WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2019

Volume 6, Number 100

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

• The LaRouche Century
• China’s ‘Long Game’ in the Trade Conflict With the U.S.
• Fed Chairman Powell Expresses Concern Over Corporate Debt Bubble, But Not to Worry
• U.S.-China Governors Summit in Kentucky Offers ‘Opportunity for Constructive Dialogue’
• Portugal Set To Announce Bidding on Sines Port Expansion
• Beijing Upbeat on Indian Elections: With Modi Likely To Win, Delhi-Beijing Ties Continue To Grow
• Japan, India, Sri Lanka To Sign MOU for Container Terminal at Colombo Port
• FBI is Escalating Its Anti-China McCarthyism
• Nunes Argues, It’s ‘Impossible that Mifsud Is a Russian Asset’
• Tulsi Gabbard Blasts ‘McCarthist Witch Hunt’ Against Her as Threat to Nation
• Iran’s UN Ambassador Propses Persian Gulf Nations’ Dialogue Mechanism to Avert War

EDITORIAL

The LaRouche Century

May 21 (EIRNS)—In her April 27 opening presentation to the ongoing LaRouche PAC class series on “The Earth’s Last Fifty Years, and Earth’s Next Fifty Years,” dedicated to the life and legacy of the revolutionary ideas of Lyndon LaRouche, Helga Zepp-LaRouche drew attention to a May 1997 speech by her husband in which he emphasized the overriding strategic importance of U.S.-China collaboration to bring about global economic revival. LaRouche stated:

“There are only two nations which are respectable left on this planet. That is, nations of respectable power. That is the United States, particularly the United States, not as represented by the Congress, but by the President. It is the identity of the United States, which is a political power, not some concatenation of its parts. The United States is represented today only by its President, as a political institution…

“Now, there’s only one other power on this planet … and that’s the People’s Republic of China. Now, China is engaged, presently, in a great infrastructure-building project, in which my wife and others have had an ongoing engagement over some years….

“Therefore, if the United States, the President of the United States, and China, participate in fostering that project, sometimes called the ‘Silk Road’ Project, sometimes the ‘Land-Bridge’ Project—if that project of developing development corridors, across Eurasia, into Africa, into North America, is extended, that project is enough work, to put this whole planet, into an economic revival.”

Stated 22 years ago, that strategic evaluation of Lyndon LaRouche’s remains fully valid today, and is the key to understanding so-called “current events.”

The recent breakdown in trade negotiations between the United States and China, and even more so the economic warfare declared against technology and communications giant Huawei, are policies designed by the British Empire to make sure no such U.S.-China alliance is forged—despite the fact that it is desired by the Presidents of both nations, as each has stated publicly and repeatedly. China’s semi-official media, including Xinhua and Global Times, are now warning that unless the China-U.S. economic relationship gets back on track, the entire global economic order may collapse. “This dangerous prospect,” Xinhua underscored, “is in no one’s interests.”

Beyond the immediate issues of conflict, Helga Zepp-LaRouche noted last week that a great opportunity had been missed—at least for the moment—for Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to hold a new summit, where they could agree on trade matters, and then take new steps in the direction of a global alliance for economic revival of the sort outlined by Lyndon LaRouche. But that opportunity can still be revived around a possible meeting in late June at the Osaka G20 meeting, where President Trump has said he would like to meet with President Xi, and also with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Moreover, there is a broader strategic opening to finish off the British Empire entirely, and create a just New World Economic Order. One of the main reasons for that is the potential embodied in the embattled Donald Trump Presidency in Washington, which remains committed to reining in “the military-industrial complex” (no U.S. President since Eisenhower has dared challenge them directly); to a good, working relationship with China and Russia; and to awakening NASA’s mission to explore the Moon, Mars and beyond. NASA’s latest four-minute video “We Are Going” already has 5.7 million views—indicating the level of support for such policies in the population.

Trump is hampered in this potential by two things. First, the British remain committed to overthrowing his government, using their agents-of-influence both outside and inside the Trump administration to do so—including by fomenting conflict and war with China, Russia, Iran and others.

Second, there is no escaping the fact that the new strategic policies that are required cannot be developed in their indispensable depth without the central input of Lyndon LaRouche’s body of revolutionary ideas—the very ideas whose consideration and comprehension require LaRouche’s exoneration. As Helga Zepp-LaRouche summarized the argument in her April 27 class:

“The purpose of this class series, among other things, is to contribute to the fight for the exoneration of my late husband. I’m deeply convinced that the future of the United States, and by implication, that of the world, and the exoneration of Lyn, are absolutely closely intertwined. The reason is very simple: That first of all, the apparatus which has been responsible for the prosecution of my husband—actually since, probably the 1950s, but really in earnest since the 1980s—is the same apparatus which is behind the coup attempt against President Trump, and it is the same apparatus which is for the confrontation against Russia and China, and contradicting the intentions of President Trump almost on every single point. And if this apparatus is not stopped, the danger of these confrontations leading to a war with Russia and China is actually very high.

“Interrelated with that is naturally the question that only if the name of my husband is completely freed of the effects of this prosecution—years, actually decades of slanders against him—only then will the American people have unprejudiced access to the entire body of his ideas. And I can tell you that what my husband has produced in terms of concepts, in terms of natural science, Classical art, universal history, is so precious, that I think every living American, and for that matter, many people around the world, should absolutely have access to it, because it is the next level of knowledge of what people have to know.”

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

China’s ‘Long Game’ in the Trade Conflict with the U.S.

May 21 (EIRNS)—Unless the China-U.S. economic relationship gets back on track, after the collapse of the trade negotiations and especially the new punitive measures against communications giant Huawei, the entire global economic order may collapse. That is the strategic evaluation now being put forth in China’s semi-official media, alongside their angry denunciations against Washington over what happened.

“These self-serving moves have disgraced Washington’s credibility as a responsible major country, and seriously eroded the foundation for international cooperation,” Xinhua wrote sharply on May 20. “It is worth noting that the U.S.-led global order may collapse once Washington’s credibility goes bankrupt.” The leading Chinese wire service went on to emphasize: “This dangerous prospect is in no one’s interests.”

A Global Times editorial the same day argued that the big loser in the sanctions against Huawei will be the U.S. and its companies, not China. There will be “support from Chinese society for Huawei to overcome difficulties,” whereas “the cut-off has completely destroyed the business reputation of American companies…. China is unlikely to use a large number of products provided by American companies anymore.” The editorial concludes: “Stopping the supply to Huawei means they are irreversibly losing the China market. The China-U.S. trade war has caused losses on both sides. The pain inflicted on China is temporary. But what the U.S. has to face is growing long-term pain. The so-called decoupling with China is very likely the real beginning of U.S. decline.”

A second Global Times article by Hu Weijia warned about escalating financial and economic warfare between the U.S. and China. “China should be prepared for the worst-case scenario,” should the U.S. “use financial means to tackle its disputes with China, just as it did to Iran.” Such financial sanctions would “deal a heavy blow to China’s high-tech sector…. Backup plans are needed to ensure not only continuity of supplies of critical components for Huawei’s products, but also the strategic financial safety of Chinese companies.”

China Daily also editorialized on the subject, writing that “What cannot be clearer is the U.S. is suffering from serious paranoia about China’s rise. Its attempt to strangle the development of Chinese technology companies is meant to block China’s advancement in science and technology…. But despite its efforts the U.S. will not be able to contain China’s technological progress, nor will it halt China’s economic development.”

Fed Chairman Powell Expresses Concern over Corporate Debt Bubble, but Not To Worry

May 21 (EIRNS)—In a speech yesterday to the Financial Markets Conference in Amelia Island, Florida, on assessing risks to the financial system a decade after the last crisis, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated: “Business debt has clearly reached a level that should give businesses and investors reason to pause and reflect,” Powell said that things are OK now, but “another sharp increase could increase vulnerabilities appreciably…. As of now, business debt does not present the kind of elevated risks to the stability of the financial system that would lead to broad harm to households and businesses should conditions deteriorate. At the same time, the level of debt certainly could stress borrowers if the economy weakens.”

CNBC notes that nonfinancial corporate debt now stands at a record $6.2 trillion. Informed observers noted how similar Powell’s comments are to those made back in May 2007 by then-Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, that the subprime problem is contained to the mortgage market.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

U.S.-China Governors Summit in Kentucky Offers ‘Opportunity for Constructive Dialogue’

May 21 (EIRNS)—The Fifth Annual “U.S.-China Governors’ Collaboration Summit,” meeting May 22-24 in Lexington, Kentucky, “offers a tremendous opportunity for constructive dialogue that will pave the way for a brighter economic future in both of our nations,” as Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said in early April. “We are at a pivotal juncture in U.S.-China relations,” he continued, “and this gathering will provide a platform for progress, cultural understanding and development of mutually beneficial trade relationships.”

The annual summit is co-sponsored by the U.S. National Governors Association (NGA) and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC). It alternates its meetings between the two countries. State and Federal government representatives, diplomats, corps, trade offices, industry and non-governmental organizations will be represented, from the U.S. side, the NGA announced; from the Chinese side, officials from CPAFFC and the provinces of Chongqing, Shaanxi, Jiangxi and Gansu will head delegations to the forum, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang reported today.  China’s Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai was also scheduled to address the delegates.

“The active participation of local governments of both countries have demonstrated sincere will for strengthening sub-national exchange and cooperation. I believe this forum will inject new impetus into the efforts to deepen friendship and cooperation between the two countries,” Lu Kang said.

Portugal Set To Announce Bidding on Sines Port Expansion

May 21 (EIRNS)—Portugal’s Minister of the Sea Ana Paula Vitorino, after giving a personal tour of Sines Port to China’s Natural Resources Minister Lu Hau, told Lusa press agency on May 17, that public international bidding “will be launched shortly” for construction of a new terminal at Sines. The terminal is to be named Vasco da Gama, after the great Portuguese seafarer.

Vitorino reported that Lu had “made the commitment today to present the potential of Sines Port and its future Vasco da Gama terminal to various Chinese companies.” She said Lu had expressed “very great interest in new investments in Sines port,” and asked questions about its technical characteristics, investment, and terms, and about investments in other areas throughout the country, as well.

“The more bidders we have, the greater the international importance given to Sines Port and Portugal,” she said. She stated also that given its projected cost of €600 million, only investors with large financial capacity can bid.

The additional terminal at Sines, expanding its capacity to be able to handle up to 4 million TEU in containers, is required to secure a central role for Portugal in the Maritime Silk Road, and in particular, its Atlantic route, into the Caribbean, Africa and South America.

Beijing Upbeat on Indian Elections: With Modi Likely To Win, Delhi-Beijing Ties Continue To Grow

May 21 (EIRNS)—Voting in India’s elections ended on May 19, and counting will begin on May 23 with final results announced on May 24. It is widely expected that current Prime Minister Narendra Modi will win handily.

An article published by China’s Global Times states that “Modi’s reelection will further stabilize and improve China-India relations. During Modi’s term of office, India’s relations with China show the trend of steady development…. Generally speaking, Modi’s policies have been sound…. Modi knows that tense relations with China are not in line with India’s interests.” The article goes on to push for further cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative: “Modi’s reelection benefits the continuity of his policies toward China and the two countries’ mutual trust. India is China’s important neighbor and the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has created beneficial results in South Asia. We hope New Delhi can join in the progress and work together with Beijing for the development of India and the region.”

A second Global Times article quotes China’s former ambassador to India Zhou Gang, who said that “China and India have a lot in common on economic development, regional security, artificial intelligence, health care and international affairs.”

Japan, India, Sri Lanka To Sign MOU for Container Terminal at Colombo Port

May 21 (EIRNS)—It is becoming clearer that it is not just China that is initiating projects along the New Silk Road, complementing China’s Belt and Road initiative, particularly in the case of Sri Lanka. The Hindu Business Line reports that the governments of Japan, India and Sri Lanka will sign a memorandum of understanding within the next months to develop a container terminal at the Port of Colombo. The port already serves as a key transshipment port for cargoes destined for India and already 80% of the port’s transshipment cargo goes to India.

The new, east container terminal is located at the newly expanded south part of the Port of Colombo. It is part of a larger project which includes the Port City Colombo now being built by China Communications Construction Co. which would include a financial district, a marina, hospital, shopping malls, and 21,000 apartments and homes.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

FBI Is Escalating Its Anti-China McCarthyism

May 21 (EIRNS)—China is “luring U.S. intel vets to leak government secrets with cash,” the Washington Examiner hyped on May 17, a story based on one former intelligence official being sentenced to a 20-year jail term on charges of espionage for China and lying to the FBI. Three others facing similar charges signed plea agreements in the past year, it reported.

Whatever the merits of the individual cases cited, of which EIR is not informed, the message of the Examiner story is that in the view of the FBI, anyone or anything related to China is an enemy of the nation. The Examiner neglects to mention that the FBI’s anti-China war is run by the same networks that collaborated with British intelligence in attempting to effect a coup d’état against President Donald Trump.

The Washington Examiner quotes FBI Director Christopher Wray—who last year told Congress that a “whole of society” mobilization is urgent against China—now telling the Council on Foreign Relations last month that “no country poses a broader, more severe intelligence-collection threat than China. They’re doing it through Chinese intelligence services, through state-owned enterprises, through ostensibly private companies, through graduate students and researchers, through a variety of actors all working on behalf of China.”

Former FBI counterintelligence chief Bill Priestap is also cited. He testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last December that “China is the most severe counterintelligence threat facing the U.S. today. Every rock we turn over, every time we looked for it, it’s not only there, it’s worse than we anticipated.”

Priestap, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division from the end of 2015 to the end of 2018 and responsible for global counterintelligence, was up to his eyeballs in the Russiagate operation, in tight coordination with British intelligence, as Rep. Jim Jordan elicited from him during his closed-door testimony before the House Intelligence Committee in 2018, which was released in April.

Nunes Argues, It’s ‘Impossible that Mifsud Is a Russian Asset’

May 21 (EIRNS)—House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes is demanding answers as to whose agent Maltese Professor Joseph Mifsud was, in setting up the coup attempt against President Donald Trump. Nunes was emphatic that, while his team at the Intelligence Committee doesn’t know which government, or agency Mifsud was working for, or in what capacity, what it does know is that he was an agent of someone, and it was not Russia.

In an interview yesterday with Fox News, Nunes reported that he had sent two letters in May to the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency, and State Department, asking each for all documents they have related to Mifsud. Mifsud is important because he’s the first person to have said something about Russia having Hillary Clinton’s emails, Nunes said.

After his second letter, sent last Friday, May 17, three of the four agencies responded, but “the FBI is not cooperating, per usual, which means they’ve got something to hide,” he charged.

This is important, he continued, because Robert Mueller “insinuated” in his final report that Mifsud was a Russian asset.

“It is impossible that Mifsud is a Russian asset. He is a former diplomat with the Malta government. He lived in Italy. He worked and taught FBI, trained FBI officials, and worked with FBI officials,” Nunes said. We are asking questions, because “this Mifsud character … seems to have a lot of connections with a lot of other people, like Christopher Steele,” who were involved in the early stages of setting up this operation, he added.

Nunes also reported that his team has sent eight criminal referrals to the Justice Department off their investigation, and will be making more, maybe by the end of the week.

Tulsi Gabbard Blasts ‘McCarthyist Witch Hunt’ Against Her as Threat to Nation

May 21 (EIRNS)—Democratic Presidential pre-candidate Tulsi Gabbard slammed a recent hit job by the Daily Beast news site against her as the kind of dangerous mainstream media McCarthyism which “makes it easier to push our country into war.”

The Daily Beast attacked Gabbard for “deviating from her party’s mainstream” by being “Russia-friendly” (“Tulsi Gabbard’s Campaign Is Being Boosted by Putin Apologists,” May 17, 2019). Proof offered? That she has received contributions from “some of the nation’s leading Russophiles,” most prominently Prof. Stephen Cohen, “arguably the nation’s leading intellectual apologist for Russian President Vladimir Putin.” The Daily Beast also cites as proof of her Russian tendencies, her downplaying the Mueller Report (“time to move on”), opposing intervention into Syria, Iran, etc., and, yes, being interviewed by pro-Trump media sites.

Gabbard’s campaign email response identifies the broader strategic issue behind this attack on her:

“The Daily Beast is really scraping the bottom of the barrel in their attempts to get Tulsi. They combed through our donor records looking for Russian support for our campaign. Despite only turning up $6,000 in donations from three people who fit their invented profile, they just published a hit piece claiming our campaign is being underwritten by some of the nation’s leading Russian sympathizers.

“This hit piece is an example of the kind of McCarthyist witch hunt made possible by the mainstream media’s role in fomenting the new Cold War with Russia. It stirs up hysteria that makes it easier to push our country into war. It paints patriotic Americans as foreign agents and so-called apologists for foreign leaders. And it pushes us to sacrifice our hard-won civil liberties at the altar of war.

“It’s exactly the kind of war mongering that Tulsi is speaking out against. And it’s her outspokenness against our failed interventionist foreign policy that’s making her a target.”

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Iran’s UN Ambassador Proposes Persian Gulf Nations’ Dialogue Mechanism To Avert War

May 21 (EIRNS)—Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, has proposed a mechanism by which dialogue among the nations of the Persian Gulf region can be opened to address the issues among them, especially in the current circumstances where war is a real possibility. In a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, published by the Tasnim News Agency, Ravanchi states: “If the issues are not thoroughly addressed, the eruption of any possible conflict will soon cross over from the regional level and will definitely have serious and extensive implications on international peace and security.” He continues: “The only solution is in fact the adoption of a win-win approach through active engagement…. Accordingly, in view of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the current complex security environment in the region can be eased and ultimately addressed exclusively through constructive engagement and dialogue between the littoral States of the Persian Gulf.”

Ravanchi points out that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called for the establishment of a collective forum for dialogue in the Persian Gulf region to facilitate engagement that is long overdue. “By promoting understanding, regional dialogue can lead to agreement on a broad spectrum of issues, including confidence- and security-building measures; combatting terrorism and violent extremism; and ensuring freedom of navigation and the free flow of energy,” he further states. “It eventually can include more formal non-aggression and security cooperation arrangements.”

Ravanchi specifies that the dialogue could be organized under paragraph 8 of Security Council resolution 598 (1987), which entrusted to the Secretary-General to examine “measures to enhance the security and stability of the region,” which was adopted at the time of 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.

Curiously, former U.K. Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Westmacott also suggests activating that same paragraph. “Why not look again at the idea of all the regional powers, under UN auspices, coming together with a view to lowering tensions?” Westmacott asks in an op-ed published in Britain’s Guardian daily at about the same time as Ravanchi’s letter. He cites a May 14 op-ed in the New York Times, jointly written by Abdulaziz Sager, a Saudi Arabian academic, and Hussein Mousavian, a former Iranian nuclear negotiator, in which they argue that “the time for the region’s two big rivals to sit down and try to bury the hatchet might just might have come. So much is at stake that it’s surely worth a try.”

The conditions for such an open and direct dialogue, not only among Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also including the United States, still don’t exist at present, according to the Iranian government. President Hassan Rouhani stated last night: “Today’s circumstances are not suitable for negotiations at all, as our conditions today are those of resistance and fortitude,” he told a group of clerics on Monday night, May 20, reported Tasnim. He emphasized the need for unity and consistence to overcome the challenges in the face of economic warfare by the U.S. and he vowed that his administration will go down in history for not being the starter of a conflict, despite U.S. attempts at confrontation.

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