THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2019 Volume 6, Number 141 EIR Daily Alert Service P.O. Box 17390, Washington, DC 20041-0390

• The ‘Unipolar World’ Is Disintegrating; Bring the World Together Through Humanity’s Mission in Space
• Apollo at 50: Former Astronaut Says Apollo’s Message Is That Man is Not an Earth-Bound Species
• Trump Finding Himself Stuck Between Congress, the Pentagon, and Turkey’s S-400 Deal With Russia
• Russian Analyst on Increased Danger of Nuclear War After INF Treaty
• Congress, State Department Launch Regime Change Operations Against Myanmar and Cambodia
• Persecution and Firing of Leading Chinese Scientists in the U.S. Now Spreading to Canada
• Acting Director of IMF Is a Sachs Maniac
• Hedge Funds’ Pullout, Prelude to Collapse of Deutsche Bank?
• A Doomed IMF ‘Reform,’ or the New Silk Road?
• China-Africa Peace and Security Forum Addresses Link Between Development and Security
• London Symphony Conductor: China and Asia’s Passion for Classical Music is Inspiring
• 37 Countries Praise China on Development Approach to Uighur Terrorism
• Iran, Iraq, and Syria Discuss Railroad Construction to Connect Ports

EDITORIAL

The ‘Unipolar World’ Is Disintegrating; Bring the World Together through Humanity’s Mission in Space

July 17 (EIRNS)—On nearly every front, the paradigm of a unipolar world, centered on the concept of Empire, is disintegrating, while a new paradigm of sovereign nations, cooperating in the development of the productive powers of Mankind as a whole, is spreading out from Asia through the idea of the New Silk Road. Even the leaders of the dying financial Empire see the handwriting on the wall: French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, speaking today at a conference of leaders of the IMF, World Bank and the European Central Bank commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Bretton Woods System, said the following: “The Bretton Woods order as we know it has reached its limits…. Unless we are able to reinvent Bretton Woods, the New Silk Road might become the new world order.”

True enough. But Le Maire’s view that such a new paradigm is a threat to the western world is nonsense. The concept envisioned by Franklin Roosevelt at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, which adopted Roosevelt’s “Hamiltonian” vision over that of the British Empire representative John Maynard Keynes, has been systematically subverted by the British “free trade” dogma, and the transformation of the regulated financial system by the unfettered speculation of the post-Glass Steagall era. The ongoing disintegration of Deutsche Bank is but one sign of the onrushing collapse of the “quadrillion dollar plus” bubble of derivatives and leveraged loans now hanging over the western financial empire.

The current ghost of the Bretton Woods System is finished. It cannot be reformed, but rather it can only be put to rest, through a total reorganization of the world financial system, as designed by Lyndon LaRouche long ago, with the tremendous growth and development process generated by the Belt and Road as the center piece of cooperation between China, Russia, India the United States and others in an entirely new system. The current surge in cultural optimism generated by the 50th Anniversary of man’s heroic landing on the Moon this coming Saturday, and the courageous declaration by President Trump and his NASA director Jim Bridenstine that a man and a woman will return to the Moon within five years, and that we will stay on the Moon, as a base for reaching Mars and beyond—this surge in optimism must be the channel through which the people of the world regain their sense of a common humanity.

Thousands of events are taking place around the world this week, honoring that great achievement 50 years ago, and inspiring people and nations to join together in what truly unites all of mankind—the “extraterrestrial imperative” that Mankind, and Mankind alone, can conceive of a universe of 2 trillion galaxies, and envision a future in which the human race is truly immortal, bringing dominion over ever greater reaches of the universe over the next several thousands of years. As LaRouche said in 1986: “What is the desire of the good person? What else but to discover the laws of creation less imperfectly, to the end that our knowledge, as guide to our practice, deviates less from that will of the Creator expressed in the lawful ordering of this universe. Who can be good, who does not yearn for agreement with the Creator, and, on that account, to lessen the imperfection of one’s own understanding of the lawful ordering of creation?”

Today, LaRouchePAC organizers rallied before the U.S. Congress, calling for the exoneration of LaRouche, in order to place his profound ideas before those people living today, as a necessary pre-condition to meet the huge challenge of preparing mankind for the task ahead, as exemplified by the Moon-Mars mission. Great fun was had ridiculing the batty Prince Charles, who recently warned that the world cannot survive if we do not eliminate carbon emissions within 18 months. One organizer asked the amused and delighted passers-by: “How many windmills does it take to fly to the Moon?” The leaders of the psychotic “Green New Deal” in the Congress (now known as the “Four Ladies of the Apocalypse”) are merely puppets of the British royals and their assets, like Al Gore and George Soros, who are trying to save their bankrupt financial system through austerity, depopulation, and war.

Join the Schiller Institute on Saturday, July 20, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time, at  https://youtu.be/6G_mx9ix68I for the celebration of the Moon landing, under the title: “Mankind’s Future Must Determine Our Present—A Dialogue of Cultures On How to Develop the Population and the Productive Forces For Earth’s Next Fifty Years.”

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Apollo at 50: Former Astronaut Says Apollo’s Message Is that Man Is Not an Earth-Bound Species

July 17 (EIRNS)—Yesterday, prior to a gala event being held in Cocoa Beach, Florida to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing, several former astronauts gathered to reflect on their experiences and involvement in the historic event. Apollo flight director Gerry Griffin, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart and Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke participated in the panel.

As reported by The Orlando Sentinel, Rusty Schweickart commented “Everybody said we did it, we owned it. It was we people here on Earth. It seems to me that the real message of Apollo is that we now are evolving beyond the limits of Mother Earth.”

Duke, who worked as the capsule communicator on Apollo 11 before heading to the Moon on Apollo 16, commented that everyone was so focused on the task at hand that they didn’t stop much to contemplate its place in history. No one ever talked about how they were going to be famous when it was over. “It’s hard to believe that 50 years later, it was a really big deal. I knew it then—it was a really big deal, but not me, the program was a really big deal.”

And Schweickart added that today, replicating Apollo 11 and doing another Moon landing, will be particularly challenging. Absent will be the “backdrop of the Cold War” and the vision and leadership of a John F. Kennedy. The nation now will have to really rally around a big goal to achieve another Apollo, he stressed. “It can’t be an incremental step. It’s going to be something which taps pretty deeply into the human psyche.”

All the panel members agreed that the nation and the Congress have to align “behind the understanding that exploring space is critical for humans as a species.” As Collins put it, I” don’t want to live with a lid over my head. I want to remove that lid, I want [us to be] outward bound. That’s where I want to go.”

This week, the United States and nations around the world have organized a multitude of activities to celebrate the 1969 Moon landing. This website, https://www.moonlanding50.org/, lists activities occurring in at least 124 countries.

In Washington, a full-scale image of the Saturn V rocket is being shown on the Washington Monument for three days this week. Ellen Stotan, director of the Air and Space Museum, called the Washington Monument “a symbol of our collective national achievements and what we can and will achieve in the future. It took 400,000 people from across 50 states to make Apollo a reality. This program celebrates them, and we hope it inspires generations too young to have experienced Apollo firsthand to define their own moonshot.”

July 19 and 20, a 17-minute presentation will take place by the Smithsonian Castle on the National Mall, entitled “Apollo 50: Go to the Moon” event.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Trump Finding Himself Stuck between Congress, the Pentagon, and Turkey’s S-400 Deal with Russia

July 17 (EIRNS)—During a cabinet meeting at the White House yesterday, President Donald Trump complained about the circumstances he finds himself in with Turkey taking delivery of components of the Russian S-400 air defense system that it has purchased and the sanctions he is now required, by law, to impose on Ankara for it. “I’ve had a very good relationship [with Turkey],” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question, according to the White House transcript. “The Obama administration would not sell them the Patriot missiles.  They need the Patriot missiles for defense.  They would not sell them, under any circumstance.” He went on to say Turkey tried very hard to buy the Patriots and it wasn’t until Turkey made the decision to go with the S-400 that suddenly “everybody started rushing and saying to Turkey, ‘Okay, we’ll sell you the Patriot missile.’  It was only when they found out they couldn’t get it, then, they say, ‘Let’s go, we’ll sell you the Patriot missile.’ ” Trump noted that Turkey is planning to buy over 100 F-35s but that “because they have a system of missiles that’s made in Russia, they’re now prohibited from buying over a hundred planes.”

“So what happens is we have a situation where Turkey is very good with us,” he said. “Very good.  And we are now telling Turkey that, because you have really been forced to buy another missile system, we’re not going to sell you the F-35 fighter jets,” continuing from there to express sympathy for Turkey as he had when he met Erdogan at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan in June.

Secretary of Defense nominee Mark Esper, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, made clear that the policy decision has already been made. He called Turkey’s decision on the S-400 “very disappointing” and said: “The policy that I’ve communicated to my counterpart… is you can either have the S-400 or the F-35. You cannot have both. Acquisition of the S-400 fundamentally undermines the capabilities of the F-35 and our ability to maintain that overmatch in the skies going forward.” Then-Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan had already announced, on June 7, the Pentagon plan to unwind Turkey from the F-35 program (Turkey also participates in the production process of the F-35). Esper was merely confirming what Shanahan had already set into motion.

Members of Congress have also made clear that they believe that the 2017 Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) requires Trump to impose sanctions on Turkey. He can decide what options provided in the law to choose from, but he has to impose sanctions. The law “was tailor-made not to let Turkey off the hook for its purchase of the S-400, and a waiver would be impermissible under current circumstances,” reported Defense News. “Unlike India, Turkey is a NATO ally, the interoperability of our systems is critical, the inability of us to have a F-35 next to an S-400 is crystal clear, and [Turkish officials] were given options,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “In every respect, they turned their backs on us. They had an option and they refused to do so. That’s why there’s not going to be a waiver.”

So, every indication is that Trump feels trapped between the U.S. Congress and the Pentagon—another case of the President unable to break through the containment.

Russian Analyst on Increased Danger of Nuclear War After INF Treaty

July 17 (EIRNS)—Dmitri Suslov, a prominent Russian younger-generation strategic analyst who is now Deputy Director at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies in the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, warned of an increased danger of nuclear war in the current confrontational situation in U.S.-Russian relations.   Speaking at a CSIS forum on July 15, Suslov was pessimistic about any improvement in relations over the coming years. He believes we are now in a “new Cold War,” with both sides believing the other is facing inevitable decline and unwilling to compromise. He said that there is a consensus in the entire U.S. foreign policy establishment—Congress, State Department, Pentagon, White House, intelligence community, “all except perhaps the President himself”—that Russia is a strategic adversary and therefore only “containment” is possible. He did acknowledge that if Trump is reelected next year, there is a better chance of making some progress, noting that Biden thinks Trump is not tough enough on Russia and China.

Suslov noted that the U.S. belief in a unipolar world is quickly proving to be untrue, pointing to NATO-member Turkey’s recent purchase of the S-400 air defense systems from Russia against intense U.S. pressure, and the fact that both South Korea and Japan, both allies of the U.S., have built strong relations with Russia despite U.S. anti-Russia actions and sanctions.

His most severe warning of a full-scale nuclear war was that a military situation could get out of control “if the U.S. deploys its medium and intermediate range missiles in central and eastern Europe after the expiration of the INF Treaty.” He added: “So far, it is claimed that there is no political will for the U.S. to deploy the intermediate range missiles in central and eastern Europe. However, I think that in the confrontation framework, the political pressure will come, especially due to the fact that the U.S. considers that Russia has already deployed the prohibited missiles in Europe. So this will compel the U.S., over time, to compensate with the U.S. deployments. Whereas Western European countries do not allow deployment on their territory, Eastern European countries actually want deployment on their territory….

“How will Russia react to that? Russia will have to adopt a preemptive strike doctrine. claiming that it will preemptively use military force and strike against the U.S. missiles in the case of escalation of tensions, even before we start shooting upon each other, because the flight time from, say, the Baltic states to Moscow with these missiles is just 4 minutes. We can’t even think about anything else than a preemptive strike doctrine in these scenarios.”

Congress, State Department Launch Regime Change Operations against Myanmar and Cambodia

July 17 (EIRNS)—Operations to undermine the freedom and sovereignty of two Southeast Asian nations, Myanmar and Cambodia, were launched simultaneously this week by the State Department and the Congress. The fact that these two ASEAN nations are major beneficiaries of the Belt and Road development process is clearly the motive for these bullying operations.

The House on Monday passed HR 526, the “Cambodia Democracy Act of 2019.” If also passed in the Senate and signed by President Trump, the bill would require the President, within 180 days of its signing, to impose two types of sanctions on Cambodia government and military leaders deemed to be human rights violators (with the Congress defining what they consider to be human rights, of course), and on entities owned by those persons. Sanctions would include blocking assets in the U.S., and preventing entry to the U.S.

Introduced by neocon Republican Ted Yoho, the bill severely intervenes into the sovereign rights of the country: denouncing President Hun Sen as “undemocratic;” rejecting the countries right to regulate NGOs or the media; openly supporting an opposition party which connived with George Soros and others in a color revolution attempt against the government; and declaring every election since 1991 to be “unfair and unfree.”

It should be recalled that this was the same United States which openly supported the genocidal Khmer Rouge for years after Hun Sen liberated the country with the aid of Vietnam forces.

Meanwhile, the State Department issued on Tuesday a “Public Designation, Due to Gross Violations of Human Rights, of Burmese Military Officials.” The release names four top leaders of the Myanmar military “and their immediate family members” for “gross human rights violations, including in extrajudicial killings in northern Rakhine State, Burma, during the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya.” (Some within the U.S. government continue to deny the country the right to name itself, preferring the British colonial name of Burma).

This is yet another of the “R2P” (Responsibility To Protect) operations by which some institutions in the U.S. have joined the British imperial disregard for sovereignty, taking upon themselves the role of chief arbiter of what constitutes human rights. The fact that Myanmar, like Cambodia, has begun to alleviate the gross poverty, lack of electricity and other necessities for its people through cooperation with the New Silk Road is ignored as a “human right.”

Persecution and Firing of Leading Chinese Scientists in the U.S. Now Spreading to Canada

July 17 (EIRNS)—FBI Chief Christopher Wray’s racist campaign against China—and against science itself—by the forced firings of leading cancer research scientists in Houston and Atlanta, has now extended into Canada.  CBC News reported July 14 that the Public Health Agency of Canada removed Dr. Qiu Xiangguo, her husband Cheng Keding, and an unknown number of her students from China, from the nation’s only Level-4 lab on July 5. A Level 4 virology facility is a lab equipped to work with the most serious and deadly human and animal diseases, CBC reports. The Arlington Street lab in Winnipeg, where Dr. Qiu worked, is one of only a handful in North America capable of handling pathogens requiring the highest level of containment, such as Ebola. In fact, they report, “Dr Qiu is a prominent virologist who helped develop ZMapp, a treatment for the deadly Ebola virus which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa between 2014-2016.” Ebola is now again surging across parts of Africa.

Thus, this McCarthyite witchhunt is sabotaging international cooperation in efforts to cure the most deadly diseases facing mankind today. Prince Philip would be proud of Canada’s contribution to reducing the world’s population. In fact, it would not be surprising to find that the Royals have a hand in this deadly operation in one of their Commonwealth subject nations.

Dr. Qiu was granted a “Governor General’s Innovation Award” in 2018. CBC reports: “Dr. Qiu is a medical doctor from Tianjin, China, who came to Canada for graduate studies in 1996. She is still affiliated with the university there and has brought in many students over the years to help with her work. Currently head of the Vaccine Development and Antiviral Therapies section in the Special Pathogens Program at the lab, Qiu’s primary field is immunology. Her research focuses on vaccine development, post-exposure therapeutics and rapid diagnostics of viruses like Ebola. She is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba.”

It appears that, as in Wray’s dirty work in the U.S., the charge is that Dr. Qiu’s work with Chinese institutions threatens that China might benefit from Canadian “intellectual property”—in this case, discoveries which can cure deadly diseases. Heaven forbid that Chinese lives, or those of African citizens, would be saved by “stolen” scientific knowledge.

ECONOMY

Acting Director of IMF Is a Sachs Maniac

July 17 (EIRNS)—David Lipton, who has been First Deputy Director of the IMF since 2011, has replaced Christine Lagarde as acting director since she became head of the European Central Bank. His history is rather frightening.

Besides serving stints in Citibank risk management, in Clinton’s Treasury, and as Special Economic Advisor to Obama, he teamed up with non-other than Jeffrey Sachs from 1989 to 1992, to oversee the “transition to capitalism” in Russia, Poland and Slovenia. I.e., he was the partner in crime to the “shock therapy” in Russia for which Sachs is infamous, which looted the country to the bone, lowered the average age of death drastically, and depleted the population, all while western carpetbaggers  were making a fortune, and a handful of Maggie Thatcher-trained oligarchs were given the state sector industries for nothing, becoming overnight billionaires.

See Genocide—Russia and the New World Order, by Sergei Glazyev, translated by EIR.

Hedge Funds’ Pullout, Prelude to Collapse of Deutsche Bank?

July 17 (EIRNS)— Bloomberg notes that questions about the viability of Deutsche Bank are swirling.” Yes, it won’t be insolvent overnight, but like the world’s biggest melting ice cube, there is simply no equity value there any more — everyone else has decided to cut their counterparty risk with the bank with the 45 trillion in derivatives, and according to Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank clients, mostly hedge funds, have started a “bank run” which has culminated with about $1 billion per day being pulled from the bank.

As a result of the modern version of this “bank run,” where it’s not depositors but counterparties that are pulling their liquid exposure from DB on fears another Lehman-style lock up could freeze their funds indefinitely, Deutsche Bank is considering how to transfer some 150 billion ($168 billion) of balances held in it prime-brokerage unit – along with technology and potentially hundreds of staff – to French banking giant BNP Paribas. BNP Paribas has been talking in the past days, it is reported, to hedge funds in the States and in Europe to convince them to stay. But time is running out, so that the deal with Deutsche Bank, which the French insanely enough believe would help them to become a big player in the prime brokerage field, may flop.

Critics of Deutsche Bank who have warned that it is moving in a direction that would justify calling the bank Lemming Bros., might then be proven right. A real, in-depth bank restructuration of Deutsche Bank that would create a real-economic financing institute and separate it from the messy rest, is more than long overdue.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

A Doomed IMF ‘Reform,’ or the New Silk Road?

July 17 (EIRNS)—France’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday the post-war international monetary order needed to be reinvented or become increasingly dominated by China. “The pillars of that order have been the International Monetary Fund and its sister institution the World Bank, since their inception at the Bretton Woods conference in New Hampshire in July 1944,” he said, speaking at a conference at the French central bank marking the 75th anniversary of the Bretton Woods. “The Bretton Woods order as we know it has reached its limits,”

“The alternative we have is now clear,” he continued. “Either we reinvent Bretton Woods or it risks losing relevance and eventually disappearing,” he said, adding that while Bretton Woods had defined the international economic order of the second half of the 20th century, the first part of this century may be defined by China’s New Silk Road project. “Unless we are able to reinvent Bretton Woods, The New Silk Road might become the new world order,” Le Maire said. “And Chinese standards on state aid, on access to public procurements, on intellectual property could become the new global standards.”

Le Maire said the reform priorities of Bretton Woods institutions should be focused on fighting climate change, and that the arrival of a new IMF chief after Fund Director Christine Lagarde’s departure for the European Central Bank created an opportunity to rethink the fund’s mandate while its shareholders needed to ensure it had enough resources for the next crisis.

China-Africa Peace and Security Forum Addresses Link between Development and Security

July 17 (EIRNS)—At the China-Africa Peace and Security Forum, which began July 15 in Beijing under the heading “Work Together for Common Security,” important discussion focussed on the relationship between security and economic development. As a representative from Sierra Leone put it, “it’s impossible to ensure security in Africa if the young people cannot find jobs.” He expressed the hope that China will be investing more in his country in the future, China Military Onlinereported today.

The conference is attended by 100 senior representatives from the defense departments of 50 African countries and the African Union, including 15 defense ministers and chiefs of general staff, to discuss new approaches to China-Africa security cooperation.

Note, too, today’s Global Times report on remarks by Gen. Guo Ruobing, Commandant of the National Security College of National Defense University (NDU) of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who noted that some countries “have forced color revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa,” promising democracy and prosperity, but these “not only did not resolve issues, they created more regional conflicts.” China and Africa, he said, will work closely together to maintain sustainable peace and enhance mutual trust. China, he said, “is the largest developing country and Africa is the largest developing continent,” and are also bound by “similar historical sufferings and common development interests.” For developing countries, he underscored, development concerns security and holds the master key to solving security issues.” (emphasis added).

Major General Xu Hui, Dean of the International College of Defense Studies under the National Defense University of the PLA, stressed that the forum’s importance lies in the gathering of “senior Chinese and African representatives to jointly diagnose security issues faced by Africa, share their governing experience and wisdom and then take targeted and suitable measures.” Gen. Xu added that security issues such as terrorism, fundamentalism, drugs, human trafficking and arms proliferation are not limited by national borders or continental boundaries, but create a de facto global network, of which Africa is a part. Therefore, he said, security in Africa is closely related to global security.

Smail Chergui, the African Union (AU) Commissioner for Peace and Security, said the forum is timely, not only because China is an important partner of the AU, but also because China and AU member states have carried out more pragmatic cooperation in peace, trade and security, and have responded jointly to the challenges in the African region.

London Symphony Conductor: China and Asia’s Passion for Classical Music Is Inspiring

July 17 (EIRNS)—In comments published by South China Morning Post today, Sir Simon Rattle, conductor and music director of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), discussed the passion he sees for classical music among the people of China, and Asia more broadly, which puts the West to shame.

Rattle, who will conduct three LSO concerts in Hong Kong in September to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Hong Kong Culture Center, noted that it’s not only important for British classical musicians to go to Asia, but it’s also very inspiring.

“Living in a country in which the arts are marginalized—and we wonder who is taking care of them—when we then go to Asia and see excitement and passion for music, this is something palpable and deeply moving for us,” Rattle reported. Explaining that he’s traveled to Asia for many years, “you realize every place has its own input in music; [mainland] China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan—all of them have an immense hunger for music, but completely different responses to it.” For example, in Taipei, there may be an audience of 2,000 inside, “but there are 40,000 outside watching it on a screen. This type of love of the arts is not happening where we are. China, in particular, has a classical music scene that looks destined to impress.”

Rattle said he believed there are more people in mainland China learning the piano than the population of Germany. “If I was an investing man, I would put my money into Chinese pianos at the moment!”

SCMP quotes 23-year-old pianist Aristo Sham, who will be performing with the LSO in September, who says that classical music is going from “strength to strength” in Asia. “People like to say that classical music is dying, but that could not be further from the truth,” he remarked. “There are now, more than ever, myriad avenues to access high-quality classical music performances wherever we are.” Pianist Colleen Lee, who will also perform in September with the LSO, told SCMP that “I’m delighted to see more young people now in concerts, hoping the classical music scene in Hong Kong will continue to blossom, with support from all walks of life.”

37 Countries Praise China on Development Approach to Uighur Terrorism

July 17 (EIRNS)—Following the disgusting letter issued by 22 countries (18 European, the other Five Eyes and Japan) last week denouncing China for “mass arbitrary detentions and related violations” of Uighurs in Xinjiang, 37 other nations, including 12 majority Muslim nations, have issued a letter giving full support to China’s peaceful and development-oriented approach to dealing with terrorism in Xinjiang. Unstated, but clearly implied, is the contrast to the mass murder regime-change operations carried out across Southwest Asia by the western powers under the name of a phony “war on terrorism.”

“Faced with the grave challenge of terrorism and extremism,” the letter states, “China has undertaken a series of counter-terrorism and deradicalization measures in Xinjiang, including setting up vocational education and training centers.” Noting that there has been no terror attack in Xinjiang for three years and that life in the region is now secure and increasingly prosperous, the letter adds: “We commend China’s remarkable achievements in the field of human rights by adhering to the people-centered development philosophy and protecting and promoting human rights through development.”

The Islamic nation signers are: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Syria, Tajikistan, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, and Togo. Others include Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Angola, Belarus, Burma, North Korea, the Philippines, and Zimbabwe. CNS News notes also that at least 11 of the signatories are currently members of the HRC.

Chinese Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) Xu Chen, speaking at the HRC conference on Friday in Geneva, welcomed the support of the signatories of the letter, saying China expected the HRC to “uphold in its work  objectivity, transparency, non-selectivity, constructiveness, non-confrontation, and non-politicization, and called on the 22 countries who issued the complaint against China to “discard their prejudices and stop politicizing human rights issues.”

Both CNN and NPR sent reporters to visit the camps this year, and, while trying to emphasize the forced detentions as a breach of human rights, were both forced to acknowledge the vocational aspect, the serious classes, and presence of Imams and free religious activities.

Iran, Iraq and Syria Discuss Railroad Construction to Connect Ports

July 17 (EIRNS)—The governments of Iran, Syria and Iraq are discussing the construction of a rail line that will connect Iran’s Imam Khomeini Persian Gulf port with the Syrian port of Latakia on the Mediterranean Sea, via Iraq. As of October, Iran will be leasing Syria’s state-owned Latakia port, which is that country’s main commercial port. Its harbor is 135 hectares, has 32 wharfs, 18 cranes, its channel depth is 14.5 meters, the warehouses cover 62.8 hectares and can handle some three million tons of cargo a year.

The heads of each nation’s railway administration—Najib al-Fares from Syria, Saeid Rasouli from Iran and Taleb Jawad Kazem from Iraq—have been meeting to discuss the proposal.

Each of these nations has been severely affected by civil war, sectarian conflict and international sanctions and are now seeking ways to dramatically increase the cargo flow among them,PortSEurope reported July 16. Iran is especially interested in connecting the two ports and will finance the railway link between the Iranian city of Shalamja and the Iraqi city of Basra, the agreement for which was signed during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Iraq last March.

Iran’s leasing of the container terminal in Latakia port, will allow it to gain a highly strategic foothold in the Eastern Mediterranean, 322 km by sea from the key Israeli port of Haifa. (Israeli media claim that Iran operates a precision missile factory on the outskirts of Latakia very close to the Russian Khmeimim Air Force Base in Syria.) Iran is also working on the construction of a power plant in Latakia.

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