EDITORIAL

The Promise of the Trump-Putin Summit, and the Role of the Schiller Institute

July 1 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump is actively on his way to becoming the greatest “peace president” in the nation’s history. Two of the primary cockpits for war, carefully nurtured by the British Empire and its assets in the United States to remain “frozen conflicts,” supposedly beyond any possibility of resolution—as conflicts intended to force all nations on Earth to “choose sides”—are now on their way to being resolved. Korea, and all of Asia, have been united behind Trump’s courageous summit with Kim Jong-un, and, on July 16, Presidents Trump and Putin will sit down together with the intention (among other things) of ending the Syrian war, central to the “permanent warfare” process in Southwest Asia unleashed by Presidents Bush and Obama, on behalf of the British Empire’s divide-and-conquer geopolitical policy.

There are many ironies involved. Across the U.S., the liberal left—historically considered to be the “peace” faction in the U.S.—are slavishly following the British-directed hysteria against Trump, demanding his ouster, calling him a “fascist” and a “racist,” demanding that those who work for him or support him should be harassed day and night, their children targetted at their schools. Perhaps some of these misguided fools believe that this has something to do with Trump’s immigration policy, which is all they want to talk about. But the British themselves do not hide the truth—they are terrified that President Trump is committed to breaking for good the “Special Relationship,” the euphemism for U.S. subservience to the City of London and the imperial Lords of the Empire: adopting Adam Smith’s deadly “free trade” dogma against which America fought a revolution, and serving as the “dumb giant” in London’s colonial warfare, a process which began with the British assassination of John F. Kennedy and the driving of the U.S. into the colonial, genocidal war in Indochina. That war policy has been continuing today with the Bush-Obama wars in Southwest Asia. As Trump prepares to attend the NATO Summit and to visit the U.K. before meeting Putin in Helsinki, the Lords of London are terrified that Trump will not accept the mobilization for war with Russia demanded by the NATO dinosaurs, just as he rejected the old paradigm of free trade dictates at the G7 meeting in June.

Trump, working hand in hand with China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, has declared an end to the insanity of “regime change” and permanent warfare. He has expressed openly his desire to get the U.S. troops out of Korea, out of Syria, and out of Europe, to end America’s role as the policeman of the British Empire. And, as Lyndon LaRouche has insisted since the 2008 financial crash, the only possible basis upon which to prevent the disastrous collapse of the western monetary system is for the U.S. to work with Russia, China, and India—what he labeled the Four Powers—to create an entirely new financial system for a new era of relations among nations. The seed crystal for that new paradigm already exists in the New Silk Road, and the multiple investment banks associated with the New Silk Road, which address the real development needs of the world’s nations, without “conditionalities” regarding their sovereign political systems.

While the American people are fed a steady diet of anti-Trump, anti-Russia, and anti-China lies by the mainstream media, the Schiller Institute this weekend sponsored an international conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on the theme: “The Urgent Need for a New Paradigm in International Relations—A Peace Order Based on the Development of Nations.” The two-day conference, keynoted by Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, featured leading figures from government and social institutions from: the United States; several eastern and western European nations; several African and Southwest Asian nations; Russia; and China. The ideas launched by Lyndon LaRouche over the past 50 years are now being implemented, bringing together people of good will, with the courage to be truthful about the danger to civilization itself under the imperial old order, but inspired to fight for the vision of a human race dedicated to the uplifting of all nations and all peoples to a life proper to the dignity of Mankind. The transcripts for this historic conference will be published in the next two issues of EIR online (subscribe at https://store.larouchepub.com/EIR-Online-s/1824.htm)

The responsibility of the growing number of souls who have joined with Lyndon LaRouche in this noble effort is indeed great. History will judge this moment as one in which a new Renaissance for all Mankind was unleashed, or, as Schiller said about the French Revolution, that “a great moment has found a little people.” We must all grapple with “heavy” ideas, and act with all the creative potential granted us, as our birthright as human beings.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Senior British Journalist: Trump Will Destroy NATO, Apocalypse Now!

June 29 (EIRNS)—Edward Lucas, a former senior editor at The Economist, now writing a weekly column in the London Times and an author of books on Putin (New Cold War: Putin’s Russia and the Threat to the West), went stark raving mad in a radio interview regarding the Trump-Putin summit, which he said, “shouldn’t be happening at all, and certainly should not be happening after the NATO summit. All the NATO allies are very worried about Mr. Trump’s unpredictability. They can see that he may storm out of the NATO summit the way he stormed out of the G7 in Quebec, and then go off to Helsinki to do goodness-knows-what in his one-on-one meeting with Putin….

“If he were meeting Putin before the NATO summit, then at least the NATO leaders would be able to repair any damage that is done. But people are talking in very apocalyptic terms.”

‘Why the CIA Needs Its Own Horowitz Report’

June 30 (EIRNS)—Holman Jenkins of the Wall Street Journal editorial board posted a signed editorial today under the above title. Although he expresses anti-Russia opinions, he strongly expresses the truth that Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper are at least equally as guilty as Comey, Mueller and their team at the DOJ and FBI of peddling lies to prevent Trump from becoming President, and their continuing effort to drive him out of office.

He writes that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz “is not authorized to examine and dissect the internal communications and decision-making of other agencies the way he did the FBI’s. Yet the necessity of doing so fairly screams at us.”

He argues: “The FBI’s Mr. Comey, since Election Day, has been a model of discretion” compared with Brennan and Clapper. “Mr. Brennan suggested on national TV that Vladimir Putin possesses secret information he uses to control President Trump. Mr. Clapper, also on national TV, called Mr. Trump a Kremlin ‘asset’ whose election was secured by Russian meddling. Their involvement in the events Mr. Horowitz details was extensive and pervasive and yet these men are invisible in his report. And it is hardly plausible that they were more restrained in their accusations against Mr. Trump in their private dealings with Mr. Comey before the election than they have been on TV since.”

Jenkins goes on: “An underremarked facet of the Horowitz report reveals just how much illegal leaking to the press FBI officials were guilty of. The same rock needs to be turned over with respect to Mr. Brennan’s and Mr. Clapper’s former agencies…. Mr. Comey’s FBI is not the only intelligence branch that needs a good shaking out.”

Russian Diplomat Counters Belief in U.S.-U.K. Special Relationship as ‘Not Justified’

July 1 (EIRNS)—Alexander Bartosh, a military expert and a former Russian diplomat, responding to the hysteria in the U.K. about the July 16 summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, lifted the screen on so-called Anglo-American “special relationship.”

“The U.K. has been one of the most active supporters of a hard line towards Russia,” Bartosh told RT, and said that their “vigorous resistance” to any positive shift in the stance of Washington towards Moscow shouldn’t be surprising.

He then exposed the real issue at hand, saying that there are grounds for London to worry, because “the common belief that America and Britain are such great friends isn’t really justified, as there are many in the U.S. who support tougher and more pragmatic relations with the U.K. The Americans don’t want to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for Britain as they used to do previously.”

Bartosh also observes: “The U.K., which quit the European Union, feels a certain loss of its weight in Europe and tries to turn Russia into a kind of boogeyman, seeing the ‘Russian threat’ as a unifying factor for nations, looking for closer ties with London.”

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

NATO Hysteria Turns into Panic as July 16 Draws Nigh

June 30 (EIRNS)—As preparations for the Trump-Putin summit go into high gear, the hysteria from the NATO partisans is giving way to outright panic about what President Donald Trump might do at the upcoming NATO summit and in his July 16 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Further fueling the panic is a story in Friday’s Washington Post which reports that the Pentagon is analyzing the cost and impact of a large-scale withdrawal or transfer of American troops stationed in Germany as tensions between Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are growing. The Post cites the usual unnamed officials saying that the effort follows Trump’s expression of interest in removing the troops, made during a meeting earlier this year with White House and military aides. Trump was said to have been taken aback by the size of the U.S. presence, which includes about 35,000 active-duty troops, and complained that other countries were not contributing fairly to joint security or paying enough to NATO. European officials are said to be alarmed and are scrambling to determine whether Trump actually intends to reposition U.S. forces or whether it is merely a negotiating tactic ahead of a NATO summit in Brussels.

British Empire Chewing Rug over Demise of Geopolitics

June 29 (EIRNS)—Those who cling to the old geopolitical order of war and great-power confrontation are beside themselves with rage and hysteria at the prospect of what President Donald Trump might accomplish at his July 16 summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, to jeopardize the so-called “rules-based system.”

The Washington Post’s serial leaker Josh Rogin is one such hysteric, prattling in today’s column that President Trump “is trying to destabilize the European Union.” Joining him in panicked commentary is European Council President Donald Tusk, who warned at an EU dinner last night, dutifully recorded by The Times of London, that the “unity of the West, trans-Atlantic relations are under immense pressure due to the policies of President Trump.” EU leaders must consider the potential breakdown of the post-war Western alliance, he intoned. “It is my belief that while hoping for the best, we must be ready to prepare our union for worst-case scenarios.”

Rogin is appalled at the report that Trump suggested to French President Emmanuel Macron last April, that France leave the EU to accept a better bilateral trade deal from the U.S. Trump is increasing in “the pace and viciousness” of his attacks on NATO and the EU, Rogin protests, concluding that “Trump doesn’t believe in the sanctity of the European Union and NATO, as well as the United States commitment to both”!

As the authoritative source on such matters, Rogin turns to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who advised him, “if you look at the world today, you realize the position of the West is going to be contested for the first time in several centuries. And if the West is disunited, it’s going to be much less capable of withstanding that challenge.” The great risk, Blair warned, is that if Europe feels the U.S. isn’t on its side, individual countries will “turn to other geopolitical forces, and this is bad for America.” Rogin continued that “Trump’s opinions closely track those of Putin…. Overall, Trump’s attack on the EU and the U.S.-Europe relationship is a huge strategic windfall for Russia.”

Australia Passes Anti-China Laws

June 30 (EIRNS)—Australia’s Senate on June 28 approved a package of new laws aimed at “preventing espionage and foreign interference,” Global Times reports today. Although the laws don’t name China, they come at a time of a barrage of attacks on China, screaming about “interference” and “penetration” by China, accusing the Chinese government of controlling Chinese business people and students in Australia, as the establishment is also doing in the U.S.

Global Times writes: “Australia is therefore considered the first Western country moving to prevent Chinese ‘penetration’ through legislation. Australia and China have no historical or territorial disputes, and have maintained close economic ties. China is Australia’s biggest trade partner. Canberra’s legislation has given a negative example to Western countries on how to deal with China.”

They continue: “Chinese descendants in countries around the world have organizations to maintain traditional culture and contribute to China’s reunification. Will these organizations be considered the Chinese government’s proxies? Will Chinese businesses operating in foreign countries have to avoid meeting with Chinese officials and Australian politicians? Suffice it to say that Chinese companies, especially state-owned enterprises, will encounter greater non-market barriers when investing in Australia.

“The new laws will also affect cultural exchanges, as Australia’s bias against academic and business exchanges has been legalized, and those who support consolidating exchanges with China will come under greater scrutiny.”

The laws follow the release of a classified report that accused the Chinese Communist Party of attempting to influence Australian politics, like the Russiagate nonsense in the U.S. and Europe. Business Insider site reports that the laws “broaden the definition of espionage and ban foreign agents from influencing politicians, civil society organizations, media, and ethnic groups. Individuals will also be required to register if they’re acting on behalf of a foreign power. Some offenses covered by the laws are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.”

“Foreign powers are making unprecedented and increasingly sophisticated attempts to influence the political process, both here and abroad,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said when he introduced the laws in December 2017, and later referenced “disturbing reports about Chinese influence.”

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said its government had made a “serious complaint” with Australia and that the claim of foreign interference “poisons the atmosphere of the China-Australia relationship.”

The author of the classified report, John Garnaut, an advisor to Prime Minister Turnbull, testified before the U.S. Congress in March, and is working with the neo-cons to draft anti-China legislation in the U.S.

Will Trump and Putin Announce a Peace and Development Package for Southwest Asia?

June 29 (EIRNS)—Numerous reports have emerged over the past few days indicating that a deal may be in the works between the U.S. and Russia for the Southwest Asia region, some elements of which may already be operative in southern Syria. Retired DIA Middle East expert Col. W. Patrick Lang, writing on his “Sic Semper Tyrannis” blog on June 27, states that the “grand bargain” that U.S. President Donald Trump wants to work out with Russian President Vladimir Putin includes the following elements:

1) Peace in Syria in the context of abandonment of regime change;

2) The U.S. has made it clear that the Syrian Arab Army, with Russian backing, now has a free hand in southwest Syria in return for Russia keeping Lebanese Hezbollah and other Iran-backed Shi’ite militias out of the fight; and

3) The Egyptian government has been talking to Hamas about their willingness to enter into a hudna (religiously sanctioned truce) with Israel in a deal that would include a Gaza-Egyptian industrial zone in the Gaza’s border area of Rafah, an airport, and a seaport, in return for which Hamas would be expected to police the truce.

Russian Federation Formally Rejects British-Run Change to OPCW

July 1 (EIRNS)—The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a declaration on June 29 denouncing the vote that gives the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) authority to attribute responsibility for violations of the Chemical Warfare Convention (CWC).  This vote was engineered by the United Kingdom, in the Conference of States Parties (CSP) of the CWC and laid the basis for charging the Syrian Arab Republic with violating the CWC even though the only body authorized to make such a determination, the UN Security Council, refused to do so.

The head of the Russian delegation, Georgy Kalamanov, objected to this measure, explaining that “Neither the CSP, nor the Executive Council, nor the Technical Secretariat has a mandate for attributing responsibility for CWC violations,” and that to change this, it is necessary “to make amendments to the CWC in line with its Article XV” because “It is unacceptable to create new commitments for States Parties, which they did not undertake when signing this international treaty.”

Sen. Valentina Matviyenko, president of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house), reported on Rossiya 1 TV network that the British measure is an attempt “to weaken the UN Security Council by depriving it of this function.”  This, she said, occurs at a time “when international institutions, international agreements and international rules are being destroyed,” undermining the institutions that “have been responsible for guarding the world against chaos.”

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Poverty Kills: The Case of New York State

June 30 (EIRNS)—Life expectancy for residents of the State of New York are strongly influenced by poverty, as well as by race, a large study done on the state population, with the exclusion of New York City, has shown.

The report, published in January 2018 by the Department of Epidemiology and Bio-statistics at the University of Albany School of Public Health, showed that the life expectancy for census tract areas in which 0-2% of the population was African American and 0-2% were in poverty was 82.6 years. The life expectancy dropped step by step as the poverty level increased, and as the percent of African Americans increased. In areas in which 0-2% of the population were African American and the poverty rate was over 25%, the life expectancy was 78.5 years. In areas in which more than 50% of the population were African American and the poverty rate was over 25%, the life expectancy was 74.1 years.

EIR’s Economics Staff published a more detailed study of Baltimore in 2006, that showed even more extreme effects of poverty in census tracts with higher rates of poverty (“The Case of Baltimore: Deindustrialization Creates ‘Death Zones,’ ” EIR, Jan. 6, 2006). The Baltimore study documented numerous causes for the increased death rates, including poor nutrition, lack of available health care, unemployment, and severe psychological stress, leading to high rates of drug and alcohol abuse. A study of the effects of unemployment in the rust belt, provoking this same effect, is being conducted.

Yes, poverty kills.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Russia’s International Army Games To Be a Third Larger Than Last Year

June 30 (EIRNS)—Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced during a conference call meeting yesterday that 181 teams from 32 countries will participate in this year’s International Army Games, scheduled to run from July 28 to Aug. 11. Six countries will be participating in the Games for the first time. “It is a pleasure to see that the scope of competitions expand geographically and the list of participants grow,” Shoigu said, reported TASS. “This year the Games will bring together 181 teams from 32 countries, nearly a third more than last year. Military servicemen from Algeria, Vietnam, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sudan and the Philippines will demonstrate their skill for the first time.” The various events will be held at training ranges in Russia, China, and several locations in Central Asia.

The International Army Games are a sort of Olympic competition where teams test their military skills against teams from other countries. In 2017, the Russians won the most medals, followed by China and Kazakhstan.

History Is Shaping a New World Order, Regardless of Western Desires, Lavrov Tells British TV

June 29 (EIRNS)—In a broad-ranging interview today with the U.K.’s Channel 4 News, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov touched on some crucial world developments, asserting that the “post-West world order” is already developing, is being shaped, and “will take a long time.”

It is, he said, “a historical epoch … certainly, after five or so centuries of domination of the collective West, as it were, it is not very easy to adjust to realities, that there are other powerhouses economically, financially and politically—China, India, Brazil, African countries are going to be very much on the rise.” Russia, he explained, “would like to be an independent world player … in the sense that we do not want to violate international law and norms.” But, “it is not that Russia is shaping this world order, it’s history,” Lavrov said. “It’s the development itself.”

He underscored that it’s not possible to ignore these new economically and financially-powerful countries. “You cannot really ignore their role in world trade and world economy.” There are attempts to slow it down, he stated, because “it is very painful to lose half a millennium of domination in world affairs…. I remember when people used to call the shots in India, Africa, Asia and elsewhere, and now they understand that this time has passed.”

Lavrov deftly dismissed the anchor Cathy Newman’s retailing of the commonplace accusations against Russia, on the Skripal case, backing for the Syrian “assassin” Bashar al Assad, the Mueller investigation into “collusion,” etc. Almost all the charges against Russia include the phrases “highly likely,” “highly probable,” “we have good reason to believe,” Lavrov observed, countering: “I love Lewis Carroll, but I do not think the logic of the Queen, who said ‘sentence first, verdict later,’ is going to prevail…. It cannot work that way.” In the Skripal case, he said he didn’t rule out a British state coverup, particularly as London has refused to provide any information or evidence.

As for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in the U.S. 2016 elections, “trying to dig something to prove that we have decided the future of the greatest country on Earth through some Internet agency, is ridiculous. I understand the Democrats in the U.S. are really quite nervous. I understand that the U.K. is nervous. There were leaks in the Times, saying that the Cabinet members are nervous that D. Trump and V. Putin might get along.”

The half-hour interview, conducted in English, is posted in video and text on the Foreign Ministry’s website.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Astronaut Says ESA Is ‘Perfect To Bring China into Big International Space Family’

July 1 (EIRNS)—German ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, one of the two European Space Agency astronauts who last August was in China for a 17-day survival training exercise with Chinese colleagues, reports in comments covered June 27 by BBC, that in addition to continuing to improve their Chinese language, ESA astronauts will begin training in the Chinese Shenzhou capsule in the coming months. Maurer, who is waiting to fly his first mission to the International Space Station, hopes to co-pilot a Shenzhou capsule to the future Chinese space station.

Maurer described last year’s training in China: “We trained together, stayed in the same building as the Chinese astronauts, shared the same food, and it was quite an intense experience. It felt like being part of a family—it was completely different to being in Houston, where I rent an apartment and see my colleagues only during a two- or three-hour training session.”

The BBC reporter mentions the U.S. prohibition on cooperation with China. Maurer comments that “ESA is already a cooperation between 23 member states … we’re the perfect glue to bring China into this big international space family.” He also recognized the program China has with the UN to give developing countries the opportunity to participate in the future Chinese space station.

Ultimately, Maurer believes, we all have to work together. “Once we look beyond Earth orbit to the Moon or Mars, we need all the partners we can find on this planet…. We are aiming to bring the Chinese into the family and a future lunar research station….”

On the other side of the rational divide, and headed for the dustbin of history, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) was asked in an interview with Politico if he “wouldn’t advocate lifting some of the restriction on NASA working with the Chinese.” He replied, “I would advocate that we expand them … almost everything they’ve got there, is based on stealing fundamental scientific research from the United States.”

OTHER

Hungary, Poland and Czechia Deny Any EU Refugee Deal To ‘Save Merkel’ in Germany

July 1 (EIRNS)—German Chancellor Angela Merkel, following the June 28-29 EU Summit and mini-summit on refugees, told the world that the 27 member nations had reached a compromise, and that she had reached bilateral agreements with 14 of the member states to return refugees to the country to which they first arrived. These 14 included Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic—but all three have declared that there was no such deal at all.

“No such deal has been reached,” spokesman for Hungary’s government Zoltan Kovacs said, according to RT, and went on that “Budapest has repeatedly rejected German attempts to return migrants to their first country of entry into the EU.”

Also, Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Artur Lompart said: “There are not any new agreements regarding the reception of asylum seekers from EU countries, we confirm (that), like the Czech Republic and Hungary.”

Merkel and the CSU leader Horst Seehofer were supposed to meet today. Seehofer, also the Interior Minister, had given Merkel until after the EU summit to come up with an agreement, or he would move to block refugees at the German border, likely leading to a breakdown of her CDU-CSU-SPD coalition government.