Volume 4, Number 120

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

• As Spring Turns into Summer
• Breitbart Catalogues Celebrities Liberally Urging Violence against Trump
• Pat Buchanan: Trump Should Wage War on the ‘Deep State’
• Public-Private Partnerships Don’t Work, but China’s Policy Does
• Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Membership Expands to 80 Nations
• Panama Can Be a Bridge for Chinese Investment Entry into Latin America
• Vladimir Putin Says the Arctic Is Critically Important for Russia
• Journal of Commerce Editor Reiterates ‘It’s Times for U.S. To Engage China’s Belt and Road’
• U.S. Bank Loan Write-Offs Starting To Hit Danger Zone
• In Addition to Terrorism, Residents Now Fear London Could Become Green Pompeii
• Senate Anti-Russia Sanctions: Putin Unconcerned, Merkel Furious
• Saudi Attack on Qatar Could Undermine Syria Peace Efforts, Warns Russian Expert
• Building of Turkey’s First Nuclear Power Plant Begins in 2018
• Deregulation Causing More Than Half of U.S. Nuclear Plants To Lose Money

EDITORIAL

As Spring Turns into Summer

June 18 (EIRNS)—Future generations will look back on these days in the middle of 2017 as a key branching-point in all of human history to date.  The core facts which are still basically unknown to most Americans today, will be well-known to them.  The way that Lyndon and Helga LaRouche had prepared for decades, despite intense persecution, for a New Paradigm for world civilization through which man would finally become fully human, linked to a vast program for a World Land-Bridge, and for fusion power development and the relaunching of space exploration as a world space program.

That this LaRouche World Land-Bridge program was officially adopted as Chinese state policy in 2013, and was joined by over 100 nations representing most of humanity within four years. That thanks to this program, hope began to be restored to Africa after decades of despair.  The way had been opened to ending the British Empire and the age-old imperial system which had crippled men’s minds since at least the beginning of written history.

That it was within this context, even though they were kept in ignorance of it, that American voters rejected the Presidential candidate of the British Empire, Hillary Clinton, and elected the one who promised friendship with Russia and China, the end of foreign aggressive wars, and the restoration of Franklin Roosevelt’s Glass-Steagall law—Donald Trump.

The United States was moving to join the New Paradigm.

The British Empire fought bitterly to rid themselves of President Trump through an FBI coup, or any other means they could devise. Most Americans tended to support their elected President, and showed not only support, but enthusiasm, when they were approached with confidence.  But to act on this effectively, they needed an effective grasp of the world process and the LaRouches’ mission, which had been denied them.

And there it rests for the moment.  As a poet said, “the final chapter has not yet been written.”

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Breitbart Catalogues Celebrities Liberally Urging Violence against Trump

June 16 (EIRNS)—On June 14, Breitbart News ran a chilling story listing “15 Times Celebrities Envisioned Violence against Trump and the GOP,” with large photos and quotes. Although Breitbart doesn’t present it this way, this pattern is in fact part of a classical British operation to prepare the environment for an actual hit against the President, as the British have done repeatedly throughout American history when they saw British policies threatened by the occupant of the White House.

Breitbart begins with “comedienne” Kathy Griffin’s now famous “Trump beheaded” photograph; includes New York City’s “Shakespeare in the Park’s nightly ‘assassination’ of Julius Caesar dressed as Trump.” “Unfortunately,” writes Breitbart, “Griffin and the director of Julius Caesar are not anomalies, but part of an escalating pattern over the past 18 months.”

On June 12, U.S. House Republican Whip Rep. Steve Scalise was shot at a GOP Congressional baseball practice, and remained in critical condition after multiple surgeries through Saturday. The connection between this event and the pattern of overt incitement to violence against Trump and his supporters has been noted.

They include the actress Kathy Griffin, photographed holding a fake bloodied, decapitated head of the President, reminiscent of the ISIS propaganda pose; Madonna, whose photo is captioned, “I’ve thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House… but I know that this won’t change anything.” Rapper Snoop Dogg “shoots” Trump in the head in a music video, saying “nobody’s dealing with the real issue.”

Actor Robert De Niro, after participating in a voter registration public service ad in October 2016 during the Presidential race, was filmed in an outtake saying of Trump: “He’s a punk, he’s a dog, he’s a pig, he’s a con, he’s a bullshit artist…. I’d like to punch him in the face.”

Joss Whedon, director of “The Avengers” TV show, who released a star-studded PSA for Rodham Clinton in the 2016 race, tweeted shortly after the Nov. 8 election that Trump “cannot be allowed a term in office” (emphasis in original), Breitbart reports.

David Simon, director of the HBO series “The Wire” tweeted: “If Donald Trump fires Robert Mueller and is allowed to do so, pick up a goddamn brick. That’s all that’s left to you.”  Mickey Rourke, actor in “The Wrestler,” told TMZ in April 2016, “I’ll meet him in a hotel room and give him, depending on interpretation, either a baseball bat or an obscenity.” Actress Lea DeLaria said just after the November 2016 election, she wanted to “pick up a baseball bat and take out every f*cking republican and independent I see,” with the hashtags, “#f*cktrump, #f*cktheGOP, #f*ckstraightwhiteamerica” and “#f*ckyourprivilege.”

Rappers YG and Nipsy Hussle released a rap during 2016 titled “F*ck Donald Trump,” including the threat “Surprised El Chapo ain’t tried to snipe you…” Marilyn Manson, in a music video released around Election Day, stands over the lifeless body of a man resembling Trump while ripping Bible pages. Rapper Everlast warns in an interview: “watch out, Donald Trump, because I will punch you in your f*cking face if I ever meet you. Secret Service had better just f*cking be on it,” reported Breitbart.

Pat Buchanan: Trump Should Wage War on the ‘Deep State’

June 17 (EIRNS)—In a June 13 column published in the New Hampshire Union Leader and other locations, well known columnist Pat Buchanan warned that President Trump’s administration is “shot through with disloyalists determined to bring him down” and prevent him from realizing the policies that Americans voted for. “We are approaching something of a civil war where the capital city seeks the overthrow of the sovereign and its own restoration,” Buchanan writes. “Thus far, it is a nonviolent struggle, though street clashes between pro- and anti-Trump forces are increasingly marked by fistfights and brawls.”

Buchanan recounts the deception of fired FBI Director James Comey that resulted in the appointment of his predecessor Robert Mueller as independent counsel, and the freakout among Obama loyalists about Trump’s opening up to Russia. Buchanan also attacks the mass media as witting collaborators with the so-called “deep state” in the effort to bring down Trump.

What Trump needs to understand, Buchanan goes on, “is that this is not going to end, that this is a fight to the finish, that his enemies will not relent until they see him impeached or resigning in disgrace.”

To prevail, Buchanan advises, “Trump will have to campaign across this country and wage guerrilla war in this capital, using the legal and political weapons at his disposal to ferret out the enemies within his own government. Not only is this battle essential, if Trump hopes to realize his agenda, it is winnable. For the people sense that the Beltway elites are cynically engaged in preserving their own privileges, positions and power…. If the President cannot rewrite Obamacare or achieve tax reform, he should not go around the country in 2018 wailing about Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer. They are not the real adversaries. They are but interchangeable parts,” Buchanan concludes. “He should campaign against the real enemies of America First by promising to purge the deep state and flog its media collaborators.”

NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER

Public-Private Partnerships Don’t Work, but China’s Policy Does

June 17 (EIRNS)—A New York Times article today falsely presumes to know what President Trump’s infrastructure plan is, but very usefully contrasts nations which have focused on public-private partnerships (PPPs), with China.

The article is headlined, “World Offers Cautionary Tale for Trump’s Infrastructure Plan.” The meat of it is reported at the outset:

“In India, politically connected firms have captured contracts on the strength of relationships with officialdom, yielding defective engineering at bloated prices. When Britain handed control to private companies to upgrade London’s subway system more than a decade ago, the result was substandard, budget-busting work, prompting the government to step back in. Canada has suffered a string of excessive costs on public projects funneled through the private sector, like a landmark bridge in Vancouver and hospitals in Ontario.

“By contrast, China has engineered one of the most effective economic transformations in modern history in part through relentless investment in infrastructure, traditionally financed and overseen by an unabashedly powerful state.”

The authors report that China has invested an average of 8.6% of its GDP into new infrastructure projects for 25 years, 1992-2016. This has worked, with rapid and efficient development of projects and high productivity; and large amounts of private investment in industrial development—both from within and outside China—has followed.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Membership Expands to 80 Nations

June 16 (EIRNS)—At the second annual meeting of the board of governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) being held in South Korea, the bank officially announced that they had accepted three prospective new members—Argentina, Madagascar and Tonga—bringing total approved membership to 80. The three countries now must only complete the required domestic processes and deposit the first installment of capital with the Bank. At the same time, the AIIB announced that Hungary had finalized these steps and is now a full member. Hungary is the second country to join the AIIB from among the 16 Central and Eastern European region.

AIIB President Jin Liqun stated: “Asia is at a critical juncture. Its role on the world stage is increasing, thanks in large part to its growing economy, demographic changes, technological innovations, and more importantly , enhancements in corporate and state governance.”

Panama Can Be a Bridge for Chinese Investment Entry into Latin America

June 16 (EIRNS)—Members of “Asia Viewers,” an Argentine organization that focuses on China and Asia, told Xinhua in an interview today that Panama’s recent establishment of diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China is of the utmost importance. It means, they said, that Panama can now serve as a bridge for the entry of Asian, “especially Chinese,” investments into Latin America.

As an example, they mention that the private Chinese company Landbridge Group, in early June began building the Panama Colon Container Port, one with natural gas installations north of Colon on the island of Margarita. The website of Landbridge Group stresses that it is a company that “firmly believes in win-win cooperation.”

Asia Viewers’ representatives stressed that Panama is strategically located geographically, and is the main commercial route used to connect the East Asian and Pacific region to Central America and the U.S. It would be a mistake, they stress, to see foreign relations as some kind of zero-sum game, which only creates conflict, instead of promoting dialogue and cooperation “in search of common solutions.”

Vladimir Putin Says the Arctic Is Critically Important for Russia

June 18 (EIRNS)—During his four-hour annual Q&A appearance on Russian TV on June 15, when asked why Russia is so focused on the Arctic, President Vladimir Putin replied: “By 2050 about 30% of all hydrocarbons will be produced in the Arctic area. Some of our major projects are already being implemented there, with Novatek building a plant, a company town, an airfield, and a port in the Arctic Zone…. Therefore, from an economic point of view, this is critically important…. On top of everything, from the point of view of strategic weapons, the flight route of the ground-based missiles located in the United States passes precisely over the North Pole…. This is what the Arctic means to us.”

Putin explained how the melting of the Arctic icebergs is further opening up the Northern Route between Europe and Asia, and mentioned the world’s largest icebreakers that Russia is building, which will facilitate it.

Today, Sputnik reported that experts from  Rosneft, while drilling a prospecting well on the shelf of Khatanga Bay in  the Arctic Laptev Sea, found the core is saturated with oil. Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergei Donskoi said today that these oil fields could be the biggest on the shelf.

In addition, Russia has now decided to build four artificial islands in the Barents Sea. According to a decree signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on June 17, Sputnik reported, these Barents land strips will be used to manufacture large-capacity maritime facilities.  “This is part of a project to explore new gas fields in Yamal, run by energy company Novatek. The manufacturing center, once built, will manufacture maritime equipment for the liquefied natural gas producing industry, including storage, shipping, and maintenance facilities. The construction of the center will create nearly 10,000 jobs, increase tax revenues, attract additional investments to the region and develop new hi-tech industries,” Sputnik reported.

Journal of Commerce Editor Reiterates ‘It’s Times for U.S. To Engage China’s Belt and Road’

June 18 (EIRNS)—Last week’s article by the Transportation Department senior international advisor Tony Padilla, published in the prestigious Journal of Commerce on June 9, calling U.S. involvement in the Belt and Road of “strategic importance,” was echoed by a June 17 article by the JOC Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi, with the above headline, who argued the case, and quoted extensively from Padilla’s article (see June 14 EIR Daily Alert).

While somewhat sharing the paranoia that China will control all the world’s ports, Szakonyi also draws the same conclusion as Padilla: The U.S. should begin to work with the Belt and Road in order to have a say in its development: “It’s unclear if China will use its industrial policy to promote its domestic champions, whether shippers or transportation providers, at the expense of non-Chinese peers. A World Economic Forum report noted in February that countries that control ports and global transport routes can engage in economic coercion by determining which carriers can call and how efficiently. U.S. engagement with the Belt and Road program could ensure that Chinese-run marine terminals are agnostic to the nationality of their users,” Szakonyi writes.

“Because business norms in countries in which Belt and Road investments are made are influenced by state-run policies, Padilla recommends that the United States engage in top-down and bottom-down diplomacy. Such a campaign requires [says Padilla] ‘a robust, private and Cabinet-level drive that pursues meaningful and long-lasting relationships with (Belt and Road) governments and local industry,’ while engaging transportation, maritime, and commerce ministers, provincial leaders, port authorities, and terminal operators. At the same time private sector leaders should also be engaging those leaders.” Szakonyi ends his article with Padilla’s primary conclusion: “If coordinated well, such as the Chinese do, opportunities will exist where both parties can meet in the middle to engage in win-win arrangements that ultimately benefit the U.S. economy.”

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

U.S. Bank Loan Write-Offs Starting To Hit Danger Zone

June 17 (EIRNS)—A May 18 posting on the Independent Institute blog by senior fellow Alvaro Vargas Llosa, and its Center for Global Prosperity, is titled “Another Bubble in the Making?” It notes a fact previously only covered through rose-colored glasses in American Banker. “Capital One, a big lender to subprime borrowers (particularly through credit cards and auto loans), has had to write off a lot of debt lately—for a total of more than 5% of its outstanding loans, the level usually considered the threshold of very dangerous territory.”

Capital One has $237 billion in deposits and $357 billion in assets. Vargas Llosa suggests it is not the only one. “These symptoms point to risks not dissimilar in nature to what was happening before the housing-related financial meltdown. Banks are beginning to reduce outstanding corporate lending for the first time since that crisis—total loans at the 15 largest U.S. regional banks in the first quarter of 2017 were $10 billion below the previous quarter, a very significant reversing of the trend.

“Standard & Poor’s downgraded 1,088 companies in the United States last year, and analysts are predicting a wave of junk-debt defaults, perhaps encompassing one in every four high-yield debt issuing companies.”

That could be one-fourth of $1.6 trillion in high-yield debt defaulting. High-yield is part of the $14 trillion U.S. corporate debt bubble which has ballooned by $7 trillion, or doubled, just since 2010. Besides this, Vargas Llosa ticks off credit card debt, over $1 trillion and with even greater signs of distress now; auto loans at an unprecedented $1.2 trillion (with another $350 billion in securities based on them); and student debt at $1.4 trillion. He concludes, “One can never tell exactly when a bubble will burst or which corner of the financial system will be the epicenter of the earthquake. But … the main culprit will be the irresponsible policies that were supposed to prevent future bubbles, and that created the perfect storm of moral hazard, easy money, and cheap credit once again.”

In Addition to Terrorism, Residents Now Fear London Could Become Green Pompeii

June 17 (EIRNS)—Decades of tolerating and/or supporting jihadists throughout the mosques of “Londonistan” to attack other countries is now backfiring, with three major terrorist attacks in three months in the United Kingdom.

Now another longstanding policy threatens to boomerang against the British Empire’s home subjects: Many hundreds of residential towers may become infernos like the 24-story Grenfell Tower, due to highly inflammable insulation materials that was widely used because it had “thermal efficiency” and “sustainability,” and cheap—i.e., for “Green” reasons.

How else to explain the shocking report of the Times of London today, that just the past three years have seen over 500 buildings—in the public sector alone—recladded with the very material design that spread the Grenfell Tower block fire, in the early hours June 14. And this, despite national building regulations having been changed in 2010 to discourage such polyethylene, three-layer cladding.

“Analysis by Tussell, a database of U.K. procurement, found that public contracts worth £553 million for cladding projects were awarded between March 2014 and this month,” the Times said. “Gus Tugendhat of Tussell said: ‘This gives a sense of how common its use is in the public sector alone. Over the last three years, 75 contracting authorities across the wider public sector have awarded 558 contracts mentioning cladding with an aggregate value of £553 million to 234 different suppliers.’ ”

The Times does not breathe a suggestion that the reasons for this boom in recladding activity are Green policies. But companies selling three-layer polyethylene cladding promote on their websites that it improves the “thermal insulation and energy-efficiency” or “the sustainability” of buildings—the last a buzzword for CO2 reduction policies in Europe.

The Times notes more than half a dozen countries in Europe have recently banned this cladding. But not among them are France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece or any of the Nordic countries, and in the U.K. they have been the rage.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan is quoted: “People are terrified.” In an ITV-4 interview, the May government’s Communities Secretary Sajid Javid spoke of relocating people fast, and perhaps in large numbers.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Senate Anti-Russia Sanctions: Putin Unconcerned, Merkel Furious

June 17 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the wake of the U.S. Senate’s 98-2 vote June 15 on sanctions against Russia, vowed, during a TV news interview today, reported TASS that Russia will not be pushed into a deadlock in its relations with Washington. “It is important to note that no matter what is going on—certainly, probably, let’s look what will be the result in the final end. But no matter what and which decisions are taken overseas, this won’t push us into deadlock,” Putin stressed. “We will probably have to correct something, and take additional measures, pay extra attention to something, but this (toughening of sanctions) won’t lead to a deadlock or any collapse,” he said. “But this will certainly complicate Russian-U.S. relations,” he warned. “I believe this is harmful,” Putin said. “But it is early now to speak about any retaliatory steps (towards strengthening of sanctions) but let’s look at the outcome.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on the other hand, is furious about the bill. Her spokesman Steffen Seibert said it is “peculiar” that sanctions aimed at punishing Russia could also lead to penalties against European companies. “This must not happen,” he said. “We generally reject sanctions with extraterritorial effects, meaning an impact on third countries.” Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries told Reuters that  “We’ll have to consider what we are going to do against it,” if the bill becomes law.

Section 257 of the bill, on U.S. policy on Ukrainian energy security, targets the supply of Russian gas to Europe, including the proposed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is planned to run the length of the Baltic Sea, from St. Petersburg, Russia to Greifswald, Germany. The bill makes opposition to Nord Stream 2 U.S. policy because of its alleged “detrimental impacts on the European Union’s energy security, gas market development in Central and Eastern Europe, and energy reforms in Ukraine.” European critics of the bill, however, are really jumping on the clause that: “The United States Government should prioritize the export of United States energy resources in order to create American jobs, help United States allies and partners, and strengthen U.S. foreign policy.”

Saudi Attack on Qatar Could Undermine Syria Peace Efforts, Warns Russian Expert

June 17 (EIRNS)—Alexander Aksenenok, an expert at the Russian International Affairs Council, in a presentation at the Valdai Discussion Club, argued that the Saudis are taking advantage of the United States in their attack on Qatar, and that this does not serve U.S. interests. “It is a result of the fact that the U.S. presidential administration is still undecided on what its policy in the Middle East should be. Currently, they’re learning by trial and error,” Aksenenok was quoted saying by Sputnik. “There is a danger. If Trump continues his anti-Iranian policy this may have very dangerous consequences and have a negative effect on the Syrian settlement, including the efforts by Russia, Turkey and Iran on military de-escalation.”

Further, Aksenenok said: “It is very important to engage the United States and Saudi Arabia in those efforts, because the current guarantors of the Syrian settlement [Russia, Iran and Turkey] may need help in the long-term.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in what sounds like an echo of the last part of Aksenenok’s remarks, called on the United States and Saudi Arabia to join the Astana peace process for Syria, in which Russia, Turkey, and Iran are the guarantors; Erdogan’s remarks were first reported yesterday by the official Anadolu News Agency. “We have been cooperating with Russia and Iran in the Astana negotiating process; we call on Saudi Arabia and the United States to join the talks,” Erdogan said. He also emphasized that “it is impossible to resolve the crises in Syria and Iraq without Iran’s mediation.”

SCIENCE & INFRASTRUCTURE

Building of Turkey’s First Nuclear Power Plant Begins in 2018

June 16 (EIRNS)—TASS reports that Rosatom will be building the Akkuyu nuclear power station in Turkey in 2018. The $20 billion NPP includes building four power units with VVER-1200 reactors and a total capacity of 4,800 MW and will meet 6-7% of Turkey’s electricity demand.

The project is carried out by Akkuyu Nuclear Co., a subsidiary of Rosatom Energy International, which was granted a 49-year electricity generation license from the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) on June 15. “After carefully reviewing the bid, the EPDK managing council decided to give the green light to the bid and issued a power generation license to Akkuyu Nuclear Co., valid until June 15, 2066,” Rosatom said in a statement. “In line with the intergovernmental agreement, the first unit is to be put on stream no later than seven years after the Turkish side issues all required permissions,” Rosatom said.

Deregulation Causing More Than Half of U.S. Nuclear Plants To Lose Money

June 17 (EIRNS)—Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has analyzed the financial state of the utilities that operate U.S. nuclear power plants, and found that more than half are incurring losses to the tune of about $2.9 billion a year. These losses result from the fact that in deregulated states, where the “market” sets the price, nuclear utilities have had to sell power at a lower and lower price, thanks to “competition” from subsidized renewables and “cheap” natural gas. Nuclear plant operators are getting paid $20-30/megawatt-hour for their electricity, while it costs them about $35/MWh to run the plants. A price of some $30-35 is the stable historic range for electric generation. The study shows that 34 of the nation’s 61 nuclear plants (a plant often has multiple reactors) are running below breakeven cost, including just about all of the “merchant” nuclear plants in deregulated states. The nuclear utilities most at risk are Dynegy, FirstEnergy, Entergy, and Exelon.

Then there is solar-power poster child, California, which ditched nuclear power years ago, and has only the Diablo Canyon set of two reactors in operation. Utility and regulatory analysts are warning that unreliable and intermittent solar and wind energy could cause brownouts, if not outright blackouts. From an overproduction of power from solar during sunny days, to virtually none after sundown, instability in the grid is in the state’s future.

Now that the Paris COP21 climate deal is dead, removing the fig leaf of promoting “renewables’ to “protect the environment,” it’s time to reverse deregulation, and enact federal policies based on electric power as a public good, as Franklin Roosevelt saw it, and not as a “commodity,” to be sold in a marketplace. There will be no infrastructure-building revival in the United States without a robust and technologically advancing electric utility industry, anchored in the near-term on nuclear power.