EDITORIAL
BRICS Sets Agenda for Global Development: U.S. Must Join To Create a New World Peace Order
July 29 (EIRNS)—The tremendous dynamic of the July 25-27 Johannesburg Summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), and especially the BRICS-Africa Dialogue Forum at the same venue, have united most of the world around several key concepts: peace through development; BRICS-Plus as a core for a new South-South relationship, or “Global South”; the New Silk Road concept as the basis for “new driving forces for development,” nuclear power for all nations, with Russia taking the lead; and the urgent need for international cooperation in the development of Africa and Southwest Asia from centuries of colonialist wars and exploitation.
The defeat of the British-Saudi spawned terrorist networks in Syria, brought about through the open cooperation between the Trump Administration and the Putin Administration in Russia, and the promising transformation of the Korean Peninsula, brought about through cooperation among Trump, Xi Jinping, Putin, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, give just a glimpse of what can be achieved strategically through cooperation of the major powers, breaking from the British Empire’s geopolitical division of East vs West.
Former U.S. diplomat James Jatras, who spoke at the June 9 Schiller Institute Conference in New York City, posted a powerful article July 28 in Strategic Culture titled “Will Next Steps on Iran Point towards a New ‘Big Three’ or World War III?” The “Big Three” he refers to are the U.S., Russia, and China, noting that Trump has consistently rejected the “world policeman” role pushed on the U.S. by the Anglophile neo-conservatives, while also rejecting the deindustrialization which went along with the radical “free trade” policies, also coming from the British. Quoting Prof. Michael Klare, the article correctly states that Trump has consistently pushed for a “tripolar world order” with the U.S., Russia, and China working together. Why would Trump turn against the myth of “the world’s only super power” in a Pax Americana? Klare’s insight: “In the Trumpian mindset, this country had become weak and overextended because of its uncritical adherence to the governing precepts of the liberal international order, which called for the U.S. to assume the task of policing the world while granting its allies economic and trade advantages in return for their loyalty.” Dismissing that failed role (which, not mentioned by Klare, is the British vision of British brains and American brawn sustaining the Empire) would allow for the “emergence of a less-encumbered, stronger America—much as a stronger Russia has emerged in this century from the wreckage of the Soviet Union and a stronger China from the wreckage of Maoism.”
Jatras warns that if the ongoing coup attempt against Trump were to succeed, a Mike Pence government would bring back “l’ancien régime,” the “neo-liberal, unipolar order,” which would move to rapidly crush Trump’s Big Three cooperation. The result would be a “catastrophe of literally unimaginable proportions, which Trump had sought to arrest.”
This reflects LaRouche’s fifty-year perspective, launched fifty years ago, for an end to the permanent warfare and austerity under the British Empire, run by London and Wall Street. LaRouche argued that this could be achieved only by the coming together of all sovereign nation-states based on the common aims of mankind. This is now clearly within reach. Nearly the entirety of Asia, Africa and Ibero-America have now united behind this principle, through the BRICS and the New Silk Road. The EU is crumbling, while a new Italian government is leading the way for a break from the EU dictatorship and a renewal of cooperation with Russia and China. Newly elected Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will meet with President Trump Monday in the White House.
Despite the extreme danger, it is a moment in history demanding great optimism and full engagement, a moment and an opportunity which must not be lost.
U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
President Trump Proposes Two Future Summit Meetings with President Putin
July 29 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump has proposed two future summit meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to a July 27 statement released by White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, “President Trump looks forward to having President Putin to Washington after the first of the year, and he is open to visiting Moscow upon receiving a formal invitation.”
That same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if the conditions are right, he accepts President Trump’s invitation to the White House, and extends an invitation for President Trump to come to Moscow, according to Xinhua July 28.
Trump Tweet Directed at ‘Highly Conflicted’ Robert Mueller.
July 27 (EIRNS)—Hearing that Robert Mueller is now “investigating” Trump’s tweets, President Trump tweeted:
“Arrived back in Washington last night from a very emotional reopening of a major U.S. Steel plant in Granite City, Illinois, only to be greeted with the ridiculous news that the highly conflicted Robert Mueller and his gang of 13 Angry Democrats obviously cannot find Collusion, the only Collusion with Russia was with the Democrats, so now they are looking at my Tweets (along with 53 million other people)—the rigged Witch Hunt continues! How stupid and unfair to our Country.”
In regard to the report that his former lawyer Michael Cohen told Mueller that Trump had known beforehand that his son was meeting with Russians at Trump Tower (which Trump had earlier denied), Trump tweeted: “And so the Fake News doesn’t waste my time with dumb questions, NO, I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!”
The President also recommended a treatment for those suffering what he calls “Trump Derangement Syndrome, in a tweet today, referring to the new book by civil liberties lawyer Alan Dershowitz: “@AlanDersh, a brilliant lawyer, who although a Liberal Democrat who probably didn’t vote for me, has discussed the Witch Hunt with great clarity and in a very positive way. He has written a new and very important book called The Case Against Impeaching Trump, which I would encourage all people with Trump Derangement Syndrome to read!”
STRATEGIC WAR DANGER
Russia Working To Create Conditions for Syrian Refugees To Return Home
July 27 (EIRNS)—Russian officials are calling for the creation of conditions to allow for the return of millions of Syrian refugees who are outside of Syria, particularly those in neighboring countries. In order for this to work, however, it requires the involvement from the international community in order to create the conditions for their return.
“Syria won’t be able to cope on its own with the refugee predicament, it won’t have enough financial resources after going through this civil war,” Alexander Lavrentyev, Russia’s Special Presidential Envoy for Syria, told reporters in Beirut after meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun on July 26. He had been in Damascus the day before for a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al Assad on the same topic. “People understand that there is no threat from the government and from the governmental security apparatus and they are returning to their homes, to their territories which are now under the control of the government,” Lavrentyev said. Aoun, whose country is hosting more than a million displaced Syrians, endorsed the Russian plan, committing to “Lebanon’s readiness to offer the necessary assistance to implement the Russian proposals.”
Lavrentyev also stopped in Jordan during his tour of the region, where he met with Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. “Jordan encourages the voluntarily return of Syrians to their homeland,” Safadi said in a statement after the meeting, stressing the need to provide “security, political, social and economic grounds” to encourage Syrians to go return of their own accord.
Syrian President Bashar al Assad has added his own voice, seeking for Syrian refugees to return home. “We encourage every Syrian to come back to Syria, especially after the terrorism started to be defeated mainly in Aleppo at the end of 2016,” Assad said reported TASS. “Of course, now there is an acceleration in defeating the terrorism and the majority of the Syrian territories have been liberated from the terrorists. So, we’ve been encouraging those refugees, many Syrians who have their own businesses, not only refugees, in different countries,” he said. “So, now this is the main issue between the Syrian and the Russian governments, how to bring more humanitarian assistance in order to help accelerating the refugees come back to Syria.”
One result of the Trump-Putin July 16 summit is discussion of U.S.-Russian cooperation in helping refugees to return to their homes.
Syrian Migrants Returning, As Army Moves on Idlib Terrorists
July 29 (EIRNS)—Hundreds of migrants returned to Syria today from Lebanon in a bus convoy arranged by the Syrian and Lebanese governments, Reuters reports. Lebanon’s security chief Abbas Ibrahim said, “The coming period will witness the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Lebanon” in comments reported by Hezbollah’s al-Manar television channel in Lebanon.
On the ground, the Syrian army is positioning its forces for the assault in Idlib and the surrounding northern area still held by the jihadis. Al Masdar News reported overnight that the Syrian army had hit jihadi positions in southern Idlib with artillery and missiles. Syrian army units also similarly pounded jihadi-held villages in the northern countryside of Hama province.
The Syrian military is also reported to be massing forces in northern Latakia, as the long-awaited battle for northwest Syria is expected to commence.
Syrian Kurdish Leaders in Talks with Damascus Government
July 27 (EIRNS)—The Kurdish-dominated ruling council in northeast Syria, the Syrian Democratic Council, backed by the U.S., is engaged in talks with the Syrian government in Damascus, working to find a basis for uniting the country once again under the legitimate government in Damascus. There is an SDC delegation in Damascus, SDC co-chair Riad Darar told Reuters by phone from Vienna. There seems to be no time limit on how long the delegation may be in the capital. Darar told Reuters that the meetings were expected primarily to discuss matters of providing services to the Kurdish-controlled areas, but further said that there is no set agenda and the talks could widen to include political and security matters.
“We are working towards a settlement for northern Syria, Darrar said. “We hope that the discussions on the situation in the north will be positive,” he continued, and said that they were being held “without preconditions.”
The SDC is considered to be the political arm of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
New York Times Unhinged over China’s Influence in Ibero-America, Argentina
July 29 (EIRNS)—Evidencing the same hysteria as The Economist and other members of the British Empire’s press sewer, the July 28 edition of the New York Times devotes several thousand words to bashing China, this time ranting about its “ominous” influence in Ibero-America. It especially emphasizes what it claims is China’s extensive military penetration and development of espionage capabilities.
Author Ernesto Londoño particularly targets China’s aerospace/scientific collaboration with Argentina’s space agency CONAE, and its establishment of a satellite tracking and telemetry station in the Patagonian province of Neuquén, which will participate in China’s Chang’e-4 lunar program and exploration of the far side of the Moon. The station was built by the China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control General, whose ties to the Chinese military Londoño claims are proof of China’s sinister objectives.
Argentina’s CONAE is very excited about its participation in the Chang’e-4 mission, seeing this as an opportunity to use its considerable expertise and acquire experience, the Argentine daily Perfil reported July 1. Yet, according to Londoño, the station is “one of the most striking symbols of Beijing’s long push to transform Latin America and shape its future for generations to come—often in ways that directly undermine the United States’ political, economic and strategic power in the region.” Londoño claims residents in the region are “frightened” of the station’s real purpose.
Citing “China expert” Evan Ellis, a rabid geopolitician at the U.S. Army War College, and other former State Department officials, Londoño goes back to 2008, the date on which he claims China really began plotting its takeover of Ibero-America. China “discreetly” began carrying out “a far-reaching plan” throughout Ibero-America, he argues, building infrastructure, strengthening military ties, bailing out governments such as Venezuela’s, and “locking up tremendous amounts of resources, hitching the fate of several countries to its own.”
The 2014 BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil was particularly ominous, according to Londoño, as this was where China “signaled even more ambitious plans for the region” and President Xi Jinping announced that Beijing “aspired to raise annual trade with the region to $500 billion within a decade.” Worse, from the Times standpoint, China’s influence hasn’t diminished, despite the emergence of right-wing governments in the region in recent years. Evidence of this was that China even “persuaded Panama and the Dominican Republic to sever ties with Taiwan.”
Financial Times, Economist Proclaim the Belt and Road Is Failing
July 29 (EIRNS)—The City of London daily Financial Times has joined the weekly The Economist in the most recent fake news campaign to declare the Belt and Road Initiative a failure. Under the title “China’s Belt and Road Initiative is falling short,” the FT claims that “there is growing evidence that the infrastructure projects are falling short of Beijing’s ideals and stirring controversy in the countries they were intended to assist. Debt sustainability, governance flaws and general opacity are some of the main issues.” They quote the Washington-based “RWR Advisory Group” that “projects worth $419 billion, or 32% by value of the total in Belt and Road countries since 2013, have run into trouble—such as performance delays, public opposition or national security controversies.” Even if true, these kinds of issues would be normal for development projects anywhere by any country. FT also complains that a CSIS report claims that “89% of contractors on China-funded transport projects were Chinese.” As if China would not welcome Western co-investments and contracting, which are in fact increasing.
The Economist was more disgusting, calling the Belt and Road a “sinister project to create a new world order in which China is the pre-eminent power…. The BRI is bound up with a growing cult around Mr. Xi…. The citizens of countries hosting BRI projects may come to regret their government’s enthusiasm.” They conclude that Xi Jinping is aiming to “usher in a Pax Sinica,” and that this is “one more argument for America to stay in Asia.”
ECONOMY
U.S. WTO Envoy Slams China’s Economic Model, and China Counters with Alexander Hamilton
July 27 (EIRNS)—U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization Daniel Shea released a paper against China this week at the WTO’s General Council meeting in Geneva. Titled “China’s Trade-Disruptive Economic Model,” the paper goes after China’s socialist market economy, which it characterized as “protectionist and mercantilist.” Speaking at a WTO session, Shea denounced China as “the world’s most protectionist economy,” despite “China’s repeated portrayal of itself as a staunch defender of free trade.” The paper targets the role of the state-owned enterprises and the presence of Chinese Communist Party officials on some of the companies’ boards.
Chinese Ambassador to the WTO Dr. Zhang Xiangchen responded strongly. On July 26, he said Shea’s comments, “made the air smell like gunpowder,” and that Shea’s report was “half-baked,” with no evidence. In his rebuttal, Zhang referred to the industrialization policies of George Washington’s first U.S. Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. Ambassador Zhang said that in Shea’s paper, “The U.S. seeking to divert the attention of the international community and ease the heat on itself.”
On the point that the United States and the West are inconsistent in their criticism of state backing for industrial growth, Zhang made reference to the history of how the United States has used such policies to support manufacturing. Zhang said, “The developed countries are investors and major users of industrial policies and subsidies. It is actually Alexander Hamilton who pioneered the concept of industrial policies in his [December 1791] Report on Manufactures.”
Zhang, on another point, said that Shea’s paper entirely ignores the decisive role of the market in the Chinese economy, and denied the accusation that China requires companies to transfer technology in order to invest in the country. “The U.S. is taking its own ideas as universal,” Zhang said. “It’s all up to the people of a country to determine what path of development they want to take, and China has chosen the path of a socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics. Over the past 26 years, we have made great progress and benefitted the world,” Zhang underlined.
THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER
BRICS-Plus ‘Global South’ Innovation Marks Momentum Toward New Paradigm
July 28 (EIRNS)—The three-day BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, which closed July 27 with a presentation by host South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, had unprecedented involvement of heads of state and government from nations currently chairing the most important regional organizations of the “Global South.” Their presence in Johannesburg came about as a follow-on to the 2017 BRICS Summit, at which host country China initiated the “BRICS-Plus” format of inviting the leaders of five special guest nations, under the rubric of representing “Emerging Markets and Developing Nations.”
But this year, the guest nation innovation was expanded even further, to systematically engage all those countries which head standing organizations, called “Regional Economic Communities,” of the Global South and United Nations. They are not only from Africa, but throughout the countries south of the Tropic of Cancer—i.e., the “South”—and nearby. This included heads of state and government from 13 nations currently chairing these institutions.
The title of the 2018 BRICS Plus Initiative for Outreach, was “BRICS Plus: Securing Sustainable and Inclusive Growth for the Prosperity of the Global South.” President Xi Jinping, in his remarks to the Outreach dialogue session at the summit, stressed that nations can jointly explore “new driving forces for development.” In this vein, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the course of the dialogue, has discussed nuclear power with nations including Zambia, South Africa, Egypt, and others.
The BRICS “Outreach” statement said, “The rationale behind this BRICS Plus concept is to create a platform for greater interaction and partnerships amongst countries of the Global South to shape the agenda to effect changes in the global economy….” It portends historic policy shifts to come, in particular at the September meeting in China of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
Putin Commits That ‘Russia Will Light Up Africa,’ and Build Nuclear Industry ‘From Scratch’
July 27 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin, in addressing the BRICS Africa Outreach session at the Johannesburg BRICS Summit today, said that the African continent “is in huge need of energy investments, and Russia could become one of its key partners…. I would especially like to note that Russia is planning to step up its assistance in development of national energy in African states.”
According to Putin, reported RT, Russia is planning oil and gas projects with Angola, Mozambique and Gabon. Further, he said: “In the field of nuclear energy, where Russia is the technological leader, we offer African partners to build an industry from scratch. These projects are crucial for Africa since about 600 million people on the continent live without electricity.”
Putin also stated that Russian business is interested in “working with African partners in a wide range of areas, including agriculture, healthcare, the development of mass communications, geology and subsoil use.”
Modi Emphasizes India’s Commitment to Africa’s Development at BRICS in Johannesburg
July 27 (EIRNS)—Addressing a BRICS Outreach Dialogue Session today attended by a large number African heads of state, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “The coming together of so many African leaders during this program is a wonderful thing. India’s ties with Africa are time-tested. The government of India has deepened engagement with Africa. Economic and development cooperation between India and Africa have touched new heights,” India’s WION TV news reported from Johannesburg.
Among the African Presidents were: Paul Kagame of Rwanda; Yoweri Museveni of Uganda; Edgar Lungu of Zambia; Hage Geingob of Namibia; João Lourenço of Angola; Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe; Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon; Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana; and Peter Mutharika of Malawi). The African leaders were invited by host nation South Africa to discuss ways of pursuing inclusive growth on the continent with the BRICS heads of state, reported China’s CGTN television network.
South Africa’s BRICS website points out that since it last hosted the summit in 2013, all BRICS hosts have included an Outreach format: “In 2013, South Africa took the initiative to activate the provision for a BRICS Dialogue with partners from the Global South, as per the Sanya Declaration that stated: ‘We are open to increasing engagement and cooperation with non-BRICS countries, in particular emerging and developing countries, and relevant international and regional organizations.’ ”
In his address, Modi, highlighting the ongoing cooperation between India and the African nations and welcoming the effort for regional economic integration by the African countries, said: “In the last four years [of his administration], we have had more than 100 visits and meetings at the levels of heads of state and various government levels and these have taken our economic relations and development cooperation to a new high. India has offered 180 lines of credit worth $11 billion in more than 40 countries in Africa.”
In addition, he said that “every year 8,000 African students get scholarships to study in India” and that his country now has an e-network in 48 African countries for telemedicine.
Newly Elected Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan Sends Positive Message to India’s Modi
July 27 (EIRNS)—In his speech July 26 declaring victory in the Pakistan election (which is not yet official), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party chief Imran Khan pledged to “match every step India takes towards Pakistan with two.”
“We want to improve our relations with India,” he said, “if their leadership also wants it. This blame game that whatever goes wrong in Pakistan is because of India and vice versa brings us back to square one.”
Khan expects to be sworn in on Aug. 14, Pakistan’s Independence Day.
Salvini Advises London that the EU Is Trying To Swindle You
July 29 (EIRNS)—Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, the head of the Lega, told the Sunday Times of London that Prime Minister Theresa May should be tougher in her negotiations with the European Union regarding the Brexit. “My experience in the European Parliament tells me you either impose yourself or they swindle you,” he was quoted as saying.
Salvini said May should be willing to walk away, “Because on some principles there is no need to be flexible and you should not go backwards…. There is no objectivity or good faith from the European side.”
The Lega and M5S Recognize Crimea’s Referendum To Reunify with Russia
July 28 (EIRNS)—Italy’s two ruling parties—Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S) and Lega—recognize the referendum held in Crimea in 2014 to reunite with Russia, but Rome continues to adhere to the European Union line, which considers Crimea’s reunification to be a violation of international law, M5S member Manlio Di Stefano told TASS. “The Five Star Movement recognizes the referendum but the ‘government contract’ does not imply the recognition of Crimea’s status, which is why Rome continues to stick to the EU’s line,” he said. The EU considers that Crimea is a Ukrainian region “annexed” by Russia, and is one if its major excuses for maintaining the sanctions against Russia.
Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who heads the Lega party, has said on many occasions that the Crimean referendum was legitimate. Regional councils in the Italian regions of Veneto, Lombardy and Liguria, where the Lega has a majority, have passed resolutions arguing for the EU to remove sanctions against Moscow and recognize Crimea as part of Russia.
