EDITORIAL

Two Weeks Before the U.S. Elections, the World Heads to a Breaking Point

Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—We are now two weeks before the U.S. midterm elections, which, whatever the outcome, will be a break point in world affairs. At the same time, the financial system centered on Wall Street and the City of London is about to blow out, while the British geopolitical crowd is madly pushing international confrontation to the point of all-out war, and equally madly demanding industrial society be eradicated from the planet, in the name of its CO2 green insanity.

Depending on the outcome of the Nov. 6 elections, President Donald Trump is either freed up to make good on his campaign pledges of economic betterment and decent relations with Russia, China and other great powers, or we face some variety of doom.

To be sure, a New Paradigm of international development relations is underway, but it is not yet consolidated. Our situation in the U.S. elections is spelled out in the new LaRouchePAC statement in circulation, posted Oct. 19 and titled, “The 2018 Midterms Are Humanity’s Big Chance; Don’t Blow It on a Bunch of Crazies George Soros Pays For,” with a kicker: “November 6, 2018: The Last Big Chance for All of Humanity?”

If you step away from the lies and hysterics in the U.S. media right now about the President, the picture becomes very comprehensible that the electorate who voted for Trump in 2016, still want no more of the policies they rejected in that election. In 2016, they voted against the Bush/Obama “London” wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that cost lives, limbs and hope. They voted against the free trade economic hardship. They voted against the Hillary Clinton/Wall Street duplicity and arrogance in perpetrating policies of destruction. For example, look at the condition of younger veterans and their families. Since 2003, some 2.77 million American military servicemen and women have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, of whom 977,000 have served two tours of duty, and many served even more. An estimated 20 veterans die each day from suicide, according to national studies. All the while, targetted Asian countries have been devastated.

Even as international media continue lying that “President Trump is isolated,” tens of thousands of voters are turning out for the Trump state rallies. In Texas, over 100,000 people applied to attend Trump’s event in Houston this evening, for which a bigger venue had to be booked, but even so, coordinators had to resort to contingencies for tailgate parties in the parking lot, with giant video screens. People started lining up the night before; by 9:00 this morning, some 8,000 people were waiting. Backers have come from as far away as Pennsylvania and Ohio, in addition to people from the nearby states of Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

The Independent, LaRouche PAC-endorsed candidacy of Kesha Rogers for Congress (9th CD) in Houston, where she is running against impeachment fanatic Rep. Al Green, is in the forefront of the action, distributing thousands of leaflets to the crowd, to supply the policy content of backing Trump in the election. During drive time this morning, a huge banner hung over one of the superhighways, reading: “Kesha Rogers for Congress Welcomes President Trump—Fire Impeachment Al Green!”

The task in Houston, across the United States and around the world, is to get people to think on a higher level, that is, what is needed 100 and more years from now. This involves recognizing that the old, British Empire-type system is in breakdown; and it involves grasping and acting on principles for the future. This was spelled out by LaRouche PAC Science Team member Megan Beets in an Oct. 20 presentation, “The World Needs More People,” for the weekly Manhattan Project town hall dialogue, posted to LaRouche PAC’s website.

Beets ended her opening address, “It really is our job now, with this potential of this emerging new paradigm, with this Empire so exposed, in the [CO2] fraud of what they’ve been pushing, and so rejected by the majority of humanity at this point, we have not just a potential, but the real responsibility to form a new paradigm of human progress. And that means we have to create the potential for a lot of geniuses.  And that means that we have to create the conditions now, for those geniuses to come into existence.  We have to shut down this anti-people, anti-population policy; we have to reject it, and we have to get the United States to join in the intention of what China’s leading with the Belt and Road Initiative—and more than that, the higher vision that the LaRouches have had for decades now, of a real, global Renaissance, the real uniting of mankind around a common mission for our common progress.”

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Trump Rally Draws Huge Crowd in Houston, Including Kesha Rogers Campaign Greeting

Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—For the sixth time since he began his run for President, Donald Trump tonight returned to Houston, Texas, for a campaign rally, nominally in support of Senator Ted Cruz. Since the event was announced, the Republican headquarters has been besieged with over 100,000 requests for tickets. Some people waited in line more than 24 hours. Rally organizers had already moved the venue for the event from the NRG Arena, to the Toyota Center, which can hold 19,000, almost double the capacity.

Even so, demand was so strong, that this morning that event organizers announced they were sponsoring a “tailgate rally” in the parking lot outside the center, where people could bring food, and, of course, watch the President on a wide-screen monitor. Local TV networks were also streaming the event live on internet.

LaRouche PAC-endorsed Independent campaign, Kesha Rogers for Congress, in Texas’ 9th CD for the seat held by impeachment fanatic Al Green was out front, organizing among the massive crowd. During morning rush hour, from 6:30-9:30 a.m., a large banner hung from a highway overpass, reading: “Kesha Rogers for Congress Welcomes President Donald Trump. Fire Impeachment Al Green!” Throughout the day, Rogers campaign activists circulated among the lines of people, getting out thousands of leaflets and making contacts. People came not only from the surrounding states of Oklahoma, Louisiana, and New Mexico, but also from as far away as Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Early voting in Texas begins Monday, Oct. 22.

Trump-Xi Meeting in Argentina Will Be To ‘Reconnect,’ Despite Tariff Dispute

Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—Citing unnamed sources, the Axios news agency claims that the meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Nov. 30-Dec. 1 G20 summit in Argentina, is intended for Trump and Xi to reconnect.

“It’s a heads-of-state meeting, not a trade meeting. Trump is thinking about this meeting as a personal reconnection with President Xi, not a meeting that’s going to evolve into detailed discussions. The sides are very far apart…. Right now, there’s not a common basis for proceeding,” one source is quoted as saying.

Another source claimed that Trump, “wants them [China] to suffer more” from hefty U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, and that the U.S. President is sticking to the view that “the longer his tariffs last, the more leverage he’ll have.” All of this indicates that, “the trade war between the U.S. and China is just getting started,” the source speculates.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Bolton Met Officials in Moscow for ‘Strategic Dialogue,’ with Putin Meeting Set for Oct. 23

Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—The expected Oct. 23 meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton was still being prepared, according to Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, today, even after President Donald Trump’s Oct. 20 statement that the U.S. would be withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

“This meeting is being prepared,” Peskov told reporters when asked whether Putin’s schedule would be changed. Peskov had said earlier, that Putin would want clarification from Bolton, of the U.S. stance. According to Radio Free Europe, Peskov said that Russia wants to hear “some kind of explanation” of U.S. plans. “This is a question of strategic security. And I again repeat: such intentions are capable of making the world more dangerous.” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov likewise expressed the need for Bolton to give clarification.

Bolton is in Moscow for pre-scheduled meetings with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and, reportedly, also with Defense Secretary Sergei Shoigu. These meetings are a part of the implementation of the process of U.S.-Russia strategic dialogue, which was mandated from the June Helsinki meeting between Trump and Putin. Bolton had a similar round of meetings on Aug. 23.

After arriving in Moscow yesterday, on Oct. 21, this morning Bolton met with Patrushev. Following this, the Russian Security Council spokesman gave a description of the Bolton-Patrushev meeting, in terms of the ongoing process of strategic dialogue. The same kind of summary was given by the Russian Foreign Ministry, after Bolton met with Lavrov.

Russian Security Council spokesman Yevgeny Anoshin told Sputnik, that in the Patrushev-Bolton meeting “The prospects for building a dialogue between Moscow and Washington on strategic issues were discussed. The sides noted the importance of continuing contacts at the level of security councils, as well as through a number of ministries and departments of the two countries, on security issues.”

After Bolton met with Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the two men had discussed “the prospect of interaction between our countries, including in the interests of settling regional conflicts, effectively fighting against terrorism, and the maintenance of strategic stability.”

Meantime, President Donald Trump again spoke with reporters today about U.S. intentions on the INF treaty. Bolton gave late-night commentary to the media in Moscow.

Senator Paul Wants Trump To Appoint Negotiators To Talk Through INF Treaty with Russia

Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) reported to Fox News yesterday that he thinks “John Bolton is the one advising the President to get out of the INF treaty,” and “I don’t think he [Bolton] recognizes the important achievement of Reagan and Gorbachev on this.” Further, “I think it’s a big, big mistake to get out of this historic agreement.” Paul called the pact a big part of Reagan’s legacy.

Paul, instead, is making the proposal to the President that that he appoint nuclear arms control negotiators to actually work with the Russians. “We have complaints that they are not in compliance. They also have complaints that some of our missile launchers in Europe are not in compliance,” he said. “Let’s have a rational discussion with experts on this and see if we can resolve it.”

Russian, Iranian, Turkish Diplomats Meet in Moscow on Situation in Idlib, Syria

Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—Russian officials announced today that on Oct. 24 envoys from Russia, Iran, and Turkey will meet in Moscow, to discuss the situation in Idlib and related security matters in Syria, following on from the Sept. 17 meeting in Sochi, at which time Russia and Turkey had agreed to a buffer zone plan, as an interim measure to deal with the terrorists embedded in Idlib. Today was a deadline for the goal of having heavy military armaments removed from the buffer zone. It is expected that Russia and Turkey will recommend more time, if this condition cannot yet be achieved.

Russia, Turkey, and Iran are the guarantors of the Syria “Astana process,” which negotiated the first ceasefire in May 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan.

On Oct. 27, a four-power meeting on Syria is to take place, involving the heads of state or government of Russia, Iran, France, and Germany.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Ibero-America and Caribbean Are Sticking with the Future—the Belt and Road

Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—Despite the Rumpelstiltskins in the U.S. establishment, the Ibero-American and Caribbean nations are proceeding towards full participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which the United States is invited to join, too. Eleven countries in the region have now signed formal memoranda on cooperating through the Belt and Road.

The BRI is the necessary answer to Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilizations, Costa Rica’s Ambassador to China Patricia Holkemeyer asserted in an Oct. 17 interview with Xinhua. The BRI is “a new platform, a new way of conceiving world development completely differently. It is not a China club. It is something which China invites all countries to develop, delineate, into how they want it to be,” she argued. “For a project like this to flourish … that concept of Huntington’s of a clash of civilizations is not what will prevail, but rather the opposite, the necessity of knowing the different cultures.”

As for the region, Ambassador Holkemeyer said that Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic should jointly work out their participation in the New Silk Road, singling out the possibility of building a broader Central American extension of the high-speed rail China and Panama are planning.

For his part, Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina will make his first visit to China on Oct. 27, to personally open the country’s new Embassy in Beijing.

In an Oct. 21 editorial, China’s semi-official Global Times nailed the sore spot of the establishment’s anti-China policy: Where is the U.S. support for Ibero-American/Caribbean development?

“Latin American countries depend on the U.S. economy, but the U.S. does not make the region rich and prosperous,” they wrote. The editorial cited the question which Voice of America had asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after his Oct. 19 “warning” to Panama to break with the Belt and Road: “How do you convince Panama to turn down Chinese money? Does the United States have to sort of step up to the plate and do its own investment?” Pompeo’s stumbling answer made clear that “the U.S. has not thought of this question seriously,” Global Times stated.

Portugal Prepares To Officially Enter the Belt and Road Initiative

Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—Portugal and China are finishing details on a Memorandum of Understanding on Portugal’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative initiated by China, focused on investment in infrastructure, Portugal’s Foreign Affairs Minister Augusto Santos Silva announced Oct. 20 from Macao. He did not give details, but he emphasized the role which Portugal’s Atlantic deepwater port, Sines, can play in the Belt and Road, because of its strategic location for connecting with the continents of Africa, the Americas, and Eurasia. Sines is Europe’s closest port to the now-expanded Panama Canal, he pointed out in making the announcement.

At the same time, Santos Silva announced that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s long-planned state visit to Portugal is now set for Dec. 4-5. He did not say whether the MOU will be signed during that visit, but Portugal is eager to get to work on the project. Today, in meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, Silva Santos emphasized that Portugal “is willing to work with China, ready to further implement China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and become a hub linking Europe and Asia through land and sea,” China’s CGTN TV network reported.

Portugal’s Foreign Minister is visiting China on Oct. 19-23, accompanied by the Secretary of State for Internationalization, and other top officials. Their trip has taken them from Guangdong to Macao, and now to Beijing, where they will meet with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, senior diplomat Yang Jiechi from the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC’s Central Committee, and Commerce Minister Zhong Shan, and take part in the tenth Joint China-Portugal Economic and Trade Committee Meeting.

Interest is also growing in Portugal’s neighbor, Spain. President Xi Jinping will visit Spain for talks with government officials Nov. 27-28, Spain’s Foreign Ministry announced in September.

Russia-Africa Public Forum Opens in Moscow

Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—President Vladimir Putin informed the African heads of state and government invited to attend the BRICS Summit in South Africa last July that Russia is “considering the idea of holding a Russia-Africa summit with the participation of African heads of state.” But since a summit with Africa’s over 50 heads of state requires a great deal of preparation, he suggested that “meetings of prominent entrepreneurs, experts, public figures” may come before such a summit.

Today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov opened the “Russia-Africa Public Forum” in Moscow with the statement that “all of us agree that it will be impossible to elevate the entire range of relations between Russia and African countries to an entirely new level unless the public at large takes the most energetic part in these efforts. There is demand for more intensive cultural, humanitarian, academic and youth exchanges, as well as general contacts between people. It is hard to overestimate the role of this in strengthening friendship, trust and mutual understanding between nations.” His full remarks were posted to the Foreign Ministry website.

Speaking at the plenary along with Lavrov, were Madagascar’s Foreign Minister Eloi Dovo, Russian Special Envoy for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Azer Talybov, Vice Chairman of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of legislature) Sen. Ilyas Umakhanov, Alrosa mining company Vice President Vladimir Marchenko, and Russia’s Chief Sanitary Inspector Anna Popovam, TASS reported.

Lavrov thanked the African Business Initiative Union and the World Association of Foreign Alumni of Russian Universities for helping organize the forum, which the university association reported was attended by more than 500 people, including residents from about 30 African countries, foreigners studying in Russian universities, and Russian representatives.

“The forum will become a platform for the discussion of interaction prospects between Russia and the African countries on the most extensive range of problems. The focus will be on expanding cooperation on cultural, humanitarian, commerce and economic areas,” the World Association of University Graduates told the Russiky Mir Foundation.

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

U.S. Army War College Professor Sketches Plan To Crush Panama’s Belt and Road Participation

Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—Sixteen months after U.S. ally Panama established relations with the People’s Republic of China in order to become a strategic hub for the Belt and Road Initiative, the U.S. establishment is frantically trying to shut the barn door on the Belt and Road’s arrival.

U.S. Army War College Latin American Research Professor Evan Ellis visited Panama from Sept. 4-14 to profile social and economic vulnerabilities which could be played to effect this end. In his Sept. 21 piece for the “Global Americans” website (“The Evolution of Panama-P.R.C. Relations Since Recognition and Their Strategic Implications for the U.S. and the Region”), Ellis detailed points of contention over the series of China-Panama projects “which defy economic logic.” Top on his hitlist: the high-speed rail from Panama City to David, near the Costa Rica border, which he dismisses as lacking any economic justification for the “insignificant” local economy where it is planned.

He forecasts “a great conflict developing slowly which will not end well,” if China’s advances in Panama are not stopped. Ellis specifies measures of economic and political warfare to be thrown at Panama, should the country not voluntarily back down. U.S. actions against “corruption” in Panama top the list. Ellis argues, for example, that the U.S. should “not hesitate to take appropriate measures to push [Panama] in the correct direction for preserving the health of its democratic institutions.” Measures such as restricting docking access for Panamanian flag ships, and “restrict[ing] access to U.S. financial institutions and markets for Panamanian institutions and individuals.”

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

An Offering of Appropriate Disdain for IPCC Climate Change Lies

Oct. 22 (EIRNS)—“World Yawns on UN’s Climate Apocalypse; IPCC Autopsy at Hand,” Manila Times columnist Yen Makabenta wrote two days ago. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s latest report went too far, he argues; instead of sowing panic, it is now “the consensus of informed opinion, of reputable media organizations, and the majority of nations and world leaders,” that the IPCC “should not be taken seriously.”

The editors of the Wall Street Journal asked on Oct. 15: “Have we reached peak alarmism on climate change?” Some countries, even Canada, “are retreating from their plan to pass a carbon tax.” Even William Nordhaus, the climate freak who won the Nobel Prize for economics for his promotion of carbon taxes, “contends that the UN policy goal of 1.5@dgC [global temperature increase] is absolutely ludicrous, and in fact it would make humanity much worse off than doing nothing at all about slowing climate change,” Makabenta wrote.

The author quotes his own Sept. 22 column: “[M]ore and more scientists, including some who were once climate alarmists, are abandoning the claims and scares of climate change. The literature debunking climate change now easily drowns the climate-crisis propaganda.

“The goal of carbon chastity has become as elusive and problematic as clerical celibacy in the Catholic Church.”