MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2019

Volume 6, Number 78

EIR Daily Alert Service

P.O. Box 17390, Washington, DC 20041-0390

Great Power Cooperation? China’s Faster Growth Lifts U.S. Trade

Great Power Cooperation? Russia Interferes in Aluminum Shortage

Blame Bolton and Pompeo for Failed Trump-Kim Summit, Exposes Patrick Lawrence

President Putin Lays Out Objectives for the Russian Space Program

Two D.P.R.K. Test Firings Include Short-Range Missile, and U.S. Secretary of State

Another China Contribution to the Shared Future of Mankind

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EDITORIAL

Revealed: Trump Fired Comey To Carry Out His Campaign Pledge To Work with Russia

April 21 (EIRNS)—There is one major story buried in the scurrilous Mueller report which must be made known internationally, immediately. As LaRouche PAC’s Barbara Boyd writes in her report on the Mueller report below: “In the original letter which Trump dictated to Stephen Miller, firing Comey, Donald Trump said that Comey’s refusal to [state publicly that Trump was not a target] was specifically inhibiting what the President wanted to do with Russia, with respect to trade and with respect to collaboration on eliminating ISIS. With the intervention of the same staff whom the media are portraying as unsung heroes, Rod Rosenstein’s screed referencing Comey’s misconduct in the Clinton investigation was substituted as the reason for Comey’s firing. This, of course, created the entirely false narrative that the President had covered up his real reason for firing Comey.”

Similarly, Mueller’s report, as the first of ten events characterized as potentially constituting obstruction of justice, states: “On June 16, 2015 Donald J. Trump declared his intent to seek nomination as the Republican candidate for President. By early 2016, he distinguished himself among Republican candidates by speaking of closer ties with Russia, saying he would get along well with Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioning whether the NATO alliance was obsolete, and praising Putin as a ‘strong leader.’ The press reported that Russian political analysts and commentators perceived Trump as favorable to Russia.”

But, far from implying obstruction of justice, this is why the American people elected him! End the “endless wars,” Trump told the American people, and work with Russia to fight terrorism—no more “regime-change” wars to overthrow governments deemed anti-democratic by the British and their assets in the United States. Being friends with Russia “is a good thing, not a bad thing,” he said over and over. But this, says Mueller, is tantamount to treason, working with America’s “leading adversary”—a characterization of Russia asserted by the same corrupt intelligence operatives in the Obama Administration who worked hand in hand with the British intelligence directors from MI6 and GCHQ to carry out a coup against their lost colony in the Americas.

The American people must be informed. It will not come from the “fake news” outlets, who, despite differences in their views of Trump, all maintain a constant barrage of demonizing hysteria against Russia and China.

So also with Trump and China. While the media and the Congress, and Donald Trump’s own Cabinet members, peddle lunacies about China (the Washington Post’s “Foreign Policy” website, for example, headlines today: “Catching China by the Belt (and Road)—How Washington Can Beat Beijing’s Global Influence Campaign”), Trump is negotiating what he calls an “epic deal” with China, which can, and must, open the door to U.S. cooperation with the Belt and Road—the “New Silk Road” proposed and organized by Lyndon and Helga LaRouche, and now the centerpiece of Xi Jinping’s historic campaign to take the internal development of China, and the elimination of poverty in China, out to the rest of the world.

In Europe, despite open efforts at sabotage from the EU bureaucrats in Brussels, dozens of countries have signed on to the Belt and Road Initiative, most recently Italy, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. Business associations in Germany have defied government opposition to demand national support for joining in the new paradigm of win-win development for all nations and all people. Even in the U.S., the “containment dam” against China and the BRI is close to breaking. Geoffrey Garrett, dean of the Wharton School—a training ground for business and finance leaders in Philadelphia—told a student-organized forum on the Belt and Road this week: “Belt and Road is enormous. It’s no overstatement to say it could be the project of the century.” He identified infrastructure development as the key bottleneck to freeing nations from underdevelopment and poverty. This is what Justin Yifu Lin, the former Chief Economist at the World Bank, now head of the Institute for New Structural Economics in Beijing, said this year: “We have learned from our experience that infrastructure is the bottleneck to development. Entrepreneurs can’t do it—as Friedrich List said, the state must either coordinate it, or do it. You always need two hands.” Garrett, in fact, said further: “Because the Chinese government is thinking about 20 years from today, 50 years from today—I think that the U.S. needs to follow China’s lead and think differently about the way it finances infrastructure development.”

This is the necessary and totally feasible moment for the U.S. to break free from the British imperial noose, to take its rightful place as a leader in peace and development in the world, in full cooperation with the other sovereign nations, as part of the spirit of the New Silk Road, the vision for Earth’s Next Fifty Years, as LaRouche so presciently titled his 2005 book.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Some Revelations from the Mueller Report—Yes, Virginia, the Issue Was Russia

April 21 (EIRNS)—Two of the ten so-called “obstruction episodes” covered in the Mueller Report make crystal clear that the entire issue with Donald Trump was his desire for a peaceful accommodation with Russia.

In recounting episode (1) titled, “The Campaign’s Response to Reports about Russian Support of Trump,” Mueller matter-of-factly reports the following as justifying an FBI counterintelligence investigation: “On June 16, 2015 Donald J. Trump declared his intent to seek nomination as the Republican candidate for President.  By early 2016, he distinguished himself among Republican candidates by speaking of closer ties with Russia, saying he would get along well with Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioning whether the NATO alliance was obsolete, and praising Putin as a ‘strong leader.’ The press reported that Russian political analysts and commentators perceived Trump as favorable to Russia.”

The report continues that beginning in February of 2016, the “press” began to report the connections of various campaign figures with Russia, namely, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and Carter Page.  Trump, they report, pursued WikiLeaks during the campaign regarding the timing of further releases of documents; said that he doubted that the Russians hacked the DNC and John Podesta; said that he had no business dealings in Russia; and the Campaign was involved in changing a plank in the Republican Party platform about providing lethal assistance to Ukraine.  Of course, we know, that the “press” consisted of British intelligence, the British Integrity Initiative and Christopher Steele, the CIA and State Department here, but Mueller, of course does not mention this.  It is such an accepted premise of this entire exercise that political views advocating peace with Russia justify government investigation, that the implications of episode (1) being grist for such an investigation is never referenced.

In recounting episode (4), the firing of James Comey, it is revealed that the President, all along, wanted to explicitly state that he was firing Comey because Comey refused to specify, publicly, that the President was not under investigation, despite telling the President and Congressional Committees privately that this was the case, and this was interfering with his ability to conduct foreign policy with Russia.  In the original letter which Trump dictated to Stephen Miller, firing Comey, Donald Trump said that Comey’s refusal to do this was specifically inhibiting what the President wanted to do with Russia, with respect to trade and with respect to collaboration on eliminating ISIS.  With the intervention of the same staff who the media are portraying as unsung heroes, Rod Rosenstein’s screed referencing Comey’s misconduct in the Clinton investigation was substituted as the reason for Comey’s being fired. This, of course, created the entirely false narrative that the President had covered up his real reason for firing Comey.

Trump Tweets, Time To Prosecute Possible Treason in ‘Illegally Started Hoax’

April 19 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump has concentrated his Twitter fire since yesterday on the “Illegally Started Hoax that never should have happened, a big, fat, waste of time, energy and money – $30,000,000 to be exact,” as he wrote today.

A short, sharp video compiled of “no collusion” clips from throughout the Muellergate fight sent out on Thursday night, April 18, leads straight up with a clip of President Trump from earlier stating his right to fight back, because “I am fighting back not for me, but for the people of this country.”

Today, Trump again demanded a full investigation and prosecution of the hoax, writing: “It is now finally time to turn the tables and bring justice to some very sick and dangerous people who have committed very serious crimes, perhaps even Spying or Treason. This should never happen again!”

Despite the aggressive posture of the Democrats’ Nadlers, Schiffs, et al., that the Mueller Report justified their continuing drive to bring down President Trump, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer admitted to CNN yesterday that there was nothing in the report that could serve as a basis to impeach the President. “Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point,” Hoyer said. “Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgment.”

Russian Embassy Report Counters False Claims of Meddling in U.S. 2016 Election

April 20 (EIRNS)—The Russian Embassy in Washington has released a 120-page report with examples of unfounded accusations of Moscow’s alleged interference into the 2016 U.S. presidential elections made by the U.S. officials and media, according to TASS.  The report includes articles by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Politico, CNN, and NBC, as well as examples of verbal attacks on the Russian Embassy alleging Russian cyberattacks worldwide. It also cites false statements made by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, other government officials, members of Congress, and ostensible political experts.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

China Warns American Elites, You Have Gone Too Far

April 19 (EIRNS)—The semi-official Chinese daily Global Timesposted an editorial today sternly warning that the campaign being run against Chinese scholars in the United States by the FBI—long notorious as an instrument of British imperial interests against the United States from within, EIR notes—could lead to consequences of historic proportions which could “ruin” the 21st century. The editorial delivers a message to the American establishment, that while China has carefully avoided the “all-round confrontation” which the geopolitical crowd has long sought, that friendly attitude may reach a breaking point.

Wang Wen of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies toldGlobal Times that at least 280 Chinese social scholars “have been unfairly treated,” far more than the 30 cited by the New York Times on April 14, who have been harassed and/or had their visas cancelled. These scholars are from “China’s mainstream think tanks and universities. Their low-key reaction after the incidents reflects China’s general attitude toward confrontation,” Global Times writes, and by and large they are not speaking out because they do not want China-U.S. relations to further deteriorate. “Most Chinese scholars studying the U.S. understand the U.S. the best, support China and the U.S. developing relations, and handle China-U.S. frictions rationally.”

The government paper warns, however:

“Negative impressions of the U.S. have been accumulating in China due to its constant provocations in recent years. An increasing number of Chinese people think that the U.S. is losing its senses and even going mad. Aversion and disdain for the U.S. are also spreading.”

Trump Discusses Libya Situation in Phone Call with Khalifa Haftar

April 20 (EIRNS)—The White House reported on April 19 that President Donald Trump spoke by phone to Khalifa Haftar, the general whose Libyan National Army is fighting against the UN-recognized government on the outskirts of Tripoli. According to the White House statement, Trump called Haftar on April 15 “to discuss ongoing counterterrorism efforts and the need to achieve peace and stability in Libya.” The statement said that Trump “recognized Field Marshal Haftar’s significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya’s oil resources,” and that “the two discussed a shared vision for Libya’s transition to a stable, democratic political system.” The government in Tripoli is a coalition with elements of the Muslim Brotherhood and remnants of the terrorist groups backed by the Obama Administration to overthrow Col. Muammar Qaddafi.

The day before the White House announcement, the U.S. and Russia blocked a British bid, backed by Germany and France, to demand a ceasefire in Libya.

Iraq Speaker Brings Parliamentarians from All Its Neighbors Together in Baghdad

April 21 (EIRNS)—A meeting in Baghdad yesterday, organized by the Speaker of Iraq’s Parliament, Mohammed al-Halbousi, with participation of fellow lawmakers from Iraq’s six neighbors—Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, Syria, and Jordan—is yet another hint at the self-defined role that Iraq wants to play in the region. “This is a positive message to all neighboring countries and the world that Iraq is determined to regain its health and return to its Arab, regional environment, and assume its rightful place in the map of the balance of power,” Bashir Haddad, Deputy Parliament Speaker said, reported Sputnik.

The meeting ended with a statement saying that “The stability of Iraq is necessary for the stability of the region,” reported Kurdish media network Rudaw. The six visiting parliamentarians—whose nations are often fierce rivals—collectively rejected “interference” in Iraq’s internal affairs.

ECONOMY

Wharton School Forum Argues for U.S. To Get On Belt and Road Bandwagon

April 21 (EIRNS)—A student-led forum at the 2019 Penn Wharton China Summit heard strong support for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from U.S. academics, Xinhua reported. “Belt and Road is enormous. It’s no overstatement to say it could be the project of the century,” said Geoffrey Garrett, Dean of the Wharton School. (The University of Pennsylvania  Wharton School of business is a top training ground for finance and Wall Street financiers.)

Garrett said that the BRI is dealing with the most difficult problem in emerging markets, which is the development of infrastructure. He said that the U.S. expected the private sector to invest in emerging market infrastructure, but the private sector isn’t doing it.

“Because the Chinese government is thinking about 20 years from today, 50 years from today—I think that the U.S. needs to follow China’s lead and think differently about the way it finances infrastructure development,” Garrett said.

United States Racks up More than a Half-Million Officially Homeless Citizens

April 19 (EIRNS)—Our nation has not yet recovered from Wall Street’s destruction of the general welfare in the 2007-2008 crash, even as the trans-Atlantic financial system enters an even greater breakdown crisis. According to the Annual Point-in-Time Count of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), over a half-million Americans—552,830 people—were homeless on a single night in 2018. Some 30% of these people are estimated to have no access to any year-round shelter bed, and therefore live on the streets, in abandoned buildings, or at other locations not fit for human beings.

Further, 33% of America’s homeless are families with children; 67% are individuals. While 7% of the total homeless are youth under the age of 25 living on their own, veterans make up another 7% of the total. Those who are chronically homeless—people with mental or physical disabilities dumped out of the welfare system—make up 18%.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

Beijing Belt and Road Forum To Host 37 World Leaders, 5,000 Participants from Five Continents

April 19 (EIRNS)—There will be 37 heads of state and government attending China’s Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) on April 25-27 in Beijing, Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said today. In addition, there will be 360 attendees at ministerial level, 100 leaders of international organizations, and 5,000 participants. Some 4,000 reporters will also be attending the Forum, whose theme is “Belt and Road Cooperation, Shaping a Brighter Shared Future.”

“The second Belt and Road Forum will be held in Beijing on April 25-27. It will become China’s largest international event this year,” Wang told a press conference.

Wang announced that there would 12 forums and conferences on various themes to be held on April 25 and 26, double the number in May 2017, and there will be a CEO conference with 800 attendees from businesses. Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony and deliver a keynote speech. President Xi and First Lady Peng Liyuan will organize a gala dinner for the participants of the forum.

Malaysia Asks ‘What Debt Trap?’ Amid Huge Deals with China

April 19 (EIRNS)—Following the renegotiated deal with China to revive the East-West rail project with a somewhat reduced scope and dramatically reduced price, Malaysia has now announced huge new deals with China. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s suspension of the “East Coast Rail Link” soon after his election last year has been used by the China-bashers as a key example of China’s supposedly “aggressive” use of big loans for infrastructure to gain control over developing countries, and somehow undermine U.S. influence in the Asia Pacific. Dr. Mahathir has always insisted the blame belonged to the corruption of the former regime, not China, and these new agreements demonstrate that he is fully intent to continue the country’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Dr. Mahathir announced April 19 that a huge, $34 billion urban development project with China, stalled since 2017, is being restored. The Bandar Malaysia project in the center of Kuala Lumpur will be both urban renewal and a major rail hub—including the terminal for the future high-speed rail connecting Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, which, however, is now on hold. China’s role in building the terminal in Kuala Lumpur increases the possibility that they will also get the rail contract when it comes up—several other companies have shown interest.

Dr. Mahathir told a press conference: “Like the East Coast Rail Link, the Bandar Malaysia project should be viewed within the larger context of fostering and cementing long-term bilateral relations between Malaysia and China while ensuring that such projects add maximum economic value to the country.”

Dr. Mahathir will lead a high-level delegation to the April 25-27 Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, holding bilateral talks with both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, where several mega-deals are expected to be concluded.

Russia and Syria Plan Reconstruction, Major Role for Crimea Ports

April 21 (EIRNS)—Talks between Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov and Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday addressed the issue of Syrian reconstruction. Syria is reported to be prepared to lease the port in Tartus, on the Mediterranean Sea near the Lebanon border, for 49 years. Also under discussion is the interchange between Crimea ports and Syria in the reconstruction process.

In 2017, Moscow and Damascus signed an agreement on the deployment of a Russian Navy logistics support center in Tartus for the term of 49 years, TASS reports today. “A key issue that is to yield positive dynamics is the one on the use of the port of Tartus,” Borisov said. “My visit has cemented all these agreements. We have made a considerable progress on that matter and hope that a contract will be signed within a week and the port of Tartus will be used by Russian businesses for 49 years. I am convinced that all our efforts aimed at the Syrian economic revival will be successful.”

Meanwhile, TASS reports that more than 100 agreements totally worth $3.3 billion were signed at the Yalta International Economic Forum (YIEF), held on April 17-20, according to Crimean head Sergey Aksenov. “Four projects are already being implemented” in industry, IT technologies and infrastructure sectors, he said.

Aksenov told the YIEF that trade between Russian and Syria via Crimean ports is a primary target. “The first ship with 2.5 tonnes of barley has been dispatched to Syria. Today, we discussed issues of loading it on its way back. We have set a task of boosting cargo turnover via Crimean ports by the end of the year to some 150,000 tonnes of cargoes in both directions.”

Xi Jinping Aims Hands-On To Eliminate Poverty, Like ‘a Hammer Driving a Nail’

April 19 (EIRNS)—As part of his government’s plan to entirely eliminate poverty from China by the end of 2020, President Xi Jinping carried out “an inspection tour to southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality” earlier this week, Xinhua reported, in which he pledged to address the issue like “a hammer driving a nail.” Xi first flew to Chongqing, China’s fourth largest city, and then spent another three hours, first by train, and then by road, to reach Huaxi Village, where 302 people in 85 households are registered as living below the poverty line. Xinhua went on: “Huaxi Village is a typical case of China’s impoverished regions. The basic needs for food and clothing have been met, but more efforts are needed for compulsory education, basic medical care and safe housing.”

It is to be noted that China’s criteria for poverty reduction are not strictly monetary, but include key physical-economic parameters such as education, health, and housing.

As of 2018 there were still 16.6 million rural residents living in poverty in China. The government plans to lift about 10 million of those out of poverty during 2019. Xinhua quoted Xi during his tour:

“The battle against poverty has entered a decisive and critical stage. We must press ahead with our full strength and strongest resolve and never stop until we secure a complete victory. After visiting the village, I feel reassured. We may have about 6 million impoverished people and 60 impoverished counties left at the beginning of 2020. If we make sure this year’s work is well-implemented and push ahead next year, we will eliminate poverty. We are confident about accomplishing the mission.

“Less than two years are left before fulfilling the objective of poverty alleviation. This year is particularly crucial,” Xi said at a symposium held Tuesday afternoon in Chongqing. “The most important thing at this stage is to prevent laxity and backsliding.”

Xinhua’s account emphasized the top-down involvement of government officials in achieving this national goal. “Throughout the years, more than 3 million officials from governments above the county level, state-owned enterprises, and public institutions have stayed in impoverished villages to offer assistance.”

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

China Invites World Scientists To Contribute to Space Mission to Asteroid and Comet

April 19 (EIRNS)—China is planning an ambitious mission to visit near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3, to take samples, and bring the capsule with the samples back near Earth and drop it, and then send the spacecraft to visit comet 133P. According to Liu Jizhong, director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program at the China National Space Agency (CNSA), the mission will take 10 years.

Announcing the mission yesterday, Liu invited other countries to contribute scientific instruments for the spacecraft. China has started to solicit proposals for eight types of instruments to fly, from universities, research organizations, and private enterprises at home and abroad, Liu said.

The scientists aim to study the physical characteristics of the asteroid and comet, to get an understanding of their orbits, rotation, shape, size, and thermal radiation. They also want to study their morphology, surface composition, and internal structure. Returning the asteroid samples to Earth will give scientists the opportunity to conduct analyses in laboratories on the chemical and mineral components, isotopic composition, structure and the age of the asteroid.

This is not the first time China has designed a double mission for a spacecraft. After the Chang’e-2 lunar orbiter finished its job taking high-resolution images of the Moon in 2012, it was sent out to asteroid Toutatis.

“China has always valued exchanges and cooperation with its international counterparts, while promoting deep space exploration and scientific and technological innovation,” said CNSA Director Zheng Kejian.

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