WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2019 Volume 6, Number 255 EIR Daily Alert Service P.O. Box 17390, Washington, DC 20041-0390

• Let the ‘Christmas Spirit’ Be a Call to Action
• Durham is Being Briefed on a Four-Year Criminal Spy Conspiracy Against Obama’s Opponents
• U.S. National Security Adviser O’Brien Lectures the U.K. to Boycott Huawei
• Endless Impeachment: House Lawyers Hope for New Articles Should Don McGahn Testify
• National Defense Authorization Act Hits Russia and China
• U.S. National Public Radio Seeks China’s Break-Up, Promotes Independent ‘East Turkistan’
• Esper for U.S. Troop Draw-Down in Africa, South America, Middle East, to Fixate on Russia and China
• Chile’s Ruling Coalition Crumbling Under Social Upheaval and Demands for New Constitution
• Black Trumps Green, as International Energy Agency Coal Report Shows Continued Growth
• OSCE Announces Agreement on Another Ukraine-Donbas Prisoner Swap
• Silk Road-Linked Agreement Among Georgia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan
• Argentine Expert Sees Key China Role in Development of Argentina and Ibero-America
• Continuing Moon-Mars Mission Takes Optimism, and Creates It

EDITORIAL

Let the ‘Christmas Spirit’ Be a Call to Action

Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—These are not normal times. There is no global “pause” for holiday revelries. The lunacy of the Democratic Party’s impeachment insanity is escalating, as they are now going to court to force President Donald Trump’s former White House Counsel to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, intending to manufacture more articles of impeachment. If the Senate dismisses or votes down the current articles of impeachment, which do not even name a crime which Trump has supposedly committed, then more articles may be forthcoming—an “endless impeachment” to go along with their “endless wars,” which Trump has sworn to end.

But the coup-plotters will also be spending a very nervous holiday season. The former National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers has been holding multiple sessions with John Durham, the prosecutor charged with rooting out the criminal actions of those who launched and carried out the attempted coup against the President of the United States, in league with British intelligence. Rogers, it should be recalled, reported to the FISA Court on Oct. 24, 2016 that he had uncovered significant abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by people under him at the NSA, and then more of the same abuses by the FBI and the DOJ, from 2012 to 2016. As reported below, this was done in order to “unmask” political enemies by the Obama Administration to facilitate illegal spying on literally thousands Obama’s perceived enemies—all before the “Russiagate” illegal operation even got started. The former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Joe diGenova believes the Russiagate hoax was launched in order to cover up this criminal intelligence community activity under President Barack Obama.

The Congress is also continuing to sabotage Trump’s intention to build cooperative relations with Russia and China, ending the imperial division of the world once and for all. The recently passed National Defense Authorization Act declares both Russia and China to be “malign actors,” while also openly supporting the violent anarchists in Hong Kong, and repeating the wild lies about mistreatment of Muslims in Xinjiang—all this from a Congress that cheered on genocidal destruction of several Muslim nations in the Middle East which were no threat to the U.S.

And around the world, the mass strike process is not taking a holiday break either. In Europe, where farmers and workers have repeatedly shut down France, Germany and the Netherlands over the past months, protesting austerity and “climate change” idiocy, governments and private sector associations across Europe are enraged that the U.S. Congress imposed sanctions on private companies building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany.

Chile, Bolivia, Lebanon, Iraq, and more are in various states of social disintegration. Santa Claus is not likely to resolve any of this.

The danger is great—allowing a war with Russia or China in the age of nuclear weapons is both insane and suicidal. The Federal Reserve is certainly not taking a holiday break, hoping against hope that the massive money printing they launched over the last three months will at least get the banking system through the New Year—although the Western financial lords are no longer hiding the fact that the coming collapse is going to be the “perfect storm.”

But the true message of Christmas, like the true message of all great religions and cultures, is that the human being, created in the image of the Creator, has the creative power to take a crisis, be it man-made or an act of nature, and use that crisis to investigate and create solutions. This is what Leibniz meant in saying that we live in the best of all possible worlds.

Lyndon LaRouche, perhaps the greatest of all followers of Leibniz, has presented the necessary tools and policies to end this global crisis, and to build the necessary global Renaissance, which can, and must, end the imperial age of Empire once and for all. It requires that people choose to act at this pregnant moment. Let this message go forth on this Christmas Day.

Note to Subscribers: EIR Daily Alert will not be published on Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, to allow staff to take Christmas and New Year’s Day off.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Durham Is Being Briefed on a Four-Year Criminal Spy Conspiracy against Obama’s Opponents

Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—In an interview on Washington, D.C. radio station WMAL-FM on Dec. 23, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Joe diGenova commented on The Intercept article of Dec. 20 which said that U.S. Attorney John Durham has had multiple meetings with former National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers. Durham is investigating the Russiagate activities of the intelligence community against candidate and then President Donald Trump, following Durham’s appointment by Attorney General William Barr. DiGenova’s take is truly explosive.

He says that Mike Rogers has the goods on a spying operation—using both Section 702, or the FISA process, and Executive Order 12333 to target Americans—which was conducted for the four years between 2012-2016 at the request of then-CIA Director John Brennan and then-FBI Director James Comey for the Obama Administration. The unmasking logs which then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes discovered at the National Security Council at the White House in March 2017 were simply the latest fruits of that process as applied to Donald Trump. DiGenova says that Rogers has both the proof from the NSA andyears of contemporaneous notes concerning a massive criminal conspiracy of spying against Obama’s political opponents.

It will be recalled that Mike Rogers went to the FISA Court on Oct. 24, 2016 to report significant abuses by the NSA of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and his investigation broadened to document ongoing abuses by the FBI and the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Here is what Judge Rosemary Collyer, the chief Judge of the FISA Court said about what Rogers initially reported:  “[T]he government orally apprised the Court of significant non-compliance with the NSA’s minimization procedures involving queries of data acquired under 702 using U.S. person identifiers.” This was three days after the first Carter Page FISA warrant was obtained.

Judge Collyer’s 99-page account of the abuses was issued in a FISA Court decision of April 26, 2017, which was declassified in May of 2017. Among the most significant abuses noted was unlimited access by private contractors of the FBI to the FISA database, access which these contractors maintained even when their contract with the FBI had concluded.  According to diGenova, when Attorney General Barr says that John Durham is investigating intelligence agencies and private individuals, he is referring, in part, to these contractors.

The reward Mike Rogers got for his report to the FISA Court was a recommendation from then-DNI James Clapper and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter that President Barack Obama fire him.  Obama did not follow through with the proposal, according to diGenova, because he knew what cards Rogers held.  Nunes, of course, was vilified as a conspiracy nut for his famous findings of the logs of this activity in March 2017 in the White House.  DiGenova maintains that both Nunes and Rogers deserve the highest national honors.

Rogers personally briefed Donald Trump, according to news accounts, about the spying that was occurring on his transition at Trump Tower, prompting Trump to move his transition activities to his Bedminster resort location in New Jersey. Rogers also expressed only “moderate” confidence in the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that Russia had hacked the DNC and John Podesta in order to further the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.

DiGenova also blasted Judge Collyer and all the FISA judges for their mild rebukes in the face of the Horowitz report. He points out that Collyer and others knew full well that FISA was being abused and that they were being consistently lied to, and that Collyer and others are now engaged in “grandstanding CYA activities.”

U.S. National Security Adviser O’Brien Lectures the U.K. To Boycott Huawei

Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien was interviewed in the City of London’s Financial Times today, during which he issued a blast—a warning, one could say—at the Boris Johnson Administration over its continuing to consider Huawei to supply its 5G system. Continuing the role of top Trump cabinet people ranting against Trump’s stated policies regarding China and Russia, O’Brien told the FT on Huawei: “They are just going to steal wholesale state secrets, whether they are the U.K.’s nuclear secrets or secrets from MI6 or MI5. It is somewhat shocking to us that folks in the U.K. would look at Huawei as some sort of a commercial decision. 5G is a national security decision.”

O’Brien claimed that “European citizens and people in allied countries, such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand, were starting to understand that letting Huawei into their countries is like letting the Trojan Horse into Troy.”

He said that China would be able to micro-target individuals to “exploit their hopes and their fears” by gaining access to personal details. “If you get all the information on a person and then you get their genome, and you marry those two things up, and you have an authoritarian state wielding that information, that is an incredible amount of power. Why the U.K. would sign up for such a program is astonishing.”

He took on Germany as well, saying it is becoming a “vassal” of China: “Ms. Merkel does not want to ban Huawei because of the fear of economic retaliation but she has come under pressure from lawmakers in her party, the Christian Democrats, who have been working on a draft law that would raise significant hurdles to Huawei. While the German elites may have been happy to do a deal with China or Huawei, German citizens are starting to revolt…. You are even seeing that within Chancellor Merkel’s party. German citizens just are not ready to sign up for their state to become a vassal of Beijing, and the first step on that path is allowing Chinese 5G into Germany.”

Then he raises the myth of China’s treatment of the Uighurs, calling it “shocking” that many Muslim nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have not voiced support for the Uighurs, due to China’s “debt trap.” “They [China] have gained incredible leverage over countries where they literally control them because of the loans China has made.”

And more: “There are too many governments, European governments and others, which are more concerned about offending China and potentially losing out on some economic gain from their relationships with China than standing up for their principles.”

Could it be any clearer that this is a direct attack on President Donald Trump, who has consistently praised President Xi Jinping, declared that Hong Kong and Xinjiang are China’s sovereign concern, and worked to resolve the trade issues in order to move ahead in cooperation?

Endless Impeachment: House Lawyers Hope for New Articles Should Don McGahn Testify

Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—Clearly the plan is to have a never-ending impeachment. Yesterday, lawyers for the House Judiciary Committee filed papers in the D.C. Federal Court of Appeals, urging it to compel former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify, according to NBC News and CBS News.

The lawyers’ filing argued that if McGahn’s testimony provides new evidence supporting the claim that President Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses—not covered by the two Articles of Impeachment—“the committee will proceed accordingly, including, if necessary, by considering whether to recommend new articles of impeachment.” The Justice Department also filed yesterday arguing that the appeals court should “decline the committee’s request that it enter the fray and instead should dismiss this fraught suit between the political branches.”

The Judiciary Committee lawyers insist that McGahn’s testimony is key. Robert Mueller’s team had interviewed him for 30 hours and Democrats are certain he can provide evidence of several instances of Trump attempting undermine Mueller’s investigation—obstruction of justice. Mueller’s report, of course, found no way to make the obstruction of justice charge stick.

CNN reports House lawyers’ assertion that “The Committee’s investigations did not cease with the House’s recent impeachment vote…. Understanding President Trump’s history of obstruction would be important to the House’s presentation of the evidence and the Senate’s consideration of the second Article of Impeachment,” obstruction of Congress. The White House had prohibited McGahn from testifying, claiming he had full immunity, but a D.C. federal court overruled that in November. Now the case is scheduled for argument before the appeals court Jan. 3.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

National Defense Authorization Act Hits Russia and China

Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—The National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump last week, includes provisions attacking both Russia and China. On Russia, aside from the sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream pipeline projects, including their European partners, it’s relatively mild, since it’s mostly focused on maintaining the New START strategic arms control treaty and the Open Skies Treaty in the interests of strategic stability. There are exceptions to this concern, denouncing Russia’s claim to sovereignty over Crimea, as well as the spreading of Russia’s allegedly “malign influence” across the globe.

In the case of China, the relevant provisions are even nastier, provoking an angry response from Beijing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Dec. 23 expressed strong dissatisfaction with the United States over the negative contents distorting and smearing China’s military development and on issues relating to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, as well as prohibited purchase of Chinese products, reported Xinhua. Geng during his regular news briefing said that China has lodged solemn representations with the United States over this.

“China urges the United States to discard its Cold War mentality and ideological bias, treat China’s development and China-U.S. relations with an objective and rational manner, and not to implement the negative clauses against China to avoid damages to bilateral ties and cooperation in important areas,” Geng said.

Geng also took aim at the NDAA’s creation of the U.S. Space Force, warning that it could lead to weaponization of outer space. “The U.S. has vigorously promoted its outer space strategy in spite of opposition in recent years, going further and further on the road of weaponizing outer space,” Geng said. He also said that “these actions not only seriously violated international consensus on the peaceful use of outer space, but also posed a direct threat to peace and security in that space.”

U.S. National Public Radio Seeks China’s Break-Up, Promotes Independent ‘East Turkistan’

Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—National Public Radio’s 1A broadcast, hosted by Indira Lakshmanan, spent over 30 minutes on Dec. 23, and replayed this morning, trying to convince Americans of the “big lie,” that China is imprisoning millions of Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, and torturing and even killing them in large numbers. Even worse, NPR is pushing the idea that the only solution is to break up China, with Xinjiang being granted independence as “East Turkistan.”

1A hosted three top players in the subversion of China:

• the New York Times resident journalist in Hong Kong Austin Ramzy, who has authored most of the “failing New York Times” garbage on both Hong Kong and Xinjiang;

• Salih Hudayar, a Uighur-American who calls himself the “Ambassador from the East Turkistan Government in Exile.” He is the founder of the “East Turkistan National Awakening Movement,” founded in 2017, with a grant from National Endowment for Democracy (NED) because, in his words, the former Uighur groups were not pushing for independence for Xinjiang as East Turkistan;

• Louisa Greve, the former NED chief for Asia, who (probably) had arranged for the grant to Hudayar in the first place, and who now heads the Uyghur Human Rights Project.

The level of lies is astonishing, including the claim that China does not allow Muslims to practice their religion. Not only does every visitor to Xinjiang observe the thousands of mosques with millions praying, but the imams at the camps are teaching the real Islam, rather than the jihadist perversion.

Hudayar addressed the founding of the Committee on the Present Danger: China, often testifies before Congress and the UN, always demanding that China be declared guilty of genocide. He proudly claims that independence is necessary to stop the Belt and Road, recently tweeting: “An independent #EastTurkistan would stop #China’s ambitious plan for global economic domination, the #BeltandRoad Initiative; hence #Beijing is engaging in a brutal campaign of #Genocide against #Uyghur and other Turkic peoples.”

Esper for U.S. Troop Draw-Down in Africa, South America, Middle East, To Fixate on Russia and China

Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is directing a force deployment assessment that aims to reduce U.S. military deployments in Africa and the Middle East in order to reorient the Pentagon against Russia and China, the New York Times reported on Dec. 23. The realignment that Esper is seeking is in line with the 2017 National Security Strategy and the 2018 National Defense Strategy which both identify Russia and China as strategic adversaries of the United States.

In Africa, the force reductions that are being considered are apparently quite dramatic. They include a large-scale drawdown in West Africa, including abandoning a $120 million drone base that just went into operation in central Niger this past summer, as well as ending assistance to French forces engaged in anti-terrorism operations in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Unnamed defense officials say the overhaul of Africa deployments will be followed by one in Latin America, and that draw-downs will happen in Iraq and Afghanistan, as have been expected. Esper has given Africa Command until January to draft a withdrawal plan, as well as a plan for redeploying troops.

Esper is also said to be considering significant cuts in the Middle East. In the coming months in Iraq, officials said, Esper may cut the U.S. troop presence in Iraq by half from the present level of 5,000, and is seeking to withdraw 4,000 troops from the 13,000 in Afghanistan.

But these changes, perceived by some as seismic, run the risk of confrontation between the Pentagon and the four-star generals who lead the regional headquarters. Both Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, the commander of U.S. Africa Command, and Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the commander of U.S. Central Command, have lobbied heavily for more troops, not fewer. McKenzie has actually gotten 14,000 additional troops over the last few months to face Iran.

The Pentagon plan for West Africa also runs counter to that of the State Department, which has a new initiative to combat a resurgent Islamic State there. The French military operation in West Africa will be hit hard by a U.S. withdrawal as the French have depended on logistical and intelligence support from the U.S. military.

Chile’s Ruling Coalition Crumbling under Social Upheaval and Demands for New Constitution

Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—Chile’s governing coalition, “Chile Vamos” (Let’s Go Chile), made up of the country’s two right-wing parties, the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) and National Renewal (RN), is disintegrating under the weight of two months of nationwide protest, disputes over how to deal with it, and an international spotlight placed on gross violations of human rights carried out by military and police during this period.

The backdrop to this is continuing protest, although somewhat diminished in size, and popular demands for deep and lasting social and economic change. After last week’s Congressional vote approving a bill calling for a national referendum to write an entirely new Constitution, President Sebastián Piñera signed the bill into law yesterday and set April 26, 2020 as the date on which the referendum will be held, the daily La Nación reported. Citizens will vote on whether a new Constitution should be written, and what mechanism will be created to write it.

But it’s not clear that Chile Vamos will last until then, or even whether Piñera can remain in office—given his 10-13% approval rating. The UDI has said it’s leaving the coalition, as it opposes the Nov. 15 agreement signed by the government and most other political parties to replace the 1980 Constitution, written by dictator Augusto Pinochet’s top adviser, synarchist Jaime Guzman. This is a betrayal of the party’s values, the UDI asserts, and especially of Guzman—the follower of Hitler’s “Crown Jurist” Carl Schmitt—whom the UDI worships as a national savior.

Piñera is visibly nervous over the fragile state of the coalition, while his reputation continues to suffer from the several international reports documenting continuing human rights violations by police. The latest one released by the National Human Rights Institute Dec. 20 provided evidence of torture, arbitrary detentions, sexual assault and deliberate targetting of protesters’ eyes to blind them.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Black Trumps Green, as International Energy Agency Coal Report Shows Continued Growth

Dec. 23 (EIRNS)—It’s Sir Michael Bloomberg’s recurring nightmare: His travelling Green presidential bus every morning is covered with a thick layer of black coal dust. The International Energy Association (IEA) has released its Coal 2019 report, which shows that, while Bloomberg and friends might be wrecking coal in America and Europe, coal usage worldwide has remained strong and is expected to stay that way.

From the Executive Summary: “Global coal demand increased by 1.1%, continuing the rebound that began in 2017 after three years of decline. The main driver was coal power generation, which rose almost 2% in 2018 to reach an all-time high. Coal maintained its position as the largest source of electricity in the world with a 38% share. The People’s Republic of China, India and other Asian economies led the expansion, while coal power generation fell in Europe and North America. In non-power sectors, despite a lot of coal-to-gas switching in China, demand remained stable. The international coal trade grew by 4% in 2018, surpassing 1.4 billion tons.”

After a 10-year surge—where coal consumption averaged a 5% annual growth rate from 2002-2012—usage has flattened for the last five years. The market for coal has shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific, where Asian countries are experiencing high rates of growth, led by Indonesia and Vietnam, whose consumption rose by 5% in 2018.

This year’s report was released at an event in Johannesburg, South Africa, where embattled Department of Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe—also a strong proponent of nuclear power—was only too happy to use this as a weapon against the growing Green onslaught in the coal-rich nation. In his address, Mantashe insisted that any “transition” away from coal should “be done in a manner that is mindful of social, economic, as well as environmental considerations.”

OSCE Announces Agreement on Another Ukraine-Donbas Prisoner Swap

Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—Martin Sajdik, the OSCE special representative in Ukraine, announced in a statement yesterday that the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) has agreed on a prisoner swap. “During today’s videoconference, the Trilateral Contact Group, with participation of representatives of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, reached an agreement on a mutual release and exchange of conflict-related detainees by the end of the year,” he said, reported TASS.

The OSCE was confirmed by representatives of both the Kiev government and of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk republics. Rodion Miroshnik, the Luhansk envoy on the political subgroup of the TCG told Izvestia that key to the outcome of the Dec. 23 meeting was that Ukraine had agreed to clear those on the exchange list of any criminal charges.

Silk Road-Linked Agreement among Georgia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan

Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—The Foreign Ministers of Georgia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan signed a new 2020-2022 action plan for cooperation during a meeting held in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, on Dec. 23, Xinhua reports. At a joint press conference after this, their eighth trilateral meeting, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani told media: “We have once again highlighted the importance of the implementation of the Trans-Caspian Pipeline and the role of Georgia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan in transporting the energy products from the Caspian region to Europe,” which had been the main focus of their meeting.

Zalkaliani said that Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, taking their geopolitical location and transport potential into account, attach great importance to strengthening cooperation for the undisturbed functioning of the Europe-Asia connecting corridor. “We particularly emphasized the role of the three countries in the historic Silk Road, connecting Europe with Asia, and welcomed the Silk Road Forum held in Tbilisi in October,” Zalkaliani said. The Tbilisi Silk Road Forum diplomacy is an independent initiative from the Chinese New Silk Road, but the two are connected. The Tbilisi Silk Road Forum, held every other year, took place this year on Oct. 22-23.

Argentine Expert Sees Key China Role in Development of Argentina and Ibero-America

Dec. 24 (EIRNS)—In an article published in China’s People’s Daily Dec. 23, Argentine Sinologist Gustavo Girado, who just attended the China-Latin America-Caribbean Business Forum in Panama over Dec. 9-11, discussed his view of how China collaborates in developing the broader region, as well as Argentina more specifically.

There are three things China has in excess that Latin America lacks, Girado notes: technology, ability to build infrastructure, and financing. At the Panama summit, attended by 2,500 businessmen and government officials from China, Latin America and the Caribbean, he reported, there was extensive discussion on how to create alliances that will allow China to more effectively support regional development, industrial growth focused on value added, as well as new investment in infrastructure to reduce time and logistical costs. Discussion on the Belt and Road Initiative was also key, he said, as it is seen as a guide by which the relationship between the two regions can be lifted to a higher level, although greater effort is required to better capitalize on opportunities.

In Argentina’s case, Girado said, it has no interest in increasing reliance on raw materials production and export. “We produce and export satellites and nuclear energy” and have still a “certain degree of sophistication,” he said. So, the idea would be to take advantage of that capability. Moreover, Latin America has a management capability that could be put to good use in Chinese projects such as joint ventures, mixed capital, financing through currency SWAP agreements and aid from Chinese banks. SWAP agreements are particularly useful, he emphasized, because they are in effect a form of indirect financing, and can be considered to be reserves. Thus, “it’s an important option for indirect financing by which China can aid Argentina’s finances.” Chinese banks can play a role in helping to alleviate the debt burden, by offering better terms, he said. They don’t necessarily need to be soft loans, “but anything is better than the conditionalities tied to World Bank, IMF and IADB loans.”

The China-Argentina relationship represents an extraordinary opportunity, Girado writes. Nothing good has come from Argentina’s huge debt, but China in Argentina can obtain many things it needs, and “together we can forge an alignment in multilateral organizations in which two voices are stronger than one.” Argentina then can progress; it can extend a hand to China, which has made clear it has no intention of interfering politically anywhere in Latin America.

SCIENCE

Continuing Moon-Mars Mission Takes Optimism, and Creates It

Dec. 23 (EIRNS)—An op-ed in The Hill Dec. 22 by veteran space writer Mark Whittington, assesses NASA’s Artemis Moon-Mars mission as to whether the Fiscal Year 2020 budget leaves NASA’s glass half-empty or half-full. The issue of optimism is the right one, but beyond the “fiscal accounting” level at which the author places it.

NASA Administrator James Bridenstine is clearly the optimist on the authorization by Congress for development of the lunar lander for Artemis. Bridenstine wrote on Dec. 16 on his Twitter account: “Great news! If passed, the spending bill gives @NASA funding for a human lunar lander for the first time since Apollo! We are grateful for the BIPARTISAN support & will continue to work with Congress to secure the funds needed to land the 1st woman & next man on the Moon by 2024!” Moreover, Bridenstine and Douglas Loverro, new administrator of NASA Human Spaceflight, had plans to pursue the Artemis timeline of landing human beings back on the Moon in 2024, even with no authorization for the lander.

Bridenstine is looking to the fight for big leaps in funding starting next year, Whittington says. He notes the unfortunate “reality” provided by a Congress which is too deep in talking points to see the reality of human beings as a galactic species, as we are. Not only was the funding for the lander at less than half—$600 million out of $1.4 billion needed—but, as he reports from Marcia Smith’s SpacePolicyOnline: “NASA must provide a detailed timeline for implementing Artemis, the lunar landing program, which will include budget estimates and key milestones per fiscal years before funding above 40% of that total is released.”

The Congress’s demand for a complete and detailed action plan with spending levels attached over the several years of Artemis phase one is absurd in the sphere of human space exploration. More seriously, he writes: “NASA must articulate the tangible benefits, especially in science, commerce and political soft power that American and allied astronauts living and working on the Moon will garner.”

LaRouchePAC and EIR have uniquely shown that mining helium-3, the best fuel for breakthroughs to fusion power and plasma technologies; a new order of rapid space travel with advanced fission and fusion propulsion; a lunar infrastructure to base travel to Mars; completely new materials-science discoveries in working with and on the Moon’s surface; an explosion of advances in robotics as thousands of young engineers work on machines to help humans work on the Moon, are just a few of the scientific breakthroughs promised. Even more important is the culture of optimism that will be created as human beings see their species living, working, observing in an environment very different and vastly larger than the one in which our species developed.

This is the object of mobilization as it was with Project Apollo.

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