EDITORIAL
Enemy of the New Silk Road Paradigm: Saudi Genocide in Yemen
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—New revelations on the role of Saudi Arabia in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, pose the imperative: The ongoing Saudi genocide against Yemen must stop; the Saudi-related networks perpetrating such crimes against humanity must be brought down. Acting on this, opens the way wide for the entire world, including the Mideast, to participate in the New Silk Road—the Belt and Road Initiative—development drive, which is the necessary “peace through development” process needed to end the perpetual warfare in the region.
What is required, among other things, is the creation of an investigative commission into Saudi Arabia’s actions against Yemen. Yet Britain has blocked this, while the U.K. and the United States continue to supply arms to the Saudi “Coalition” perpetrating the criminal assault. On the American side, the very same backers of Saudi crimes are working to bring down the duly elected government of President Donald Trump. In turn, these interconnect with the British sponsors of the Saudi royalty, going back to the founding of the Saudi Kingdom.
New Evidence; Bob Mueller Complicit
The new 9/11 revelations, which came out on the eve of the 16th anniversary of the attack, concern specifically evidence of direct Saudi government involvement in the 1999-2001 preparation of the aircraft attacks—including a “dry run” flight attempt in 1999, and show a pattern of cover-up by then FBI-Director Robert Mueller. This is the same Bob Mueller who ran the “Get LaRouche Task Force” in the 1980s, and now leads the investigation-assault against President Donald Trump today, on the bogus charge of Russian interference in the U.S. election.
The new, damning documentation comes in a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, filed in New York Federal District Court, by a group of families of 9/11 victims. These plaintiffs have filed an amended complaint, citing FBI documents, showing that the Saudi government employed and financed two Saudi “students” in the United States—Mohammed al-Qudhaeein and Hamdan al-Shalawi—whose attempts to gain access to the cockpit of an America West flight from Phoenix to Washington, D.C., in November 1999, were of such a threatening nature that the plane made an emergency landing in Ohio.
The two were arrested when the plane landed, and questioned by the FBI, but were released. The FBI later “discovered” that the two had been trained in Afghanistan, had had regular contacts with one of the Saudi hijacker-pilots and a senior al Qaeda leader from Saudi Arabia, now held in the Guantanamo prison; were employed by the Saudi government; and were in “frequent contact” with Saudi officials while in the U.S., including attending a symposium hosted by the Saudi Embassy and chaired by the Saudi Ambassador. The Saudi Embassy even paid for the pair’s tickets for the “dry-run” flight.
There is also new attention to the attempted cover-up by then-FBI Director Robert Mueller, which puts him into the spotlight for his role against Trump today. At the time of the investigation by the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11, Mueller prevented the Congressional investigators from interrogating an FBI informant, Abdussattar Shaikh, who had harbored two of the 9/11 Saudi hijackers in San Diego before the attack. Mueller removed Shaikh to an undisclosed location so he couldn’t be questioned, defying even a Congressional subpoena for his testimony. Sen. Bob Graham, co-chairman of the Joint Congressional Inquiry, thinks that Mueller acted on authority of the White House, indicating the Bush family’s alignment with British/Saudi geopolitical crimes. https://harpers.org/blog/2017/09/crime-and-punishment/
In Yemen today the death and destruction are solely at the hands of Saudi Arabia. The latest UN report (Sept. 5) estimates the civilian death toll at at least 5,500 in the past two-and-a-half years; with thousands more injured. Cholera cases have exceeded 600,000, with at least 2,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Water and sanitation services have been devastated. Millions are dislocated. There are at least 19 million people in need of humanitarian aid, and over 7 million in desperate need of food. But the Saudis are blocking relief shipments. The Saudis have bombed multiple hospitals, schools and social gatherings. Britain and America are supplying arms; the United States is providing re-fueling and surveillance. In releasing details, even the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said Sept. 5 that Yemenis are suffering from “an entirely man-made catastrophe.” He called for an investigation into violations of international humanitarian law. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=57458#.Wbheg8iGPcs
Rescue, Rebuild
As horrible as this situation is in Yemen, it is not a “special case.” It expresses British/American policy over the past 60 years, of perpetual war under various banners: regime change, R2P (Responsibility to Protect,) human rights, and other lies. Look at the series of battleground nations: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, Yemen. Syria has been able to resist, with the assistance of Russia. Before that, Vietnam, before that Korea. This must stop.
We can now break with this horrible legacy, and its perpetrators, whose system opposes the general welfare. We can join together in the policy of the New Silk Road, whose capability and intent to serve the common good of mankind are evident in the way that millions of people in many nations are collaborating in projects of mutual benefit.
In the United States, there is a new, deep wave of compassion for humanity, and will for development, in the aftermath of the devastation in the Americas from the hurricanes and Mexican earthquake. Americans are looking forward to the economic projects which must be done for the future, and looking back, on how essential projects were not done—flood defenses, water systems, advanced power infrastructure, space-based climate analysis—because they were claimed to be too “costly,” given the U.S. commitment to the various wars, from Vietnam, to Afghanistan, to Iraq, and now Yemen.
No more. Never again. We now can rescue and rebuild.
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
UN, U.K. Cover Up Saudi Mass Murder in Yemen; Congressmen Step In To Halt Arms for Riyadh
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—With Saudi Arabia again exposed in backing the 9/11 attacks, activists against the Saudi genocidal war on Yemen are striking to stop U.S. arming of that war. This week amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act to stop it may be voted on in both chambers of the U.S. Congress; the Senate version failed by only 47-53 in July. According to today’s release from Robert Naiman of Just Foreign Policy, if five Democrats—Senators Claire McCaskill (MO), Joe Donnelly (IN), Mark Warner (VA), Bill Nelson (FL) and Joe Manchin (WV)—had voted for the amendment, the Senate would have blocked the Saudi arms deal.
In the UN, a resolution sponsored by The Netherlands, which would have created an international independent commission to investigate war crimes in Yemen, was stopped by the Great Britain, which is providing the Saudi “coalition” with both arms and intelligence.
Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) and Sen. Jeff Merkley have introduced amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act would which halt arming Saudi Arabia’s war crimes in Yemen. Senator Young’s amendment would prohibit any U.S. arms transfer to Riyadh until the Saudis stop bombing hospitals and stop preventing delivery of humanitarian aid. Senator Merkley’s amendment would prohibit the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.
This is the e-letter Robert Naiman’s cohorts are using in meetings with the U.S. Senate and House. Several are 9/11 widows, including Kristen Breitweiser and Monica Gabrielle, others members of the VIPS, such as Bill Binney and Colleen Rowley; John Kiriakou, a former CIA Counterterrorism officer and former senior investigator for U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Barbara Bodine, former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, (1997-2001); prominent law professors, international policy experts, prominent lawyers and activists.
Their statement says, “Launched in 2015, the Saudi-U.A.E.-led war against the Houthi-Saleh alliance has directly led to the deaths of over 10,000 Yemenis. An ‘unwarranted’ blockade on imports of food and medicine enforced by Saudi warplanes and navy, according to Idriss Jazairy, United Nations special Rapporteur on Human Rights and International Sanctions, is ‘one of the main causes of the humanitarian catastrophe’ afflicting the country. ‘The blockade involves grave breaches of the most basic forms of human rights law, as well as of the law of armed conflict,’ he concluded.”
The letter concludes, “By invoking provisions of U.S. law allowing for the introduction of a privileged resolution to withdraw unauthorized U.S. forces from this conflict, you are reasserting the rightful role of Congress as the constitutionally mandated branch of government that must both declare war and retain oversight over it. We, the undersigned, encourage all U.S. Representatives to vote yes to this resolution. This measure strengthens U.S. governance to better comport with the Constitution, assists in reducing a genuine threat to national security posed by the expansion of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and promises to assist in ending the senseless suffering of millions of innocent people in Yemen.”
UN Security Council Passes Watered-Down Sanctions Resolution Against North Korea
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—The UN Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions on North Korea, yesterday, in the wake of the Sept. 3 nuclear test. According to the Associated Press, the resolution was a watered-down version of the U.S. draft that was circulated in the UNSC last week. Gone is the oil embargo that the U.S. originally proposed as is the naval interdiction of North Korean commercial vessels. What remains are a ban on liquid natural gas and condensate imports, a limitation on oil imports to what was imported in the last 12 months, said to be 2 million barrels a year, a ban on textile exports and a prohibition on new work permits for North Korean workers in other countries.
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, in her statement to the council, reiterated that the United States does not want war and said “North Korea has not yet passed the point of no return.” She said if Pyongyang gives up its nuclear program and proves it can live in peace, the world will live in peace with it. Haley praised the “strong relationship” between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping for enabling the resolution’s adoption.
The resolution also reflects Chinese and Russian input in that it adds new language urging “further work to reduce tensions so as to advance the prospects for a comprehensive settlement,” and underscoring “the imperative of achieving the goal of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.” It reaffirms support for long-stalled six-party talks with the goal of involving North Korea, the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. The resolution also adds language underscoring the Security Council’s commitment to North Korea’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, to “a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the situation,” and “its concern that developments on the Korean Peninsula could have dangerous, large-scale regional security implications.”
The purpose of the U.S. effort was apparently to get a resolution that could be passed, rather than to confront China and Russia. “This is a compromise in order to get everybody on board,” French UN Ambassador François Delattre said of the draft ahead of the vote, reported Reuters.
Chinese Ambassador to the UN Liu Jieyi called on all parties to be calm. “At present, the situation on the Korean Peninsula remains complex and grave. All relevant parties must be cool-headed and avoid rhetoric or action that might aggravate tension,” he said after the vote. “The nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula must be resolved peacefully, integrated measures must be taken to balance the legitimate concerns of all parties,” said Liu. According to Xinhua, he said the suspension-for-suspension proposal and dual-track approach put forward by China and the idea of step-by-step approach proposed by Russia formed a roadmap for the settlement of the issue. The roadmap is realistic and feasible, he said, asking the relevant parties for due consideration and positive responses.
Lavrov in Jordan To Consult; Syrian Army, SDF Come within Firing Range in Deir Ezzor
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi agreed, during a meeting in Amman yesterday, that there should be consultations with the U.S. on the southern de-escalation zone in Syria. “The Jordanian side hopes that all de-escalation zones will be established in Syria as soon as possible, Al Safadi said,” reports TASS. “We assume that we need progress here, which will be part of settlement. We in Jordan want a ceasefire all over Syria, and want to move towards a peaceful settlement in order to open up a new page for the Syrian people.” Lavrov also reiterated the Russian position that the U.S. military presence in Syria is a violation of international law, but that Russia works with the U.S. in Syria anyway because of the fight against terrorism.
On the ground in southeastern Syria, the situation is reaching new levels of complexity, with Syrian Arab Army (SAA) units and elements of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Coalition coming within artillery range of each other in Deir Ezzor city, where some of the northern districts are still held by ISIS. “As we get closer to Deir Ezzor and you have these forces converge upon one another, the importance of [communication] between the Russians and the coalition, SDF and the [Damascus] regime becomes more important,” Col. Ryan Dillon, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told Foreign Policy. Not everybody is convinced that a clash can be avoided indefinitely through the deconfliction channel, however. “Some kind of conflict is sure to arise, because neither of the two main actors have the same objective,” said Nicholas Heras, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
The SDF is promising that there won’t be a conflict, however. “We have clear instructions that after Daesh [ISIS] is eliminated, we should not act against the forces of the [Syrian government] or against the Russian, Iranian forces or the Hezbollah movement, which are allied with it,” SDF spokesman Talal Silo told Sputnik yesterday.
However, the SDF forces have advanced to certain positions viewed by the Syrian Army’s High Command as an attempt impede the government’s progress. Further, the SDF has gone so far as to set up a Deir Ezzor Civil Council that it says, “will be responsible for running the city immediately after its liberation.” This SDF statement reportedly makes no mention of the role of Syrian government forces.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Rand Paul To Freeze Defense Bill, Unless Ending U.S. Deployment in Afghanistan, Iraq Is Debated
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky (R) has vowed to delay a $700 billion defense bill until he is promised a vote on amending the authorized use of military force (AUMF) in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate took up the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and passed a motion 89-3 which allowed the legislation to proceed. The NDAA sets out the Pentagon’s budget and major programs for the fiscal year 2018, that begins Oct. 1, 2017. That vote limits the procedural debate on the authorization act for both wars, and moves the NDAA to a full vote as early as Sept. 13, Wednesday morning.
Senator Paul put out on his Twitter account, “I will object to all procedural motions and amendments unless and until my amendment is made in order, and we vote on these wars. We have been there [Afghanistan and Iraq] for 16 years. It is time for them to end. It is time for Congress to vote on whether or not they should end.”
Paul’s move put the Senate in a “quorum call,” which freezes action. He vowed to continue the protest until Congress agrees to vote on whether to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and said that his objection was for the soldiers, scoring the “hypocrites” who are happy to “pretend concern over our Constitutional duty to declare war,” but “block any vote on ending any of our seven current wars.” Paul said he “sits nearly alone,” but is happy to fight by himself if needed. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) also opposed the motion to vote on the NDAA. Although several Members have called on Congress to pass a new AUMF for Afghanistan, Paul has been largely alone in attempting to put a deadline on a vote.
After Paul’s threats to delay the NDAA vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) guaranteed Paul four hours today to argue for a new AUMF on the Senate floor. But Paul would not back down, and later repeated his plan “to continue to fight, and if necessary, object; to continue this debate, secure a vote, and force Congress to do its duty.”
Strategist Doug Bandow: America Must Work with China on North Korea, Not Give Orders
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—Former advisor to President Ronald Reagan, and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute Doug Bandow argues that the United States must work with China to solve the North Korean crisis, rather than demand China bring North Korea into line, in the National Interest on Sept. 11. His piece is titled, “Time To Strike a Diplomatic Deal with China on North Korea.”
Bandow warns, “An isolated and paranoid Pyongyang is likely to view most any U.S. military action as the start of regime change, and respond accordingly. A better strategy would be to press for tougher sanctions while offering to negotiate, based on providing security guarantees, development assistance, and more.”
Texas Goes for Federal Credit for Projects Due ‘Decades Ago’
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—Leading Texas elected officials are starting to look for Federal credit for major flood-control infrastructure projects which “should have been built ‘decades and decades ago,’ ” in the words of Lt. Gov. Daniel Patrick. An interview with Patrick by the Texas Tribune was part of its Sept. 11 article, “Texas GOP Leaders Pushing for High-Dollar, Long-Delayed Flood Infrastructure.” There is for Federal credit for this infrastructure, and a leader in it is Patrick, known as the leading “Tea Party” Republican in Texas.
“We need more levees,” Patrick told the paper. “We need more reservoirs. We need a coastal barrier. … These are expensive items and we’re working with [Senators] Cornyn and Cruz and our Congressional delegation … to get this right. We’ve now had three major floods in three years—nothing at this level, but major floods.”
The building of a series of sea walls and seagates to protect Gulf coastline north and south of the Houston Ship Channel, has been estimated at a $6 billion project. “State and local officials have said such a project would have to be funded at the Federal level, and some Congressional delegation members—namely Cornyn—have begun pushing for that.” This is really part of the same push—just encouraged by President Trump—of New York and New Jersey members for some $12-13 billion in Federal funding for the crucial “Gateway” rail, bridge and tunnel rebuilding project there.
The Tribune also reports that a new reservoir west of Houston, which requires more than $300 million in investment, is being pushed by Rep. Michael McCaul, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. Rep. Al Green (D) has been asking for appropriations for this for several years, but the situation may now have changed.
And Texas Governor Greg Abbott is trying to get new EPA funds to the State Water Development Board, as leverage for loans to build other flood control infrastructure, not named in this report. It was the Texas State Water Development Board which, in the 1968 State Plan, 50 years ago, drafted the major plans for inter-basin transfer canals and eight new reservoirs on a “Coastal Canal,” running behind the Gulf Coast cities.
New Jersey Businessman Proposes Idea To Form an Infrastructure Bank Out of the Fed
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—Fox Business News today published a novel proposal from the CEO of a New Jersey-based financial company: Form a large national infrastructure bank from the Federal Reserve, by ordering it to place part of its assets into such a bank to issue masses of credit for new infrastructure. WBI Investments head Don Schreiber said that the United States needs to invest “not $1 trillion, but $20 trillion over 20 years to build new infrastructure,” he told EIR today, and confirming that today’s economy is “way underperforming.”
In his Fox Business column today, Schreiber favorably describes China’s method of financing its growth, and writes “Creating an infrastructure bank from excess funds in the Fed’s balance sheet would allow critical infrastructure needs to be addressed quickly and could provide a significant boost to our faltering economy.”
Bannon’s Bull: He Gives the ‘American System’ a Polk in the Eye
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—In a very prominent interview with Charlie Rose on CBS News’ ”60 Minutes” Sept. 10, Brietbart chief Stephen Bannon, late of the Trump White House, purported to explain and defend the “American System of economy.” Bannon praised President Trump, who reportedly watched and appreciated the interview. Trump, while Bannon was his “strategic advisor,” became the first President in more than a century to give public speeches calling for the nation to return to the American System of economy. The President, no doubt by honest error, included President Andrew Jackson among American System leaders Alexander Hamilton, Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln. But Bannon, pretending to defend it, lacerated the American System and stood it up as a scarecrow of British imperialism; and his errors appeared deliberate.
“What built America is called the American System, from Hamilton to Polk to Henry Clay to Lincoln to the Roosevelts,” Bannon argued to Rose. “A system of protection of our manufacturing, a financial system that lends to manufacturers, and the control of or borders.”
Alexander Hamilton, the unchallenged founder of the American System, would have been surprised to find that “control of our borders” was among its precepts, and amazed to hear that national banking and internal improvements (“new infrastructure”) were not! But the inclusion of President James Polk should raise the hackles of all American System proponents. Polk defeated American System leader Henry Clay for the Presidency in 1844; wanted Texas in the United States because it was anticipated to be divided into four slave states to “balance” the Northwest territories coming in; happily ceded what is now British Columbia to Great Britain; and above all, waged the Mexican War against which American System leaders Lincoln and John Quincy Adams fought.
By including Polk, Bannon is deliberately including aggressive war in the “American System.” This is false, and British. Obviously, Trump’s letting Bannon go was not a grave mistake.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Significant Momentum from Thai Canal Conference in Bangkok
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—Pakdee Tanapura, Thai panelist at the Sept. 11 Thai Canal (Kra Canal) conference held in Bangkok, reports that the event has generated significant momentum and enthusiasm. Over 250 people attended, from economists, scientists, officials, scholars, military and business leaders, to the media. Another forum will be planned soon, focussing on financing the project.
Everyone was very moved by the enthusiasm of the speakers. The representative from Panama spoke on the history and the recent widening of the Panama Canal. A group of 30 community representatives from South Thailand travelled to Bangkok to give support, and to refute those trying to stir up opposition on environmentalist and human rights grounds from the southern population. To avoid any political problems, a suggestion was made that the Canal be proclaimed a Royal Project. This came from a former Supreme Commander, whose support for the plan goes back to his involvement at the 1984 conference which had featured Lyndon LaRouche.
No one from the U.S. Embassy attended, despite invitations, although the Indian Embassy and others did send representatives. Four Chinese speakers made it clear that China is just waiting for the government to endorse the project for them to fully engage.
Belt and Road Forum in Hong Kong; China-ASEAN Forum in Nanning
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—More momentum for Belt and Road development is taking place this week in China.
On Monday, Sept. 11, Hong Kong sponsored the second annual forum on the Belt and Road Initiative, co-organized by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, under the title “From Vision to Action.” Over 2,600 senior government officials and business leaders from some 50 countries and areas along the Belt and Road attended the forum.
The new Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam gave the keynote speech, posing that Hong Kong, as an international metropolis and China’s best-connected city, “can and will make immense contributions to the Belt and Road Initiative. Ning Jizhe, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission in Beijing, said the Commission fully supports Hong Kong’s participation in the Belt and Road, including establishing a cooperation platform and facilitating financial integration.
Today in Nanning, the Vice Premier of the State Council of China Zhang Gaoli officially opened the 14th China-ASEAN expo and the 14th China and ASEAN Business and Investment Summit. China-ASEAN trade reached $452.2 billion last year, and is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2020, under the 2015 China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement.
OTHER
Helga Zepp-LaRouche Tells Junge Welt Interviewer, ‘The New Silk Road Was Our Idea’
Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—With that provocative title amid the current debate over China’s New Silk Road in the German Federal election campaign, the Junge Welt newspaper publishes an interview with the BüSo’s leader, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, in its Sept. 13 edition.
“The Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität defines its role differently than other small parties,” reads the kicker.
Asked what the BüSo stands for, Zepp-LaRouche replies, “We want a new paradigm in politics—away from geopolitics, to the common aims of mankind. We believe that a continuation of geopolitics holds the danger of confrontation with Russia and China. That is one of the reasons we support the initiative of Xi Jinping to create a New Silk Road on the basis of win-win cooperation among all the nations of the world.”
“But Atlanticists would object that this sounds like a Eurasian Union!” the interviewer interjects, citing that most controversial of “Russian” ideas.
“It goes far beyond that,” she replies. “This new model of economic cooperation has been taken up in Ibero-America and above all in Africa. That rather obviously leaps the boundaries of a Eurasian Union. In this development of Africa we see the unique chance to solve the refugee crisis on a human basis: We finally combat the consequences of colonialism and the IMF credit conditionalities that followed it. Only development of infrastructure creates the preconditions for a real development of the entire continent.”
Then following several questions on issues being debated around the Sept. 24 German election—the refugee crisis, taxes and productive employment, and education—Junge Welt asks, “How realistic do you think it is that your ideas will be taken up?”
“The vision for the New Silk Road was an idea of ours, a plan for a peaceful world for the 21st Century. We have worked on it for 26 years, and the Chinese government fully recognizes our part in this perspective. We are portrayed much more fairly in the press there than in the mainstream press here. Thus we are a party that operates on an entirely different plane than other so-called ‘small parties.’ And I would hope this will be translated into votes as well.”
“Were you educated as a socialist?” the interviewer ventures.
“I was educated as a humanist, as a world citizen,” Helga Zepp-LaRouche concludes.
