General

Today, the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (PSPU), headed by internationally prominent economist Dr. Natalia Vitrenko, won their appeal in a key case–the PSPU’s lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice, for failing to accept the party’s revised Charter and Bylaws. This refusal to register the party is what has kept the PSPU from running candidates, and went along with the thuggery and criminality conducted against party members, activities, and property. A video of the court proceedings, and PSPU statement, were posted on this victory today.

While Dr. Vitrenko speaks in Russian, and the attorney and judge in Ukrainian, Vitrenko’s strong presentation on the exchange over the injustice to the PSPU, between MEP Matteo Zanni (Italy) and EU foreign affairs official Federica Mogherini, is very clear (22:30.) A translation of the notice on www.vitrenko.org:

“On July 4, 2018 the Kyiv District Administrative Appeals Court considered the Progressive Socialists’ appeal of the lower court decision, which had rejected the PSPU’s lawsuit agains the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. “Ever since the Euromaidan regime came to power, a brutal struggle has been under way against the only extra-parliamentary systemic opposition party, the PSPU. The Party’s central office has been seized. Law enforcement agencies have instigated bandit and Nazi gangs against the Party’s leaders and against peaceful protest demonstrations organized by the PSPU. The Police and the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] fail to investigate or call these thugs to account. “In parallel, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has refused to acknowledge and register either the decisions of three congresses of the PSPU, which changed the PSPU Program and Charter in accordance with the requirements of [new] laws, or the new composition of the Party’s Central Committee. The Ministry of Justice has thereby flouted Ukrainian and international law, through its political discrimination against the PSPU. “The Kyiv District Administrative Court, which is the lower court in question, took the side of the Ministry of Justice, with its unlawful decision of March 20, 2018. The PSPU appealed, and now has won, by defending the PSPU’s rights and demonstrating that the Ministry of Justice was politically motivated. “The Party was represented in court by PSPU Chairman, People’s Deputy of Ukraine of the II and III Convocations, Dr. of Economics Natalia Vitrenko.”

In her weekly dialogue, Helga Zepp LaRouche concluded, after a review of the escalation of strategic crisis points, and the horrible geopolitical statements of many world leaders, that it is up to the citizens to mobilize for solutions, beginning with insisting that a summit of world leaders must take place. The recent conferences of LaRouchePAC and the Schiller Institute have exposed the danger of the combined effects of the coup against President Trump, and the beating of the drums of war by the likes of Pompeo.

While President Trump speaks of peace, and was moving towards a summit with President Putin, the global war machine is using the Navalny affair, as the latest anti-Russian narrative, to prevent a summit from taking place, while disrupting relations between Germany and Russia. Today’s horrible address by the EU’s Von der Leyen, which included attacks on Russia and China, support for color revolution in Belarus, and a deadly Green nightmare for Europe, is typical of the problem. The EU is hypocritically proclaiming its embrace of human rights, while ignoring the real life-and-death situation facing refugees, including those trapped on Lesbos.

She urged viewers to not give up, we must “keep fighting for a summit,” as part of the LaRouche movement’s presentation of the real solutions to the global crises.

This new 17-minute video gives excerpts from eight farm, health and other participants—North America, Africa, Europe—at the Sept. 5-6, 2020 Schiller Institute Conference, “War Drive Towards Armageddon—Or a New Paradigm Among Sovereign Nations United by the Common Aims of Mankind?”

Famine is spreading worldwide, at the same time as the transnational, financialized food production and trade system is ruining independent, family-scale farming. Add to this the impact of COVID-19, and the necessity is clear, for a new economic system, as well as emergency action for food and health. This has been a focus of discussion at a series of international conferences by the Schiller Institute since April, with the aim of seeing these and all strategic security matters on the agenda of an emergency summit of the major powers, at the earliest possible time.

In the U.S., cattlemen are in the forefront of defending the principle of independent producers, the principle of the right of all people to nutritious food, and the necessity of breaking up the food cartels and their Wall Street/City of London controllers. Spokesmen on this video are ranchers from Colorado, Kansas and South Dakota.

Speakers include:
Bob Baker, Schiller Institute Agriculture Liaison Marcia Merry Baker, EIR Editorial Board
Nicole Pfrang, Kansas Cattlemen’s Association, Secretary-Treasurer
Marlette Kyssama-Nsona, Republic of Congo, Panafrican League UMOJA
Ron Wieczorek, South Dakota cattleman, 2018 candidate for U.S. Congress Mike Callicrate, Colorado/Kansas cattleman, Ranch Foods Direct
Paul Gallagher, EIR Editorial Board
Helga Zepp LaRouche, Founder and Chairman, Schiller Institute

Watch the entirety of Panel IV: “Building Trust in International Relations: The Role of Classical Culture and Combating World Famine” .

Sept. 4, 2018  — With over 50 African countries represented at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit, there was an opportunity for these countries to sign bilateral economic agreements, make political statements in support of the Belt and Road Initiative, and have bilateral meetings among the leaders. The following are a few reported in the African media.

* A Chinese consortium comprising The Dongfang Electric manufacturing company and Shanghai Electric, and the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, signed a $4.4 billion agreement to build a clean-coal power station in Egypt, China Central Television reported. It will be located 500 miles from Cairo and made up of six units with a total capacity of 6.6 gigawatts. Construction is planned to be completed in six years.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi held meetings with heads of Chinese firms operating in Egypt.
* Nigerian President Muahammadu Buhari heads a large delegation of ministers, governors, and heads of parastatals who have been negotiating agreements on behalf of their states and ministries on the sidelines of the summit. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. has been assured by China National Petroleum Corp. that it is committed to securing up to 85% of $2.8 billion needed to build the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline project, a statement from the corporation on Monday disclosed. The pipeline would enable connectivity between the East, West, and North that is currently non-existent. Funders would include the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, and
Infrastructure Bank of China, with Sinosure, China’s Export Credit Agency, providing insurance cover. The remaining 15% will be provided by the contractors.

* The President of Namibia, Hage Geingob, acting chairman of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), appealed to China’s investment community to support the SADC region in developing its manufacturing, infrastructure, transportation, agriculture, and tourism sectors. Geingob said that, due to their extensive knowledge in industrial development and technology, Chinese will help SADC in realizing its dream.

* The Namibian delegation is negotiating a deal for the  Chinese to finance a new national airport, while elevating their relations to that of a Strategic Partnership.

* Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa said, at the summit, that the BRI is important to support Zimbabwe’s plan to be a middle-income country by 2030.
“Zimbabwe was only lucky,” he said, to the extent that 800 to 1,000 years ago there was trade between the Munhumutapa Kingdom and China when we imported porcelain and silk from here and in turn you got our ivory. But today the Road and Belt Initiative has taken everybody onboard so that our economies can talk to each other, so that our economies can help each other modernize and mechanize. We are getting connected and benefiting from each other.”

Mnangagwa said, “We are happy that this is a country that has never colonized anybody, who today is giving us a helping hand to grow. As a matter of fact, China is helping us to become a middle-income country. As a result of that helping hand we leapfrog and go into a modern economy. Left alone it will take us more years to develop with our domestic investment, but given the technology, given the assistance, the financial know-how, we leapfrog and become an important cog in the global economy.”

Christophe Assenmacher, Head of Urology at Clinics of Europe (Cliniques de l’Europe) St Elizabeth’s and Trainer in Robotic Surgery, gives an informed perspective of expanded use of medical robots.

“Take the surgeon,” he explains, talking to Robotics Tomorrow, “While they spend years studying, their ability to function under pressure, make precise movements and many other skills can be augmented by a robot to significant impact.” Indeed, whilst some patients might still feel hesitant to undergo surgery that is entirely automated, having a highly-trained and competent surgeon at the helm aided by a robot’s precision could reassure them they are receiving optimal treatment throughout.

“From my own practice, I’ve seen that robot-assisted surgery typically halves the length of hospital stays, reduces bleeding and blood transfusions, shrinks the risk of infection, lessens the requirement for painkillers and ultimately improves the standard of care for our patients,” Assenmacher states. Furthermore, of particular relevance during incidences of highly infectious disease such as COVID-19, robots can be deployed to perform essential tasks that would otherwise place people at risk, such as disinfecting rooms and dispensing medication. Assenmacher intimates that these capabilities could simply be the tip of the automation iceberg: “We certainly expect to see an evolution of nanorobots in the bloodstream, digital pills and social companion robots.” 

Assenmacher states that he personally uses the da Vinci Surgical System when performing specialised urological procedures, although the same equipment can be used for general surgery as well as cardiac, colorectal, gynaecological, head and neck and thoracic procedures too. The company’s website points out that a common misunderstanding of current surgical robotics is that machines carry out procedures independently of surgeons. This is incorrect: the da Vinci system functions as a tool or instrument by which the operator carries out the procedure using a control panel.

“The da Vinci system translates your surgeon’s hand movements at the console in real-time, bending and rotating the instruments while performing the procedure. The tiny wristed instruments move like a human hand, but with a greater range of motion. The da Vinci vision system also delivers highly magnified, 3D high-definition views of the surgical area.”

Sept. 10 — The situation on the Greek island of Lesbos where the Moria refugee camp was burned down is clearly a humanitarian catastrophe. It is not clear how many refugees are left without shelter—official reports say 3,500, others say 12,000 refugees are stranded in empty fields.

A second fire destroyed more of the camp on Sept. 8. It is obvious that some refugees themselves set the fires as the only way to break an impossible situation. The Migration Ministry said it would take “all necessary steps” to ensure that vulnerable groups and families had shelter. The fire also destroyed the new health unit’s intensive care area.

A passenger ferry and two Navy landing ships are being sent to accommodate some 2,000 of the refugees. The only option that makes sense is to evacuate the refugees from the island and transfer them to other countries than Greece. Only 400 unaccompanied minors from the camp so far will be transferred off the island. Greece has already requested at the EU level that other countries also take the refugees, but outside of expressions of solidarity nothing substantial has been done.

Meanwhile COVID-19 measures are being taken, with 19,000 test kits being sent to the island, as well as the deployment of more doctors and medical personnel to handle the situation.

Speaking at a virtual press conference today Francesco Rocca, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said it was “urgent” to move migrants from the Greek islands to the mainland, calling it a “humanitarian imperative.” He called it a “European crisis which requires concrete acts of solidarity by EU member states. Simply containing people is not the solution.”

Rocca said “No human being should live in the conditions in an overcrowded camp like in Moria.” He said that the camp was supposed to be a transit facility for refugees who were supposed to be processed and either deported or sent on to other EU countries. Nothing was done as the EU and its member states footdragging left the Greek government with the problem. Rocca told the media: “Local people, NGOs, the Red Cross, everyone is doing their utmost. But for how long? We must speed up the move of these people from the island.”