Global Diplomacy

Beasley: 9 Million Died of Starvation in 2020; This Year Could Reach 30 Million

May 14, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Agriculture, COVID-19, Economic development updates, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Healthcare, Healthcare, World Food Program

Beasley Describes, 9 Million Died of Starvation in 2020 and This Year Could Reach 30 Million –

May 13, 2021 (EIRNS)—David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Program, in a speech May 7 in his home state of South Carolina, warned that the number of people who could die of starvation in 2021 could be 20 to 30 million. He reported that 9 million perished last year from lack of food, in contrast to the 3.24 million official 2020 world death toll from COVID-19, which, of course, is a vast undercount. His point was to call for intervention with food relief, but also to stress that the armed conflicts should stop.

Beasley spoke in his home county of Darlington, at the Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church in Lydia, which was founded in 1789.

He said, as reported by SCNow daily, “What happened in the past four years? Man-made conflict. And I say that in a gender way. It’s not woman-made. It’s man-made. It’s literally man-made conflict.” He singled out Syria, Yemen, and South Sudan for special attention as examples of dire emergency.

He also pointed to the ripple effects from the pandemic lockdowns. “Now, because of COVID, the economic ripple effect, particularly when Western society shuts down its economy or at least turns the engines down, the economic ripple effect into low-income, middle-income, developing nations is catastrophic. And so, the number is now 270 million people literally marching to the brink of starvation.”

On the well-known warning by Beasley, that we are facing a famine catastrophe of “Biblical dimensions,” he chose to recount the backstory to that phrase, which he used in April 2020, in briefing the UN Security Council. As he has often repeated, it was Tony Blair, who urged Beasley to go to the UNSC, when Blair heard Beasley’s strong language.

WFP’s Beasley Signed a MoU with Venezuela: Addresses Soaring Hunger

April 21, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Agriculture, Economic development updates, Finance, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Healthcare, Healthcare, The Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites, Venezuela, World Food Program

WFP President Beasley Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Venezuelan Government To Address Soaring Hunger

April 20, 2021 (EIRNS) – The World Food Program will begin supplying school lunches to 185,000 impoverished pre-school and special-needs students in Venezuela this year, with the goal of providing daily meals to 1.5 million children by the end of 2023. That was the accord reached in a memorandum of understanding that the WFP signed this week with President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, during a trip to that country by WFP president David Beasley.

Hunger and starvation are not problems happening only “over there” in Africa or Syria. They are here – right on America’s doorstep, in Central and South America, including Venezuela.

Hunger in Venezuela has been skyrocketing in recent years, thanks largely to the killer sanctions imposed on that country by Washington (Republicans and Democrats alike). The WFP conducted a field study which estimated that, in 2019, 32% of the population suffered food insecurity and required assistance. Of those, 2.3 million were facing “severe food insecurity.” It is much worse today.

The hunger is due not so much to food shortages as such, but to the out-of-control inflation and forced devaluations, which are a result of financial warfare and denying Venezuela the ability to sell its plentiful oil exports in the dollar-dominated markets. The bolivar today trades at 1.069 {million} to the dollar; in December 2019 it stood at 55,00 to the dollar.

Internal food and other prices are set mainly in dollars, such that “the average wage which the majority of workers receive is less than five dollars per month, while chicken costs $2.40 dollars per kilo,” according to AP. An economic think tank linked to Venezuelan trade unions reported last December that a family of five with two adults earning the minimum wage did not have “even enough to purchase one breakfast a month.”

Beasley also traveled to Guatemala and Honduras in Central America, and reported that hunger had quadrupled in the past two years in that region, which now has 8 million people going hungry. Of those, 1.7 million are in the “emergency” category, meaning they required urgent food assistance to survive. He tweeted from Guatemala:

“15% of the people @WFP surveyed in Central America say they’re making plans to migrate in 2021—that’s 6 MILLION people! BUT, they also say if they have food security & livelihoods, they want to stay home!! Otherwise, they will do what we would all do to take care of our children.”

“China’s Epic Journey from Poverty to Prosperity”— Pulling 770 Million People Out of Poverty

September 29, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in China, Cultural renaissance updates, Economic development updates, General updates

Sept. 28, 2021 (EIRNS)—“China’s Epic Journey from Poverty to Prosperity,” in English a 72-page white paper, was released today by China’s State Council Information Office, giving their account as to how they were able to pull 770 million people out of deep rural poverty and to build the world’s largest social security system. Portions of it were summarized by Global Times.

The achievement of “moderate prosperity” (xiaokang) was achieved by attacking the biggest weakness of the society, the vast rural poverty. With a national mission, a strong central government, and a willingness to invest in projects that made sense over time, though they may not turn a profit overnight, they accomplished the work. And in doing so, they claim that the achievement not only helped China but contributes to peace and development, and so is the foundation for common prosperity. It is now the basis for China’s interaction with the rest of the world, centered around the offer of the Belt & Road.

With the profound experience of accomplishing a worthwhile national goal, China’s leader have their eyes on another 30-year goal: By mid-century, they mean to go beyond “xiaokang” to become “prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.” (That’s correct—“beautiful” is a key part of the mission task!) Midway, the 2035 goal includes a per-capita GDP of at least $20,000 (the World Bank standard of ‘moderately developed’). Global Times on Tuesday interviewed several key players in developing the intermediate 2035 goal. The former vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, Tian Yun, identified rural revitalization as the key for the 2035 goal, and vital rural-urban connectivity. Urban jobs were necessary for converting migrant workers to the economic and cultural benefits of cities. So, modernization and industrialization are actually the road for rural revitalization. As the director of the China Agriculture Industry Chamber of Commerce, Sun Wenhua further developed the point: China has accelerated a new type of relationship between industry and agriculture, including efficient transportation infrastructure systems, and the two-way flow of goods and peoples. Finally, Bai Wenxi, chief economist of Interpublic Group of Companies, is cited: “To narrow the wealth gap and tackle imbalance development, China has a strong central government, which has the power of mobilization, and all levels of local governments are empowered by the staunch ability of implementation, and those are what makes China [able] to mobilize the whole country to achieve its goals, to make great progress.” His example made the point: The sending of experts to rural areas to assist in the assimilation and mastery of new technologies of production was a key expenditure of manpower and talent, although, “Those policies won’t have visible economic benefits in the short term.” But they are necessary, and it’s the role of strong centralized leadership that can make such long-term commitments work.

Chinese and Argentine Labs to Produce Sinopharm Vaccine in Argentina

May 8, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Argentina, China, COVID-19, Economic development updates, General updates, Global Diplomacy, Healthcare, Healthcare

Chinese and Argentine Labs Sign Deal to Produce Sinopharm Vaccine in Argentina

May 7 (EIRNS)–The Chinese embassy in Argentina together with Health Minister Carla Vizzotti announced May 5 that the Argentina laboratory Sinergium Biotech has signed an agreement with China’s state-run Sinopharm company by which Sinergium will produce the Sinopharm vaccine at its facility in Buenos Aires. The announcement was made following a high-level meeting including Chinese ambassador, Zou Xiaoli, Vizzotti, special presidential adviser Cecilia Nicolini, the Argentine ambassador in Beijing, Sabino Vaca Narvaja, and top executives from Sinergium labs and Sinopharm. According to the daily {Dangdai} the same day, the Chinese embassy tweeted that “the pharmaceutical companies of both nations will immediately begin consultations to get production started as soon as possible….As always, the Chinese embassy in Argentina will support the efforts of both countries to combat the pandemic, and will help Sinopharm in its close collaboration [with Argentina], so as to elevate the Chinese-Argentine response to this health emergency.” The plan is for Sinopharm to send the first batch of antigens to Argentina in June, so that Sinergium can begin to produce up to one million doses of the vaccine per week.

Afghan Authorities Set Up a Military Base in Badakhshan Province To Fight Drug Traffickers

November 3, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Afghanistan, Finance, General updates, Geopolitics updates

Nov. 2 (EIRNS)—PARIS, Nov. 2, 2021 (Nouvelle Solidarité)— According to Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty, Taliban officials in Badakhshan Province have confirmed that they have set up a military unit to combat drug traffic. Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the Taliban’s deputy governor in Badakhshan, said that they had set up a military organization to provide security in Badakhshan and fight drug trafficking. He added, “The smuggling of drugs from Badakhshan cannot be ruled out, because we have a common border [with Tajikistan] and it is possible.”

In the past, says RFE/RL, there has been a similar body in the Afghan government that has worked with the Tajik authorities to combat drug trafficking. However, with the advent of the Taliban, there are no diplomatic ties between the two countries, and it is unclear whether there is any contact or cooperation between the two sides. Afghanistan’s northern border is one of the main transit routes for drugs to Russia and Europe.

Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, which shares a long border with Tajikistan, is one of 22 provinces in Afghanistan where opium poppy has been grown and large quantities of opium have been harvested in the past two years. This opium was processed in drug factories in the same region and turned into heroin.

New World Food Program Emergency Appeal: 45 Million People on Verge of Starvation; $7 Bil Aid Required – or “Hell on Earth”

November 10, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Afghanistan, Agriculture, Economic development updates, General updates, Global Diplomacy, Haiti, Healthcare, World Food Program, Yemen

Nov. 8 (EIRNS)–The World Food Program has issued an emergency statement in the last 24 hours, reporting on the rise to 45 million people of those who are on the brink of starvation worldwide. This is an increase of 3 million from only a few weeks ago. The 45 million people are in 43 nations, and the recent increase is from Haiti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Burundi and Kenya. Compare this 45 million number to 27 million, who were in this dire condition in 2019, which already was an intolerable number. Then came the pandemic, and now the hyperinflationary breakdown.

The WFP has raised its appeal for funds to cover the crisis up to $7 billion from $6.6. billion…” WFP Executive Director David Beasley explained that, “As the cost of humanitarian assistance rises exponentially, we need more funds to reach families across the globe who have already exhausted their capacity to cope with extreme hunger.”

Beasley stressed in the report, “Fuel costs are up, food prices are soaring, fertilizer is more expensive, and all of this feeds into new crises like the one unfolding now in Afghanistan, as well as long-standing emergencies like Yemen and Syria.”

Beasley was in Afghanistan over the weekend, on a fact-finding mission, where the WFP is ramping up its operations for aid to nearly 23 million people there. He told BBC yesterday, “It is as bad as you possibly can imagine, …In fact, we’re now looking at the worst humanitarian crisis on Earth. Ninety-five percent of the people don’t have enough food, and now we’re looking at 23 million people marching towards starvation,” he added. “The next six months are going to be catastrophic. It is going to be hell on Earth.”

He said, “To the world leaders, to the billionaires: imagine that this was your little girl or your little boy, or your grandchild about to starve to death. You would do everything you possibly could, and when there’s $400 trillion worth of wealth on the earth today, … shame on us that we let a single child die of hunger. Shame on us. I don’t care where that child is.”

Russia’s Lavrov at the UN: Not “Might Is Right” but “Right Is Might”

September 29, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Afghanistan, China, Cuba, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Libya, Nicaragua, Syria, United States, Venezuela, Yemen

Russia’s Lavrov at the UN: Not “Might Is Right” but “Right Is Might”—

Sept. 28, 2021 (EIRNS)—Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov used his address at the United Nations on September 25, to make clear the important difference between international law and the reality behind the sophistry of a “rules-based order.” International law is a principle based upon “right is might”—not “might is right.” The latter is behind the “selfish interests” of the “so-called ‘rules-based order’ concept that the West is persistently introducing into political discourse as opposed to international law.” The U.S.’s “Summit for Democracy” makes democracy into a wedge to get into countries’ internal affairs, but there can be no challenging the undemocratic reality outside of countries, such as NATO. Talk of democracy—such as the U.S.’s “Summit for Democracy”—is a cover for interfering into sovereign countries and has no reality for relations between countries, where the undemocratic military weapons of NATO are not to be brought up. “The use of unilateral restrictive measures” against Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, “violate the Charter-based principle of non-interference in internal affairs of sovereign states… undermines the prerogatives of the Security Council,” and even ignores the UN call “to suspend them at least for the period of the pandemic.”

Lavrov said that it was now time to stop the “policy aimed at undermining the UN-centric architecture” and choose the path of “rejecting any confrontation and stereotypes, and joining efforts to address key tasks of humanity’s development and survival. We have enough instruments for this.” He enumerated them. President Vladimir Putin has proposed a P5 summit for a “frank discussion on global stability issues.” As there were “great expectations” for the “prospect of the Russian-American dialogue” on arms control, per the U.S.-Russian summit at Geneva, this could work. He referenced Biden’s extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty as encouraging. Russian proposals on addressing the cyberwarfare problem was a basis for common agreement, where concerns can be examined “in a transparent manner, relying on facts.”

“In Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and in other hotbeds, all external actors must show an understanding of the cultural and civilisational specifics of society, reject politicization of humanitarian aid, and assist in the creation of broadly representative bodies of authority that would involve all major ethnic, religious and political forces of the relevant countries. Guided by such an approach, Russia has been constructively engaged in the promotion of the Afghan settlement via the extended Troika and the Moscow format.” He added, “It was with great interest that we perceived the Global Development Initiative proposed by President of China Xi Jinping, which resonates with our own approaches.” Lavrov finished with a twinkle: “In conclusion, I would like to propose a hashtag #UNCharterIsOurRules.”

China to U.S.: Choose Economic Development or Opium in Afghanistan

November 10, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Afghanistan, Agriculture, Economic development updates, Finance, General updates, Global Diplomacy

Nov. 9, 2021 (EIRNS)—China’s Global Times has some sound advice for the U.S. and its Western partners on how to best stop opium, build security, and secure political liberties in Afghanistan: help get its economy going again.

While the West “ponders” whether to give aid to Afghanistan, China’s ambassador in Kabul was busy opening an “Afghan trade lifeline.” The ambassador arranged for a Nov. 1 air shipment of 45 tons of Afghan pine nuts from Kabul to Shanghai. There, they were quickly packed and quickly sold on-line, Global Times reporter Mu Lu wrote yesterday, in an article titled “Afghans deserve to be better off through hard work, not planting opium.”

“How can a country achieve stability and long-term development, if its people live on drug cultivation?” Mu asked. Under the occupation and war, Afghanistan’s old infrastructure was destroyed, little new built, agriculture and animal husbandry stagnated, and Afghanistan became the world’s largest producer of opium. Washington now promises to offer humanitarian assistance, but only after freezing “nearly $9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank …. sow[ing] the seeds of economic collapse in Afghanistan.”

A Middle East Studies Institute professor at Shanghai International Studies University, Liu Zhongmin, made the key point: “Afghanistan will not realize stability without the fundamental underpinnings of economic development.” If the international community would start from the perspective of development, and help Afghanistan “integrate into the outside world with its own resources and advantages, ensuring the country a foothold in its own industry, the Afghan people will have the chance to really develop their motherland with assistance from other countries.”

Mu Lu concludes: “Stable, reliable work and income are important to help Afghanistan emerge from the drug economy of the past 20 years, and to give the Afghan people the opportunity to earn their way to prosperity. It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him fish. This is the responsible way to help Afghanistan.”

The Schiller Institute will be discussing some bold ideas for how to do this with Afghan and other representatives this week in Panel 2, “The Science of Physical Economy,” on the first day of its international conference this coming weekend. {Register today at: https://schillerinstitute.nationbuilder.com/202111_13-14_conference.}

Amidst Haitian-Dominican Tensions, Schiller Institute Plan for Haiti Cracks Open Debate of ‘What Is to Be Done’

November 3, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Economic development updates, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Haiti

Nov. 2, 2021 (EIRNS)—As the security situation in Haiti worsens, with armed gangs continuing to prevent fuel distribution, and kidnapping and killing citizens from all walks of life, tensions between the governments of Haiti and the Dominican Republic have reached a dangerous high. Yesterday, Dominican President Luis Abinader issued an urgent tweet calling on the international community to respond to the Haitian security crisis, naming the U.S., Canada, France, and the EU in particular, for failing to respond to cries for help. Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez also tweeted that the President has repeatedly called for the international community to organize summits to discuss the crisis in Haiti and map out a response, to no avail. No one has responded, the daily Listin Diario, reported him saying today. Haiti’s Foreign Minister, Claude Joseph, meanwhile responded to both Abinader’s and Alvarez’s tweets by calling on both countries to work together to deal with insecurity that affects them both, pointing to a recent State Department alert that also warned of growing crime and insecurity in the Dominican Republic. He urged Americans to exercise caution should they travel to Haiti’s neighbor on the island of Hispaniola.

Tensions are intensifying, however. While 12,000 Dominican soldiers are deployed at the border with Haiti, President Abinader announced Nov. 1 that he will take a tougher stance on Haitians entering the country illegally, on enforcing existing laws, preventing women more than six months pregnant from entering the country. He threatened to deport thousands of undocumented Haitians who work in construction and agriculture. There is a good deal of fear mongering from the Dominican side that Haitian gangs may try to invade the country, leading the former head of the Army, Jorge Radhames Zorrilla, and the organization of retired Generals and Admirals to offer their services to help “defend national sovereignty.”

It is noteworthy that in the midst of this tense situation, the Schiller Institute’s Plan for the Development of Haiti, whose English-, Spanish-, and French-language editions have circulated widely throughout Ibero-America and the Caribbean, including in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti, has set off something of a firestorm in the Twittersphere, changing the terms of the conversation. After Pope Francis issued a tweet Oct. 31 (@Pontifex_es) calling on people to pray for Haiti and urging the international community not to abandon it, and a Schiller Institute organizer responded that the mission established by Lyndon LaRouche after the 2010 earthquake “can and must be carried out, including with China, to lift Haiti out of its overwhelming poverty and convert it to an economic development model for the Western Hemisphere and the world,” and included the link to the Spanish-language version of the Haiti program.

This set off a series of other tweets from people of many different countries around the region, as far south as Argentina, including elected officials, lawyers, church officials, and academics, all commenting or making proposals on how to proceed, taking off from the Schiller organizer’s remarks. This included attacking the U.S. for its years of military invasions and imposing neoliberalism on Haiti. The Argentine respondent noted that the Schiller proposal “is a good one,” but added that Haiti’s location unfortunately “makes it politically conditioned by the U.S.” One LaRouche organizer pointed out to one tweeter that the program for Haiti is in fact a comprehensive program that can be applied to any country of the region, taking into account national differences, but starting from the standpoint that what’s needed is a “new paradigm of international relations.”

Russian Defense Ministry Warns NATO Black Sea Exercises Foreshadow Possible Ukraine Conflict

November 10, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Russia, Ukraine, United States, World war danger updates

Russian Defense Ministry Warns NATO Black Sea Exercises Foreshadow Possible Ukraine Conflict –

Nov. 9, 2021 (EIRNS)—The Russian Defense Ministry warned today that its forces are closely watching the U.S.-led multinational exercises in the Black Sea multinational group of armed forces near the Russian border” through exercises shaped by possible military action by the Ukrainian regime in southeast Ukraine.

The Tass report on the Defense Ministry statement reads, in part, as follows:

“Currently, the U.S. Navy’s guided missile destroyer Porter, tanker John Lenthall and command ship Mount Whitney are deployed to the Black Sea. Two US Air Force B-1B long-range strategic bombers performed flights over the Black Sea at a distance of 100 km from the Russian state border…. ‘These are unscheduled moves by the U.S. military that is setting up a multinational group of armed forces in close proximity to the Russian border,’ the Defense Ministry stressed.

“As the Russian Defense Ministry explained, the U.S. warships have arrived to take part in multinational drills that the U.S. European Command is holding in the Black Sea region. Such moves are a destabilizing factor in the region and, in particular, pursue the goal of the military exploitation of Ukrainian territory, the ministry stressed.

“‘Considering that in addition to the U.S. Navy, the drills will involve tactical, patrol and strategic aircraft, and also the contingents of the armed forces of Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine, this is evidence of an attempt to study the prospective theater of military operations in [the] case that Kiev prepares a use-of-force scenario in the southeast’,” the statement says.

The Russian Defense Ministry is doing more than “closely watching” these U.S.-led exercises. The Black Sea Fleet’s small anti-submarine warfare ships and anti-submarine helicopter have carried out exercises for locating, tracking, and then attacking “a notional enemy submarine” in the Black Sea, Tass reported yesterday, practicing air defense for a surface strike group in transit by sea, accomplishing surface-to-air missile and artillery firings against aerial targets.” In this extremely dangerous situation, U.S. Sec. of State Blinken is holding a “Strategic Dialogue” with his Ukrainian counterpart this Wednesday (Nov. 10). U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price spoke of how the U.S. supports “de-escalation in the region and a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine,” but then went on to repeat that “we stand with Ukraine, we stand with Kyiv, and condemn all Russian aggression against Ukraine in all forms.”

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