German government spokesman Steffan Siebert has reported that according to toxicology tests performed on Alexei Navalny’s blood samples by a German military lab, there is now “unequivocal proof” that the Russian opposition figure was poisoned by a nerve agent of the Novichok family, Reuters reported. Predictably, this has unleashed a wave of indignant responses from within Germany and internationally on a par with the hysteria around the orchestrated 2018 Skrypal case, demanding that Russia be held accountable. Putin himself is targeted.
While spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported today that the Kremlin has received no report from Berlin on these findings, nor replies to any previous requests for more detailed medical information on Navalny’s status, Seibert solemnly announced that the “federal government will inform its partners in the EU and NATO of the results of the investigation…and will discuss an appropriate joint response with the partners in the light of the Russian response.” The implication is that sanctions could be imposed on Russia. In her own statement, Chancellor Angela Merkel proclaimed, “it’s now clear” there was an “attempt to murder Navalny…He is the victim of a crime. He was meant to be silenced. This raises very difficult questions that only the Russian government can and must answer. This goes against the basic values that we stand for.” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said he would be calling in the Russian ambassador to demand an immediate response to the German lab’s findings. The name of the lab hasn’t been identified.
The stench emanating from Siebert’s assertion of “unequivocal proof,” is unmistakable. {The Guardian} gives it away when it mentions that, according to {Der Spiegel}, experts at Berlin’s Charite hospital where Navalny is being treated, consulted Britain’s secretive Porton Down lab, notorious for its role in the Skripal case, precisely “because of possible similarities with the 2018 Skripal attack.” It also quotes a German Green MP who studied at Yale University with Navalny who bellows that this new information raises the whole issue to “an international level,” demanding an international investigation be launched immediately. B {The Guardian} coyly notes that, so far, Germany remains committed to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project with Russia, implying that the alleged poisoning of Navalny might change that.
Tass notes that Russia’s Prosecutor General had requested Germany’s legal assistance in replying to 20 pertinent questions regarding Navalny’s treatment, diagnosis and test results as well as on a preliminary diagnosis from the German clinic, and medical documents and research by German specialists, both during Navalny’s transportation from Russia to Germany and his stay at the Berlin clinic. The Germans provided no information.
If you believe the popular gossip that you have to choose between bringing the economy to a halt to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, or “reopening” the economy and letting the disease rip, you’re being snookered – once again – by the British financial crowd that brought you both catastrophes in the first place: the City of London and their Wall Street sidekicks. As Lyndon LaRouche warned four decades ago, and the LaRouche organization restated explicitly as early as February 2020, the then-emerging pandemic was caused by 50 years of catastrophic British economic policies which had brought the world’s Potential Relative Population Density well below the actual population on the planet. The solution to {both} crises does not lie in some trade-off between the two, but in a single global solution to both, revolving around the application of LaRouche’s famous Four Laws. This was elaborated by EIR in its May 2020 “The LaRouche Plan To Reopen the U.S. Economy: The World Needs 1.5 Billion New, Productive Jobs.”
Consider a recent indication of the problem. As China was announcing that it had fully eliminated absolute poverty in the country, and that they had created 11 million new urban jobs in the period January-November of 2020 (meeting their annual target a month early), a new study of poverty in the U.S. reported that the poverty rate rose sharply in the five months from June to November, from 9.3% to 11.7%, with 7.8 million more Americans falling below the poverty line. According to the study released Dec. 16, of the 7.8 million new poor, about 2.3 million are children under 17.
Continuing widespread unemployment, combined with the end of government support in late July, were cited as the two key causes of the problem. The average unemployment payment was over $900 per week from March to the end of July, and after that it dropped by two-thirds, down to an average $300 per week. The federal poverty line is $26,200 for a family of four.
James X. Sullivan, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, who co-authored the study with Bruce D. Meyer, a professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, stated: “We’ve seen a continual rise in poverty every month since June.” Predictably, things are worse for Blacks (up 3.1 percentage points, or 1.4 million people since June) and for Americans with high school degrees or less (up 5.1 percentage points, or 5.2 million people). These are the people who tend to work in low-wage restaurant, travel and retail positions. The GAO recently reported that many states now pay gig workers and self-employed workers unemployment aid that is below the poverty level.
Back to China: President Xi Jinping stated that innovation is the “primary driving force” of the economy. And Xinhua, in reporting on the November data, stated: “China needs scientific and technological solutions, more than ever, to boost economic and social development. In the first 11 months, the output of high-tech manufacturing sectors increased 6.4 percent, markedly outpacing the overall growth in industrial output.”
Leading officials from the China National Space Administration (CNSA) held a press briefing to report on the results of the Chang’e-5 mission, which was deemed a resounding success. But the press was obviously very curious about where China would go in space after this, and, of course, when they would send people to the Moon.
Yuanhua, the Vice Administrator of the CNSA, said that Chang’e-5 was the result of over a decade of development. The 23-day mission now enters the stage of scientific investigation. An entire institute has been built to conduct, store and study the samples and a back-up storage facility has been constructed in Shaoshan in Hunan province, the birthplace of Mao Tsetung, because of his push for a Chinese space program in the 1950s [“Two Bombs and One Satellite”, was the motto in the 50s]. Hu Hao, the chief designer of the China Lunar Exploration Stage 3, said that the handling of the samples also represents a new capability for China which would aid in its technological advancement. “We need to explore more in space in order to advance our technology,” Hu said. The samples would also be available to research and university institutions for their study. And in the not too distant future, some of the samples would be placed on view in the National Museum of China.
Wu also congratulated the countries that had worked with China on the program, including ESA, Namibia, Argentina and Pakistan. In reply to a question about China’s cooperation, he said that China was prepared to work with “like-minded institutions” in other countries. At one point he was asked specifically by Reuters about cooperation with the U.S. Wu then discussed the restrictions of the Wolf Amendment, which prevented cooperation with the U.S. and at one point he said that cooperation had to be based on equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.
He also noted that the series of Chang’e missions had involved thousands of institutions and tens of thousands of scientists and engineers. He noted that China through this process had now developed a tremendous capability for space development in the interest of mankind. “Our goal will be different from the U.S. and the Soviet Union,” Wu said. “In those days, it became something of a “star wars.” We want to conduct scientific research and serve mankind.”
The Chang’e-5 mission was more complicated than it had to be for a simple sample return. But Wu indicated that the technologies that were used would also be a vital element for a human exploration mission. As China’s newly named “space ambassador,” Professor Yang Yuguang, succinctly put it: “We did it that way not because it was easy, but because it was hard,” reflecting the words of Kennedy with regard to Apollo.
Wu Yunhua was also queried about China’s future space plans and he was not reticent in talking about them. “We have a number of plans for the coming years, some of which have been made public,” he said. In exploration, they still have Chang’e-3 and Chang’e-6, which were backup missions If other missions failed. They would now be utilized in some form, perhaps to do a sample return from the South Pole of the Moon. Then there is Chang’e-7 and 8, which he said would be used to work with other countries in exploring the possibilities of establishing a lunar space center.
There were also other planetary missions, he noted. Tianwen-1 is already on its way to Mars and is scheduled to land on Mars in May of next year. There are also three other planetary missions, an asteroid-return mission, a Mars return mission and a Jupiter exploration mission. In terms of manned space, there will be 11 missions in the next two years, utilizing the space station, including the launch of a core capsule with 4 people.
And there will also be innovation in China’s launch capability. Long March-5 which carried the Chang’e-5 (labeled the “Fat Five mission”) will continue to be utilized. China also announced the development of a new Long March-8 rocket which will fly at the end of December. With the Long March series of 5, 6, 7 and 8, Wu said “we will be working with a whole system of new generation rockets to meet the need of the space missions
China is also making progress in its satellite department, Wu noted, which created the basic infrastructure for the Chang’e-5 mission. These include navigation satellites, communications satellites and remote-sensing satellites. “These are an important staple for our civilian space program,” Wu said, “and an important supply-side component of our country’s development.” Wu also noted that space innovation needed science satellites, and pointed to China’s collaboration with Italy on the development of an electromagnetic satellite, which will help improve earthquake predictions.
Aug. 27, 2018 -Speaking at a symposium on the Belt and Road Initiative as we approach next month, the fifth anniversary of its inception, President Xi Jinping underlined its importance as the basis of a new type of global governance.
“In the past five years, the ‘One Belt and One Road’ has greatly improved the level of China’s trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and promoted China’s open space from the coast, along the river to the inland, along the border, forming a new open pattern of land and sea linkage, east and west mutual aid,” Xi said. “The trade volume of goods with the countries related to the Belt and Road has accumulated more than $5 trillion, and the direct foreign investment has exceeded $60 billion, creating more than 200,000 jobs for the local economies. China’s foreign investment has become an important factor driving the growth of global foreign direct investment.”
Xi pointed out that the world today is undergoing a period of great development, great change, and adjustment.
“We must have a strategic vision and establish a global outlook. We must have both a sense of risk and a sense of history, and we must have a sense of historical opportunity to work hard in this century-old change. … Building a community of human destiny with the ‘One Belt and One Road’ as a platform for practice, is proposed from the perspective of China’s reform and opening up, and long-term development. It is also in line with the Chinese philosophy that the Chinese nation has always upheld, in line with the Chinese people’s concept of harmony under heaven and occupies the commanding heights of international morality. Building the Belt and Road is not only a means of economic cooperation, but also an important way to improve the global development model and global governance and promote the healthy development of economic globalization,” Xi said.
Xi explained how the BRI has won support throughout the world for the benefits it has brought, and that the key now was to proceed to expanding and deepening its influence. Xi said that
in the past few years, the “One Belt, One Road” project has produced the general layout of the project, and that a “‘large freehand brushwork’ has been sketched out.” Moving forward, he said, it is a matter of “filling in the ‘more delicate lines’ and achieving an exquisite ‘Chinese brushwork painting.'”
“We must work hard to open up the market, build more trade promotion platforms, guide powerful enterprises to carry out investment cooperation with the countries along the Belt and Road, develop new trades and new modes of cross-border e-commerce, and pay attention to trade balance. We must work hard on financial security, speed up the formation of financial support and build a `One Belt, One Road’ policy system, promote the internationalization of the RMB in an orderly manner, guide social funds to jointly invest in national infrastructure and resource development projects along the route, and provide foreign exchange funds for enterprises going global.
“It is necessary to promote the vigorous exchanges in the fields of education, science and technology, culture, sports, tourism, health, archaeology, etc., and carry out effective ‘people’s livelihood assistance’ around the ‘One Belt, One Road.’ It is necessary to standardize corporate investment and business operations, conduct legal and compliant operations, pay attention to protecting the environment, fulfilling social responsibilities, and become a model ambassador for the joint construction of the `Belt and Road’. It is necessary to attach great importance to the prevention of overseas risks, improve the security risk prevention system, and comprehensively improve overseas security and risk response capabilities.”
In reflecting on the just-concluded Schiller Institute two-day conference, Helga Zepp LaRouche emphasized the significance of the question posed by Jacques Cheminade, a former candidate for President of France, in his address during the 4th panel. Cheminade asked, “Why is there no mass movement to counter the present global crisis?”
In her review of the developments of the last week — from the ongoing battle to overturn election fraud in the U.S., the escalation of anti-Russia, anti-China actions by the same networks behind the fraudulent Russiagate, and aggressive moves to impose the Global Reset — Zepp LaRouche came back to the importance of creating a cultural Renaissance to address the systemic collapse underway. It is crucial that we take the advice of her late husband, Lyndon LaRouche, to “Think Like Beethoven,” so that we can rise to the level of thinking needed to overcome what otherwise is a crisis which threatens the survival of humanity. She urged people to celebrate the 250th birthday of Beethoven by listening to his music, viewing the Schiller Institute (SI) conference, and then joining the SI to move mankind into a new paradigm.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced the completion of its Phase 6 review—the last and final phase—of the Design Certification Application (DCA) for NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR) and have issued the Final Safety Evaluation Report (FSER). With this final approval customers can proceed with plans to develop NuScale power plants with the understanding that the NRC has approved the safety aspects of the NuScale design.
“This is a significant milestone not only for NuScale, but also for the entire U.S. nuclear sector and the other advanced nuclear technologies that will follow. This clearly establishes the leadership of NuScale and the U.S. in the race to bring SMRs to market. The approval of NuScale’s design is an incredible accomplishment and we would like to extend our deepest thanks to the NRC for their comprehensive review, to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for its continued commitment to our successful private-public partnership to bring the country’s first SMR to market, and to the many other individuals who have dedicated countless hours to make this extraordinary moment a reality,” said NuScale Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Hopkins said in a NuScale press release on August 28. “Additionally, the cost-shared funding provided by Congress over the past several years has accelerated NuScale’s advancement through the NRC Design Certification process. This is what DOE’s SMR Program was created to do, and our success is credited to strong bipartisan support from Congress.”
This design certification means it meets safety requirements and could be chosen by future projects seeking licensing and approval. The next step for NuScale is to obtain full certification from the regulator which will then allow a utility to reference the design when applying to build and operate a nuclear power plant anywhere in the US. Already the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems is planning to develop a 720MW plant at the Idaho National Laboratory which would use 12 of these reactors.
Once built the Nuscale reactor will be the first of its kind which can be built in serial production in a factory with the modules assembled on the site of the power plant. NuScale has signed agreements with entities in the U.S., Canada, Romania, the Czech Republic, and Jordan. Similar agreements with other entities are being negotiated.
Aug. 21 – El Salvador’s President Salvador Sanchez Ceren told a national TV audience last night that El Salvador had broken diplomatic relations with Taiwan and established relations with the people’s Republic of China, in order to fulfill the government’s promise to secure a dignified life for all citizens, and create a future for new generations. He reported that a delegation of three high-level officials, led by Foreign Minister Carlos Castaneda, were in Beijing, and had just signed a Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations with China.
The President did not mention the Belt and Road Initiative in his speech, but Panama’s eager participation in the BRI, after its decision to break with Taiwan in June 2017, has sparked discussion throughout Central America on prospects for increased integration and actually crushing poverty, drugs and violence. In point of fact, El Salvador’s move in the direction of the BRI is the single most important action it could have taken to stop the scourge of drugs and Satanic gang violence which, along with Wall Street looting, has driven over 20% of 1st generation Salvadorans to emigrate desperately to the U.S.
El Salvador has been looking for some time for international assistance to relaunch its container port at La Union in the Gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific, and China has expressed interest in the project. The initial concept for the La Union port was to turn the Gulf into a development hub with Nicaragua and Honduras, which also border the Gulf, and to connect it to the Caribbean through a railroad across Honduras. At the same time, the high-speed railroad in Panama which China has agreed to build has sparked active discussion in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Honduras, minimally, of building a regional railroad, {EIR} has learned.
El Salvador’s decision increases the potential for other Central American countries–Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, in particular–to also leave the “Taiwan Gap” and enter the future. President Sanchez Ceren had met with the Presidents of Honduras and Guatemala earlier in the day, on the occasion of his nation joining the Customs Union which those two nations had created, bringing the 32 million people in those three countries — 73% of all of Central America’s population — closer together.
“I am speaking to you on this occasion to make public a decision which will have a profound impact on the present and future development of our country,” President Sanchez told the nation. When he was inaugurated, he explained, he promised to create the conditions needed to transform the nation towards securing a decent life for each one and their families, and after analyzing the domestic and foreign situation, we have made the decision to break relations with Taiwan and establish relations with the P.R.C., he explained.
This is a decision which will bring “great benefits to the country and offer extraordinary opportunities on the personal level to each of you. The People’s Republic of China is the second economy in the world, in continuous development, and whose development achievements in diverse fields has enabled it to position itself among the most successful countries,” he said, citing China’s promotion of “shared development … in countries such as ours through South-South cooperation.”
Sanchez reported that dialogue will immediately begin between the two countries to identify “potentials and concrete actions in the areas of trade, investment, infrastructure development, scientific, economic and technical cooperation, in health care, education, tourism, and support for micro and medium-sized companies,” as well as coordinating immediate humanitarian aid for Salvadoran farmers affected by drought.
Forget what the pundits and anti-Trumpers say. The midterm election was no victory for Democrats, but changes, for the better, the situation in the U.S. Helga discusses this, with its implications for U.S. politics, and for Europe, in this week’s webcast. Ironically, as a result of Trump’s success, he will be coming to Paris this week in a stronger position than either Macron or Merkel!
She also identified the enormous potential of the Shanghai expo, with its implications both for resolving trade problems between the U.S. and China, but also to move towards a New Bretton Woods.
Speaking of Paris, Helga emphasized the urgency of using the Nov. 11 commemoration of the end of World War I, to learn the lessons of why the era of British geopolitics must be brought immediately to an end.
She called on viewers to study Xi’s speech in Shanghai, as an example of what Lyn has spoken about for years, on how creativity and innovation must be a continuous process, for the betterment of mankind.
The University of Alabama has climbed to #1 in the COVID-19 rankings amongst major American universities. Their main campus at Tuscaloosa climbed over the 1,000 mark after only nine days of school, now totaling 1,063. If CNN’s figure of around 8,700 cases currently for all U.S. colleges and universities is correct, then this one campus has about 12% of the known cases on campuses in the country.
The Tuscaloosa campus has some well-deserved notoriety, having made the news months ago for the fad of “COVID” parties – where parties were arranged with at least one known COVID- infected student. The other students would put money into a pot, with the first new case of COVID declared the winner. Such a demented subculture will give a new meaning to their school nickname, the “Crimson Tide.”
In the first six days of school, the campus showed 90/day, while the last three have climbed to 160/day. (These numbers only include the students, as the numbers for the faculty and staff together pale in comparison — nine cases, or one/day.) Assuming an approximate 4-5 day lag time from infection to symptoms to test results, it suggests the uptick happened last weekend. On Monday, all the bars in town were closed, by order of Mayor Walt Maddox. In tandem, the University has issued a moratorium on all in-person events, outside of classes; and has closed all common areas of dormitories, fraternities and sororities. They are hoping that their actions will be reflected in a drop in the new cases — unless the barn door was closed too late.