David Dobrodt

“There are no direct parallels in history” for the present time, said Russian President Vladimir Putin in his speech at the Davos Agenda forum. “However, some experts … compare the current situation to the 1930s…. As you are aware, the inability and unwillingness to find substantive solutions to problems like this in the 20th century led to the World War II catastrophe. Of course, such a heated global conflict is impossible in principle, I hope. That is what I am pinning my hopes on, because this would be the end of humanity. However, as I have said, the situation could take an unexpected and uncontrollable turn— unless we do something to prevent this. There is a chance that we will face a formidable break-down in global development, which will be fraught with a war of all against all and attempts to deal with contradictions through the appointment of internal and external enemies and the destruction of not only traditional values such as the family … but fundamental freedoms….

“We have a shared responsibility to prevent this scenario, which looks like a grim dystopia, and to ensure instead that our development takes a different trajectory— positive, harmonious and creative,” continued Putin, who then identified three great challenges confronting the international community:

First, while the past decades have brought great improvements in living standards overall, the gains have largely been concentrated in a small number of people. Using a $5.50 per day income figure, he boasted that China reduced from 1.1 billion to 300 million the number of people below that poverty line, Russia from 64 million to 5 million, while the U.S. number increased from 2000 to 2016 from 3.6 million to 5.6 million. “But … in terms of corporate profits, who got hold of the revenue? The answer is clear: 1% of the population.” He addressed the economic malaise that has struck the “developed” countries with the past decades’ shift to financialization and environmentalism: “In the past 30 years, in a number of developed countries, the real incomes of over half of the citizens have been stagnating, not growing. Meanwhile, the cost of education and healthcare services has gone up. Do you know by how much? Three times.” The source of this imbalance? They “are a direct result of the policy pursued in the 1980s … the Washington Consensus.”

The tools of some decades ago— stimulating consumption— can no longer work in a world where debt is double GDP globally and more than triple GDP in some countries, while interest rates are essentially zero and already at historic lows in many emerging market economies: “The so-called quantitative easing is only increasing the bubble of the value of financial assets and deepening the social divide.” The effect? “The rise of economic problems and inequality is splitting society, triggering social, racial and ethnic intolerance.”

Second, Putin took on the looming question of the tech giants. “In some areas, they are de facto competing with states,” he said. “Their audiences consist of billions of users that pass a considerable part of their lives in these ecosystems.”

“Society is wondering whether such monopolism meets public interests,” he asked, remarking that these tech giants should “replace legal democratic institutions and essentially usurp or restrict the natural right of people to decide for themselves how to live, what to choose, and what position to express freely…. I am confident that the overwhelming majority of people share this position.”

Third was the issue of international relations. Due to troubles at home, governments resort increasingly to enemy images, both domestically and abroad, with increasingly aggressive actions such as sanctions, trade wars, and restrictions. “Such a game with no rules critically increases the risk of unilateral use of military force.”

To resolve the reasons for unstable global growth, Putin warns “It is clear that the world cannot continue creating an economy that will only benefit a million people, or even the golden billion…. The recent developments, including migration crises, have reaffirmed this once again.”

“The reality is such that really different development centers with their distinctive models, political systems and public institutions have taken shape in the world. Today, it is very important to create mechanisms for harmonizing their interests to prevent … anarchy and a series of protracted conflicts,” Putin told his audience. Pointing to examples, he spoke of the Astana format of talks between Russia, Iran and Turkey to stabilize Syria; the end of bloodshed in Azerbaijan and Armenia with Russian intervention; and Russia-Saudi-U.S. cooperation on energy markets. Such cooperation is needed to support nations requiring help in achieving their testing and vaccination needs.

Putin gave short shrift— just a few sentences— to the green theme of the conference, a theme against whose implementation he had essentially spent his speech inveighing.

Responding to a question from forum organizer Klaus Schwab, Putin said that Europe and Russia, if they are able to rise above problems “inherited from past centuries” and look to the future, “we will certainly enjoy a positive stage in our relations.”

“We are ready for this, we want this, and we will strive to make it happen,” he concluded. “But love is impossible if it is declared only by one side. It must be mutual.”

The complete text of his speech is posted on the Kremlin website.

NASA and the European space agency signed an agreement committing their space agencies to building the Gateway together. A release from NASA.gov states, “The agreement signed Tuesday marks NASA’s first formal commitment to launch international crew members to the lunar vicinity as part of NASA’s Artemis Mission.” Under the agreement the European space agency will contribute habitation and refueling modules, along with enhanced lunar communications to the Gateway.

NASA’s Administrator Jim Bridenstine declared “This partnership leverages the outstanding cooperation established by the International Space Station as we push forward to the moon.” He continued, “Gateway will continue to expand NASA’s cooperation with international partners like ESA, ensuring the Artemis program results in the safe and sustainable exploration of the Moon after the initial human lunar landing and beyond.”

The European Space Agency’s contributions to the Gateway will consist of a refueling module, which will also include crew observation windows. The first two scientific investigations to fly aboard the Gateway were selected earlier this year. One will come from the ESA, known as, the European Radiation Sensors Array, (ERSA).  ERSA will monitor space radiation and will focus on astronaut protection. The other scientific investigation to fly aboard Gateway will come from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center called the Heliophysics Environmental and Radiation Measurement Experiment Suit, (HERMES), which will monitor low energies critical to scientific investigations of the sun. HERMES is also known for researching the dynamics of asteroid and planetary surfaces with no atmosphere.

Two of the leaders of the crash program to develop Covid-19 vaccines, General Gus Perna, Chief Operating Officer, and Dr. Matt Hepburn, head of Vaccine Development, provided their story, “The Fight to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine: The Inside Story of the Administration’s Operation Warp Speed,” on Tuesday.” The core point was the obvious: the crash program abandoned ‘cost-benefit’ and ‘just-in-time’ practices, and let reality determine what they had to do. So, they ran parallel development of six vaccine candidates, including the mass production of dosages prior to approval; and supply-chain items for ingredients of vaccines and delivery systems purchased in bulk to be on site early in the process. Also, there was early investment in new production facilities with new production techniques, and the mission-oriented environment helped the cooperation levels. Perna emphasized that “egos get checked at the door” because “lives are at stake.”

Perna, a military logistics specialist, was weeks away from retirement from a 39-year Army career, when he was called by Trump and asked to head the Operation Warp Speed logistics. He interrupted his retirement plans. On Monday, he was in Memphis, TN, visiting the new McKesson distribution warehouse which has built a massive capacity for refrigerated storage at -20 and -80 degrees — necessary for some of the vaccines. They are set to roll out tens of millions of vaccine doses before the end of the year, and hundreds of million from January to March, with 100% accountability as to where each dose is, and as to what person has gotten which vaccine and which dose. (Five of the six vaccines are double-dose vaccines, requiring the second dose 21 or 28 days later.)

Finally, the clinical trials were designed for massive testing in order to obtain more safety information more quickly. The various vaccines should show different profiles, e.g., some better for the elderly, and the clinical trials will help determine how the distribution occurs (e.g., to which populations). Dr. Hepburn was hopeful that this newly-revived capacity for accelerated product development in the US will not be dismantled, but will be the new normal. The states submitted their distribution plans last week, and the task force reviewed them over the last week, offering advice back to the states. The machinery is ready to roll, awaiting the FDA’s approval of vaccines.

While the utopian fascists of the globalist corporate elite have been planning to use the current Davos conference as the moment when they ram through their global banker’s dictatorship to impose a deadly Green New Deal, there are signs that an opposition is growing, centered around China and Russia, and including some elements in Europe. Describing the conference thus far as a “mixed bag”, Helga Zepp LaRouche said the oligarchs of high finance, who are promoting negative growth and population reduction, have run into the intention of leading nations which are not willing to surrender their sovereignty for the sake of “stakeholder capitalism.”

Both Presidents Xi and Putin called for cooperation and multilateral solutions, with Xi stating that the unipolar model, which depends on setting nations against each other, is outmoded. In what Zepp LaRouche called a “sign of the times,” Germany’s Chancellor Merkel supported Xi on multilateralism, which she said goes against the idea floated by Biden for a “democratic summit” of all nations against China and Russia.

While cautiously optimistic about the Biden-Putin agreement to ratify a NEW START agreement for five years, she said that Biden’s lecturing of Putin on the usual geopolitical issues shows that his backers are still committed to a strategic orientation which could lead to war. Further, the failure of the rich countries to provide aid to poorer countries to combat the COVID19 pandemic means that either we force a change in thinking, or the pandemic will not be defeated. The only solution to the problems raised by Xi and Putin in their addresses is the full implementation of Lyndon LaRouche’s plan for a Four Power agreement to establish a New Bretton Woods, and to implement on a global scale LaRouche’s Four Laws. She called on the viewers to join us in organizing for this, to realize the potential for a global system which will allow for the development of all nations.

The conversation yesterday between Russian President Putin and Joe Biden had one positive outcome, an agreement to extend the START Treaty, set to expire next week, for five years.

However, Biden’s lecture to Putin about a series of alleged “malign actions” by Russia reflects a return to the provocative policies of the Bush and Obama administrations, which put the U.S. on a course toward war with Russia. Instead, since both nations face a common enemy, i.e., the globalists of Davos who are moving to impose a global banker’s dictatorship called the “Great Reset”, the proper approach to relations between the two superpowers would be to take up LaRouche’s proposal for a Four Power agreement, to establish a New Bretton Woods system and crush the City of London and its Wall Street allies.

Assuming the coronavirus pandemic permits it, Argentine President Alberto Fernández’s May 5 trip to China, during which he is expected to meet with President Xi Jinping twice and sign a Memorandum of Understanding to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) along with several other agreements, will be of strategic importance to Argentina’s future. The two Presidents already enjoy a warm relationship and have communicated with each other frequently over the recent period. While Fernández has said he seeks a friendly and hopefully cooperative relationship with the Biden administration, particularly as this relates to negotiations with the IMF, he is looking to the relationship with China to help make major strides in his nation’s economic and scientific development.

Argentina’s new ambassador in Beijing, China expert Sabino Vaca Narvaja, who was already stationed at the embassy as a Special Representative for Trade and Investment, is now actively preparing the President’s trip while consolidating other matters related to trade, economic and aerospace cooperation and acquiring 15 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine that is a top priority for Argentina. As the daily Dangdai reported Jan. 22, on Jan. 19 Vaca met with officials from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing to discuss potential bank financing for bioceanic corridors traversing Argentina to Chile, in key locations in the northern, central and southern part of the Andes mountain range, which Argentina sees as crucial for expanding trade with China and lowering transportation cost by about 30%. Deep-water ports on the Pacific coast are also much better-equipped to handle deep-draft ships, than Argentina’s two major ports in Rosario and Buenos Aires.

Since the AIIB prioritizes financing projects that enhance trade “connectivity,” as Página 12 reported today, President Fernández is seeking closer cooperation with Chile which has had a longstanding political and economic/trade relationship with China. Tomorrow, Fernández will make a state visit to Chile to meet with President Sebastián Piñera, during which the issue of bioceanic corridors and other matters pertaining to China will be high on the agenda.

On Jan 20, the U.K.’s CDC Group, the “development finance institution”—actually the government-owned “investment” arm of the Foreign Office, founded in 1948, with a special focus on Africa and South Asia (and nothing to do with public health). On Jan. 19, the Grantham Research Institute of London School of Economics and CDC Group hosted a webinar of the Just Transition Financial Roadmap, launched in 2018 by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and Environment and Initiative for Responsible Investment at the Harvard Kennedy School. The webinar led like U.K. and U.S. gangs in establishing a $1 billion fund for “sustainable” investments, in their words, “facilitate a just transition to zero emissions growth in the coal-dependent economies of South Africa and India.” Joining these Malthusians in their launch were the “economic researchers” at the South African Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) and the National Business Initiative (NBI); along with “partners” Observer Research Foundation (of India), the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and Harvard Kennedy School’s Initiative for Responsible Investment.

At a webinar announcing the event—which they disgustingly referred to as a “fireside chat”—the speakers, led by the CDC Group CEO Nick O’Donohoe, were united in their goal of not letting go this chance to ensure that what COVID has shut down not be allowed to re-open. While no specific programs were announced, they singled out of South Africa and India as the “two of the largest coal-dependent emerging economies globally. Both economies’ reliance on coal mining and coal-based energy production leaves related industries, workers and communities exposed to the risks posed by efforts to mitigate climate change.” The 90 minute webinar is posted on YouTube.

Of the gaggle of groups that have chosen to associate themselves with this venture, perhaps the most defining is the LSE’s Grantham Research Institute. “Financial advisor” Jeremy Grantham was an “out and proud” follower of Thomas Malthus, and Grantham’s quarterly “forecasts” were closely read by the upper 1% who trusted him with the care of their fortunes. The issue for April, 2011 is titled, “Time to Wake Up: Days of Abundant Resources and Falling Prices Are Over Forever”—where, among the leading bullet-points we find: “The problems of compounding growth in the face of finite resources are not easily understood by optimistic, short-term-oriented, and relatively innumerate humans (especially the political variety),” and, following that, “The fact is that no compound growth is sustainable. If we maintain our desperate focus on growth, we will run out of everything and crash.” Below that, in the chart of exponential population growth of the past five centuries, we find just two dates highlighted: The issuance of Malthus’ Essay on the Principle of Population, in 1798, and in 1938, Grantham’s birthday, labeled, “I was born”! No ordinary Malthusian, this Grantham, but Malthus reborn.

Perhaps the character of the entire “Just Transition” event is best summed up by the (Freudian?) comment of NBI’s South African CEO Joanne Yawitch, who may have revealed a bit too much as she reassuringly said, “The just transition in South Africa is an area of opportunity and not a place of threat.”

The diabolical ironclad beetle (that’s its name, not an indictment) can withstand a load of 150 newtons, or 39,000 times its own body weight. This would be the equivalent of a human weighing 200 pounds withstanding a force of 3,900 tons. For comparison, a fully-fueled Saturn V rocket weighed about 650 tons.

New studies, led by engineers at University of California Irvine and Purdue University found “the diabolical ironclad beetle’s super-toughness lies in its two armorlike ‘elytron’ that meet at a line, called a suture, running the length of the abdomen.”

All insects, arachnids, crustaceans and shelled mollusks have exoskeletons, which support the muscles on the inside and also provide protection. In most flying beetles, there are two flaps of hard material (“elytron”) which protect their wings, and facilitate flight.

The study, as reported by SciTechDaily and Purdue University, and published in the Oct. 21 issue of Nature, found that the diabolical ironclad beetle doesn’t have wings at all, and the elytra have evolved into a unified section and that “the elytra and connective suture help to distribute an applied force more evenly throughout its body.”

They examined a cross-section of this region (across the short axis), and found that the “suture” region was curved back and forth, very much like a jigsaw puzzle piece, which was interlocking, and allowed flexion and delamination to occur. This allows the structure to flex and deform, rather than immediately snap and break.

“‘An active engineering challenge is joining together different materials without limiting their ability to support loads. The diabolical ironclad beetle has strategies to circumvent these limitations,’ said David Restrepo, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio who worked on this project as a postdoctoral researcher in Zavattieri’s group….

“UCI researchers built a carbon fiber composite fastener mimicking a diabolical ironclad beetle’s suture. Purdue researchers found through loading tests that this fastener is just as strong as a standard aerospace fastener, but significantly tougher.

“‘This work shows that we may be able to shift from using strong, brittle materials to ones that can be both strong and tough by dissipating energy as they break. That’s what nature has enabled the diabolical ironclad beetle to do,’” said co-author Pablo Zavattieri, whose lab at Purdue carried out some of the studies covered in Nature. Zavattieri is Purdue’s Jerry M. and Lynda T. Engelhardt Professor of Civil Engineering.

A second article in SciTechDaily on Oct. 25 includes further coverage of the UC Irvine and Purdue studies on the diabolical ironclad beetle.

This discovery has exciting implications for not only improving engineering on Earth, but also for building with strong, resilient materials for colonization on the Moon and Mars.