• Trump Responds to NY Times: Be Friends With Russia
• Pompeo Confirms Syria Withdrawal is Underway
• Russia & China Already Have Hypersonic Advantage Over U.S.A.
• Yellow Vests Expand in France and Spread to U.K.
• Industrial Production Drops Across EU

EDITORIAL

Panic in London, New York and Washington—Trump Won’t Give Up

Jan. 13 (EIRNS)—Over the past weekend, the New York Times and theWashington Post, the two leading voices for the ongoing British intelligence coup attempt against the President of the United States, demonstrated a new level of hysteria and evil. The Times on Saturday, under the title “FBI Secretly Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia,” posed that President Donald Trump was literally “working on behalf of Russia against American interests.” They report that the anti-Trump fanatics at the FBI, who were working with MI6 agent Christopher Steele to remove Trump from office, opened an FBI counterintelligence operation after the firing of Comey, directly targetting the President of the United States. Previously, they had pretended to be just investigating people “associated” with the Trump campaign, searching for the non-existent “collusion.” The counterintelligence investigation, however, centered, in effect, on whether the President of the United States had committed treason.

Today the Washington Post added their own filth to the mix, under the blaring headline, “Trump Has Concealed Details of His Face-to-Face Encounters with Putin from Senior Officials in Administration.” Besides being a lie, the idea that a President’s meetings with foreign leaders, especially those of major nuclear powers like Russia and China, should be public, or that every member of his cabinet must be fully briefed, is ludicrous. The reality is revealed by the Post in the following: “President Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials, current and former U.S. officials said.” The Post admits that they, and some of their fellow Trump haters in the Congress, had tried to coerce the interpreter to break the law and report on the meetings—in fact, some in Congress tried (but failed) to subpoena the interpreter to testify regarding Trump’s conversation with Putin!

Why the hysteria? The coup is failing. The British hand in “Russiagate” is no longer secret, thereby implicating the coup-plotters in the U.S. intelligence community and in the Congress as treasonously complicit in a British coup attempt against their former colony. Also, Trump has finally acted on his pledge to end U.S. participation in British Imperial “regime change” wars, starting with the pullout from Syria. The “endless wars” of his predecessors, he has declared, are coming to a “glorious end.” And most importantly, Trump has stood by his belief, and policy intention, that friendly relations with Russia and China are “a good thing.” His historic diplomatic courage in ending the Cold War remnant on the Korean Peninsula is proceeding. The British Imperial division between East and West is crumbling under the spirit of cooperation and mutual development.

But the coup attempt, while failing, is not dead. The greatest danger to the positive developments is the financial bubble weighing down the trans-Atlantic financial system. This coming week, the British Parliament will vote, on Tuesday, on the fake Brexit plan put together by Prime Minister Theresa May and the corrupt EU bureaucrats in Brussels—it is almost certain to fail. In France, the failed Macron government will make its last stand against the “Yellow Vests” mass strike across the nation (and spreading across Europe), driven by the deadly austerity policies dictated by those same failing, unelected EU bureaucrats. Recently released statistics reveal that every major European economy is now suffering negative growth in the industrial sector. The EU policy to sustain the financial bubble in the banking system at the expense of the real economy is no longer sustainable.

While Trump has not yet demanded Glass-Steagall, nor a transformation to the Hamiltonian creditary policies proposed in LaRouche’s Four Laws, he has committed to building the necessary international cooperation with Russia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Italy, and others, a level of cooperation which provides the only possible political and economic force to replace, once and for all, the bankrupt British financial system, through a New Bretton Woods agreement and international cooperation in the New Silk Road. The coming days and weeks can, and must, mark the turning point, towards this new paradigm. Most nations of Asia, Africa and Ibero-America are committed to that path, while the citizens of the European and American countries are demonstrating with their feet their willingness to fight for that beautiful future for mankind. This is the LaRouche moment, which must not be lost.

The second class in the LaRouche PAC series, titled “Science—not Mathematics!—Is Key to the Economy,” is now available on LaRouche PAC’s 2019 class page.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

New York Times Hypes Insane FBI Allegation That Trump Committed Treason When He Fired Comey

Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—The New York Times of Jan. 12, blared the headline, in oversized type: “FBI Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia.” A closer look reveals that theTimes plagiarized this article largely from the Epoch Times, the Fulan Gong’s anti-China newspaper. Epoch Times had been leaked the transcript of former FBI Attorney Lisa Page’s June 2018 testimony to the Congress. According to both the Times and the anti-China rag, when Trump fired James Comey as FBI director, the top levels of the FBI, fully in league with the British intelligence line about Trump and Russia, didn’t just orchestrate the hiring of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to pursue the bogus Trump/Russia investigation. They also opened a full-scale FBI counterintelligence operation, now targetting the President of the United States directly. Previously, they had pretended to be investigating only people associated with the Trump campaign. The counterintelligence investigation centered, in effect, on whether the President of the United States had committed treason.

In the deranged McCarthyite fever generated by the Christopher Steele/British intelligence information warfare operation against the United States which began in late 2015, these circles in the FBI apparently believed that Russia had been formally declared an enemy of the United States. This is the arrogant, off-the-wall atmosphere in which the unhinged, unelected arbiters of American foreign policy in the Justice Department deliberated a putsch, in legal garb, against the American President. This is the atmosphere in which Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein talked about wearing a wire to the White House while approving, at the same time, the hiring of Robert Mueller to find out whether Comey’s firing was a criminal obstruction of justice by Donald Trump.

Trump Responds to New York Times: Be Friends with Russia

Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—Trump took to Twitter to respond to the New York Times Jan. 12 article, “FBI Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia,” reported above:

“Wow, just learned in the Failing New York Times that the corrupt former leaders of the FBI, almost all fired or forced to leave the agency for some very bad reasons, opened up an investigation on me, for no reason & with no proof, after I fired Lyin’ James Comey, a total sleaze! Funny thing about James Comey. Everybody wanted him fired, Republican and Democrat alike. After the rigged & botched Crooked Hillary investigation, where she was interviewed on July 4th Weekend, not recorded or sworn in, and where she said she didn’t know anything (a lie), the FBI was in complete turmoil (see N.Y. Post) because of Comey’s poor leadership and the way he handled the Clinton mess (not to mention his usurpation of powers from the Justice Department). My firing of James Comey was a great day for America. He was a Crooked Cop who is being totally protected by his best friend, Bob Mueller, & the 13 Angry Democrats—leaking machines who have NO interest in going after the Real Collusion (and much more) by Crooked Hillary Clinton, her Campaign, and the Democratic National Committee. Just Watch!

“I have been FAR tougher on Russia than Obama, Bush or Clinton. Maybe tougher than any other President. At the same time, & as I have often said, getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. I fully expect that someday we will have good relations with Russia again!”

China’s Ambassador to Canada Exposes the ‘Five Eyes’ Surveillance State

Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—In a Jan. 9, op-ed in Ottawa’s Hill Times, by China’s Ambassador to Canada Lu Shaye, the capital daily did what no other mainstream media outlet has been willing to do since the untimely arrest, at the U.S. behest, of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou occurred while she was boarding a plane in Vancouver on Dec. 1, 2018. Much dispute has arisen over that arrest and China’s subsequent arrest of two Canadians suspected of espionage in Beijing. In an article entitled, “Why the Double Standard on Justice for Canadians, Chinese?” Ambassador Lu cut through the noise being created by the media and Western political class by exposing the overbloated Western surveillance state known as the Five Eyes, which he properly identified as the outgrowth of the unconstitutional Patriot Act and the PRISM surveillance system, exposed by the Edward Snowden leaks, which have annihilated all semblance of privacy among trans-Atlantic nations.

After describing the double standard applied by Canadian elites who have constructed a narrative that always paints China as the villain of the world while portraying the West as “free and democratic,” Ambassador Lu stated: “These same people have conveniently ignored the PRISM Program, Equation Group, and Echelon—global spying networks operated by some countries that have been engaging in large-scale and organized cyber stealing, and spying and surveillance activities on foreign governments, enterprises, and individuals. These people also took a laissez-faire attitude toward a country that infringes on its citizens’ privacy rights through the Patriot Act. They shouted for a ban by the Five Eyes alliance countries … on the use of Huawei equipment by these countries’ own enterprises.”
The Chinese Ambassador went one step further, ending his op-ed with a claim which has earned him much criticism in the days since its publication. In his closing paragraph Ambassador Lu made the uncomfortable point that the double standards employed against China, and the West’s willingness to ignore the Five Eyes, “is due to Western egotism and white supremacy.”

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Pompeo Confirms Syria Withdrawal Is Underway

Jan. 13 (EIRNS)—In an interview broadcast by CBS News’ “Face the Nation” this morning, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo confirmed that, despite contrary media interpretations, President Donald Trump’s “incredibly clear” directive on the Syria pullout was being followed. “The roughly 2,000 uniformed soldiers that are in Syria today are going to be withdrawn. That activity is underway.”  He said the withdrawal would be “orderly and deliberate,” but would not violate “the counterterrorism mission.”  In the context of preserving the goals of the mission, he referred to the withdrawal as a “tactical change.”

In response to repeated questions, he assured CBS anchor Margaret Brennan that the U.S. had ample means of supporting that mission without 2,000 troops in Syria.

U.S. Top Naval Officer To Visit China

Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—The U.S. Navy announced yesterday in a press release that Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson will be visiting China from Jan. 13-16 to meet with Central Military Commission leadership and People’s Liberation Army Navy commander Vice Adm. Shen Jinlong.

The goal of the three-day visit to Beijing and Nanjing, the release said, is to continue a results-oriented, risk reduction focused dialogue between the two militaries. “I am looking forward to this trip,” said Richardson. “A routine exchange of views is essential, especially in times of friction, in order to reduce risk and avoid miscalculation. Honest and frank dialogue can improve the relationship in constructive ways, help explore areas where we share common interests, and reduce risk while we work through our differences.”

The release reports that Richardson and Shen met previously at the 2018 International Seapower Symposium, hosted by Richardson in Newport, Rhode Island, and have held three discussions via video teleconference, most recently in December 2018. This is Richardson’s second visit to China as Chief of Naval Operations.

Russia and China Already Have Hypersonic Advantage over America

Jan. 11 (EIRNS)—The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, the think-tank of the U.S. Air Force Association, produced a paper in 2016, “Hypersonic Weapons And U.S. National Security: A 21st Century Breakthrough,” that concludes that hypersonic weapons would afford the U.S. with unprecedented rapid reach, global target access, a “fourth dimension effect” by effectively shrinking a foe’s decision-making window and a complete rendering of existing air defenses to be obsolete.

The problem with this statement, writes Air Force Maj. Gen. Howard “Dallas” Thompson (ret.), a former chief of staff of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, is what it doesn’t say. Russia and China are so far ahead of the U.S. on the development and deployment of hypersonic weapons that they’ve already achieved that “fourth dimension effect” against the United States.

He states, in an op-ed published yesterday in The Hill, the recent successful test of the Russian Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) and reports that the Chinese “have been even more aggressive in their pursuit of hypersonic weapons,” while the U.S. has no such capability. “The stark reality is that our current missile defense systems, as well as our operational mindset, are simply incapable versus this threat,” he writes.

“What many in Congress may not understand is that HGVs are specifically designed to exploit gaps and seams within our current missile defense structure,” Thompson continues. “The Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) array of satellite sensors, sea-borne and terrestrial radars, and ground-based interceptors are designed against a singular threat—an incoming ballistic missile launched from North Korea or perhaps Iran. While a ballistic flight path is relatively predictable, an HGV flies a completely unpredictable path, with the energy to aggressively maneuver throughout flight. This renders point-defense systems, such as Patriot and THAAD, ineffective.”

ECONOMY

German Foreign Minister Responds to New Threats of U.S. Sanctions on Nord Stream 2 Pipeline

Jan. 11 (EIRNS)—Speaking yesterday at a reception in Berlin of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas responded to reports that the U.S. is considering levying secondary sanctions on European construction companies participating in Gazprom’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project, with the warning that “matters related to European energy policy must be decided upon in Europe, not in the United States,” according to Sputnik International.

According to the Jan. 7 issue of Germany’s Handelsblatt, U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell had told the daily that those companies working on the pipeline “are always in danger, because sanctions are always possible.” He went on, however, that he was sure that when confronted with sanctions, those companies would pull out of the project of their own accord. Two of the companies mentioned as possible targets are the Swiss-based Allseas Group, which is set to lay over 90% of the pipeline, and Italy’s Saipem engineering firm was also mentioned, although it has already completed its part of the project. Companies from five nations participate in the consortium building the project, led by Russia’s Gazprom.

Sputnik reported Maas’s remark that he had already told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that U.S. imposition of unilateral sanctions against Nord Stream 2 “is a wrong path anyway.” He also indicated he had received assurances from Moscow that gas transit via Ukraine would continue after the pipeline goes into operation. In yesterday’s remarks, Maas said he had told the Ukrainian government that if German and European countries are ousted from the project, there will be no one left who continues to insist on preserving the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine, the ukrinform.net website reported.  

European Auto Sector Continues Decline, with Jaguar and Ford Layoffs

Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—Jaguar Land Rover announced this week that they are laying off 4,500 workers in the U.K. and across Europe, many at the management level. They laid off 1,500 last year. They blame the crisis on diesel sales, due to the Volkswagen scandal and German restrictions on diesel, and on a slowdown in sales in China, as well as uncertainty due to Brexit. Owned by the India’s Tata conglomerate, JLR posted a £90 million pre-tax loss in the third quarter of 2018. Ford also announced this week that they will be laying off “thousands,” without specifying how many, from their 68,000 workforce in Europe.

2018 Was a Black Year, Claims BlackRock

Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—Officially, the top managers of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, proclaim 2018 as an ostensibly “good year.” However, the accelerated pullout of institutional investors in the range of almost €59 billion in Europe alone, the drop of the fund’s asset value from $520 a share in January 2018 to $380 at the end of December, and the fund’s announcement of international layoffs of an unprecedented scope, speak a different language.

Industrial Production Drops Across the EU

Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—Industrial production dropped significantly in Germany, Italy, Spain, France and the U.K. in November. The highest drop was in Germany: 1.9% on a monthly basis; followed by Italy (1.6%), Spain (1.5%), France (1.3%). The U.K. had the “best” performance with only a 0.4% decline.

The causes for the production drop listed by mainstream “experts” are: 1. Uncertainty over the U.S.-China trade dispute (Chinese purchasers are suspending orders for machines). 2. The crisis of the German auto industry (which is a locomotive not only for Germany but also for other countries, such as Italy which produces many auto components). 3. Emerging countries problems (Turkey, Venezuela, etc.) caused by the U.S. Federal Reserve rate hikes.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Classical Music Is Capturing the Youth in China

Jan. 13 (EIRNS)—A full-page article in China Daily finds that classical music is really catching on in China, and particularly among the youth. The article refers to two concerts featuring Brahms’ symphonies conducted by Daniel Barenboim with the Staatskapelle Berlin last month at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. When he finished the performance, Barenboim asked for the concert lights to be turned up before giving an encore. Looking at the audience, he said, “I have never seen such a young crowd sitting in a classical music concert. It’s a surprise.” The NCPA’s slogan is “Art Changes Life.”

The number of symphony orchestras has risen. Four years ago there were 30 professional orchestras in China, but by last year the figure had risen to 82, presenting opportunities not only for young Chinese musicians, but also for musicians all over the world. Lyu Jia, the music director of the NCPA and principal conductor of its orchestra and chorus, said: “It is such an encouraging environment for classical music to develop in China. The country has a healthy music education system and a large number of young people who are currently studying musical instruments, whether in schools or with private tutors. Most important, they remain passionate and exuberant.”

World-renowned Chinese pianist Lang Lang is also intensely engaged in spreading classical music. “I would like to introduce classical music to everyone in the world because it changed my life, and I believe it can change others,” Lang said. “Playing or listening to these great pieces is like reading the world’s best novels. With the same appeal, they relate emotions, inspiration and enjoyment…. The piano is a bridge between East and West,” Lang said. “It is a gateway for Chinese to approach the world. For most Chinese, classical music is quite new. We don’t have the concept that it is from the old times, say 200 or 300 years ago. We have a fresh image of Mozart and Beethoven, and a deep respect for these composers.” Lang, who plays to sold-out houses, was a student of Barenboim. Nearly 300 Chinese from around the country, ages from 4 to 15, are attending Lang Lang Music World, a training school in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.

Yellow Vests Expand in France, Extend into U.K.

Jan. 12 (EIRNS)—At least 84,000 Yellow Vest demonstrators took to the streets of Paris, Bordeaux, Bourges, and other French cities today, the ninth week of such anti-austerity demonstrations in France, and an increase over last week. The mad President Emmanuel Macron has a plan to deal with the growing rage against the forced collapse of the nation—a “great national debate,” which is scheduled to start on Jan. 15, with four topics: taxation; state institutions; democracy; and citizenship. (What about the economy, one may ask?)

He has announced that he will release a public letter on Jan. 14 to explain how this debate is supposed to work. Jacques Cheminade, the friend of the LaRouche movement in France, gave his assessment that Macron’s ministers were pulling out their hair, trying to convey to the daft fellow that he would lose any such debate.

Popular support for the Yellow Vests remains very high. The government had 80,000 police officers on the streets today, and arrested 102 people in Paris, and 167 in Bourges.

Networks in and around the British Labour Party held a major demonstration today in London, under the auspices of the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, with many wearing yellow vests. While the disastrous Brexit plan being pushed by Theresa May was among the issues, it was the overall disaster of the economy that led the demands.

Labour’s Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell, one of Jeremy Corbyn’s closest associates, spoke to the rally, denouncing the Tory government for “tearing apart the social fabric of Britain.” Left-wing antifa and right-wing followers of Tommy Robinson intervened to provoke violence, leading to some arrests, which then became the focus of much media coverage.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Former NASA Administrator Bolden Calls for Cooperation with China

J

Jan. 13 (EIRNS)—The Jan. 14 issue of China Daily carries an exclusive interview with former NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, who said he is “incredibly optimistic,” that the prohibition on NASA cooperation with NASA will be reversed. “I just think cooler heads will prevail,” he affirmed. Bolden described the importance of U.S. collaboration with Russia in space. “If this administration went to the Congress and said, ‘Look, we want to relax the stipulations on the Wolf Amendment,’ or ‘We want to eliminate the Wolf Amendment,’ it could get passed in a heartbeat, and that would remove the restrictions and we’d be able to collaborate in human spaceflight,” he said. He specified that “we should integrate China into the International Space Station program.”Bolden said, “I think it’s really important for the NASA administrator to speak for the United States, in reaching out to other nations of the world to say, you know, we are with you, we look at this (Chang’e-4 landing) as an achievement of humanity. And we really want to remain partners in this effort.”

Reach us at eirdailyalert@larouchepub.com or call 1-571-293-0935