MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Volume 6, Number 218

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

• People Are Rebelling Globally Against the Collapsing Neo-Liberal System
• President Trump Announces U.S.-China Trade Deal May Be Signed in Iowa
• Trump Finds Democratic Party ‘Completely Insane,’ Cites Three Phases of Assault on Him
• Britain’s Independent Disconcerted Over Barr/Durham Inquiry
• Christopher Steele’s Credibility Bites the Dust–Again!
• ‘John Solomon Reports’ Blog Exposes Interference by Ukraine, Democrats vs. Trump Election Camp
• JP Morgan’s Quick-Crash Plan: Fed Pays All, No Bank Reserves Needed
• U.S. Farm Bankruptcy Filings Up 24% Over the Last Year
• Murray Energy, Largest U.S. Privately-Owned Coal Firm, Announced Bankruptcy This Week
• Syrian Constitutional Committee Agrees on Drafting Body
• Government Reorganization in Lebanon
• New Round of Free Trade Zone Pilot Projects for Belt and Road Initiative Activity
• Westinghouse To Cooperate With France on Small Modular nuclear Reactors
• U.S. Defense Deploying Directed-Energy Technologies, Research Progressing in Fusion, Space
• Greta Thunberg Pleads ‘Help Me Get to Madrid’
  

EDITORIAL

People Are Rebelling Globally against the Collapsing Neo-Liberal System

Nov. 3 (EIRNS)—The situation is very hot in the United States this week, as Congressmen now are in home districts on break, after their House of Representatives stampede vote Oct. 31, for conducting impeachment against President Donald Trump. The mood of much of the nation against this was shown last Friday evening in Tupelo, Mississippi, when Trump got rousing cheers in support of such initiatives as ending “regime change” wars, and for his denunciations of what he described as the three hoaxes against him: Russiagate, the Mueller hoax, and now the impeachment witchhunt.

But the U.S. situation is just one part of the world situation, where millions are in revolt against the collapsing neo-liberal system, and facing off against the forces seeking to perpetuate it—namely the neo-British Empire financial and political web. There are continuing mass demonstrations around the world, from Chile, to Algeria, to Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere. This is expressed even in Europe, where, for example, farmers in Germany now plan even bigger protest actions at the end of November, than their huge tractorcades last month.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, president of the Schiller Institute, addressed the world picture today in her weekly webcast, stressing the opportunity involved, despite the dangers and suffering, for great power collaboration to lead the way out of crisis. She referred people specifically to Lyndon LaRouche’s perspective of a few years ago, “that the only combination of countries which is powerful enough to oppose this British Empire—and remember, when he said British Empire, you don’t mean the British subjects, the British people who are living in a monarchy. You mean the British Empire—this new central system of central banks, of investment banks, of reinsurance companies, of hedge funds. That system which has been favoring the high-risk speculation for the advantage of a few at the expense of the many.

“What he said at the time was, you need four large nation-states to be powerful enough to cause a change of the system. Namely, you need collaboration between the United States, Russia, China, and India. Not to the exclusion of other countries, but simply these four countries—if they would work together—are representative enough also of the developing sector that they could really speak for the world community and act for the world community. What it would require is the immediate implementation of a global Glass-Steagall law; the separation of the banks, the protection of the commercial banks; leaving the investment banks on their own. If they are bankrupt they would close down; if not, then one can think what they can do in a different environment. But most of them are bankrupt and they should just close down.

“Then, naturally, you have a lack of liquidity, so you need to immediately go to a credit system as it was defined by Alexander Hamilton. You need a national bank in every country, and these national banks have to cooperate in a new credit system; a New Bretton Woods system, which would make sure you have cheap, long-term credit for investment in the real economy and infrastructure. And obviously, the good thing is that this is not just a programmatic demand anymore, but with the Belt and Road Initiative, 157 countries and many international organizations are already cooperating under principles at least going in this direction.

“Obviously the missing link in all of this is the United States. That is why the relationship between Trump and Xi Jinping is so absolutely crucial. Unless the two largest economies are working together, there is no way how we get out of this crisis. And obviously, for strategic reasons, Russia must be absolutely in this combination. And I think then the inclusion of India is really not very difficult, given the present policies of the Modi government and China and Russia.

“So, I think this is very close.  We can have that, and I think part of the absolute fury against Trump and the insane escalation by the crazy Democrats, as Trump called them, is because they don’t want a person in the White House who could, under circumstances of crisis, actually go in this direction and implement such a policy.”

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

President Trump Announces U.S.-China Trade Deal May Be Signed in Iowa

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—U.S. President Donald Trump said Nov. 1 that phase one of the U.S.-China trade agreement may be signed in Iowa later this month. “I want to get the deal done first, but we’re thinking about Iowa,” Trump said on Friday as quoted by The Hill. “It would be the largest order in history for farmers. So to me, Iowa makes sense. I love Iowa. It’s a possibility.”

Trump said that discussions are underway with China on where the signing will take place and that Chinese President Xi Jinping is willing to meet in the United States, since the previously proposed signing location was to take place at the now cancelled Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Chile on Nov. 16-17.

The office of Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley (R) has already expressed how welcome it would be to have the two heads of state in Iowa.

Trump’s statement yesterday followed one by the Chinese Commerce Ministry which said consensus has been reached with U.S. trade officials on core bilateral trade concerns of a proposed treaty. The evening of Nov. 1, China’s Vice Premier Liu He, the country’s lead negotiator, spoke by phone with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on the deal.

Trump Finds Democratic Party ‘Completely Insane,’ Cites Three Phases of Assault on Him

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—President Trump spoke at a Keep America Great rally in Tupelo, Mississippi Friday evening, Nov. 1, where he gave a rousing campaign speech, in particular calling for a big vote for the Republican gubernatorial candidate Tate Reeves, and the GOP slate for the Nov. 5 election, because, he said, a big vote will “send a signal against the radical left Democrats.” and as a show against socialism. Trump said, “The Democratic Party has gone completely insane.”

He delineated three phases of the attacks on him:  First, the Russia hoax. Then, the Mueller hoax, involving 18 angry Democrats. And now, the “deranged impeachment witchhunt.” The Democrats were “plotting to overthrow the election … long before I won.”  But “truth is a force of nature.”

Britain’s Independent Disconcerted over Barr/Durham Inquiry

Nov. 3 (EIRNS)—London’s Independent, owned by the British oligarchy’s Russian, Alexander Lebedev, has published an hysterical article on Nov. 1 about investigations into intelligence agents’ misconduct being carried out by Attorney General Bill Barr, and U.S. Attorney John Durham. The article was fittingly published the day after Halloween.

The piece described U.K. officials as “shaken” by what Barr and Durham are asking about: “One British official with knowledge of Barr’s wish-list presented to London, commented that it is ‘like nothing we have come across before; they are basically asking, in quite robust terms, for help in doing a hatchet job on their own intelligence services.’ ”  The article raves on that, “the Attorney General is focusing on the theory, aired by Trump and [his attorney Rudolph] Giuliani, that Ukraine framed Vladimir Putin over the U.S. election in a complex triple-cross operation by impersonating Russian hackers.” The daily goes on to present the Democratic narrative about the Dudley Do-Right nature of the Democratic investigators, versus the evil Donald Trump. It also tries to float the since-discredited theory that the 2016 Brexit referendum was skewed by forces associated with the Russians and Julian Assange. It claims that Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage visited Assange in the Ecuador Embassy in London and that the two had exchanged thumb drives.

Christopher Steele’s Credibility Bites the Dust—Again

Nov. 3 (EIRNS)—Even the London Guardian reveals that a British investigation has concluded that the Russians had nothing to do with nefariously determining Britons’ the 2016 vote for the Brexit, i.e., for Britain to leave the EU, despite the best efforts of none other than MI6’s former Russia desk chief Christopher Steele to try to prove that they did.

According to the Guardian story, Steele gave “evidence” to the Parliamentary inquiry exploring Britain’s Russiagate, undoubtedly finding jokes by Vladimir Putin and Russian Facebook posts under every commoner’s bed. However, according to the same story, the Parliament report basically found that Steele’s myths were, again, debunked by reality. Even BuzzFeed reports that the inquiry found no there, there.

‘John Solomon Reports’ Blog Exposes Interference by Ukraine, Democrats vs. Trump Election Camp

Nov. 3 (EIRNS)—In case you haven’t noticed, there is a huge war taking place about whether Ukraine’s interference in the 2016 election should be investigated at all. It has been a shooting war concerning the visible proponents of more recent evidence, Rudy Giuliani and reporter John Solomon. Giuliani is being targeted for a bogus indictment, probably under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, out of the Southern District of New York. Solomon has been smeared repeatedly and has left The Hill newspaper, under fire, to become a correspondent on Fox and to start his own blog. In addition, the Democratic smear machine has targeted Trump allies, Joseph diGenova and his wife, Victoria Toensing.

Now Solomon is back, in the form of his blog, John Solomon Reports. In a report published Oct. 31, “Debunking some of the Ukraine scandal myths about Biden and election interference,” Solomon provides a point-by-point refutation of the Democratic narrative concerning Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. Solomon notes that he confirmed with the Ukrainian Embassy this year, that Alexandra Chalupa and Ukrainian officials had intervened in the 2016 elections, facts which were published in Politico in January 2017 and about which the Ukrainians bragged at that time. In fact, in August 2016, then-Ukrainian Ambassador to Washington Valeriy Chaly wrote an op-ed in The Hill criticizing candidate Trump in no uncertain terms.

Solomon then documents that Joe Biden knew that the Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, was investigating Ukrainian energy holding company Burisma, where Hunter Biden sat on the board, when Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid if Shokin weren’t fired, and that the Shokin’s investigation was highly active at the point Biden intervened to get Shokin fired. Most significantly, Solomon demonstrates that Ukraine had reopened its Burisma investigation way back in March 2019, long before the July 25th phone call between Presidents Trump and Zelensky at the center of the bogus impeachment inquiry. And, he shows, contrary to false reporting, that former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko never retracted his statement that then-U.S. Ambassador to Kiev Marie Yovanovitch presented him with a “Do Not Prosecute” list—an accusation confirmed to Solomon by U.S. State Department officials.

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

JP Morgan’s Quick-Crash Plan: Fed Pays All, No Bank Reserves Needed

Nov. 1 (EIRNS)—Two weeks after JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon blamed the interbank liquidity crisis of September-October on annoying bank regulations, a team at his bank has published a very immodest proposal in the guise of a mere “note to clients,” reported in Bloomberg Oct. 31. It contends that the Wall Street banks should not have to have any cash reserves, and the Fed should provide all liquidity needs of the banking system on a daily basis. This would allow these megabanks to use all their reserves for the speculative operations of their own trading desks, broker-dealer operations, investment divisions, hedge funds, etc. They could hit the gas hard on speculating in the $16 trillion corporate debt bubble and the rest of the “everything bubble,” leading the Fed on a wild chase along the one-lane roads of derivatives country until they crash.

The liquidity crunch itself continues: The Fed had to provide $72 billion in emergency overnight loans Thursday morning, Oct. 31,  and $103.4 billion in overnight and two-week repo loans Friday, Nov. 1. Federal Reserve Vice-Chair Richard Clarida, speaking in New York City on Friday, had the moderator announce “absolutely no questions will be taken,” to an audience peppered with people who wanted to ask about the repo market crisis. To EIR afterward, Clarida bluffed, “Everything about this policy has been published by us,” which is patently not true.

The Fed is a “reserve bank”; it is supposed to ensure and/or provide sufficient reserves in the big primary dealer banks—including “excess reserves”—so that those banks can provide liquidity to the rest of the financial system in a crisis. Under the post-Glass-Steagall, uncontrolled speculation of the 21st century thus far, this has been a very tall order, failing entirely in 2007-08, then demanding the Fed’s balance sheet go up to $4.5 trillion, and triggering chaos when it fell to a mere $3.75 trillion early this Fall.

Now JPMorgan Chase proposes the Fed create a “standing repurchase-agreement facility” as the daily source of liquidity for all the banks in the U.S. system. As Bloomberg paraphrased Morgan’s note, “This would free up cash that is currently held by the banks for regulatory purposes”—meaning the systemically important or “too big to fail” banks of Wall Street.

And to no one’s surprise, the Fed is already considering such a new bailout-in-advance facility, per Fed Chair Jerome Powell at his Oct. 30 press conference.

U.S. Farm Bankruptcy Filings Up 24% Over the Last Year

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—The number of filings for bankruptcy by U.S. farmers has gone up 24% from September 2018 to September 2019, reported the American Farm Bureau Federation on Nov. 1. This refers to Chapter 12, a section of the Federal code adapted in the 1980s, to allow farmers to continue in operation, while reorganizing debt. John Newton, the Farm Bureau’s chief economist, expressing his concern, pointed to the many factors contributing to this worsening bankruptcy rate. Farmers have been receiving low prices for five years; and the 2019 growing season was a disaster for many commodities, given that the historic spring floods delayed or prevented planting. Since then, other weather conditions have worsened conditions, including an early frost in some locations.

Total farm debt is rising, according to the Agriculture Department, and is in the range of a record $416 billion. Of the expected total farm income this year of $33 billion, 40% of that is from Federal aid, advanced through the Commodity Credit Corp. mechanism, to buffer the loss of purchases by China.

Murray Energy, Largest U.S. Privately-Owned Coal Firm, Announced Bankruptcy This week

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—On Oct. 29, Ohio-headquartered Murray Energy filed for Chapter 11 Federal bankruptcy. The largest privately-owned coal mining firm in the U.S., the company has some 7,000 employees across 17 active coal mines, mostly in Ohio and West Virginia. Since then, Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers Association, is speaking out with concern that the bankruptcy court uphold miners’ pension and other claims.

Robert Murray, the firm’s owner, has spoken out strongly against the onslaught against coal, and backed President Donald Trump in opposing it. So far this year, seven coal companies have filed for bankruptcy protection; and dozens of coal-fired generating plants have closed in recent years.

Coal-produced electricity in the U.S. was, for the first time ever, exceeded by so-called “renewable” (wind, solar) energy sources as of April this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

This is part of the same picture of taking down the U.S. energy platform, as in the situation in California, where electricity production and distribution is inadequate, and also needlessly associated with fire danger.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Syrian Constitutional Committee Agrees on Drafting Body

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—On its third day of meetings, the Syrian constitutional committee agreed on the composition of the 45-member drafting body which will begin work on Monday, Nov. 4. UN special envoy Geir Pedersen said late Nov. 1, that its “dignified and forward-looking” opening session on Oct. 30 was followed by two days of “very successful” meetings, reported the Associated Press. In remarks to reporters, Pedersen stated that it’s not surprising, after eight and a half years of conflict, that “there are deep differences, a lot of suspicion, and a lack of trust.” But he said the fact that representatives from the government, opposition and civil society “have been sitting together, respecting each other, talking to each other … was quite impressive.” Pedersen also praised the co-chairs, Ahmad Kuzbari from the government-backed delegation and Hadi al-Bahra from the opposition side, who will alternate chairing future meetings.

The committee also agreed on a code of conduct for the meetings, whichsays that all committee members should work “with commitment and good faith, in a collaborative manner, looking for solutions toward the completion of the Syrian-led, Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated constitutional process.” It says members should also “deliberate with mutual respect, in a peaceful atmosphere conducive to constructive debates” and “refrain from inflammatory speeches and personal attacks.” And members should “abstain from any acts that could be perceived as provocative” and “demonstrate high standards of integrity and judgment while publicly communicating,” the code says.

When asked the timeline for the 45-member drafting body, Pedersen replied: “We will discuss that during the weekend.”

Co-chair Kuzbari described the meetings of the expanded body of the committee as good. “We started discussions about the note of conduct and the procedures in Damascus and there were meetings with UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, we have exchanged view points on this issue and held some meetings in Geneva to reach the final formula which was approved today,” he said, reported the official Syrian Arabic News Agency (SANA). “Seriousness will be determined by work when we start actually,” he said, referring to the drafting group.

Government Reorganization in Lebanon

Nov. 3 (EIRNS)—After weeks of rebellion, Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun addressed the protesters gathered on the road leading to Baabda Presidential Palace. Aoun said that the people have lost confidence in their country, and called for working hard to restore this confidence. He stressed the fight against corruption.

“Corruption cannot be easily eliminated, since it penetrated the public institutions decades ago,” he explained.

“We have put out a road map with three main headlines: fighting corruption, economy, and civil state,” he said, pointing out that these goals require effort from all parties. “Through you, I can see the Lebanese people.”

Government sources said that President Michel Aoun is expected within 24 hours to set the date of the binding parliamentary consultations to form a new government. The government is expected to comprise 24 ministers, and it will combine technocratic and political components. The core portfolios—defense, foreign affairs, interior, and finance—will go to moderate political figures. Other posts will go to independents or technocrats.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

New Round of Free Trade Zone Pilot Projects for Belt and Road Initiative Activity

Nov. 3 (EIRNS)—India’s Economic Times reported today that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has announced that the country would establish new free trade zone pilot projects in six provinces, especially in the border regions, to help improve trade ties with neighboring countries, expand the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and support local economies.

The new free trade zones will be in Yunnan, Heilongjiang, Guangxi, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Hubei. This will bring the total number of the country’s pilot free trade zones to 18, enabling China to expand the BRI toward India. China hopes to increase the participation of Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh in the BRI. Myanmar has also seen a surge in Chinese projects.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Westinghouse To Cooperate with France on Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

Nov. 3 (EIRNS)—The late economist Lyndon LaRouche fought for the urgency of a world crash program for automobile-scale mass-production of nuclear small modular reactors (SMRs), as necessary for the industrialization of poor countries.

In the United States, the development of SMRs, which is a priority of President Donald Trump’s Energy Department, has advanced significantly in recent years. Portland, Oregon-based NuScale Power, which develops a line of SMRs, plans to deliver the U.S.’s first commercial SMR plant to the power cooperative Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems by 2026-27. The plant will consist of 12 light water reactor modules, each of 60 MW capacity, and will be built on an Idaho National Laboratory site. NuScale is on schedule to receive design license approval by September 2020. (See EIR Nov. 16, 2018, “Four Power Priority: Mass Production of Modular Nuclear Reactors To Industrialize Developing Countries Until Fusion Power Comes Online.”)

On Sept. 18, 2019, during the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference in Vienna, the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), French state public utility EDF, and Westinghouse Electric Company signed a framework agreement to explore potential cooperation on small modular reactors. Misplaced “green” demand for low-carbon electricity generation in the 300-400 MWe range is nonetheless an important market segment that the parties strongly believe their unparalleled experience in nuclear fuel and reactor design and operation can address.

Under the agreement, the three will examine the possibility of combining the long-standing pressurized water reactor expertise of both the French NUWARDTM initiative and the Westinghouse SMR design. As part of this international cooperation framework, the parties will also pursue regulatory and design standardization, which are key for the implementation of a successful SMR design. The detailed project roadmap will be confirmed in early 2020.

U.S. Defense Deploying Directed-Energy Technologies, Research Progressing in Fusion, Space

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—Despite decades of near-strangulation by the British Empire system, U.S.-based R&D institutions have made slow, determined progress in the array of technologies singled out by Lyndon LaRouche for crash program development: fusion power, space exploration and research, and directed coherent energy systems. As was the case with Sputnik in 1957 and the 1961 orbit of Yuri Gagarin, progress in other countries has helped the pro-progress leadership in America to begin to crack through the sabotage.  In 2017 the decision was made to focus on applying the years of basic research into actually building directed-energy weapons systems.

On Oct. 30 Aerospace Daily reported that the U.S. Air Force is now deploying a handful of operational tactical directed-energy weapons for defense of an undisclosed list of airbases.  Last week, secret tests of the Raytheon High Energy Laser Weapon System (HEL-WS), as well as the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Tactical High Power Microwave Operational Responder (THOR), demonstrated the ability of these and several other tested systems to successfully defend against swarms of incoming drones and cruise missiles under simulated real-world conditions.

The THOR system is a radio frequency (RF) directed-energy weapon which destroys electronic control systems of incoming missiles and drones with powerful pulses of RF energy. It is also to be deployed soon.

Further development of these and related technologies centers on both improving efficiencies with technologies such as special amplifier diodes, and developing compact nuclear power sources. The Strategic Capabilities Office is contracting development of small, 10 MW nuclear reactors for directed-energy applications. The ability of the defensive systems to saturate the offensive systems requires the continuous power to rapidly engage a sequence of swarmed targets. At this point optical laser weapons are generally about 33% efficient.

Other sources have reported that experimental defensive laser weapons have been installed on two U.S. Navy ships. The new, Gerald Ford-class aircraft carriers are designed to have huge surplus nuclear power capacities to be able to power directed-energy defense systems.

Also to be noted is the Naval progress in electromagnetic rail gun development. Of course, all of these technologies also have multiple applications to the civilian economy. The LaRouche Four Laws are needed to put the new technologies to work raising the productivity of the whole economy.

OTHER

Greta Thunberg Pleads ‘Help Me Get to Madrid’

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—The Nov. 1 announcement that Madrid will now host the December COP25 Climate Summit, which was cancelled in Chile by mass anti-austerity protests, has left the anti-CO2 emissions travellers shocked and stranded.

Yesterday, Greta Thunberg, sailing along the Pacific Coast to Chile, tweeted out an appeal: “As #COP25 has officially been moved from Santiago to Madrid I’ll need some help. It turns out I’ve traveled half around the world, the wrong way:) Now I need to find a way to cross the Atlantic in November… If anyone could help me find transport I would be so grateful.”

Another 36 COP25 attendees sailing across the Atlantic were also shocked by the cancellation of Chile. They had embarked from Amsterdam Oct. 2, to sail for seven weeks to Chile.

But, of course, they were always headed in the wrong direction, in any case.

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