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China: Failed Bloc Policy in Europe Not Needed In Asia

May 10, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Color Revolutions, General updates, Geopolitics updates, World war danger updates

China: Failed Bloc Policy in Europe Not Needed In Asia —

May 7, 2022 (EIRNS)–Global Times lead editorial today expressed the outrage in China at the new military cooperation between Japan and the UK, following the Thursday signing of a Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) between Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Fumio Kishida in London. They write: “NATO, which created division in Europe and waged wars around the world, is trying to apply the tricks of `bloc politics’ and `confrontation between camps’ to the Asia-Pacific region. For a long time, the UK has propagated on several occasions `the globalization of NATO’ and the `need to preempt threats in the Indo-Pacific’ and to ensure the island of Taiwan `is able to defend itself.’ Within the Asia-Pacific, Japan is abnormally active in catering to such a scheme. It seems Tokyo wants to be the `traitorous guide’ for NATO’s expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.”

The editorial warns that Japan is planning to dump its pacifist constitution and “resurrect its militarism.” Noting that Kishida visited Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand before travelling to Europe, the editorial says his efforts to get these ASEAN nations to join in bashing Russia and China did not succeed: “Asian countries that received Japanese officials have kept vigilant toward Tokyo’s remarks and been reluctant to echo Japan. Not until in the UK, which wants to recover its glory, has Kishida felt some `warmth of a friend.’ This will easily make people recall the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in the 20th century.”

 Asia has remained peaceful in recent decades, they add, because Asian nations “have been seeking common ground while putting aside differences. With vision beyond ideological and geopolitical divergence, Asian countries have engaged in pragmatic cooperation in the globalization era. These made Asia the most vital and dynamic region in the world and made `Asian century’ a lasting discussion topic in the international strategic sphere.” It is now clear that the western security model has failed, they add, and bringing that failed model to Asia has the “intent to undermine regional peace and stability…. Asian countries must remain on high alert. History over and over again showed that a country’s security cannot be based on other countries’ insecurity…..  The NATO military bloc is poison, not an antidote, to the security anxieties and tensions in the region…. Vigilance against and rejection of the `NATO expansion into Asia-Pacific’ should become the strong consensus and collective consciousness of all countries in the region.

China Releases “Fact Sheet on the National Endowment for Democracy”

May 10, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Counterintelligence, General updates, Geopolitics updates

China Releases “Fact Sheet on the National Endowment for Democracy”

May 7, 2022 (EIRNS)–In a move meant to kill “many birds with one stone,” the Chinese government has released a “Fact Sheet on the National Endowment for Democracy.” The “Fact Sheet” explains how the Cold War CIA operations in undermining foreign governments were transformed into this public-private mechanism labeled as an “NGO,” to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and shape the policy of these countries to bring them in line with U.S. geopolitical goals. It then goes through country by country to document NED’s operations to foment color revolutions and overthrow popularly elected governments which didn’t see eye-to-eye with the United States. These include a rundown of NED’s operations in Poland (Solidarnosc), Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, and Mongolia as well as countries in Latin America, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, and Africa, Libya, Uganda, and Sudan, as well as Thailand in Southeast Asia.

The Fact Sheet also runs through the extensive operations NED has conducted against China, including their campaigns for Hong Kong independence, Tibetan independence, and the “genocide” and “human rights” claims in Xinjiang. It also notes NED operations in tandem with Taiwan. Rather than deal with these issues individually, the background to the situation in Ukraine or the nature of the operations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, the “Fact Sheet” rather focuses on the modus operandi characteristic of U.S. policy in attempting to overthrow governments that would pose any threat to U.S. hegemony. The publication of the Fact Sheet may also be a preemptive strike against the expected  China Policy Review which was expected to be announced this week by Secretary of State Blinken, which has been delayed following his being infected with Covid. The fact sheet is here.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche Responds to German Heavy Weapons to Ukraine

May 1, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Helga statement, article, transcript, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, World war danger updates

Faced with a Looming Nuclear War with Russia: Has the Bundestag Lost Its Mind?

An Appeal to Citizens: Don’t Let Germany Get Drawn Into Nuclear War with Russia —

April 30, 2022 (EIRNS)—Helga Zepp-LaRouche wrote the following as the lead article in the German weekly newspaper Neue Solidarität for the May 5, 2022 issue, which has been translated from the German original. (https://www.solidaritaet.com/neuesol/2022/18/hzl.htm)

The irresponsible and highly dangerous decision of the German government and Bundestag to give into the pressure from the U.S. government, NATO, and the warmongers in their own ranks, and agree to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, must immediately be reversed! It represents an acute danger for the existence of Germany, as it makes us—together with the United States, Great Britain and other NATO member states that are also providing a vast arsenal of weapons to Ukraine and training Ukrainian troops in their own countries or, according to Figaro journalist Malbrunot even inside Ukraine—a party to the war. It is also a big step in a spiraling escalation toward a nuclear Third World War! Instead, Germany and France must push, with great force, for an immediate cease-fire and a diplomatic solution.

The Biden Administration is trying to mask its participation in the proxy war against Russia, with repeated statements by President Joe Biden that the military option in Ukraine is not on the table, because no one wants to trigger World War III. But given the massive arms shipments, the various aid amounting to $14 billion in the past two months, and now another $33 billion on top of that, and given the sharing of intelligence with the Ukrainian armed forces, as is openly admitted by the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, the United States is already de facto a participant in the war.

Bruce Fein, an American constitutional law expert and former associate Attorney General in the Reagan administration, argues that the U.S. and NATO member countries are already co-belligerents in the war. John B. Henry, the Chairman of the Committee for the Republic, which includes well-known former diplomats and members of government, is of the view that, under international law, this gives Vladimir Putin the right to take military action against the U.S. and those countries.

After Chancellor Scholz had refused on April 22 to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, because he wanted to do everything possible to avoid an escalation that could lead to World War III, just three days later, his intention had evaporated. German Defense Minister Lambrecht announced just in time for the major meeting at the U.S. air base in Ramstein on April 26, to which U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had invited military leaders from 40 countries, that the government coalition had decided the day before to supply Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine. So much for statements by the Chancellor or for Germany’s sovereignty—they are obviously meaningless.

Secretary Austin announced that from now on, such meetings would be held once a month at the Ramstein air base, which houses the headquarters of the “United States Air Forces Europe” and “Air Forces Africa,” the NATO “Allied Air Command Ramstein,” as well as the “U.S. Air and Space Operations Center,” which controls drone strikes in the Middle East and Africa. The purpose of such meetings will be to optimize and coordinate the weapons production by arms industries in the various countries. Interestingly, the largest and most modern American military hospital outside the U.S., which is largely financed by Germany, is also located there. Obviously, decisions of greater import are taken in Ramstein than in Berlin, including as to whether or not Germany will be a party to the war in Ukraine.

So far, NATO and Western governments have turned a deaf ear to Putin’s warnings about crossing red lines, although he has repeatedly shown that his words are followed by deeds. This time, we should heed the warnings. In a meeting with lawmakers in St. Petersburg on April 27, one day after Lambrecht’s announcement, Putin said that in the event of outside intervention and the creation of an unacceptable threat to Russia, retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast. Russia, he added, has the tools for that purpose that no one else has at this point, and they will be used. All the decisions, he said, have already been made.

On the same day, April 27, the Wall Street Journal carried an article titled “The U.S. Should Show It Can Win a Nuclear War,” in which former Undersecretary of the Navy Seth Cropsey maintained that the U.S. should prepare to win a nuclear war if it did not want to lose it. U.S. warships should be armed with nuclear weapons, he wrote, and destroy Russian nuclear-missile submarines that are the main base of Russian second-strike capability. A similarly insane fantasy underlay the U.S. “Global Lightning” exercise, held in late January, which practiced an extended maneuver involving a hybrid of conventional and nuclear methods of warfare.

The idea that a limited nuclear war is possible and that it could be “won,” and that small nuclear weapons that are “usable” should be deployed, is madness. Nuclear arms expert Ted Postol has made an absolutely compelling case, most recently in a dialogue, on why the use of even a single nuclear weapon will inevitably lead to a general nuclear war, leading to the use of all existing nuclear weapons. And all the political morons who lightly talk about the need to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, even if it means the risk of nuclear war cannot be ruled out, belong in a locked hospital ward, not in positions of political responsibility.  (The Postol remarks were made in a recent interview with Robert Scheer.)

Postol describes the effect of nuclear weapons: “We’re talking about a wall of fire that encompasses everything around us at the temperature of the center of the Sun. That will literally turn us to less than ash, if this thing gets going. I can’t emphasize how powerful these weapons are. When they detonate, they’re actually four or five times hotter than the center of the Sun, which is 20 million degrees Kelvin. They’re 100 million degrees Kelvin at the center of these weapons.”

Human beings can’t imagine the scale of such heat, he explains. He himself has written articles repeatedly about the consequences of nuclear weapons on cities, for example. Postol said, “This is something beyond anything that human beings have been able to imagine. And I don’t know how to emphasize how dangerous this is.”

He further describes that a single nuclear weapon would wipe out an urban area with a radius of 5 miles, or an area of about 75 square miles, that it would take only 20% of the American ICBMs available “to destroy all of Russia’s ICBM, land-based ICBMs—maybe a thousand,” and thus 80% of the warheads could be used for other purposes (for example against targets in Russia, China or Germany). Russia, he goes on, because of its less capable early warning system, had to set up an automated response in the event the Russian leadership were killed in a surprise U.S. nuclear first strike. Russia’s unfortunate inability to improve its early warning system, according to Postol, has resulted in a “doomsday weapon” that makes the situation much more dangerous because a fatal error could trigger a nuclear war.

It should be clear to every thinking person—and the 586 members of the Bundestag who voted for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine are obviously not among them—that the Federal Republic of Germany becomes a co-belligerent because of that, and thus becomes a target in the event of war. Ramstein, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Büchel, Pirmasens, Baumholder, to name just a few targets, would burn up.

Rather than pursuing a course of suicide and the end of humanity in a misconceived loyalty to the Alliance, Germany must work for an immediate ceasefire and diplomatic negotiations. Rather than letting ourselves be whipped up into a hatred of Russia (and China) by commissioned war-mongering journalists and gun-toting women, we need to start doing our own thinking again. It is not the policy of détente that has led to the current crisis—it allowed for the peaceful reunification of Germany after all, it is the expansion of NATO five times to the East and the obstinate refusal of the political and military establishment to respond to Putin’s demand for legally binding security guarantees.

We are indeed living through a turning point, but not in the way the “narratives” of mainstream politicians and media would have us believe, rather the attempt to maintain a unipolar world in which only the U.S. and U.K. are in charge, has failed. The majority of nations in the world are in the process of building a world order based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and enabling the economic development of all.

Germany will remain non-sovereign and an occupied country for only as long as we allow it to be so in our minds. We must work now for real peace, for a diplomatic solution, and beyond that for a new international security and development architecture that guarantees the survival of humanity. Become active with us to make that happen!

—zepp-larouche@eir.de

Add your name to the petition To Convoke an International Conference to Establish A New Security and Development Architecture for All Nations ; and watch, and circulate the April 9, four-panel international conference which was a crucial initiating step in bringing that new architecture into being.

Schiller Institute Petition Presented at Symposium in Algiers

March 13, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, General updates, Our initiatives (petitions, etc), World war danger updates

Mar. 12 (EIRNS)–The Schiller Institute participated in a symposium at the University of Algiers this morning on the crisis in Ukraine. Harley Schlanger, a spokesman for the Schiller Institute, was one of three speakers. His address was titled “Economic Warfare Against Russia Deployed to Prevent Economic Integration of Eurasia with Western Europe.”. He concluded his presentation with the call for convening an emergency conference to establish a new strategic and financial architecture, and asking the participants to join us. The host said he would make sure that the participants receive the petition. 

There was a twenty-minute Q&A, which followed the presentations. Other speakers were a Russian professor from Ukraine, Leonid Savin (whose website is subtitled “Carthago delenda est”), who presented a very thorough review of the background to the decision to take military actions in Ukraine, and a professor from the university. Savin joined with Schlanger in emphasizing the need to move from a unipolar world – which both agreed will not survive – to one of multipolar cooperation.

Pakistan TV Interviews Helga Zepp-LaRouche on ‘Economic Fallout of the Ukraine Crisis’

March 12, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Economic development updates, Finance, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Helga media coverage or interview, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Pakistan, Sanctions, World war danger updates

March 8, 2022 (EIRNS)—Pakistan’s PTV interviewed Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche and senior Pakistani economist Amer Zafar Durrani with 30 years of expertise in development for fragile and post conflict states, on the topic, “Economic Fallout of the Ukraine Crisis,” by host Faisal Rehman, who has interviewed Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche multiple times. Rehman asked Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche three questions, and at the end Mr. Durrani insisted “I think you should hear what Helga says. I think she’s right,” about why the war started in the first place and how to end it.

{We publish here only the portion of the “Views on News” show containing her remarks. For the full show, go to this link.}

FAISAL REHMAN: Coming to you, Ms. Helga Zepp-LaRouche. Interestingly, since you are based in Germany, and Germany is one of those countries which is highly dependent on the Russian energy imports, looking at the current scenario where the Germans were initially pretty reluctant to be a part of this role, but now we have learned they are sending these anti-tank guided missiles to Ukraine, they’re also giving them night-vision goggles, the vests, the equipment and so on—now, that is a problem. And this is not the first time that the major issues have erupted from Europe: First World War, Second World War.

Now, this is the third time that a major power has invaded another country. We’ll keep these issues, the political and geo-economic issues, aside for the moment, but, Ma’am, looking at the current scenario it seems that, uncertainty is going to prevail. That has affected the stock markets, they’ve gone down. When you talk about the commodity prices, they have gone up, they’re surging. Oil prices, God knows where they will end. Today I was listening that the Americans have banned the import of Russian oil.

What if Russia stops exporting it to the European Union? These are the winters, and it is just not possible that they can switch on and switch off from Russia. So, the point is now, where is it leading? What are people thinking? What are you going through? What sort of experience are you people having? Let’s throw light on that.

HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE: I think it’s important to differentiate between cause and effect: This financial system of the trans-Atlantic sector has been going towards bankruptcy for a very long time, because it’s based on axioms which are favoring the speculators and the money makers, and not the common good.

So, you can maintain that for a while, but it was clear, since the latest 2008, when we had an almost systemic crisis, that this system was bankrupt. And what the central banks did since was to just keep pumping money—they call it “quantitative easing,” negative interest rates—and in that way you have an incredibly indebted system which is hopelessly bankrupt. It has been hopelessly bankrupt for at least 10, 15 years, and the more you keep it going, by pumping more money, the more it becomes unsolvable, unsalvageable.

And now, basically, they have decided to put the blame on Putin. But the reality is, it was not Putin and him declaring military action or war on Ukraine which triggered that, but people have not been listening to Putin. Putin has been saying this since 2007, when he spoke at the Munich Security Conference, where he said the expansion of NATO was not acceptable, because it threatened the security interest of Russia. He has been very patient, as a matter of fact.

Now, naturally, you can say war is horrible, and it’s a terrible thing that it came to that, but the sanctions, in a certain sense, are trying to cover up the fact the Western system has been bankrupt for the whole time; the inflation was there before the Ukrainian crisis erupted; the Federal Reserve promised last year they would increase the interest rate to fight the inflation, but they couldn’t, because they knew that if the Federal Reserve would start to taper, to increase the interest rate, you would have an immediate wave of bankruptcies of the emerging countries, of the large, indebted firms; so they did not taper, and therefore the inflation is there.

Now, naturally, if you impose such hard sanctions, this is now putting into a chain reaction a situation which means this system is hopelessly out of control: You will have a terrible crisis. The food prices will increase. We already had a world famine before this whole thing developed, but now with the fertilizer, which comes from Russia and Ukraine, being blocked, the food prices will go through the ceiling. And we need a radical reform very quickly, because otherwise this thing can completely go out of control.

So, Germany is unfortunately headed by a government which is not standing up to the pressure from the British and United States, and this Chancellor Scholz declared last Sunday that Germany is practically a war economy. It is absolutely terrible, and if the cause is not changed quickly, we are heading toward a real catastrophe and possible World War III.

REHMAN: Now, talking about Germany, one more quick point, because Germany is one of the largest economies in Europe, and even at the global level. You’re talking about the fertilizer issue, Ma’am, around 15% of the global fertilizer manufacturing is taking place in Russia and Ukraine put together. Ma’am, and on top, when you talk about sunflower cooking oil, that is being widely used all over the world, you talk about maize, you talk about corn, you talk about barley, which is a major source of beer production, you talk about wheat, a lot of people, especially in the third world, they’re dependent on that commodity to feed themselves. Now, that is going to have a lot of effect. Though Pakistan had a great wheat production, still the Prime Minister in fact informed that we will be importing a certain amount of wheat from Russia, and they’ve signed a deal, also.

Talking about the food production, Ma’am, it is generally believed that Ukraine, alone, can produce food for about 600 million people—600 million, remember that is 60 crore in our language, whereas about 40 million or around 43 million is the total population of Ukraine, so the export factor is so important.

Now, looking at these figures, Ma’am, let’s suppose this conflict continues, which it seems it will, despite the fact the Russians are having a major fit regarding this particular war, a lot of direct and indirect support is being given to Ukraine. World Bank is preparing an aid package of $3 billion; European Union is talking about more money pouring in, and supplying them with military hardware also. At the same time, today, I was listening to one of the Democratic Senators in United States, and he was saying that he is raising a fund around $10 billion that could be used for the military hardware purchase or otherwise. So if this is the phenomenon, the whole Western world on one side, though the Americans will not get affected much, either they’ll be able to sell their oil and replace the Russian—but that is going to take time—or, they can also have a lot of oil support from Canada. That means that Europe is going to be the major sufferer, and that is something which should not happen. Your take?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, the problem, as I said, is the present government in Germany, the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, these are people who unfortunately have completely taken the line of the United States, of the British, of NATO, which means that they’re in a geopolitical confrontation against Russia and China.

The real reason of all of this, is they want to get rid of Putin, they want to have regime change, they want to contain the rise of China—all of these things are potential triggers for World War III. That is why I’m saying—you cannot just discuss it in the context of “they will do this, and then they will do that.” I think we are in a breakdown crisis of the system, the trans-Atlantic forces are determined to have a war if they cannot maintain their system. They see that the Asian countries are rising, especially China is rising, the Belt and Road Initiative is gaining more and more momentum, and they say, rather than allowing these countries to rise when we are collapsing, we will have a war! And there are some very crazy people who think that you can even have a prolonged, protracted nuclear war: If you look at the recent NATO maneuver, Global Lightning, which took place at the end of January and beginning of February, which had this idea that you can have a winnable, regional, protracted nuclear war.

I think this is absolutely insane. And the more reasonable people say, if it comes to that, it will be a global war. It will be a world war. That is why I am saying, we have to have an urgent rethinking, and the Schiller Institute has been promoting the idea of a conference, to have an international security architecture, which must be global. It must include Russia; it must include China; and it must basically address the fact that the Western financial system is absolutely bankrupt, and all the tensions come from that fact. Therefore, you have to have a global Glass-Steagall banking separation, you have to put national banks in each country, and you have to have a new credit system to provide cheap, long-term credit for development.

I think these ideas must be demanding, because you see, there are more and more countries right now that do not want to be pulled into this, because they know it’s deadly! I think it’s very good that Prime Minister Imran Khan refused to take a position for one side or the other and maintains that Pakistan must be neutral. The same thing just happened with India. India abstained in the vote in the UN General Assembly and in any case, they did not want to be put into the “Quad,” which was the whole game. Argentina just decided to be part of the Belt and Road Initiative. And there are more and more countries that realize we need a new system.

And I think what is the most urgent question is that a debate occurs internationally, by as many forces as possible, to have a new paradigm, to have a world order based on the UN Charter, based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, the whole Non-Aligned Movement conception that went into the Bandung Conference, these ideas have to be revived urgently. And I think it is especially the independent countries, like Pakistan, like India, and on that point I think they are very much similar right now, who take a stand that the system must be changed, because it’s like before World War I: If you continue like this, a catastrophe will happen. And do we have to repeat history? I don’t think so….

REHMAN: Peaceful coexistence, what a beautiful term, but it does not seem that it’s going to happen like this now: Divisions and divisions and then adversities, and God knows what’s happening out there….

And Helga, that is about the short-term economic impact. Now, we do see, there’s going to be a lot of problems. My own brother lives in London, and he said the energy cost has gone up significantly, and we never thought this was going to happen, and this is just multiplying. And a lot of analysts believe that this is just the beginning.

Now, 2022 could be the most interest[ing] year: Global economy was already suffering for the last two years, because of this pandemic. The moment they started recovering and we could see some positive indicators and everything, and now we see this war! And this is not only limited to Europe, this is going to have its impact on Asia, on U.S.A., Canada, even Africa, I would say!

So, let’s suppose if Russia is engaged, which I believe Russia will be, in Ukraine, some sort of [inaud], Afghanistan-like situation is created once again in Ukraine. This time, Pakistan is not the partner, but let’s suppose Poland, Hungary, and other European Union countries, or NATO countries, keep supporting them indirectly, and keep giving them these weapons through which they can attack the tanks, helicopters, even the Russian jets. Let’s suppose if this war continues for another couple of months, what do you see happening to Europe in general? And Germany in particular?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Frankly, I don’t think that that is what’s going to happen, because I think that the Russians have not even used the totality of their troops, they have not used the totality of their weapons systems, and many military men in Germany and elsewhere, but in Germany, say that there is no way how Ukraine can win this war. The people who will suffer the most are the Ukrainians. They will be chopped up and murdered and die, as a result of the West not listening to Putin! And I can only repeat: It was not Putin’s fault: He said it very clearly, he said, I have no place to retreat to. So here are the security guarantees I want from the United States, and from NATO; and then the answer from these two places were not anything, they just answered on some secondary questions, like resuming arms control negotiations, but they did not want to guarantee that NATO would not continue to expand to the East, and that Ukraine would not become a member, and that there would be no offensive weapons at the border with Russia.

So then Putin said, “I have to take care of the fact that there has been a genocide in east Ukraine, in the Donbas”; 14,000 people have been killed, they have produced many documentaries in the meantime showing that there was actually a continuous war by the Ukrainian armed forces against these two republics, and that Nazis have been used! And there is also no question: The Schiller Institute did a documentation in 2014 where we documented the existence of Nazis, the Azov Battalion, the followers of Stepan Bandera, which were kept by the secret services in the postwar period—by MI6, by the CIA, by the BND—and we documented it as the Maidan coup was happening! So the whole discussion that “there are no Nazis,” it’s just simply not true, and the big scandal is that the Western governments have backed a coup in 2014, which brought the Nazis into the government, into the Rada (the Parliament), and into the armed forces. And when Putin now says he insists on a demilitarization and a de-Nazification, because that is crucial to the security interest of Russia, the West must listen to him! And I think that while right now, the European governments are completely crazy—I mean, they’re in a brainwashed condition; if you listen to the media, Goebbels…

REHMAN: I would totally agree with you, on that. This is exactly what is happening, but I’m so sorry to cut you off, Helga. We’ll definitely be having you on other shows and we’ll talk more about it. But since I’m running out of time, I would like to say thank you very much for your contribution and your comments.

China’s Wang Yi: BRI Is Moving Forward; Elaborates on the Principles of the GDI

March 8, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in BRI - Belt & Road, China, COVID-19, Economic development updates, General, General updates, Global Diplomacy, Healthcare, New Silk Road / BRI updates

Mar. 7 (EIRNS)–In reply to a question on the Belt and Road Initiative at his press conference today, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the BRI had maintained its momentum during the COVID-19 outbreak, with new projects completed, like the China-Laos high-speed railroad. China has conducted joint vaccine production cooperation with partners from 20 developing countries and the China-Europe Railway Express has been in full operation delivering goods and vaccines to Europe. During the last year, 10 more have begun cooperating with China on the BRI, and there will be new opportunities developing in the post-COVID-19 world.

He also noted that the Global Development Initiative proposed by President Xi has been embraced by the UN for the implementation of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. He said that China was prepared to work together in the GDI with other countries, and specified four principles for joint development under the GDI. “First, we need to synergize in key areas, in food, health. employment, and green development. Second, we need to respond to the needs of all countries. Third, we need to partner with cooperation mechanisms. Fourth, we need to reach out to partners in all sectors.”

Wang Yi also noted that 2022 will be the Year of Asia in respect to development as three major international meetings will be hosted in Asia: the BRICS Summit by China, the APEC Leaders’ Summit by Thailand, and the G20 summit, which will be hosted by Indonesia. These will undoubtedly be important venues to discuss further development of these initiatives. “We welcome the participation of all parties,” Wang Yi said. President Xi’s call for the GDI was “another clarion call to put people front and center,” Wang said.

Imran Khan Refuses to Denounce Russia

March 8, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, World war danger updates

Pakistan’s Imran Kahn Refuses to Denounce Russia

Mar. 7 (EIRNS)–In response to a letter signed by twenty European Union ambassadors in Islamabad last week, demanding Pakistan denounce Russia, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Kahn retorted: “What do you think of us? Are we your slaves . . . that whatever you say, we will do?” Khan remarked while speaking at a political event.

The EU letter was in response to Pakistan’s abstention from voting on a United Nations General Assembly motion denouncing Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, “I want to ask the European Union ambassadors: Did you write such a letter to India?” Khan said as reported by Sputniknews.com. Khan also reportedly said that Europe has failed to condemn India over Kashmir, where Pakistan and India have fought two wars.

Kahn added that in return for Pakistan’s assistance to the NATO alliance in Afghanistan, instead of thanks, Pakistan had received condemnation.

On Sunday Khan said that Pakistan is “friends with Russia, and we are also friends with America; we are friends with China and with Europe; we are not in any camp.” He went on to say that Pakistan would remain “neutral” and collaborate with those working to end the Ukraine conflict.

Earlier last Friday, a spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry stated at the press briefing that it was “not usual diplomatic practice” for envoys to make public requests like their letter, “and we have made that clear.” He added, “We took note of that and in a subsequent meeting with a group of ambassadors, we expressed our concern about it, because as I said that is not the way diplomacy should be practiced, and I think they have realized it,” he added.

Some European envoys who shared the joint statement on Twitter reportedly erased the tweets some time after.

Beijing Review Covers April 9 Schiller Conference, Zepp-LaRouche Initiative

April 24, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, General updates, Helga media coverage or interview, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Media coverage of our activity, Our conferences

April 24 (EIRNS)–The national, English-language news weekly in China, the Beijing Review, gave prominent coverage to the Schiller Institute conference of April 9, titled, International call for a new security architecture to cope with global issues. The article was datelined April 18, and has appeared in print as well as online.

The article covered several pertinent comments by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Sam Pitroda, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov, Justin Yifu Lin, and Jay Naidoo, clearly identifying all of the speakers.

It noted that, “Despite differences on particular issues, all speakers concurred that only an international security and development architecture totally different from the existing one can make the necessary process tangible.”

It included Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s observation that, “The proposal of China for an alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative, the American Build Back Better World program and the EU’s Global Gateway program can become the actual development underpinning global security architecture. Ukraine, rather than being the cannon fodder in a geopolitical confrontation, can be the bridge between Europe and Eurasian nations.

“Even a multipolar world still implies the danger of geopolitical confrontation. We need a dramatic, sudden change in the way we organize our affairs. It has to start with an honest, explicit insight that a continuation of the present policies risks conflict, in which there would be no winner,” she concluded. The full article can be read here.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta Warns: “One Fifth of World’s Population About to Face Food Crisis”

April 21, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Agriculture, Economic development updates, Finance, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Sanctions, World war danger updates

April 29 (EIRNS) – The Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta warned yesterday that a recent U.N. report estimated that “the Ukrainian conflict is putting 1.7 billion people around the world at risk of hunger,” noting that “the global food price index has reached historic highs as wheat prices rose by 20% in March.” EIR reported on that same study one week ago.

The Russian publication filled out the picture with a couple of interviews. Associate Professor at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Oleg Kalenov noted: “Forecasts say that Ukraine’s wheat exports will halve, so the market is going to face a shortage of 9.5 million tons of wheat. Besides, countries may fail to receive wheat from Russia because of delivery and payment issues stemming from political reasons.”

Executive Director of the Capital Market Department at Univer Capital Artem Tuzov, pointed out that “Certain countries are extremely likely to face starvation unless the sanctions impeding Russian wheat exports are lifted.”

IMF Meeting Gets Underway, Under the Gathering Clouds of Growing World Famine

April 21, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Economic development updates, Environmentalism updates, Finance, General updates, Green New Deal, Sanctions, World war danger updates

IMF Meeting Gets Underway, Under the Gathering Clouds of Growing World Famine—

April 20 (EIRNS) — IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva warned in her opening remarks at the IMF/World Bank spring meetings that began today in Washington, D.C., that the world is facing a “double crisis”: the pandemic, and now the war in Ukraine and related economic destruction. She stated that “rising food and fuel prices are straining the budgets of ordinary families to the breaking point,” and that this is particularly concerning in poor countries where there is a growing risk of a food crisis. She of course blamed Russia for most of the problem.

Georgieva also expressed concern as to what will happen as central banks tighten their monetary policies by ending QE and raising interest rates, and urged them to be “mindful of spillover risks to vulnerable emerging and developing economies.” Given their already high level of indebtedness, rising interest rates will place 60 percent of low-income countries at or near debt distress, she reported.

That is true enough. So, what does the IMF recommend be done? “To address debt, countries need domestic policies that can help bring their budgets back on track” – in other words, the neoliberal “structural reform” austerity policies that created the problem in the first place.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s approach is to throw oil on the fire. According to comments by a Treasury Department official on April 18, Yellen is going to tell her colleagues at the IMF meeting that they should help “ramp up the economic pain on Moscow… The secretary will also underscore our shared resolve to hold Russia accountable.” She’s also planning to boycott any meetings that the Russians attend.

While Yellen was bashing Russia, her Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo attacked China. “China has in the past — and we expect them to continue to follow — the sanctions regimes that have been introduced by us and the coalition” of sanctioning countries, Adeyemo said at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “China’s business with the rest of the world is greater than its business with Russia,” he threatened.

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