MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2019 Volume 6, Number 248 EIR Daily Alert Service P.O. Box 17390, Washington, DC 20041-0390

• Pelosi’s Lies Expose Criminal Intent Behind Coup Plot Against Trump
• Comey Finds It Shocking, Absolutely Shocking What Was Going On in His FBI
• Most of the 31 Swing-State Democrats Still Undecided on Impeachment Vote
• Congress Attempts To Override Trump’s Foreign Policy
• China Confirms Agreement on Phase One of Trade Deal With U.S.
• Lighthizer Calls Friday Probably the Most Momentous Day in Trade History Ever
• COP25 Ends in Failure, Greenshirts Put Off Fascist Policies ‘To Next Year’
• Chinese Ambassador Warns Germany Not to Ban Huawei
• German Foreign Minister, EU Rebuff Proposed U.S. Sanctions on Nord Stream 2 Partner Firms
• Sir Michael Bloomberg Lays Out Green Economic Strangulation in Virginia Campaign Swing
• Boris Johnson Takes on BBC
• Prime Minister Johnson Visits Northeast England To Thank New ‘Blue-Collar Tory’ Constituencies
• NuScale’s 12=Module Small Modular Reactor Technical Review Takes a Firm Step Forward
• Violence Against India’s ‘Citizenship Amendment Bill’ Led Abe Shinzo To Cancel His Trip

EDITORIAL

Pelosi’s Lies Expose Criminal Intent behind Coup Plot against Trump

Dec. 15 (EIRNS)—The impeachment coup—and Trump has called it a coup, and it is a coup—may actually backfire in a big way. The oligarchy—in the U.S., the U.K., and internationally—is panicked since the Horowitz report has exposed the criminal conspiracy by the U.S. and British intelligence agents to carry out a coup against President Donald Trump. Even Der Spiegel in Germany ran a cover story expressing their horror that despite the Russiagate and the impeachment fraud, Trump looks like he will win the next election.

Bill Binney, the former head of the technical division of the National Security Agency—who designed the NSA programs to search out terrorists, but resigned when the program was used instead to spy on virtually everyone in the world—has proven conclusively that there was no Russian hack of the computers of the Democratic National Committee, the core of the Russiagate hoax. He reviewed this evidence on LaRouchePAC’s “Fireside Chat” national call-in webcast on Dec. 12, and is willing and anxious to get this story out across the U.S. and internationally.

Binney, and former CIA operative Larry Johnson who appeared with him on the LaRouchePAC call, pointed to the fact that Gen. Michael Flynn, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in the Obama Administration and Trump’s first National Security Adviser, was targeted in the Russiagate witch-hunt precisely because he had exposed that the Obama Administration’s arming of so-called “moderates” in the regime change war against Bashar Assad’s government in Syria was actually going to the al-Qaeda terrorist networks—and worse, that the Obama Administration was doing this intentionally.  In the eyes of the British and Obama intelligence networks, Flynn’s crime was that he wanted to establish friendly ties with Russia, as does President Trump.

This is now all backfiring on the coup-plotters, both those in the U.S. and those in the U.K., Ukraine and elsewhere. As President Trump tweeted today, former FBI Director Comey, who ran the Russiagate hoax, is now looking at serious prison time.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche today, in her weekly strategic international webcast, warned that the ongoing “weaponization” of the impeachment process by the Democratic Party leadership is a sign of desperation, that they fear, correctly, that in the 2020 election, they cannot win an honest election campaign. Constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz makes the point that a very dangerous precedent is being created, by destroying the republican conception of the Presidential system, replacing it with a British parliamentarian system, whereby a prime minister can be gotten rid of just because of a majority in the parliament.

The British Imperial division of the world, with NATO vs. the Warsaw Pact, is dead. Macron called NATO “brain-dead,” while Trump called it “obsolete.”  When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, NATO lost its raison d’tre and the confrontation against Russia and China is just being built up to justify making big salaries for the bureaucrats in the NATO apparatus and for the military-industrial complex. It is not too late to say that NATO should be replaced with a completely different system, a security architecture which includes Russia and which includes China, because the present confrontation policy is leading to war. It is clear that Trump is trying to have a decent relationship with Russia and China, while, if Hillary Clinton had become President, we could have had World War III already. It is time for NATO to fold up.  We need a new approach, an approach which guarantees the long-term survivability of the planet and humanity.

A step in that direction was achieved in Spain this week, as the Dec. 2-13 COP25 conference for Malthusian genocide under the cover of the fake “climate change” hoax fell flat on its face, unable to come up with any new dictates for stopping industrial development under the lie that global warming is threatening the human race. While many blamed President Trump for undermining the Malthusian scheme, and he deserves this praise, it is primarily due to the persistent efforts of the LaRouche movement over the past 50 years to expose the British Malthusians as the storm troopers for the new fascist movement to justify the depopulation of the world. With this defeat of the Malthusians, the forces for human progress must take the offensive for progress—for a New Bretton Woods, for global cooperation in the New Silk Road, and for cooperation between the great cultures of civilization in a new paradigm for the human race.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Comey Finds It Shocking, Absolutely Shocking What Was Going On in His FBI

Dec. 15 (EIRNS)—The discredited former FBI Director James Comey appeared on the Fox News on Sunday show in the aftermath of the fallout from the Horowitz report and testimony earlier this week, which spelled out Comey’s crimes in the attempted coup against the President.

Knowing that he had to acknowledge at least some aspect of the devastating Horowitz report, Comey told host Chris Wallace: “He’s right, I was wrong. I was overconfident in the procedures that the FBI and Justice had built over 20 years. I thought they were robust enough. It’s incredibly hard to get a FISA.”

A mea culpa? Hardly. Comey is clearly trying to snake his way out of a criminal prosecution. It wasn’t me, he cried: “As a director sitting on top of an organization of 38,000 people, you can’t run an investigation that’s seven layers below you.” Seven layers? McCabe? Strzok? Comey continued digging his own grave: “And if a director tires to run an investigation, it’ll get mucked up in all different kinds of ways, given his or her responsibilities and the impossibility of reaching the work that’s being done at the lower level.” So why, then, did Comey set up the President by taking him the Steele dossier? Why did he leak his notes on a confidential discussion with the President to the New York Times?

Wallace said Comey was behaving as if he were a bystander and witness to the investigation rather than the former director of the FBI. “Sure, I’m responsible, that’s why I’m telling you I was wrong,” Comey said. “I was overconfident as director in our procedures, and it’s important that a leader be accountable and transparent. If I was still director, I’d be saying exactly the same thing Chris Wray is saying, which is, ‘Are we going to get to the bottom of this?’ Because the most important question is: Is it systemic? Are there problems in other cases?”

President Donald Trump responded immediately: “So now Comey’s admitting he was wrong. Wow, but he’s only doing so because he got caught red handed. He was actually caught a long time ago. So what are the consequences for his unlawful conduct. Could it be years in jail? Where are the apologies to me and others, Jim?”

See you in court, Jimmy.

Most of the 31 Swing-State Democrats Still Undecided on Impeachment Vote

Dec. 13 (EIRNS)—The Daily Caller reported Dec. 12 that it had on three occasions contacted the offices of all 31 House Democrats from the states that Donald Trump won in 2016, to ask how they might vote on articles of impeachment. Of those who responded, either personally or through staffers, the answer was the same: undecided.

A few examples suffice: Minnesota’s Rep. Angie Craig told the Daily Caller she’d spend the Dec. 14-15 weekend reviewing all material and “make a final decision based on my oath of office.” The press secretary for Oklahoma Rep. Kendra Horn said the congresswoman is still reviewing articles of impeachment and is still undecided. Pennsylvania Rep. Matt Cartwright’s press secretary said he’s still “considering all the evidence,” and will make a decision “after the Judiciary Committee and full House decide how to proceed.”

Several others had the same message—they’re reviewing material over the weekend and will make a decision by Monday, Dec. 16. Rep. Anthony Brindisi (NY) said his office has received a lot of calls: “I think it’s been a pretty even split so far. We’re getting a lot of calls, we’ll take that all into consideration and make a decision this weekend.”

The Daily Caller mentions what EIR has previously reported, that a small group of Democrats were looking at the possibility of censuring Trump rather than impeaching.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that Democrats won’t be asking how others intend to vote, and that she, of course, would never try to convince anyone to vote a certain way, Daily Caller declared. “We’re not whipping this legislation, nor do we ever whip something like this. People have to come to their own conclusions.” She implied, however, that anyone who has read the Constitution and taken an oath of office to defend it would have to vote in favor of the articles of impeachment.

Congress Attempts To Override Trump’s Foreign Policy

Dec. 13 (EIRNS)—The latest Congressional effort to subvert President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is, as usual, aimed at U.S.-Russia relations, immediately after Trump’s and Pompeo successful meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The day after these meetings, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the Stopping Malign Activities from Russia Terrorism (SMART) Act, calling on the State Department to give appropriate Congressional committees a straight answer on whether Russia could be designated a sponsor of terrorism. The bill, introduced by Cory Gardner (R-CO) in April, also requires the State Department to determine and report to Congress whether the militia in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk Republics in eastern Ukraine can be designated foreign terrorist organizations. The report should be presented no later than 90 days after the proposed law comes into force.

Congress has also recently taken up increased sanctions against Iran to undermine the recent prisoner exchange organized by the Trump Administration; passed a bill condemning the Armenian genocide, which is designed to disrupt the relations between Trump and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; and inserted the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act into the National Defense Authorization Act, which would place further sanctions on Syria, as well as those security forces operating inside of Syria, namely, Russia and Iran.

Congress is considering a bipartisan bill to prevent Trump from pulling out of the 70-year-old NATO alliance. The fear of aNATO pullout was expressed by John Bolton at a Morgan Stanley private gathering earlier this month, where he said that a 2020 re-election of Trump could embolden him to go “full isolationist” and pull out of NATO. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), the bill’s lead sponsor, said it was a response to fears that the Trump Administration is actively considering withdrawal. “We’re aware that it has been seriously debated and seriously considered in the White House at the highest levels,” Kaine told Britain’s Guardian daily. Kaine predicted that his bill would pass the House and get a veto-proof majority in the Senate.

ECONOMY

China Confirms Agreement on Phase One of Trade Deal with U.S.

Dec. 13 (EIRNS)—China’s Commerce Ministry has confirmed that the U.S. and China reached agreement on phase one of a trade deal, which Xinhua said was “based on the principle of equality and mutual respect.” They report that the deal has sections on intellectual property rights, technology transfer, food and agricultural products, financial services, exchange rate and transparency, trade expansion, bilateral assessment and dispute settlement.

“Both sides have reached consensus that the U.S. side will fulfill its commitments to phase out its additional tariffs on Chinese products, so as to achieve a switch from hiking to cutting additional tariffs,” Xinhua reports.

As to the signing, Xinhua says, “Both sides have agreed to complete their necessary procedures including legal review, translation and proofreading as soon as possible, and discuss the detailed arrangements for officially signing the agreement.”

President Donald Trump’s tweet this morning reads: “We have agreed to a very large Phase One Deal with China. They have agreed to many structural changes and massive purchases of Agricultural Product, Energy, and Manufactured Goods, plus much more. The 25% Tariffs will remain as is, with 7 1/2% put on much of the remainder. The Penalty Tariffs set for December 15th will not be charged because of the fact that we made the deal. We will begin negotiations on the Phase Two Deal immediately, rather than waiting until after the 2020 Election. This is an amazing deal for all. Thank you!”

Lighthizer Calls Friday Probably the Most Momentous Day in Trade History Ever

Dec. 15 (EIRNS)—Robert Lighthizer was on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday to discuss President Donald Trump’s breakthroughs in trade deals this past week in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the phase one trade deal with China. In response to journalist Margaret Brennan’s opening question about whether the China deal was moving forward, Lighthizer responded: “Friday was probably the most momentous day in trade history ever,” in reference to the USMCA having been submitted to Congress on the same day that Trump announced agreement on phase one of a China trade deal.

Lighthizer then referenced the fact that with the USMCA weighing in at around $1.4 trillion in trade, together with the China deal’s $600 billion, that is about half of the U.S. total trade (measured at about $4.2 trillion in 2018). He added that U.S. exports to China would nearly double after the second year of the deal, presently at $128 billion. “We’re going to go up at least by a hundred, probably a little over 100. And in terms of the agriculture numbers, what we have are specific breakdowns by products and we have a commitment for $40-$50 billion in sales. You could think of it as $80-100 billion in new sales for agriculture over the course of the next two years. Just massive numbers.”

Interestingly, Brennan tried to bait Lighthizer with Pelosi’s statement that “we ate their lunch,” referring to concessions the Republicans allegedly made to labor interests. Lighthizer observed these trade deals would garner support amongst Democratic voters, and said, “Remember, most of these working people voted for the President of the United States. These are not his enemies.”

COP25 Ends in Failure, Greenshirts Put Off Fascist Policies ‘To Next Year’

Dec. 15 (EIRNS)—The COP25 clown show ended in disaster, even after the negotiations for a final communiqué were extended by two days—meaning more millions of dollars financing tens of thousands of people living it up in fancy digs. All significant issues which the cultists and bankers intended to ram through—including carbon taxes and cutting off credit to “carbon polluters”—were “put off” to next year’s planned meeting in Glasgow. As BBC reports: “After two extra days and nights of negotiations, delegates finally agreed to a deal that will see new, improved carbon cutting plans on the table by the time of the Glasgow conference next year.”

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres whined: “The international community lost an important opportunity to show increased ambition on mitigation, adaptation and finance to tackle the climate crisis,” he said, quoted by AFP.

Laurence Tubiana from the European Climate Foundation, and an “architect of the Paris agreement” according to BBC, described the result as “really a mixed bag, and a far cry from what science tells us is needed. Major players who needed to deliver in Madrid did not live up to expectations, but thanks to a progressive alliance of small island states, European, African and Latin American countries, we obtained the best possible outcome, against the will of big polluters.”

BBC: “Supported by the European Union and small island states, the push for higher ambition was opposed by a range of countries including the U.S., Brazil, India and China.”

Sir Michael Bloomberg, CBE, financed an “American Pavilion” on his own, since the U.S. under Donald Trump did not provide one.

China’s CGTN interviewed some disappointed delegates who mostly blamed Trump.

A group of real scientists were given credentials to attend COP25, and intervened throughout the events with the truth about climate change.

Chinese Ambassador Warns Germany Not To Ban Huawei

Dec. 15 (EIRNS)—China’s Ambassador to Germany Wu Ken warned the German government of repercussions if they cave in to U.S. requests that to ban Huawei. “If Germany were to take a decision that leads to Huawei’s exclusion from the German market, there will be consequences,” the Ambassador said on Dec. 14 at an event organized by business newspaper Handelsblatt. “The Chinese government will not stand idly by,” he said, he was quoted by Bloomberg as saying. While Germany has allowed the expansion of Huawei technology, voices have been raised within the Bundestag to restrict its use, with legislation mooted that would impose a ban on “untrustworthy” 5G vendors. Ambassador Wu said at the event that Huawei has no legal obligation to provide data to the Chinese government, and reminded the audience that German manufacturers account for a quarter of the 28 million cars sold in China last year. “Could we say one day that these German cars are no longer safe because we’re in a position to manufacture our own cars?” he said in a video on the newspaper’s website. “No. That is pure protectionism.”

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier today warned against passing laws that single out firms, reported Bloomberg. “We shouldn’t turn against individual companies and instead insist that all electronic and high-technology components used in Germany meet the highest security requirements,” he told Der Tagesspiegel newspaper. “Whoever doesn’t meet them is out.”

German Foreign Minister, EU Rebuff Proposed U.S. Sanctions on Nord Stream 2 Partner Firms

Dec. 13 (EIRNS)—German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has responded angrily to proposed U.S. sanctions against companies involved in Gazprom’s Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream gas pipeline projects. The provision for sanctions is included in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, approved Dec. 11 in the House, with a Senate vote expected to follow soon. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill before year’s end.

The bill requires the State Department to report back within 60 days with the names of companies and individuals involved in pipe-laying for Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream. Among other things, the bill includes asset freezes and revocation of U.S. visas for contractors, according to Euractiv.

In a statement issued yesterday, Heiko Maas said that “European energy policy must be decided in Europe, not the U.S. We fundamentally reject foreign interference, and as a matter of principle, extraterritorial sanctions.” A statement by the German Economic Committee, reported by Sputnik, termed the sanctions “an insult to European sovereignty,” and inadmissible meddling…. The introduction of these sanctions will create considerable pressure on trans-Atlantic relations.”

EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan stated on behalf of the European Commission that Brussels “opposes the imposition of sanctions against any EU companies conducting legitimate business…. The Commission objective has always been to ensure that Nord Stream operates in a very transparent and in a non-discriminatory way with the appropriate degree of oversight.”

Sir Michael Bloomberg Lays Out Green Economic Strangulation in Virginia Campaign Swing

Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—During a campaign stop in Alexandria, Virginia, on Dec. 13, Sir Michael Bloomberg reiterated his program which is to shut down all of America’s remaining 251 coal-powered plants, halt the construction of 150 new gas facilities, and begin phasing out remaining gas plants by 2030. His Malthusian plan claims to cut carbon emissions in the U.S. by half over the next 10 years, and then drive the economy downward by shuttering 80% of non-green energy sources by 2028.

The plan would cut taxpayer subsidies for fossil fuels, and impose such strict and expensive sanctions on new gas plants as to make new construction prohibitive.

Ironically, he had been scheduled to speak at the Potomac River Generating Station (a former coal-fired plant that was shut down in 2012 by environmentalists), but cold rain and fog forced the event indoors, and Bloomberg addressed a meager grouping in Old Town, Alexandria. The town of Alexandria’s electricity primarily comes from a coal-powered plant.

However, he has not hidden the fact that even if not elected, he intends to continue bypassing Washington, using his vast wealth to finance lobbyists and PACs to manipulate policy. Bloomberg largely underwrote the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, which gloats it helped mothball more than half of the nation’s coal plants. This year, his Bloomberg Philanthropies founded Beyond Carbon to help his “fight” against global warming.

Earlier this year, while addressing the commencement at MIT, he bragged that he was spending more than $500 million in shutting down “every last U.S. coal-fired power plant by 2030.”

He has offered no details as to how the millions of oil and gas workers would “transition” to other work—perhaps becoming gravediggers, given the expected increased mortality of Americans lacking reliable, efficient and energy-dense power sources.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Boris Johnson Takes on BBC

Dec. 15 (EIRNS)—Picking up on yet another Trump theme, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on the first official day on the job of his new term, took on the fake-news media—in this case, the BBC itself. Johnson reported that he was challenging the forced payment of £154.50 by every TV owner, which fee goes to the BBC. About 180,000 people face court hearings every year for failure (or refusal) to pay, with about 150,000 convicted and fined up to £1,000. Johnson plans to first decriminalize non-payment of the fee, then review the entire process, possibly making BBC no different than other online programs that people subscribe to—or don’t.

BBC is furious, not only about the fee issue, but because Johnson refused to give an interview to broadcaster Andrew Neil during the campaign (“Who does he think he is?” blustered Neil), because Johnson considers him biased. He also refused to participate in a debate on climate change, and has now imposed a ban on his ministers appearing on BBC’s “flagship” Today program. The Daily Mail reports that a source at No. 10 “called on the BBC to mount an internal investigation into its performance during the campaign, saying: ‘The BBC speaks to a pro-Remain metropolitan bubble in Islington, not the real world represented by Wakefield and Workington. There has been a failure by senior management at the BBC, and we expect them to launch an internal review of their performance.’ ”

A former senior executive at BBC, Roger Mosley, told the Daily Mail: “Now, the BBC and its fellow broadcasters face questions about the way they covered the 2019 campaign, and how well they reflected the mood of the country outside London. Because the portrayal of the majority of British people and their concerns was frequently off-beam. We were told the Election would be very close. It was not. The broadcasters reported that both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn were big turn-offs for voters, yet Johnson won something close to a landslide….  He was obviously getting something right. It was in plain sight. Yet none of the broadcasters chose to consider properly what this might mean. As polling day approached, millions of working-class people outside the capital were preparing to do the unthinkable and overturn years of tribal allegiance to vote Conservative.”

Replace “London” with “the East and West Coasts,” and replace “working-class people outside the capital” with “working-class people in the heartland,” and you have a perfect description of the “fake-news press” in the United States. Any surprise?

Prime Minister Johnson Visits Northeast England To Thank New ‘Blue-Collar Tory’ Constituencies

Dec. 15 (EIRNS)—U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to the northeast of England, a working-class region which has been solid Labour for decades—in some cases forever—to personally thank the several districts which voted in new Tory MPs, in what he acknowledged was a “very difficult” decision for them to vote for the Conservative Party and for him. He went to Sedgefield, which voted in a Tory in Tony Blair’s former seat! Boris said these “blue-collar Conservatives” would make a “better Conservative Party” (he has openly attacked the austerity policies of Tories Cameron and May). He said the Tories must become “the people’s party,” and live up to campaign pledges, not only to “Get Brexit Done,” but also to vastly expand and improve the National Health Service (NHS), hire more doctors and nurses, more police, build better schools, and more infrastructure. Johnson and his top adviser Dominic Cummings have campaigned for “leveling”—i.e., investing not only in London and its environs, but also in the working-class regions throughout the U.K. Johnson and Cummings have called for taking the £35 million/week the country pays the EU and put it into the NHS.

Johnson will present his program in a “Queen’s Speech” to Parliament—in which the government details the bills it plans for the next year in a speech delivered by the monarch—on Dec. 19. The Telegraph reports that he has prepared plans for a “revolutionary” government, intending to replace many ministers and abolish some departments, as well as taking on the civil service. The Telegraph writes: “Up to a third of the cabinet face the sack in a February reshuffle after Brexit so that fresh faces can be brought in to create a transformative government focused on the needs of working-class voters who propelled him to a landslide victory last week.”

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

NuScale’s 12-Module Small Modular Reactor Technical Review Takes a Firm Step Forward

Dec. 13 (EIRNS)— The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has completed the fourth phase of its review of the design certification application for NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR). With two final phases remaining, this marks the near-completion of the technical aspects of the review.

“The completion of Phase 4 of the NRC’s design review certification process is an unprecedented step forward for our company and for the advanced nuclear industry overall,” NuScale Chairman and CEO John Hopkins said. “We appreciate the tremendous effort the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has dedicated to its thorough and rigorous review of our groundbreaking technology thus far,” World Nuclear News reported.

Phase 5 entails a review by the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), an independent advisor to the regulator that reviews and reports on safety studies and reactor facility license and license renewal applications. The sixth and final phase of the review is the preparation of the final Safety Evaluation Report (SER), which will incorporate confirmatory items from the Phase 4 advanced SER and comments raised by ACRS in Phase 5. The final SER is scheduled for completion in September 2020.

NuScale’s SMR design features a fully fabricated power module based on pressurized light water reactor technology. Each module can generate up to 60 MWe, and the scalable design can be used in power plants of up to 12 individual modules. It is the first—and so far only—SMR to undergo a design certification review by the NRC. (See EIR, “Mass Production of Modular Nuclear Reactors To Industrialize Developing Countries,” Nov. 16, 2018.)

OTHER

Violence against India’s ‘Citizenship Amendment Bill’ Led Abe Shinzo To Cancel His Trip

Dec. 13 (EIRNS)—Violent clashes were being reported from the Indian states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and West Bengal, after both Houses of Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) earlier this week. Chief Ministers of Punjab, West Bengal, and Kerala have declared that they would not allow the bill to be implemented in their states, saying the law was designed to divide the people along religious lines.

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo was scheduled to be in Delhi and Assam for three days (Dec. 15-17) to attend the 14th India-Japan Annual Summit and discuss with Prime Minister Narendra Modi a broader Japan-India partnership. Together, they were scheduled enunciate programs for development of India’s northeastern states, including Assam, for greater connectivity with Southeast Asian nations.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill, signed by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, and which needs to secure the approval of India’s Supreme Court, offers a way to Indian citizenship for six minority religious groups from neighboring countries. The six groups include Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Zoroastrians, and Jains, but not Muslims. The bill says that those who arrived in India before 2015 from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh because of religious persecution will be allowed to avail themselves of fast-tracked Indian citizenship. The bill does not afford Muslim migrants with such a privilege. In other words, the bill was designed to prevent Muslim migrants from becoming Indian citizens, despite the fact that many Muslims—Shi’as and Ahmadiyyas, in particular—had fled persecution in Pakistan and Afghanistan and had entered India over the past decades.

At the same time, the bill has cut both ways. Assam, a northeastern state, north and east of Bangladesh, has 1.9 million migrants, according to a “National Register of Citizens” issued in August by the Supreme Court. They are the ones who cannot prove that they or their ancestors arrived before 1971 when Bangladesh—then, East Pakistan—underwent a civil war before it became an independent nation from Pakistan. Of these 1.9 million migrants identified, 1.2 million are Hindus and the rest are Muslims. CAB, if it gets Supreme Court approval, will grant Indian citizenship only to Hindus. Following parliamentary passage of the CAB, protest demonstrations against allowing the illegal Hindu migrants to settle in Assam have become violent. The protesters claim the migrants will move to the border region and dilute the culture and political sway of those who already live there.

The discriminatory nature of the CAB, and the protests it has evoked, pressures the Supreme Court to reject the bill.

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