MONDAY, JULY 8, 2019

Volume 6, Number 133

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

• Leaked Ambassador’s Cables Expose British Interference in U.S. Policymaking, 2020 Elections
• British Empire Lays Groundwork for Further Escalations Around Iran
• British Royal Marines Seize Tanker Allegedly Carrying Iranian Oil to Syria
• Russian Foreign Ministry Sees Tanker Seizure as British Provocation
• Russia-U.S. To Hold ‘Full-Format’ Nuclear Talks, as Ryabkov Urges Ongoing ‘Structured Process’
• Antonov Demands, Is U.S Trying To Quit Nuclear Test Ban Treaty by Charging Russian Violations?

• China Ridicules Foreign Secretary Hunt and the Dying British Empire
• China and U.S.A. Continue Trade Talks by Phone, as China Soya Buyers Plan Illinois Visit
• Italy’s Geraci, ‘When I Talk About Trade Partnership, I Talk More About the New Eurasia’
• African Union Summit Gets Underway for an African Continental Free Trade Area
• President Donald Trump Makes July Fourth Address From the Lincoln Memorial
• Bureau of Labor Statistics Headlines Big Jobs Growth in June, but the Data Don’t Show It

EDITORIAL

Leaked Ambassador’s Cables Expose British Interference in U.S. Policymaking, 2020 Elections

July 7 (EIRNS)—The exposé published yesterday afternoon by the U.K. Daily Mail based on two years of leaked secret diplomatic cables sent back to London by Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the U.S., Sir Kim Darroch, demonstrates, as this news agency has uniquely proven, that the only foreign intelligence interference in the U.S. elections is that of the United Kingdom—and that its intent is to undo the Presidency of Donald Trump.

According to the leaked cables, in discussing Iran, Ambassador Darroch insinuated that the British control a hawkish group of “Donald whisperers” who have President Trump’s ear. Darroch stated that Trump was never onboard with a military response to the recent drone downing by Iran, but that a new incident, involving the loss of American lives, could trigger a U-turn, provided the British continue to “flood the zone” of advice available to the President.

The latest revelations lead to some crucial questions: Who are these British controlled advisers? Is there a direct pipeline from the British Foreign Office? Darroch also claimed that the British have penetrated and cultivated the circle of Trump friends. If so, who are they and how was this done? With regard to Iran, shouldn’t President Trump order an investigation now, centered on British-controlled networks in the area, aimed at preventing and exposing any British-orchestrated new provocation?

These questions must be urgently answered in a full investigation, not only in the interests of U.S. national sovereignty and national security, but also in the interests of world peace.

Darroch—Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, a career intelligence officer-diplomat who served arch-imperialist Tony Blair as Ambassador to the European Union from 2007 to 2011, and David Cameron as National Security Adviser from January 2012-September 2015—has been ambassador in Washington, since January 2016. That is, Sir Kim has been the case officer on this side of “the Pond” for British intelligence MI6’s Christopher Steele-centered operation against Donald Trump’s 2016 candidacy and subsequent Presidency.

Darroch is well-connected to the British intelligence apparatus which ran that attempted coup. When he was National Security Adviser, he led the committee which recruited Robert Hannigan to head GCHQ, Britain’s equivalent of the NSA, which passed on the “intelligence” used to start the “Russiagate” coup fraud against candidate Trump, and he regularly dined with employees of Hakluyt, the firm of “retired” top MI6 officers also caught in the Steele operation. As Ambassador, he vouched that Steele was “absolutely” legitimate, when U.S. officials queried him.

No cables were leaked from the crucial 2016 period—at least not yet. But those now exposed by the Daily Mail, spanning from 2017 to this past June, expose how Great Britain has not ended, but has escalated the information warfare operation begun with Trump’s emergence as a genuine contender for the Presidency. In 2017, Darroch assured London the allegations of collusion between Trump and Russia still “cannot be ruled out.” In recent cables, Ambassador Darroch warned London to not overestimate the results of Trump’s June 2019 visit with the Queen (“this is still the land of ‘America First’ ”). “Don’t write him off,” he wrote; there is a “credible path” for Trump to win the 2020 election.

Darroch advised London in the summer of 2017 that Britain should adopt what he called a “flood the zone” strategy of cultivating British assets in the U.S. to create a controlled environment of advice and intelligence around the President—and the American people. In this cable, the Daily Mail wrote,

“[T]he diplomat also highlighted how the President spends his evenings phoning his friends outside the administration ‘seeking reinforcement or a different take’. Many of these friends have been ‘cultivated’ by the British, Sir Kim boasted.

“ ‘It’s important to “flood the zone”: you want as many as possible of those who Trump consults to give him the same answer,’ he wrote. ‘So we need to be creative in using all the channels available to us through our relationships with his Cabinet, the White House staff, and our contacts among his outside friends.’ ”

In another cable, in June, Darroch acknowledged that President Trump was not “fully onboard” on any attack on Iran, and is worried that to launch one would violate his 2016 campaign promises. But the President is now “surrounded by a more hawkish group of advisers…. Just one more Iranian attack somewhere in the region could trigger yet another Trump U-turn. Moreover, the loss of a single American life would probably make a critical difference,” Darroch wrote.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

British Empire Lays Groundwork for Further Escalations around Iran

July 7 (EIRNS)—The Iranian government announced today that, in addition to enriching increased amounts of uranium, as announced earlier in the week, they will also increase the level of enrichment from the 3.67% level permitted under the JCPOA, up to 5%. Iran will do so “based on our needs,” government spokesman Ali Rabiei said at a news conference.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Iran’s announcement, which had been widely expected, in his characteristically provocative fashion, demanding that European nations reimpose sanctions on Iran: “Iran has violated its solemn promise under the UN Security Council not to enrich uranium beyond a certain level. I call on my friends, the heads of France, Britain and Germany—you signed this deal [the JCPOA] and you said that as soon as they take this step, severe sanctions will be imposed—that was the Security Council resolution. Where are you? The enrichment of uranium is made for one reason and one reason only—it’s for the creation of atomic bombs.”

On July 2, war-mongering Americans Senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and Marco Rubio sent President Donald Trump an open letter, in which “we urge you to reject their nuclear blackmail,” a reference to Iran’s decision to no longer abide by the JCPOA limits on the amount of enriched uranium they are permitted to have. Specifically, they urge Trump to invoke the “snapback mechanism” in the UN Security Council’s resolution 2231 which endorsed the JCPOA, which allows signers to restore sanctions if Iran violates the terms of the deal.

The U.S., however, itself pulled out of the JCPOA a year ago, and therefore doesn’t really have standing to issue such a demand. Regardless of that minor detail, already “Security Council diplomats [are] seeking to work out how the U.S. will re-impose the sanctions given that it quit the deal last year,” Fox News reported, and that “a senior GOP congressional staffer told Fox News ‘There’s no technical reason the Trump Administration can’t just do it and quickly restore the international sanctions from before the deal.’ ”

Cruz, Cotton and Rubio’s letter made the case for a full-scale confrontation with Iran. The JCPOA “was built to enable Iranian cheating. … As a result, hundreds of billions of dollars flowed into Iran, allowing the Iranians to boost its military and terrorist activities regionally and globally, even as they maintained nuclear weapons infrastructure, periodically exceeded restrictions on nuclear materials…. That’s how the deal was always supposed to work, that’s how it did work, and that’s why it is imperative that the United States now respond forcefully to Iran’s systematic violations by ending civil-nuclear waivers and invoking the UN snapback.”

British Royal Marines Seize Tanker Allegedly Carrying Iranian Oil to Syria

July 5 (EIRNS)—In an obvious move to provoke another Iranian crisis, British Navy Royal Marines seized a supertanker suspected of carrying Iranian oil to Syria off the coast of Gibraltar on July 4. The orders to seize the vessel were made by Fabian Picardo, Chief Minister of HM Government of Gibraltar, who issued a statement to the effect that he had ordered seizure of the ship and its cargo. Picardo gave as rationale, “we have reason to believe that the Grace 1 was carrying its shipment of crude oil to the Baniyas Refinery in Syria.”

Like some modern-day pirates, a detachment of nearly 30 Royal Marines, the Royal Navy special forces, boarded the ship via lines from helicopters. Iran responded by summoning British Ambassador Rob Macaire to its Foreign Ministry to explain what it described as an “illegal seizure,” which had been earlier described by the U.K. as enforcing the EU’s sanctions regime against Syria. Picardo said in his statement, “With my consent, our Port and Law Enforcement agencies sought the assistance of the Royal Marines in carrying out this operation.” Nonetheless, Spain’s acting Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said Gibraltar had seized the ship after a request from the U.S. to Britain. The Spanish are also calling the seizure of the ship a violation of Spanish sovereignty, as the Royal Marines boarded the tanker in waters claimed by Spain, rather than in the port of Gibraltar. “We are analyzing the circumstances and seeing how they affect our sovereignty,” Borrell said. Borrell also said that Washington had alerted London about the supertanker’s presence in European waters, rather than informing Spain.

As if part of a script, National Security Adviser John Bolton welcomed the seizure of the tanker. “Excellent news: U.K. has detained the supertanker Grace 1 laden with Iranian oil bound for Syria in violation of EU sanctions,” Bolton tweeted. “America & our allies will continue to prevent regimes in Tehran & Damascus from profiting off this illicit trade.”

Russian Foreign Ministry Sees Tanker Seizure as British Provocation

July 6 (EIRNS)—The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement yesterday, clearly indicating that it considers the July 4 British seizure of an oil tanker off Gibraltar as a provocation. “We view the seizure of the vessel and its cargo as a deliberate action aimed at aggravating the situation around Iran and Syria. Laudatory comments by top U.S. and British officials immediately after the operation confirm this conclusion and prove that the action had been long in the making with the involvement of respective services and agencies of several countries,” according to the statement posted on the Foreign Ministry website. Furthermore, the ministry stressed that this operation runs counter to the commitments declared by the European Union’s leading nations, including the United Kingdom, to spare no effort to keep the Iran nuclear deal in place.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the United Kingdom is making no secret of its intention to use the incident with the tanker to augment pressure on the “Bashar Assad regime.” “[W]e are convinced that this step contradicts the stated intent of the EU’s leading nations, including the U.K., to work to preserve the nuclear agreements with Iran. … We see here yet another sharp contrast between British officials’ statements in support of Syrian settlement on the basis of universally accepted norms of international law, including UNSC Resolution 2254, and their practical steps,” the ministry stressed.

The British seized the Panama-flag tanker allegedly because Gibraltar authorities determined that it was headed to the Syrian oil terminal of Baniyas. Two weeks ago, it turns out, the submarine pipelines that carry crude oil from the terminal to the onshore Baniyas refinery were the target of sabotage attacks using explosives. The damage to the pipelines was first reported by Al Masdar News on June 24 and the story was subsequently picked up by The National of the U.A.E. on July 4. The sabotage delayed unloading an Iranian tanker that arrived at the terminal a day or two after the sabotage was discovered, but didn’t prevent it.

What connection there might be, if any, between the sabotage—responsibility for which has not been claimed—the sanctions against Syria, and the U.S. campaign against Iranian oil exports has not been established.

Russia-U.S. To Hold ‘Full-Format’ Nuclear Talks, as Ryabkov Urges Ongoing ‘Structured Process’

July 6 (EIRNS)—Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson will hold “full format talks” in Geneva on July 17-18 on nuclear weaponry. The principal topic of discussion with be the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty).

Ryabkov said July 5 that, “It is necessary to launch some sort of a structured process. I hope that it will happen and that will be neither occasional nor take place only in critical situations.” Speaking to reporters, he said, the Russian side would like to discuss “whether there are common points in the sphere of arms control. Of course, the issue of prolonging the START Treaty is thorny.

“Dialogue is established, contacts are held, but, firstly, there is no confidence that it will be carried out if not permanently, then regularly at least. Secondly, [there is no confidence] that we will be able to reverse the trend toward derailing the system of agreements in this sphere, which is obvious and is alarming to us,” Ryabkov stated.

Antonov Demands, Is U.S. Trying To Quit Nuclear Test Ban Treaty by Charging Russian Violations?

July 6 (EIRNS)—Russia’s Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov yesterday questioned whether the U.S. is conniving to withdraw from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) by claiming that Russia has violated it, thereby laying the groundwork for the U.S. to pull out, as it did when with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF.) TASS reported today that Antonov told this to its agency. Antonov made specific reference to the May 29 charges against Russia, by the U.S. Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Gen. Robert Ashley, who said that, “the United States believes Russia is probably not adhering to the nuclear testing moratorium in a manner consistent with the zero-yield standard.”

Antonov told TASS, “Russia is not discussing with the United States speculations by the Defense Intelligence Agency about the possible above the ‘zero yield’ nuclear tests. Our stance has been made clear to Washington—we view baseless accusations as unacceptable and resolutely reject them.”

Antonov said, “The situation is very similar to the scenario regarding the INF Treaty. At first, there were statements of the need to possess the potential, prohibited by the treaty, [they were] followed by a search for those ‘guilty,’ and, as a result, the treaty was terminated. Can those actions by the U.S. military intelligence be a part of the U.S. smokescreen plan to withdraw its signature from the CTBT Treaty and to resume its own full-scale nuclear tests?”

The Russians already countered Gen. Ashley’s May 29 accusation in remarks to the Hudson Institute at the time. That same day, Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told TASS that Russia observes the moratorium for nuclear tests. On May 31, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov further dismissed the claims as nonsense.

TASS also reports that the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization told TASS earlier that its nuclear test monitoring systems detected no such violations.

The CTBT came into being in 1996, after many years of discussion. Russia is among several dozen nations which has signed and ratified it. The U.S. is one of eight nations which signed the treaty, but has not ratified it.

China Ridicules Foreign Secretary Hunt and the Dying British Empire

July 5 (EIRNS)—The lead editorial today in the Global Times is a devastating ridicule of U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s threats against China over the situation in Hong Kong. But more importantly, it hits the British Empire where it hurts.

Hunt has wildly claimed that China is responsible for the recent chaos in Hong Kong, where foreign-funded anarchists occupied and trashed the Legislative Yuan, hanging the former colonial flag (with the Union Jack) on the dais. Hunt threatened “serious consequences” against China, whose actions allegedly violated the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration and for somehow undermining democracy in Hong Kong.

“Almost all analysts believe Hunt is putting on an air,” the editorial states. “Nobody believes the U.K. will send its only aircraft carrier to China’s coast. Nor would anyone believe the U.K. will punish Beijing at the cost of hurting trade with China. The U.K. has been dwarfed by China in military and trade.”

It states that if the U.K. expels diplomats, as it did with Russia, the rest of Europe will ignore them, and “the U.K. will only isolate itself.”

Hunt, the daily explains, is frantically trying to beat Boris Johnson in the Tory selection of the new Prime Minister to replace Theresa May, writing: “In charge of diplomacy, Hunt believes the Hong Kong issue is a chance that dropped into his and the U.K.’s lap. But this is not the 19th century when the Opium War broke out. The U.K. has gone past its prime.”

They go on: “Hunt obviously believes that the British people can be manipulated like a flock of sheep,” and “Hunt is obviously outwardly strong and inwardly weak. Even the British people think his performance is amusing.”

They consider the irony that, “In a few short years, one minute the U.K. calls its relations with China the ‘Golden Era,’ and the next minute it warns China of ‘serious consequences.’ Under such circumstances, we should not be too serious when dealing with the U.K.”

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

China and U.S.A. Continue Trade Talks by Phone, as China Soya Buyers Plan Illinois Visit

July 6 (EIRNS)—National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said on Bloomberg TV yesterday that there have been recent phone talks between China’s top trade negotiator Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and that more talks are planned. He said that personal meetings will take place “at some point in the near future. There is no timeline, the issue is, if you want quality, we do not have to have speed.”

The day before, Gao Feng, spokesman for the Chinese Commerce Ministry stressed the question of removing tariffs. He said July 4, “If the two sides are to reach a deal, all imposed tariffs must be removed. China’s attitude on that is clear and consistent.”

CGTN reported that a delegation of Chinese soybean buyers will make a visit to Illinois in the near future.

Italy’s Geraci, ‘When I Talk about Trade Partnership, I Talk More about the New Eurasia’

July 6 (EIRNS)—Michele Geraci, who heads Italy’s Task Force China, that architected the memorandum of understanding with China in March, gave an interview to Sputnik yesterday, in which he touched upon the so-called U.S.-China trade war and other topics. This past week, Geraci, Undersecretary of State for the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, was present in Rome at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit. Yesterday, Geraci was in Milan, attending the second conference on “Italy and the New Silk Road,” sponsored by the media conglomerate Class Editori. He said he will be in Washington next week, visiting the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative.

He told Sputnik, regarding the U.S.-China trade conflict, “We do not want any trade war. I was in China in March to discuss trade issues with Chinese counterparts. I also have regular contacts with American counterparts, and I am going to the United States next week to talk to the U.S. Trade Representative.

“My feeling is that the trade war is little by little. It will not be solved magically, but it will not be a war. I think it will be just discussions with each side trying to get a bit more concessions from the other one. So that is an ongoing negotiation. It will not be solved now, but I think it will also not escalate into a serious trade war.”

Geraci also complained that Italy-China trade has had zero growth in the past years. That is why Italy signed an MOU, he explained: “We hope that in the next few months we will start to see the benefits of having signed the MOU with the Belt and Road.”

To the question whether Italy’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative can influence economic relations with Russia, Geraci replied: “The Belt and Road includes all our partners in Asia, including Russia and other countries. So it’s an opportunity to increase trade with China directly of course, but also with any other country that is in between, along the road, including, of course, Russia.

“Now I am beginning to extend the way I see Europe. When I talk about trade partnership, I talk less and less about Europe, and more and more about the New Eurasia, the Eurasian bloc of countries with whom we can have partnership. We do this of course with Russia, we do this with the Central Asian countries—infrastructure development and energy and even agriculture in some of them. This for us very important, and we want to play a leading role as Italy in relations between Europe and Eurasia.”

Geraci said he will lead an economic mission to Russia soon.

On his Twitter account, Geraci shows a clip of him sitting across the dinner table with Russian President Putin: “With President #Putin discussing why liberalism in the West may have run of out steam. I was encouraged to hear that we seem to agree the West has failed to understand the capacity of China to transform itself into an economic and high-tech super house, now we are one decade late.”

In Milan at the Second “Italy and the New Silk Road” conference, Geraci said that President Donald Trump’s visit to the DMZ is one among the Silk Roads, an “historic event” which should have made newspaper headlines for days.

Reporting on the event, Xinhua cited Paolo Romiti, CEO of infrastructure group Salini Impregilo, saying “With the New Silk Road, a major boost will be given to logistics infrastructure that today does not even exist.”

“His warning did not come by chance, since the lack of infrastructure is considered here as one of the major weaknesses hampering Italy’s further development, and especially in some central and southern regions. On their part, Chinese entrepreneurs also appeared eager to find new opportunities in Italy, counting on the changes that the cooperation under the BRI might provide.

“ ‘Now, from the logistical point of view, our main airports for cargo shipment (in Europe) are still Amsterdam and Frankfurt,’ Fan Erning, Vice-President of Shanghai-based Eastern Air Logistics, told Xinhua. ‘Yet, we are looking for opportunities to expand in Italy in the future; Milan for example could potentially be a new cargo shipment gateway…. We are looking forward to that,’ he added.”

Italian e-commerce entrepreneurs said Italy should follow China’s model in the development of innovative e-commerce processes.

African Union Summit Gets Underway for an African Continental Free Trade Area

July 6 (EIRNS)—Some 50 heads of state are now gathering in Niamey, the capital of Niger, for the African Union Extraordinary Summit July 7, on creating the AfCTA, the African Continental Free Trade Area. In the works for years, this trade pact is now near to formation, with only two nations still holding out from agreement, Eritrea and Benin, from among the 54 nations in the African Union. The concept is to increase intra-regional trade within the continent, and reduce the extreme outward-oriented economic relations. Tomorrow’s agenda is expected to include where to locate the new trade zone’s headquarters, with five countries cited as top contenders: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, and Eswatini.

Continental trade patterns under the ongoing colonial legacy are such that only some 15% of trade within Africa is among African nations, as opposed to nearly 60% in Asia, according to rough metrics from the African Export-Import Bank. Another metric shows that of all African nations’ exports, only 16% are intra-African, which is up from the 1980 low level of only 5%, but still lower than intra-regional trade in Europe or Asia.

Lowering tariffs and other barriers to trade among African nations can improve this picture, to the benefit of uplifting the productive economy all around.

While there are grounds for apprehension that the lowered trade barriers could be misused to pipe in and dump cheap goods through certain African nations, to the harm of their African trading partners, it can be averted through the leadership of the AU and national and regional officials.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has addressed the challenge directly, after holding back from supporting AfCTA until now. July 3 Twitter posts from the Office of the Nigerian Presidency stated, “President Buhari made it clear that [the] Nigerian government will be seeking to include terms that engender the development of policies that promote African production, among other benefits.” Buhari said, in his own words, “Africa, therefore, needs not only a trade policy, but also a continental manufacturing agenda. Our vision for intra-African trade is for the free movement of ‘made in Africa goods.’ ”

In addition, the win-win side of intra-African trade will be promoted by the advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative with China, and the Russia-China economic collaboration, now gathering force.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

President Donald Trump Makes July Fourth Address from the Lincoln Memorial

July 5 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump’s speech at the Lincoln Memorial has been well received, despite the hysteria leading up to it, denouncing the President for “politicizing” the Fourth, wasting money, etc. Even CNN had to admit that it was “one of the least polarizing speeches of his presidency,” which “lacked the dark imagery of many of his campaign speeches and struck a more optimistic tone than he typically adopts”—which is strong praise from that perverted source.

“On this day, 243 years ago, our founding fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to declare independence and defend our God-given rights,” Trump said. He quoted from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

He hit hard at the British: “The British had come to crush the revolution in its infancy. Washington’s message to his troops laid bare the stakes. He wrote, ‘The fate of unborn millions will now depend under God on the courage and conduct of this army. … We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die.’

“Days later, General Washington ordered the Declaration read aloud to the troops.  The assembled soldiers just joined an excited crowd running down Broadway.  They toppled a statue of King George and melted it into bullets for battle.  The faraway King would soon learn a timeless lesson about the people of this majestic land: Americans love our freedom and no one will ever take it away from us.

“That same American spirit that emboldened our founders has kept us strong throughout our history.”

He praised the military role throughout the nation’s history, and singled out great American explorers, scientists, presidents, civil rights leaders, and others.

“For Americans, nothing is impossible,” he said. “Exactly 50 years ago this month, the world watched in awe as Apollo 11 astronauts launched into space with a wake of fire and nerves of steel, and planted our great American flag on the face of the Moon.  Half a century later, we are thrilled to have here tonight the famed NASA Flight Director who led Mission Control during that historic endeavor: the renowned Gene Kranz.

“Gene, I want you to know that we are going to be back on the Moon very soon.  And someday soon, we will plant the American flag on Mars.”

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Bureau of Labor Statistics Headlines Big Jobs Growth in June, but the Data Don’t Show It

July 5 (EIRNS)—The Labor Department’s headline of 224,000 growth in employment in its report for June, will certainly be cited by administration economists as showing the Trump presidency’s employment recovery is continuing. The June report triples the BLS report for May, which had claimed only 75,000 job growth.

Problem: The BLS’s unadjusted data do not show this at all. Until April, employment had been growing at about 2.6 million/year, comparing each month of 2019 to the same month of 2018. In May, this growth fell rather suddenly to 2.24 million, relative to May 2018. In June, it was an identical 2.24 million above June 2018. So how the “seasonally adjusted” growth in June was triple that of May, is certainly unexplained.

The problem is the same when it comes to goods-producing employment—construction, manufacturing, mining, utilities. For more than a year until April, the year-to-year growth had been a notable 600,000/year. But in May it fell to 415,000 compared to May 2018. In June it fell further, to 380,000 above June 2018. So how the BLS May monthly report claimed virtually no growth in goods-producing jobs, while the June report claimed about 50,000 such, is also unexplained.

As noted by an EIR source who tracks real unemployment figures, the unadjusted figures show the manufacturing recovery has ended, and the jobs recovery has decidedly slowed down. The real, broader unemployment rate has actually risen in the past two months and reached 9.5%, when including discouraged and forced part-time workers and the growing number of eligible workers who have not sought work for more than a year. The latest GDP growth estimates from Federal Reserve Banks have been to less than 1.5% growth rate in the second quarter, attributing this precisely to the fact that factory orders, shipments, and capital investments are contracting, as shown in figures just released by the Census Bureau.

The June BLS report showed hourly wage growth down to 2.8% for the year through June, and average weekly wage growth down to just 2.2% for the same period.

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