MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2020

Volume 7, Number 18

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

• A Great Power Summit in 2020 Is the Opportunity for a New Paradigm Agenda
• France and China Back Putin’s Call for Five-Power Summit
• Russian Ambassador Antonov Suggest Dates for Putin’s Proposed Summit of UN Security Council ‘Five’
• Iraq Invites Others To Join China in ‘Oil for Reconstruction’ Funding, as U.S. Shows Interest
• Freeing Africa from Locust Swarms Is All of Humanity’s Task
• Macron Cabinet Approves the Unacceptable New Pension Measure, as Protests Continue
• German Farmers Fed Up with Do-Nothing Politicians
• Brexit Is a Done Deal
• Trump Defense in Senate Launches Strongly
• FISA Court Rules FBI Submitted False Affidavits for Surveillance of Trump’s Campaign Aide
• Trump Asks West Virginia Governor To Help Sell Coal to China
• ‘Million Man March’ in Iraq To Get Foreign Troops Out
• Xi Jinping Exhorts ‘Steadfast Confidence’ in Fighting Coronavirus, as Trump Praises China’s Action

EDITORIAL

A Great Power Summit in 2020 Is the Opportunity for a New Paradigm Agenda

Jan. 25 (EIRNS)—The January 15 proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin for a 2020 summit of the heads of state and government of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (U.S., Russia, China, France, the U.K.)—to confer on securing global peace, reflects the Jan. 3 summit proposal by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, now circulating internationally through the Schiller Institute and other networks. She calls for an emergency meeting among Presidents Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin because of the immediate danger from the U.S.-Iran confrontation, and moreover, “to establish a higher level of cooperation” to deal properly with all crises.

Though the two proposals differ on which are to be the participating nations, the concept of the summit is the same, and such an action is crucial at this moment in history. Now is the time for all nations and citizens to organize for what should be the content of such a summit. What should be on its agenda? This is the place and time for the LaRouche policies and principles connected with his view that “development is the name for peace”: A New Bretton Woods system, implementing his 2014 “Four Laws,” through such concrete means as collaboration with the Belt and Road Initiative.

By all indications Putin has gone beyond the propaganda phase of simply proposing a summit, into the active organizing phase. Potential times for such a summit were identified Jan. 24 by Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov. TASS reports today that Antonov said, “such a meeting could be organized, either ahead of the May NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] review conference, or ahead of, or during, the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Organization [in September, during the UN General Assembly]. I think the implementation of this initiative would be very useful for international peace and security.” When Putin repeated his proposal on Jan. 23 in Israel, he said Russia will send messages to leaders without delay.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, in discussing the situation today, stressed that such a summit is urgent, and that although people may have criticisms against one or another of the UN Security Council “Five,” it is the dynamic that counts. For example, French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly stressed that involving Russia in deliberations to solve major crises is essential. Chancellor Angela Merkel took the initiative recently regarding collaboration with Russia and other powers, to seek solutions to the Libya crisis, by holding the Berlin conference Jan. 19 and other measures.

Our task is to elevate people to understand that only through international collaboration can we solve the problems we now face, and that around the policies uniquely proposed by Lyndon LaRouche. Many people hold back because they literally “don’t know any better,” or because they have given up on transforming the world. But now is the moment to address all relevant “issues” people may have, in the largest sense, and implement optimism. President Trump’s Jan. 21 speech in Davos helps open the door to just such an approach.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

France and China Back Putin’s Call for Five-Power Summit

Jan. 24 (EIRNS)—China and France have welcomed President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for a summit of the heads of state and government of Russia, China, the United States, France and the United Kingdom—the five permanent members of the UN Security Council—to discuss how to secure global peace.

President Emmanuel Macron told the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem yesterday: “Today, five permanent members of the UN Security Council bear historic responsibility. Dear Vladimir, I support your proposal to gather us all together. I would like us to achieve that, as we are the guarantors of world peace.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying likewise said today that “global instability and uncertainty are increasing, while multilateralism and the role of the United Nations are facing clear challenges. China supports Russia’s initiative to hold a summit of the UN Security Council permanent members,” and offers to coordinate activities towards it.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today that Moscow will send messages to officials in the first half of next week “that will clarify the details” of the proposed summit.

Why hold it? “In order to talk about the critical mass of challenges in various areas, about the potential for conflicts at the regional and international level, so that the five countries assume responsibility in order to prevent that critical mass from growing further,” Peskov said. The five leaders should “put themselves above those disagreements, which exist between these countries, in order to begin to search for ways of easing tensions and address the challenges facing all of humanity now.”

To the question whether the summit should be held, if any of the five refused to participate, Peskov answered that the participation of all countries was essential “to pool efforts to find solutions to the problems facing us. We cannot solve them alone,” TASS reported.

Peskov further said that the five nations invited were the founding members of the United Nations, which remains “the only universal, although not entirely perfect, platform in terms of answers to the challenges facing humanity.”

Russian Ambassador Antonov Suggests Dates for Putin’s Proposed Summit of UN Security Council ‘Five’

Jan. 25 (EIRNS)—Russia’s Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov yesterday raised possible times for a summit of heads of state and government of the UN Security Council “Five” (United States, Russia, China, France, Britain,) that President Vladimir Putin proposed during his Jan. 15 address to the Federal Assembly and again in Jerusalem at the World Holocaust Forum  on Jan. 23. Antonov told TASS yesterday, “Of course, we will discuss when such a meeting could be organized—either ahead of the May NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] review conference, or ahead or during the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Organization [around the Sept. 21 UN General Assembly high-level meeting, ‘The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism’]. I think the implementation of this initiative would be very useful for international peace and security.”

This identification of timeframes for the summit is in line with Putin having said that Russia is ready for this, and will not delay in sending out invitations.

Iraq Invites Others To Join China in ‘Oil for Reconstruction’ Funding, as U.S. Shows Interest

Jan. 26 (EIRNS)—Mudhar Saleh, a senior financial adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, told Iraq’s Alforat satellite TV network that Iraq has invited the United States, Japan and South Korea to sign partnership agreements similar to the agreement with China, under which China will fund post-war reconstruction projects in exchange for oil supply, through a newly-created Iraqi-Chinese Reconstruction Fund.

“The U.S. has welcomed the idea and promised to respond to it,” Saleh reported, and Iraq is awaiting response from the two other countries. U.A.E.-based Zawya news service reported Saleh’s remarks on Jan. 19.

Such multiple arrangements could prove a seed-crystal of exactly the kind of international cooperation needed to “bring the tractors in, and get the soldiers out” to bring peace to Southwest Asia, as Lyndon LaRouche’s movement has proposed.

Zawya then reported the next day that Iraq is expecting to net some $1.75 billion in 2020 from the sale of 100,000 barrels per day of crude oil to China, under the oil-for-reconstruction arrangement, according to Saleh. Saleh said the Chinese funds will be included in the 2020 budget as part of allocations for post-war reconstruction projects, and reported that “Chinese companies have already been awarded two projects to rehabilitate a power thermal plant in Samara north of the capital Baghdad and complete giant oil storage tanks in the Southern Nasiriyah city, adding that only 25% of the tank project has been completed.”

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Freeing Africa from Locust Swarms Is All of Humanity’s Task

Jan. 26 (EIRNS)—The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is calling for immediate international action to help the nations of Eastern Africa destroy the worst outbreak of desert locusts in 25 years. “The current Desert Locust situation is extremely alarming and represents an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods in the Horn of Africa,” the FAO warned on Jan. 20.

Should massive aerial spraying against the swarms now spreading from Ethiopia and Somalia into Kenya not be carried out before March, when rains pick up, the swarms can increase by some 20-fold in just three months, as they feed on increased vegetation. Planes, spraying equipment, and pesticides are urgently needed. Kenya and Ethiopia, for example, only have four planes each for spraying their large territories, a Kenyan pest control specialist told Associated Press.

Also: “Important locust situations continue to develop along both sides of the Red Sea, in Oman and in southern Iran,” in addition to the signs of initial spread to other East African nations, such as Uganda and South Sudan, the FAO reported.

The FAO categorizes the desert locust as the most devastating of all locust species, because they form swarms that can fly up to 150 km a day. A very small swarm is capable of eating the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people!

The key is to act swiftly. The FAO advises that “if infestations are not detected and controlled, devastating plagues can develop that often take several years and hundreds of millions of dollars to bring under control with severe consequences on food security and livelihoods.”

Locust plagues are neither new, nor caused by “climate change,” as some Malthusians already claim. When the last catastrophic plague was building in the late 1980s, Lyndon LaRouche’s international movement identified the deliberately genocidal policies which create the conditions which foster locust devastations—both economic (IMF austerity) and environmentalist opposition to pesticide spraying—and campaigned for the development of such new technologies as electromagnetic pulsed waves to be deployed against the swarms. A review of the relevant reports on the locust threat from the late 1980s in LaRouche’s magazine, Executive Intelligence Review, is a recommended step towards mobilizing the needed international action now.

Macron Cabinet Approves the Unacceptable New Pension Measure, as Protests Continue

Jan. 25 (EIRNS)—Yesterday, the cabinet of French President Emmanuel Macron gave their approval to the vicious measure for restructuring pensions, which adds unacceptable burdens on workers and families. Mass protests have gone on against the wrongly named “pension reform” for weeks. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe presented the measure to the cabinet for action. Now the pension measure is to go before the National Assembly, where debates will begin Feb. 17. Labor union leaders have vowed continued opposition. A meeting has been announced between government authorities and labor for Jan. 30, if it comes off.

Today, Helga Zepp-LaRouche described the proposal as a privatization of pensions, in which workers end up as employees of private insurers, not public authorities, and must work harder and longer for less.

Yesterday there were thousands of demonstrators in the streets for the seventh day of nationwide protests. There was a march in Paris, and the Eiffel Tower was among the closed landmarks, although the Metro and other transportation services were running. In the evening on Jan. 23, there were torch-lit protests in Paris, ahead of the “Black Friday” cabinet action, and planned counter-strikes and closures. Friday, Jan. 24 marked the 51st day of the strike, the longest in 40 years.

German Farmers Fed Up with Do-Nothing Politicians

Jan. 25 (EIRNS)—In what has been observed in Germany recently, where leading politicians attend public events, protesting farmers also made themselves known at the Hesse state CDU New Year’s session in Künzell, near Fulda: Some 150 farmers, with about 100 tractors, came to raise their voice against excessive EU regulations against the use of fertilizers and weed killers. Hesse State Minister President Volker Bouffier and other top Christian Democrats assured the farmers they shared their concerns, but begged off that they were unable to change policy in Brussels—and offered more discussions with the farmers in the near future.

Farmers welcomed their sentiment, but warned “I hope that actions finally follow the words. If not, we will be back,” Peter Kömpel, a leading activist with the agriculture protest group “Land Schafft Verbindung” who also led the tractorcade in Künzell, told the media.

Farmers there and at other protest events have pointed out that politicians always support EU regulations, but remain inactive when it comes to launching real investments for agriculture. “The rural areas aren’t offered any money, it’s really bad,” media quoted a farmer from Thuringia to the Green Week agricultural fair in Berlin. “And then they destroy it with wind farms. Germany can be glad it doesn’t have French farmers. They have very different kinds of protests.” (They bring their cows, and their cows bring manure.)

Farmers also criticize the mainstream media which inaccurately report about the protests, and talking about “hundreds” involved in protest actions that draw several thousand farmers.

Brexit Is a Done Deal

Jan. 24 (EIRNS)—EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel today signed the formal separation of the United Kingdom from the European Union, after it was approved by Britain’s Parliament on Jan. 22. The House of Lords had added amendments which the Commons rejected, after which the Lords then voted approval without the amendments. This means that Brexit will officially take place on Jan. 31, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson had promised.

One more formal vote will be held in the Parliament on Jan. 29, and a final approval in the EU Council on Jan. 30, then—Brexit takes place on the 31st.

Now begins the actual work to figure out the U.K.’s trade relations with the EU and with the rest of the world, and, of course, how the City of London will deal with the new circumstances. Johnson has indicated that a trade agreement with Japan may be the first, and set a pattern. U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated he’s anxious to work out a deal with London right away.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Trump Defense in Senate Launches Strongly

Jan. 26 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump’s lawyers took only two of the four hours allowed on Jan. 25 to open his defense against the House Democrats threadbare impeachment case, presenting a concise, devastating summary of the case which even media hyenas had to admit was to very strong effect.

The defense centered on the facts —“read the transcript!”— and the Democrats’ lack of facts. That President Trump never threatened the Ukrainian President; how the Ukrainians didn’t even know aid had been delayed until a month after the call; a replay of the admission, under oath, by the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland that he had no evidence of the alleged quid pro quo “other than my presumption.”

Lead counsel Pat Cipollone went after the intent to rig the 2020 elections, by removing President Trump from the ballot nine months before the election.  “For all their talk about election interference,” he said of the Democrat impeachers, “they’re here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history…. They are asking you to do something very, very consequential and, I would submit to you … very, very dangerous…. It would violate our Constitution.”

The presentation (momentarily) threw off the hounds of ABC, NBC, MSNBC, et al., who admitted on air that the defense had presented “a good case,” “facts,” etc. CNN’s legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin spoke of various points where the defense was “persuasive,” or made “a very legitimate” point about the unfairness of the House managers. “I just think, you know, the Republicans are winning here, the President is winning here,” he said in various ways, several times.

Fox’s Jesse Watters pointed out in his tight 10-minute summary of the case and Trump’s position over Day Four of the impeachment trial (which Trump pinned at the top of his Twitter), that polls show 51% of the American people still oppose impeachment after the House Democrats presented their “case.”

FISA Court Rules FBI Submitted False Affidavits for Surveillance of Trump’s Campaign Aide

Jan. 24 (EIRNS)—The Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) admitted yesterday that the FBI submitted false information to obtain warrants for surveillance of Trump campaign aide Carter Page, making them invalid.

This is overwhelmingly due to the honest work of the office of Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Michael Horowitz. The court’s order reads: “Thanks in large part to the work of the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice, the Court has received notice of material misstatements and omissions in the applications filed by the government in the above-captioned dockets.” The FISA court writes: “DOJ assesses that with respect to the applications in Docket Numbers 17-375 and 17-679, ‘if not earlier, there was insufficient predication to establish probable cause to believe that [Carter] Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power.’ ”

During the more than eight months the FBI was illegally surveilling Page, with illegally obtained warrants, Page was working as an informant for the CIA. He was not working for the Russians, as the FBI and the media had repeatedly stated.

IG Horowitz stated in his report released at on Dec. 9, 2019, that the FBI failed to meet “basic obligations,” in applying for warrants, and attorneys, led by then Director James Comey and then Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, also made nearly two dozen egregious “mistakes” in the process. The abuses have, Townhall reports, caused some Senators to consider shutting the FISA Court down. The report also accused an FBI lawyer, now under criminal investigation, of doctoring a document used to buttress the case for a warrant to put Page under surveillance.

FBI Director Christopher Wray’s public response described over 40 steps that the FBI was taking to address the Horowitz recommendations, in particular making getting FISA warrants “more stringent.”

Trump Asks West Virginia Governor To Help Sell Coal to China

Jan. 25 (EIRNS)—West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) said last week that he received a phone call from President Donald Trump about selling more coal to China, on the same day that Trump signed the new China-U.S. Phase One trade deal, Jan. 15. Justice described the call at a Jan. 16 press conference he gave in the state’s Secretary of State’s office, where Justice formally filed the papers for Trump to be on the state ballot for President, and for himself as governor.

One week earlier, more motion in the state for economic development, and stoking investment and trade relations with China, came from the introduction of a bill (House 4001) into the House of Delegates this month, by Speaker Roger Hanshaw and 10 fellow lawmakers. Its text calls for “creating West Virginia Impact Fund, Investment Committee and Mountaineer Impact Office to invest funds in certain projects with the goal of furthering economic development, infrastructure development and job creation” in the state.

Hanshaw said the first week of January, that he would make this bill a priority, and discussed China’s involvement. He said that he went to China in Spring 2019 and, “One of the first things we learned on that trip to China was the reason we haven’t seen the kind of $84 billion investment that was promised in West Virginia [November 2017] was that there is uncertainty among the potential investors about how safe their investment would be here. They were hungry for a vehicle that would make their investment in West Virginia safe.” He said that he has been working with experts ever since his trip, to design such a vehicle and push it through. Hanshaw himself is a PhD chemist, and knowledgeable on industry and energy.

Governor Justice endorsed Hanshaw’s initiative in his annual state of the state address Jan. 8.

Speaking on Jan. 16, Justice said that Trump told him on their call, “The Chinese are going to buy a tremendous amount of coal from us, and I want you to head it up and I want you to work directly with them.” Justice said, “In all honesty, it’s probably the brightest point for our West Virginia coal miners that’s happened forever.”

Justice also spoke on Talkline on West Virginia’s MetroNews podcast, saying that details of the trade deal are sketchy, but “The net of the whole thing is, they have the need and the desire to buy an incredible amount of coal and it could put lots and lots of our miners to work. I’m going to try to get all of the West Virginia mining companies involved and see if we can put this together. This could be an incredible breakthrough as far as our metallurgical producers and on and on.”

According to Platts energy reporting, in the energy section of Phase One, the value of Chinese purchases of a combination of liquefied natural gas, crude oil, refined products and coal (including metallurgical coal) should be in the range of $18.5 billion in 2020, and $33.9 billion in 2021. Platt’s reports that U.S. metallurgical coal to China is subject to a 3% import tax, and a 25% tariff—which was imposed in 2018, during the two-nation tariff escalation. Very little of this coal is exported to China from the U.S. at present.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

‘Million Man March’ in Iraq To Get Foreign Troops Out

Jan. 24 (EIRNS)—Moqtada al-Sadr, who runs the Iraqi government faction with the most seats in the Parliament, sponsored a “Million Man March” in Baghdad today demanding that the U.S. and all other foreign forces leave the country. The photographs of the demonstration indicate that even more than a million people came out into the streets. The stage in the central square in Baghdad had a slogan in large letters, in Arabic and English, “Get Out America.”

The statement issued by al-Sadr called for all foreign troops (not just U.S.) to get out, for the U.S. bases to be closed, and Iraqi airspace to be closed to U.S. war planes.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Xi Jinping Exhorts ‘Steadfast Confidence’ in Fighting Coronavirus, as Trump Praises China’s Action

Jan. 25 (EIRNS)—On Jan. 24, President Donald Trump tweeted a support message of China’s efforts against the coronavirus outbreak. “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”

Today President Xi Jinping met with members of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party, exhorting them to continue their maximum efforts. “As long as we have steadfast confidence, work together, scientific prevention and cures, and precise policies, we will definitely be able to win the battle.” He has ordered leading officials to stay at their posts over the New Year holiday period, which began Jan. 25. He said, “that the whole party, the whole army, and the people of all ethnic groups are standing with you, and they are your strong backing. Life is more important than Mount Tai. An epidemic is an order, and prevention and control is a responsibility. Party committees and governments at all levels must fully mobilize, comprehensively deploy and strengthen work in accordance with the decision-making arrangements of the Party Central Committee, prioritize the lives and health of the people, and treat epidemic prevention and control as the most important task at present.”

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