FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2019

Volume 6, Number 237

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

• Coup Phase III: Treason in High Places, as Fascist Ukraine Coup Comes Home To Roost in U.S.
• President Trump Signs Hong Kong Democracy Act, and China Issues Angry Response
• Sheekey Argues Bloomberg Has To Run , or Trump Will Win, and Impeachment No Help to Democrats
• European Farm Protests Implicitly Demand New Economic System, With Hot Debate in U.S. Farm Belt
• Italy’s Opposition Escalates Fight Against the European Stability Mechanism
• Argentina’s President-Elect Fernandez Insists, We Will Take No More Money From IMF
• Turkey’s Proxy Army in Northern Syria Is Mostly Made Up of Lawless Gangs
• Spacecraft To Take First Step Toward Mars Sample Return Missions
• Hong Kong Police Discover Terrorist Arsenal at Polytechnic University

EDITORIAL

Coup Phase III: Treason in High Places, as Fascist Ukraine Coup Comes Home To Roost in U.S.

Nov. 28 (EIRNS)—Former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who (along with Lyndon LaRouche) had exposed the “Iraqi weapons of mass destruction” hoax before the Bush-Cheney 2003 invasion, has now performed another great service for his country and the world, at another moment of maximum crisis.  In a lengthy article posted yesterday on Consortium News, Ritter presents a deeply sourced picture of who the so-called “whistleblower,” really is, “the Unnamed,” who has now triggered impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States. No one who is serious about the immediate danger to the United States and to world peace, will fail to read every word of this article, “Scott Ritter: The ‘Whistleblower’ and the Politicization of Intelligence.”

Ritter lays out the gravity of the case he intends to present in three paragraphs: “[T]the whistleblower complaint has opened a window into the politicization of the intelligence community, and the corresponding weaponization of the national security establishment, against a sitting President.

“As I shall show, such actions are treasonous on their face, and the extent to which this conduct has permeated the intelligence community and its peripheral functions of government, including the National Security Council and Congress itself, will only be known if and when an investigation is conducted into what, in retrospect, is nothing less than a grand conspiracy by those ostensibly tasked with securing the nation, to instead reverse the will of the American people regarding who serves as the nation’s chief executive.

“The key to this narrative is the whistleblower himself. Understanding who he is, and what role he has played in the events surrounding the fateful July 25 telephone conversation [between President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky], are essential to unravelling the various threads of this conspiracy.”

After graduating Yale in 2008 with a degree in Russian and East European studies, post-graduate study at Harvard, and work experience with the World Bank, the so-called whistleblower went through the CIA’s four-month Career Analyst Program and was assigned to the Office of Russian and Eurasian Analysis (OREA) in the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence. This was the period of the so-called “reset” under Obama’s Russia adviser Michael McFaul, who was trying to manipulate differences between then-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. When Putin returned to the Russian Presidency in 2012, this group began to plan what became the 2014 fascist coup in Ukraine.

It is clear that the “whistleblower” was in the center of the coup-planning, since in July 2015, as a very young man—a kid, really—he was detailed to the National Security Council staff at the Obama White House as the Director for Ukrainian Affairs. Such NSC positions were intended for senior analysts at the GS-15 civil service level, but the “whistleblower” was given a waiver to assume the post as a GS-13.  His candidacy had to have been approved both by Peter Clement, director of OREA, and CIA Director John Brennan.

His arrival at the White House coincided with the start of the Trump candidacy; like everyone on the White House staff, the whistleblower was shocked by Trump’s election victory in November 2016. The whistleblower was well-known to be opposed to Trump, and is reported to have committed acts of resistance to expose and undermine him.

Ritter emphasizes that, “there is, however, the major issue looming in the background of this impeachment frenzy: The intervention by elements of the intelligence community in the domestic political affairs of the United States. There is no question that the whistleblower’s complaint served as the genesis of the ongoing impeachment proceedings.

“The American people should be deeply concerned that an inquiry which could result in the removal of a duly elected President from office was initiated in secrecy by a member of the intelligence community acting outside the four corners of his legal responsibilities. The legitimacy of the underlying issues being investigated by the House Intelligence Committee is not at issue here; the legitimacy of the process by which these proceedings were initiated is….

“Impeachment is a constitutional remedy afforded to the U.S. Congress to deal with the political issues surrounding the conduct of a sitting President. If this constitutional remedy can be triggered by the intelligence community in a manner which obviates laws prohibiting the intrusion of intelligence agencies into the domestic political affairs of the United States, and done so in a manner where the identities of the persons and organizations involved, along with their possible motives, are shielded from both American people and those whom they elect to represent them in Congress, then a precedent will have been set for future interventions of this nature which undermine the very foundation of American democracy.

“The political weaponization of intelligence represents a significant threat to the viability of the American constitutional republic that cannot be ignored,” Ritter concludes.

The fascist Ukraine coup of 2014 has come home to roost in the U.S., along with its total, whole-of-society information warfare. Declassify and release all the documents concerning the Ukraine coup! Any Congressman who supports the travesty of impeachment is supporting nuclear war with Russia!

U.S. POLITICAL & ECONOMIC

President Trump Signs Hong Kong Democracy Act, and China Issues Angry Response

Nov. 28 (EIRNS)—Yesterday, President Donald Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, written by the anti-China lobby and passed in Congress last week—in the Senate by unanimous consent on Nov. 19 and by the House on Nov. 20 in a 417-1 vote, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) as the lone dissenter.

In signing the act, Trump appended two short statements, one of which said he signed “out of respect for President Xi, China and the people of Hong Kong,” in the hope that “Leaders and Representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long-term peace and prosperity for all.”

The second statement, interestingly, establishes that “Certain provisions of the Act would interfere with the exercise of the President’s constitutional authority to state the foreign policy of the United States.  My Administration will treat each of the provisions of the Act consistently with the President’s constitutional authorities with respect to foreign relations.” No further details were offered. The statement is posted on the White House website.

The President signed a second bill prohibiting the export to the Hong Kong police of crowd-control items, such as tear gas, pepper spray, or rubber bullets.

China’s Foreign Ministry responded immediately with a strongly-worded statement in its daily press conference today describing the act as a “severe interference in Hong Kong affairs, which are China’s internal affairs,” and a “serious violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations.” It states that since 1997 with “Since Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, success of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle has been universally recognized. … The U.S. has been disregarding facts and distorting truth. It openly backed violent criminals who rampantly smashed facilities, set fire, assaulted innocent civilians, trampled on the rule of law, and jeopardized social order…. We remind the U.S. that Hong Kong is part of China and Hong Kong affairs are China’s internal affairs where no foreign government or force shall interfere. This Act will only further expose the malicious and hegemonic nature of U.S. intentions to the Chinese people, including our Hong Kong compatriots….  We urge the U.S. not to continue going down the wrong path, or China will take countermeasures, and the U.S. must bear all consequences.”

Furthermore, Xinhua news agency put out a terse release today that “Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng on Thursday summoned U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad to lodge stern representations and strong protest against the United States signing of the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 into law.”

Sen. Marco Rubio, senior sponsor of the act, could barely contain his glee. As if Hong Kong were already an independent state, he crowed that with the signing, “The U.S. now has new and meaningful tools to deter further influence and interference from Beijing into Hong Kong’s internal affairs.”

Sheekey Argues Bloomberg Has To Run, or Trump Will Win, and Impeachment No Help to Democrats

Nov. 28 (EIRNS)—In an interview on PBS’s “Amanpour & Co.,” with Cristiane Amanpour yesterday, Michael Sheekey, campaign manager for the unelectable Michael Bloomberg, said quite openly that the billionaire is getting into the presidential race because, otherwise, Donald Trump is quite likely to be reelected.

Sheekey explained that the electoral outcome will really be determined in just six states—Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida and Arizona—not nationally. And, he went on, if the election were held today, Trump has a “pretty clear shot” of winning all six states.

To Amanpour’s question whether Trump could win, “even with the impeachment process?” Sheekey conceded, “I worry a lot that we’re setting ourselves up for impeachment, acquittal and reelection.” Of course, he asserted, everyone is “outraged” by Trump’s behavior, but the impeachment process “is not helping in the places where this election will ultimately be decided.” He described that there are 31 Congressional districts in the country that are swing districts. Last year, Bloomberg spent time and a lot of money to focus on 24 of those races—all Republican—and 18 Democrats were elected. But, he warned, “if you’re in one of those districts today and you’re a moderate member of Congress, almost all of them would tell you today, these impeachment hearings are threatening their reelection…. Those are the districts too, where we tilt the Presidential election … which by definition means that these impeachment proceedings are making the President’s reelection more likely, not less likely.”

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

European Farm Protests Implicitly Demand New Economic System, with Hot Debate in U.S. Farm Belt

Nov. 28 (EIRNS)—The mass farm protests this past week in Europe, with huge protests focussed on Berlin, carry the implicit demand for a new economic system, given the fact that farm commodity prices are kept too low for family agriculture to continue. In addition, farmers are hit by government and EU “green” mandates on how to farm, dictating practices for chemical usage, animal husbandry, emissions control, including nitrogen and smells. These green regulations are more advanced in Europe than in the U.S., and public hysteria is more extreme, giving rise to greenie attacks on butcher shops, farm equipment, livestock pens, and even family members and children of family farmers.

In France, farmers at the tractor rally in Paris stressed that the “whole farming profession” is under assault—grains as well as livestock. There, in Berlin, Dublin, Brussels and Amsterdam, and elsewhere, farmers are all denouncing the EU deal-making for so-called “free trade” with Canada and the Mercosur (Common Market of the South) countries, which is just a means for the cartel commodity trading firms to further ruin all the farmers in all the nations involved.

Cattle and beef are in the crosshairs in particular, from the Wall Street/City of London commodities wing. Besides being looted through low prices, cattlemen are the target of the CO2 reduction fanatics, blaming beef eaters and cows’ flatulence for ruining the climate.

In Ireland this past summer, cattle raisers staged pickets at packing plants, to protest getting a price per head below their production costs. On Sept. 15, a deal was struck with the government, to take steps for relief to the farmers. A Beef Market Task Force was to be set up. But nothing has happened, and this week, hundreds of farmers came to Dublin for two days, from as far away as Kerry and Cork, with a hundred tractors, disrupting the city center, and blocking the entrance to Parliament. They demanded to see Agriculture Minister Michael Creed. Signs included, “No Farmer, No Food, No Future.”

In the U.S. there are hot policy discussions among cattlemen in particular. On Oct. 2, a meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, titled, “Rally To Stop the Stealin,’ ” brought out some 500 ranchers, feedlot operators and others from throughout the High Plains cattle sector. In October, a mass Twitter campaign was conducted, #Fair CattleMarkets, which in one week generated over 35,000 Tweets, delivering the message on low cattle prices, and unfair consolidation of the packers. It was aimed at President Donald Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

At the Oct. 25-26 Kansas Cattlemen’s Association Convention, Marcia Merry Baker, representing the Schiller Institute, was invited to speak on the topic, “The Green New Fraud & Big Money’s Role in the Climate Change Phenomenon.” Bob Baker, for EIR, also briefed the group, reporting, for example, on the Fed’s repo bank bailout, and the imminent blow-out of the bankrupt financial system. Baker showed photos of the Oct. 17 mass farmer demonstrations in 17 German cities, in Paris, and elsewhere, which not one U.S. farmer had heard of, thanks to the media’s information warfare.

The response of Kansas cattle producers, who want to know more about it and defeat the green assault, is not at all restricted to cattle, although the state ranks in the top six in terms of production. Moreover, cowboys statewide are angry over the onslaught of windmill farms eating up farmland. As of 2018, Kansas ranked first in the nation for power generation from wind, with 39% of its electricity—on a good day—coming from wind farms. There is heavy pressure on farmers to give up their land for wind farms, hitting especially the wheat growers, whose output places Kansas as first or second, with North Dakota, in U.S. production.

Italy’s Opposition Escalates Fight against the European Stability Mechanism

Nov. 18 (EIRNS)—Pressure on Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte (PD) from the parliamentary opposition not to sign the European Stability Mechanism reform treaty—the new EU bailout scheme—increased yesterday, after Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri testified ESM before the Senate Finance Committee.

Chamber of Deputies Budget Committee Chairman Claudio Borghi (Lega), speaking on the floor, warned Conte that his faction will take the Prime Minister to court for treason if he signs the treaty. And today, Lega party chairman Matteo Salvini said in a press conference that Lega attorneys are studying how to bring the matter to court. Salvini also asked Italian President Sergio Mattarella for a meeting, to argue against his signing a treaty that is deadly to the Italian economy.

In his testimony, Finance Minister Gualtieri said, among other things, that the negotiation on the ESM reform was already concluded last June, after a “point-by-point” discussion. This contradicts statements by Prime Minister Conte, who stated, before the June 21 EU Council summit, that the Italian government was bound by a parliamentary resolution to give a definitive approval only at the end of the negotiation of the entire “package” of the European Banking Union.

Meanwhile, pro-EU sources admit that the “reform” is all about bailing out banks—“all banks.”

For example, Carlo Cottarelli, the former director of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (2008-2013), who almost became Prime Minister of Italy in 2018, candidly declared that the real purpose of the ESM reform is “to bail out all banks.” In a radio interview yesterday, Cottarelli said that, “the European Resolution Fund, which is being created, is small and is growing slowly. What they say is: As long as the ERF has not reached a dimension big enough to bail out banks—all banks—we need the possibility for the ESM to jump in with its money to avoid insufficient funds to support the European banking system. My point is, let us suppose that German banks get in trouble and there are not enough funds to bail them out. At this point, the entire European banking system, not just the German system, is getting into trouble.” He continued, “I don’t think it’s mistaken to say, the ESM can intervene in support of the banks. It is the right thing.”

This admission proves that the ESM must be repealed altogether, along with all the bankrupt institutions of the EU system, starting with the universal bank system, and that the proper response to EU bailout schemes is a Glass-Steagall reform, that would separate speculative private banking from commercial and depository banks. Unfortunately, despite their bellicose statements, the opposition has not yet put this issue up for action. They must do so if they want to win the battle in Parliament; otherwise the denials pushed by the treacherous government, that ESM conditions will not be applied, might be successful in obtaining a majority in the Parliamentary vote.

Argentina’s President-Elect Fernández Insists, We Will Take No More Money from IMF

Nov. 28 (EIRNS)—In an interview with the “Con Vos” radio program, reported by Ambito Financiero Nov. 26, Argentine President-elect Alberto Fernández said he won’t accept the $11 billion in remaining tranches of the $57 billion standby loan that President Mauricio Macri signed with IMF in 2018.

In any new agreement with the IMF, he said, “the first rule is to stop asking for money…. I won’t sign any deal we can’t comply with. Macri already did that…. If you have a problem because you are highly indebted, the solution isn’t to take on more debt. I have a problem and I’m going to ask for $11 billion in more debt? It’s like the guy who drank too much, and he’s a little bit drunk. The solution isn’t to keep on drinking; the solution is to stop.”

Fernández, who will be sworn in as President on Dec. 10, along with Cristina Fernández de Kirchner as Vice President, emphasized that that rather than leaving the country with a solid basis for development, Macri “is leaving us with many problems. Indebted families are part of the legacy he’s leaving.” Fernández pointed out that Macri had imposed such harsh austerity, that the country now has a shortage of vaccine, so that preventable diseases such as chickenpox, measles, and TB are reappearing. “That is evidence of a certain disdain” for your fellow man, he revealed, “where people are seen as just numbers.” The economy has been paralyzed for two years, with declining consumption, he warned. “We have to produce once again, offer credit to reactivate production, give money to retirees so they can consume.”

In four years, Macri increased foreign debt by $100 billion—with nothing to show for it except a crisis-wracked economy and beaten-down population. Full 98% of that $100 billion left the country in the form of capital flight.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Turkey’s Proxy Army in Northern Syria Is Mostly Made Up of Lawless Gangs

Nov. 28 (EIRNS)—Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Iraq-Syria expert with the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Program on the Middle East, who has also worked with the International Crisis Group and similar NGOs, reports in the New York Review of Books on the makeup of the so-called Syrian National Army (SNA), the proxy army that Turkey has used in its military operation in northeastern Syria. The picture she’s assembled from extensive interviews and other research, over time, reveals a collection of various groups with varying agendas ranging from jihadis (who seem to be a minority), to opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, to criminal groups to which young Syrian men, both from within northern and eastern Syria and from among refugees in Turkey, are recruited mainly by enticement of money.

“Multiple interviews I have conducted by phone, instant-messaging, and face-to-face in Turkey with these fighters since 2014, reveal them to be a motley crew of often-traumatized and impoverished men who feel pushed into fighting on Turkey’s behalf for financial gain,” Tsurkov writes. “Some of these fighters join the factions to rob and loot, but those who did not have that motive increasingly realize that Turkey’s interests do not align with their hopes of toppling the Assad regime…. Individuals like this, I have found, struggle to rationalize and justify—to themselves and their communities—their actions and affiliation with these factions, which are much-despised by fellow Syrians, particularly by civilians living under their rule.” One of these men confirmed to Tsurkov that the commanders of the SNA groups make no decisions regarding the Turkish campaign, that all of these decisions are made by the Turks, and that the Turkish government exerts its control over the SNA through Turkish military intelligence.

Tsurkov also paints a picture of nearly complete lawlessness in the areas controlled by the Turks, from Afrin to northern Aleppo to the so-called “safe zone” on the border to the east, and governance in those areas is closely tied to the Turks. Turkey pays the salaries of local councilors, teachers, and doctors, in addition to the salaries of the local police, military police, and armed factions, Tsurkov reports. Although a military police force does exist in the area, it is largely incapable of preventing abuses of civilians committed by the SNA or infighting between factions. Lawlessness is rampant, and very few fighters have faced repercussions for their criminal activity. Although all armed actors in Syria have been involved in violations against civilians, the levels of criminality in areas under SNA control are particularly high, she reports further.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Spacecraft To Take First Step Toward Mars Sample Return Missions

Nov. 28 (EIRNS)—Taking advantage of a very favorable relative position next year between the Earth and Mars, a number of space agencies will launch spacecraft to the red planet. Two, one by NASA, and one by ExoMars by ESA partnering with Russia, will take the first step towards a Mars Sample Return mission.

Returning samples of dirt and rocks from Mars is being planned through the coordination of these three space agencies. NASA’s “Mars 2020 [rover] will collect soil samples, put them in small metal tubes, then seal them,” said Sanjay Vijendran, a lead member of ESA’s Mars Sample Return team. Caches of these tubes will then be left at designated sites on the Martian surface. Then a second craft to be built by ESA, known as a fetch rover, will be launched to Mars on a Russian Proton rocket and will trundle round these sites, and load the samples into a football-sized canister. The container will be taken to a U.S. rocket that will blast the container into orbit round Mars.

Until now the only way to examine Mars has been by examining pieces of the planet that fall to Earth, and by rovers. Bringing the samples back to Earth laboratories will open a new window in the history of Mars. The most challenging inquiry will be to determine if life existed on Mars or even exists today.

OTHER

Hong Kong Police Discover Terrorist Arsenal at Polytechnic University

Nov. 28 (EIRNS)—Hong Kong police have announced they expect to end their siege of the Polytechnic University by Nov. 29, and will reopen it to the public. However, as South China Morning Post reported today, in cleaning up the university, which was occupied for days by “pro-democracy” squadristi, police have unearthed an arsenal of deadly weapons—dangerous chemicals, acids and toxic substances among them—that were used in a terrorist war against the police that began two weeks ago.

Officers from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau inspecting the campus, seized 3,800 gasoline bombs along with 921 gas canisters, 588 chemicals, including acid and other corrosive liquids. Another 100 gas canisters were tied to gasoline bombs; also found were 12 bows, 200 arrows and an air rifle. Officers from the fire department inspecting laboratories and storage areas for dangerous products discovered a large quantity of dangerous fluids, including 555 liters of flammable liquid gasoline, 20 liters of corrosive fluid and 80 liters of toxic substances.

The inspection process also included officers from the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau, and from regional offices of the same agency, totaling 800-900 officers in all.

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