power, based on their control of the seas and the global financial system, they needed to prevent any coalition of nations across Eurasia from achieving the power to challenge the Empire. Such development projects as Germany’s Berlin-Baghdad Railroad, or Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railroad, creating connectivity among the nations of Eurasia, were in themselves intolerable threats to the Empire. Better to blow things up with a “lovely little war,” to keep the world divided and weak. That war so destroyed Europe and so punished the loser Germany, that the rise of Hitler and the horror of World War II was the almost inevitable result.

And so, again today, the British Empire and its assets in the U.S. have unleashed hysteria and lies against Russia and China, against the “connectivity” of the New Silk Road. They are clearly willing to blow it up, if necessary to preserve the Empire—mistakenly called “our Western way of life” or the “rule of law.” What they fear most is the fact that nearly every nation of Asia, Africa, Ibero-America, and even many European nations, are openly joining with Russia and China in the new paradigm of “win-win” development through the Belt and Road, which could spell the end of the Empire—especially if the upstart President of the United States were allowed to carry out his stated intention to establish friendly relations between the United States and Russia and China. In addition to the sideline meeting with Putin in Paris, Trump plans to hold full summit meetings with both Putin and Xi Jinping at the end of November at the G20 Summit in Argentina, just a few weeks after the midterm election.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche concludes her statement by calling for an end to geopolitics altogether, to replace it “with a new paradigm of the idea of mankind as a whole…. If we have learned anything from the tragedies of the 20th century, then we must now learn to think about mankind in a completely different way.” Americans will be tested on Tuesday, to reject the “Democratic” War Party, and to join the urgent campaign to build that new paradigm.

RESHAPING THE GLOBAL STRATEGIC ORDER

Russian Media Cover Helga Zepp-LaRouche Exposé of British Interference in U.S. Elections

Nov. 4 (EIRNS)—Numerous Russian media published lengthy reports on Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s explosive comments to the press in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation last week, in which she emphasized that it was the British that had interfered in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election and are engaged in “a planned coup” against President Donald Trump; that Trump wants to improve relations with Russia, and that the upcoming summit between Putin and Trump could “bring some amazing results”; and that cooperation among the leaders of Russia, the U.S., China and India could solve the systemic crisis and open a new era of technological advance for humanity.

Two short wires published by the Russian-language RIA Novosti are exemplary. The first, headlined “American Expert Suspects Britain of Interfering in the U.S. Elections,” reported:

“British intelligence agencies may have interfered in the U.S. elections in 2016, said Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the U.S.-based Schiller Institute, a research NGO.

“According to her, employees of the team of then-President Barack Obama and of British MI6 could have interfered in the U.S. presidential election. ‘The reason is that (Donald) Trump during the 2016 election campaign promised to improve relations with Russia. But the British did not want this, because they saw a threat to their position, in that they would not be able to manipulate the situation if the United States and Russia joined forces. The Skripal case and the Syrian chemical dossier emerged in this connection,’ she told reporters.

“According to Zepp-LaRouche, if the intervention of the British in the elections is proven, this scandal will be the biggest in U.S. history. ‘This scandal will be bigger than Watergate, the greatest in U.S. history. The midterm elections will show this,’ she said….”

Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s charges against British intelligence created such a stir in Russia, that journalist Vladimir Solovyov brought it up during his popular evening talk show, quoting at length from RIA’s coverage on the British role, which drove his guest, American neo-conservative Ariel Cohen of the Atlantic Council, into a slanderous fit (see Oct. 30 EIR Daily Alert).

RIA’s second wire was focused on her assessment that “Trump Could Improve Relations with Russia”:

“Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, a non-governmental organization in the United States, believes that, thanks to a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Paris and the G20 summit in Argentina, U.S. President Donald Trump could improve relations with Moscow….

“ ‘In the near future there will be a meeting between President Putin and President Trump in November in Paris, followed by the G20 summit in Argentina. If President Trump can, shall we say, free himself from the conspiracy taking shape around him, then he will be able to return to those election promises he made in 2016 (on the development of relations with the Russian Federation—ed.),’ she told reporters.

“According to her, if Trump does this and thereby improves relations with Russia, and also tries to improve relations with China, then this ‘will bear fruit, and we can talk about the beginning of a new era, there will be a cardinal jump’ in the global conjuncture.

“As Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko noted earlier, Russia has a positive assessment of the prospects for the upcoming Nov. 11 talks in Paris between Russian and U.S. leaders Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, and expects new prospects for Russian-American cooperation to be outlined there,” RIA’s coverage concluded.

Putin Seeks a World in Which Each ‘Unique Civilization Supplements and Enriches the Others’

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—In a major address to the 22nd World Russian People’s Council, organized under the aegis of the Russian Orthodox Church for the past 25 years, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized the basis for peaceful global coexistence among nations and cultures—perhaps providing a preview of topics that will also be on the table in his Paris meeting with President Donald Trump on Nov. 11. He said mankind must organize its affairs so that each “unique civilization supplements and enriches the others,” specifying the role to be played by Russia, “India, China, Western Europe, America and many others.”

Putin began by praising the World Russian People’s Council: “You never set narrow ethnic or other limits and are always open for an interethnic, intercultural and interfaith dialogue. These traditions—the traditions of mutual understanding—have always strengthened our large family, the people of Russia.” He counterposed such an approach to the fact that “efforts are being taken today to ‘reformat’ the world and destroy the traditional values and the cultural and historical spaces that have been forming for centuries. The goal is to create various bleak ‘protectorates,’ because it is easier to rule peoples who are disconnected, have no national memory and are turned into simple vassals, and to use them as bargaining chips. Crude nationalism and anti-Russian sentiments are also used.”

Putin then presented his view of the alternative: “These issues are undoubtedly very relevant today. It is now being decided how the world will look in the future, in the coming decades. Will this be a world of monologue and the rule of force, or a world of dialogue and mutual respect? How well will technology combine with ethical and moral values? There are more questions than answers so far. But there is one thing I am certain about: The voice of Russia will resound with dignity and confidence in the future world.

“It is defined by both our tradition and internal spiritual culture, our identity and finally, by the history of our country as an authentic civilization, a unique one, but one which does not assertively and aggressively claim its exceptionalism. Because it is impossible to imagine the history of humanity without such unique civilizations as India, China, Western Europe, America and many others. It is really a multifaceted complexity where each facet supplements and enriches the others.”

To London’s Horror, Trump Plans Full Summits with Putin and Xi Jinping at G20 in Buenos Aires

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—Yuri Ushakov, aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced today that there would be a “long and thorough” meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Putin, while the two are attending the Nov. 30-Dec. 1 G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ushakov told the media that Trump and Putin would also meet on Nov. 11 in Paris, in the context of the centenary of the end of World War I, but that the meeting would be “short, brief.”

In addition, the South China Morning Post today reported that Trump is planning to have a full sit-down dinner and summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Dec. 1 in Buenos Aires, immediately after the G20 summit. The Hong Kong-based SCMP cited as its source “people familiar with the arrangement”; neither of the two governments has confirmed or denied the report as of this writing.

According to the SCMP account “Trump has offered to host a dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping on Dec. 1 in Buenos Aires after the G20 leaders summit, an invitation Beijing has tentatively accepted.” Earlier discussions had been for the two to meet on Nov. 29, the day before the official opening of the summit, “but the meeting was rescheduled and upgraded into a ‘meeting plus dinner’ at Trump’s request, said the people, who declined to be identified as the information is still classified,” according to the SCMP. “A Western-style sit-down dinner after the G20 summit could offer the two leaders more time to talk than a chat on the sidelines of the summit and could offer a more conducive atmosphere for negotiations. Trump originally planned to leave Buenos Aires as soon as the G20 agenda finished, but he has decided to postpone his departure to make this dinner happen, a source said.”

Italy’s Conte and Trump Discuss Russia and Libya, on Conte’s Return from Moscow

Nov. 3 (EIRNS)—In an interview with Corriere della Sera published on Nov. 1, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that upon his return from Moscow last week, he talked with U.S. President Donald Trump by phone: “With President Trump we discussed various issues. We talked about immigration and I briefed him on my visit to Moscow. I updated him on the preparations for the Libya conference and he confirmed his support to the Steering Committee [between Italy and U.S. on Mediterranean policy]. Furthermore, Trump congratulated us for our efforts aiming at boosting economic growth.”

Both before and after his Oct. 30 visit to India, Conte has had intense diplomatic meetings to organize the Nov. 12-13 Libya conference in Palermo. He met separately with the UN envoy for Libya Ghassan Salamé; Tripoli Prime Minister Fayez al Sarraj; Libyan National Army chief Khalifa Haftar; Libya House of Representatives head Aghila Saleh; and State Council head Khaled Al Meshri. They all assured their presence at the conference in Palermo.

Conte then went to Tunisia on Nov. 2 to meet with President Beji Caid Essebsi and Prime Minister Youssef Chahed. A major element of their discussion was Italy and Tunisia working together against illegal immigration and human trafficking, and new economic investment in the North African nation was announced. Conte said that Italy will invest €165 million in Tunisian projects, over the period 2017-2020. There will also be a new Italian credit line of €50 million for Tunisia.

As for the Libyan conference, Angela Merkel has already confirmed her participation at Palermo, while both Putin and Trump have assured there will be high-level participation from their nations, without committing themselves personally.

Undersecretary for Economic Development Michele Geraci who had joined Conte in India, wrote on his Facebook page: “We have been invited by the Indian government to help develop their agro-food sector: machines and food safety. A case-by-case approach will be crucial, as well as studying where are the best state-to-state opportunities.”

UN Security Council Chair China Sets Nov. 9 Debate on Security Cooperation

Nov. 3 (EIRNS)—On Nov. 9, the UN Security Council will have a debate on strengthening multilateral cooperation in security and related matters, set by China, which chairs UNSC for November. Moreover, China’s UN Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu announced on Nov. 1, that the People’s Republican has invited the other 14 UN Security Council ambassadors to China later this month, to visit sites concerning peacekeeping and poverty-reduction. The peace trip, in contrast to the customary UNSC member trips to strife zones, is tentatively set for Nov. 22-25. It will not be a formal trip, but a “side event,” said Ambassador Ma.

The group is will visit Shenzhen and Guangzhou, in Guangdong province, and a Defense Ministry training center near Beijing, where the ambassadors will tour a facility for a reserve force of 8,000 for UN peacekeeping operations.

China is currently the largest supplier of peacekeeping troops of the five permanent UNSC members. Some 2,500 Chinese service members are serving in missions in four areas of Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, South Sudan, and Sudan’s Darfur region. In terms of peacekeeping funding, China is the second-largest financial source, after the U.S.

In his remarks this week, Ambassador Ma said the Nov. 9 UNSC session is intended to mobilize support for the UN efforts at a time when “international rules and multilateral mechanisms and being undermined” and the world is “filled with uncertainties and destabilizing factors.”

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Russia Strongly Warns of Danger to Nuclear Non-Proliferation from U.S. Sanctions on Iran

Nov. 4 (EIRNS)—The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a very strongly worded statement yesterday, in response to Trump’s announcement on Nov. 2, that the second round of sanctions on Iran would be taking effect on Nov. 5. “The course pursued by Washington to demolish international legal instruments of nuclear non-proliferation and arms control is cause for deep disappointment and increasing concern,” the statement said. “The United States has now dealt another powerful blow to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, bringing it closer to collapse while hypocritically talking about the need to strengthen it….

“If Washington, as it claims, is indeed interested in negotiations with Tehran, the policy of sanctions pressure aimed at diminishing Iran’s economic and defense potential as well as undermining the internal political situation there must be revised immediately,” the statement continues. It goes on to say that the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal with Iran works and that that fact is confirmed regularly by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency. “This in itself is reliable proof of the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program.”

The White House announcement asserts that this round of sanctions aims to hit Iran’s energy, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors as well as the banking system, including Iran’s Central Bank. The idea is also that the sanctions will penalize countries that do not stop importing Iranian oil and foreign companies that do business with blacklisted Iranian entities, including Iran’s Central Bank, a number of private financial institutions, and state-run port and shipping companies.

In this regard, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reported on Nov. 2 that eight nations have been exempted from the oil sanctions temporarily, but he did not name them. Pompeo said aggressively to Fox News, “We will ultimately move Iran to zero crude oil. That’ll take us some number of months to do that.”

Houthis Dismiss U.S. Call for Yemen Ceasefire

Nov. 4 (EIRNS)—In Sana’a, the Houthis are calling the U.S. demand for a ceasefire nothing more than a travesty. “The United States continues to support the Saudi-led military aggression against Yemen at all levels. Washington, prior to the recent call for cessation of hostilities in Yemen, had completed an elaborate military preparation for an onslaught on Hodeidah. The U.S. call for a new round of negotiations is, in fact, an attempt to get away from global pressure in the face of the sufferings of the Yemeni people,” Al-Masirah television network quoted Mohammed Abdul-Salam, a spokesman for the Houthi movement, as saying on yesterday, reports Fars news agency.

Abdul-Salam reported that the Houthis have yet to receive an invitation to a new round of UN-sponsored talks, and that, in any case, the UN is not effective and its decisions are in the hands of others. “The rising military escalation in Hodeidah points to the fact that the Saudi-led coalition has failed to achieve anything and that Yemeni people should put their trust in the Yemeni army and Popular Committees. Today, the Yemeni nation is reaping the fruit of its steadfastness against aggressors,” Abdul-Salam said.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Chile Joins the Belt and Road Initiative, the Only Game in Town

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—Today in Beijing, Chile’s Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero signed a Memorandum of Understanding by which Chile formally joined the Belt and Road Initiative, Sputnik reported. His announcement coincided with the inauguration of “Chile Week in China,” an annual event promoting Chile’s products and familiarizing the Chinese population with its history and culture.

In a statement, Ampuero reported that on orders of President Sebastian Piñera “today we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding between Chile and China, in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative … [which] offers Chile the opportunity to explore new forms of cooperation and develop our country’s infrastructure … and that’s what we need. We have modernized a great deal, but we need investment and financing for infrastructure—highways, ports, bridges and modernizing railroads, among other things.”

Today’s signing is an acknowledgment by Piñera, a dyed-in-the-wool neo-liberal, that China’s Belt and Road Initiative is only one game in town, now that the trans-Atlantic financial system is dead. Under previous President Michelle Bachelet, whose term ended in 2017, Chile had developed very close relations with China, which is the country’s most important trading partner.  Piñera has no choice but to continue with that relationship.

FAO Chief Praises China for Worldwide Reduction of Hunger

Nov. 4 (EIRNS)—Jose Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), gave an interview to Xinhua on Nov. 3, in which he praises China’s role in both alleviating hunger and advancing agricultural science. “China has made great achievements in curbing hunger and increasing food security, both domestically and globally, since the launch of its reform and opening-up 40 years ago,” Graziano da Silva told Xinhua.

Most interesting, Graziano da Silva totally debunks the 1995 book by Lester Brown, Who Will Feed China? Wake-Up Call for a Small Planet, one of the major propaganda tools for the depopulation movement. “But China did succeed,” Graziano da Silva said. China lifted 80 million people out of hunger in what Graziano da Silva called “the most successful program that I know of in the world.”

Xinhua quotes the FAO 2018 World Food Security report, which states that the world produces enough food to feed everyone, yet one in nine people goes hungry and 821 million people are chronically undernourished. In 2007 over 15% of the chronically undernourished were in China, but that is now down to 9%. Graziano da Silva said this is “closely related to what China is doing to eradicate poverty, especially in rural areas.”

Graziano da Silva designed and implemented a Zero Hunger program that lifted 28 million people out of poverty in 10 years in his native Brazil, and, reports Xinhua, he explains how China’s program using reforestation to combat poverty along the Mongolian desert became a “an example for my country.”

Graziano da Silva said China is helping the FAO with its South-South cooperation programs in Africa, including Chinese scientists helping to develop drought-resistant varieties of rice.  He observes that in 2006, China was the first country to establish a strategic alliance with the FAO on South-South cooperation, and today more than 1,000 Chinese experts and technicians have supported 37 countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Ibero-America and the Caribbean on agricultural issues.

On the Belt and Road, Graziano da Silva said: “The BRI is providing support for countries such as Malawi, [where] for example, they produce enough food, but they lose half of it due to lack of storage. So we believe that infrastructure [projects] that are part of the BRI can help a great deal to improve food security and reduce food loss and waste, which in turn will also reduce pressure on natural resources.”

Graziano da Silva announced on Nov. 2 that the FAO will establish an International Center of Excellence for Agriculture Innovation and Rural Development in Beijing, aimed at helping to reach the FAO’s Zero Hunger goal by 2030.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

U.S. Issues Positive Final Employment Report Before Midterm Elections

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—The U.S. Labor Department’s employment report for October, delivered today unusually early in November and thus prior to Election Day, showed strong employment growth and wage growth, which is strong relative to the stagnation of the last half-century since the Bretton Woods system was broken up internationally.

The unadjusted  job creation figure since October 2017 in today’s report is 2.55 million, close to the highest annual increase since the financial crash. The “headline” adjusted figure for October alone is 250,000 new jobs. One-quarter of that (67,000) was in goods-producing jobs; goods-producing employment is 675,000 higher over the past year, and manufacturing employment is up 290,000. Labor force participation has increased by about 700,000 Americans during the year.

It testifies to how lacking wage growth has been in the U.S. economy for 45 years, and particularly since the beginning of this century, that the past year’s growth of 3.3% in weekly wages/salaries of all employees (3.1% for production and non-supervisory employees) is being hailed by media and the administration as “spectacular,” “roaring,” and “hot.”

Another piece of economic news which won’t hurt the President going into the midterms was National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow’s repeated and unequivocal statement in a Nov. 1 interview, that President Trump “will not touch major entitlements, Social Security and Medicare,” in the next Congressional session. Kudlow told Washington Post interviewer Robert Costa that Trump’s statement that he wanted to eliminate “the remnants of Obamacare” had been misreported to refer to Social Security and Medicare.

South Dakota Independent Congressional Candidate Wieczorek Launches Radio Ad Blitz

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—Ron Wieczorek, Independent candidate for Congress from South Dakota, running with the endorsement of LaRouche PAC, added a radio ad blitz to his final days of campaigning across the state for the at-large Congressional seat. He recorded short ads on six different themes, which will air at times and places to hit the state strategically. Topics include the content of Lyndon LaRouche’s Four Economic Laws; the need for the U.S. to join the “New Silk Road”; the need for classical education; farm policy; exposing the British Empire role in Russiagate; the global warming hoax; and trade.

He states in one ad: “Most of you know there was no recovery from the crisis of 2008, and Bush and Obama just bailed out Wall Street, big insurance and the British free trade crowd. But today’s debt bubbles are even bigger than back then.

“Before the next financial crisis hits worse than 2008, we must bring back the Glass-Steagall Act. Protect our useful, commercial banking, and depositors. Hang the speculator banks out to dry.

“Set up a national bank, for plenty of credit into the system, for large infrastructure projects—rail, water, space research, nuclear power. Put farm parity pricing back in. Bust up the mega-banks and commodity monopolies. Make way for millions of new jobs and family farms. Vote for me, Ron Wieczorek, on Nov. 6.”

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Kepler Spacecraft Mission Leaves a Legacy to Humanity

Nov. 4 (EIRNS)—NASA announced on Oct. 30 that after nine years of service, the Kepler spacecraft is finally out of fuel and is being decommissioned over the next several weeks. The Digital Trends website has published a brief article on the vast legacy it has left behind.

Kepler was launched in 2009 and was expected to continue transmissions from the largest digital space camera then in use for three and a half years.  After four years, a mechanical problem shut the project down, but NASA scientists determined that by periodically changing the camera’s field of view they could get it back to work.  That kept things going for another five years, but Kepler’s work is now complete.

Digital Trends points out, however, that its fruits continue to serve humanity’s quest for knowledge of the universe. Kepler discovered over 2,600 planets outside our Solar System. All of the data being collected are publicly accessible and can be downloaded from the Barbara A. Mikulski Archive. Kepler’s data have provided insight into the nature and behavior of these exoplanets, as well as the history of our Milky Way galaxy and its stars.

These data are an inheritance of all humanity that will outlast the Kepler mission’s brief life for time without limit.