EDITORIAL

Showdown Moment—British Enemy Apparat Exposed and Overripe for End

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—We are in a showdown moment. At this week’s Group of 20 Summit—only three days away, in Buenos Aires, there is the potential for Great Power diplomacy in the direction of a New Paradigm of foreign relations, as an outcome of the sideline meetings of heads of state and government of the United States, China, Russia, India and others.

The growing momentum for New Paradigm economic development is seen in high-level events this month in six Western European nations: in Germany, the “Hamburg Summit: China Meets Europe” (Nov. 26-27); in France, the Lyon “Franco-Chinese Forum” (Nov. 26-28); in Spain, President Xi Jinping’s state visit (Nov. 27-29); in Portugal, Xi’s visit (Dec. 4-5); in Italy, a new Xinhua-associated Italian financial media service will be set up (Nov. 6 agreement); in Norway, the first Polar Route icebreaker delivery of Yamal LNG, for transshipment from the northern port of Honnigsvag.

This is the context in which to see the blatant, dangerous gambits to wreck the Buenos Aires gathering of leaders, and any other such future opportunity, coming from the British Empire crowd, in the form of staged confrontations, lies and subversion.

Look at recent destabilizing events: the Nov. 24 chemical weapons attack on Syrians in Aleppo; the stoking of suffering and strife at the Mexico-U.S. border; and on Nov. 25, Ukraine’s naval provocation against Russia in the Black Sea. The British government asset, the “Integrity Initiative” is fully deployed to goad the U.S. and Western Europe to launch an offensive against Russia over the Ukraine incident, blaming Russia for “aggression” against Ukraine. The British imperialists are making a habit of exposing their own role in demanding world war!

These provocations are not a sign of power, but of desperation, desperation to stop the spreading success of the New Paradigm of collaborative development expressed in the Belt and Road Initiative, and what lies ahead if the U.S. joins up. Schiller Institute Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche today emphasized that each time the British Imperialist apparatus steps forward in its own name to sabotage world peace, it works to the detriment of their dying system. The Empire is dangerous, but all the easier to crush.

The Nov. 25 Ukrainian naval breach of Russian territorial waters was long pre-planned. As the Italian military journal Difesa Onlinewrote on Nov. 25, “it was evident to all those who follow local events that for some days already, the Poroshenko government in Ukraine was trying to provoke an armed confrontation with Moscow in the Crimean waters.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, said the same yesterday, adding a warning. “We are talking about a pre-planned, deliberate, and now realized large-scale provocation…. I think everybody should be careful next time. I think there will be a next time, considering what is happening now.”

President Donald Trump’s first response to the Ukraine incident, Nov. 26, was to express concern, and hopes for settlement. “We do not like what’s happening, either way; … hopefully, it will get straightened out.”  President Vladimir Putin will issue his statement on this incident in a few days.

From London, however, comes a raving “script” of what Trump and the West must do against Russia. It is the featured item on the website of the Integrity Initiative, which is a British intelligence black war propaganda operation. Its funding is from the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Its Nov. 26 posting is titled, “West Is Once Again Failing Test Set by Russian Aggression,” by Edward Lucas, formerly of The Economist, and a longtime Russia-hater, who wrote such books as Deception: Spies, Lies and How Russia Dupes the West(2012) and The New Cold War: Putin’s Russia and the Threat to the West (2nd ed., 2014). Lucas calls for “kinetic, symbolic, and financial measures” against Russia. This is to include, the West sending military aid to Ukraine, running a NATO flotilla to the Ukrainian port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, putting sanctions on Russian officials and businessmen present in the West, and cutting Russia off from Western finance. Lucas says that the West didn’t act against Nazi Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland, but they must act now against Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Lucas is part of the British “cluster” of Integrity Initiative’s operatives, which also includes former British Ambassador to Russia Sir Andrew Wood of Orbis Business Intelligence, the firm of “former” MI6 agent Christopher Steele, who fabricated the infamous anti-Trump dossier. These figures are at the heart of the coup operations against Trump, and before that, the Obama Administration election subversion.

Zepp-LaRouche nailed the Integrity Initiative in a Sputnik interview published yesterday, now being run in media internationally. She said that the group’s activity displays the “modus operandi of British intelligence operations, and it very well may turn out, that it is this network, which is deeply involved in ‘Russiagate’ and the entire coup against President Trump.”

It is now urgent for all the documents bearing on these criminal, treasonous operations to be de-classified, and the full story revealed. Every hour counts.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

U.K. ‘Integrity Initiative’ Exposes British Empire’s Hand in Ukraine Provocation

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—The lead story yesterday on the website of the “Integrity Initiative,” exposed recently as a British intelligence black propaganda operation, is a call for war against Russia, and anyone in the West refusing to join that war, using the Ukraine provocation in the Sea of Azov as its pretext. The author is The Economist former Senior Editor for Russian affairs Edward Lucas, with an impeccable record as imperial spokesman against the nation-state system arising from the Peace of Westphalia, who longs for war on Russia.

Immediately below that call for war, is the statement issued by Integrity Initiative the same day, Nov. 26, acknowledging that the recently leaked documents exposing it as a British intelligence front are true. It states: (1) that its “funding for 2017 and 2018 was provided by a grant from the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office”; and (2) that the documents on its operations leaked by Anonymous in recent days are legitimate, although it “cannot say with confidence whether [the documents] are all genuine or whether they include false material.”

This is the outfit, then, which published Lucas’s article war cry, headlined “West Is Once Again Failing Test Set by Russian Aggression.” Lucas proposes that Russia’s response to the Ukraine provocation be seen as a parallel to Nazi Germany’s 1939 attack on Poland, and be met against Russia accordingly, using “kinetic, symbolic and financial measures.” He suggests such responses as to send a NATO naval flotilla to dock at Ukraine’s Mariupol port on the Sea of Azov; increase military assistance from the West to Ukraine; impose a temporary ban on official and business visas for Russians, and measures to cut Russia off from access to the Western financial system.

Lucas complains that Western nations and even NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg are instead calling for restraint and de-escalation by both sides, unlike Canada, which danced to Her Majesty’s tune, and condemned Russia as the aggressor.

Lucas is most upset over President Donald Trump’s failure to turn against Russia. “Most worryingly of all (for us, and most pleasingly for Russia) there was no early response from the U.S.,” he complains. Lucas makes clear that British intelligence will activate its assets/targets in the U.S. Congress, noting that the U.S. response “may get better. There is talk of more sanctions. In the U.S. Congress will have something to say….”

Not two weeks earlier, Lucas had penned an article posted by the “Integrity” crew on Nov. 19, in which he raved that “It is time to drop the fiction that Russia and China are normal countries with which we can conduct normal diplomacy. They should be seen as rogue states, akin to North Korea or Iran.”

Zepp-LaRouche Tells Sputnik, U.K. ‘Integrity Initiative’ Aims To Preserve British Control

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—United News of India and Pakistan’s UrduPoint news today republished a Sputnik wire on German Civil Rights Movement Solidarity party (BüSo) chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche who charges that “the main aim” of the British government-funded Integrity Initiative project “is to preserve the old paradigm of British control of the world order, by countering the reassertion of Russia as a global player and the rise of China.”

“In order to accomplish that purpose, they meddle as much as they can in every country around the globe. It is a myth that the British Empire no longer exists; they just have changed their appearance,” Zepp-LaRouche said.

While some elements of the leaked documents may not be authentic, “the overall story is entirely consistent with the modus operandi of British intelligence operations, and it very well may turn out, that it is this network which is deeply involved in ‘Russiagate’ and the entire coup against President Trump,” she said.

“Hand of Moscow” English-language blog also published a version of the story today, citing RIA Novosti as its source. RIA Novosti and Sputnik are both owned by Rossiya Segodnya.

For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented today from Paris, that “as could be seen from the comments of this agency—Integrity Initiative—its only aim is to damage Russia’s public image in foreign countries,” Sputnik reported from Paris. Lavrov made his remarks during a press conference after his talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Putin Will Comment on Ukraine Naval Provocation in Next Few Days

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—“The President will announce his stance within the next few days,” on the situation over the Ukraine naval incident, Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this morning, reports TASS. “It would be wrong to underestimate the significance and danger of such provocations.” When asked why Putin had not commented on the issue yet despite the seriousness of that incident, Peskov noted that “The President will do so when he deems it necessary. It is a very serious matter for the President. You know that he has received comprehensive information from our border guards and specialized agencies right from the start of this provocation.” The Kremlin spokesman said, “However, when the time comes, the President will provide all necessary explanations.”

What Putin is not going to do at present, according to Peskov, is talk to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko as the U.S. State Department had suggested in its Nov. 26 statements, by saying the two leaders should “engage” together in a solution. Such a meeting, Peskov said, is not necessary as the situation has already calmed down. “In fact, there is no more need to calm the situation,” he said. “It happened the day before yesterday, when our border guards appeased the violators of the Russian state border.”

Putin spoke today by phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the situation. The Kremlin readout stated, “Serious concern was expressed over Kiev’s decision to put its armed forces on combat alert and impose martial law.” Further, “It was pointed out that the Ukrainian authorities bear full responsibility for creating yet another conflict situation and for the attendant risks. All this has been clearly done in the context of the election campaign in Ukraine.”

In Kiev, the Verkhovna Rada (unicameral parliament) did act on the martial law request that Poroshenko had put forward, but limited it to the Ukrainian regions next to Russia, the Black Sea and Moldova, and for a duration of 30 days, not the 60 that the National Security and Defense Council had requested. Peskov warned that imposing martial law risks escalating tension in the Donbas region.

Peskov was asked today specifically about the upcoming G20 summit, and the sidelines meeting between Putin and Trump this weekend, and whether the Ukraine matter would be raised. Peskov said, “This is not a topic for the G20 summit, but at the same time if any issues are raised at bilateral meetings with the President on the sidelines of the summit, no one should doubt that the President will give exhaustive clarifications.”

As for the sailors that were aboard the three Ukrainian vessels taken to Kerch by Russia’s FSB Border Service, they remain in FSB custody and according to reports in TASS, FSB investigators are interrogating them. Russia released video on this yesterday. Both the FSB and the Ukrainian security service, the SBU, confirm that SBU officers were aboard the vessels. The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against them for violating Russia’s state borders.

The Kiev regime’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin is claiming that the sailors are prisoners of war and cannot be put on trial, according to Interfax-Ukraine. “We are currently in talks with the Red Cross because, by status, our guys are prisoners of war. Russia has made several acts of aggression against us, and the Red Cross must actively get involved in this,” Klimkin said on the “Breakfast with 1+1” TV broadcast, which was aired live this morning, reported Interfax-Ukraine.

Italian Defense Journal Warns Sea of Azov Crisis Could Become Potentially ‘Devastating’

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—In an article posted on Nov. 25, the Italian military magazine Difesa Online wrote that “it was evident to all who follow local events, that for some days already, the Poroshenko government in Ukraine was trying to provoke an armed confrontation with Moscow in the Crimean waters.”

Difesa Online is the most followed defense magazine in Italy. Under the headline “What Is Happening in the Sea of Azov,” it warned that the “consequences on the international strategic theater could be devastating.”

Reconstructing events, Difesa Online wrote that Ukrainian vessels entered Russian territorial waters in the Black Sea and “deliberately performed maneuvers near the coast (of Crimea) which can be considered as dangerous, and disobeyed the warnings” from the Russian border command.

“Feeding further tensions, the Ukrainian Navy sent a few more small ships of the Gurza class to the place where the three Ukrainian warships had been intercepted. However, they did not enter Russian territorial waters.

“…It is quite evident that in some way, they are intentionally feeding the already high tension in the region, provoking the Russian coast guard and related Kremlin Naval forces.”

The Italian magazine reports that according to local experts and political figures, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wants to use the escalation to gain in the Presidential elections in March. Ukraine is in a full-fledged political crisis and “the state apparatus is on the verge of a total economic collapse.”

Some Russian politicians compare Poroshenko’s actions to Mikheil Saakashvili’s 2008 flight forward when he was President of Georgia. The Kiev regime, according to Difesa Online, is continuously feeding tensions in the Donbas with attacks through commercial drones and building up positions in the regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk self-proclaimed republics, despite the ceasefire.

NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER

Hamburg’s China Summit: ‘Hamburg Will Be a Hub for the New Silk Road in Europe’

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—As the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce reports in its Nov. 27 press release, some 450 guests attended the closing luncheon of the China Summit, which was held in the Chamber’s Commerce Hall. Chamber President Tobias Bergmann in his speech emphasized Hamburg’s great significance as part of the New Silk Road: “Hamburg will have a key role as terminus and hub of the land and marine Silk Road routes in Europe.”

In his welcoming address, Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher highlighted that Hamburg was in possession of unique conditions in Europe, as Germany’s center of expertise for modern maritime logistics and with its rail links. “Up to 30 trains a week are already now making the trip between Hamburg and 27 Chinese cities,” Tschentscher said, adding that reciprocal investment was a route to closer cooperation along the New Silk Road and was at the focus of the initiative. The value of infrastructure development was also stressed by the CEO Victor LL Chu of the First Eastern Investment Group based in Hong Kong, saying “We must not forget that building infrastructure between different regions of the world is automatically accompanied by trade, investment and cultural exchange.”

The presence of Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a top economist in the country and leading trade negotiator, underlined the significance that Beijing attached to the Hamburg conference.  Also the participation by EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager showed that, as she said, “Europe and China have a shared interest in strengthening the rule-based international system for a global-level playing field and fair competition. I hope that our meeting today will confirm these shared objectives to help address concerns within the global rules and avoid unilateral measures.”

Italian Version of Xinhua Silk Road Media Agency Launched at China International Import Expo

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—China Economic Information Service of Xinhua News Agency signed an agreement with the Italian financial media giant Class Editori SpA to jointly launch the Italian version of Xinhua Silk Road on Nov. 6 at the first China International Import Expo (CIIE), held in Shanghai from Nov. 5-10. The agreement was signed at the fifth meeting of the China-Italy Business Forum, one of the CIIE supporting activities.

Xinhua’s Silk Road Information Service (silkroad.news.cn) reported on Nov. 6 that “Vice Minister of Commerce of China Wang Shouwen highly appreciated the efforts and achievements of the Italian government in promoting cooperation between the two countries in trade, investment, finance and third-party markets. He mentioned that China and Italy have strong economic complementarities and share many interests. The series of measures of Chinese government for further opening up is expected to create new opportunities for pragmatic cooperation between the two countries.”

The agreement between the two media corporations takes place in the context of the new pro-Belt and Road policy inaugurated by new Italian government of Giuseppe Conte.

China’s President Xi Jinping Begins His Visit to Spain

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Spain today, the first visit by a Chinese head of state in 13 years. Two Spanish fighter jets escorted his plane as it entered the country’s airspace, and Spanish children carrying flowers were among those who greeted him as he debarked.

An official welcome will be made on Nov. 28 in the Royal Palace. He then visits the Parliament, where he will be awarded medals from both chambers, and deliver an address in the Senate, before his working meeting and lunch with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, after which various agreements reached will be signed. His day will conclude with a gala dinner at the Royal Palace, offered by King Felipe VI. Spanish and Chinese businessmen will hold a separate meeting in the afternoon.

Accompanying Xi are CPC Politburo Member and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee Yang Jiechi; State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi; Chairman He Lifeng of the National Development and Reform Commission; and high-level officials from the Ministry of Commerce.

Agreements will be signed on cooperation in “markets in third-party countries,” but citing Spanish sources, ABC newspaper reported today that no Memorandum of Understanding on participation in the Belt and Road Initiative will be signed. That was clear from the outset, with EIR being told that Spain didn’t want to take a formal individual stance outside the European Union. Spain’s Ambassador to China Rafael Dezcallar de Mazarredo, however, was very clear in an interview with China’s TV network CGTN on the “Dialogue” program broadcast yesterday, that Spain wants to cooperate with China in the Belt and Road Initiative, even if it is as yet unwilling to confront the EU.  When asked about the transparency and openness of the Belt and Road, he did not give the EU line, but answered that the BRI was founded with good intentions, and it has really just started, and can and will be improved as it goes along.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

President Trump Unleashes Full-Scale Blast on Mueller’s Crimes

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump issued a tweet today which blasted the crimes of Robert Mueller’s coup attempt on behalf of the British Empire. Trump leaves out the British role behind it all, but otherwise makes it clear that these people belong in prison. His tweet:

“The Phony Witch Hunt continues, but Mueller and his gang of Angry Dems are only looking at one side, not the other. Wait until it comes out how horribly & viciously they are treating people, ruining lives for them refusing to lie. Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue. The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite. He is doing TREMENDOUS damage to our Criminal Justice System, where he is only looking at one side and not the other. Heroes will come of this, and it won’t be Mueller and his terrible Gang of Angry Democrats. Look at their past, and look where they come from. The now $30,000,000 Witch Hunt continues and they’ve got nothing but ruined lives. Where is the Server? Let these terrible people go back to the Clinton Foundation and ‘Justice’ Department!” [mob]

Some Congressmen Mouth British Line against Russia over Ukraine

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—Certain Congressmen have stepped up to mouth the British line against Russia over Ukraine, and demand President Donald Trump take action to impose more sanctions on Russia and send more weapons to the Kiev regime.

Sen. Robert Menendez (NJ), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called on the Trump Administration to bulk up its security assistance to Ukraine, and suggested NATO increase exercises and its presence in the Black Sea, and that Trump should make that commitment before he heads to Argentina to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. Menendez said, as reported by The Hill, “At this precarious time, the U.S. cannot afford a weak performance by President Trump at the G20, like we saw in Helsinki.” He went on, “Once again, the Kremlin has shown that it only respects a strong adversary that is willing to stand up to bullies.”

Drawing the special ire of certain Congressmen was a tweet by Trump in which he, again, took other NATO members to task for not carrying their fair share of the burden of the Alliance. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), who is in line to be the next chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that that’s the wrong message that Trump should be sending “when Russian expansion is full blown.” Engel reiterated his support for sending more weapons to Ukraine. “If Putin starts seeing Russian soldier fatalities, that changes his equation,” warned Engel.

The Congressional pressure on Trump isn’t just coming from Democrats. “If Putin continues his Black Sea bullying, the U.S. and Europe must consider imposing additional sanctions on Russia and … a greater U.S. and NATO presence in the Black Sea region,” said Armed Services Chair Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) Nov. 26.

SCIENCE & INFRASTRUCTURE

JPL To Practice with Insight Instruments in ‘Mars Yard’ on Earth before Martian Deployment

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—A second photo taken by NASA’s InSight lander, received at JPL yesterday evening, was much clearer than the first one. It shows in stunning detail the flat terrain that mission engineers had planned for. Engineers said nearby rocks should not present a problem in finding a flat area for InSight to deploy its underground experiments.  Earlier, mission control released a photo of Mars taken from orbit by one of the MarCo cubesats, which accompanied the InSight to Mars. The two cubesats just passed by the planet at the critical time to relay InSight landing data and the first photo back to mission control. They did not land or go into orbit.

Also last night, NASA received confirmation that the solar panels on InSight had deployed and were charging its batteries. Now engineers will spend weeks getting ready to deploy the scientific instruments. Before they do that on Mars, Elizabeth Barrett from JPL explained at a press conference yesterday, they will practice each maneuver InSight could make in JPL’s “Mars Yard,” which can be designed to simulate any surface on Mars. InSight is a lander, not a rover, so JPL can only choose spots for drilling within reach of the spacecraft.

The reason it took seven hours to receive last night’s data from Mars is because it is being relayed from InSight to the Deep Space Network on Earth via the Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, only when those spacecraft are in range above InSight in their orbits.

What is needed at Mars is a satellite relay system similar to the constellation of Tracking and Data and Relay Satellites we have in Earth orbit. In a constellation, one can be in touch with spacecraft at all times, while also being able to simultaneously communicate with receivers on Earth. NASA had had plans for this at Mars, but it was not funded.

The Mars Odyssey orbiter was launched in 2001. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrived at Mars in 2006. With these two orbiters many years beyond their design life, and our only way to receive data from the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, InSight, and NASA’s upcoming 2020 rover, NASA should be planning to deploy a next-generation on-orbit communication system for Mars now.

Ethiopia Will Have Its Own Remote Sensing Satellite, with Help from China

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—As reported yesterday by Reuters, the government of Ethiopia announced that Ethiopia would have an Earth remote sensing satellite built in China and launched in September 2019. China would pay $6 million for the design and construction of the satellite and the launch, toward the $8 million total cost. The EastAfricanweekly reported on the project, explaining that the satellite will be launched from China, but the command and control center will be based in Ethiopia.

Although according to the Reuters wire, the satellite will be used for politically correct “climate and related phenomena,” in fact, the data will use used for agriculture, land use, and other necessary monitoring for the economy.

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Trump Calls Bluff on Theresa May’s ‘Fake Brexit,’ Says It Disallows U.K. To Make Trade Deals with U.S.

Nov. 27 (EIRNS)—There was some confusion on Nov. 26 when President Donald Trump said Theresa May’s version of Brexit might mean there could be no trade deals between the U.S. and the U.K. Theresa May denied that, but BBC’s “Reality Check” confirmed Trump’s statement.

Trump told the press, when asked what he thought of May’s Brexit deal: “Sounds like a great deal for the EU. And I think we have to take a look at, seriously, whether or not the U.K. is allowed to trade. Because, you know, right now, if you look at the deal, they may not be able to trade with us, and that wouldn’t be a good thing…. I don’t think that the Prime Minister meant that, and hopefully she’ll be able to do something about that…. That would be a very big negative for the deal.” Trump was referring to the trade deal his administration is working out with the U.K. for post-Brexit trade.

Since Theresa May still has to get her deal with the EU passed by the Parliament—and it is already on extremely shaky ground—and since she can no longer make any changes, since it was approved by the entire EU on Sunday, Trump’s intervention is a potential deadly blow to May’s hope to get it through.

May immediately denied that the deal would undermine a trade deal with the U.S.: “We will be able to do trade deals with countries around the rest of the world,” she said today. “As regards the United States, we have already been talking to them about the sorts of agreements we could have in the future. We have a working group set up … which is working very well.”

And May’s office released a statement: “The political declaration we have agreed with the EU is very clear that we will have an independent trade policy so that the U.K. can sign trade deals with countries around the world—including with the U.S.”

But even BBC pointed out that she is essentially lying. In a column called “Reality Check” today, author Chris Morris points out that May’s deal keeps the U.K. in the Customs Union indefinitely, until some imagined solution to other problems is conjured up, and even then, the EU would have to agree to let the U.K. out of it. And, under the Customs Union rules, members are not allowed to make trade deals with other states. Morris writes that “as long as the U.K. remains in a transition period after Brexit, or in a temporary customs union, it will not be able to implement its own free trade deals, cutting or removing tariffs on goods, with the United States or any other third country.”

So Mrs. May is in even deeper trouble in selling her “fake Brexit,” as many call it, in the Dec. 12 Parliamentary vote.