EIR Daily Alert Service, Friday, January 31, 2020

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020

Volume 7, Number 22

EIR Daily Alert Service

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

  • Impeachment Implodes, Coronavirus Explodes: Time for LaRouche’s Economic Policies Has Arrived
  • Beijing’s Strong Presence and Desire to Cooperate Create a Dual Advantage in Fighting Coronavirus
  • Opening the Bolton Dossier, It Ain’t Pretty
  • The Ongoing Whistleblower Coverup and Chief Justice Roberts
  • Michael Flynn Withdraws Guilty Plea, While Justice Department Hedges on Jail Time
  • State of Play in Democratic Nomination Fight
  • Life Expectancy in United States Rises Modestly, Drug Overdoses Fall
  • U.S. Military Withdrawal From Iraq Is On the Table
  • UN Envoy Urges Halt To Escalating Violence in Yemen
  • Huge Chinese Financed Hydro Complex Back on Track in Argentina
  • Rwanda and Rosatom Prepare Nuclear Science and Technology Center
  • Estonia Moving Into Nuclear Power
EDITORIAL
Impeachment Implodes, Coronavirus Explodes: Time for LaRouche’s Economic Policies Has Arrived
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—Even as the impeachment hoax in the Senate is heading to likely defeat, possibly as soon as this Friday or Saturday, the urgency of freeing President Donald Trump and other sane Americans from this British-instigated attack was made sharply clear with the World Health Organization’s declaration today that the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is a global public health emergency. The WHO took its decision not as a “vote of no confidence” in China, but to protect countries with fewer resources, WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference in Geneva. “The speed with which China detected the outbreak, isolated the virus, sequenced the genome and shared it with WHO and the world are very impressive…. Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems and which are ill-prepared to deal with it,” he said. “We don’t know what sort of damage the virus could do if it were to spread in a country with a weaker health system….” The news that a case of the novel coronavirus has been confirmed in India, the second most populous nation in the world, with a far more fragile health and social system than China, points to the danger that this virus could devolve into the kind of global epidemic which Prince Philip has long sought to depopulate the planet. The WHO is right to call on nations to mobilize cooperation now, while containment is possible. As Dr. Tedros stressed, “the only way we will defeat this outbreak is for all countries to work together in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation.” Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche issued a call on Jan. 6 for a summit between Presidents Trump, Putin, and Xi, to initiate a New Paradigm of relations among all nations, addressing the great issues of war and peace through cooperation on the common aims of humanity. This global health emergency makes even more urgent such a meeting be held, and with the participation of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Joint action, led personally by the leaders of these great nations, is needed to ensure adequate resources are mobilized internationally so that nations can provide for the care of even their most poor, limit the virus’s spread, and initiate the broadest scientific cooperation possible, so cures can be discovered in the shortest time possible. Defeating the impeachment hoax will not end London’s war against the Trump Administration, but it is no small victory. Barbara Boyd identified the great potential this defeat opens up, on LaRouche PAC’s Thursday night “Fireside Chat” webcast with activists from across the nation: “Lyndon LaRouche once said that since 1763, at the end of the French and Indian Wars, when George Washington realized his sole enemy was the British, all of world history has been a battle between the American System of physical political economy and the British system of rentier finance, the oligarchical system now embodied in Wall Street and the City of London. “It is highly likely that tomorrow or Saturday the move to impeach the President will collapse in the Senate. Just in time for the Iowa caucuses and just ahead of the President’s State of the Union address on Feb. 4. Nothing in this war—and it is a war for the Constitution and our nation—is certain, as the adversary is wounded but not yet defeated. That is a dangerous circumstance. But, it is very possible that a wave of optimism can now take off, that powerful, actually physical force in the universe referred to by President Trump at Davos. And in such a mass strike situation, everything becomes possible, as the President said, provided we give leadership.  And we have to do that now, pull rank on behalf of that reservoir of ideas left to us by Lyndon LaRouche, which is the actual path to rebuilding the United States and establishing economic justice and prospering economies throughout the world as a whole.” The dangers of war and disease internationally are great, she said, “but we have, now, as the result of this battle so far, ever since this President took the Oval Office, a huge population in the U.S. actually understanding … that being a citizen and participating in politics is a life-and-death matter…. “And we have also just experienced, from the President’s lawyers, a master class on the U.S. Constitution which our universities are simply incapable of teaching. LaRouche PAC will be making videos of the highlights of these arguments…. “So, the groundwork has been laid in the U.S. for a huge breakout come the Senate vote of acquittal,” a breakout which requires the ideas of Lyndon LaRouche for rebuilding this country and for developing the entire world to win, she said.

BIOLOGICAL THREAT

Beijing’s Strong Presence and Desire To Cooperate Create a Dual Advantage in Fighting Coronavirus
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—While fake news and China-bashing are filling the media on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic in China, former Italian government official and China expert Michele Geraci has given a sober and objective evaluation on how Beijing authorities are tackling the crisis. In an interview published Jan. 25 by Agenzia Italia, Geraci said that the Chinese government has taken “important and bold measures” against the epidemic. On Monday, Feb. 3, when millions of Chinese will return to the cities after the New Year holiday, and go back to work, it “will be a decisive stress-test: if the number of patients does not increase despite the large flow, then it can be said that the virus has been contained.” “A few days ago” Chinese authorities “reopened factories that make medical masks, which had closed for New Year festivities, recalled workers from holidays, incentivizing them with quadruple pay to resume production, because the supply of masks had been exhausted. It is an example of mixed statist and market economy: the government provided the input, the companies responded, the workers got the money.” With some sarcasm, Geraci observed of the new hospital being built in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, in record time: “A day to design it, a week to complete it. By Saturday [Feb. 1] next week, the hospital with 1,000 beds will be ready. Then I think of the earthquake victims in Umbria who are still waiting…” since 2016 for new homes. “The fact that the first outbreaks of the virus occurred soon after the ‘Two Sessions,’ the double yearly conference of party leaders, maybe—I stress maybe—did not help timely communication. I do not think that any silence was imposed from the top, but rather, if there were any mistakes, it was by those at the lower levels of the hierarchy.” Beijing “has learned the lessons from SARS, and it cannot afford errors today because it is not backed by the same economic growth as in 2003. The economy is continuing to grow but at a lower rate, and they cannot make mistakes in the social pact between party and population. “The authorities are doing what they can reasonably do: On one side, they are concerned with the health of the people, and on the other side the feedback is domestically positive. Let’s say if they had elections, they would win them. China is also interested in showing internationally that they have become a major player, that they solve problems and do not create them. Therefore, the strong presence of the government and the desire to cooperate create a double advantage both domestically and internationally. “That said, not to be cynical, it should be clear that the reaction of the Chinese government is proving to be a strong, important and I hope, decisive one. Let me restate: They have isolated 30 million people, blocked transportation and much more, without the taking the time for a bidding process.”

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Opening the Bolton Dossier, It Ain’t Pretty
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—Two videos of John Bolton have emerged in the past 24 hours which are sure to play a significant role in his public impeachment, regardless of whether or not he is called in the impeachment trial. The first video is an August of 2019 by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in which Bolton describes the President’s two calls with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky as cordial, and great telephone calls, in which all important problems involving the U.S. and Ukraine were discussed. There was absolutely no hint of the “drug deal” which Bolton and the Democrats are now promoting as the metaphor for the calls. The second is a 2010 clip of Bolton in which he explains that he would lie, no matter what, if he felt national security issues of the United States were at stake and would be justified in doing so. Separately, it emerged that shortly after Trump fired him in September 2019 as National Security Adviser, Bolton was courted by Rep. Elliot Engel of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to testify before the committee about U.S. foreign policy. During these exchanges, Bolton suggested the Democrats investigate the firing of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch by President Donald Trump. Following widespread social media circulation of Bolton’s August 2019 interview, President Trump posted it on Jan. 29 in a tweet with the caption: “GAME OVER!”

The Ongoing Whistleblower Coverup and Chief Justice Roberts
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—In the Jan. 29, Wednesday night in the Senate impeachment question and answer period, Chief Justice John Roberts barred Sen. Rand Paul from asking a question about the whistleblower. The Democrats are aggressively pushing Roberts to act like a trial judge, and rule on witnesses and privileges, something which the Constitution does not countenance and which Senate impeachment rules specifically forbid. In an impeachment trial the Senators are both Judge and Jury, and the role of the Chief Justice is to be the Senate’s presiding officer, the same as the role of the Vice President on other occasions. This is so, because otherwise, the Supreme Court gets swept up in the political process, which is impeachment, and becomes discredited, as it was in Bush v. Gore. The reason why the Democrats are pushing for Roberts to act this way, is because they think that Roberts, like everyone else in the swamp of Washington, D.C., hates the President. His politically correct ruling concerning Paul’s question certainly would seem to indicate that. Yesterday, in an exchange, Jay Sekulow said that if the Democrats succeeded in calling John Bolton, Sekulow’s witness list would be Joe and Hunter Biden, the whistleblower, and Adam Schiff, and possibly others. The President’s Deputy Counsel Patrick Philbin yesterday said that the whistleblower may have had a conflict of interest which ignited Ukrainegate: Namely, that he had a role in Biden/Burisma dealings in Ukraine that was ugly, and that he did not want to see it surface.

Michael Flynn Withdraws Guilty Plea, while Justice Department Hedges on Jail Time
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—On Wednesday, former National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.) formally withdrew his guilty plea, while simultaneously asking Judge Emmet Sullivan to dismiss the charges against him on the basis of “egregious government misconduct.” In a short declaration, General Flynn stated, “I did not lie to them,” with respect to an interview conducted at the White House by FBI agents Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka. He also stated that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s attack dogs were threatening to indict his son, a threat which was withdrawn with his guilty plea. Judge Sullivan previously denied a motion for exculpatory material filed by Flynn, using the legal peg that Flynn had not withdrawn his guilty plea. In Flynn’s initial sentencing hearing in December 2018, Judge Sullivan had flagged his extreme hostility and bias toward Flynn by claiming Flynn had “sold out his country,” and threatening a jail sentence, despite the fact that Flynn was not charged with treason or anything remotely resembling it, and that even the Special Prosecutor had recommended probation. Flynn’s motion demonstrates egregious government misconduct by citing, inclusively, misconduct identified in DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on which the case against him was based. In a filing simultaneous with Flynn’s new papers, the DOJ now hedges on its previous call that Flynn receive a six-month jail sentence from Sullivan at the very least.  Citing Flynn’s record of long service to the United States, the DOJ brief still remains spiteful, but represents a retreat, stating that probation should very much be considered by Sullivan, and that probation had been imposed in many other false statement cases.
State of Play in Democratic Nomination Fight
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—Bernie Sanders is surging in the early primary states and the Democratic establishment is in a state of panic. They have placed establishment figures, such as Barney Frank, in charge of key committees at the Democratic National Convention, excluding Sanders’ supporters in the same way they had in 2016. In a demonstration of the fascist nature of the current party, Elizabeth Warren has called for, in effect, a Ministry of Truth which she would convene upon assuming the Presidency, criminalizing the spread of “disinformation” concerning American elections. She has also promised that she would set up an immediate criminal justice task force to investigate and prosecute members of the Trump Administration. Add to that the expose of her 35-person foreign policy team, published by the Grayzone website on Jan. 26: straight out of Obama-Hillary Clinton war party. It is possible at this point that Sanders would win both the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, with Biden re-emerging in South Carolina. Michael Bloomberg is now rolling out the mayors he has bought to support his green fascist program. Organizers are referred to two significant EIR articles detailing Bloomberg’s plan to eliminate the nation-state, replacing it with a feudal worldwide League of Cities under globalist control and an equally feudalist economy in which rebellious parts of the population have been eliminated. (See, “The British Genocidal Roots of Mayor Bloomberg’s Madness,” EIR, May 23, 2008; and “Rohatyn, Bloomberg Peddle Post-Nation-State World,” EIR, Feb. 29, 2008.)

Life Expectancy in United States Rises Modestly, Drug Overdoses Fall

Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report released today announced that U.S. life expectancy rose in 2018 (by a modest tenth of a year, to 78.7 years) after falling every year since 2014.  (It was 78.9 years at its peak in 2014.) A second CDC report the same day showed that there were 4.1% fewer drug overdose deaths in 2018 than 2017, mostly in deaths involving natural and semi-synthetic opioids, including drugs like oxycodone, which are commonly available by prescription. There were also declines in deaths involving methadone and heroin.  Previously, drug overdose deaths had risen every single year 1999-2017. This could be attributed to the progress which Donald Trump had been able to make even while the Establishment refused to allow him to move significantly towards his major election promise to rebuild and revolutionize the U.S. economy through modern infrastructure and an ambitious space program, plus re-enacting Glass-Steagall legislation. STRATEGIC WAR DANGER U.S. Military Withdrawal from Iraq Is on the Table
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—James Jeffrey, the U.S. special envoy for Syria and for the anti-ISIS coalition, said yesterday that the U.S. is prepared to discuss the entire framework of its relationship with Iraq. “We are looking forward to sitting down and having a broad discussion with the Iraqi government of our entire strategic framework relationship in the near future,” he told Reuters. Jeffrey said U.S.-led coalition operations were still on pause in Iraq as the focus has been on force protection and talks with the Baghdad government on the way forward. An expansion of the role of NATO in Iraq is on the table during these discussions. “Nobody is rushing anything,” Jeffrey said when asked about the time frame for talks with the Iraqi government. “We are very interested in NATO’s process of seeing what additional role it can do.” The Iraqis are also considering an expansion of NATO’s training mission in Iraq, possibly in place of the U.S. military deployment. “We are talking to the coalition countries—France, the U.K., Canada—about a range of scenarios,” said Abdelkarim Khalaf, spokesman for Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi. “The essential thing is that no combat troops are present and our airspace is no longer used,” Khalaf told AFP. Two Western diplomats said that they had been asked by the prime minister’s office to draft options on a path forward for the anti-ISIS coalition, and that the draft had already been submitted to Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi. They included a coalition not led by the U.S., an amended mandate with limits to coalition activities, or an expanded role for NATO’s separate mission in Iraq. The NATO mission in Iraq is currently led by Canada and has about 500 troops, though its operations have been suspended for security reasons since the Jan. 3 U.S. assassination in Iraq of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
UN Envoy Urges Halt to Escalating Violence in Yemen
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—Martin Griffiths, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, in a Jan. 28 meeting of the UN Security Council, called for a halt to the “alarming military escalation” in Yemen that has developed over the last week as the result of an offensive by the Saudi-led coalition forces intended to capture the capital Sana’a from Houthi control. Griffiths said in a Twitter posting after the UNSC closed-door session that he had “reiterated the importance of stopping the ongoing military escalation.” He warned that recent developments jeopardize the progress the parties had made on de-escalation and confidence-building. On Jan. 27, he told the Guardian newspaper that “whoever started this renewed violence, it is unequivocally the case that there has been a huge rupture of confidence and a huge loss of life for the sake of uncertain territorial gains.” The Associated Press reported on Jan. 27 that warring factions have concentrated their forces in three main areas: Nehm, a half-hour drive from the capital; Jawf, a mountainous northern district; and Marib, a western province that saw one of the deadliest rebel attacks earlier this month. Houthi officials counted 40 air strikes against their forces, but despite that, they were gaining ground.
SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE Huge Chinese-Financed Hydro Complex Back on Track in Argentina
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—After several years of delay, the Chinese-financed hydroelectric megaproject being built in Argentina’s Patagonian province of Santa Cruz is finally back on track. Although the contract for the project was signed with China in 2015 under the Presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, by which China would provide $4.7 billion in financing, her neo-liberal successor Mauricio Macri sabotaged its construction, citing environmentalist concerns and expressing a preference for wind and solar power. Macri threw up more obstacles when his corrupt allies in the judicial system framed up Gerardo Ferreyra, vice president of the firm Electroingeneria, and threw him into pretrial detention for more than a year on phony corruption charges. Electroingeneria partners with China’s Gezhouba Group Corp. in the UTE Represas Patagonia consortium responsible for building the Santa Cruz project. Now, under new President Alberto Fernández, who wants to expand cooperation with both China and Russia, the project can move forward. On Jan. 28, now Vice President Fernández de Kirchner toured the two-dam Santa Cruz hydro complex together with Yuan Zhixiong of the Gezhouba Group Corp., and Gerardo Ferreyra, who was released from jail last October having never been convicted of any crime. Ambito Financiero reports that Yuan Zhixiong recently met with Argentina’s Energy Secretary Sergio Lanziani to discuss the Santa Cruz project as well as other energy projects of interest to China. Vice President Fernández de Kirchner said that once complete, the hydro project will increase hydroelectric generation in the country by 15%, reducing dependence on imported oil. Currently the project employs 2,205 people, 167 of whom are Chinese. Upon completion it will employ 6,000 people directly and 10,000 indirectly, Urgente 24 reported.
Rwanda and Rosatom Prepare Nuclear Science and Technology Center
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—Agence de Presse Africaine (APA) reported yesterday that the Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s government has endorsed a draft law providing guidelines on an agreement signed recently with Russia to advance the use of nuclear energy. The agreement between Kigali and Moscow lays ground for a Center for Nuclear Science and Technology (CNST) with the latest technology of a 10 MW pool-type reactor in Rwanda. Russia has also signed for similar projects in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The CNST will feature six multi-purpose sections; Research Reactors and Lab Complex, Center for Nuclear Medicine, Multipurpose Irradiation Center, and Radiobiology Laboratory and Greenhouse. An Education and Training Complex and a Radiation Material Science Complex are envisaged as well. Sectors impacted by the development include medical research, energy, agriculture, security, industry, exploration, education, geology and the environment.
Estonia Moving Into Nuclear Power
Jan. 30 (EIRNS)—The Estonian company Fermi Energia signed a memorandum of understanding on Jan. 27 with the three European companies (Vattenfall, Fortum, and Tractebel) to develop a small modular reactor as that Baltic state’s first source of nuclear energy. SMRs are small installations with capacity of up to 300 MW that are cheaper and faster to build than large nuclear power plants, as EIR has reported. “A modern small nuclear power plant … will ensure Estonia’s security of electricity supply in all weather conditions, affordable prices for electricity consumers and meeting the country’s climate goals,” Fermi said in a mission statement on the company’s website. Fermi Energia’s CEO Sandor Liive told Estonian media last week the company wants to deliver the SMR in the early 2030s. The company is currently considering locations for the project.  
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