MONDAY, JULY 15, 2019

Volume 6, Number 138

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

MONDAY, JULY 15, 2019

Volume 6, Number 138

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

• British Empire Perfidy Further Exposed, as Trump Takes Steps Toward a New Paradigm With Russia and China
• House Passes War Powers Amendment Regarding Iran
• Pompeo ‘Cleared’ Obama Intelligence Traitors, But They’re Still Panicked Over Barr-Durham Investigations
• Sir Kim Darroch Accused Trump of “Diplomatic Vandalism” For Ending Iran Deal
• The British Plotted To Trap Iran in Tanker Scam and Drive Trump to War
• Prince Charles Orders British Commonwealth To Save World in 18 Months From Human Species, Climate Change
• China To Sanction U.S. Firms Selling Arms to Taiwan, as Wang Yi Warns U.S. Is ‘Playing With Fire’
• Congress Beside Itself Over S-400 Delivery to Turkey, While Trump Administration Remains Silent
• Trump Tweet Denounces Crypto-Currencies, Defends Sovereign Right to National Currency
• Bolivian and Russian Presidents Map Out Optimistic Plans for Expanded Cooperation
• Goldman Sachs Sets Up New ‘Green Index’ for Ostensibly ‘Virtuous’ Investments
• Russia, U.S., China, Pakistan Issue Statement for Immediate Start of Intra-Afghan Negotiations
• Ukrainian Peace Process Takes First Small Step

EDITORIAL

British Empire Perfidy Further Exposed, as Trump Takes Steps Toward a New Paradigm with Russia and China

July 14 (EIRNS)—The subversive role of the British imperial interests is increasingly being exposed to the world. This past week alone, two major revelations: First, the former U.K. Ambassador to the U.S. Sir Kim Darroch was exposed through his own dispatches to the Foreign Office of attempting to subvert the policies promoted by the President of the United States, while promoting an “incident” in the Persian Gulf in which an American is killed and blamed on Iran (a typically British false flag operation as conducted by the White Helmets in Syria) in order to override the President’s refusal to go to war with Iran.

Second, after the British conducted an open act of piracy off Gibraltar by seizing an Iranian oil tanker, they then staged an incident in the Straits of Hormuz in which Iran was falsely accused of attempting a retaliatory seizure of a British oil tanker. As reported below, the incident was a setup by British military intelligence which failed in its intent, and has now been exposed as a fraud.

Since the assassination of Jack Kennedy and the British success in dragging the U.S. into an un-American, colonialist war in Indochina, the Anglo-Dutch neo-liberal financial system has systematically taken over the U.S. economy. This was made possible by taking advantage of the bankruptcy of the U.S. due to the cost of that genocidal Asian war, and by the cultural subversion of a demoralized generation of youth through a new Opium War, the anti-science “environmentalist” movement run by the Royal Family, and the peddling of degenerate and ugly “music” to deny the youth access to the beauty of Classical music and culture. In place of the Hamiltonian policies of directed credit as implemented under Roosevelt’s New Deal, and under Kennedy’s space program and nuclear/fusion power development policies, the shibboleth of British “free trade,” “independence of the Fed,” and similar un-American scams were put in place. The result was the takeover of the economy by speculators, outsourcing our industries, legalizing drugs, leading to the destruction of industry and infrastructure and the moral decay which characterizes the United States today, as documented in part in the EIR Special Issue “The Bitter Truth About the U.S. Economic ‘Recovery.’ ” Nothing short of a rapid return to Hamiltonian policies—not only by the U.S., but in conjunction with the great Eurasian cultures of Russia, China and India, as posed by Lyndon LaRouche’s Four Laws and his New Bretton Woods concept—can stop the collapse of the Western economies and the danger of global war.

President Donald Trump has taken small but dramatic steps to assert his personal leadership, breaking from the “Washington establishment” that has turned both political parties into sycophants of British imperial policies of permanent warfare and “free market” dictatorship by the London-Wall Street financial cartels. He has taken steps to end the last vestige of the Cold War in Korea; he is negotiating an end to the “endless war” in Afghanistan; he has begun to restore the optimism of the Kennedy space program through his Moon-Mars mission; he held friendly meetings with the leaders of Russia, China and India (among others) on the sidelines of the G20 in Osaka, much to the horror of the British and the neo-conservatives in his own Cabinet; he has lifted the absurd and destructive “anti-carbon” rules imposed by Obama, while asserting clean air and water as the real environmental issue; he has asserted “fair trade” policies as against the neo-colonial “globalization” mantra.

The threats of war and financial disintegration still exist despite these small steps. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, in her weekly webcast on Saturday, pointed to the core issue involved in ending these threats and initiating a New Paradigm for mankind, by addressing the decline of the moral nature of the citizenry, as presented in Friedrich Schiller’s idea of the Aesthetical Education of Man. “The moral improvement of Mankind,” Zepp-LaRouche said, “is absolutely necessary to go along with scientific and technological progress, because science and technology alone do not answer the question of the moral behavior of Man. It is the aesthetical education, the influence of great art, Classical music, Classical poetry and the other Classical arts, which have this effect of ennobling the human being, and therefore these two things have to go absolutely together.”

The Schiller Institute will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Mankind landing on the Moon on July 20, with events in Manhattan and elsewhere around the world, with both scientific and musical presentations, commemorating also Lyndon LaRouche’s fundamental principle that the creative process in art and science are one and the same.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

House Passes War Powers Amendment Regarding Iran

July 13 (EIRNS)—The House of Representatives yesterday added, by a vote of 251 to 170, an amendment to the FY2020 defense authorization bill prohibiting a U.S. attack on Iran unless Congress has passed a declaration of war or other authorizing legislation. The underlying bill passed by a vote of 220 to 197. The House and Senate now face the task of reconciling two very different, and partisan, bills.

The Iran war powers amendment was co-sponsored by California Democrat Ro Khanna and Florida Republican Matt Gaetz. Gaetz challenged his war hawk party colleagues forcefully: “If my war-hungry colleagues—some of whom have already suggested that we invade Venezuela, North Korea and probably a few other countries before lunchtime tomorrow—if they’re so certain in their case against Iran, let them bring their authorization to use military force against Iran to this very floor.” Other Republicans opposed the amendment, on the argument that Congress shouldn’t hamstring the President with such restrictions.

Khanna touted the measure as sending a strong signal to Trump. “It reminds the President that the American people, both Democrats and Republicans, don’t want another war in the Middle East,” Khanna told reporters. “The President was fully aware of this. This is what he said when he campaigned, and he’s probably going to want to say it again when he campaigns again. So I think it’s a reminder to him of where public sentiment is and that he shouldn’t get too influenced by the Washington establishment.”

Pompeo ‘Cleared’ Obama Intelligence Traitors, but They’re Still Panicked over Barr-Durham Investigations

July 13 (EIRNS)—Politico reported July 12, based on interviews with unnamed intelligence community officials, that soon after Mike Pompeo was named CIA chief, he “grilled CIA analysts” on their conclusion in January 2017 that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election, and determined that there was “no wrongdoing in how the agency concluded Russia wanted to help Trump in 2016.” Politicothen interviewed several former CIA officials denouncing the Barr-Durham investigations into misconduct by the intelligence community as unnecessary, since “that question has already been asked and answered at the CIA’s highest levels—by Mike Pompeo, a Trump loyalist, according to three people familiar with the matter.” Do we sense some panic here?

What Politico does not report, but which has been covered in depth by EIR, is that President Donald Trump had ordered former NSA Technical Director Bill Binney to brief Pompeo, at approximately that same time, on his multiple proofs that the DNC emails had not been hacked by the Russians, nor by anyone else, but were downloaded at the DNC offices. As Binney has reported, Pompeo listened carefully, but within days reported his full agreement with the Obama team’s lying accusations against Russia.

Politico’s Natasha Bertrand writes that “the wide latitude [Barr] has given Durham to also examine analytic conclusions drawn by CIA officers has alarmed some in the national security community who worry about its effect on the apolitical nature of intelligence gathering [sic].”  She quotes several former CIA officials: Michael Morell, the former acting CIA director, said, “The Justice Department’s job is to see whether a crime has been committed, not to assess the quality of intelligence analysis.” Jeffrey Edmonds, a former CIA analyst who served as a Russia adviser on the National Security Council during both the Trump and Obama administrations, said (in Bertrand’s words) he is worried that Durham’s CIA inquiry is a political attempt to undermine the intelligence community’s assessment. Edmonds said that Pompeo’s own examination of the CIA’s analysis “really does call into question the purpose of the entire Durham exercise.”

The fear among the guilty parties is reflected in Bertrand’s statement: “It’s unclear what mandate Durham is operating under and whether he is looking at the intelligence agencies with an eye to recommending criminal charges. He has not been appointed to lead a criminal investigation, and the Justice Department has formally described the inquiry only as a review…. It’s a setup that has unnerved intelligence veterans across the political spectrum.”

Morell is quoted again: “Because they’re prosecutors, when they come knocking on an analyst’s door and say, ‘We want to talk to you about your judgment,’ it has a chilling effect.” Indeed it should.

Sir Kim Darroch Accused Trump of “Diplomatic Vandalism” for Ending Iran Deal

July 14 (EIRNS)—The Mail on Sunday has published more cables from His Excellency Pompous Fool, aka former U.K. Ambassador to Washington Sir Kim Darroch, in which Sir Kim said that Trump pulled out of the 2015 JCPOA Iran nuclear deal for “personality reasons” because the deal was originally negotiated by Obama. Darroch sent the diplomatic telegram to the Foreign Office shortly after then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had travelled to Washington to talk Trump out of withdrawing the Iran deal. The disclosure of this telegram occurs as the British gear up their actions to raise the level of tensions in the Persian Gulf.

The release of the new telegram comes just after the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Neil Basu threatened theDaily Mail and other news British organizations with criminal prosecution for publishing the Darroch telegrams. Basu has been rebuked by several Tory MPs, including incumbent Foreign Secretary Jeremey Hunt, for attacking press freedom.

The British Plotted To Trap Iran in Tanker Scam and Drive Trump to War

July 14 (EIRNS)—It is becoming abundantly clear that the British claim that Iran attempted to seize or divert a British tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on July 10 was a totally British-orchestrated scam from the outset, in keeping with disgraced Ambassador Sir Kim Darroch’s suggestion that a military confrontation was required to overcome President Donald Trump’s refusal to go to war with Iran.

First, of course, the British special forces seized an Iranian tankerGrace 1 off Gibraltar on July 4, an open act of piracy. They then diverted the British oil tanker, British Heritage, which was in the Persian Gulf, originally heading for Basra to load up with oil, to Saudi Arabia, without any oil. Then, on July 10, they sent the ship through the Strait of Hormuz, still without any oil. Why would an oil tanker leave the Gulf without oil, one may ask? Also, they deployed their only military ship in the Gulf, the HMS Montrose, to accompany the British Heritage. Note that the Financial Times has reported that there are between 15 and 30 British tankers in the Gulf at any one time. Why was the empty British Heritage chosen to be escorted?

CNN reported on July 11: “On July 10, the ship [British Heritage] turned off its transponders for almost 24 hours,” travelling through the night through the Straits without their transponders (AIS signal). The Moon on Alabama website reports these developments, noting that traveling with the AIS signal turned off is extremely dangerous in the crowded Strait, but that the ship would “still be visible on the Iranian surveillance radars that control the Hormuz Strait,” which would certainly draw Iran’s suspicion.

With such bait, did the British intend to draw Iran into a military event? The U.K. Ministry of Defense claimed that “three Iranian vessels attempted to impede the passage of a commercial vessel, theBritish Heritage, through the Strait of Hormuz. HMS Montrose was forced to position herself between the Iranian vessels and British Heritage and issue verbal warnings to the Iranian vessels, which then turned away.”

Iran reports that there was no such confrontation. At least it is clear that Iran did not fall for any trap, which perhaps explains why Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is offering to release the Iranian tanker Grace 1seized off Gibraltar.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Prince Charles Orders British Commonwealth To Save World in 18 Months from Human Species, Climate Change

July 12 (EIRNS)—On July 11 Britain’s Prince of Wales Prince Charles—who will become head of the British Commonwealth and inherit the crown of 16 of its 53 member states of mostly former British Empire colonies—told that organization’s foreign ministers meeting in London that he is “firmly of the view that the next 18 months will decide our ability to keep climate change to survivable levels and to restore nature to the equilibrium we need for our survival.”

“Equilibrium” is a euphemism for zero growth, which leading economist Lyndon LaRouche identified in his 1972 pamphlet “Blueprint for Extinction” as Malthusian genocide. In that refutation of the Forrester-Meadows Limits to Growth fraud, and later in his 1983 book There Are No Limits to Growth, LaRouche demonstrated that zero growth of the economy, including the population, whether it’s called “equilibrium,” “sustainability,” or anything else, can never exist. The only options are growth or genocidal extinction.

The British Empire is dead set on the second, viewing human beings as no different from animals. Charles’s father, Prince Philip, co-founder of the leading Malthusian outfit, World Wildlife Fund, famously pronounced his desire in 1988 to cut what he called “human overpopulation” by being reincarnated as a “deadly virus.” The Royal Family considers 6 billion of the 7 billion human beings on the planet to be overpopulation.

Prince Charles insisted the British Commonwealth address the “unparalleled challenges caused by rapid climate change and biodiversity loss…. Next year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting … will be an absolutely vital moment to consolidate consensus on the way forward, not least of which, will be the deliberations on how to increase the amount of private sector finance flowing towards supporting sustainable development throughout the Commonwealth.”

China To Sanction U.S. Firms Selling Arms to Taiwan, as Wang Yi Warns U.S. Is ‘Playing with Fire’

July 12 (EIRNS)—Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced July 11 that Beijing intends to impose sanctions on U.S. companies that sell weapons to Taiwan. On July 8, the Defense Department announced it is selling $2.2 billion worth of tanks, missiles and other military hardware to Taiwan.

Geng Shuang stated bluntly that “U.S. arms sales to Taiwan constitute a serious violation of international law and the basic norms governing international relations. This is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. Joint Communiqués. It also undermines China’s sovereignty and national security. To safeguard our national interests, China will impose sanctions on the U.S. enterprises involved in the above-mentioned arms sales to Taiwan.”

Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on a tour of Eastern Europe, said from Budapest today that the U.S. should refrain from its dealings with Taiwan, warning it is “playing with fire.” No power, he said, can prevent China from reunifying with Taiwan, which China considers to be a rebellious province, nor should any force attempt to do so, AP reported. “If the U.S. side wants to create new troubles in U.S.-China relations,” Wang stated, “ultimately their actions will backfire. We urge the United States to fully recognize the gravity of the Taiwan question and honor its promise of adhering to the one-China principle.”

The Foreign Minister’s remarks coincide with the “stopover” in New York by Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen, en route to meet with Caribbean nations which still maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.Global Times today warned that Tsai’s stopover is a sign that Washington is using Taiwan as a card against the mainland, and is becoming more proactive in doing so, and stating that the location and timing of her stopover is related to the U.S.-China trade war.

Congress Beside Itself over S-400 Delivery to Turkey, While Trump Administration Remains Silent

July 13 (EIRNS)—Planeloads of equipment relating to Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 have been landing at a Turkish military base near Ankara since the morning of July 12, but so far, the Trump Administration has said very little about it. However, the reaction from the U.S. Congress has been loud enough for both. “We urge President Trump to fully implement sanctions as required by law under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act” (CAATSA), the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees said in a joint statement. “Additionally, while all F-35 material deliveries remain indefinitely suspended, we call on the Department of Defense to proceed with the termination of Turkey’s participation in the F-35 program.”

“By accepting delivery of the S-400 from Russia, President Erdogan has chosen a perilous partnership with Putin at the expense of Turkey’s security, economic prosperity and the integrity of the NATO alliance,” they said.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, and the ranking member, Republican Michael McCaul, threw in their own statement: “That a NATO ally would choose to side with Russia and Vladimir Putin over the alliance and closer cooperation with the United States is hard to fathom. Turkey and Erdogan must face stiff consequences for this decision.”

The silence from the White House and the Pentagon, on the other hand, has been, as numerous media reports put it, deafening. Recall that President Donald Trump met with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the June 28-29 G20 in Osaka, and told the press afterwards: The Obama Administration “they wouldn’t let him buy the missile he wanted to buy, which is the Patriot. And after he buys something else, they say now we will sell you the Patriot. So I have to tell you, he [Erdogan] is a NATO member and he is somebody I have become friendly with. And you have to treat fairly. You understand that? I don’t think he was treated fairly.”

It’s not clear who will win this, the President or the war party. According to Defense News, the Pentagon press office initially announced a briefing for 11:15 a.m. to brief reporters on DOD plans for retaliation against Turkey; then it was postponed to 1:45 p.m.; then, it was postponed indefinitely. Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper did say, during a brief appearance with the defense minister from Uzbekistan, “we are aware of Turkey taking delivery of the S-400. Our position regarding the F-35 has not changed” and that he would be speaking to Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar by phone later in the afternoon. He closed the topic by promising there would be more to say, but there was no more.

Esper did speak to Akar about the deal. According to Turkey’sDaily Sabah, Akar said that Ankara’s “acquisition of the Russian S-400 defense system was not a preference but necessity. Evaluations on the proposal of Patriot are still going on.” The Pentagon did not issue its own readout of the call.

The S-400s could take up to five months for all the parts to arrive.

ECONOMY

Trump Tweet Denounces Crypto-Currencies, Defends Sovereign Right to National Currency

July 14 (EIRNS)—In a tweet on July 11, President Donald Trump denounced crypto-currencies, including bitcoin and Facebook’s proposed Libra. Trump said these were, “not money and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air.” Trump said such currencies only facilitate illegal activity. The complete three-part tweet read:

“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity. Similarly, Facebook Libra’s “virtual currency” will have little standing or dependability. If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other Banks, both National and International. We have only one real currency in the USA, and it is stronger than ever, both dependable and reliable. It is by far the most dominant currency anywhere in the World, and it will always stay that way. It is called the United States Dollar!” echoing LaRouche that governments must maintain a monopoly over currency.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Bolivian and Russian Presidents Map Out Optimistic Plans for Expanded Cooperation

July 12 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bolivian President Evo Morales had a productive, upbeat meeting July 11 in Moscow, and signed seven bilateral agreements expanding their already-strong cooperation in a number of areas, including energy (nuclear, oil and gas), agriculture, security, infrastructure projects and trade.

Russia’s atomic energy agency Rosatom is helping build the country’s Center for Nuclear Technology Research and Development which, when completed, will transform Bolivia into a regional high-tech center, including a research reactor, food irradiation technology, and nuclear medicine.

The news agency News-Front reports that Rosatom will also be playing a major role in many business sectors. Russia’s Deputy Energy Minister Alexander Novak reported that Bolivia intends to build 40 companies, and “Rosatom is ready to participate because its competence is among the highest in the world.” Rosatom and Bolivia’s Energy Ministry have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the development of industrial projects, key among which is the exploration of and industrialization of lithium. Bolivia has the world’s largest lithium reserves. The Russian giant Gazprom has invested $500 million in developing oil and gas in Bolivia.

The Bolivian government issued a short video brimming with pride and excitement over the prospect of becoming a nuclear nation. It proudly announces, “we nationalized, we industrialized, we’ve grown as never before in history, and now is the moment for a great technological leap with the nuclear research center.” It quotes a doctor specializing in nuclear medicine who says “we need state-of-the-art technology to save lives.” Then a young Bolivian enthusiastically states that the country’s new center is “a great opportunity for young people, for professionals, but above all, it’s a great opportunity for Bolivia.” A coffee exporter who states that if the export of food is important to obtain foreign exchange to develop the country, “with nuclear technology, we’ll do it better and more safely.” In a proud reference to Bolivia’s ancient civilization, the video concludes, “a millenarian people with advanced technology is invincible.”

During his meeting with Morales, Putin pointed to the “unique” quality of the nuclear center being built, as it is located at 4,000 meters above sea level. He said: “The center will dedicate its efforts to research in the peaceful use of nuclear energy; its applications will cover various sectors of industry, geology, medicine and agriculture. There hasn’t yet been a similar experience in world practice.” Morales has invited Putin to attend the center’s opening which will probably be in 2021, although a section of the center is expected to open in October of this year. Morales couldn’t be prouder!

Goldman Sachs Sets Up New ‘Green Index’ for Ostensibly ‘Virtuous’ Investments

July 12 (EIRNS)—Goldman Sachs is introducing two new sustainability indices to promote heavy investments into green projects, the CDP Environment World EW and the CDP Environment Eurozone EW. The indices are based on ratings of leading companies and funds, particularly of their leading managers, related to their performance in the areas climate protection, clean water supply and forestry. London-based climate protection think tank CDP (which has grown out of the Carbon Disclosure Project) has done ratings of 77 selected companies.

Marine Abiad of Goldman Sachs was quoted in CDP’s press release July 10: “Launching the indices demonstrates our belief in designing solutions that offer our clients the opportunity and the transparency to invest in sustainable instruments through structured products. … We are convinced that sustainable finance enables financial markets to play a virtuous role in the economy.”

Russia, U.S., China, Pakistan Issue Statement for Immediate Start of Intra-Afghan Negotiations

July 13 (EIRNS)—Russia, China, the U.S. and Pakistan issued a joint statement urging an immediate start of intra-Afghan national reconciliation negotiations following their talks held in Beijing on July 10-11, according to TASS. The U.S. State Department also stated: “The four sides called for relevant parties to grasp the opportunity for peace and immediately start intra-Afghan negotiations between the Taliban, Afghan government, and other Afghans.”

The four sides reaffirmed that the talks must be “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned,” agreeing that the negotiations must “produce a peace framework as soon as possible. This framework should guarantee the orderly and responsible transition of the security situation and detail an agreement on a future inclusive political arrangement acceptable to all Afghans…. The four sides agreed to maintain the momentum of consultation, will invite other important stakeholders to join on the basis of the trilateral consensus agreed on April 25, 2019 in Moscow, and this broader group will meet when intra-Afghan negotiations start. The date and venue for the next consultation will be agreed upon through diplomatic channels,” the statement informs.

“China, Russia, and the United States welcomed Pakistan joining the consultation and believe that Pakistan can play an important role in facilitating peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan appreciated the constructive efforts by the China-Russia-U.S. trilateral consultation on the Afghan peace process,” the document says.

Meanwhile, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban official leading the negotiations with the U.S. representative Zalmay Khalilzad, told Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun: “According to the draft which we are going to agree [on], the draft … and agreement will be signed, and announced in front of the guarantors—I hope most famous Asian and European countries will be guarantors. That will be decided by all sides. [Though] not decided yet, Japan is [an] important country, Japan may be there.”

Ukrainian Peace Process Takes First Small Step

July 13 (EIRNS)—TASS praised the results of a meeting in Paris today of the Normandy Quartet of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, to resolve the Ukraine crisis. The meeting was preparatory to a formal meeting of the Quartet in Minsk on July 17.

TASS reports that the Director of Russia’s Center for Current Politics Alexey Chesnakov said that, at the meeting, “plans for further actions on the settlement of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine were discussed…. According to the participants of the meeting, the new Ukrainian delegation showed a rather constructive approach, its style contrasted sharply with the predecessors’ manners. Whether the new form has the same new content will be seen in the coming days. If the Contact Group in Minsk succeeds in agreeing on the compromises planned in Paris for dismantling the military fortifications, as well as repairing and maintaining of the bridge in Stanitsa Luhanskaya, then this will be a good sign. If not, it will be clear that, in essence, Ukraine’s position remains the same—sabotaging the Minsk process. We will soon see. We will hope for the best.”

He added that the participants discussed the possibility of a summit meeting of the leaders of the Normandy Quartet at a later date.

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