EDITORIAL
Put an End To British Election Meddling and British Imperial War
Nov. 5 (EIRNS)—With all indications of a very large final vote total in “game-changing” U.S. midterm elections, the outcome for both Houses of Congress remains in doubt. What is not in doubt, is that there will be a sharp change in the now two-year-long, furious but unsuccessful drive to destroy President Donald Trump’s credibility and ability to set policy, and to force him out of office. Either that drive will end for good, or it will escalate dramatically. The President has continued to insist on the value of peace and cooperation with other major nuclear powers—has even campaigned before tens of thousands for peace and good relations with Russia and China. His attackers have made of President Putin the direst enemy image, called Trump a “puppet” for meeting with the Russian President, and demanded a war confrontation with Russia.
Thus the outcome of peace or war is underlying the “issues” being argued in the election’s final days.
The LaRouche Political Action Committee has made a fundamental change in the election since it introduced, with no support 15 months ago, the facts that showed British intelligence was behind the drive against Trump as candidate and President, including Robert Mueller’s “Russiagate” legal assassination. With LaRouchePAC’s mobilization those facts became known, became discussed in committees of Congress, were realized and publicly confirmed by prominent supporters of the President, eventually were exposed to millions.
LaRouchePAC has contributed a second change: demonstrating that economic progress of a scale not seen since Franklin Roosevelt’s Presidency could be unleashed, by President Trump being free to collaborate in the Belt and Road Initiative of China, and by the implementation of Lyndon LaRouche’s “Four Laws” for economic development. This contribution was spearheaded by Kesha Rogers’ dynamic Congressional campaign in Texas against Al “Impeachment” Green and for what she laid out as the “North American Belt and Road Initiative.”
British Empire geopolitics is based on continuous wars of choice and even global war confrontations.
Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche stated in discussing the situation today that if the focus on British interference rises in the United States from Election Day, a dramatic change in policy could result. And if President Trump is strengthened, she would be confident that international relations will take a positive turn through his meetings with Presidents Putin and Xi Jinping over the next weeks and months.
Thus the campaign for a four-power New Bretton Woods credit system for development, can be escalated. London’s financial and geopolitical empire can be ended.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Turnout Like a Presidential Election Is Seen in Game-Changing Midterms
Nov. 5 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump held large rallies in Ohio, Missouri and Indiana Monday to cap his extraordinary campaign mobilization for an election which could strengthen his ability to deal productively with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi in summits later this month. The issue of war confrontation or his preferred peaceful cooperation policy will be at stake in this crucial contest.
The last time a sitting President barnstormed aggressively in a midterm election was 1938 when Franklin D. Roosevelt went out on the stump against the anti-New Dealers in the Democratic Party.
Turnout for the midterms appears extraordinarily high, for both parties. Bloomberg Nov. 4 reported calculations that 34 million Americans had already voted by Friday Nov. 2 under “early voting” procedures, many more than in the 2014 midterms with three days remaining in some states. It quoted University of Florida political science Professor Michael MacDonald, “This looks like a cross between a midterm and a Presidential election.” (Recent midterms have had 105-110 million voters; recent Presidentials, around 125 million.)
Reportedly the national division between Democratic and GOP registrants in the early voting is very close, with Democrats slightly higher nationally; but GOP registrants are higher by about 5% in seven of eight “swing states” as defined by Bloomberg.
New Round of U.S. Sanctions Against Iran Go Into Effect
Nov. 5 (EIRNS)—Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin announced today that the second round of sanctions against Iran, pursuant to President Trump’s May 8 announcement of withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which took effect today. The sanctions are particularly aimed at Iran’s financial sector, hitting 50 banks and other financial institutions for allegedly facilitating the activities of the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qods Force. The sanctions are also aimed at reducing Iran’s oil exports to zero, and well as a range of other activities engaged in by the Iranian government. “Our objective is to starve the Iranian regime of the revenue it uses to fund violent and destabilizing activities throughout the Middle East, and indeed around the world,” Pompeo said during a press availability, today. “Our ultimate goal is to convince the regime to abandon its current revolutionary course.”
“Iran’s leaders must cease support for terrorism, stop proliferating ballistic missiles, end destructive regional activities, and abandon their nuclear ambitions immediately if they seek a path to sanctions relief,” Mnuchin said in a separate statement issued by the Treasury Department. “The maximum pressure exerted by the United States is only going to mount from here. We are intent on making sure the Iranian regime stops siphoning its hard-currency reserves into corrupt investments and the hands of terrorists.”
With regard to the oil sanctions, Pompeo said that 20 countries have already ended imports from Iran, while China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey have received six-month waivers until they can reduce their imports to zero. “We continue negotiations to get all of the nations to zero,” he said.
Ken Starr Confirms There Is ‘Not Even Close’ To Any Evidence To Impeach Trump
Nov. 5 (EIRNS)—Former independent counsel Ken Starr—the prosecutor who led the investigation into impeachable offenses against President Bill Clinton—has seen the case against Trump, and come away unconvinced. “Not even close,” he told an interviewer on Sunday morning. “I know of that with Richard Nixon. We did not have it with Bill Clinton. We didn’t even have it a century ago with Andrew Johnson, and we certainly don’t have it with Donald Trump. We have a nation divided, but a nation divided does not mean let’s get rid of the President,” he said.
Starr’s comments quoted by The Hill are all the more pertinent, in that he is otherwise a staunch defender of both Robert Mueller and the position of special counsel in general. He sees no problem with the “mission creep” of Mueller’s going after Manafort, indicting Russians or any other objects in his pursuit of “justice.” In that light, the persons of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, his associates Peter Strzok and Lisa Page presented a big problem for Starr: How this revered institution the FBI could allow these “bad apples … to take these very important roles,” was completely beyond him.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Opening China International Import Expo, Xi Encourages More Openness, Cooperation
Nov. 5 (EIRNS)—In his keynote speech opening the China International Import Expo (CIIE), President Xi Jinping announced that China was open for business. Bringing together business leaders, scholars, and heads of state and government in Shanghai, the Expo is the first of its kind in having foreign companies exhibit their wares, rather than Chinese companies exhibiting Chinese products. It was a clear signal that China was taking a further step in its “reform and opening-up” and putting out the welcome mat to those firms wishing to sell goods or set up businesses in China. “Under the theme of ‘New Era, Shared Future,’ the CIIE will help friends from around the world to seize opportunities presented by China’s development in the new era and offer a platform for us to deepen international business cooperation for shared prosperity and progress,” Xi said.
The Chinese President forecast $40 trillion in imports of goods ($30 trillion) and services ($10 trillion) over the next 15 years, and continued strong Chinese economic growth. He said 11.7 million “new urban jobs” had been created from January-September 2018.
Xi was no doubt also sending a clear message to the United States that China was willing to take greater measures in opening its markets to U.S. products in order to resolve the trade conflict. While 180 U.S. companies are taking part in the Expo, the U.S. made the symbolic step of not sending any official delegation. Many other nations’ leaders, however, did attend and numerous official delegations were participating. “China will unswervingly follow a win-win strategy of opening-up, adopt high-quality policies to advance trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and move toward nationwide opening-up that coordinates the coastal and inland areas and connects the eastern and western regions,” Xi told the delegates. “China will remain a strong advocate of openness at the global level, and will continue to act as a stable engine of global growth, a big market with enormous opportunities and an active supporter of global governance reform.”
Xi announced five new measures China would take to expand its opening-up policy. It would stimulate the potential for increased imports by lowering tariffs, increase people’s income and spending power, and facilitate customs clearance. It would also continue to broaden market access, opening up the service sector to foreign investment as well as investment in the agricultural, mining and manufacturing sectors, as well as more opening for foreign involvement in the education and medical sectors. China would foster a “world-class business environment,” including stricter controls on international property rights. China will also open more pilot free trade zones, including one with Japan and South Korea. Xi also announced measures to expand the Shanghai free trade zone and to transform Shanghai into one of the top financial centers of the world.
President Xi also had a message for those critics in the U.S. and elsewhere, who want to undermine China’s successful development course. He stated that “other countries” should also deal with their own domestic problems: “They should not just point fingers at others to gloss over their own problems. They should not hold a ‘flashlight’ in hand doing nothing but to check on the weakness of others and not on their own.” In spite of the current wave of troubles, Xi said, “To use a metaphor, the Chinese economy is not a pond, but an ocean. The ocean may have its calm days, but big winds and storms are only to be expected. Without them, the ocean wouldn’t be what it is. Big winds and storms may upset a pond, but never an ocean. Having experienced numerous winds and storms, the ocean will still be there! It is the same for China. After going through 5,000 years of trials and tribulations, China is still here! Looking ahead, China will always be here to stay!” he said, meeting with a rousing ovation and applause.
Xi pointed again to the Belt and Road Initiative as a new model for win-win relations between nations.
Plans Advance for South America’s Bioceanic Railroad, as Spain and Russia Are Ready To Join
Nov. 5 (EIRNS)—Bolivia’s Public Works Minister Milton Claros announced at the end of last week that a Swiss-German consortium working with the Bolivian government on its proposed bioceanic railroad, which extends from the Peruvian port of Ilo on the Pacific to Brazil’s port of Santos on the Atlantic, traversing Bolivia, has offered financing for the project.
Consortium spokesman Michelle Moliari reported on Nov. 2 from the city of Cochabamba that it had reached that decision following inspection of the proposed Bolivian rail routes that would link to the Andean portion of the line to the West and to other lines on the eastern part of the proposed bioceanic route. Construction and/or upgrading of the Bolivian portions of the route are absolutely feasible, Molinari affirmed, reported América XXI.
On Nov. 3, Claros reported that the Spanish government has also sent a formal offer of financing for the project, to be made available through Spanish economic cooperation agencies, according to América XXI. On Nov. 1, the daily Los Tiempos reported that Russia’s Ambassador to Bolivia Vladimir Sprinchan has announced that by year’s end, the Moscow government will also formally propose joining the bioceanic project, and will send a technical delegation for further discussion. In addition, Moscow will be making several other specific proposals aimed at strengthening ties with Bolivia in a number of areas.
Such cooperation is certainly not to the liking of the region’s British geopolitical allies. Although Brazil signed a Memorandum of Understanding earlier this year to officially join the bioceanic project, reports are now surfacing that President-elect Jair Bolsonaro may be looking for a way out of that agreement, as he want to reduce cooperation with Bolivia. When he spoke by phone with Chile’s neo-liberal President Sebastian Piñera last week, the two reportedly discussed an alternative bioceanic project that would exclude Bolivia.
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Saudis Escalate War in Yemen Against Diplomatic Pressure
Nov. 5 (EIRNS)—British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said this morning that he would be pushing for action in the UN Security Council to bring an end to the Yemen war and find a political solution to the conflict. Hunt said he agreed with UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths that the time was right for the Security Council to act to bolster the UN-led process, the U.K. Foreign Office said in a statement today. “The action the U.K. takes forward at the UN Security Council will help towards that goal, ensuring that a full ceasefire, when it comes, is fully implemented,” the statement said. Hunt’s statement followed those of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Nov. 3 and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Nov. 2, all calling for a ceasefire and a political resolution to the conflict. “Now for the first time there appears to be a window in which both sides can be encouraged to come to the table, stop the killing and find a political solution that is the only long-term way out of disaster,” Hunt said. “The U.K. will use all its influence to push for such an approach.”
Bruce Riedel, 30-year CIA veteran and director of the Brookings Institution’s Intelligence Project, writes in a Nov. 4 column in Al Monitor that the Saudi response to the pressure from the United States has so far been to ignore it and escalate the bombing campaign. “The premeditated murder of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudis has put the administration under unprecedented pressure to rein in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reckless and dangerous behavior. The war in Yemen is the crown prince’s signature policy initiative. Congress is ready to take action to curtail America’s involvement in the war after the midterms,” he writes. “But the Saudis have escalated their airstrikes on Sana’a and Hodeidah instead. The capital and the main port have been heavily pounded by the Saudi coalition since Pompeo and Mattis spoke.” The Iranians, he reports, “are portraying the new Trump Administration line on Yemen as a victory for the [Houthi] rebels.”
Riedel argues that the U.S. actually has considerable leverage over the Saudis. “By controlling the logistics and spare parts necessary for the Royal Saudi Air Force to conduct operations, Washington has tremendous influence on the Saudi military,” he concludes. “The Saudis cannot get spare parts for F-15s in Moscow or Beijing. The administration has the leverage to save millions of Yemenis. It is time to use it.”
The humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. Yesterday, Geert Cappelaere, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at UNICEF, repeated his warnings of last week about the impact of the war on Yemen’s children. “Yemen is today a living hell—not for 50 to 60% of the children—it is a living hell for every boy and girl in Yemen,” he told a news conference in Amman, Jordan. UNICEF estimates that 1.8 million Yemeni children under the age of five are suffering from acute malnutrition and that the lives of 400,000 affected children are under threat, while a child dies from a preventable disease every 10 minutes because of the lack of vaccinations. Cappelaere said, “We call on all the parties to the conflict to come together under the leadership of the Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths, to come together and agree on a ceasefire and a road to peace in Yemen.”
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
European Banking Authority Finds London Banks in Trouble
Nov. 5 (EIRNS)—Even the mildly stressful stress test just conducted by the European Banking Authority on major banks there, found significant bank problems among the biggest megabanks in London. Barclays, Lloyds Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Deutsche Bank—all of which have their operations centered in London—were found to be “troubled banks,” along with Germany’s large regional NordLB and Italy’s Banco BPM SpA. Barclays and Lloyds were in the worst shape, liable to have their Tier 1 capital buffer wiped out in the stress test scenario, which featured a drop in Europe-wide GDP of ˗2.7% over three years. During and after the 2008 crash, German, Italian and British GDP all dropped by roughly twice that much.
All these London-centered banks are standing before the potential of a “hard Brexit” with no new financial services agreement—not included in the “stress” here—which will cause them large derivatives losses and possibly large trading losses as well. The EBA stress test, by contrast, focussed on the specter of loan losses of about $400 billion across Europe, but counterparty (derivatives) losses of only about $100 billion, and “operational” (trading) losses of just $90 billion.
This meant the stress test was designed to look away from the big losses threatening London banks in a hard Brexit or otherwise-triggered new financial crash—which is now close—and to look atonly the kind of losses threatening banks in Italy, for example, from a collapse in corporate and credit card debt.
A more detailed analysis of the test versus the actually looming threat is published in this week’s EIR Strategic Alert Service No. 44.
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Belt and Road Science Groups Form an International Alliance
Nov. 5 (EIRNS)—In 2016, the first International Science Forum of Scientific Organizations on the Belt and Road Initiative, was held in Beijing. The second meeting was held in Beijing on Nov. 4-5, with the creation of a formal alliance to coordinate existing research, and to create new platforms for future research. The new organization is called the Alliance of International Science Organizations, which goes by the acronym ANSO. Yesterday, 36 founding members representing non-government scientific organizations met, with the participation of about 800 people from worldwide scientific organizations. Indicative of the reach of the Belt and Road Initiative, founding members include Russia, Chile, Bangladesh, Brazil, Hungary, Pakistan, and Thailand.
President Xi Jinping sent a letter of congratulations to the meeting, saying that strengthening scientific cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road is a key part of building the overall project, China Daily reports. He added that it also plays a positive role in improving people’s livelihoods, facilitating growth, and jointly taking on challenges.
Alexander Sergeev, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, called on representatives to expand cooperation, to include creating joint laboratories, research centers, supporting the exchange of scientists and new technologies, and responding to modern challenges.
In comments to the Global Times, President of Pakistan’s Academy of Sciences Prof. Dr. M. Qasim Jan said the assembly was a wonderful initiative that pulled human expertise from diverse backgrounds to address global problems that can be minimized by good science.
Indicating one critical area for research, in a speech before the assembly, Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said emerging and reemerging infectious diseases are still a big issue for developing countries, and that “Whenever you have disease you have zero development.”
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