EIR DAILY ALERT SERVICE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019
Volume 6, Number 23
EIR Daily Alert Service
P.O. Box 17390, Washington, DC 20041-0390
To Shut Down the Coup Against Trump, Exonerate Lyndon LaRouche
U.S.-China Talks Conclude, But Trump Says He and Xi Will Decide Resolution Next Month
China and Italy Should Build an ‘Axis of Growth’
Venezuelan Crisis Part of British Coup Against President Trump
Mexican President Rejects EU Games Against Venezuela
Thompson and Ryabkov Reach No Agreement on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
Cutting Germany’s Power Supply: Today No Energy, Tomorrow No People
Russia Exhibits Greater Interest in Africa, Starts Plans To Train More Nigerians in Nuclear Energy
Three Former Israeli Military Chiefs of Staff Unite Against Netanyahu in April Elections
EDITORIAL
To Shut Down the Coup against Trump, Exonerate Lyndon LaRouche
Jan. 31 (EIRNS)—The first two items in today’s Alert reflect how quickly Humanity could secure the New Paradigm wherein nations and peoples leave behind their conflicts and hatreds, to work together on the common aims of Mankind. You will see how President Donald Trump again demonstrated the leading role he can play in this fight, by speaking of his hope that he and his friend President Xi Jinping will be able to hammer out a final deal resolving the U.S.-China trade conflict, when they meet “in the near future.” In a similar spirit, only a few days before, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte spoke after meeting in Rome of how their countries, which represent “the cradle of Eastern and Western thought,” are ready “to join forces to develop an axis of growth” around the New Silk Road initiative.
At the same time, the imperial agents in Washington, D.C. frantically working to drive President Trump out of office are moving to pull the U.S. out of the Intermedia-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in the immediate days ahead, with the open intention of preparing conflict with Russia. The same hard-core British acolytes want to entrap President Trump in their dangerous Venezuelan “regime-change” operation, to thereby bury the Silk Road spirit spreading in the Americas and prevent the cooperation between Mexico, the United States and Central America, which Presidents López Obrador and Trump have put on the agenda.
In the face of these tumultuous developments, Helga Zepp-LaRouche urged today that those who love humanity around the world keep a cool head. Nothing is coherent from the standpoint of the roller-coaster of the daily news—now up, now down, now turning; but if you keep your eye on “the long arc of development,” these things fall into place, she recommended during her weekly strategic international webcast.
George Soros “gave the show away” in Davos, she said, when he said that China, and Xi Jinping in particular, are the biggest threat to his concept of the “open society.” Zepp-LaRouche called his open society “the synonym for this excessive, neo-liberal model of economy, the values that ‘everything goes,’ the policy of regime-change, of color revolution, everything we have seen in terms of the assault against the countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.” Think about Soros, she said, keeping the world destabilized and in geopolitical confrontation, “versus the new paradigm of an emerging new system of international relations, spearheaded by China and forming a completely new set of international relations in the context of the so-called ‘Belt and Road Initiative,’ or the New Silk Road.”
Then things fall into place. “You will see which countries and which governments are doing something for the common good, alleviating poverty, and in which countries the poverty, the drug epidemic, the youth violence are getting worse.”
People are really starting to see that what is going on in the United States is a coup, Zepp-LaRouche emphasized. “And it is really something which has to stop, and the best way to stop it, as we discussed last week, is to sign the appeal that my husband, Lyndon LaRouche, should be exonerated by President Trump, because it is that apparatus which did the entire prosecution against him in the ’80s, and this is the same apparatus which did the cover-up of 9/11, and it is also the apparatus going after President Trump right now.
“So I would say, help us to make this appeal for the exoneration of my husband a very, very loud cry, because it helps people to focus on what is the problem and how it should be solved…. Read what my husband Lyndon LaRouche has been writing. He is a source of practically limitless wisdom, and I again appeal to you, help us to increase the call for his exoneration, and let’s build a world based on the beautiful ideas which he has proposed,” she concluded.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
U.S.-China Talks Conclude, but Trump Says He and Xi Will Decide Resolution Next Month
Jan. 31 (EIRNS)—China’s Vice Premier Liu He and Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the conclusion of talks trade talks today between the two countries’ delegations. In comments to the press, President Trump said, “Now we’re going to have a great trade deal … if it all works out…. I think we made tremendous progress. It doesn’t mean you have a deal, but I can say there is a tremendous relationship and warm feeling and we’ve made tremendous progress.”
The Chinese delegation read a letter to President Trump from President Xi Jinping. In the letter, Xi said: “I hope our two sides will continue to work with mutual respect,” and “that both countries will meet each other halfway in order to reach an early agreement that works in the best interest of both sides…. Such an agreement will send a positive message to our two peoples and to the broader international community…. I hope we’ll keep close contact in various ways.”
“That’s a beautiful letter,” President Trump commented, and saying that the U.S.-China relationship “has never been so advanced.” The U.S. President also said that the issues would be further discussed in his meeting with President Xi next month. “When President Xi and I meet next month, we want to have certain points that we can discuss.” He said, however, that the March 1 deadline for increasing tariffs would remain in place, which is when the 10% tariffs levied on Chinese goods would be raised to 25%.
Yesterday’s meeting dealt specifically with trade issues and it is likely that China had a long list of increased purchases they would be willing to make. President Trump expressed particular pleasure with China’s proposed purchase of U.S. soybeans. “That’s going to make our farmers happy,” he said, said, “that’s a lot of soybeans.” This morning’s meeting dealt with the more sensitive “structural reforms” demanded by the U.S. side. While China is fast-tracking new investment regulations through the National People’s Congress next month, it is not clear if these will be enough to satisfy the U.S. side. The “maximum” program mooted by the U.S. Trade Representative would be unacceptable to China, as it would mean an extensive dismantling of its industrial policy. But the issues will now be the subject of a Xi-Trump summit. At the same time, the negotiators will continue discussions through February of the various issues involved in preparation for that summit.
China and Italy Should Build an ‘Axis of Growth’
Jan. 31 (EIRNS)—After his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi in Rome on Jan. 25, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy and China should build an “axis of growth.” Wang Yi said the two countries represent “the cradle of Eastern and Western thought,” the daily FaroDiRoma reported.
Conte stressed that “Italy attaches great importance to trade relations with China. For this reason, I hope we can keep high-level relationships and strengthen cooperation in the economic, commercial and investment sectors, including the energy sector.”
“The New Silk Road Initiative is a major ground for our bilateral cooperation. Rome is ready to join forces to develop an axis of growth with Beijing,” Conte concluded.
For his part, Wang said: “China and Italy have always had friendly relationships. They represent the cradle of Eastern and Western thought.” His visit aimed at promoting “a strategic, global and sustainable partnership” between the two countries, “independent from the evolutions of international scenarios.” “Italy is a natural partner, including in the framework of the ‘New Silk Road’ initiative. I therefore invite Rome to play an active role. Both China and Italy would benefit from it, because China is opening its internal market with a view to facilitating the economic-commercial development of the Eurasian region.
“Strengthening cooperation in sectors such as industry, agriculture and innovation can bring mutual benefits to both economies, which show certain complementarities. Beijing is in favor of promoting qualified investments in Italy and is confident that Rome can offer a suitable environment for a fair and profitable trade, able to satisfy both parties.”
Meanwhile, Italian media have reported that trade exchanges between China and the New Silk Road countries have reached $1.3 trillion in 2018, reported the Commerce Ministry in Beijing. They have grown 16.3% from 2017. Industrial investments amount to $15.6 billion, 9% more than in 2017.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Venezuelan Crisis Part of British Coup against President Trump
Jan. 31 (EIRNS)—The sequence of events leading up to the U.S. Jan. 23 recognition of Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaidó as that country’s interim President, make clear that this orchestrated crisis is a key element of the British-directed coup against President Donald Trump to remove him from office.
The Wall Street Journal put it blatantly today: “U.S. Push To Oust Venezuela’s Maduro Marks First Shot in Plan To Reshape Latin America.” The “reshaping” will include not only Venezuela, but also Cuba and Nicaragua—John Bolton’s “Troika of Tyranny.” The Trump Administration,” the Journal says, “is stocked with officials who have long believed Cuba to be the more serious national security threat…. The goal, the administration thinking goes, is to sever ties that bind Venezuela to Cuba and sink regimes in both countries.”
As the Journal documents, U.S. policy on Venezuela is the work of the gaggle of London-directed neo-cons inhabiting the administration—Vice President Mike Pence, National Security Advisor John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Iran-Contra felon Elliott Abrams, and National Security Council Western Hemisphere Affairs Director Mauricio Claver-Carone, among others. They coordinate with Republican Florida legislators, including Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, “who have a large number of constituents with connections to Venezuela,” and to the fanatical, intelligence-linked wing of the Cuban exile community.
On Jan. 22, one day before Guaidó declared himself president, and the U.S. recognized him, Rubio, Scott, and Diaz-Balart met at the White House with Trump, Pence and others. The month prior to Guaidó’s Jan. 23 declaration saw a density of planning meetings, in Washington and overseas, to coordinate with key U.S. allies (Colombia and Brazil) and with Venezuela’s Project Democracy-run opposition. Canada’s neo-con Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was key in the planning stages.
As soon as Nicolas Maduro was sworn in on Jan. 10, Pompeo spoke with Guaidó, promising to “work closely on a path to a democratic future for Venezuela.” That day, the State Department officially backed the National Assembly as the only legitimate and democratically elected entity in Venezuela.
Mexican President Rejects EU Games against Venezuela
Jan. 31 (EIRNS)—During a press conference today with visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made clear he has no intention in joining the European Union’s proposed Contact Group on Venezuela, but will stick to Mexico’s traditional policy of non-intervention and diplomacy.
The new EU group will begin operating today, and will invite Ibero-American nations to join. Spain was also invited to join the Lima Group, 11 of whose 14 members, excluding Mexico, have recognized Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim President.
As reported by the daily El Informador today, López Obrador stated that “dialogue is the first step; things cannot be imposed. First the two sides have to be made to dialogue.” He continued pointedly: “We don’t want foreigners to intervene in matters which are exclusive to Mexico. That’s why we must be very careful not to intervene, so that others won’t intervene [in our affairs].”
Sanchez of course insisted that his government has no desire to “install or remove governments,” but rather favors democratic means, such as “fair and transparent elections” in Venezuela.
The Washington Post reported this afternoon that an unnamed senior administration official strongly rejected the proposal from Mexico, Uruguay, and the Vatican to mediate a dialogue between Nicolas Maduro and Juan Guaidó. During a briefing with reporters yesterday, in which he asked not to be identified, the official stated, “we reject any talks of any type of effort that would allow Maduro to maintain himself in power.” Mexico and Uruguay had announced Jan. 30 they would hold an international conference in Montevideo on Feb. 7 to discuss the Venezuelan crisis.
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Thompson and Ryabkov Reach No Agreement on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
Jan. 31 (EIRNS)—No agreement on the INF Treaty was reached this morning, during the meeting between Undersecretary of State Andrea Thompson and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on the sidelines of the nuclear meeting five permanent members of the UN Security Council—U.S., Russia, U.K., France, and China—in Beijing. “The Russians still aren’t in acknowledgment that they are in violation of the treaty,” Thompson told Reuters, but also stating, that “diplomacy is never done,” and that she anticipated more discussions.
“Unfortunately, there is no progress. The U.S. position remains rather tough and ultimatum-like,” Ryabkov said. “We told the U.S. side that it is impossible to hold dialogue in the conditions of attempted blackmailing of Russia.”
According to TASS, the meeting between Thompson and Ryabkov lasted less than an hour. “The U.S. side is now trying to criticize us that this had been arranged in a wrong way,” said, Ryabkov, referring to the Jan. 23 briefing on the 9M729 missile by the Russian Foreign and Defense Ministries, which the U.S. and most NATO countries refused to attend, “but it contradicts itself and does not confirm that it is ready to further discuss with us any transparency measures.” He continued, “Certainly, there has been no reaction to our demands on the U.S. universal launchers as part of the Aegis Ashore systems, which have been already deployed to Romania and will soon emerge in Poland,” nor on the other two issues that the Russians have been raising, armed cruise missiles and the target-missiles used by the U.S. in ballistic missile defense testing.
Ryabkov claimed that the U.S. stance signals that its 60-day ultimatum on the INF Treaty is only aimed to cover up the decision to exit the treaty. “Now, as we understand, the next stage, the next phase is beginning, namely the phase of the U.S. suspension of its commitments under the INF Treaty. This will apparently happen this weekend. But we will continue the work, we are not giving up. We are ready to look for solutions, but now it will be much more difficult to do this,” he said.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its future was the main topic of the Beijing UN conference, but it came in the shadow of the U.S. announcement, on Jan. 28, that production of the W76-2 warhead had begun. The W76-2 is the low-yield warhead called for in the Pentagon’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review as an additional “option” for the Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile. When this was raised last year, Russia expressed its “serious concern that the development of such low-yield warheads lowers the threshold of using nuclear weapons and increases the risk of a nuclear conflict,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a Jan. 30 press conference in Moscow, TASS reported. “As far as we can see, that provision has now been translated into the language of practical action. Certainly, this by no means promotes security in the modern world.”
COLLAPSING WESTERN SYSTEM
Cutting Germany’s Power Supply: Today No Energy, Tomorrow No People
Jan. 31 (EIRNS)—“Germany, as an industrial country, is absolutely at risk,” Helga Zepp-LaRouche warned today in her strategic Schiller Institute webcast. Germany still has an image abroad as a key industrial power, “but in reality, this is a Colossus on clay feet, because of the Green policies.” The following brief snapshot of those “clay feet” was provided by EIR’s German office.
The obsession of the German government and also of a good part of many accomplices in the political elite, with reducing emissions by cutting energy consumption by one-half, would, if not reversed, lead to a substantial deindustrialization of Germany. Without sufficient power supply, no production. The energy-intensive industries would emigrate first, with other sectors to follow. Already now, new power plant construction has come to a halt, and newly built plants are not even allowed to work, as in the case of the Uniper utility’s coal power plant Datteln IV, one of the most modern in Europe and the world. It will not be brought on the grid per government decree, leaving totally useless an investment by Uniper in the range of €1.5 billion.
Certain people in Germany boast that “already nearly 40%” of the national power supply now comes from “renewables,” such as solar, wind and biomass. This figure is due to the administrative suppression of “non-renewables”: Lignite is down to 22.5%, hard coal down to 14%, nuclear down to 11.7%, hydropower to 5.2%; natural gas, now at 13.2%, is the next target of the Greenies, also for Green geopolitical motives, because the gas predominantly comes from Russia.
The cost of this march backward into the renewables era is enormous: €25 billion annually to promote and subsidize solar, wind and biomass and €40 billion for the shutdown of the lignite and coal sector over the next 17-20 years, alone.
If this continues, it will be impossible for Germany to maintain its population of some 80 million in the long run. Phase one would be a substantial reduction of living standards, including of medical care (passive euthanasia); phase two would be substantial emigration of the young and the skilled labor force to other parts of the planet; in phase three, there would be left an elderly population who cannot be maintained after the emigration of the younger workforce.
If the plan behind all of this is to drive the world population back to the pre-industrial era when the world population was 1 billion in 1800 (as the British monarchy would have), Germany would have to shrink to a population of 10 million. If instead of the Sir John Schellnhubers who have this idea, the activists of “Population Matters”—the former Optimum Population Trust of Sir David Attenborough—had their say populations would be reduced by “only” two-thirds.
SCIENCE & INFRASTRUCTURE
Russia Exhibits Greater Interest in Africa, Starts Plans To Train More Nigerians in Nuclear Energy
Jan. 31 (EIRNS)—The Chief Executive Officer of Rosatom for Central and Southern Africa Dmitry Shornikov has announced the company’s intention to train more Nigerians in the safe use of nuclear technology earlier this month. The Nigerian government has recently signed an agreement with Russia for the construction of nuclear power plants and a nuclear research center in Nigeria. Shornikov further stated that the scheme was a great opportunity for scientists and engineers based in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as for students who made progress in mathematics and the sciences, and who want to apply to study courses in nuclear specialties, This Day reported yesterday.
Last April, East African Business Week of Kampala, Uganda, reported that Ethiopia and Russia had reached an agreement to develop nuclear energy collaboratively. That news came just weeks after Russian authorities had written off $162 million of Ethiopian debt. Beside Nigeria and Ethiopia, Rosatom has said it has concluded nuclear power memoranda of understanding with Egypt, Kenya, Sudan and Zambia. Uganda is also on the list.
Of the countries with Rosatom agreements, only Egypt has any concrete plans in place. A site for a 4.8GW nuclear plant has been identified at El Dabaa, on the Mediterranean Sea, and building is expected to start soon. In the other countries, the location and scale of the projects have yet to be determined.
OTHER
Three Former Israeli Military Chiefs of Staff Unite against Netanyahu in April Elections
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—Three former Chiefs of the General Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are about to unite to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the general elections on April 9. When the slate is fully formed, it will be led by Gen. Benny Gantz (ret.), who was Chief of Staff from 2011-2015, and today enjoys strong popular support, with one poll by Israel’s Reshet Channel 13 News putting Gantz and Netanyahu at 42% each.
Gantz already has an election alliance with Gen. Moshe Ya’alon (ret.), who was Chief of State, 2002-2005, and Defense Minister, 2013-2016.
Gantz held his first electoral rally in Tel Aviv on Jan. 28, in which he roundly denounced Netanyahu, comparing him to France’s King Louis XVI, who was beheaded in the French Revolution. Gantz declared: “The current regime encourages incitement, subversion and hatred. The basic values of Israeli statehood have been converted into the mannerisms of a French royal house….
“It does not see the working man and the working woman. It does not see families moaning under the cost of living and the young people who cannot buy an apartment.
“There was already a king who said: ‘The state is me.’ But no. Not here…
“No Israeli leader is a king. The state is not me. The state is you. The state is actually us. The state is all of us.
“The government we will form will be a national government and not a monarchy.”
Ya’alon attended the rally, where he announced that his Telem Party (Tnua Leumit Mamlachtit, or National Statesmanlike Movement) had formed an electoral alliance with Gantz’s Israel Resilience Party (Hosen Yisrael in Hebrew).
While demanding an end to corruption and incitement, and for uniting all sectors of the Israeli population—left and right, Jewish and Arab, and secular and religious—it is not fully clear what their policy on reopening the peace process will be.
The two former military leaders have invited a third, Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi (ret.), who was IDF Chief of Staff in 2007-2011, to join their alliance. Ashkenazi is said to be considering entering politics, but has yet to make a decision.
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