FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2019

Volume 6, Number 227

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

• The Real Reason the Warmongers Want Trump Out-They Want War!
• Politico Provides Bookends in Fake Ukraine Narrative
• Investigative Journalist Solomon on Expected Testimony by U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch
• Esper, in Seoul, May Scale Back Military Exercises To Encourage Diplomacy in Peninsula
• Ceasefire in Latest Israel-Gaza Conflict
• Defense Secretary Confirms U.S. Troops in Syria to Number 500-600
• Lebanon Should Join With China’s Belt and Road, and Ditch the Transatlantic Dead-End
• Mexican Diplomacy Stymies Geopoliticians on Bolivian Crisis
• Experts Tell European Parliament Hearing, EU Must Boost Spending For Space Exploration
• Chinese Cities Planning Ambitious Maglev Connectivity

EDITORIAL

The Real Reasons the Warmongers Want Trump Out—They Want War

Nov. 14 (EIRNS)—The two State Department bureaucrats who appeared in the shameless impeachment charade which occurred Wednesday in the House of Representative, George Kent and William A Taylor, inculcated with the British imperial view of the world, defended that view as being central to the entire post-war “order,” and portrayed the President of the United States as a bumbling, uninformed character who would topple that glorious order solely for some personal gain.  One of them, George Kent, went so far as to portray the neo-Nazi thugs used by the British and the Obama Administration to conduct the 2013-2014 coup in Ukraine, as equivalent to the Minutemen of our Revolution, and U.S. aid to keep the war in Ukraine going, as in the tradition of the Lafayette and von Steuben.  Then, within one paragraph, Kent was praising his old professor Zbigniew Brzezinski and Henry Kissinger as the paragons of virtue—whose 21st-century doppelgangers were the key State Department witnesses now testifying against the President.

Democrats fell all over themselves in fawning praise of this “legacy.”  Republicans were afraid to touch it; most of the Senators who will vote on the President’s impeachment are up to their ears in supporting it.  Ukraine’s viability for years to come has been ruined in a blood-soaked ethnic cleansing occurring in the Donbas in the wake of the 2014 coup, conducted by neo-Nazis.  Most of the thousands lost were citizens of Eastern Ukraine of Russian heritage and inclinations.  Yet, Adam Schiff, George Kent, and William Taylor lied outright about this, portraying the dead as brave Ukrainians fighting Russia.  Our State Department calls the coup and the ensuing war in Eastern Ukraine the “Revolution of Dignity.”  Kissinger and Brzezinski together are guilty of more war crimes and genocides, Vietnam and Afghanistan among them, than perhaps anyone in the 20th century, and in doing so they created many of the axiomatic views of the world propounded enthusiastically by Kent and Taylor yesterday, to the applause of House Democrats. As Sen. Rand Paul will tell you, he, like the President, is an island of one in the Senate when it comes to issues of war and peace.

Tucker Carlson ventured out to take this on directly in his Fox News show on Wednesday, putting up clips of Donald Trump speaking during 2016, and saying, simply, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we all got along with Russia?”  That, and the fevered opposition to it by those who cling to the past, and to their own graft in the intelligence community and foreign policy apparatus, constitute the real battle lines in the ongoing coup, Carlson said.  Donald Trump promised to end the permanent warfare state; his voters voted for him to do that.  But, Carlson then fell into his stupid rants about China.

Nonetheless, on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, once again struggling to keep her dentures in her mouth and noting that she could no longer chew gum, instantaneously confirmed exactly what Carlson had said. “Trump is an agent of Putin,” she told her press availability on Nov. 14, explaining what impeachment has been and is all about.  Former CIA official Ray McGovern, in an article in Consortium News, presented a short and accurate sketch of U.S. and British perfidy in Ukraine, the policy which the two idiots who testified yesterday are responsible for enforcing.  He neglected to make the obvious point: that pursuit of the policy outlined by Kent—Ukrainian membership in NATO—is a hair trigger for the nuclear war, which could annihilate us all.

The process undertaken in the House to date is rigged in ways not stated so far.  There will be more “bombshell” surprises, since we are witnessing an internal coup, with the British and their U.S. intelligence community allies determined to unseat this President by waging war from within the Administration. The biggest potential surprise is something neither the Republican or Democratic partisans understand—the dynamic within the world’s physical economy which appears to be approaching another boundary condition, at least as perceived by the Bank of England’s Mark Carney, and others who propose a bankers’ dictatorship to handle the coming new collapse.

Lyndon LaRouche said the economy will fail because it is not a productive economy by design; it is incapable of reproducing itself at the higher levels necessary for sustained growth, which requires leaps in productivity.  He said in a discussion on Oct. 22, 2001, “I understand how a systemic collapse unfolds, as opposed to a stock-market prediction, which is what every idiot likes to talk about. Idiots say: ‘Why don’t you make a prediction? A statistical prediction.’ I say, ‘I don’t make predictions. I make forecasts, which are based on the systemic characteristics and the boundary conditions within which the system operates.’ ” (Emphasis in original.)

The President’s most effective flank on this entire matter, is found in the Four Laws for Economic Recovery set forth by LaRouche to address a collapse of the world system.  Those same Four Laws, if undertaken as organizing principles by Donald Trump, would flank the entire coup apparatus, because sustainable economic recovery and growth would be underway.  Educating and organizing for this must be our highest priority now.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Politico Provides Bookends in Fake Ukraine Narrative

Nov. 14 (EIRNS)—It is worth noting that two bookends to the current fake Ukraine scandal were provided by articles in Politico.  In January 2017, as the then-Poroshenko government struggled to “make nice” with the Trump Administration following their blatant interference on behalf of Hillary Clinton in 2016, Politico selectively leaked aspects of that operation, conducted with Alexandra Chalupa and the OUN-B Ukrainian diaspora organizations in the United States, in conjunction with George Soros and U.S. State Department-funded figures in Ukraine. Moreover, White House visitor logs show Chalupa visiting the White House with the suspected whistleblower, Eric Ciaramella, some 27 times during this period.  At the point the first Politico article appeared, Trump was refusing to meet with Petro Poroshenko or anyone from Ukraine, a logical hostility which continued.

Yesterday’s hearings, as well as previous testimony in the House impeachment inquiry, attribute the Ukrainians’ learning that there was a “hold” on military aid placed by the administration, to a Politico article on Aug. 28. Noteworthy in that “leak” is the following:  “The delays come amid questions over Trump’s approach to Russia, after a weekend in which the President repeatedly seemed to downplay Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine and pushed for Russia to be reinstated into the Group of Seven…. The review is also occurring amid a broader internal debate over whether to halt or cut billions in foreign aid.”  There follow denunciations of holding the aid from senior Democrats in the Senate, saying it proves that Trump is an agent of Putin, along with an uproar from Republican members of the Ukraine lobby in both the House and the Senate.

Investigative Journalist Solomon on Expected Testimony by U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch

Nov. 14 (EIRNS)—John Solomon, in a Nov. 13 column in his “John Solomon Reports” blog, anticipated the impeachment sham testimony scheduled for Nov. 15, that of former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. The Democrats will urge that Yovanovitch was fired by President Donald Trump without cause, based on a campaign of defamation conducted by Solomon and Rudy Giuliani.  It is anticipated that the emotional framework of “#MeToo” will be used to dramatize this appearance. [Monster White Orange Man Confronts Accomplished Immigrant Woman and Fires Her for Reasons Assumed.]

Solomon demonstrates in the article that the central concern of Yovanovitch and her defenders was for the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC) of Ukraine, jointly funded by British agent George Soros and the U.S. State Department.  Soros moved in right after the Maidan coup to establish the anti-corruption initiative with the promise that those who played along would be helping Ukraine get up to $1 billion from Soros directly.  Solomon’s reporting has established that Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Soros collaborated on this project.  From the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Yovanovitch, working with State Department colleagues including George Kent, acted to block Ukrainian investigations of individuals associated with AntAC and the AntAC entity itself, while intervening directly to get various Ukrainian prosecutors fired.  The same individuals were involved in the Ukrainian state actions undertaken against the Trump Campaign and Paul Manafort.  Ukraine’s former top prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko stands by his testimony that Yovanovitch dictated a list to him of individuals who were not to be prosecuted by Ukraine.  This level of intervention by U.S. officials is in direct contravention of the Geneva Conventions.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Esper, in Seoul, May Scale Back Military Exercises To Encourage Diplomacy in Peninsula

Nov. 14 (EIRNS)— Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters on the flight to South Korea that the scheduled joint military exercises may be scaled back in order to facilitate new diplomatic talks with the North, as the Trump Administration has done several times since the opening of diplomatic meetings.

Esper also praised President Donald Trump for preventing a war on the Peninsula. “When I came into office in fall of ‘17 as secretary of the Army, we were on the path to war,” Esper said. “It was very clear to me because the Army was making preparations, and I think it’s due to President Trump’s initiative diplomacy that we were able to dial that back down, and we did that through a variety of means, one of which was dialing back exercises at certain points.”

Pyongyang, as usual, has strongly protested the scheduled military exercises, while repeating its threat to end the diplomacy if the U.S. does not make a better offer, including partial lifting of sanctions, by the end of the year.

Esper continued: “I think we have to … empower and enable our diplomats to sit down with the North Koreans alongside—with our South Korean partners and move the ball forward to a negotiated settlement of the issues that we put on the table…. If we can do those things without jeopardizing our long-term readiness, you do those things to keep diplomacy open, to get talks flowing again, I think that is the proper way for it. I’m all for diplomacy first.”

Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley are calling on South Korea to increase its annual payment for the U.S. troop presence there, from about $1 billion to $5 billion. They are also calling on Seoul not to carry out its threat to cancel the intelligence-sharing agreement with Japan due to the current intense crisis between Seoul and Tokyo. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and President Moon Jae-in met briefly at the ASEAN conference in Bangkok on Nov. 3, with both sides saying the meeting went well and that both want to resolve the crisis.

Ceasefire in Latest Israel-Gaza Conflict

Nov. 14 (EIRNS)—Though still being interrupted by sporadic rocket fire, calm has largely returned to Gaza and southern Israel after two days of fighting between Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Israeli Defense Forces. The fighting had been triggered by the targeted assassination of an Islamic Jihad senior commander in the early morning of Nov. 12, and PIJ retaliated with a barrage of rocket fire which by late yesterday numbered over 450 rockets, according to the IDF. This largely ended this morning after a ceasefire was arranged overnight and went into effect at 5:30 a.m. local time (03:30 UTC). The Times of Israel reports that the IDF has eased all security restrictions and re-opened the Gaza crossings. The Times earlier cited an unnamed Egyptian official saying that the “ceasefire agreement comes as a result of Egypt’s efforts” and has been endorsed by “Palestinian factions including Islamic Jihad.” Israel Radio quoted a senior Egyptian official as saying that Islamic Jihad had agreed to stop firing rockets, and will ensure protests along the Gaza border are peaceful. Israel agreed to end airstrikes and targeted killings, and committed to stop shooting protesters along the fence, the report said. The IDF also reportedly confirmed the agreement through an unnamed spokesman.

The conditions for the ceasefire were apparently those laid out yesterday by PIJ Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhlah, who warned that the PIJ was far from exhausting its rocket arsenal.

Defense Secretary Confirms U.S. Troops in Syria To Number 500-600

Nov. 14 (EIRNS)—Secretary of Defense Mark Esper confirmed yesterday that the number of U.S. troops in Syria will be around 500-600 as previously stated by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on Nov. 10. “We’re going to have about 500 to 600-ish troops there, at the end of the day,” he told reporters traveling with him to South Korea. “We’re still moving troops out of northeastern Syria.” When asked how protecting the oil fits into the larger strategy, he repeated that the mission is the enduring defeat of ISIS and that the way that that is done is by denying them access to the oil fields.

Al Masdar reported yesterday that a U.S. military convoy was seen leaving Sarrin, south of Kobani yesterday, and that earlier, another one was seen crossing the border from Syria back into Iraq. These sightings would seem to confirm Esper’s statement that the withdrawal from the border region continues.

As the Americans are moving out, the Russians are moving in. TASS reports that three Russian helicopters have been deployed to the Qamishli airport. Their mission will be to provide air cover for the Russian military police patrols along the border with Turkey. Russian helicopters have already been flying patrols along the border for about a week.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Lebanon Should Join with China’s Belt and Road, and Ditch the Transatlantic Dead-End

Nov. 14 (EIRNS)—In the middle of the unrest and economic and social crisis that has emerged in Lebanon, the question of whether Lebanon will continue its suicidal path along the Transatlantic system or break loose and join the new paradigm of the Belt and Road with China has come to the surface. The leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, made a televised speech to discuss the crisis in Lebanon on Nov. 11. Part of his speech dealt with the economic and financial crisis in the country. Besides describing the usual corruption problems, he stated that Lebanon must produce again, and build agriculture and industries, rather than continue to be a service economy. Then he emphasized that China was willing to help build massive infrastructure projects in the country, but that China’s offer had been rejected. Nasrallah did not specify who rejected the Chinese offer, but it is general knowledge in Lebanon that it was the pro-Anglo-French-Saudi-American government of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri that turned its back on China, in spite of all the Silk Road and China-Lebanon conferences hosted by Lebanon in the past three years.

On Nov. 13, a short news item on Hezbollah’s website Al-Manar titled “How Can Lebanon Benefit from China’s Economic Offers?” reported the following:

“Around one year ago, a number of Chinese firms offered Lebanon investment projects in various economic domains, raising the question of the extent of the Lebanese ability to benefit from the offer to improve its socio-economic situation.

“Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed during his latest speech that Lebanon has to benefit from the Chinese offers in order to cope with its economic crisis, highlighting the U.S. pressures on the country to reject China’s initiative.

“The Lebanese government has not tackled the issue seriously since the Chinese firms visited Lebanon, which indicates that Beirut will not react positively with Beijing’s offer.

“In this regard, China offered Lebanon to establish a railroad system that links all the Lebanese cities and the ports, power plants, solar energy plants, cleaning the rivers, adopting Lebanon as China’s financial center in the region, building a commercial seaport and many other economic projects.”

Al-Manar’s reference to “around one year ago” might be to the Belt and Road Conference held in Tripoli in northern Lebanon on March 2, 2019. In that conference, according to Xinhua, Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian said that China is open to participating in infrastructure projects in northern Lebanon. “Chinese companies have visited northern Lebanon and they are ready to take part in infrastructure projects including the expansion of Tripoli Port and Qlayaat Airport, in addition to the construction of railways, roads and bridges,” Wang said. In the same conference, Toufic Dabbousi, head of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Lebanon, emphasized the need to expand the Tripoli Port and Qlayaat Airport in a bid to take part in projects along the BRI.

On Nov. 11, Tayyar.org, the website of President Michel Aoun’s political party, published a very short notice in which it cited former Minister Wiam Wahhab as having said in an interview with OTV that “The Chinese Ambassador visited him at his home and promised to solve Lebanon’s electricity crisis in six months only, and that with a zero-interest loan from China.” Wahhab went on: “I told one of our three presidents (Either President of the Republic, Aoun, the president of the Parliament Nabih Berri, or Prime Minister Hariri) but he said, the Americans would not allow this.” This is how politics in Lebanon goes, according to a Lebanese source EIR talked to today. “Everyone talks about certain facts, but no names are mentioned,” because almost everyone is involved in some corrupt acts which everyone else knows about. In any case, shortage of electricity is one of the main reasons of the current uprising in the country. This source claims that Aoun and Nasrallah are of the same mind, and do want the street to boil, and the truth to come out about corruption, but without stirring a new civil war. This source stated that EIR’s analysis that President Donald Trump wants to roll back many years of endless wars and establish a new regime in the region, similar to what President Vladimir Putin has proposed, is correct.

It is obvious that it was Hariri’s government (who now has resigned due to the pressure from the people) that rejected the Chinese offer, and instead went along with the deal struck with the World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) at the Paris CEDRE (“Cedar”) conference on April 6, 2018. The agreement stipulated that Lebanon would receive credits to build infrastructure, especially power plants in return for reforms! However, after more than a year, no financing for power plants and infrastructure arrived, and instead new taxes and higher electricity and fuel fees were imposed on the population. The straw that broke the camel’s back of the World Bank package was imposing a tax on Whatsapp messages and calls (not a joke!—ed.) in October. The explosion of the protests forced the government to abandon this decision, and it then was forced to resign. President Aoun accepted the resignation of Prime Minister al-Hariri and has not been in a hurry to nominate a replacement.

The Lebanese economy is totally controlled by the private banks. The only source of income for Lebanon, especially since the war began to be waged on Syria in 2011, is the transfers of money from Lebanese expatriates. Tourism has been dwindling, especially since Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states boycotted Lebanon to punish the Lebanese President and Hezbollah for supporting the Damascus government. The banks take very high fees on the transfers and keep most of the money deposited in their accounts. The banks then loan the money to the government (buying government bonds for higher and higher yields) because the government is desperate to finance its budget. Therefore, Nasrallah’s call for “production” in industrial and agricultural sectors, and making sure that China comes back to build the necessary infrastructure, is responding to the demands of the desperate Lebanese people. The Lebanese source emphasized that, while foreign forces want to turn the justified and angry protest in Lebanon into a new “color revolution” and throw out the baby with the corrupt bathtub water, President Aoun and Nasrallah want to use this opportunity to carry out a complete clean-up operation in conjuncture with the regional clean-up operation being conducted by President Putin and President Trump, and have a new deck of cards.

China, while not making much noise, is waiting on the sidelines, to launch the Syria reconstruction with Lebanon being a key element in connecting Syria to the Mediterranean on the “Maritime Silk Road,” and to Iraq, Iran and Central Asia on the Silk Road Economic Belt. The Lebanese source, who requested several copies of the Arabic translation of EIR’s report, “The New Silk Road Becomes the World Land-Bridge” to send to selected Lebanese leaders, stated that “while Lebanese politics and statements by political leaders are very byzantine and cryptical, making transparent what is happening in this region requires the insights of the EIR and LaRouche people.”

Mexican Diplomacy Stymies Geopoliticians on Bolivian Crisis

Nov. 14 (EIRNS)—In addition to saving the life of deposed Bolivian President Evo Morales, by offering him asylum, the Mexican government has played a vital leadership role continentally in countering advocates of geopolitical conflict. Also crucial was the role of Argentine President-elect Alberto Fernández, an ally of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who spent all day Nov. 10-11 speaking to regional leaders, as well as to State Department officials, to ensure that the Mexican Air Force plane carrying Morales out of Bolivia could return to Mexico safely.

On Nov. 12, at a special session of the Organization of American States, convened, under pressure from Mexico, by OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro, Mexican Ambassador Luz Elena Baños forcefully stated that Bolivia had just suffered a coup d’état, and underscored that at a time of profound crisis, member states of the OAS “have a high responsibility to support Bolivia … and do so in an objective and responsible manner, respectful of its sovereignty and its self-determination, without temptation of intervention.” She detailed Morales’s efforts to prevent civil war by calling for new elections and eventually by resigning. But, she added, “we consider that the pressures placed on Evo Morales by the armed forces and security forces, are the elements constituting a coup d’état.”

Ambassador Baños also had choice words for Almagro, who takes orders from the U.S. State Department, expressing astonishment that someone “who is known for his constant and unusual media activity” had remained “surprisingly silent” on events in Bolivia, especially given the rampant violence that endangered the lives of many people. Almagro, in his remarks, had spouted the Foggy Bottom line that Evo Morales had stolen the vote, charging that if there were any coup, it was a “self-coup” by Morales himself. Ambassador Baños aptly commented: “the statements by the Secretary General do not represent the position of member states.” Indeed. Statements opposing Almagro from Caribbean nations, Uruguay, Nicaragua and others confirmed that.

Almagro could only get 15 out of 34 member states to sign a statement which called for new Bolivian elections, respect for the Constitution and naming of new election officials. U.S. Ambassador Carlos Trujillo was left to sputter about the “hypocrisy” of “some member states” which he claimed supported Morales’s “stealing the vote” while purporting to support democracy and non-intervention—clearly aimed at Mexico.

SCIENCE

Experts Tell European Parliament Hearing, EU Must Boost Spending for Space Exploration

Nov. 14 (EIRNS)—The EU needs to boost space funding, a panel of experts told MEPs at a Nov. 12 European Parliament hearing, AFP reports. The hearing is one of numerous events these days in preparation for the late-November session of the European science and space ministers in Seville, Spain, where the size of the budget for the European Space Agency will be decided; at least €12.5 billion will be required for the crucial next three-year period, during which ESA, in addition to other cooperation projects including with Russia and China, is to produce its modules for the Orion segment of NASA’s Artemis program for a crewed return to the Moon.

The experts, including from the UN and the European Commission, said an estimated 60% of the world’s economy depends directly or indirectly on “space tools” such as satellite imaging, tracking and internet connectivity. EU experts, however, did not go into the aspects of the civilian economy, but rather focussed on geopolitical views, portraying space powers such as China and India as rivals, rather than as partners for Europe in future research cooperation.

Olivier Zajec, director of France’s Institute for Strategy and Defense Studies, urged the EU to “take leadership,” saying in a reference to the U.S., that the bloc could “not depend on other actors, even allies.” With China and India making major strides in space exploration, and smaller countries such as Iran and Singapore honing their own ambitions, “jaws are closing” in on Europe’s position as a space power, Zajec said.

Chinese Cities Planning Ambitious Maglev Connectivity

Nov. 14 (EIRNS)—China Daily reports today that high-speed maglev lines with trains traveling at 600 kph or faster are taking shape between some Chinese cities in a bid to boost regional integration and economic growth.

Chengdu, capital ofSichuan province, is considering a high-speed maglev line with a top speed of 800 kph to Chongqing, about 320 km, according to the city’s latest development plan. The train is expected to cut travel time between the two cities to 30 minutes, down from 73 minutes on the current maximum 350 kph high-speed service.

Wuhan, Hubei province, is also eyeing a maglev train, with China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corp., to begin construction work next year, Wuhan Evening News reported.

A team led by the Chinese Academy of Engineering is also conducting a preliminary feasibility study on a high-speed maglev line in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with a designed maximum speed of 600 kph, said Academy Vice President He Huawu, speaking in July at the 2019 World Transport Convention in Beijing. The Greater Bay Area is, and will remain for the near future, the biggest construction site on the planet, with billions of dollars invested in new transport and housing infrastructure, factories, power and water supply.

Jia Limin, an engineering professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and head of China’s high-speed rail innovation program, told China Daily that such velocities are much closer to cruising speeds for commercial airliners. “Maglev is the future of ultrafast trains, since it’s fast, safe, reliable and low maintenance,” Jia said. “It can fill the service gap between the high-speed rail network and aviation, which will further boost the flow of talent in neighboring provinces and even nationwide, and thus propel regional economic growth and prosperity.”

Executive Intelligence Review is planning a follow-up to the article on maglev in its Oct. 18 issue (“China Announces Plan To Build 600 km/h Maglev”) in the near future.

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