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Mary Jane Freeman

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U.S. State Dept. Escalates Provocations Against China

U.S. State Department Escalates Provocations Against China

April 9 (EIRNS)—The same day that Secretary of State Tony Blinken spoke with the French and German Foreign Ministers , to “confirm their [mutually] unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity … the need for Russia to end its dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric, its military buildup in occupied Crimea and along Ukraine’s borders, and unilateral Russian provocations along the Line of Contact in eastern Ukraine,” the State Department decides it’s a great time to escalate against China, as well, with new guidelines on U.S. interactions with Taiwan.

As stated in the State Department release, the guidelines are “to encourage U.S. government engagement with Taiwan that reflects our deepening unofficial relationship. The guidance underscores Taiwan is a vibrant democracy and an important security and economic partner that is also a force for good in the international community. These new guidelines liberalize guidance on contacts with Taiwan, consistent with our unofficial relations, and provide clarity throughout the Executive Branch on effective implementation of our ‘one China’ policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiqués, and the Six Assurances. The new guidelines have been issued following a review as set forth in the Taiwan Assurance Act.” Provide clarity, indeed. . .


China’s Space Station Core Module Is on the Launch Pad

April 23 (EIRNS)–The core module of China’s space station, Tianhe, has been mated to its Long March 5b rocket, and the entire stack has been moved to the launch pad at the Wenchang launch base. No date has been announced for the launch, but it will be ready to launch as soon as the rocket and module are checked out on the ground.

Soon after the module is comfortably in low Earth orbit, an unmanned cargo ship will deliver supplies needed by the first crew of three, who will arrive soon after the cargo ship. The core module contains what the crew needs to operate the station, including crew quarters. Over the next year, two Chinese laboratory modules housing scientific experiments will be added to the station.

China has also designed the station to allow other countries to attach their laboratories.


Russia’s Peskov: Crimea Not a Topic of Any Putin-Zelensky Meeting

Peskov Says Crimea Will Not Be the Topic of Any Putin-Zelensky Meeting

April 23 (EIRNS)–The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Crimea would not be on the agenda for any meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as Crimea is not a Ukrainian matter. While a meeting between the two leaders is still on the agenda, there is as yet no venue. Zelensky proposed meeting Putin in the Donbas region of Ukraine. But Putin rejected the proposal and said that Zelensky should meet with the Donbas people, as Russia was not a party in that internal conflict in Ukraine. He suggested that Zelensky come to Moscow to meet to discuss bilateral relations, but Crimea is not on the table.


Beethoven: Sparks of Joy!

Beethoven: Sparks of Joy – Fifth piano concerto

Beethoven’s fifth and last piano concerto was published in 1810 in French-occupied Vienna, but not performed until the following year in Leipzig. The Vienna premier took place in 1812, with Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny as the soloist, Beethoven being by this time too deaf to play with an orchestra. 
Beethoven, an ardent republican, would certainly not have approved of the nickname “the Emperor” for his 5th piano concerto, calling it simply his “great concerto”. It’s a grand and expansive work, with rich dialog between soloist and orchestra. 
Here is a most enjoyable performance by Pierre-Laurent Aimard on piano, with David Afkham conducting the Frankfurt Radio Symphony orchestra. [Notes by Margaret Scialdone.]


Taliban Want Relations with Regional Nations

Taliban Want Relations with Regional Nations

Sep. 6 (EIRNS) — TASS, citing Al Jazeera, reported this morning that the Taliban intend to invite a number of foreign countries to be present at the installation of the new government that they expect to announce within the next few days. “We have sent invitations to Turkey, China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar to take part in the [ceremony] of announcing [the composition of the new Afghan] government,” said an unnamed Taliban representative.

Mohammad Akbar Agha, a former Taliban field commander and now the leader of Afghanistan’s High Council of Salvation, told TASS yesterday that the Taliban is very interested in establishing relations with Russia, Iran and Pakistan. “We should establish broad relations with Moscow, since it is in the interests of both the Taliban and Russia,” he said. “Iran and Pakistan are also countries we want to establish relations with. They need us and we need them.”

Agha also said that the Taliban have no objections against having a U.S. embassy in Kabul but Washington is afraid of it. “Before the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan there was a possibility to have good relations with Washington. But after their invasion and their crimes … relations have worsened,” he said. Agha said that “there are chances that [diplomatic] relations between the United States and the Taliban will be established. I think the Taliban will not be against opening the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan. But the United States is afraid of the current situation in the country and most likely there will be no embassy for some time,” he said.


Russia Revives Witte Plan for Siberian Development

Russia Revives Witte Plan for Siberian Development

Sep. 6 (EIRNS) — Russia seems prepared to resurrect the Sergei Witte plan for the economic development of Siberia and launch a new program for Siberian development with a proposal by Minister of Defense Gen. Sergei Shoigu, himself a Siberian, for building a new city between the Siberian cities of Krasnoyarsk and Bratsk. This would create the type of city-clusters which have proven so successful in China. Shoigu had earlier put forward a proposal for moving the Russian capital from Moscow to somewhere in Siberia. Shoigu has also proposed giving “Siberian mortgage loans” to settlers willing to move to the new city. He proposes building three to five new cities in Siberia. His proposal has been accepted by the Kremlin and he has been assigned to work out a plan of development.


Chas Freeman: Sanctions Are “Both Hypocritical and Counterproductive as Well as Cruel”

April 22, 2021 (EIRNS)–Chas Freeman, a former defense official and a career diplomat, serving as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Deputy Chief of Mission in both China and Thailand, responded to the call by Helga Zepp-LaRouche to stop the genocide in Syria and Yemen with the following statement on the role of sanctions in foreign policy: 

“I disagree with our abuse and overuse of sanctions on the grounds that they are ‘feel-good’ rather than results-oriented diplomacy, are ineffective unless they are part of a negotiation with a ‘yes-able’ proposal from those imposing them, create market distortions that rapidly establish vested interests in their perpetuation, injure innocent people but allow those in authority to maximize political power through control of patronage involving humanitarian exceptions, facilitate the scapegoating of those who impose them for entirely unconnected suffering of the populations they are supposed to aid, are an excuse for failing to address the ills they purport to punish effectively, and allow politicians to posture without doing anything effective about the problems they are condemning. In short, they are both hypocritical and counterproductive as well as cruel. Since their real objective is to satisfy domestic constituencies rather than accomplish anything in the countries they target, they always succeed. But they cause immense, needlless, and inhumane deprivation where they are imposed.

“I will look for an opportunity to make these points whenever I can. I am appalled by our complicity in the immiseration of Syrians and Yemenis and say so, when asked.”


Four Times More GI Suicides than Killed in Battle

Four Times More GI Suicides than Killed in Battle

Sep. 6 (EIRNS)–One of the more striking statistics compiled by the Watson Institute at Brown University on the costs of war is that, since 9/11, more than four times as many US soldiers and veterans have committed suicide than were killed in battle. There were 7,057 killed in battle, and 30,177 suicides, further demonstrating the horrendous toll on soldiers sent into senseless and illegal wars.

A Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study in 2019 on suicides by active duty U.S. soldiers since 1840 shows that the lowest number of such suicides in the 20th Century were in 1944-45, the last two years of a horrendous, but just, war, at 5 per 100,000 service members. This increased to 18 per 100,000 in the last years of the Vietnam disaster, and set the record high of 29.7 per 100,000 in 2012 during the Iraq and Afghanistan endless wars, staying above 20 since then.  Full story here.


Suicide Watch: Day One of Biden’s Climate Summit

Suicide Watch: Day One of Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate

April 22, 2021 (EIRNS)–Forty government heads of state and dozens of other leaders of institutions gathered (virtually) today to sing the praises of Joe Biden (“Joe” to many of them) for “bringing America back,” as most of them said — perhaps best expressed by the UK’s Alok Shama, the President of the COP 26 event planned for November in Glasgow: “We welcome America back into the fold,” clearly meaning the Malthusian death cult known as the British Empire. The meeting was chaired by climate fanatics Joe Biden, Antony Blinken and John Kerry.

There was a sharp distinction between the presentations of the leaders of the western world, and those of Russia, China, Mexico, South Africa, and some (but only some) other leaders from the Global South. While Biden, Macron, Merkel, Trudeau, Draghi, et al. described the so-called “climate crisis” as the greatest existential crisis facing mankind today, they emphasized that {all countries} must join in the suicide pact of eliminating fossil fuels and shutting down major portions of industry and agriculture to save Mother Earth from the non-existent danger of carbon dioxide. 

But the West no longer can dictate to the nations still guided by reason, rather than by Chicken Little’s screaming, ‘the sky is falling.’ 

Xi Jinping spoke poetically about the harmony and balance between man and nature, but added that it must follow a “people-centered approach,” focusing on those “longing for a better life.” We must follow the UN-centered multi-nationalism (i.e., not the artificial “rules-based order” made up by the imperial powers). Most importantly, he and many others emphasized the “common but differentiated responsibilities” between the advanced sector and the developing sector, insisting that the concerns of the developing countries must be accommodated. It is of note that climate czar John Kerry, speaking on Wednesday, called on China to give up its intention to allow coal-fired energy production to “peak” only in the 2030s. Xi did not obey, stating that they would continue producing coal-fired plants, as presented in the 14th Five Year Plan. That plan made clear that moving beyond coal depends on expanding nuclear and fusion power.

Vladimir Putin also insisted on UN-centered policies. He explained that Russia had reduced carbon emissions by half since the 1990s (like China, Russia has a serious real pollution problem, which they are resolving, with the side-effect of reducing carbon emissions). He said Russia is restructuring its energy and industrial sectors, focusing on nuclear power (he reminded the world that there are no carbon emissions from nuclear), as well as petro-gas and hydrogen. He noted that Russia’s ecosystem absorbs 2.5 billion tons of CO2 per year. He closed by insisting that global development must “not only be green, but also sustainable,” by fighting poverty and closing the gap between rich and poor. Nary a word about solar or wind.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) began by stating that Mexico had recently discovered three hydrocarbon deposits, all of which, he said, would be used to meet domestic demand. No longer, he said, would Mexico sell crude oil and import gasoline. Hydro plant turbines were being modernized to produce more electricity at less cost. Vast reforestation was taking place — 700 million trees, heading for a billion, and Mexico would help reforestation in the triangle countries to the south. He offered to advise the US on this successful program. He also called on the US to treat migrants as “exceptional people” who are willing to work hard, and who should have a path to citizenship if they desire. The State Department had warned AMLO in advance that the issue of migration should not be raised in the context of the environment — they are two totally different matters — but he did anyway. 

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, interestingly, barely mentioned climate, but focused on the financial disaster which, due to the pandemic, is striking countries like his dependent on tourism, and demanded that the nation’s debt must be forgiven or reorganized — it simply cannot be paid. He praised the fact that not only the US, but also China, were setting the pace on the climate issue. 

The session was ended by 19-year-old Xiye Bastida, a Mexican version of Greta Thunberg (who is from Fridays for the Future and was busy testifying at the US Congress), ranting and lecturing the evil white folk in the Global North who caused all the problems, and must now take direction from the brainwashed children. Blinken spent several minutes praising her as one of the “leaders of the future” who are dedicated to saving us from our folly. Xiye had been scheduled to speak in the session following AMLO’s, but she was moved up to provide a direct rejoinder to AMLO, and build her up as an international figure. One pro AMLO YouTube program, Antonio Villegas’s Guacamole News, reported on the incident: “Biden Ambushes AMLO at the Summit! They Create a Mexican Greta. She Already Attacked Him. From the Soros Group.” According to Villegas, Xiye insisted that the world has to recognize that we are at the end of the era of fossil fuels.  

The rest of the day included a session on Green Finance genocide with the normal suspects (Yellen, Georgieva, etc.), and another on Green Defense genocide (Sec. Austin, DNI Avril Haines, Sec. Ben Wallace, NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg, etc.). Climate is the center of all things, they all agreed, and the world must bow down or die. 

Friday is more of the same, ending with Michael Bloomberg and Bill Gates.


‘Staggering’ Hunger Crisis: Democratic Republic of the Congo

‘Staggering’ Hunger Crisis Identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

April 7 (EIRNS)—The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Program issued a cry of alarm yesterday, that they had found in their recently-completed review of the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a “staggering” scale of acute hunger. Some 27.3 million people—one in three citizens of that nation—are “acutely hungry,” with nearly 7 million of those people classified as in emergency status, one step below famine, able to survive only by such extreme strategies as selling off their last animal which provides their livelihood, or by begging.

“This makes the central African country home to the highest number of people in urgent need of food security assistance in the world,” the statement from the two agencies reports.

These figures include 3.3 million of that nation’s children who are malnourished, children who if not quickly provided with enough nutritious food may never recover from stunting of their mental and physical growth which malnutrition brings about.

WFP’s representative in the D.R. Congo, Peter Musoko, is quoted: “For the first time ever we were able to analyze the vast majority of the population, and this has helped us to come closer to the true picture of the staggering scale of food insecurity in the D.R.C. This country should be able to feed its population and export a surplus. We cannot have children going to bed hungry and families skipping meals for an entire day.”

The FAO Representative in the D.R. Congo Aristide Ongone Obame urged: “We need to urgently focus on growing food where it is needed most, and on keeping people’s sustenance-giving animals alive. The main agricultural season is around the corner and there is no time to waste.”

The two agencies drove home the human condition only reflected in these statistics: “Behind the numbers are the stories of parents deprived of access to their land, or forced to flee for their lives, watching their children fall sick for lack of food. WFP staff have met families who have returned to their village to find their home burnt to the ground and their crops entirely looted. Some have been surviving by eating only taro, a root that grows wild, or only cassava leaves boiled in water.”

Never forget that such intolerable conditions are not “natural,” nor unsolvable; they are the results of humanity’s failure to leave the oligarchical system behind. As American statesman Lyndon LaRouche proved scientifically, and China’s just-released White Paper “Poverty Alleviation: China’s Experience and Contribution” asserted, “poverty is not predestined, nor is it unconquerable…. With strong will and determination, as well as practical action, one can make steady progress towards overcoming poverty and realizing common prosperity.” China’s full report is here.


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