EDITORIAL
The Empire Is Crumbling, But Not Dead, and Desperate for War
May 1 (EIRNS)— Let us review: every effort by the British to bring down the government of the United States under President Donald Trump has failed. MI6 agent Christopher Steele’s dodgy dossier now stands exposed as the only basis for the launching of Trump-gate by the corrupt Obama intelligence team, and the perpetrators are themselves now facing criminal prosecution; the Skripal case has disappeared from the media, as the connections to the same Christopher Steele were coming to the fore; the Syrian chemical weapons fraud concocted by the British-run White Helmets has now been exposed internationally as a Nazi-like staged affair to justify a military assault. That assault, in which Trump was tricked into going along with the British and the French, effectively declared that the international law established after World War II, through the United Nations, to prevent another world war, was dead.
The Empire will not go quietly into the night. Bibi Netanyahu’s antics—claiming “proof” that Iran is still developing nuclear weapons—is being ridiculed even by former Israeli intelligence officials as repackaged news, already known by the IAEA, and proving nothing. But the British have always used the Israeli right-wing, and the Saudi Royal family, to provoke divisions and, when necessary, to start wars. With Trump having cooperated with Putin in defeating ISIS in Syria, and swearing that he wants to get the U.S. out of Syria altogether and “stop being the world’s policeman,” the British are desperately pulling every possible string to drag the U.S. into more wars.
The same situation exists in Ukraine. Poroshenko today launched his “Joint Forces” operation, consolidating the National Guard, the National Police, and the disparate neo-Nazi militias under central army control, committed to a military solution to the Donbas.
A new war in Syria or Ukraine could quickly explode into war with Russia, and a new world war, this time with nuclear weapons.
And yet, as demonstrated in Korea, when the United States works with China and Russia, miracles can happen. The “permanent crisis” in Korea, like the “permanent crisis” in the Middle East—both the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Sunni-Shi’a conflict—have been intentionally maintained by the British and their assets as cockpits for war between East and West, to keep the major powers divided, to the benefit of the British Empire which controls the financial system centered in the City of London and Wall Street.
But the New Silk Road is threatening that “divide and conquer” mentality. The win-win policy of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, transforming the “Third World” into modern agro-industrial nation states through modern infrastructure development, has demonstrated that conflicts based on ethnicity, religion, territorial issues, and the like, can be overcome based on advancing the common interests of all nations and all peoples.
The role of the United States in this global crisis is determining. With Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic summit with Xi Jinping last week, the three great cultures of Russia, China and India are now working together in creating a New Paradigm for mankind. Lyndon LaRouche has long insisted that the “Four Powers” of Russia, China, India and the United States is the necessary combination needed to end the world of Empire once and for all.
President Trump has repeatedly stressed that being friends with Russia and China “is a good thing, not a bad thing,” which is the core reason that British intelligence launched the Russiagate coup attempt in the first place. If Trump is to survive, the American people must identify the British role, free Trump of the British coup attempt, and back his best impulses to join fully with America’s natural allies in Russia and China, through full participation in the New Silk Road.
LaRouche PAC organizers across the country are reporting the strong response to this call to end the Empire, to join the BRI, and to end the containment of the American people by the Wall Street-controlled “two-party system.” Trump has, in this case, shown the way, attacking Republicans and Democrats with equal vigor when they peddle the need to confront Russia and China. The new paradigm is not only within reach, but is absolutely necessary if the British war plan is to be defeated.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
The New York Times and Robert Mueller Try To Revive the Dying Russiagate
May 1 (EIRNS)—With Russiagate collapsing into “Muellergate,” and all the major players facing criminal prosecutions themselves, Robert Mueller and the New York Times cooperated in a rather desperate ploy to give the coup attempt against President Trump some new life. The Times ran a series of about 50 questions which Mueller supposedly wants to ask Trump, and which the Mueller team reportedly read to Trump’s legal team. Somehow the questions got leaked to the Times, although the Times does admit that it was leaked “by a person outside Mr. Trump’s legal team.”
Many of the questions are of the “Have you stopped beating your wife, yet?” variety, such as “What knowledge did you have of any outreach by your campaign, including by Paul Manafort, to Russia about potential assistance to the campaign?”
The President lost no time tweeting his response:
“So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were leaked to the media. No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see…you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice!”
Also: “It would seem very hard to obstruct justice for a crime that never happened! Witch Hunt!”
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Israeli Experts Critical of Netanyahu’s Iran Presentation
May 1 (EIRNS)—It seems that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s presentation of alleged proof of Iran’s nuclear program was a typical Bibi hype. It looks as if he ran out to IKEA to buy cheap shelves and binders, and CDs as his backdrop. Israeli experts were not impressed.
Former National Security Advisor Prof. Uzi Arad believes “there was no new information here that wasn’t known before.
“If the intention was to create a justification for quitting the nuclear agreement in the form of a ‘smoking gun’ exposing a current violation of the agreement’s components, he would have definitely dropped a huge bomb. In practice, however, there was nothing new in the presentation. It included historical things and no proof of an Iranian offense or violation of the agreement since it was signed.
“I don’t know what Netanyahu wanted to achieve. He may have wanted to shine a spotlight on the fact that the Iranians lied blatantly in the past. But since there is a global anticipation for Trump’s decision in the coming days, Netanyahu wanted to illustrate that Iran is working to produce weapons and that it lied about it in the past as well.”
Ynet quotes researcher Roee Kahanovitch, who said, “Netanyahu’s comments are aimed at convincing the Europeans and Trump to walk away from the agreement. As far as the Iranians are concerned, his presentation isn’t surprising and these aren’t things we didn’t know.” Although alleging Iran has turned “Syria into their backyard,” Kahanovitch expressed skepticism that Iran could launch a direct attack on Israel. “Their air force is extremely outdated, but I imagine there will be a response, possibly abroad or in the Golan Heights.”
IAEA Tells Netanyahu, We Already Assessed Iran’s Nuclear Program
May 1 (EIRNS)—In a statement from its spokesman today, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) curtly responded to Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s vaudeville act with a “half-ton of documents” yesterday, saying that the IAEA Board of Directors had examined all this material closely before, and had come to a final decision in December 2015 to close the investigation into Iran’s nuclear program, based on IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano’s Final Assessment that “the Agency had no credible indications of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009.”
The IAEA reviewed the final report’s findings. “The Agency assessed that, before the end of 2003, an organizational structure was in place in Iran suitable for the coordination of a range of activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.”
So much for Netanyahu’s “new information.”
The IAEA statement continued:
“Although some activities took place after 2003, they were not part of a coordinated effort. The Agency’s overall assessment was that a range of activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device were conducted in Iran prior to the end of 2003 as a coordinated effort, and some activities took place after 2003. The Agency also assessed that these activities did not advance beyond feasibility and scientific studies, and the acquisition of certain relevant technical competences and capabilities. The same report stated that the Agency had no credible indications of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009.”
On that basis, the Board of Directors made their decision.
The IAEA will not comment further on the Netanyahu story, the agency made clear. “In line with standard IAEA practice, the IAEA evaluates all safeguards-relevant information available to it. However, it is not the practice of the IAEA to publicly discuss issues related to any such information.”
U.S. Government Helps Nigeria Fight Terrorism, Lifts Obama Block on Aircraft Sale
May 1 (EIRNS)—The Trump administration delivered on its promise to help Nigeria fight terrorist Boko Haram as President Donald Trump and President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria met April 30, the first official visit of an African head of state to the United States under the Trump Presidency.
It was announced that the U.S. government is finally selling 12 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to Nigeria, a sale which had been blocked by the Obama regime under human right pretexts.
The aircraft are badly needed by the Nigerian military to fight Boko Haram. The Super Tucano A-29 aircraft, an agile, turbo-prop, with both reconnaissance and surveillance and also attack capabilities, is made by Brazil’s Embraer. A second production line is in Florida, in a partnership between Embraer and privately held Sierra Nevada Corp. of Sparks, Nevada.
Such aircraft are ideal for fighting Boko Haram terrorists in their strongholds on and around Lake Chad, in places which ground forces have difficulty reaching.
At their joint press conference, President Trump commended President Buhari for the success recorded in the fight against corruption. In his remarks, Buhari among other things said that Nigeria wants to “diversify our own economy by focusing on agriculture and food security; power and infrastructure.”
Will California Lead the United States into the Belt and Road?
May 1 (EIRNS)—There seems to be a healthy competition developing over which U.S. state will lead the way for the United States as to join the Belt and Road Initiative, launched by China.
U.S. “cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative may start with California,” China’s Consul General in Los Angeles Zhang Ping said in his opening address to the Belt and Road Forum hosted by the Hong Kong Association of Southern California in Los Angeles on April 27, China Daily reported. His message was that “the Belt and Road Initiative provides important opportunities for all countries and regions, including the United States,” and “California maintains a close economic and trade tie and people-to-people exchange with China.”
EIR’s representatives at the forum add to China Daily’s report that the Consul General also called on the participants to “educate the public … on the mutually beneficial nature of the BRI.”
Among the other speakers, Donald Lewis, Adjunct Professor at the School of Management of the University of California in San Francisco, was most enthusiastic, telling the audience that the U.S. should not pass up the opportunity to participate in the biggest economic initiative ever. Interestingly, he stated that China is looking at what the United States did in its own development as a model, mentioning the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860s, Interstate Highway System in the 1950-60s.
COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Nomi Prins: Fed Is Setting Up a New Financial Disaster
May 1 (EIRNS)—Writing in “TomDispatch” April 26 about her new book, banking historian Nomi Prins said the world’s major central banks have put the United States and European economies in front of another financial crash, and that President Donald Trump is making appointments to the Federal Reserve Board whose lax bank oversight practices could very soon prove disastrous. Prins’ article is entitled, “Donald Trump and the Next Crash: Making the Fed an Instrument for Disaster.” (It was reprinted in The Nation as “At the Fed, the Scene Is Being Set for Financial Disaster,” with the kicker, “A crash could prove to be Donald Trump’s worst legacy.”)
She wrote: “What my research for my new book, Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World, revealed was how central bankers and massive financial institutions have worked together to manipulate global markets for the past decade. Major central banks gave themselves a blank check with which to resurrect problematic banks; purchase government, mortgage, and corporate bonds; and in some cases—as in Japan and Switzerland—stocks, too…. [T]heir policies have inflated asset bubbles.”
By “conjuring” money for big banks and corporations to buy their own stock, central banks have both created huge corporate debt bubbles, and manipulated stock markets to heights from which they are likely to crash. In short, they have “created asset bubbles that could explode into an even greater crisis the next time around,” said Prins.
Prins wrote that “today, we stand near—how near we don’t yet know—the edge of a dangerous financial precipice. The risks posed by the largest of the private banks still exist, only now they’re even bigger than they were in 2007-08 [some 40% bigger—ed.] and operating in an arena of even more debt.” And, she added, “the President is appointing members to the Fed who will only increase the danger of those risks for years to come.
“A crash could prove to be President Trump’s worst legacy. Not only is he … not paying attention to the alarm bells … but he’s ensured that none of his appointees will either. After campaigning hard against the ills of global finance in the 2016 election campaign and promising a modern-era Glass-Steagall Act to separate bank deposits from the more speculative activities on Wall Street, Trump’s policy reversals and appointees leave our economy more exposed than ever.”
In Collusion, released May 1, Prins calls for two policy actions against the threatened collapse: “Instead of financing speculative bubbles at the hands of the big private banks, central banks should finance large investment and recovery programs. We should break up the banks à la Glass-Steagall so that they can’t hold people’s deposits hostage during the next crisis.”
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
Dominican Republic Follows Panama, Breaks with Taiwan; Who’s Next?
May 1 (EIRNS)—In a press conference in Beijing today, the Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic Miguel Vargas and Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced the establishment of diplomatic relations and the “immediate” exchange of ambassadors. A simultaneous announcement was made at the presidential palace in Santo Domingo by presidential legal advisor Flavio Espinal. Wang stated that China’s new diplomatic ally “is the largest economy of Central America and the Caribbean,” and “has important influence in regional affairs.”
The joint communiqué signed by both officials states that, as of today, diplomatic ties between the Dominican Republic and Taiwan have been severed, and that the Dominican government “recognizes that there is but one China in the world, that the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory.” Taiwan reacted angrily, accusing China of using “dollar diplomacy to steal Taiwan’s diplomatic allies.”
A little less than a year ago, in June 2017, Panama established diplomatic relations with China, the only other Central American country, aside from Costa Rica, to do so. Five other Central American nations (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize) still recognize Taiwan, but there is much speculation that some of them may also be considering breaking and recognizing One China.
EIR has warned that continued ties with Taiwan are an anachronism which stands in the way of these countries joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative as Panama has already done, and embarking on a path to national and regional development. Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, will have a front row seat to observe the benefits to be gained from breaking with Taiwan.
Foreign Minister Vargas emphasized that today’s announcement “opens a new strategic era with our sights trained on contributing to the progress of our country,” and that he expects much closer cooperation with Beijing in “areas of trade, investment, financing, tourism and education,” among other sectors. Breaking with Taiwan, he said, means “a step forward in carrying out a more assertive Dominican foreign policy,” and is “in line with our national interests,” as reported by Spain’s EFE news agency.
Moon Jae-in Gave Kim Jong-un Development Plan for Unified Korea
May 1 (EIRNS)—Developments for peace on the Korean Peninsula are moving along very quickly. According to a report by Sputnik, today’s issue of JoongAng Ilbo newspaper revealed that South Korean President Moon Jae-in handed a brochure and a flash drive with a plan for the economic development of the Korean Peninsula to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their intra-Korean summit on April 27.
Many details are not available, but the plan sets denuclearization of North Korea as a precondition for its implementation. The plan also includes proposals for building power stations.
It is reported that Moon had suggested to Kim that his summit with President Donald Trump take place at demilitarized zone. Trump himself also suggested the DMZ on April 30. “There’s something I like about it,” Trump said, “because you’re there, you’re actually there where if things work out there’s a great celebration to be had on the site, not in a third party country. The good news is, everybody wants us. It has the chance to be a big event … personally I think it’s going to be a success. If it’s not a success, I will respectfully leave,” he said.
Trump also said that Kim Jong-un has been “very open and very straightforward so far” in discussing the possibility of removing nuclear testing sites and halting the launching of ballistic missiles.
Afghanistan Looks to India and China To Build Rail Connectivity
May 1 (EIRNS)—Informed sources in New Delhi have told Indian daily The Statesmen that senior officials from India and China will meet soon to discuss “the broad contours” of their joint cooperation on development projects in Afghanistan which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping discussed at their two-day informal summit in Wuhan last week.
Afghan Ministry of Economy spokesperson Suhrab Bahman gave an idea of the scope of development that could result on April 29, reporting that one of the joint projects will be the construction of a railroad connecting Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran and China. That exciting potential was reported by Afghan TOLOnews. Bahman said, in TOLOnews’ report, “that China is interested in giving Afghanistan more share in the ‘Belt and Road’ project connecting China with Central Asia.”
Such joint work will proceed, even though India is not likely to formally endorse the Belt and Road Initiative by name anytime soon, similar stories appearing today in The Statesman and New Indian Express report.
The New Indian Express cited Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou’s statement to reporters after the Wuhan summit, that “when it comes to connectivity, China and India do not have any principled disagreements.” He said that the two leaders “did not talk about the specific wording or expression of the Belt and Road, many things China and India are planning to do are in keeping with what the Belt and Road Initiative stands for.”
Afghanistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China on the BRI in May 2016, while India is already helping build a road and rail network to connect the Iranian port of Chandahar with Afghanistan, and then up north into Central Asia.
The other “connectivity” project where India and China are already cooperating cited by both newspapers is the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) project. China considers the BCIM as an important part of the Belt and Road; Indian diplomats emphasize that the project started before the BRI.
