EDITORIAL

Midterm Victories Create Great Opportunity for a New Bretton Woods and LaRouche’s Four Laws

Nov. 7 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump held a long press conference today to express his delight at the “big victory” in the midterm elections, which have resulted in a clear majority for the Democrats in the House, but a strengthening of the Republican control in the Senate, as well as Republican victories in several gubernatorial races in key battleground states. Trump had focused on the Senate and gubernatorial races, with dramatic results—of the eleven rallies he held over the last week of the campaign, nine of the candidates won—several of whom had been behind in the polls.

The fact that the Senate is now solidly Republican means that winning an impeachment trial in the Senate would be virtually impossible, so that a Democrat effort to launch impeachment proceedings in the House would be recognized as nothing but an attempt to block any actual business in the Congress. Interestingly, Trump reported that he had called Nancy Pelosi to congratulate her on the Democrats retaking the House, and told the press that he considered her to be a qualified leader, that she “loves her country,” and that he looks forward to working with her and the Democrats in passing legislation needed by the American people. Even more interesting, he said that he considers the current outcome to be the best of all possible outcomes—if the Republicans had won by two or three seats, he said, the Democrats would continue voting as a block against everything Trump proposed, while a few Republicans usually cross over, so nothing would get done. Now, the Democrats will have to propose legislation, knowing that it must pass in the Senate, and, he said, there are many important areas where we agree and can make progress. He emphasized infrastructure, but also trade, drug prices, border security, immigration, and more.

Or, he said, the Democrats could use their new power in the House to launch witch-hunts against the Administration, which would fire back, and nothing would get done.

It is of note that nearly all of the Republican members of Congress who have worked to expose the criminal actions by British intelligence and the Obama administration to interfere in the 2016 election, and then to attempt “regime change” against Trump after that election, have nearly all been reelected in this midterm election, despite fierce efforts to unseat them. Trump also told the press that he was now, again, looking at declassification of the damning documents that prove the British/Obama criminal activity, saying that he had only held off until after the midterm elections. Within hours of his press conference, Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned (at the request of the President), which will allow the appointment of someone who can pursue this crime—the greatest crime against the United States since the British instigation of the Civil War.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s historic visit to Moscow last month, in which she exposed to the Russians the fact that the British—not the Russians—have been caught subverting the democratic process in the U.S., has set the environment for the upcoming full formal meeting to take place between Trump and Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Argentina at the end of November. As to the trade conflict with China, Trump tweeted this morning that some of his “foreign friends” had been “waiting me out, and hoping on Trade Deals. Now we can all get back to work and get things done.” He will also hold a full formal meeting with Xi Jinping at the G20.

The situation is now wide open for mobilizing the necessary support for the President to fully embrace the necessary solutions to the economic and strategic crises facing mankind, as formulated in LaRouche’s Four Laws, and for the leaders of the “Four Powers” (Russia, China, India and the U.S.) to issue a call for a New Bretton Woods, restoring the original intention of Franklin Roosevelt for American System methods to replace colonialism, to build a world of modern, industrial, sovereign nations. That method is already partially in place in the New Silk Road, launched by China’s Xi Jinping, and now engaging over 100 nations. Not only the U.S., but every nation on Earth must be provided the right to participate in this new paradigm for Mankind.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Other Notes on Trump’s Post-Election Press Conference

Nov. 7 (EIRNS)—While President Donald Trump laid out a powerful call for bipartisan cooperation among all the members of Congress, the media at the press conference set new records of incivility, rudeness, and disgusting fake accusations against the President. Trump responded politely, but when several—especially CNN—reporters refused to give up the microphone and screamed at the President, after Trump answered their questions, he called them out, demonstrating the hostility that comes from the “fake news press,” not from the President. Accused by a PBS reporter of having declared himself a racist by calling himself a nationalist, he responded that the question was itself racist, and that being a nationalist was how he raised Black and Hispanic and Asian employment to the highest level in history.

But Trump was in full control. He repeatedly referred, respectfully, to the “very talented and skilled Democrat candidates” who had nonetheless been defeated in crucial elections, and called for “putting the past partisanship aside.”

Asked if Mike Pence would be his running mate again in 2020, he turned to Pence: “Will you be my running mate in 2020?” Pence agreed.

Asked if he would still pursue an additional 10% tax cut for the middle class, and if he would trade that for a rise in corporate taxes, he said that was possible, that the Democrats also want a middle-class tax cut, and he would consider an “adjustment” on other taxes.

Sessions Resigns, Whitaker Is Acting Attorney General

Nov. 7 (EIRNS)—Jeffrey Sessions wrote a letter to President Donald Trump today that opened with the sentence, “At your request, I am submitting my resignation.”  President Trump tweeted, “We are pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States. He will serve our country well. We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.”

A number of Democrats are concerned, because, when asked about Whitaker’s role in the Mueller investigation, a Justice Department spokesman said, “The Acting Attorney General is in charge of all matters under the purview of the Department of Justice.”

In August 2017, Whitaker asserted in an op-ed for CNN about the Mueller investigation: “It does not take a lawyer or even a former federal prosecutor like myself to conclude that investigating Donald Trump’s finances or his family’s finances falls completely outside of the realm of his 2016 campaign and allegations that the campaign coordinated with the Russian government or anyone else.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer went ballistic, saying that Whitaker should recuse himself from responsibility for the investigation for making this (legally correct) statement about it, and even said that limiting the Mueller investigation would trigger a “Constitutional crisis.”

The Queen Is Growing Even More Upset About LaRouche

Nov. 7 (EIRNS)—One day after the Oct. 31 New York Times attempted to revive the reputation of one of the British Empire’s favorite moneybags for drug legalization, euthanasia, and coups, the despicable George Soros, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) did similarly. Notably, both media named American statesman Lyndon LaRouche as responsible for kicking off the growing worldwide revulsion against Soros and his operations, including his financing of the British intelligence “Russiagate” fraud.

The CBC is a Crown Corporation owned by “the Sovereign” of Canada, who is Queen Elizabeth, herself. Its Nov. 2 story elaborated in even greater detail LaRouche’s role in ruining the degenerate Soros’s reputation. The CBC cited the LaRouche movement’s 1997 publications on “George Soros: The Queen’s Drug Pusher,” and “George Soros: A Golem Made in Britain”; evidently, they still rankle the British monarchy.

The CBC’s expressed concern is that LaRouche’s “demonization of Soros” has spread so far, that now the “Golem made in Britain” is being attacked from “the center of power,” President Donald Trump. So much for the CBC’s labelling LaRouche a “fringe agitator”!

Even before hearing of these growlings from the Crown’s CBC, Schiller Institute president and Lyndon LaRouche’s wife, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, had noted with pride that the British “are attacking us because they need to attack us.” Her exposure of the British role in creating “Russiagate” in Moscow had a huge impact, she commented, and said she had been told to expect that there is more to come on this. With a chuckle, she cited the German proverb: “Many enemies, much honor.”

Zepp-LaRouche set off an “information bomb” in many Russian media, when she exposed the British role in the U.S. coup drive, as a desperate attempt to prevent President Trump from establishing normal, friendly relations with Russia, during her Oct. 23-25 visit to Moscow.

Michigan Legalizes Marijuana, Two Approve ‘Medical’ Pot, While North Dakota Votes ‘No!’

Nov. 7 (EIRNS)—In yesterday’s election, Michigan voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use, while Utah and Missouri voted to allow medical use of marijuana. North Dakota defeated a proposed recreational marijuana measure. The Salt Lake Tribune reported today that the Mormon Church, the leading religious institution in Utah, is encouraging legislators to take measures to assure that the use of medical marijuana is regulated to ensure the safety of its citizens.

Time magazine reports today that backers of the movement to legalize marijuana admit that medical use of marijuana is a “gateway” to total legalization. It quotes Alison Holcomb, a national leader of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on this issue, explaining that every state that has legalized recreational marijuana started by legalizing medical marijuana.

“Creating a smaller, more constrained medical system gives them time to learn about marijuana and to get comfortable with how they can regulate it,” she explained.

According to Holcomb’s LinkedIn page, she is now the political director of the Washington State ACLU. For 10 years prior to that, she was the ACLU’s Campaign Director for Criminal Justice & Drug Policy Reforms. In that position, she was the primary author and campaign director of Washington’s marijuana legalization law. As director of the ACLU’s Campaign for Smart Justice, she directed the disbursement of $50 million that was contributed by George Soros’s Open Society Foundations.

President Trump Is Composing a More Harmonious Congress

Nov. 7 (EIRNS)—While the “resist” Democrats rant about what they will do to Trump and his cabinet, he and more clear-headed Republicans and Democrats are considering how they may make the Congress function.

During his press conference today, President Donald Trump reported that he had had a very friendly discussion with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), presumed to become the next Speaker of the House, whose capabilities he praised to the press. Roll Call reports that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who will continue as Senate Majority Leader, is talking about his history of cooperation with Pelosi dating to their joint work on the House Appropriations Committee.

Trump tweeted his support for Pelosi as Speaker of the House, and, referring to Democrats considering replacing her, offered, “If they give her a hard time, perhaps we will add some Republican votes. She has earned this great honor!” He assured incredulous reporters that he was completely serious in this.

Another possible change in Republican Congressional leadership was reported by The Hill. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a founder of the House Freedom Caucus and a leading Trump supporter, has announced a campaign for House Minority Leader. His main opponent is likely to be retiring Speaker Paul Ryan’s chosen successor, Kevin McCarthy (CA).

Jordan said, “In 2016, the American people elected Republicans to come here and change this town. I think the President is doing just that, but I don’t think they see the same intensity from folks in Congress, folks in the House of Representatives…. Now that we’re in the minority … about all we can do is debate, but fight hard in the debate for the principles, for the things that we know the American people sent us here to do in 2016. Show them that we deserve to be back in power in 2020.”  The Freedom Caucus has fought hard against the Mueller witch-hunt against Trump, and, unlike some other Republicans, has generally not opposed Trump’s attempts to develop positive collaborative relationships with China and Russia.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Military Exercises Can Be Source of Destabilization Says Retired Air Force Intelligence Expert

Nov. 7 (EIRNS)—Do massive military exercises like NATO’s Trident Juncture really contribute to deterrence and stability in Europe, as NATO and its partisans claim? Not according to Ralph Clem, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer who retired at the rank of major general and an emeritus professor of geography and senior fellow at the Steven J. Green School of Public and International Affairs at Florida International University. In a lengthy article in the November issue of Texas National Security Review, Clem argues that in the current NATO context, exercises have the opposite effect and are contributing to dangerous levels of escalation.

“In other words, the risk of geopolitical instability that such exercises imply may not bring a corresponding deterrence reward,” he writes. This is especially true, he says, “across the increasingly tense NATO-Russia divide in the wake of the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.”

Clem writes that the heightened level of military activity on both sides of the NATO-Russia frontier (which, as Clem states, is much longer along the Russian border than it was during the Cold War) “is that deconfliction and avoidance of the kinds of catastrophic accident that could lead to hostilities has become an increasingly serious matter.” The forward deployment and exercising of forces in a given region, such as NATO forces in the Baltic states, means “the chances of miscalculation or accidents rise commensurately.”

Clem’s article is headlined, “Military Exercises as Geopolitical Messaging in the NATO-Russia Dynamic: Reassurance, Deterrence, and (In)stability”

Russian High-Level Meeting Denounces Use of Terrorism for Geopolitical Purposes

Nov. 7 (EIRNS)—Terrorism cooperation in Syria and elsewhere is likely to be a major topic when President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Argentina later this month. The same topic was a major item on the agenda of the 17th meeting of the heads of special services, security agencies, and law enforcement bodies convened this morning in Moscow. Both Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev emphasized in their remarks the necessity of such cooperation as first proposed by Putin at the United Nations in September 2015, as opposed to the tendency of some powers to use terrorist groups for geopolitical advantage.

Lavrov said that the terrorist groups defeated in Syria are forming networks and sleeper cells in other countries and are “continuing to take advantage of the persisting disunity of the global community, and the fact that far from all states took the necessary legislative and law enforcement measures at the national level,” reports TASS. He stated that terrorist resistance has not been broken entirely, and that, “One of the reasons is the ongoing external material support for radicals, including with arms.” “Geopolitical ambitions, hidden agendas, double standards and a frequent striv[ing] to use radicals to solve their own selfish tasks on the world scene still hamper the establishment of truly coordinated actions.”

Patrushev also attacked the use of some terrorist groups to achieve geopolitical goals. “If we want to fight this evil [terrorism] effectively, it is essential to abandon double standards and stop dividing terrorists into bad and good and using them to achieve one’s own geopolitical goals,” he stressed. “Events of recent years have shown that the time has come for specific steps rather than bombastic political statements.”

ECONOMY

Arizona Rejects Tom Steyer’s Energy Destruction Proposition

Nov. 7 (EIRNS)—Arizona voters have rejected a proposal to require electricity utilities to rely on renewable resources for 50% of their power by 2030. San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer backed the measure, but it was opposed by major electricity provider Arizona Public Service and its owner, a national power conglomerate, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation. The Arizona Chamber of Commerce, Gov. Doug Ducey, the Navajo Nation, and the Arizona Farm Bureau joined the utility in opposition.

Steyer has been a vocal financial backer of Democratic candidates during this campaign and has, according to online magazine Slate, opposed negotiating with Republicans on issues like infrastructure.  Instead, he asked, “What can they do to punish people? What can they actively do so that there is a punishment, some cost, for lying to Congress, for breaking the law, for breaking your word to the Constitution? That’s the question. And that’s what impeachment is.”  Ironically, he was referring to punishing Trump and his allies rather than Democrats in Congress, Robert Mueller, or his co-conspirators.

The utility argued that it could not maintain a stable energy supply with 50% unreliable and intermittent sources like wind and solar, and that the price would increase by $1,000 per year per customer.  Arizona’s Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the largest in the nation, provides “clean,” but not “renewable” energy, that, the utility argued, already puts Arizona above the 50% clean energy level.  Arizona’s voters apparently agreed.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

No More Studies! Accelerate Fusion Power Development!

Nov. 6 (EIRNS)—Steve Dean reports that the Department of Energy will embark on (yet another) study for a “long-range plan” for fusion power. Scientists are to spend the next two years discussing research directions for fusion, which, in fact, they have been doing for decades, most recently in a series of workshops over the last several years.

That recent series of workshops laid the basis for the 2015 DOE report, “Fusion Energy Sciences: A Ten-Year Perspective (2015-2025).” The report proposed three possible funding scenarios for fusion, the highest being the “Modest Growth Scenario,” which is 2% above inflation. The experts explain that “even under this modest growth budget scenario, it is unlikely that the construction of a new fusion confinement device on the scale of any of the current major facilities could be supported….” A critical materials science program is put off to the mid-2020s in the report. Obama did not fund the fusion program even at this paltry “Modest Growth” level. That led to the closure of key facilities, such as MIT’s Alcator experiment. Wasting time now on yet another study will come to no different conclusion.

Steve Dean’s 1976 plan for fusion projected that, at a funding level below the $300 million per year range (about $1 billion in today’s dollars), the timeline was that we would reach fusion “never.” Four years later, Rep. Mike McCormack’s Magnetic Fusion Energy Engineering Act of 1980, drafted with input from the Fusion Energy Foundation, laid out the necessary steps to build an engineering test reactor by 1990 and a commercial demonstration plant by 2000. Although passed into law, it was never funded.

The announcement of this new study by Acting Associate Director for Fusion Energy Sciences at the DOE, Jim Van Dam, holds that any progress in fusion made in the last two years was thanks to Congressional support. The Administration’s (i.e., Office of Management and Budget) request for fusion for FY2019, was a 36% cut from FY2018, at $340 million. Congress appropriated an increase, to $456 million, which will allow the start of construction of a materials experimental testing facility.

There is no reason for any more studies. The administration must get onboard an acceleration of the fusion program, to bring forward as quickly as possible, the next platform for energy production, and the plasma economy.