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Modi Declares India Will Be a Developed Nation In Next 25 Years

August 17, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Economic development updates, General updates, India

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.

India’s The Hindu Features Interview with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute Call for a New Bretton Woods

August 7, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Economic development updates, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Helga media coverage or interview, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, India, Media coverage of our activity, World war danger updates

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.”

Helga Zepp-LaRouche on CGTN’s “World Today” Show; Denounces Decoupling of Germany and Europe From China

August 12, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, China, Economic development updates, Finance, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Germany, Helga media coverage or interview, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Russia

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.

Lavrov: Russia-China Strategic Partnership Rallies Nations To Defend International Law

August 7, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in China, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Russia, World war danger updates

Aug. 6, 2022 (EIRNS)–Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, met again on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Aug. 5, their third meeting in the past 30 days, Lavrov noted; the two had consulted when they were in Bali for the G20 ministerial on July 7 and in Tashkent on July 28 for the SCO ministerial. There is nothing obligatory about their schedule; “every time we meet, we see that Russia and China have more issues to discuss and adopt practical decisions on,” Lavrov remarked in opening their meeting, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

 Lavrov pointed to their common evaluation of “the arrogance” with which “the United States is using every available opportunity to strengthen its domination across the world…. The Americans are acting to suppress any manifestation of independence. In this spirit, they decided to turn Ukraine into a threat for the Russian Federation…. Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan is in keeping with this approach….

 “I am sure that our strategic partnership is a motivating force behind the movement for the priority of international law over the `rules’ invented by the United States and its satellites. The matter concerns above all international law, beginning with the UN Charter and its fundamental principle of the sovereign equality of states. The United States is violating this principle everywhere every day. We must respond to that.” BangladeshBeyond has the full report.

 In this regard, Lavrov cited in particular the “Group of Friends in Defense of the UN Charter” at the United Nations, a forum on which he said both China and Russia are working. “I regard it as a promising structure that should be expanded. We are confident that more countries will join in this work.”

African Nations Plan To Develop Their Fossil Fuel Resources, Climate Change Be Damned

August 7, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Africa, Britain, Economic development updates, Environmentalism updates, General updates, Power & Energy

Aug. 6, 2022 (EIRNS)–The folks at London’s fanatically Malthusian the Guardian are besides themselves, having been leaked a document revealing that African nations are discussing going into next November’s COP27 UN climate summit with a common position asserting their right to develop their fossil fuel resources, in order to develop.

In an Aug. 1 “exclusive,” the Guardian reports that someone passed them a five-page “technical document” with an accompanying 25-page explanation revealing the plan, which was prepared by the African Union for a June 14-16 meeting of AU energy ministers. That document asserts that “in the short to medium term, fossil fuels, especially natural gas, will have to play a crucial role in expanding modern energy access in addition to accelerating the uptake of renewables.”

 The Guardian warned that if Africa dares to proceed on “new exploration for gas, and the exploitation of Africa’s vast reserves of oil,” the entire climate scheme might collapse.

 Africa must not advance past unreliable “sun and wind,” the head of the green “Power Shift Africa” thinktank, Mohamad Adow insists! Africa Coal Network coordinator Lorraine Chiponda denounced African leaders discussing such an idea as “reckless,” even as she admitted that 600 million people in Africa “live in energy poverty.” That is, they have no access to electricity.

 The British Royal Family is on the case. On July 6, a fellow at Chatham House/Royal Institute of International Relations issued a so-called “expert opinion,” warning that this year’s UN COP27 summit being hosted by Egypt, an African nation, is a problem. Egypt has not set any quantifiable emission reduction targets, has no economy-wide carbon reduction target, and never published a long-term strategy for decarbonization. It is also the second-largest producer of natural gas in Africa, and is becoming a fossil gas hub for the Eastern Mediterranean, it notes. Furthermore, Egypt has “voiced support for other African countries to extract and deploy fossil gas and oil resources, making it one of the protagonists of the ‘great fossil gas pushback’. These advocates defend the right of developing countries to deploy fossil gas as a ‘transition fuel’ and champion its necessity to solve energy poverty,” the author complained.

 With typical imperial arrogance, however, the author assures that Egypt will be “malleable,” if attention is paid to change its stance.

“Government Endangers Germany As a Business Location!”

August 17, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Economic development updates, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Germany, Sanctions

“Government Endangers Germany As a Business Location!”—

Aug. 15, 2022 (EIRNS)–Germany’s MDR (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk) TV/Radio station reports that an “incendiary letter to Chancellor Scholz” has been issued in which predominantly eastern German medium-sized companies call for a rethink on the Russia sanctions. They see the economy is at great risk.

“Mr. Scholz, stop and make a policy that we can live with and not sink.” With this urgent appeal, medium-sized companies belonging to the Zentralkonsum eG association call on the German government to “readjust the embargo policy against Russia.” The association is the umbrella organization of the East German consumer cooperatives, whose member companies employ nearly 6,300 people, according to their own figures.

In an interview with MDR, Martin Bergner, spokesman for the association’s board stated: “Stopping all gas deliveries and putting the German economy in front of price increases at which no one can produce at a profit anymore, that won’t work.”  Sufficient gas must be imported to keep the economy running, he said. He added, existing nuclear and coal-fired power plants must also guarantee security of supply.

A bakery chain, Landbäckerei Stendal, reports that they have already been told that they would have to pay four times as much for electricity and six times as much for gas. Added to this would be the increase in the minimum wage from October, and the gas levy, i.e. the additional costs that every consumer would have to pay if, instead of cheap Russian gas, a more expensive one had to be purchased, for example from the U.S.A.

The increased costs have to be added to the products, which in turn fuels inflation, whether in retail, hotels, restaurants, or industry. This is by no means about diminished profits, he says: “We are really in the red,” says Andreas Bosse, the managing director of Landbäckerei Stendal, and expects his family business to lose as much as 300,000 euros already this year.

“It undermines the existence of the companies with damage that cannot be made good,” write the authors of the appeal to Scholz: “The government wants to promote regional products and organic products. But exactly these products are the first thing buyers do without in order to save money,” adds Martin Bergner. He adds that the Chancellor himself once was active at the Central Association of German Consumer Cooperatives. He should therefore know exactly what the situation is like for cooperatively organized businesses. The signatories of the open letter, which charge the government with “being ideologically stuck,” also include prominent restaurants like Berghotel Oberhof and Dorotheenhof Weimar.

Rhine Valley Railway Tunnel Would Be Cheaper Than Previously Believed

August 17, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Economic development updates, General updates, Germany, Railway projects

Rhine Valley Railway Tunnel Would Be Cheaper Than Previously Believed—

Aug. 15, 2022 (EIRNS)–The official feasibility study for building a railway tunnel along the Rhine Valley between Bonn and Wiesbaden, concluded that it would be cheaper to build than it had been believed in the past. The 118 kilometer tunnel dedicated to freight traffic would enable freight trains to avoid the narrow part of the Rhine valley where the infrastructure is in many places over 150 years old and creates unacceptable noise pollution for the communities along the valley. The route is one of the most important and heavily utilized railway routes in Europe and connects the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp with the Italian port of Genoa. The project has been featured in both EIR and the EIR Eurasian landbridge reports. The study, commissioned for the German States of Rhineland Palatinate and Hesse found that the project would cost 6.8 billion euros, rather than the 8 to 10 billion euros of previous estimates.

In an interview in Germany’s SWR TV on August 12 Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) said the report was a “Thumbs up” for the states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, and said: “It’s very gratifying that we have positive news from this feasibility study. Now the question is: How is the benefit-cost ratio to be assessed? And for that we need the traffic forecast for 2040. That’s the next step. But the first signal for the region is: thumbs up!”

Kremlin Spokesman: Russia Stands in “Absolute Solidarity” With China

August 4, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in China, Color Revolutions, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Russia, United States, World war danger updates

Aug. 3 (EIRNS) – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated yesterday that Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was “purely provocative. We see this, it is being recorded by all countries of the world. We stand in absolute solidarity with China here. Its sensitivity to this issue is understandable. It is justified. And instead of respecting this the US is choosing the path of confrontation. It doesn’t bode well,” the Kremlin spokesman said, adding that Washington’s decision is “only regrettable.”

 Asked whether the Pelosi visit could lead to “global war,” Peskov said her visit was a “clear provocation,” but “I would suggest not to throw around words as serious [as ‘global war’]. That said, “underestimating the level of tension sparked by this visit” is not advisable either, he added.

 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, asked by journalists on Wednesday what was behind the Pelosi trip, stated: “It was the drive to prove to everyone their impunity and to act accordingly. ‘I do whatever I want’, something like that. I can hardly imagine any other reason to create a flashpoint out of thin air, despite knowing what it would mean for China.”

Northern Brazil State Eager to Join the Belt and Road

August 4, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Brazil, BRI - Belt & Road, Economic development updates, General, General updates, Global Diplomacy, Power & Energy, Railway projects

Aug. 3, 2022 (EIRNS)–Leading representatives of industrial, port and rail interests in the northeastern state of Maranhão turned out in force for a three-day seminar July 11-13, sponsored by the state government, on the subject of “Maranhão’s Potential in China’s New Silk Road: Business and Development Opportunities for Brazil.” The central subject was the proposal to transform the Itaqui port complex at the state capital, São Luis, which already handles major grain and metals exports from Maranhão and several surrounding states, into a logistics, distribution and manufacturing center on the Belt and Road. The featured speaker was Paul Tae-Woo Lee, a professor of International Logistics and Maritime Transport at Zhejiang University, who came from China specifically for the seminar. Lee was one of the authors of the 2022 study, “Strategic Locations for Logistics Distribution Centers along the Belt and Road,” which includes the Maranhão port in the potential sites it takes up, and he briefed the seminar at length on the global scope and current status of the BRI.

 The key organizer of seminar was the state of Maranhão’s Secretary for Economic Development and Strategic Projects, José Reinaldo Tavares, a civil engineer known for getting things done. He has played a key role for decades in great infrastructure projects aimed at developing Brazil’s poor but resource-rich northeast. He headed SUDENE, the big northeast Brazilian development agency created in 1959 on the model of the TVA; is described as the “author” of the São Francisco Water Transfer project (also modeled on the TVA); and as (federal) Transport Minister under President Sarney, was responsible for the creation of the North-South Railway.

“The Maranhão capital possesses extraordinary conditions for joining [the BRI] because of its road, rail connections and exceptional port conditions. The connection with the North-South Railway, Brazil’s leading cargo transport axis, linking the railroads of the country’s five regions, is an example. In the region called the ‘Northern arc,’ that is, above the 16th parallel, no state has similar transport logistics conditions,” local media emphasized. “Including São Luís in the greatest economic expansion program in the world, that of China, will guarantee tremendous resources for infrastructure, commodity distribution centers, and privileged access to the other countries which make up the project.”

 The president of Itaqui Port, Ted Lago, emphasized to the seminar that while the port is already a leading point of cargo shipments to China, by Maranhão becoming a major center on the BRI, South America as a whole can be brought into that global project. He also insisted that Brazil wants its trade relations with China to be more than its shipping commodities; it wants Chinese industries to set up in Maranhão, to add value and generate jobs.

Former New Zealand Minister Denounces Ukraine Hit List, Calls for Government Investigation

August 3, 2022by Mary Jane Freeman in Counterintelligence, General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, New Zealand, Ukraine, UN, World war danger updates

Aug. 1, 2022 (EIRNS)—A former New Zealand Minister, Matthew Robson, who was placed on the Ukraine/NATO hit list has responded with a powerful blast at the attack and a call for the New Zealand government to investigate. Robson is the former New Zealand Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs.

His full statement reads:

I have been placed on a blacklist by the Ukrainian government, in the company of many prominent scholars and well-known public figures.

I am quite flattered to be in the company of such an eminent list of people with widely varying opinions on the nature of the war in the Ukraine.

But all of them are engaged in the time-honored tradition of scholars and democratic societies of honest and open debate rather than the “group think” demanded by NATO governments.

The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, Section 14, provides the following guarantee:

Freedom of expression: Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which New Zealand and, I presume, the Ukraine are signatories guarantees the same. I am writing to the Prime Minister of New Zealand to ask her to take up with the government of the Ukraine this breach of my right, under both New Zealand and international law, to freely express my opinions, and my being on a list that endangers my safety.

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