June 30, 2022 (EIRNS)—Chinese President Xi Jinping spent the first of a two-day visit to Hong Kong today to help its citizens celebrate the momentous 25th anniversary of July 1,1997, the date on which Great Britain returned Hong Kong to China. Imperial Britain occupied Hong Kong on July 25, 1841, during the Opium War and following China’s defeat in that war, it was forced to cede the territory to Britain in the Treaty of Nanking on August 29, 1842. The anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China carries great political and emotional significance for the Chinese people.
Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, arrived by high-speed rail at Hong Kong’s West Kowloon train station in the afternoon today, where they were greeted with much fanfare by the police brass band, flag-waving citizens, and a lion dance. In a short speech after his arrival, Xi stated that he and the central government have always felt concern for Hong Kong and held its compatriots in their hearts, understanding that it has had to overcome many difficult challenges and tests. He emphasized that as long as the principle of “one country, two systems” is always upheld, Hong Kong will have a bright future and will make great contributions to China’s rejuvenation.
Prior to attending a banquet at the official residence of Carrie Lam, the outgoing chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)—Hong Kong’s government—Xi met at the local convention center with 160 officials, including senior government officials, heads of law enforcement agencies, and members of the chief executive’s cabinet. He also visited the city’s very impressive science park, which is home to 1,000 high-tech companies. Also attending the banquet was John Lee, Carrie Lam’s successor, whose inauguration tomorrow Xi will attend. Xi spoke very highly of Carrie Lam, praising her for firmly implementing the “One country two systems” and China’s Basic Law in Hong Kong and for guiding it through a period of chaos in 2019-2020 when violent “pro-democracy” protesters sought regime change in the HKSAR, and overseeing its transition to the current period of peace and order.
Aug. 9, 2022 (EIRNS)–Americans, and others in the West, could take a lesson from African leaders, who are not taking orders from arrogant elites demanding capitulation. South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor told reporters on Monday, with Secretary of State Tony Blinken sitting next to her, that she objected to “patronizing bullying” coming from the West: “Because when we believe in freedom – as I’m saying, it’s freedom for everybody – you can’t say because Africa is doing this, you will then be punished by the United States…. One thing I definitely dislike is being told `either you choose this or else.’ When a minister speaks to me like that … I definitely will not be bullied in that way, nor would I expect any other African country worth its salt to agree to be [so] treated.”
Blinken is on a three-nation trip to Africa, a trip widely billed as aimed at countering Russian and Chinese influence in the area. Playing “Mr. Nice Guy” did not score Blinken points in South Africa. In the joint press conference given by Blinken and Pandor after holding the first U.S.-South Africa Strategic Dialogue in nearly eight years, Pandor made three key points, in addition to her refusal to join geopolitical blocs:
On China and Africa: “Countries are free to establish relationships with different countries. African countries that wish to relate to China, let them do so, whatever the particular form of relationships would be. We can’t be made party to conflict between China and the United States of America, and I may say, it does cause instability for all of us, because it affects the global economic system. We really hope that the United States and China will arrive at a point of rapprochement, where all of us can look to economic development and growth for all our countries, because that’s extremely important for all of us. These are two great powers, the two biggest economies in the world. They’ve got to find a way of working together to allow us to grow.”
On Blinken’s push for “democracy,” one of the four U.S. priorities in the administration’s “Sub-Saharan Africa Strategy,” Pandor recommended:
“If your tactic is to approach African countries and say that, `listen, you must be democratic either and use our model, it works,’ I think it’s bound to lead to some failure.” All countries and peoples deserve the right to exercise their civil and political rights, but how that should be approached is the issue,” she said. She noted that “there has been a lot of external interference in Africa [which] has fueled conflict in many African countries, has fueled instability and supported opposition groups against liberation fighters and so on,” much of that stemming from foreign interest in “Africa’s rich mineral wealth.”
And, Pandor spoke eloquently against the war and “apartheid” in which Palestinians are forced to live, as an example of the double-standard often played by those who say they are defending the principles of the UN charter: “Just as much as the people of Ukraine deserve their territory and freedom, the people of Palestine deserve their territory and freedom. And we should be equally concerned at what is happening to the people of Palestine as we are with what is happening to the people of Ukraine.”
Aug. 9, 2022 (EIRNS)—The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released a study, “Syrian Arab Republic: Access to Electricity and Humanitarian Needs,” in March 2022, documenting meticulously, respecting Syria, what Helga Zepp-LaRouche contends in her July 12, 2022 statement, “Lift Sanctions Against Russia Immediately!”: that sanctions are a “brutal form of warfare” that kill, and must be lifted everywhere they are currently enforced.
In 2011, the European Union enforced sanctions against Syria with the intent to overthrow the country’s President, Bashar al-Assad, following the Bernard Lewis Plan overthrow and eventual killing of the leaders of Iraq and Libya. Britain, the U.S., and other nations joined the sanctions regime, and the range of sectors of the Syrian economy against which they were applied was expanded. The U.S. and other nations carried out military intervention in Syria in 2011, first using proxy terrorist groups, then directly.
Syria’s electricity sector was brutally targeted. The OCHA study reports, “Two of the country’s 13 major power plants were fully destroyed: the Zeyzoun Power Plant in Idlib governate (487 MW installed capacity) and the Aleppo Thermal Power Station (1,065 MW installed capacity).” The World Bank reported that six other power plants were partially destroyed.
“As a result of this damage, the country’s electricity generation capacity fell from 5,800 MW in 2010… to 4,000 MW in 2018.” The further tightening of sanctions caused Syria’s installed electricity generation capacity to fall to 2,000 MW in 2021, a collapse of 63%! Obtaining replacement parts and maintaining the surviving plants, due to sanctions, has become even more acute. Whereas, in 2010, “93% of the country had access to electricity,” that is sharply down today. Compared to 2010 standards, today’s Syrian population consumes 85% less electricity per capita, twelve years later. Thirty percent of Syria’s population has access to electricity for only 2 hours per day. That slashes electricity to industry, and households, and all the equipment that goes with that.
But electricity is the source for powering all other features of society. Around 2010, “access to safe drinking water in Syria was estimated at 92% in rural communities and 98% in urban centers. Seven major water systems serve the country’s eight largest cities…. However,” the study emphasizes, “by 2019 annual public water production in Syria had fallen by 40% relative to pre-crisis levels (from 1,700 Mn cubic meters in 2010 to 1,020 Mn cubic meters in 2019.” But to use water from groundwater and springs, or most rivers, requires continuous electricity to pump water and distribute it, a commodity Syria now lacks as the study highlights.
The lack of electricity (and water) also means there is sometimes insufficient power to run medical facilities and health clinics. Because of damage to infrastructure, Syria runs its schools on two shifts. In the second shift, in particular, often there is no clean water in the bathrooms, and not enough electricity to heat the schools. Some students study at home by candlelight.
The OCHA’s ReliefWeb website reported March 12, 2022, “this year, 90 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line, and more than 80 percent are food insecure. Families say they are eating less, cutting meals, and going into debt to meet their basic needs.” {Emphasis added.}
As Zepp-LaRouche says in her July 12 statement, sanctions “are a brutal form of warfare against the respective populations of the sanctioned states with the aim of making their living conditions so intolerable that they rise up against their respective leaderships, and overthrow them. But the victims are always the people.” It is past time to lift them in Russia, Syria, and everywhere.
German Farmers Will Take to the Streets Again—
Aug. 8, 2022 (EIRNS)–Farmers in Germany are expected to take to the streets again, protesting against their own government’s and EU’s policies. A big national rally will be staged in Berlin on August 26. Organizers regard it as a “365 day” demonstration, if nothing is done. Among farmers’ key issues, is the one pointing to the lethal mix of green policies, and the EU and government’s inaction against the ongoing fertilizer/diesel price inflation, a main cause for the drop of grain harvest by 60 (!) percent in Germany this Summer. A lot of shelves in the supermarkets right in the middle of Europe will be empty this coming Winter season.
Aug. 8, 2022 (EIRNS)–Greek Ambassador Ad Hon., and member of the Schiller Institute, Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos presented the blacklisting of the Schiller Institute by the Center for Combating Disinformation (CCD) of Ukraine, in an interview this week on RT television. While being interviewed on the recent Amnesty International Report denouncing the Ukrainian military’s use of human shields, the Ambassador went into a full briefing on the blacklisting, referring directly to the Schiller Institute. He declared that conducting this blacklist operation exposes the fascist nature of the Ukrainian regime. The Ambassador is also a signatory to the Schiller Institute petition denouncing the blacklisting. The entire interview can be seen here.
EIRNS, June 23–Pakistan’s PTV World program Views on News, hosted by Faisal Rehman who spoke with Helga Zepp-LaRouche and other guests concerning security and development issues facing the new Pakistani government. Zepp-LaRouche’s theme was that there must be peace and development for Afghanistan. She asked, “How long do you want to keep fighting? The grievances of the past are not the starting point for defining the future.” Mrs. LaRouche called for the integration of Afghanistan with the Belt and Road initiative. The full program can be viewed here.
Aug. 8, 2022 (EIRNS)–The widely-read German website NachdenkSeiten posted an article on Aug. 8 by Dr. Wolfgang Bittner, a well-known jurist and author who spoke at a Schiller Institute conference on June 18 (his presentation is here) and who was put on the Ukraine CCD hit list. The article, under the title: “Ukraine’s Blacklist – the Federal Chancellor must act,” notes, that in addition to himself and Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the list includes Rolf Mützenlich, the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party caucus in the Bundestag. (It must be noted that Chancellor Olaf Schulz is a member of the SPD.)
Dr. Bittner writes, from a machine translation: “The political situation is appalling and the persecution of dissenters in connection with the Ukraine war is taking the form of unbridled fascism. It is unacceptable that state terrorism is being carried out here under the eyes of the world public. The persecution of critics and opposition figures by Ukrainian government organizations must be stopped immediately. The federal government is called upon to lodge a protest with the Zelensky government against the discrimination against German nationals… and to stop all aid for Ukraine. The list of the CCD must be deleted immediately.”
Modi Declares India Will Be a Developed Nation In Next 25 Years—
Aug. 15, 2022 (EIRNS)–Speaking on the occasion of India’s 75th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong push for the development of his nation. “By the 100th year of Independence, we have to work with the vision of accomplishing what our freedom fighters dreamt of,” Modi declared. He called on youth in particular to devote themselves to this goal, saying “We must resolve to work towards a ‘Viksit Bharat’ (Developed India) and remove any vestiges of colonialism from any corner or in our hearts.”
“In the coming years, we have to focus on ‘Panchpran’ (5 pledges). First: to move forward with bigger resolutions and resolve of developed India; second: to erase all traces of servitude; third: be proud of our legacy; fourth: the strength of unity; and fifth: the duties of citizens that also includes the PM and CMs,” Modi noted, referring to the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers. “We will work towards the development of the entire humanity. That is the strength of India,” he added.
The Prime Minister also referenced the freedom fighters of India’s past, including Gandhi, Bose, Ambedkar, Savarkar, and others. “When the dreams are big, hard work is important. It needs to be inspired by the pledge and the determination of freedom fighters who dreamt of a free India,” Modi said.
Aug. 6 (EIRNS)—Under the striking headline, “Schiller Institute Calls for New Bretton Woods To End War, Economic Crisis,” one of India’s leading dailies, The Hindu, today published a thorough article on its interview with Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who detailed the role played by her late husband Lyndon LaRouche in shaping the policies for a New International Economic Order and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), as well as his close relationship to India dating back to the time of his World War II service in the China-India-Myanmar theater, and his and Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s personal friendship with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The Hindu article was illustrated with a prominent photograph of a 2001 meeting of Mr. and Mrs. LaRouche with then President K.R. Narayanan at the presidential offices.
The Hindu began by pointing out that the “global thinktank, Schiller Institute, that recently hit the headlines for organizing an international conference on the Ukraine war and economic crisis,” was shaped by the late economist Lyndon LaRouche. The Schiller Institute’s global conference last April 9 included three prominent Indians among its speakers: retired diplomat P.S. Raghavan (who was scheduled to speak but was unable to attend), journalist Saeed Naqvi, and Sam Pitroda. Subsequently, “it came under attack from Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation that fights online Russian propaganda, [which] released a list of 75 commentators, including the three Indians, whom they accused of promoting Russian propaganda.”
Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche elaborated in some detail her late husband’s role in shaping policy debate in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). She reported that, after Richard Nixon dismantled the Bretton Woods system in August 1971, her husband warned that the so-called “Nixon Shock” would encourage speculation-driven economic activities and greater inequality, and that he “wrote in favor of the developing economies. Some of those ideas found expression in the 1976 Colombo resolution of the fifth NAM summit that called for a New International Economic Order (NIEO) to help the non-aligned countries,” The Hindu reported. The effects of that “Nixon shock” are still being felt today, Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche asserted.
That the New International Order didn’t come into being was due to many factors, Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche explained, but stressed that when she and her husband met with Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister showed great interest in “having economic ideas that would safeguard India from the volatilities of international finances” that had affected so many other developing countries. Following Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, Mr. LaRouche authored the book Derivative Assassination examining the global dimensions of Khalistani terrorism that might have played a role in her murder. Even after her death, the LaRouches visited India on several occasions and met with such prominent economists as the late Arjun Sengupta and with President K.R. Narayanan in 2001.
In the interview, Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche remarked that the “LaRouche tradition” within the NAM didn’t progress for a number of reasons, including the assassinations of Mrs. Gandhi in 1984 and of her son and successor Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, and the “interventionist wars” launched by the West in Syria, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, whose chief architect was U.S. President George H.W. Bush, were largely responsible for the global turmoil that made such progress impossible.
Despite the crisis in Ukraine and the global financial crisis, Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche is hopeful that there is now a reemergence of non-alignment and other positive traditions, The Hindu reported, while warning that Western leaders failed to deal with earlier crises such as the 2008 Lehman Brothers crash, and that the crisis today is such that it could lead to a “blowout of the neoliberal system.”
Look at the West’s treatment of Russia, she said. When the U.S.S.R. collapsed, the Schiller Institute proposed a development corridor—the Eurasian Land-Bridge—that would have helped in economic development. Instead, Western powers adopted a strategy of destroying Russia, treating it as a “regional power,” planning to reduce it to the status of a raw-materials producing “ex-superpower.” These Western policy errors continue to this day, she warned, telling The Hindu, “If we don’t get the United States and Europe onto a new track, toward a new system [New Bretton Woods,] the war danger only worsens.”
Aug. 9, 2022 (EIRNS)—The following interview with Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche was included in CGTN’s “World Today” podcast.
The World Today host began a segment: “Decoupling of the EU and Germany from China could cost Germany almost six times as much as Brexit. This is the finding of a scenario analysis conducted by the Info Institute on behalf of the Bavarian Industry Association. The report shows that automotive industry companies producing transportation equipment and manufacturers of machinery and equipment would be hurt the most if the decoupling happens.
So, for this and more on EU-China and Germany-China relations, let’s have Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the founder of the Schiller Institute, a Germany-based political and economic think tank. Thanks for joining us, Ms. Zepp-LaRouche.
HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Good day.
CGTN: Germany would face costs almost six times as high as Brexit if Germany and the European Union were to shut China out of their economies. What do you make of the projections?
ZEPP-LAROUCHE: I think it’s much worse, because as you have mentioned already, there is right now an effort to push Germany and all of Europe into a decoupling from Russia and China. This, in my view, would mean economic suicide. You already have an almost total decoupling from Russia that has led to an explosion of energy prices. You have hyperinflation going on, which is not due to anything having to do with Ukraine or Russia’s war with Ukraine. It has to do with the quantitative easing and pumping of money for many years. So, you have hyperinflation; you have an energy crisis. And now on top of that, if you also would decouple from China, the most important trading partner for Germany, this would mean economic suicide. I think this is something people should review and really step back away from, because it would lead to complete social chaos in Germany and Europe, with unpredictable consequences.
CGTN: The report said the biggest loser of a trade war with China would be the automotive industry, manufacturers of transport equipment and mechanical engineering which have had strong ties with China over the years. With the domestic argument for decoupling getting louder in Germany and the European Union, do we hear any voices from those industries?
ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, my personal experience in talking to many of those, is that the individual firms really want to stay in China, but they are being pressured by the banks with their credit policies, the financial sector, and that is all hanging together with Wall Street and the City of London. They have geopolitical motives to push this decoupling. I think if German industry wants to survive, and I really mean survive, because it’s an existential situation which most of them are in, they have to stand up and defend their own interests. They have to fight for the jobs of the people; they have to stand up for German interests and the common good of the people.
I think we are heading into an incredible social crisis in the coming weeks and months. The question is, will Germany economically survive this assault? It’s time for Germany to define its own interests and not be the instrument of NATO.
CGTN: Speaking of that, we heard from Volkswagen’s CEO, who defended [inaud] in China in Xinjiang. What do you make of this, because there are two different opinions nowadays? On the one hand, people say their insistence is only about profit and making money. On the other hand, people believe they see a different Xinjiang in China from the ones mirrored in the Western media. What’s your take?
ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, we had two members of the Schiller Institute traveling to Xinjiang and visiting many locations. And many diplomats from many countries also have traveled there to investigate the situation. What all of these people report is that China has brought development into one of the previously poorest areas, and given people jobs, bringing prosperity, infrastructure. So, a lot of people who turned from the Uighurs to terrorism before now have a perspective and a future, and have stopped being terrorists. I think to overcome terrorism through development is a much better method than throwing bombs and drones and having civilian casualties you don’t care about, like it happened so many times in Afghanistan or Iraq, where the United States conducted these things. I think people should not listen to this guy Adrian Zenz, who recently came out with a study. He’s a right-wing Christian fundamentalist who has very dubious beliefs, because he thinks that God gave him a mission to destroy China. All of this anti-Xinjiang propaganda is mainly based on this extremely dubious source. People should not fall for it.
CGTN: Given what we have been talking about, if you also ask a lot of experts in Germany, they suggest that companies should find more countries to reduce dependency on China. How do you look at this suggestion? Can China, as the top trading partner of Germany, be replaced at least in the short term?
ZEPP-LAROUCHE: In the short term, for sure not, because the idea to diversify and have partnerships with so-called “like-minded democracies,” if you really look at it, it’s only the U.S., the British, the countries of the Five Eyes, Japan, New Zealand. But the overwhelming majority is going with China’s BRI. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS, most countries of the Global South want to have development. There is a revival of the spirit of Bandung, which is the Non-Aligned Movement. I think it would be complete suicide for countries like Germany that are very export-dependent to cut off these markets which are the future. The only growth which occurred in the recent period was in Asia, and not in the Atlantic sector. So, Germany should really redefine its own interest.
CGTN: Thank you very much. That’s Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the founder of the Schiller Institute, a Germany-based political and economic think tank.
Here is the link to the interview; this segment is with Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche: ④ Decoupling with China could cost Germany six times as much as Brexit, a study shows at 33:55 min.
