EDITORIAL
A Pregnant Moment
Sept. 4 (EIRNS)—The agreements which are now being reached at the Sept. 3-5 BRICS summit in Xiamen, China, which are tied into the immediately subsequent Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, in Russia’s Far East, will do much to shape the future history of humanity for the remainder of this century. The BRICS itself, as China’s host President Xi Jinping pointed out there, is a totally new feature of world politics—it is not an alliance, but a partnership, in behalf of the mutual interests of the partners as well as the non-partners. And although its members are all developing countries, it is now responsible for 60% of all the growth in the world economy by official measures—and much more by true scientific measures. The BRICS, like the Belt and Road Initiative with which it is intimately linked—as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization—exemplifies the New Paradigm for which Lyndon and Helga LaRouche have been the intellectual pioneers for decades. Geopolitics has totally failed. The BRICS is the wave of the future. How unfortunate that Americans and Western Europeans are not allowed to hear anything about this! If only Americans were allowed to read about this, and learn about it, then the strong tendency towards remoralization and unification of the nation which is breaking loose on the heels of the Hurricane Harvey disaster, would be even much stronger.
It is by no coincidence that another dangerous Korea crisis intrudes at exactly this moment of hope signalled by the BRICS summit and these moment-to-moment changes in the U.S. Look at its location—on the borders of China, and of Russia, and of the U.S. treaty-partner South Korea, and right next to Japan. Will we allow this potential to be blown up?—perhaps with a lot else? In discussion of this latest Korea crisis today, Lyndon LaRouche said that it was the direct result of the destruction, “by outside forces,” of the successful war-avoidance policy, through development, which he had put in place in the 1990s.
In discussion today, LaRouche PAC Policy Committee member Diane Sare pointed to the suddenly sensed potential in the U.S., for the Congress, the President and the American people to come together urgently in behalf of the real needs of this country, as expressed in Lyndon LaRouche’s Four Laws of June 2014, and in the U.S. joining in the great world mission for the advancement of humanity now being led by China and Russia.
We are approaching the historic moment of fundamental change for which we have been preparing so long.
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Sabotage of LaRouche’s Policy at the Turn of the Century Has Made Korea a Possible Spark for Nuclear War
Sept. 4 (EIRNS)—As the world watches with trepidation the North Korean powerful nuclear weapon test, and threats of war from the U.S., Lyndon LaRouche reminded the world that it was the sabotage of his “peace through development” policy, first by George Bush and Dick Cheney, and then by Obama, which caused the current crisis. The “Agreed Framework” of 1994 under Bill Clinton was working to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, with IAEA inspectors on the ground, in exchange for economic cooperation, when Bush and Cheney scrapped it in favor of military threats and confrontation. Again in 2002, when South Korean President Kim Dae-jung proceeded, with backing for his “Sunshine Policy” from Russia and China, to reopen economic cooperation with the North, Bush, and then Obama rejected cooperation, while blaming North Korea for “cheating.”
The fact is, the British and their neocon cohorts in the United States do not want a solution, since the crisis in Korea justifies their effort to target China, economically and militarily. Indeed, that is made clear today by the response from Washington to the perceived threat from Pyongyang.
The incompetent U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told today’s emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is “begging for war,” saying that the United States is preparing a draft resolution to be voted on next week in which “The United States will look at every country that does business with North Korea as a country that is giving aid to their reckless and dangerous nuclear intentions”—i.e., the target is China, as well as Russia. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the Wall Street asset within the Trump Administration, told Fox News on Sunday that he was working on sanctions such that “Anybody that wants to do trade or business with [North Korea] would be prevented from doing trade or business with us.” Presumably he’s talking about locking certain Chinese banks and companies out of the U.S. financial system—which is crazy.
This makes it clear that the target is also Trump himself; namely, his efforts to build a working friendship between the United States and both China and Russia, which is the cause of the ongoing “color-revolution” against him by traitors in both parties.
Trump himself tweeted that China is “trying to help but with little success,” and accused South Korea of “appeasement” for wanting to engage the North in any way. Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis issued a statement saying: “Any threat to the United States, or its territories—including Guam or our allies—will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming.”
On the other hand, South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s office issued a statement saying: “Korea is a country that experienced a fratricidal war. The destruction of war should not be repeated in this land.” Moon has stated clearly that President Trump has assured him that there will be no military action against the North without Seoul’s approval. Nonetheless, the Moon government is speeding up the deployment of THAAD missiles in his country (despite strong opposition from China and Russia) and is discussing with Washington the deployment of U.S. strategic military assets in South Korea, including a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and strategic bombers.
Both China and Russia strongly condemned the North Korean nuclear test, but made clear that Washington’s refusal to talk to Pyongyang or to curtail its military exercises threatening the North are equally responsible for the crisis. “My personal opinion is that there would have been no conflict at all if the United States stopped maintaining the conflict,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy for the Far East Yury Trutnev told TASS. “Every time North and South Korea seem to be about coming to terms and tensions start to ease, some naval drills immediately begin, even stipulating a training plan aimed at seizing Pyongyang, which is a direct provocation,” Trutnev said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters Monday that North Korea must be very clear that UN Security Council resolutions prohibit such activities. But Geng also took exception to the threats against China. He said that China regarded as “unacceptable a situation in which on the one hand we work to resolve this issue peacefully, but on the other hand our own interests are subject to sanctions and jeopardized. This is neither objective nor fair.”
China Daily editorialized: “There is no doubt that D.P.R.K.’s action … is a gross violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and has raised serious concerns in the region and worldwide. But Trump is not helping the situation with tweets blasting D.P.R.K. and criticizing South Korea and China.” The editorial goes on to argue that “the fundamental failure of Trump’s strategy is that it pins too much hope on tightening sanctions, a strategy that has proved a failure for decades.” The editorial further argues that, “If Trump is right in saying China ‘is trying to help but with little success,’ it is because the United States has not heeded China’s advice, such as resuming the Six-Party Talks and direct contacts between the United States and the D.P.R.K. and accepting ‘dual suspension,’ in which the United States and South Korea halt their military drills and the D.P.R.K. suspends its nuclear tests.”
Putin, Xi Jinping, Abe, Moon, and others will be meeting each other this week, some at the ongoing BRICS meeting in Xiamen, and then at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, where Korea will be high on the agenda.
Russia’s President Putin Speaks with China’s President Xi and Japan’s Prime Minister Abe on Korea
Sept. 4 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Xiamen, China for the BRICS summit, held discussions with both Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping concerning North Korea’s Sept. 3 nuclear test, reported TASS.
“Vladimir Putin called on the international community not to yield to emotions, and to act calmly and in a balanced manner. He also stressed that a comprehensive solution to the nuclear and other problems of the Korean Peninsula can be reached only by political and diplomatic means,” during his telephone discussion with Abe on Sunday, the Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. “The leaders discussed North Korea’s nuclear test on Sept. 3, which undermines the global non-proliferation regime, violates the United Nations Security Council resolutions and norms of international law, and creates a real threat to regional peace and stability.” Abe and Putin will meet in Vladivostok on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on Sept. 7.
Peskov said the Korea situation was a focus of talks between Putin and his host Xi Jinping, in which both “expressed profound concern over this situation” and “called on all the parties to show restraint and orient towards the search of a solution only by political and diplomatic means,” he said.
Peskov also said the Russian President had no plans to have a telephone conversation with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, and that Russia was “ready to take part in all relevant discussions within the United Nations Security Council and in other formats.”
Meanwhile, Nikolay Patrushev, the Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, arrived in Seoul today for Russian-Korean consultations on security issues, TASS reported. He has already met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “Their talks were held in the run-up to the upcoming meeting in Vladivostok between the Presidents of Russia and South Korea,” according to a Kremlin statement.
Patrushev also met with South Korea’s National Security Office Chief Chung Eui-yong, where the sides “considered the ways of political and diplomatic settlement of the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula, and discussed the military and political situation in the Asia-Pacific region,” the Security Council’s press service said, reported TASS. “The sides paid attention to the prospects of implementing trilateral economic projects with participation of Russia, South Korea, and North Korea.”
The consultations were attended by representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the Defense Ministry, the Federal Security Service, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service, the Russian presidential administration and the Security Council’s administration. Patrushev had also met with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.
On Sept. 5-6, Patrushev will be in Tokyo for consultations involving the two countries’ Security Councils.
North Korea To Attend Vladivostok Third Eastern Economic Forum
Sept. 4 (EIRNS)—North Korea is expected to send a representative to Russia’s Third Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, which will be held Sept. 6-7, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy to the Far East, Yuri Trutnev told reporters Sept. 4.
With the world on a potential hair-trigger in the North Korea showdown, this could add to the channels and atmosphere to de-escalate, especially as South Korean President Moon Jae-in and others from South Korea will be in attendance, as will representatives from the United States, Russia, China, Japan, and India.
Russia established the EEF to obtain international cooperation in the development of Russia’s vast Far East, which is underdeveloped and underpopulated.
South Korea is playing a significant role in the EEF. On Sept. 4, Russia and Korea convened a meeting in Vladivostok of the Russia-Korea Intergovernmental Commission, to further emerging Russian and Korean economic and political cooperation. Kim Dong-yeon, head of delegation, who is South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and also Minister of Strategy and Finance, announced that “The new South Korean administration is planning now to actively promote a new policy of economic cooperation in the northern direction. Widening economic, person-to-person and trade ties especially with the Far East, as well as China and Mongolia.”
On Sept. 6, South Korean President Moon Jae-in will present a keynote at the forum on his “New Northern Policy,” which will reinforce economic cooperation with Russia and other Eurasian nations. Moon will hold a summit meeting with Russian President Putin, where they will discuss economic coordination, and also the North Korea nuclear issue and bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula, according to Arirang, news agency Sept. 4. Moon is also expected to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines (Abe will also hold a more formal summit with President Putin in Vladivostok).
This leads to the pathway of peace through development, rather than nuclear war.
Importantly, the United States will field a delegation of over 40 people to the conference, that will include such companies as ExxonMobil, IBM, Abbott Laboratories, and also Derek Norberg, who is president of the Council of U.S.-Russia Relations, TASS reported Sept. 4. California Gov. Gerry Brown is scheduled to make one of the welcoming speeches in Vladivostok and to appear on two of the panels.
India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj will be attending, reflecting “the importance attached by India to emerging opportunities in the Russian Far East,” India.com reported.
NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER
Ninth BRICS Summit Issues Xiamen Declaration
Sept. 4 (EIRNS)—The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have issued their Xiamen Declaration during the Ninth BRICS Summit in Xiamen, China, which calls for enhancing and broadening cooperation.
“Stressing the role of enhanced trade and investment cooperation in unleashing the potential of BRICS economies, we agree to improve and broaden the trade and investment cooperation mechanism and scope, with a view to enhancing BRICS economic complementarity and diversification in BRICS countries,” the document said.
They called for trade and investment facilitation and connectivity and enhanced policy sharing; information exchange; and capacity building, including joint efforts on trade and energy cooperation. They also welcomed the initiative to set up the BRICS E-Port Network, which will operate on a voluntary basis, and to establish the BRICS E-Commerce Working Group.
“We also welcome China’s initiative to host an International Import Expo in 2018 and encourage our business communities to actively participate in it,” the declaration said.
Taking up the fight against corruption, the declaration states: “Keenly aware of the negative impact of corruption on sustainable development, we support the efforts to enhance BRICS anti-corruption cooperation. We reaffirm our commitment to intensify dialogue and experience sharing and support compiling a compendium on fighting corruption in BRICS countries.”
The declaration put special emphasis on nuclear power development. “We will work together to promote the most effective use of fossil fuels and wider use of gas, hydro, and nuclear power, which will contribute to the transformation toward a low emissions economy; better energy access, and sustainable development. In this regard, we underline the importance of predictability in accessing technology and finance for expansion of civil nuclear energy capacity which would contribute to the sustainable development in BRICS countries….
“We will act on the basis of principles of innovation, partnership, synergy, flexibility, open and favorable business environment, trust and security, and protection of consumer rights in order to ensure the conditions for a thriving and dynamic digital economy, that will foster global economic development and benefit everyone.”
In a separate statement earlier, leaders strongly condemned the Sept. 3 North Korean nuclear test, using the initials of its official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and urge for direct dialogue. “We strongly deplore the nuclear test conducted by the D.P.R.K. We express deep concern over the ongoing tension and prolonged nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, and emphasize that it should only be settled through peaceful means and direct dialogue of all the parties concerned,” the statement issued by the BRICS leaders said.
Putin Releases Statement of Welcome Ahead of Third Eastern Economic Forum
Sept. 4 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin published greetings sent to participants of the third Eastern Economic Forum, which takes place on Sept. 6-7 in Vladivostok. The telegram’s text was published on the Kremlin’s website yesterday. (See http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/55506.)
In his greetings, Putin wrote: “Russia is faced with an ambitious target: to provide the best possible conditions for doing business in the Far East; to launch new manufacturing capabilities, and to create additional jobs. It is with this objective in mind that advanced special economic zones have been set up, offering tax incentives, simplified government regulation and oversight, and extensive infrastructure. More than 700 Russian and foreign companies are already taking advantage of these benefits, working on a range of highly promising projects in the Far East. We expect the number of such initiatives to increase as a result of this Forum.
“Russia’s Far Eastern strategy is based on openness to collaboration and an interest in promoting the broadest possible international cooperation. As such, the theme of working together within multilateral structures such as the Eurasian Economic Community, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, ASEAN, and APEC takes up, by tradition, an important part of the Forum’s agenda. I am confident that your discussions will facilitate the development of effective models for combining various integration processes, and will help us to move further towards creating a Greater Eurasian partnership.”
“I wish you all the best and a successful and productive Forum,” the President said, in conclusion.
Chinese and Mexican Presidents Meet in Xiamen, Pledge To Strengthen Strategic Partnership
Sept. 4 (EIRNS)—Following his bilateral meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto today at the BRICS summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the two nations to coordinate their development strategies so as to “obtain the maximum benefit from their respective advantages, to build a supply chain connecting China and Mexico, which will radiate to the surrounding regions.” In the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi said, China welcomes Mexico’s increased cooperation, seeing it as a key node of the “natural extension” of the Belt and Road to Ibero-America.
The Chinese President expressed the hope that Sino-Mexican relations will serve as a key example in the process of building a “community of a shared future” between China and Ibero-America. He also highlighted the need to establish the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), and urged Mexico to play a greater role in the international arena.
For his part, Xinhua reported, President Peña Nieto said that he seeks closer cooperation with China, and stressed the importance of the Belt and Road Initiative, calling it a project that will serve “not only to promote dialogue and cooperation,” but also trade, cultural exchange, and tourism. He pointed especially to the importance of the BRICS New Development Bank, and emphasized the BRICS’ ”key role” in global governance. Mexico, he said, welcomes all initiatives aimed at “opening and building bridges among nations,” noting the “great potential” for China to strengthen ties with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations (CELAC). He also expressed his gratitude to Xi for inviting him to attend the Xiamen summit, and express Mexico’s view on the important issues that China “has put on the table” for discussion: South-South cooperation; promoting connectivity and trade, and combatting poverty.
China invited the leaders of five countries, all from different regions—Mexico, Egypt, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Guinea—to Xiamen to meet with the five BRICS leaders in a Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries, in what he called a “BRICS Plus cooperation approach.”
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths Leap Again to More Than 64,000 in 2016
Sept. 4 (EIRNS)—U.S. deaths from drug overdoses grew from 52,898 in 2015, to 64,070 in 2016, a 21% increase, the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported at the end of August. This is the highest single year-over-year leap in several decades. The drug deaths, resulting from physical economic collapse, joblessness, and deep despair, are true markers of the U.S. economic and social plunge.
The number of these overdose deaths are now equal to the combined numbers of firearm and motor vehicle deaths in the U.S..
The increase in drug deaths for individual states is stunning: Between 2015 and 2016, Virginia’s rose by 38% (1,005 to 1,387); Indiana by 28% (1,228 to 1,566); Ohio by 33% (3,050 to 4,050); Florida by 55%, (3,324 to 5,167); New York City by 50% (987 to 1,478), and Maryland by 67% (1,303 to 2,171).
The increasing use of the synthetic opioid fentanyl—which is used in chronic severe pain management, usually in the form of slow-release patches applied to the skin—is a major vector for the drug increase, especially when fentanyl is mixed with heroin. A former drug dealer told Canada’s CBC News in 2013, that “I have a list of about 21 people that I know to buy fentanyl patches from… People can often get them cheap if they have health insurance.”
The George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations’ policies led to the epidemic of drug deaths, concomitant with the epidemic in opioid addiction. In the year 2000, there were 17,415 drug overdose deaths in the United States; in 2016, 64,070—nearly a fourfold increase. During the 16 years of those two combined presidencies, heroin deaths rose from 1,842 in 2000, to 12,989 last year, a sevenfold leap. Between 2000 and 2016, cumulatively, 616,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, more than half the number of Americans who died in all the wars the U.S. has fought since its founding.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Nancy Pelosi Defends Trump, Condemns Antifa
Sept. 4 (EIRNS)—Speaking to the Denver Post today, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refused to condemn President Donald Trump, saying it was too early to judge his performance in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. “He’s been gracious,” she told the paper, “He went to Corpus Christi, which is sort of appropriate for him to do, because in the heart of the storm, it would be a challenge to accommodate a President.”
She advised Democrats not to fall into the political trap of constantly criticizing Trump, the paper wrote. American voters “don’t want to hear us criticizing the President,” she said. “This was a choice; they made a decision. And to criticize the President personally is to disrespect their judgment. So I say to my members, ‘This is about what we’re going to do.’ ”
Pelosi instead saved her harsh words for the “Antifa,” the phony “antifascist” street anarchists at the center of a violent demonstration in Berkeley, California, on Aug. 27, and who had been involved in Aug. 12 violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Pelosi, who earlier had said that the group deserved “unequivocal condemnation” for their action at the demonstration, today went further, telling the Post that, “I think if there’s some people who are acting in a violent way, that they should be prosecuted. I don’t care who they are, where they are, whatever organization they belong to.” She then sought to put some distance between the radicals and the Democratic Party, saying, “You’re not talking about the far left of the Democratic Party—they’re not even Democrats.”
Pelosi’s comments follow those of another leading Democrat, California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who shocked a San Francisco audience last month when she refused to call for Trump’s impeachment.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
China Working on Next-Generation Maglev Transportation for ‘Post High-Speed Rail Age’
Sept. 4 (EIRNS)—The English website of China News Service (Ecns.cn) reports that China’s high-speed railcar maker CRRC has started a special project to research high-speed rail vehicles that can reach speeds up to 600 kmh, according to Sun Bangcheng, deputy director of CRRC Industrial Research Institute.
The project, one of 18 national key research and development plans set by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2016, is researching both high-speed passenger and freight trains, Sun said. The project will be completed by 2021 at a total investment of over 9 billion yuan ($580 million). The project includes six types of trains—three for freight, one high-speed passenger train, and two types of maglev trains, according to Chinese-language Science and Technology Daily.
Research into maglev includes a train that can reach 600 kmh and another that travels at 200 kmh. Research is to prepare for “the post-high-speed rail age” in technology, said Sun.
The cost of a 600 kmh maglev train is almost the same as a 400 kmh version, according to recent research. So far, Japanese-made maglev trains can travel 603 kmh at their maximum speed, and German-designed maglevs can hit up to 505 kmh. The operating speed of maglev trains in Shanghai, which use German technology, is 430 kmh.
Ecns.cn also mentions the Third China Commercial Aerospace Forum in Wuhan Aug. 31, where China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) described its HyperFlight hyperloop system that would “fly” on the ground at speeds of between 1,000-4,000 kmh. EIR Daily Alert covered the HyperFlight in its Sept. 1 issue.
