MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2019

Volume 6, Number 83

EIR Daily Alert Service

P.O. Box 17390, Washington, DC 20041-0390

Xi Chairs BRF Roundtable for ‘Boosting Connectivity for New Sources of Growth’

Putin Gives New Silk Road Ringing Endorsement as Having a ‘Very Bright Future’

Global Times Op-Ed Urges, ‘It’s Time for Washington To Consider Joining the Belt and Road’

Xi and Conte Confirm that Italy-China Cooperation Will Be a Model for Europe

Trump Slams Mueller Probe as a Coup To Overthrow the Government

Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif Says Neither Iran nor Trump Want Confrontation, but Others Do

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EDITORIAL

Second Belt and Road Forum Concludes with Plans for ‘A Very Bright Future’ for All Nations

April 28 (EIRNS)—The Chinese government of Xi Jinping hosted the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing on April 25-27, with the participation of around 5,000 people from some 150 countries and about 90 international organizations. Among these were hundreds of ministers and 37 heads of state or government. Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche characterized the meeting as “a great success; it is completely consolidated. This adds a new dimension to the world economy.” She observed that some $64 billion worth of new economic deals of one kind or another were signed, and many plans laid for the future.

Speaking in her weekly webcast, yesterday, Zepp-LaRouche reported that, in his keynote address to the opening session, Xi Jinping had presented a long, detailed list of projects and development corridors that are being built under the Belt and Road Initiative. “And he named as the first one, which naturally made me very happy, the New Eurasian Land-Bridge. As people may know, this is something we have been campaigning for, for almost 30 years, since the collapse of the Soviet Union.”

In this regard, she drew attention to an international webcast delivered back on May 10, 1997 by her husband, the late Lyndon LaRouche, “which talks about the need for the U.S. to engage in the Eurasian Land-Bridge, and he says the two most important countries are the U.S. and China to work together. And when you look at that video, you could think it would have been for the occasion of this Second Belt and Road Forum—that’s how absolutely actual it is.” She urged her audience to watch the class series in which she introduced the 1997 video for themselves (see Class #1 (Apr 27): Overview: The Individual’s Role in History; LaRouche’s 1997 video begins at 8:55).

With LaRouche’s call from more than two decades ago—for the U.S. to join China in building the Eurasian Land-Bridge—still unfulfilled, Zepp-LaRouche remarked that the U.S. unfortunately only sent a low-level delegation to this week’s Belt and Road Forum. However, “there were several renewed offers by China’s Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai, and also Global Times … inviting the United States to join, basically saying the U.S. should not sit by, that U.S. economic, industrial potential is urgently needed for these kinds of global development projects. So the hand is clearly stretched out from the side of the Chinese, and one can only hope there will be a rethinking on the side of the United States.”

Zepp-LaRouche pointed to the fact that President Donald Trump is now openly calling the “Russiagate” operation against him an attempted coup d’état, and that he is pointing the finger directly at the British Empire for their primary responsibility in this attack, as a very encouraging development, which can help free him to develop the kind of cooperative relationship with Russia and China that he campaigned on.

But more than that will be required to fully bring a New Paradigm into being, Zepp-LaRouche stated.

“I’m deeply convinced the salvation of the United States, and by implication that of the world, and the exoneration of my husband are identical questions. One reason is the networks which went after him in unbelievable campaigns—Ramsey Clark once called it the worst obstruction of justice and violation of law in the history of the United States—that’s one very big reason: That these networks must be unmasked and justice must be reinstalled….

“The ideas of my husband really represent the next level of human science and human knowledge about the laws of the universe. In another discussion, recently, I made the comparison to the effect Plato had on the Italian Renaissance. The Italian Renaissance was prepared by Dante, by Petrarca, by the beautiful sculptures and cathedrals—there was fertile ground. But it was really when Nicholas of Cusa brought the delegation of the Greek Orthodox Church to the [1438] Council of Ferrara and then, Council of Florence, and these Greeks brought the entire life’s work of Plato with them: That was the spark which caused the Italian Renaissance to completely create a new paradigm. And fortunately, you had the Medicis—this was a wealthy banking family in Florence, which financed a crash program of translation of these works—and it was really a completely new period which started.

“And I’m saying that that is the same with respect to the ideas of Lyndon LaRouche. I think there are many good things happening in the world right now, but I’m absolutely convinced that his important life’s work will be the spark which will trigger a new Renaissance, at least in the West, but I think also beyond.  So that is why I really urge you to read his works, and sign the petition for his exoneration and help us to spread it.”

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Xi Chairs BRF Roundtable for ‘Boosting Connectivity for New Sources of Growth’

April 27 (EIRNS)—Today, on the concluding day of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing (BRF), President Xi Jinping chaired the Roundtable discussion among the 39 guests—37 heads of state and government plus the leaders of the IMF and United Nations. A joint communiqué has been issued, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry has also posted a summary of the “Deliverables” from the Forum.

Last evening, after a day of presentations, as well as sideline bilateral meetings, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan hosted a welcome banquet for the national leaders. The cordial, but high-level tone of the deliberations April 25-27, was set in Xi’s keynote opening yesterday, when he happily welcomed everyone, “Good morning! As a line of a classical Chinese poem goes, ‘Spring and autumn are lovely seasons in which friends get together to climb up mountains and write poems.’ On this beautiful spring day, it gives me great pleasure to have you with us here at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF).”

Xi chaired today’s Roundtable, with Russian President Vladimir Putin seated to his right, and Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev to his left. Xi began his opening remarks by declaring the meeting is in the same venue as it was two years ago, but much progress has been made on the Belt and Road connectivity, and possibilities for new inputs to global growth are before us. He likened today’s gathering to how an architect seeks to refine his original blueprint, to make it better.

Xi presented much of what he said under three points. First, he spoke of integrating the BRI with the goals of the UN Agenda 2030 for world development, and aligning BRI activities with “accepted standards” for high quality. It should have a “result-oriented impetus,” including being clean and green.

Secondly, there should be work for “all around connectivity,” including among financial systems and people-to-people activity.

Thirdly, there should be “connection mechanisms” to “build an open world economy.” This means the BRI should be engaged in institution-building, in bilateral and multilateral ways among countries and among companies.

Putin Gives New Silk Road Ringing Endorsement as Having a ‘Very Bright Future’

April 28 (EIRNS)—At his April 27 press conference after the Roundtable discussion at the Second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, the first question that Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked was: “The Belt and Road is a very ambitious project—to the extent that it raises concerns in some. China is not a country that makes plans only for years ahead—it makes plans for decades proceeding not from billions but from trillions of dollars. This leads to the question, is this China’s project or is it beneficial for other participants? Is it beneficial for Russia?”

Putin’s response was categorical, and included important indications of his close cooperation with Xi Jinping in conceptualizing the advance of the BRI over the six years it has been in existence:

“China is a vast country…. Therefore, of course, China has plans for its development, and they are immense and ambitious; when China implements anything, it uses a highly pragmatic approach to achieve its tasks. China is our strategic partner; this is obvious from all indicators and parameters…. Just like us or any other country, they are governed by their national interests.”

Putin then specified China’s unique approach to promoting its national interest:

“China implements this in a civilized and delicate way, making sure proposals for common development meet the interests of the vast majority of international participants, if not all. Generally speaking, China has offered nothing new; what it is doing is actually making attempts to reaffirm the principles set out by the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, and many of our colleagues are mentioning this backstage like they did at the last meeting. What is China’s goal? Stability….

“So how should China respond when it faces certain restrictions and attempts by some countries to stop its development? What should China do? It must strengthen the fundamental tenets of global economic relations, and create conditions for promoting its products. How can this be done? By developing transport infrastructure, port facilities, air, rail and motor transport, and building roads. This is exactly what China is doing.”

Putin elaborated on how the concept of the BRI has evolved: “This was how it all started, but later it became obvious both in terms of China’s growth and for us as well, that this would not be enough. We needed to strengthen the fundamental tenets of international economic relations. Is Russia interested in this? Of course, it is. Considering the high volume of trade and the fact that it is growing, we are certainly interested in benefitting from the transit potential of the Trans-Siberian Railway and Baikal-Amur Mainline, and we intend to invest heavily in them, as well as in motor transport and roads. We have earmarked trillions of rubles for infrastructure development. Why are we doing this? In order to make effective use of our country’s transit potential and to be able to engage in mutual import and export operations.”

The transcript in English is posted on the President’s Kremlin website.

Global Times Op-Ed Urges, ‘It’s Time for Washington To Consider Joining the Belt and Road’

April 28 (EIRNS)—On the eve of the Second Belt and Road Forum, an April 25 op-ed by Xu Hailin was published by Global Times which straightforwardly urged the U.S. to join the Belt and Road Initiative and not miss out on the opportunities that it provides.

The article emphasized that “ever since it kicked off six years ago, the BRI has always welcomed the U.S. to join. It was the U.S. that has refused to accept the BRI and has attempted to forge ideological opposition to it.”

But now is the time for all that to change. “This could be good timing now for the U.S. to deliberate signing up to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). From a narrow national interest point of view, the U.S.’s concerns about the BRI are understandable. But Washington’s increasingly deep misunderstanding of the initiative is pushing the U.S. to the sidelines of the economic and trade activities that are providing huge yields to the world. Hence, the U.S. will miss opportunities for growth while forcing its allies away from development opportunities.

“If Washington still claims itself the leader of the world, if it wants to benefit more from the global growth and keep its leading status, if it wants to make the initiative operate conform to the U.S.’s rules, joining BRI as soon as possible is the best way.”

The op-ed concludes that it is pointless for the U.S. to try to set up a competing grouping: “Rather than be envious of China’s increasing global charisma brought by the BRI, while introducing a $113 million ‘Indo-Pacific Economic Vision,’ intended to be a competing project of BRI, it is better for the U.S. to be part of the real BRI. Washington should abandon the zero-sum mindset and pragmatically promote global economic development, which will eventually benefit U.S. growth.”

Xi and Conte Confirm that Italy-China Cooperation Will Be a Model for Europe

April 27 (EIRNS)— China’s President Xi Jinping and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing today. “China will further work with Italy in jointly building the Belt and Road and expand cooperation in trade, investment, technology, and cultural exchanges. Chinese President Xi Jinping made the remarks on Saturday when meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte,” Xinhua reported.

“Xi said he appreciates that Italy has taken the lead among Western countries in signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China on cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

“Xi also called for greater efforts to make China-Italy cooperation a model of China-Europe cooperation under the BRI.

“Conte expressed willingness to promote multilateralism and strengthen cooperation with China, stressing that the country has a firm resolution in jointly building the Belt and Road.

“More and more countries will take an active part in the BRI which is beneficial to people around the world, he added.

“The prime minister said he welcomed Chinese enterprises to invest in Italy, adding that the country’s business policies will be fair and non-discriminatory.

“He also congratulated China’s success in holding the forum.”

Conte posted the following statement on his Facebook page: “The ‘Silk Road’ is a historic opportunity to open new markets for our companies, building deep trade relations that can produce major investment opportunities. Not only goods and services will travel on this Road; indeed, it will be a ‘Silk Road of Knowledge,’ with the aim of promoting development and prosperity for all our peoples thanks to infrastructural, physical and above all human connectivity.

“Thanks to Italian contributions, in a framework of fruitful collaboration with China and all involved countries, the Belt and Road Initiative will proceed under the banner of protecting human rights, sustainable development, safety and protection of intellectual property. This is a major result and we are proud of having concluded the BRI project as active players, adopting principles and values outlined with clarity in the European Union Strategy on Eurasian Connectivity.

“A Chinese saying is: ‘Use your torch to make light for others’. This is the philosophy which we have followed so far and will inspire our future path in the Belt and Road Initiative.”

Responding to questions from Italian journalists yesterday, Conte refused to comment on the fact that German Economic Minister Peter Altmaier who, in Beijing listed “all major European countries” but neglected to include Italy. However, he said that Italy does not need the EU “hat,” as the MOU with China provides a much better “hat” than the one offered by EU policy papers. We are leading in Europe, Conte said.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Trump Slams Mueller Probe as a Coup To Overthrow the Government

April 26 (EIRNS)—In a 45-minute interview with Sean Hannity on Fox last night, President Donald Trump threw down the gauntlet, declaring the Russiagate fraud as a “coup” and an attempted “overthrow of the government,” and that the tables are now turned on the criminals responsible, up to the highest level. Given that it was Hannity, who foolishly calls the anti-Trump dossier by British intelligence agent Christopher Steele “Russian lies,” Trump did not get a chance to go after the British roots of the coup, although he has now twice tweeted that truth.

“This was a coup, this was an attempted overthrow of the United States government,” Trump said. “I think it’s possibly the biggest scandal in political history of our country. I think it’s far bigger than Watergate, because it means so much. This wasn’t stealing information from an office in the Watergate apartments. This was an attempted coup. It’s inconceivable. Like a third world country.”

He charged Hillary Clinton’s role in the coup as responsible for “destroying the lives” of several of his campaign team. Now, he said, “the tables have turned,” and it is “time to look at the other side…. Let’s see what happens with McCabe, Comey, Brennan and Clapper—let’s see how high up it goes. I would imagine some other people, maybe a little bit higher up also knew about it—and maybe a lothigher up,” clearly pointing to Barack Obama. “It’s very important for the country to find out how that whole thing got started.”

Asked about his pledge to declassify the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) documents, he responded: “Everything is going to be declassified, and more, much more, than what you just mentioned. It’ll all be declassified.”

He intervened on Hannity’s questioning, to praise Russia and China in regard to the North Korea diplomacy. He said, “President Putin of Russia made the statement that it’s great to be able to help us with Kim Jong Un and North Korea. We all want to get rid of the nuclear weapons, Russia wants to, China wants to. President Xi has been a great help. We’re working on a great trade deal.”

Helga Zepp-LaRouche searched for coverage in the American press, and found almost no mention of this except on Fox itself. “I find it incredible,” she said today, “that the President of a country declares that there has been a coup attempt, an attempt to overthrow the government, and most of the media do not even mention it. Incredible.”

‘Fireside Chat’: Larry Johnson, Bill Binney Blast Russiagate Fakery, Highlight GCHQ Role in Coup

April 26 (EIRNS)—LaRouche PAC’s Fireside Chat broadcast on April 25 featured former NSA Technical Director Bill Binney; Larry Johnson, formerly of the CIA and the State Department’s Counter-Terror Unit; and Barbara Boyd, author of LaRouche PAC’s report, “Robert Mueller Is an Amoral Assassin, He Will Do His Job If You Let Him.”

They discussed Robert Mueller’s entirely nonsensical Special Counsel report, trying to justify how he spent $35 million investigating Russiagate when it was known from the beginning that there was never any conspiracy between the Trump Campaign and Russia. Instead, there was a concerted effort from British and American intelligence agencies to smear Donald Trump as a Russian agent, a full-scale escalation of that effort involving multiple FBI, CIA, and British GCHQ components when Trump became the Republican nominee, and the explosion of a coup attempt against the incoming administration when Trump won the Presidency. This operation has dangerously imperiled relationships between the world’s two great nuclear powers.

Bill Binney said he found no evidence in the Mueller report whatsoever demonstrating that Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or John Podesta, a fraud which Mueller spends pages attempting to promote.  Binney has previously conducted forensics on the WikiLeaks documents Mueller claims were the product of a hack by the Russians.  Binney has demonstrated, as have others, that Guccifer 2.0, who Mueller claims is a Russian GRU persona, is a fake persona and that the WikiLeaks documents are the product of a download via a thumb drive or storage device rather than a hack.

Johnson revealed that Britain’s GCHQ began a calculated surveillance operation covering everyone in the Trump Campaign in late 2015, which is how they targeted George Papadopoulos, the young Trump Campaign volunteer working in London, for a series of entrapment operations which created the pretext for the FBI’s counterintelligence operation, codenamed Cross-Fire Hurricane. As the result of this targeting, Papadopoulos was set up by Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese professor who is a British intelligence asset, not a Russian asset as fraudulently portrayed by Robert Mueller.  Mifsud told Papadopoulos that the Russians had thousands of Hillary Clinton’s emails, creating the pretext or predicate for unprecedented espionage against a major Presidential campaign by the FBI.

On April 24, 2019, President Trump issued a tweet: “ ‘Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson accuses United Kingdom Intelligence of helping Obama Administration Spy on the 2016 Trump Presidential Campaign.’ @OANN WOW! It is now just a question of time before the truth comes out, and when it does, it will be a beauty!”

Boyd focused initially on the reported fact that former CIA Director John Brennan initially demanded that the completely phony Christopher Steele report be included, verbatim, in the Obama Administration’s January 2017 “assessment” that Russia meddled in the election in support of Donald Trump.

While Johnson said that this was really being pushed by Obama’s Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, the implication was very clear. Had that phony piece of intelligence by a “former” MI6 agent, been directly endorsed, the coup would have been completely and dangerously opened up directly just before the President’s inauguration.

Otherwise, the three LaRouche PAC guests had a fascinating discussion of the British role in the coup and its strategic context, and the key people who must now be investigated and jailed.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Putin Briefed China’s Xi Jinping and Other World Leaders on His Talks with Kim Jong Un

April 28 (EIRNS)—At his press conference after the Roundtable at the Second Belt and Road Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked: “Is there a possibility for Russia and China to put forward some kind of a settlement plan for the Korean Peninsula? Have you discussed the possibility of reviving six-party talks on these issues?” To which Putin responded:

“I announced back in Vladivostok that I will not fail to inform our Chinese partners and friends about the results of my talks with Kim Jong Un in Vladivostok. I did it, and there is nothing unusual about it. We always share information with each other on talks of this kind. This was one of such cases. I briefed President Xi Jinping on these issues during our talks, and we exchanged views on the developments on the Korean Peninsula. We have a Russian-Chinese initiative that we refer to as the Russian-Chinese settlement plan, a roadmap.”

Putin went on to emphasize that North Korea will require security guarantees in order to move forward: “We believe that its first part has been by and large implemented. We have to see what is written there, since there is nothing secret there. We now need to move on to the second part, which consists of normalizing relations between the conflicting sides. After all, the conflicting sides have been in a state of war against one another since the Korean War. We need to address fundamental matters and move on in order to create conditions that would be an adequate security guarantee for North Korea. We have not discussed any new plans. It is not that we need any, since we have to implement what we had already agreed upon. This is what we are doing.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif Says Neither Iran nor Trump Want Confrontation, but Others Do

April 28 (EIRNS)—In a lengthy interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan, posted online yesterday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed the growing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, and how to resolve them.

“We do not want conflict, we do not want confrontation…. We resist, but we are not seeking confrontation. We don’t believe that President Trump wants confrontation. But we know there are people who are pushing for one.” He repeated his view that, while President Donald Trump may not want confrontation, the “B-team” of Bolton (National Security Advisor John Bolton), Bibi (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), bin Salman (Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman), and bin Zayed (Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed) do want a confrontation, and may provoke an “accident” to make one happen. “I don’t think military confrontation will happen. I think people have more prudence than allowing a military confrontation to happen. But I think the U.S. administration is putting things in place for accidents to happen. And there has to be extreme vigilance, so that people who are planning this type of accident would not have their way.”

Zarif’s comments reflect a growing awareness of the sharp policy differences between Trump, on the one side, and some of his policy advisors (such as Bolton, Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Pompeo), on the other, an awareness which has been stated with increasing clarity by top Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Venezuelan, and other figures.

Zarif also went on to point out the absurdity of the line that Iran is principally responsible for world terrorism, and said the U.S. should rather look to their principal allies in the region:

“Their allies, their clients, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., have spent billions upon billions of dollars trying to create unrest, trying to support terrorist organizations, even in areas we are not present, like in North Africa. Look at what they’re doing in North Africa. Look at the turmoil in North Africa. We’re not even present in North Africa. So you need to look at the trouble where it actually is coming from. It’s not coming from Iran. Who provided the ideology for ISIS? Who provided the ideology for al-Qaeda? Who provided the ideology they’re following? Are they following our ideology? Come on.”

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

‘Argentina Is On the Brink,’ But So Is the International Financial System

April 28 (EIRNS)—The April 25 Financial Times headline, “Argentina Is On the Brink,” summed up the myriad of articles published in the international financial press at the end of the week expressing fear of a new Argentine default.

JP Morgan put Argentina’s “country-risk” premium at over 1,000 at one point on Friday, April 26—second only to Venezuela worldwide. Credit default swap rates on Argentine bonds reflect a 60% chance of default. The yield on two-year bonds soared to over 18%; short-term bonds were trading at distressed levels.

The peso fell in value by almost 4% on Thursday, April 25. With fuel prices (among others) indexed to the dollar, annualized inflation, now around 55%, is expected to further soar. Even so, the financial sharks are fuming that Argentine President Mauricio Macri “reverted” to imposing price controls on 60 basic items to attempt to stem his precipitous political fall.

But it is not just Argentina. Other so-called “emerging markets”—e.g., Turkey, Lebanon, and South Korea—are falling, too.

Bloomberg columnist Robert Burgess warned nervously three days ago that “Something Has Spooked the Currency Markets.” The signs he listed of crisis-fear, despite soaring stock markets included: “traders in the $5 trillion-a-day foreign-exchange market are flocking to the dollar, yen and Swiss franc,” the currencies historically viewed as “haven” currencies in a crisis; the Bank of Canada and Sweden’s Riksbank joined a long list of central banks “expressing concern about the global economic outlook and slower inflation”; South Korea, “a bellwether for global trade and technology,” reported its biggest contraction of gross domestic product in a decade.

Italy Refunds Bail-In Victims, as M5S Euro Election Program Backs Glass-Steagall

April 27 (EIRNS)—The Italian government has issued a decree with guidelines for refunding bail-in victims. Depositors and owners of subordinate bonds will be refunded up to €200,000. The measure is financed with €1.5 billion over three years.

In a related development, the M5S, or Five Star Movement party, confirmed their support for Glass-Steagall banking separation in their program for May 23-26 European elections. M5S is part of the Italian government coalition. In the next European Parliament legislature, says a note posted on the M5S blog, they will fight for scrapping the bail-in rule and “to avoid new crises such as the 2008 one, the M5S proposal is to establish a modern Glass-Steagall Act,” which separated depository banks and their functions from the speculative private or investment banks.

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