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.
This was the headline in today’s edition of the Haitian online daily Haite Libre, describing the unbearable existence that citizens of Port-au-Prince and other cities face every day, because of the ongoing work stoppages and gang activity that have affected every aspect of human life. The armed gangs which make transportation by road of gasoline and diesel fuel impossible, also block trucks’ access to the main petroleum storage facility at Varreux, holding hostage 25,000 barrels of gasoline and 50,000 barrels of diesel fuel that should be going to gas stations, hospitals, communications companies, state water and electricity companies, etc. Yet, there is no functioning police force to deal with the gangs. As the Miami Herald’s veteran Haiti expert Jacqueline Charles pointed out in an Oct. 25 interview with Slate, the gangs are far better armed than the police and, as many observers have pointed out, act like a quasi-state, in the absence of a functioning state or functioning state institutions.
So today, most hospitals in Port-au-Prince are not open except for perhaps a skeleton crew of a few doctors and nurses or a couple of medical students. There is no fuel for the power plants that keep the generators going that provide electricity for operating rooms or oxygen tanks. At Haiti’s largest cancer treatment center, X-ray machines and other equipment lie idle—there is no power to run them. Hospital director Kedner Pierre told CNN’s Matt Rivers that refrigerators have been packed with ice to try to preserve some chemotherapy medicines. The National Ambulance Center can’t deploy ambulances, because there is no fuel. The nearby Hospital Universitaire de la Paix is turning away pretty much every patient because, aside from fuel shortages, there aren’t enough doctors or nurses on staff. Personnel can’t get to work, or sometimes sleep at the hospital, as kidnapping is a risk for anyone traveling on the streets. Rivers concludes, then, “that one of Haiti’s largest hospitals simply isn’t functioning.” This is the case at every healthcare facility in the capital..
But the damage doesn’t stop here. Fuel shortages are also affecting mobile telecommunications services whose antennas are powered by generators that can’t function without fuel. Digicel, Haiti’s largest mobile network, reports that 433 of its 1,500 antenna sites are not operational because there is no fuel for generators, Le Nouvelliste reports. The Haitian government department in charge of potable water and sanitation, DINEPA, warns of water shortages as it lacks the diesel fuel needed to keep operational its powerful generator that in turn supplies energy to the stations and pumps that supply drinking water. The state electric company, EDH, warns of blackouts. A former Haitian consul in the Dominican Republic, Edwin Paraison, who has lived in Santo Domingo since the 2010 earthquake, told Dominican TV yesterday that, obviously, Haiti needs the help of the international community to deal with the gangs and security situation. But, he warned, the solution must not be one imposed on Haiti by the international community, but rather the result of a dialogue between the international community and Haitian authorities and civil society to determine together a strategy to deal with the current untenable security situation.
Venezuela has finally been able to make the down payment required for developing countries to begin to receive their allocations of COVID-19 vaccines from the international COVAX facility, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez announced on April 9. But Rodriguez reported that the government was only able to do so through elaborate maneuvers to secure Swiss francs for the purchase. President Nicolas Maduro explained the next day, that Venezuela could only do this by “liberating some resources which had been kidnapped by the U.S. and deposited in Swiss francs, because if it had been done in dollars, the U.S. Federal Reserve would have stolen it.”
That Venezuela was forced to go through such maneuvers to be able to purchase vaccines, exposes the lie by successive United States administrations, that U.S. economic sanctions do not affect humanitarian aid or the people of the dozens of nations on which sanctions have been imposed. Neither the President or Vice President gave any details, but Maduro said “at the right time,” people will find out how they had freed up a tiny portion of the country’s own reserves to make the needed payment to COVAX. (The 59.2 million Swiss francs paid equal a little over half of the $120 million cost of nearly 11.4 million vaccine doses.)
Led by Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, the Trump administration enacted sanctions against Venezuela which are nothing less than an economic blockade, a blockade which Biden’s Secretary of State Tony Blinken has reaffirmed. Under the sanctions, Venezuela’s foreign reserves held abroad have been seized by the Federal Reserve, Bank of England, and other banks. At the same time, Venezuela is prohibited from selling its oil on international markets—a measure enforced by U.S. navy gunboats as well as legal threats—thus shutting down its primary means of earning new dollars to cover vital imports, including food, medicines—and vaccines.
President Nicolas Maduro reported on April 10th that a great diplomatic and legal effort had been required to access enough of Venezuelan government funds which had been “kidnapped by the Federal Reserve” under the “criminal financial sanctions” to make the payment. The Biden administration had refused the government’s appeal for some of its frozen reserves to be released for the Venezuelan government to purchase vaccines, driving Maduro to even offer “oil for vaccines” on March 29—although, that, too, would be “illegal” under U.S. sanctions.
Venezuela is one of the South American countries where the coronavirus is surging right now, and particularly the Brazilian variant, yet until now, the only vaccine commitments the government has been able to line up were for Russia’s Sputnik V and EpivacCorona (for which payment arrangements were made), China’s Sinopharm (donated), and Cuba’s yet-to-be approved Abdala.
With the COP26 conference headed toward a likely disaster, the oligarchs behind it are escalating their drive to impose a global dictatorship on all fronts. In her weekly dialogue today, Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche covered the need to urgently address the catastrophic humanitarian crisis confronting Afghanistan, Haiti and other nations targeted for deadly sanctions by the same global oligarchy behind the COP26 austerity plan, to allegedly address a non-existent climate crisis. She also warned about the growing bellicosity from the U.S. and NATO against Russia and China; and the effects of the hyperinflation in energy, food and other necessities, resulting from their policies, especially due to the flood of liquidity unleashed by central banks, and the shut-down of investment into the physical economy.
She concluded by reviewing the importance of the Wake-Up Call she issued in collaboration with CLINTEL, an organization of real climate scientists, and urged viewers to join us in circulating it.
Read, Sign and Spread the Wake-Up Call
RSVP for the upcoming International Schiller Institute/ICLC Conference Nov. 13. and 14.
Asked at the Valdai Club Discussion, how Afghanistan can be helped to achieve political stability and economic development, President Putin emphasized that while the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Afghanistan’s neighbors will help the country economically, the Western nations who occupied the country for 20 years must take primary responsibility to stabilize the situation. “The first thing they must do,” Putin said, “is to release Afghan assets, and give Afghanistan an opportunity to resolve high priority socio-economic problems.”
The exchange, with Tsinghua University strategist Zhou Bo, follows:
Zhou Bo: “Mr. President, it is really my great honor to ask you this question. I will ask you something about Afghanistan. Afghanistan lies in the heart of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. So, if Afghanistan has a problem, then the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has a problem. Now the United States has withdrawn from Afghanistan. So how can the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is led by China and Russia, united with other countries, help Afghanistan to achieve political stability and economic development?”
Vladimir Putin: “The situation in Afghanistan is one of the most urgent issues today. You know, we have just had a meeting in the appropriate format, in part, with representatives of the Taliban. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is also active in Afghanistan. This is a very serious issue for all of us because for both China and Russia it is extremely important to have a calm, developing Afghanistan that is not a source of terrorism, or any form of radicalism, next to our national borders, if not on our borders.
“We are now seeing what is happening inside Afghanistan. Unfortunately, different groups, including ISIS are still there. There are already victims among the Taliban movement, which, as a whole, is still trying to get rid of these radical elements and we know of such examples. This is very important for us, for both Russia and China.
“In order to normalize the situation properly and at the right pace, it is necessary, of course, to help Afghanistan restore its economy because drugs are another huge problem. It is a known fact that 90 percent of opiates come to the world market from Afghanistan. And if there is no money, what will they do? From what sources and how will they fund their social programs?
“Therefore, for all the importance of our participation in these processes – both China and Russia and other SCO countries – the main responsibility for what is happening there is still borne by the countries that fought there for 20 years. I believe the first thing they must do is to release Afghan assets and give Afghanistan an opportunity to resolve high priority socio-economic problems.
“For our part, we can implement specific large projects and deal with domestic security issues. Our special services are in contact with their Afghan counterparts. For us, within the SCO, it is very important to get this work up and running because Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are right on the border with Afghanistan. We have a military facility in Tajikistan. It was based on the 201st division when it was still Soviet.
“Therefore, we will actively continue this work with China on a bilateral plane, develop dialogue with relevant structures and promote cooperation within the SCO as a whole. In the process, we will allocate the required resources and create all the conditions to let our citizens feel safe regardless of what is happening in Afghanistan.”
Brussels is blaming Putin for causing gas shortage in the EU. As ridiculous as this can be, the established media and politicians trumpet this lie around. But nobody mentions that the Netherlands, once a major provider of gas to Europe, is curbing its production right now.
The Dutch government had decided to shut down the Groningen gas field, because of fear of earthquakes, and began to wind it down last year. Earlier this month, Dutch Home Affairs Minister Kajsa and Economic Affairs Minister Stef Blok said that the government will not increase natural gas production from the Groningen fields to head off the impact of soaring gas prices. The gas taps will only be turned on again if there are very cold winters, not for price rises, the ministers said.
If reactivated fully in an emergency, Groningen could alleviate the scarcity. It delivered 88 billion cubic meters at its peak in 1976 and above 30 billion cubic meters just five years ago. Natural gas production in the Netherlands has been falling in recent years, and in 2020 totaled 20 billion cubic meters. This was the lowest production of natural gas in the Netherlands since the turn of the century.
Gas consumption in the EU amounted to 521 billion cubic meters in 2019, and it dropped to 380 cubic meters in 2020, due to lockdowns. As demand resumed this year, and Gazprom increased its supply, the Dutch could help fill the gap. But maybe the Dutch government wants to let “creative destruction” get its way…
On October 15 for World Food Day, David Beasley, the executive director of the UN World Food Program, tweeted a video in which he emphasized that they’re focusing on “what needs to be done to strengthen our global food systems” so that they’re capable of feeding “every person on the planet.”
This is critically important, he continued, because we’re facing food shortages all over the world. In the past year alone, 300 million more people have been plunged into food insecurity; chronic food shortage has increased by some 150 million people; severe hunger has doubled from 135 million to 270 million people.
Out of that number—42 million people in 43 countries—are one small step from famine. “If we don’t do something soon—with a price tag of approximately $6.6 billion—the world will see famine of biblical proportions, destabilization of nations, and of course, mass migrations by necessity.”
By contrast, the assets under management by just one firm, Morgan Stanley, are $1.5 trillion.
A delegation from Uzbekistan’s government, led by Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Sardor Umurzakov, met with the Afghan delegation led by Abdul Salam Hanafi, deputy prime minister of the Taliban’s provisional government in Termez (in the southern portion of Uzbekistan) on Oct. 16, for a one-day conference.
In a statement from Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Yusup Kabulzhanov told TASS on Oct. 16: “‘At the meetings, representatives of a number of ministries and agencies discussed trade and economic cooperation, border security, cooperation in the fields of energy, international haulage and transit.’
“The talks are reported to have focused on the implementation of infrastructure projects, which include the construction of the Surkhan-Puli-Khumri transmission line and the Termez-Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway,” TASS reported.
The Afghani English-language online daily 8AM also reported that “In the meeting, the two sides have appointed a joint technical team to provide instructions for the implementation of projects. After 10 days, the team is supposed to complete strategy and instructions on how to implement these projects and present them to the officials of both sides.”
Termez is becoming a hub for humanitarian aid. The UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) said this week that three consignments of humanitarian aid would be airlifted to Termez in the near future before entering Afghanistan by truck.
Radio Free Europe reported that last month, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev told the UN General Assembly that his country has resumed the supply of oil and electricity to Afghanistan. “It is impossible to isolate Afghanistan and leave it within the range of its problems,” RFE quoted him as saying.
In related news, AFP reported that acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met in Ankara on Oct. 14 with Turkey Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu: “Cavusoglu called on governments to unfreeze Afghanistan’s foreign accounts to ease the growing humanitarian crisis but said Turkey was not yet ready to recognize the group.”
At a stone-laying ceremony in Kiskunhalas for the Hungarian section of the modernization of Budapest-Belgrade railway on Oct. 15, the Hungary Minister of Innovation and Technology László Palkovics said: “Railways will clearly be in the focus of Hungary’s transport development efforts in the next 10-15 years, with the upgrade and capacity expansion of the Budapest-Belgrade line as one of the priority investments.” Palkovics attended the ceremony, as did Serbia’s Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Tomislav Momirovic, and Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Qi Dayu, and via video, Ning Jizhe, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission.
Palkovics elaborated that with the renovation of the Budapest-Belgrade railway, Hungary will offer the fastest transport route for Chinese goods between Central and Southeast Europe, extending from Budapest to Belgrade, into Skopje, North Macedonia, and extending to Athens. He also thanked the Chinese people for their help in supplying medical and other equipment to Hungary, as it was hit by COVID-19.
Xinhua reported today: “For his part, Ning said that the railway project will promote the connectivity between Hungary and Serbia and other European countries, help the two countries build a regional transport and logistics hub, give a strong boost to European infrastructure and economic growth along the route, and enhance the well-being of the European people.
“The project is also of great significance for the connection of the Belt and Road Initiative to European development strategies and the deepening of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Europe, Ning added. ‘It could be said that the railway is beneficial to our three countries, to Central and Eastern European countries, and to the entire Europe,’ he said.”
Kiskunhalas, Hungary is about 20 miles north of the Serbian border, and is 122 miles from Belgrade. During July 2021, Hungary celebrated the 175th anniversary of the Hungarian Railways. A short clip of the ceremony was posted by “Built by China”
Usher in the “Age of Reason” to End “Depraved Indifference”
“For only can a great and noble cause
arouse humanity’s profoundest nature.”
—Friedrich Schiller
There is a nation, today, in which one out of three people is on the brink of starvation, where droughts have recently destroyed 40% of the wheat production. 90% of the population lacks access to medical care. 80% of the population is under the age of 30, but war has raged there for 40 years, a fragile peace just now established. This nation is Afghanistan.
In another nation, two in five people are hungry. Raw sewage flows in the rivers. 75% of the nation’s energy comes from the burning of wood for charcoal–a sixteenth century technology. 59% of the population earns less than $2.43 per day. This nation is Haiti.
A young mind, now extending itself to embrace the world, beyond the limits of the possible, shall have no choice but to call out, “The condition of humanity is intolerable! Let no individual who ever loved his fellow man be still! Either we will enact an Age of Reason, or humanity may soon extinguish itself by its own barbarity.”
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Founder and President of The Schiller Institute, has forecast that this Age of Reason, a “community of common destiny for mankind,” as Chinese President Xi Jinping has termed it, lies within our reach—should we take the occasion of the defeat of NATO in Afghanistan as the opportunity to commit the four great powers of Russia, China, India, and the USA to the necessary physical economic development of Afghanistan, and every nation.
We can leave behind the depraved system of geopolitics, which justifies Malthusian destruction of life by the myth of “limited resources,” and establish a New Paradigm dedicated to the common aims of mankind, as expressed in the common use of the science of physical economy to bring modern health infrastructure, clean water, food, education, classical culture, science and technology to all peoples of the world.
Today, Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche and her co-thinkers are mobilizing true leaders on every continent—those who thirst for the knowledge of universal principle, such as the doctors, the classical artists, the scientists, the statesmen, and perhaps most importantly, the YOUTH—to inaugurate this Age of Reason, by the successful transformation of Afghanistan, and of Haiti. The people of Afghanistan and Haiti, and of so many nations across the world, face famine, disease, war—but worse, they face the “depraved indifference” of the governments and people of the United States, European countries, and many others, who ignore known solutions to vicious suffering and death, who ignore the success of China in lifting 850 million people out of extreme poverty, who ignore the fifty-year economic forecasting record of the late American economist and statesman, Lyndon H. LaRouche.
The Schiller Institute invites you to participate in an international youth dialogue with Helga Zepp-LaRouche to be held Saturday, October 23rd, 2021, at 11:00AM EDT. Together, let us raise up a force of impassioned people, dedicated to righting these wrongs once and for all, so that we may say, truly, “Never again!”
We encourage you to read and study carefully these two documents prior to the discussion.
- The Schiller Institute Plan to Develop Haiti
- “Can the ‘West’ Learn? What Afghanistan Needs Now” by Helga Zepp-LaRouche
Simultaneous translations into Spanish, French, and German will be available. RSVP for more details.
WHEN October 23, 2021 at 11:00am – 2pm EDT
WHERE Video Conference—RSVP for Details
