TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2019

Volume 6, Number 104

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

• Either a Polarized World Will Collapse into a Dark Age, or We Enjoy a New Paradigm of Development-No Third Way
• ‘The China-U.S. Relationship Belongs to Our People and Its Future Should Be Defined by the People’
• Trump in Japan Assures U.S. Is Not Seeking ‘Regime Change’ in Iran
• Dilma Rousseff Identifies Two Opposing Systems Before the World: The Belt and Road or Wall Street
• Global Times Editorials Insist, Washington Must Explain Itself or Face Backlash
• ‘Fernandez-Fernandez’ Ticket Vows to ‘Lift Argentina Up From Ashes’ in This Year’s Elections
• Brazil Heading Towards Ungovernability
• President Trump Confirms U.S. and Japan Will Work Together in Human Space Exploration
• Climate Change Malthusians Chewing Up Trees To Rush Out Greta Thunberg Books
• Greek Ruling Party Syriza Savaged By Voters
• Brexit Party Sweeps Elections in U.K., Farage Demands Seat at EU Negotiating Table
• Salvini’s Lega Becomes Lead Party in Italy, Demands Infrastructure for Growth inItaly and Europe
• Climate Hysteria Makes Greens Second Largest Party in Germany in European Elections

EDITORIAL

Either a Polarized World Will Collapse into a Dark Age, or We Enjoy a New Paradigm of Development—No Third Way

May 27 (EIRNS)—Helga Zepp-LaRouche, recently returned from a 12-day visit to China, addressed the extreme polarization now facing the world on multiple fronts: the severe conflict between the U.S. and China over trade and the vicious attack on Huawei; the general collapse of the traditional conservative and liberal parties across Europe, as demonstrated in yesterday’s European Parliament election results, with the emergence of pro-growth nationalist forces on the one side and the anti-growth green fascists on the other; and the breakdown crisis in Argentina, Venezuela, and potentially also Brazil.

The May 15 Conference on the Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in Beijing, at which Zepp-LaRouche was one of the speakers, was guided by a “completely different approach to problem-solving through dialogue,” she said. It was clearly a continuation of the spirit of the New Silk Road which characterized the Belt and Road Forums in May 2017 and April 2019, she added. The opening speech by President Xi Jinping, she said, was that of a “Renaissance man, and the Confucian aspect of his approach is very clearly there.”

Yet, the mood in China regarding the conflict with the U.S. is reaching a boiling point. With the breakdown of the trade negotiations, the newly imposed tariffs, and especially the attack on Huawei, the Chinese press has for the first time in many years taken on a severe tone against what they openly perceive to be a threat from the U.S. to impose the kind of “extra-territoriality” from which China suffered during the “century of humiliation” under the British and their “unequal treaties.”

The editorial, “U.S. Must Clarify Its China Approach,” in the Communist Party’s Global Times today asks: “What on Earth does the U.S. want with China? Does it want fair trade or does the U.S. refuse to accept China’s development and seek to break the Chinese economy as its ultimate goal?” It makes a reasonable demand: “For the sake of long-term interests and the well-being of the Chinese and the U.S. people, as well as world peace, Washington has an obligation to make a serious and sincere answer to the question, so as to help Chinese society accurately understand the U.S. intention. Such an understanding will profoundly affect the way Chinese society responds to the U.S.-launched trade war and China’s overall attitude toward the U.S.”

Zepp-LaRouche pointed out that, like the Russians, the Chinese recognize the distinction, often extreme, between President Donald Trump and the neoconservative colonialist mentality of many around him—naming the Vice President and the National Security Adviser in particular. She pointed to Trump’s visit to the U.K. on June 3-5 as critical—will he take on the British for their effort to overthrow his government? Will he demand an apology, and a public accounting of those who directed the failed coup attempt against their former colony?

Then Zepp-LaRouche stated: “At the end of June comes the G20 meeting, where it is very possible that Trump will meet with both Xi Jinping and Putin [and Modi—ed.].  And obviously, this is the place where you would absolutely need to have a New Bretton Woods, you need the resolution of these conflicts.”

This “New Bretton Woods” refers to Lyndon LaRouche’s call for the four central powers of China, Russia, India and the U.S. to convene a conference, with others of good will, to replace the bankrupt Western monetary system with a creditary system like that originally intended by Franklin Roosevelt—to direct credit into vast infrastructure and agro-industrial development in the former colonized nations of this planet—a project already undertaken with China and Russia’s leadership through the Belt and Road Initiative.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

‘The China-U.S. Relationship Belongs to Our People and Its Future Should Be Defined by the People’

May 27 (EIRNS)—U.S. and Chinese leaders joined together at last week’s “U.S.-China Governors’ Collaboration Summit” to mobilize the 400 officials and business people from China and 20 U.S. states and territories to help restore goodwill and trust between the U.S. and China.

The U.S. National Governors Association (NGA) featured the closing remarks of Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin in its press release on the summit: “When one side wins, the other side wins. When China is strong, it is good for America. When America is strong, it is good for China.” Bevin also said that “there’s no governor in America … that does not want these [trade] agreements to be done and done soon,” Xinhua reported.

The NGA reported also that China’s Ambassador Cui Tiankai spoke of how “cooperation is the only right option for our two countries…. Both the Chinese and the American people are pursuing a better life. This is our common goal.”

Former Missouri Gov. Bob Holden agreed, telling Xinhua at the summit that in his travels to China, “what struck him most is the ‘wonderful’ people who want their children to have a better opportunity than they have, ‘which is the very same value system that we have in … the heartland of the United States.’ ”

That commonality was the center of Cui’s speech on May 23, which is available in full on the China Embassy website.

“Every time I come to Kentucky, I feel like I am returning home. Here, I always find true friendship, not groundless suspicions; our people focus on cooperation, not confrontation; and we share hope for greater engagement and understanding, not the so-called ‘decoupling’ or estrangement,” Cui said.

He continued that he finds the same spirit wherever he travels in the U.S. “The friendly, open-minded, hard-working and independent American people always remind me of my country and my compatriots thousands of miles away. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Thanks to the hard work of successive generations, my country has become what it is today. Hundreds of millions of people have blazed their paths, step by step, out of poverty, and they have been still working tirelessly, bit by bit, to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The painstaking efforts of the 1.4 billion Chinese people, including workers, farmers, scientists and entrepreneurs must not be taken for granted….

“No country can prosper alone,” Ambassador Cui cautioned. China “regards the U.S. as an important cooperation partner,” but trade frictions are hurting. “We need to pay serious attention to this, and not let some ill-informed, ill-intentioned people incite a ‘new Cold War’ at the expense of the people’s interests…. [T]he China-U.S. relationship belongs to our people and its future should be defined by the people.”

Trump in Japan Assures U.S. Is Not Seeking ‘Regime Change’ in Iran

May 27 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump, who is currently on a state visit to Japan, denied that his administration is seeking regime change in Iran. “I know so many people from Iran, these are great people. It has a chance to be a great country, with the same leadership. We are not looking for regime change, I just want to make that clear,” Trump said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after their meeting today in Tokyo. “And I think we’ll make a deal. I think Iran—again, I think Iran has tremendous economic potential,” he said, according to the White House transcript.

The daily Yomiruri Shimbun reported that Trump and Prime Minister Abe discussed Abe’s upcoming visit to Iran in June where Abe offered to help mediate talks between Washington and Tehran and that Trump backed the idea. Kyodo News Agency writes that this visit will take place on June 12-14.

In the White House transcript of their remarks to the press before their meeting, Trump responded to a question about Abe’s offer to negotiate between the U.S. and Iran: “I do believe that Iran would like to talk. And if they’d like to talk, we’d like to talk also.  We’ll see what happens. But I know for a fact that the Prime Minister [Abe] is very close with the leadership of Iran, and we’ll see what happens. That would be fine. Nobody wants to see terrible things happen, especially me.”

In his remarks regarding North Korea, Trump said that he expected “lots of good things” despite recent missile launches by Pyongyang. “I personally think that lots of good things will come with North Korea, I feel that. I may be right, I may be wrong, but I feel that,” reported the White House. “Lots of good things will come with North Korea…. We’ve come a long way…. There’s a good respect built—maybe a great respect built—between certainly the United States and North Korea.”

The President further stated there was “tremendous” imbalance in trade with Japan but said that it could be “worked out” as the pair negotiate a deal. “We are working on the imbalance of trade—there’s been a tremendous imbalance—and we are working on that. I’m sure that will work out over a period of time,” Trump told the media.

ECONOMY

Dilma Rousseff Identifies Two Opposing Systems before the World: The Belt and Road or Wall Street

May 27 (EIRNS)—Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was thrown out of office in 2016 by an illegal parliamentary coup run from London and the U.S. Department of Justice, gave a long and thoughtful interview to the Spanish-language Sputnik Mundo on May 15 on regional policies and the breakdown crisis suffered by Brazil today. Asked to comment about “all the talk about Russian and Chinese influence” in Ibero-America and the Caribbean, Rousseff answered by pointing to the two opposing systems contending globally today:

“What is the U.S. worried about? I read a Chinese journalist’s statement that said: ‘Whereas they arrive with Marines, we arrive with businessmen and credit lines.’ I would like to emphasize the difference between the two strategies, between the strategies of the U.S., which is centered on finance, on the fact that resources are allocated for their own increase, and not in productive activities or in infrastructure or industrial investments.

“On the other hand, China and Russia—I put them together because Russia is jointly in the ‘Belt and Road’ project, which is not a speculative project, but an infrastructure investment project. Here in Latin America, the bioceanic route which would link the Atlantic to the Pacific was discussed a lot, but that shows two different ways of seeing relations between countries. One implies that we are going to build infrastructure together, a path of opportunities, investment and economic growth, and improved incomes.

“The other project is one of speculation, where what dominates is the financial market, imposing, as is being seen in Argentina, a disaster, which is going to begin here in Brazil, also becoming constantly deeper, which is cuts—cuts in education. Here they are cutting 30% in university budgets. So you have two different models.”

As for the domestic situation in Brazil, Rousseff started from the purpose for the coup against her. It “wasn’t done because they didn’t like ‘this’ or ‘that.’ It was carried out in order to put Brazil back fully under neoliberalism. We were the big country in the world which had not completed the process of being neoliberalized. Our labor market was not deregulated; our important state companies were under control of the government.” The coup, she warned, has “created a monster,” and severely undermined all institutions in the country. As a result, “Brazil is at an impasse. I do not have a crystal ball to say what will happen tomorrow,” but, she said, “a tsunami” could hit Brazil at any time.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Global Times Editorials Insist, Washington Must Explain Itself or Face Backlash

May 27 (EIRNS)—The lead editorial in Global Times today is a stark warning that the Trump Administration must make clear its actual intentions in regard to relations with China, or face a severe backlash from China and the world. Titled “U.S. Must Clarify Its China Approach,” excerpts follow:

“The Chinese people are so confused: What on earth does the U.S. want with China? Does it want fair trade or does the U.S. refuse to accept China’s development and seek to break the Chinese economy as its ultimate goal?

“This is a major issue. For the sake of long-term interests and the well-being of the Chinese and the U.S. people, as well as the world peace, Washington has an obligation to make a serious and sincere answer to the question so as to help Chinese society accurately understand the U.S. intention. Such an understanding will profoundly affect the way Chinese society responds to the U.S.-launched trade war and China’s overall attitude toward the U.S.

“Washington rudely tries to use a tariff war to suppress China. U.S. vice president and U.S. secretary of state issued fierce speeches recently. The U.S. is also opposing almost all of China’s actions on the international stage and is suppressing Huawei savagely. This behavior makes most Chinese believe the U.S. is against China’s development, and the real purpose of the U.S. is to deprive China of its development ability and the so-called fair trade is just an excuse for stealing away interests. In other words, the U.S. wants to rob China of not only its money but also its future.

“If Washington turns its jealousy against China’s development into all-round containment of the country, and would seek to sacrifice the two peoples’ livelihoods and world peace only to tear China down, then this is an evil policy that violates political morality. Under such circumstances, Chinese people will not yield to the U.S. We will do our best to protect the right of national development and not fear any risk….

“China has no will to challenge the U.S. strategically. China’s development is for the good life of the people. China has wanted to rid itself of humiliation throughout modern history, which is a strategic psychology of a defensive nature. We sincerely believe China cannot pursue its interests by zero-sum expansion. Expanding cooperation is the only way for China to advance in the world….

“What is the U.S. strategy toward China? The question makes us confused. What does it mean that the U.S. regards China as a strategic rival? Who should be responsible for U.S. actions? There are the U.S. leaders’ changing statements, fierce voices against China in the White House and radical claims from the U.S. Congress. To which of these should we pay attention and which should we ignore?…

“In a politically diverse U.S. society, there is no powerful force that opposes extreme policies against China. Although there are criticisms of the trade war, most of them analyzes specific interests. They have no strategic rethinking of how to prevent escalation. U.S. suppression of China is still expanding.

“Have the U.S. government and major U.S. political forces made up their mind to escalate toward comprehensive containment of Beijing? Are they even prepared to further accelerate the process? Washington should figure this out and give credible answers to the Chinese and U.S. peoples as well as the entire international society.”

A second editorial in Global Times warns that the mood of the population in China is expressed in rapidly increasing social media posts reflecting on the Korean War and the Cold War.

“Some hold that China’s counterstrikes against U.S. provocation are too mild. Indeed, this is not the right time for China to change from ‘defensive’ to the ‘offensive.’ But that could never mean that China is a coward without weapons to fight back…. If Washington insists on engaging in such a trade war, China will certainly not hesitate to fight back.”

‘Fernández-Fernández’ Ticket Vows To ‘Lift Argentina Up from Ashes’ in This Year’s Elections

May 27 (EIRNS)—On May 25, Argentine Independence Day, Presidential candidate Alberto Fernández and his running mate former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015), made their first public appearance, after Fernández de Kirchner’s surprise announcement May 18 that she would be running as number two on the Presidential ticket for this year’s elections.

The goal, as explained, is to build the broadest possible opposition coalition to defeat the hated neoliberal President Mauricio Macri in the first round of Presidential elections in October. This means bringing in opposition forces that would not otherwise have backed a Cristina Fernández Presidential bid. The more pragmatic Alberto Fernández is working on bringing other opposition leaders into the coalition. All agree that, under IMF tutelage, Macri has plunged the country into a crisis far worse than 2001, when it defaulted on $75 billion in foreign debt. What their program is beyond that, has yet to be enunciated, and it’s unclear whether this strategy is a workable one.

Although not billed as a campaign rally, the May 25 event attracted 30,000 people, who came to the Merlo district of Buenos Aires to witness the inauguration of a municipal park named after the late President Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007), Cristina Fernández’s predecessor and husband. In her remarks, Cristina Fernández recalled the May 25, 2010 celebration of Argentina’s Bicentennial, when “we had a different Argentina,” when people had jobs, schools, an economy that was growing, and “there was a future.” Today, that’s all gone. She recalled that during that Bicentennial, tens of thousands of citizens came out into the streets to joyfully celebrate, and nine visiting Ibero-American Presidents “walked through the multitudes, without any security…. So, let’s revive the spirit of the Bicentennial,” she said.

Alberto Fernández, who was President Nestor Kirchner’s chief of staff from 2003-2007, pointed out in his remarks that, today, four in ten Argentines live in poverty. Things are as bad, he said, as they were on May 25, 2003 when Nestor Kirchner took office. And, a new government will deal with today’s crisis as Nestor Kirchner did in 2003.

“With Nestor we did it once, and now we’re going to do it again, together. We were able to get out of debt, without one Argentine suffering,” he said. We got out of a labyrinth in 2003, and “we’re going to pull people out of the hole they’re in today.” In his first TV ad, Alberto Fernández vowed, “We’re going to lift ourselves up from the ashes; once again we’re going to pull our brothers out of poverty … we’re going to bring Argentina back to a dignified place in the world.”

Brazil Heading Towards Ungovernability

May 27 (EIRNS)—Twelve days ago, tens of thousands of Brazilian students and professors took to the streets in nearly 250 cities, in all 26 states, to demand that the government of Jair Bolsonaro rescind its announced 30% cut in funding for public universities. Many universities closed in support of the demonstrations, and trade unionists and others joined the protesters in many cities.

It was the biggest demonstration since the mobilizations to bring down Dilma Rousseff in 2015-2016, and it was organized in defense of the universities for “educating generations and producing the knowledge necessary for Brazil’s sovereignty,” as the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo declared in a statement issued by the university’s chancellor.

President Jair Bolsonaro’s response, that the protesters were “useful idiots and imbeciles,” fed the anger against him. He made the remark from Dallas, Texas, where he was meeting with ExxonMobil about his government’s plan to privatize the state oil company, Petrobras, piece by piece.

A few days later, the President sent out a text by WhatsApp social media from an “anonymous author,” which said the country was becoming “ungovernable,” provoking so much talk that he was considering closing Congress that he had to deny the rumors. It is being publicly discussed, for and against, that the military might step in to remove Bolsonaro, and put Vice President Hamilton Mourão (an Army general) in his place.

Adding to his weakness, five months after taking office, Bolsonaro is also no closer to getting Congress to pass a brutal pension reform—the biggest task Wall Street has demanded of him so far. On May 24, his “Chicago Boy,” Finance Minister Paulo Guedes threatened to resign if the “reform” (massive cuts) did not pass.

To gain some political leverage, Bolsonaro organized a demonstration in support of Guedes yesterday. His party split over whether the demonstration should be held. Demonstrators did take to the streets in 100 cities—but not in the numbers he had previously mobilized, or anywhere near the size of demonstrations on behalf of education.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

President Trump Confirms U.S. and Japan Will Work Together in Human Space Exploration

May 27 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump, in his statement at the joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, after their meeting this afternoon, said: “And, finally, today, I am pleased to confirm that Prime Minister Abe and I have agreed to dramatically expand our nations’ cooperation in human space exploration.  Japan will join our mission to send U.S. astronauts to space.  We’ll be going to the Moon.  We’ll be going to Mars very soon.  It’s very exciting.  And from a military standpoint, there is nothing more important right now than space. This is an exciting starting point for greater collaboration on many other things.”

Climate Change Malthusians Chewing Up Trees To Rush Out Greta Thunberg Books

May 27 (EIRNS)—New books are now hitting the shelves which will make Malthusian climate activists forget about their ban on cutting down trees.

In late April, 65,000 copies of climate poster-child Greta Thunberg’s 32-page manifesto Rejoignez-nous: #grevepourleclimat(Join Us) hit French bookshops, with British publishers “chasing English rights” for the translated version. A manifesto of the Extinction Rebellion’s This Is Not a Drill, went “from manuscript to print in just 10 days,” and is being “rushed out” states the Guardianfor release by June 3 (although publisher Penguin’s website gives June 13 as release date). Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas are among the contributors. The book, however, is subtitled “An Extinction Rebellion Handbook,” and Penguin’s website boasts it includes “instructions on how to rebel—from organizing a roadblock to facing arrest.” Or, as the Guardianquotes Penguin editor Tom Penn: “In an ideal world there would be an entirely non-impactful way of doing this, but this is a means to an end.” End? Indeed.

On June 6, Penguin Books is set to release a collection of 11 speeches by the teenager Thunberg, under the title No One Is Too Small To Make a Difference. Later this summer, Penguin also has plans to release the English translation of the Thunberg “family memoir”—co-authored by her mother, Malena Ernman (an “opera singer” theGuardian notes), her sister Beata Ernman, and her father Svante Thunberg—under the title, Scenes from the Heart.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS

Greek Ruling Party Syriza Savaged by Voters

May 27 (EIRNS)—The ruling party in Greece, Syriza, was demolished in both European Parliament elections and local elections held on the same day, May 26. As a result of the defeat, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced that he would call for an early national election. It will most likely be held on June 30 instead of in October, which is when the official mandate would end.

According to preliminary results the opposition New Democracy had received 33.25% (which corresponds to 7 seats in the European Parliament), the ruling Syriza had 23.74% (6 seats).

In the regional and local elections, Syriza fared even worse, losing 11 of the 13 electoral regions across the country, to the New Democracy party.

The reason Syriza lost was the same reason PASOK lost in 2012 and the New Democracy lost in 2015: each time they carried out the dirty work of Greece’s creditors. However, unlike Syriza, New Democracy has absolutely no alternative policy, and its leader, a former banker, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is a pure Europeanist, and only insists he can carry out the “reforms” the creditors are demanding better than Syriza. Furthermore, while there are factions in New Democracy that want cooperation with China and Russia, he is not among them.

Brexit Party Sweeps Elections in U.K., Farage Demands Seat at EU Negotiating Table

May 27 (EIRNS)—As expected, Nigel Farage’s newly created Brexit Party got 31.71% in the European Parliament elections in Britain on May 23, giving it 29 seats. The Liberal Democrats followed with 20%, with 16 seats; Labour Party 14.05% with 10 seats; Green Party 12.1% with 7; and, a disgraceful fifth place, the ruling Conservative and Unionist Party 9.1% and 4 seats; the Scottish National Party got 3.6% with 3 seats.

Members of the Brexit Party should now be brought in by the British government to take part in negotiations with the European Union, Nigel Farage has demanded. Brexit Party founder, the super-manic Farage declared, “Never before in British politics has a new party launched just six weeks ago topped the polls in a national election.” Farage continued, “There’s a huge message here, massive message here. The Labour and Conservative Parties could learn a big lesson from tonight, though I don’t suppose that they actually will.”

Prominent pro-Brexit Tory, Daniel Hannan, who just won his first European Parliament election, lamented that the Tory defeat was “the worst result my party has suffered in its 185-year history.” While the Tories lost their votes to the Brexit Party, Labour lost votes to the Liberal Democrats who were militantly pro-Remain. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for a general election.

Salvini’s Lega Becomes Lead Party in Italy, Demands Infrastructure for Growth in Italy and Europe

MILAN, May 27 (EIRNS)—The Lega and its leader Matteo Salvini swept the European elections in Italy, while its government coalition partner Five Star Movement (M5S)—which had been the lead party in the national elections last year—suffered major defeat, coming in now with 17% of the vote as the third party, behind even the opposition Democratic Party. All observers agree that the M5S defeat is due to its opposition to infrastructure projects, especially the Turin-Lyon high-speed rail tunnel, flaunting the faulty cost-benefit analysis of Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli, who may have to resign if he continues to oppose the TAV high-speed rail. As a matter of fact, the lack of investment in the last year created more unemployment, instead of more jobs.

In his press conference after the vote, Matteo Salvini, absolute winner of these elections, announced that he will not provoke a government crisis (as Berlusconi had demanded), but that the coalition partner M5S leader Luigi Di Maio now will have to accept  the Turin-Lyon TAV, and also other infrastructure projects which have been blocked in the last years.

“This Italian and French vote will allow Europe to invest even more money in infrastructure projects, like the TAV, but also streets, ports and airports. It is a clear mandate: Get out there and do it.”

He also announced that Italy will “reopen discussion EU economic parameters,” including the 3% limit on public debt. “This was a defeat for the Europe of the banks and of finance,” he had said during an earlier, 2 a.m. press conference he held once the Lega victory was clear, and further announced a “European Renaissance.” Observers also pointed out that not only Italy, but also Spain, and several East European countries, are demanding an end to the EU fiscal compact and austerity policy.

MEP Marco Zanni, who brought 217 signatures of prominent political figures, collected by MoviSol, to Washington lawmakers last November to organize for Glass-Steagall, was re-elected and is now in charge of foreign policy for the Lega. His candidacy was endorsed by MoviSol, the LaRouche movement in Italy, and he thanked MoviSol on his Facebook page for its support. Salvini announced that “starting tomorrow Zanni will be in Brussels to work at enlarging our group.”

Climate Hysteria Makes Greens Second Largest Party in Germany in European Elections

May 27 (EIRNS)—It comes as little surprise that after months of “climate” being pushed as the most important issue, in the German vote for European Parliament on May 26, the Greens came in second (20.7%) behind the Christian Democrats (28.9%). Not surprising either: The huge losses for the government coalition partner Social Democrats (15.6)%, whose vote was almost halved over the previous European elections in 2014. Having groomed ecologism as a leading policy item for years, the SPD has lost many of its constituency to the Greens.

In Europe as a whole, losses for Germany’s governing parties, the SPD and CDU, that the two European Parliament groups combined—Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and European People’s Party (EPP)—no longer have a majority in the newly-elected European Parliament, and will need an additional partner for their intrigues.

The Green disease in Germany is worst in Freiburg, where the Greens received 38.5% in the European elections, notably more than CDU (16.2%) and SPD (13.9%) combined. As for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), it came in strongest in the eastern states of Brandenburg and Saxony, where the Christian Democrats scraped in as number two; in a third eastern state, Thuringia, AfD came in second after the CDU.

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