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CGTN Interviews Helga Zepp-LaRouche on Eighth Anniversary of Belt and Road Initiative

November 21, 2021by madeleine in Economic development updates, General, Global Diplomacy, Healthcare, Helga media coverage or interview, Media coverage of our activity, New Silk Road / BRI updates, World Land-Bridge updates

China’s CGTN conducted two interviews with Schiller Institute chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche on the celebration of eight years of the Belt and Road Initiative, one for with the “Dialogue Weekend” program and the second with “Global Business.” Here are the transcripts:

Dialogue Weekend

LI QIUYUAN: Welcome to this edition of Dialogue Weekend: I’m Li Quiyuan.

In the fall of 2013, while on visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia, Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled the plan to build the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, otherwise known as the Belt and Road Initiative. Eight years on, how is the project progressing, and how has it helped all those involved? And what obstacles have been overcome during the construction? To review the last eight years of the BRI, I’m glad to be joined by Prof. John Gong from the University of International Business and Economics; and Miss Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and president of the Schiller Institute. Great to see you both.

Why don’t I start with Professor Gong first? Explain to us some context here: Why try to propose this, building this New Silk Road in the very beginning, and also why did the President announce this while travelling abroad? And also, eight years on, eight years into this project, where are we now, as far as its construction?

PROF. JOHN GONG: Hi Qiuyuan, you’re nice to have me here. It’s a long question, but let me first start by saying what the Belt and Road Initiative is not: It is not a geopolitical play, it’s not a geostrategic play, it’s not intended to seek a spread of influence. It’s mostly an economic play. There are several reasons why China started this initiative. I think the broader context is that this is a time when Chinese companies started to expand overseas, started to build a global supply chain, and in this course, Chinese companies quickly started to discover that the markets they’re mostly activating, these are the developing countries, the third world countries, they are handicapped by basic infrastructure for things like railways, port facilities, electricity network, telecom network—all these things are lacking for the Chinese companies to operate properly in these markets. And there’s a mutual benefit in developing these countries’ basic infrastructure. And this is also the time, when there was an access capacity in the basic building materials, mostly useful infrastructure buildouts for things like cement, steel, those things. We’re talking about a time in 2013, 2012.

And I would also mention this is also a time when China’s foreign exchange reserve was at an all-time high, and we would like to see the foreign exchange reserve at close to $4 trillion at the time, mostly sitting in the United States, buying American government’s Treasury bills and bonds.

So all these reasons combined contributed to the very natural evolution to using that money, using that excess capacity, and using the capabilities of Chinese companies of building infrastructure to help those developing countries to develop those projects. And I think this is the broader context: it work for both ways, and it works in particular in a way to benefit the host countries where the Chinese companies are operating, and these infrastructure projects are taking place.

LI: Helga, let me get your take on this: How do you evaluate the progress being made in the past eight years regarding this initiative?

HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, I think it’s the most impressive infrastructure project in the history of all of mankind. And China for the first time has given the developing countries the chance to overcome poverty and underdevelopment. And if you look at the progress, there is now the China-Laos high-speed rail project, which is fantastic. It will be extended to Thailand, and beyond. And soon, the previously not so developed country, like Laos, will have a high-speed rail system, which Europe and the United States can only dream of!

Then you have the [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor] CPEC treaty, the Middle Corridor, all these projects in Central Asia, all these investments in Africa. So I think it has brought in an incredible shift in the strategic situation, by overcoming underdevelopment, for the first time, for all of these countries. So I think, despite all the opposition, I think it’s a great success.

LI: But now after all of China’s investments in Africa, we once again are hearing criticism or accusations of China setting so-called “debt traps” for the countries participating in the BRI. This is the most frequent criticisms we’ve heard about this initiative. Professor Gong, talk to us about it: Beijing has made it clear that this initiative is by no means a debt trap. What has been done by China to support its claim?

GONG: We have to go back to the origin of the so-called “debt trap” theory. I think it originated in India with respect to, in particular, the port project in Sri Lanka. The idea is basically conspiracy theory….

LI: Now, we’ve seen the pandemic COVID-19 causing massive disruptions and damage to economic activities all around the world including the global supply chain, such as thousands of containers sitting on the Los Angeles docks, waiting for truckers and warehouse personnel to transport and deliver goods. It would seem that the world desperately needs an economic boost now, more than ever. But, Helga, do you see the BRI being it, providing great opportunities for corporations, for countries involved? Could they benefit from a smoother and more efficient global trade infrastructure?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Oh, yes. You have already all the countries of Asia, many in Africa, even of Europe—you have Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece, the 16+1 East European countries that all are absolutely onboard of the BRI. But I think some of the so-called advanced countries like Germany, they would benefit the most if they would stop thinking in terms of geopolitical prejudices, because, for example, if they would join hands with China right now in the development of Afghanistan, which suffers the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet, and urgently needs to be integrated into the Belt and Road Initiative if it wants to ever have stability. So Germany, for example, is very concerned about the refugee crisis, and rather than building a wall around the EU outer borders, which is what the EU is considering right now—like the old Limes in the Roman Empire—I think the European countries, and hopefully also the United States, join hands; and they have a moral obligation because NATO countries were for 20 years in Afghanistan and they left the country in complete shambles. So, to reconstruct Afghanistan—and Haiti, and Syria, and Yemen, and all of these other countries that are in dire condition—if Germany and Europe would help and cooperate with China and the Belt and Road countries to develop Southwest Asia and Africa, there would be no refugee problem.

And I think we need a rethinking of this very, very urgently, because we have a tremendous moment in history. The Western financial system is not in good shape: You have signs of hyperinflation; the supply chain problem, you mentioned. So I think we need a rethinking. And the Schiller Institute is doing a lot of conferences and activities to convince the industrialized countries that it would be in their absolute self-interest to cooperate with the BRI and play a positive role in history.

LI: Helga, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. We appreciate your perspective.

Professor Gong, a final question on this part to you: Certainly great steps have been made on the BRI over the last eight years, but what lessons can we draw from these experiences? And what challenges has the project faced as it reaches out for wider cooperation?

GONG: Well, let me first supplement your previous question. Helga actually knows my position on this issue. I wrote a paper several years ago, talking about how America can actually benefit from the Belt and Road Initiative. The article’s title is “Make America Great Again—with Chinese Money.”

As a matter of fact, I actually as an opportunity to make a keynote speech at a conference organized by Helga, the Schiller Institute. [Create a New Epoch for Mankind • February 16, 2019, Morristown, NJ]

There could have been greater opportunities between China and the United States to address the infrastructure problems you have just mentioned. You talk about the supply chain hiccups, or these clogs at Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, all of these things can be substantially addressed by combining the capabilities of infrastructure buildouts, in China, together with investments in the United States. But unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.

Now, back to your question about lessons in the past, I think this is a perfect example to show that there are opportunities if China and other countries will just come together and cooperate, and purely think of this from an economic perspective and setting aside all these, you know, these talks about geostrategic, geopolitics lens, not seeing these things through that lens, I think there could be huge opportunities. There are tons of countries out there who indeed benefit from these infrastructure investments. So, I think the biggest lesson is, this is a purely economic play, and there will be mutual benefits deriving from this. And that let’s have both sides going to this in cooperative spirits should generate benefits for both countries.

And as well as the better exchanges, through human to human, people to people exchanges, and also economic benefits as well. So I think that’s the biggest lesson. And United States could have—I emphasize again, could have—benefitted immensely, if we go into this with, as we say, with a cooperative spirit. But unfortunately, it’s not happening.

Global Business

ANCHOR: For more on the Belt and Road Initiative, I want to bring in Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and president of the Schiller Institute, who’s now in Wiesbaden. Helga, welcome to the program. You know, President Xi Jinping saying the BRI is really about finding the biggest common ground for all, and I think it’s interesting to contrast that with what we hear oftentimes, from the West in terms of only working with like-minded countries. This is about working with all countries, large and small, to find their greatest common denominator.

So, Helga, at a time of such uncertainty, how important do you think is the BRI in terms of growing the economic pie for all?

HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE: I think it is, for sure, the most important strategic initiative on the planet right now. Because you say “uncertainty,” I mean, these uncertainties show for example, in the form of a hyperinflationary tendency: You see the energy prices skyrocketing, food prices, and we may actually head towards a hyperinflationary blowout of the entire system. And at such a moment, to have the Belt and Road Initiative which focusses entirely on the physical side of the economy, can actually become the absolute important savior for the world economy as a whole. So I think the existence of the Belt and Road Initiative is the most important initiative on the planet.

ANCHOR: And Helga, of course, one big topic that we are all talking about these days, from the public sector to the private sector, is how we can collectively tackle climate change. How do you see the Belt and Road Initiative really promoting sustainable and green development, especially for developing economies, who need more help in terms of making that green transition?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, you know, in the Glasgow COP26 summit, it became very clear that behind a lot of this climate policy, is also a Malthusian effort to prevent the developing countries from developing, and that has been expressed very clearly by India, Indonesia, Nigeria, which all did not go along with the program of Glasgow.

So I think China, on the other side, is offering especially cooperation in nuclear energy, which has a very high energy flux-density and therefore, is potentially the energy source for more developed economies. So I think the role of China and the BRI countries which all are going in the direction of promoting nuclear energy, also for the developing countries, are representing a very, very important alternative to the Malthusian policies coming from the financial centers in London and Wall Street.

ANCHOR: Hmm. So we have growing the economic pie for all, energy cooperation, green development, and of course, one other extension. Helga, of the BRI, is the Health Silk Road, and this is China aiding Belt and Road partner countries, by sharing medical knowledge about the coronavirus; last year providing medical aid as well, last year and this year. Help I believe will be a critical part of BRI cooperation going forward. How do you see this element of the Initiative developing, post-pandemic?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, I think it is very clear that China right now is helping many African countries to build vaccine production, so they can develop their own vaccine. I have been saying, since the outbreak of this pandemic, that it will only stop if we build a world health system: That means a modern health system in every single country. Because the idea to only take care of the rich countries with vaccines, and modern hospitals, does not work, because then the poor countries are left behind, and then the virus is mutating, and will come back and hit the entire human population.

So I think we have to have a very big emphasis on a modern health system in every single country: Which means modern hospitals—China has proven you can build a modern hospital in two weeks in Wuhan—but the developing countries need encouragement and help. They need energy, they need clean water, in order to do that. I think the most urgent ones right now are Afghanistan, Haiti, Syria and Yemen: These are the countries that need, urgently, international cooperation to build modern health systems, if they are supposed to survive. I have proposed something called “Operation Ibn Sina” which named after the great universal thinker of the Afghanistan region, from around the 10th century. And that could become the spearhead for a health system in every country in the Islamic world, but also for all the developing countries. And that’s the only way how the pandemic will stop, and future pandemics.

ANCHOR: Yes. And speaking about closing gaps all around in terms of the development gap, closing the energy and green development gap, what about the digital connectivity gap? The digital connectivity benefits provided by the BRI down the road can be absolutely huge, in terms of getting especially emerging and developing economies, really into the digital sphere. The pandemic, we’ve seen, has really accelerated digitization. How do you see the BRI boosting digital connectivity, and really helping to narrow the digital divide between developing economies and advanced economies?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: I think the fact that China was able to deal with the pandemic so much better than almost every other country on the planet has to do with the fact that the health sector is largely digitalized, and contact tracing, smart cities integrated—I think that’s future.

The problem is, the West is opposing that because there is a difference: In China the population for the most part trusts the government, and thinks that these measures are being applied for the common good. In Western Europe, for example, or the United States, there is a deep mistrust between the population and the government, and therefore, there is a lot of opposition. But look at Germany, right now, or many European countries: The pandemic is exploding again. And that is, for sure, they are still using photocopy machines, and very archaic means to trace the pandemic. And if Europe would have the kind of digitalization like China we would be in much better shape.

So I think that is clearly the way to go, and hopefully, people start to rethink and correct a lot of prejudices which do not come from facts, but they come—for example, the U.S. Senate just agreed upon a strategic act, which spent several hundred million dollars every year to counter the so-called “influence” of China! If that money would be spent on building hospitals and building real infrastructure for the benefit of the people, the United States image would gain much more than from these kinds of measures!

So again, I can only hope there will be a rethinking and a lot of the prejudices which have been spread should be put into the garbage pile.

ANCHOR: Yeah, instead of spending trillions of dollars on never-ending wars in foreign lands, I think definitely that money, at least for the United States, can be better put towards working with other countries in terms of boosting development around the world. And of course, that’s what the BRI is about, is really focussing and emphasizing cooperation, especially in the world that we live in today, and our future generations will need that cooperation. We must see that through the BRI. Many thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Helga. That’s Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and president of the Schiller Institute.

Xi Jinping Addresses Symposium on Belt and Road Initiative

November 21, 2021by madeleine in BRICS updates, China, Economic development updates, Global Diplomacy, Healthcare, World Land-Bridge updates

President Xi Jinping addressed the third construction symposium on the Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing today, on the eighth anniversary of the BRI. Speeches were also given by He Lifeng, director of the NDRC, Chen Quanguo, the head of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and several other economic experts. After listening to the speeches, Xi made his own extensive comments on the importance of the Initiative.

Xi stressed three aspects of the BRI, regarding infrastructure. He spoke of “hard connectivity,” “soft connectivity” as an important support for this, and the “heart to heart” connectivity established by the Initiative in the important people-to-people relationships. “Through the joint construction of the Belt and Road, the level of opening up in various regions in the country has been improved, the areas of opening up to the outside world have been expanded, institutional opening up has been promoted, a wide circle of friends has been built, new ways to promote common development have been explored, and the construction of the country has been realized on the basis of mutual benefit,” Xi said.

While stressing that the general direction of the BRI will continue in an era still focused on peace and development, he also underlined the difficult situation facing the BRI in light of “the major changes unseen in a century” which he said are now “accelerating.”

He said, “The fierce competition brought about by the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is unprecedented…Global issues such as climate change and epidemic prevention and control have an unprecedented impact on human society. The international environment of the Belt and Road Initiative is becoming increasingly complex. We must maintain strategic determination, seize strategic opportunities, coordinate development and security, coordinate domestic and international cooperation and struggle, coordinate reserves and increments, plan with a view of the whole as well as an eye on the details , actively respond to challenges, seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and move forward courageously.”

He underlined new areas into which the BRI must expand, namely, digital, health, green economy and innovation. “It is necessary to comprehensively consider and plan to build a new development pattern and jointly build the Belt and Road, focus on new areas of strength, and shape new points of integration. It is necessary to speed up the improvement of distinctive, complementary, smooth and safe land passages, optimize the maritime layout, and provide strong support for smooth domestic and international double circulation. It is necessary to strengthen the smooth connection of the industrial chain and supply chain, and promote the diversification of sources. We must build iconic projects of high quality. The people’s livelihood project is an important way to quickly increase the sense of public gain in the joint construction of a country. We must strengthen overall planning and form more grounded and united cooperation results.”

He also underlined the need to proceed forward with an eye on protection against the epidemic and possible security threats. He encouraged all of the provinces to begin consideration of how they can contribute to advancing the BRI.

Webcast: Most of the World is Hungry for Change

November 19, 2021by madeleine in General

The contrast between the flop of the Malthusians with the failure of their “climate summit”, and the successful deliberation at the 2-day Schiller Institute conference demonstrates that there is an urgency in breaking with the present paradigm, and achieving cooperation among all leading nations. The dividing line is between Trans-Atlantic nations sticking with neoliberal, colonial policies, and geopolitical provocations, and those nations committed to cooperation for economic development.

Helga developed this contrast, as it exists regarding all major crises, from addressing the humanitarian disaster facing Afghanistan; the crisis at the Poland-Belarus border; the COVID pandemic, which is surging through Europe; and dealing with hyperinflation, caused by the decision to bailout bankrupt corporations, rather than invest in developing new manufacturing centers at the frontiers of science. She called on viewers to join the Schiller Institute, at a moment when historical decisions are being made. The changes we have proposed will work; but, if these changes do not take place, the West will collapse, due to moral bankruptcy.

Marching Orders: Stop the Attempt To Shut Down Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s Schiller Institute!

November 11, 2021by madeleine in General

Early this morning, YouTube took an extraordinary and groundless action against a video posted on the Schiller Institute’s YouTube channel 10 (ten) months ago, which YouTube laughably characterized as containing “harassment and cyberbullying,” and used that excuse to issue a “strike” which now prohibits the Schiller Institute from either posting or live-streaming videos on YouTube for one week. They did this with precision timing to try to censor and destroy the Schiller Institute’s upcoming Nov. 13-14 international conference, which was to be live-streamed over YouTube.

The cui bono of the YouTube attack should be obvious. Beyond this particular conference, the Schiller Institute itself and its founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche have emerged as a major strategic obstacle to the plans of a bankrupt and desperate trans-Atlantic financial Establishment to impose their Malthusian “final solution” to the crisis: a Green Reset of deindustrialization and depopulation; a hyperinflationary speculative blowout; and perennial wars targeting Russia and China in particular.

Especially over the last ten months since the “offending” video was published, the Schiller Institute has shot into international prominence as the policy leadership for an emerging anti-Malthusian alliance of forces across the planet, largely through conferences such as the upcoming Nov. 13-14 one. The intent of YouTube—and of the bankrupt financial Establishment which gives them their marching orders—is actually to permanently silence the Schiller Institute’s voice.

That will not happen. The Schiller Institute has made alternative streaming arrangements for the event. The YouTube strike can be made to backfire powerfully, transforming the Nov. 13-14 conference into that financial Establishment’s worst nightmare. Spread the word; become a co-streamer; and widely circulate the following Press Release.

SCHILLER INSTITUTE PRESS RELEASE

May 13, 2021by madeleine in General

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT schiller@schillerinstitute.org

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute Founder and Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, Political and Media Advisor to the Syrian Presidency, Lead Off May 8 International Conference

The historic May 8^th Schiller Institute International Conference, “The Moral Collapse of the Trans-Atlantic World Cries Out for a New Paradigm,” brought together leaders of institutions and governments from around the world to address the exceedingly dangerous global strategic crisis: a rush to confrontation between the world’s nuclear powers; a pandemic threatening to expand with a vengeance; mass starvation threatening dozens of millions in Africa and Asia; and a financial bubble of unprecedented scope which is already beginning to fissure. The conference was keynoted by Schiller Institute founder and Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche, and it is excerpted below. The full two panel conference, with 19 speakers from Europe, Asia and the Americas, and two extended discussion sessions, is available at https://schillerinstitute.com/blog/2021/05/07/conference-the-moral-collapse-of-the-trans-atlantic-world-cries-out-for-a-new-paradigm/, and the full program is appended to the end of this release.

Interviews and/or video clips can be made available for your use.

Lift All Unilateral Sanctions!

Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche, and many of the speakers, developed in devastating detail, the danger of war over Ukraine; and highlighted the illegal and deadly unilateral sanctions policy of the U.S., pointing especially to Syria and Yemen. She emphatically called for overturning the Caesar Sanctions on Syria and lifting all unilateral sanctions amidst the devastating food crisis threatening the death of millions. The pandemic spike in India is an indication of the danger of the threat to all of a myriad of new mutations.

The first panel was joined by, among other speakers, Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, Political and Media Advisor to the Syrian Presidency, speaking on the topic, “Restore International Law: Respect Syria’s Perfect Sovereignty” and Col. Richard H. Black (USA-ret.), former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division, on “The Immorality of Sanctions: The Case of Syria.”

Dr. Shaaban was the second speaker. She thanked Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche for the keynote address saying, “I thought while you were talking that I would love to carry this speech and circulate it the world over, because it is the antithesis of what Western colonial powers are doing. And I would like to say to you how I read that you, Helga, and the Schiller Institute look at humanity. You see humanity, see all of us as global brothers and sisters, while the imperial and colonial powers have always treated us or looked at us as second- or third- or fourth- or fifth-class citizens of the world. They continue to do that because they are only interested in looting our resources, and in making money for themselves while depriving our people of our own resources. I think your idea is great…. Thank you, Helga, for inviting me, always. I think this is the time to make the Schiller Institute a leading narrative, your narrative, to be a leading narrative in the world. I think most people everywhere need this, and want this, and are ready to join party with you and work with you for this noble cause you have been embracing for the last 50 years. Thank you very much.”

Zepp-LaRouche: “The March of Folly: Can Mankind Still Extinguish the Now-Lit Fuse of Thermonuclear War?”

She said in part:

“We are conducting this Schiller Institute conference with an urgent appeal to as many people as possible to help to change the direction in which the political situation is going right now. Because we are on a course which, in a very short period of time—much shorter than most anybody probably realizes—we are on a course of the potential extinction of civilization. It’s not clear where the greater danger comes from: the danger of thermonuclear war, the danger of the pandemic going out of control in combination with world famine, or with the neo-Malthusian virus which has beset the brains of so many people. It is not clear if these neo-Malthusians are more eager to destroy industrial society or if they are simply willing instruments in aiding geopolitical confrontation with Russia and China.

“Let’s start with the danger of thermonuclear war: it’s not just one trigger point, one strategic crisis. It is the overall tension between the United States, the so-called Global Britain, NATO, and also increasingly the European Union with Russia and China. It’s becoming so big that any one of the crises around the globe could become the trigger point. It could be a crisis with Russia over Ukraine going out of control, or with China over Taiwan.

“It is alarming, and it should alarm all of you, now that more and more people, even such unlikely ones, as Henry Kissinger—who has been not exactly a friend of our organization (which has everything to do with his infamous NSSM-200 paper which he wrote when he was National Security Advisor in 1974), and that he was the enemy and adversary of everything Lyndon LaRouche and his movement stood for—but even Kissinger is now warning that the tension between the United States and China is becoming so all-engulfing for the whole world, that it could lead to an Armageddon-like military clash, extinguishing mankind ‘in a finite period of time.’ This he said about a week ago.

“Then the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, Admiral Charles Richard, in February, informed the Pentagon that they should change the likelihood of nuclear war from ‘not likely’ to ‘very likely.’ He repeated that before the Congress. On May 6, the New York Times had an article by Peter Beinart, who said that the Biden policy towards Taiwan is truly reckless, that we are very close to war, mainly because the Democrats had abandoned the One-China policy last year.

“If it would come to such a war, given the fact that China has 39 air bases around the region of Taiwan, the United States has only two, the United States would lose any conventional war, and if it would think of using regional nuclear weapons, the danger is that it would go into an all-out global nuclear war….

“On March 21st, Adm. Philip Davidson, the head of the Indo-Pacific Command, said we must be absolutely prepared to fight and win such a war, should competition turn into conflict. Then, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, Adm. John Aquilino, who will replace Admiral Davidson, said we are much closer to such a war ‘than most think.’ And H.R. McMaster, the former National Security Advisor to Trump said the most dangerous time in his view is the period between the Congress of the Chinese Communist Party later this year, and the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year. So, that is, indeed, very close.”

Convene a P-5 Summit

“What is to be done? There is a solution, but it is important to take all these problems at once. Because when you have a systemic crisis such as I have described, it is not enough to solve a little of this and a little bit of that crisis. We have to create a completely different system. President Putin, in January 2020, called for an urgent meeting of the Permanent Five Members of the UN Security Council. I think that is what must absolutely happen now. Such a summit should be called because of the danger of World War III, a pandemic out of control, a world famine, the danger of a blow-out of the financial system, and it must lead to an immediate implementation of the following program.

Build Modern Health Systems Everywhere

“Given the pandemic, the only way to stop that and future pandemics, is to create a world health system, which means a modern health system in every single country. Because if you don’t stop the pandemic in even the poorest country on the planet, it will come back; there will be new variants, new strains, which eventually could make obsolete the vaccines which already have been distributed. So, we are in a race against time. We should do in every single country, what was done in Wuhan when the pandemic broke out. Build hospitals! This can be done with the Army Corps of Engineers, with aid organizations. In one week, one can build a hospital for 1,000 people. Then, these modern hospitals need well-educated doctors, nurses. You need lots of clean water; 2 billion people in the world have no access to clean water. You need lots of electricity; this cannot be done without infrastructure. So, the building of a modern health system in every country can and must be the beginning of overcoming the underdevelopment of the developing countries for good.

“We have to have a program of global poverty alleviation, exactly as it was intended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he called for the Bretton Woods Agreements, which were never fully implemented because of his untimely death. But now, we need exactly that. It must start with global Glass-Steagall banking separation, which then must be followed by the creation of a Hamiltonian national banking system in very country. We need a credit system, which then can become a New Bretton Woods system. Then we can finance the extension of the New Silk Road into Southwest Asia.

“The solution to overcome the death and starvation in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq and other crisis areas is obvious. When President Xi Jinping was in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Egypt in 2015, he offered to extend the New Silk Road into the entire region. That program—and the Schiller Institute has worked on a comprehensive program for the entire region—can be implemented if, in such a P-5 UN Security Council meeting, it is agreed, and then the neighbors of Southwest Asia—Russia, China, India—all work together, and the United States and European nations agree to cooperate in the reconstruction of this region that has been destroyed by these endless wars. This will then extend the New Silk Road with international cooperation from other countries. Japan, and South Korea and other nations should all be involved in the reconstruction of Africa.

A Human Future of Discovery and Development

“Geopolitical confrontation can then be replaced with crash programs for the development of thermonuclear fusion power, in which major breakthroughs have occurred recently. Rather than extending geopolitical confrontation into space, we should have international cooperation to build a village on the Moon, and soon a city on Mars.

“The Hubble Telescope has discovered that there are at a minimum 2 trillion galaxies. I would like you to really put your mind on that thought, and then think how stupid it would be that we, as a human species, who are the only species which can potentially be the immortal species because of our creative reason, that we would destroy ourselves in thermonuclear destruction. I think we should have the ambition not to be more stupid than the animals, because there is no animal species which would ever conduct such behavior.”

The full program:

Schiller Institute International Conference, May 8, 2021

The Moral Collapse of The Trans-Atlantic World Cries Out for a New Paradigm

PROGRAM

Panel 1: “The March of Folly: Can Mankind Still Extinguish the Now-Lit Fuse of Thermonuclear War?”

Welcoming Remarks: Harley Schlanger (moderator)

Keynote Address: “Is Mankind the Immortal Species, or Worse than Animals?” – Helga Zepp-LaRouche, President, the Schiller Institute

“Restore International Law: Respect Syria’s Perfect Sovereignty” – Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, Political and Media Advisor to the Syrian Presidency

“The Immorality of Sanctions: The Case of Syria” – Col. Richard H. Black (ret.), former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division

“Unilateral Economic Sanctions: Immorality and Arrogance of Great Powers” – Prof. Dr. Hans Koechler, University Professor of Philosophy, Austria; President, International Progress Organization

“Global Governance—An Answer from China and Russia” – Prof. Dr. Wilfried Schreiber, World Trends Institute for International Politics, Potsdam, Germany

“A Perspective for the Economic Development of Afghanistan in the Setting of the New Silk Road” – Sayed Mujtaba Ahmadi, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Afghanistan, Canada

“Reflections for a New Foreign Policy” – Prof. Eric Denece, Director, French Center for Intelligence Research

“The Obama Sanctions Sabotaged Japan-Russia Development” – Daisuke Kotegawa, former Ministry of Finance official; former Director for Japan at the IMF

“Sanctions Against Syria, Conflict with China: Who Benefits?” – Caleb Maupin, U.S. journalist and political analyst; founder, Center for Political Innovation

DISCUSSION SESSION

Panel 2: “The Method of the Coincidence of Opposites: Only a United Worldwide Health Effort, Without Sanctions, Can Reverse a Worldwide Pandemic”

Opening Remarks – Dennis Speed (moderator), with excerpts from Lyndon LaRouche’s 1999 video, Storm Over Asia and from a recent interview with Rear Adm. Marc Pelaez (ret.), former nuclear submarine commander

Introductory Remarks – Helga Zepp-LaRouche, President, the Schiller Institute

“Join or Die: Why A World Health Platform Protects Each of Us” – Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former Surgeon General of the United States

“Report on Mozambique Pilot Aid Project—Toward World-Scale Mobilization” –Dr. Khadijah Lang, Chairman, National Medical Association Council on International Affairs; President, Golden State Medical Association; and Marcia Baker, Editorial Board, Executive Intelligence Review

“Do Not Forget: The Global Concentration Camp Oven Is Now Nuclear” – Luis Vasquez, Schiller Institute, Peru

“Report: The Coincidence of Opposites Committee Work in Washington, D.C. and the Mississippi Delta” – Dr. Walter Faggett, former Chief Medical Officer, Washington D.C. Department of Health; Co-Chair D.C. Ward 8 Health Council; and Ms. Genita Finley, second-year medical student, Howard University; designer, Mississippi Delta Medical Extension School program

“German Farm Protest Leaders: ‘Green Deal’ Cuts Farmers, Food, and People!” –Rainer Seidl, farm leader, Land Creates Connection (Land schafft Verbindung), video Feb. 7, Munich; and Alf Schmidt, independent farmer, video March 23, Berlin

“ ‘Physician, Heal Thy Self’: Saving a Nation in Crisis Through Love” – Pastor Robert Smith, Jr., Pastor, New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan; Chairman, Foreign Mission Board, The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

“They Knew or Should Have Known: The Cases of Venezuela and Chile” –Antonio Sanchez, Chile, International LaRouche Youth Movement

DISCUSSION SESSION

Greetings and Messages to the Conference

Dr. Ivan Timofeev, Director of Programs, Russian International Affairs Council; head of the Euro-Atlantic Security Program, Valdai Club

Augustinus Berkhout, Emeritus Professor of Geophysics, Delft University of Technology; Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

Ray Flynn, former Mayor of Boston; former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican

Fouad Al-Ghaffari, President, BRICS Youth Parliament of Yemen

Mike Gravel, former U.S. Senator, Alaska; past U.S. Presidential Candidate

Presidents of DR, Costa Rica and Panama Urge Immediate Action on Haitian Crisis

September 27, 2021by madeleine in COVID-19, General, General updates, Global Diplomacy, Haiti, Healthcare

Meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22, the Presidents of the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Panama signed a communique announcing the creation of an informal alliance among them, titled the {Alliance for Democratic Institutionality,} which calls on the international community to act swiftly to address the crisis in Haiti. In the communique, Dominican President Luis Abinader, Costa Rican Carlos Alvarado Quesada and Panama’s Laurentino Cortizo Cohen express their “deep concern over the Haitian crisis and its growing impact on the region, particularly its grave migratory consequences.” They have “instructed their foreign ministers to, in alliance with strategic partners such as the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and other friendly countries, immediately devise concrete, comprehensive and sustainable solutions in the framework of respect for [human] dignity and human rights for the purpose of taking on the alarming situation in Haiti.”

All three nations are struggling to recover from the impact of the COVID-triggered economic crisis, made more difficult in the recent period by having to contend with large flows of migrants, largely from Haiti. In a document produced as a result of their meeting, in addition to the communique, the three leaders stress their shared values and “consider it of the utmost importance the exchange of opinions on the challenges our region faces to retake the path of post-pandemic development,” including proposing “joint initiatives that result in the prosperity, sustainable development and the reactivation of our economies.” They stress the importance of reviving regional integration, mentioning “strategic partners” without naming them — all three nations have diplomatic ties with China; and make an obligatory reference to the “green development paradigm.”

They will benefit from learning about the Schiller Institute’s development program for Haiti, the Caribbean and Central American region to be published in the upcoming {EIR}, which was presented in the Sept. 25 Manhattan Project Meeting, “Reconstructing Haiti is America’s Way Out of the `Global Britain’ Trap.”

Spanish-language communique and document available here.

Afghanistan Is at “the Precipice;” More Than Half of Its People Now Face Famine

October 28, 2021by madeleine in Afghanistan, General, Healthcare, Healthcare, World Food Program

The latest “Food Security” report on Afghanistan released yesterday by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) raises the alarm that Afghanistan is becoming the largest humanitarian crisis in the world—beyond even the horror of the famines in Yemen, Ethiopia, Syria, and South Sudan. The facts, maps, and descriptions included in that report make clear that mass death has begun, and that the U.S.-led Western financial sanctions are playing a major role in this catastrophe. This is genocide.

The number of Afghanistan’s people suffering “acute food insecurity” has risen, even after this season’s harvest, from 14 million to 18.8 million people—47% of the nation’s population. That’s a 37% increase since the last assessment carried out by these agencies in April. The FAO and WFP now project that, come the November to March winter months, at least 22.8 million people—more than half (55%) of Afghanistan’s people—will be starving to death. Be clear: “acute food insecurity” is not chronic hunger; it is defined as “when a person’s inability to consume adequate food puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger.”

“Economic decline” stemming from the imposition of international financial sanctions is identified right up front as a “key driver” of this catastrophe, along with conflict and drought. “In the wake of Afghanistan’s political transition and the consequent freezing of US$ 9.5 billion in national assets, the economy plummeted,” the report acknowledges. “The banking system suffered severe disruption, and the national currency lost 12.5 percent of value, leading to high unemployment and food prices.”

In large part because of the sanctions, “for the first time, urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at similar rates to rural communities…. Across cities, towns and villages, virtually no family can afford sufficient food, according to recent WFP surveys,” the World Food Program reported in a press release. “Rampant unemployment and a liquidity crisis are putting all major urban centers in danger of slipping into a Phase 4 emergency level of food insecurity, including formerly middle class populations,” the report finds.

“Afghanistan is now among the world’s worst humanitarian crises—if not the worst—and food security has all but collapsed,” WFP executive director David Beasley warned in releasing this report. “This winter, millions of Afghans will be forced to choose between migration and starvation unless we can step up our life-saving assistance, and unless the economy can be resuscitated…. Hunger is rising and children are dying … the international community must come together to address this crisis, which is fast spinning out of control.”

The WFP press release cites one of the authors of the report, Jean-Martin Bauer, on how one million Afghan children, right now, are in danger of dying of hunger. Bauer asserted that “no one wants to see Afghan children die as a result of, you know, politics, essentially.”

Prove him right; join the Schiller Institute’s international campaign to end the financial strangulation of Afghanistan, and sign and circulate its “Call to Release the funds of the Afghan people.”

Wang Yi, Afghan Govt. Meeting Agrees To Set Up Joint Working Committees

October 28, 2021by madeleine in Afghanistan, China, General, Global Diplomacy

Both China and Afghanistan appear to view the two days of meetings between Afghan Acting Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Doha yesterday and today, as productive and friendly.

Going into the talks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin yesterday noted the importance of the talks, the first at this level since their meetings in July before the Taliban assumption of power. “The Afghan people are seeing a historic opportunity to independently take control of their country’s future,” at the same time that they face “many difficulties and challenges, where there is an urgent need for external support,” the spokesman emphasized. “Against such a backdrop, the Chinese side and the Afghan Taliban authorities have agreed to meet in Doha.”

Global Times reports that Wang Yi spoke of China’s concerns (EITM terrorism, the need for inclusive government, for avoiding chaos, and for having good relations with neighbors, etc.), but also expressed China’s support for Afghanistan’s development:

“Wang urged the US and the West to lift sanctions on the country. He also called upon all parties to engage with the Afghan Taliban in a rational and pragmatic manner to help Afghanistan embark on a path of healthy development,” Global Times reported.

“Wang said that Afghanistan is now at a critical stage of transforming from chaos to governance, and is facing a historic opportunity to achieve reconciliation and advance national reconstruction. But challenges still lay ahead, including the humanitarian crises, economic chaos and terrorist threats, which require more understanding and support from the international community.”

Global Times reported that Baradar had briefed Wang on the current situation in Afghanistan, and told him “that the Afghan Taliban attaches great importance to China’s security concerns, and will resolutely honor its promise and never allow any forces to use the Afghan territory to harm China.”

Afghanistan’s Tolo News, citing government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, reports that Beijing had promised to provide $5 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, and that the two governments had agreed to set up three committees. “The first committee is working on political and diplomatic relations; the second will focus on creating relations and understanding between the two countries; and the third committee is working on economic projects,” Mujahid reported.

Two Former US Surgeons-General Respond to Helga Zepp-LaRouche Afghanistan Initiative

September 22, 2021by madeleine in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Afghanistan, COVID-19, General, Healthcare, Our initiatives (petitions, etc), The Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites

Two former Surgeon Generals of the United States responded to Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s initiative on Afghanistan.

Dr. David Satcher, who served as surgeon general from 1998 to 2002, had the following to say:

“Dr. William Foege, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1977-1983), in his book, House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox, about the successful effort to eradicate smallpox disease, describes how relationships were prioritized, including assuring that credit for successful interventions was appropriately shared. On the other hand, when we came close to eradicating polio in the last decade of the 20th Century, it was the fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan which prevented our success in eliminating polio in those countries, and thus eradicating it in the world. In other words, we were not willing to allow the immunization of children in Pakistan and Afghanistan to take priority over the killing of people and the winning of the war. But, in fact, nobody won the war in Afghanistan, and we failed to eradicate polio.

“Ultimately, we will eradicate polio, but unfortunately it will be after many lives have been lost and trillions of dollars have been spent.

“We can do better! We can invest in lives rather than deaths! We can bring new thinking into our relationships. We can care about each other and value lives beyond our own and beyond our own culture. We can work to make science work for us and for future generations.

“I am impressed with the idea and the statement. We’re talking about a whole new definition of winning and what it means to win, especially winning together, and supporting the healthy development of children as a priority. What is needed is a new paradigm, relative to what we value and what we are willing to do to bring it about.”

Dr. Joycelyn Elders, who served as surgeon general from 1993 to 1994, responded:

“I agree with Dr. David Satcher’s response to Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s statement regarding the needed approach to the dire health and humanitarian crisis facing Afghanistan and many other nations around the world. When we speak about the need for basic necessities for life, such as healthcare, food and water, that is the same for people everywhere, regardless of where you are or what type of government you have.

“The COVID pandemic is exasperating the crises in previously food and health-deprived countries. It is clear that the only way this will be defeated is with a modern healthcare system, in every nation. The Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites has emphasized the need for comprehensive, not piecemeal solutions. Infrastructure, food, energy, and clean water are crucial, combined with modern hospitals and trained personnel. I have long championed the training and deployment of community health care workers, especially recruited from among the young, to augment the resources of trained medical personnel. These workers would now be invaluable in assisting in this effort. Also, here is where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC), a branch of the uniformed services of the U.S. which does not bear arms, and which I and my colleague Dr. Satcher directed, could play an important role.

“Now is the time for us to end confrontation and engage in cooperation to address the basic needs of humanity.”

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For more on The Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites — founded by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, and Dr. Jocelyn Elders — and the need for a world health platform – see the Founding Statement:

Statement to Form The Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites (Coincidentia Oppositorum)

See the most recent statement by Helga Zepp-LaRouche on the need for food and public health in Afghanistan, and a policy of Peace through Development:

Can ‘The West’ Learn? What Afghanistan Needs Now!

Global Health Security Requires Medical Infrastructure in Every Country:

Global Health Security Requires Medical Infrastructure in Every Country—Major Industrial Nations Must Collaborate Now!

Russia Answers Biden With Expulsions and More

April 17, 2021by madeleine in General, Geopolitics updates, World war danger updates

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Friday that ten US diplomats are being declared {persona non grata} and ordered out of Russia, as part of what he labeled a “tit-for-tat response” to President Biden’s actions on Thursday. He also matched the US by barring eight Americans from entering Russia: FBI Director Christopher Wray, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Director of Federal Bureau of Prisons Michael Carvajal, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, and former CIA Director James Woolsey. He indicated that further actions, if provoked, would include imposing “painful measures” on US businesses in Russia and expelling 100 of the 450 staff at the American embassy in Russia, to match the 350 Russians at their embassy in the US.

President Vladimir Putin, according to the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, met with his Security Council today: “There was a conversation about measures in response to the US sanctions imposed on our country the day before.” Also, military construction was high on the agenda, and Putin informed the Council of his call with Biden.

Earlier, on Thursday, Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had made it clear that a response to Biden’s actions was “unavoidable” and that the American ambassador, John Sullivan, was summoned for “tough talks.” Also on Thursday, the State Duma’s Speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin described Biden’s measures as showing that the “whole arsenal of accusations has been exhausted, and the US is going in a circle… by imposing sanctions, they punish themselves. In the end, they will have to build relationships that they themselves have destroyed.” The First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, Dmitry Novikov, told Izvestia that there was nothing surprising: “They say that they are ready to meet and contact, but only on topics that interest them, and in all other respects they will continue pressure. They call this a pragmatic approach.” Izvestia interviewed the president of the American University in Moscow, Eduard Lozansky, who suggested that, while the inconsistency of Biden’s actions this week casts doubt upon his sincerity, it could also be that advisers and party members have the bulk of control over Biden, making him twist and turn.

Tass’s coverage on Friday noted that Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin had noted weeks ago, that the US was planning on attacking Russian bonds, “a deliberate calculation to create a toxic atmosphere around Russian securities in order to reduce their investment potential”—and that Russia was preparing measures to counteract this escalation.

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