This week’s {Executive Intelligence Review} features the story of Who’s Who in controlling the narratives which appear in social media. You know you’re being lied to, but who are the liars-in-chief? The same networks which fabricate lying narratives such as Russiagate, Putin’s legions of hackers and poisoners, and Chinese concentration camps in Xinjiang, control the “fact checkers” who protect the real liars, centered in the intelligence community in London, Wall Street, and Washington, working hand-in-hand with Silicon Valley tech giants. For more on this, watch the report by Mike Robinson, the co-editor of “UK Column”, available here: Sanctions Are Killers, and Are Driving the World Away from the U.S. and the Dollar – The LaRouche Organization
Africa Entering Third Wave; Equitable Vaccine Distribution Could Have Prevented It
June 21 (EIRNS) — Africa has officially entered its third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in less than two years — having been struck with two waves in 2020, and now going into another Winter season — with little relief in sight, and new more-virulent variants to deal with. “New cases, continent-wide are up by nearly 30% in the past week, and deaths are up by 15%,” said WHO Africa Regional Director, Doctor Matshidiso Moeti, in her weekly press conference June 17. “The threat of a third wave is real and rising.” A meager 1% of the African population has been vaccinated, due to the massive logistics barriers involved, along with lack of vaccine accessibility and financing.
The land-locked nation of Uganda is the latest crisis spot– as cases in the nation of nearly 50 million have shot up over 131% in the last week– with Namibia, DR Congo and Angola each showing lesser spikes. Many more of the victims are now younger, and a much higher percentage of them now require oxygen as part of treatment. Uganda’s hospitals are nearing their limits, and the nation has put out requests to neighboring states for emergency relief supplies.
The other nation again in the unwanted spotlight is South Africa, where President Cyril Ramaphosa was forced to make a national address on June 15, as he once again declared a Level 3 lockdown. “A third wave of infections is upon us,” the president said. In just the past two weeks, “the average number of daily new infections has doubled. Then, we were recording around 3,700 daily infections. Over the last seven days, we have recorded an average of 7,500 daily infections. Hospital admissions due to COVID-19 over the last 14 days are 59% higher than the preceding 14 days.”
Again reflecting the increased threat from variants, Ramaphosa said, “The average number of people who die from COVID-19 each day has increased by 48% from 535 two weeks ago to 791 in the past seven days.” [emphasis added] Although South Africa responded effectively and built emergency capacity last year, four of the most populous provinces are officially in a third wave, with Gauteng — the most urban and populous — accounting for nearly two-thirds of new cases in the past week. “The increase in infections … is now faster and steeper,” he said, and “within a matter of days, it is likely that the number of new cases in Gauteng will surpass the peak of the second wave.” And Winter is just starting.
South Africa’s vaccine rollout has been severely frustrated, first by the denial of AstraZeneca vaccines from India (as they faced their own crisis), and further by the complications around the Johnson & Johnson version, either one of which could have prevented this crisis. Vaccines are “the one statistic that provides a clear reason for hope,” Ramaphosa said. Last year (during the second wave), over hundreds of healthcare workers had become infected, as the “South African variant” was first encountered. “In the last seven days,” he said, “only 64 health care workers have been infected.”
By the end of the week, South Africa is expected to produce its own Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
June 21 (EIRNS) — Andrey Shushentsov, Program Director of the Valdai Discussion Club and Director of the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO University, argues in a short essay published on the Valdai Club website that a strategic dialogue among the United States, Russia, China and India is necessary to prevent the current state of affairs from devolving into open conflict. However, Shushentsov limits himself to the necessity of preventing the geopolitical confrontations now in play from turning into military conflict without ever mentioning the positive potential of those four powers to create a new world credit system as defined by Lyndon LaRouche in 2009.
“In a chaotic environment, the leading powers seek to secure themselves a privileged position in the international system and limit the opportunities for their key competitors,” Shushentsov writes. He notes in the first part of the essay that these four countries are the most powerful nuclear powers and have four of the world’s six largest economies. He notes further the strategic competition between America and Russia, between America and China–including the U.S. effort to rope India into the “Quad” vs China, and the positive relations between Russia and India. “Unprovoked crises or spontaneous episodes of conflict in relations within the Big Four nuclear powers can disrupt progressive global economic processes,” he writes further. “In this regard, these four powers should be mutually attentive and prudent, channeling their rivalry into a non-military area.”
Therefore, Shushentsov writes, “It is the responsibility of the expert community of the four countries to carefully study the train of thought of their competing partners in order to exclude the sudden development of a conflict. In this regard, it seems reasonable to create a permanent format for consultation among the high-level experts of Russia, the USA, China and India. To ensure that mutual deterrence does not lead to strategic disruptions and war, it is necessary to manage relations, emphasizing an interest in cooperation with respect to common areas, such as climate, the ecology, digital development, space, mining, demography, migration and counteracting natural disasters. The purpose of the high-level consultations is to prevent a shift from strategic containment to impulsive attempts to break the emerging status quo,”
He concludes. “The formation of a stable dialogue format for the four leading global powers in the 21st Century will make it possible to minimize the likelihood of an impulsive breakdown into open conflict, the potential for which remains a factor in global politics.”
One of Beethoven’s “hidden” treasures is found in, Op. 54.
Beethoven’s 22nd piano sonata, Opus 54, is like a buried treasure, appearing between the more famous Waldstein (Op. 53) and Appassionata (Op. 57). Its formidable technical and interpretive challenges also discourage many players from making the attempt. Here is an excellent performance by the Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. [Notes by Margaret Scialdone.]
Chinese Vaccines Have Begun To Arrive in Africa
Beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 10, Chinese Covid-19 vaccines have begun to arrive in Africa. Separate from their commitments to the UN’s COVAX convention, China has committed to donate vaccines to 14 lesser-developed countries, with Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone leading the list. This is a commitment begun in July, 2020, at the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19, held (virtually) in Beijing.
“A batch of China-donated SinoPharm COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea, on Wednesday,” stated {CGTN} on Feb. 11. At a press conference in Beijing announcing the shipment on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin noted that It will be the first batch of donations from China to African countries, adding it shows China is fulfilling its promise of making Chinese vaccines a global public good.
The shipment of 100,000 doses was met at the airport by Equatorial Guinea’s VP Teodoro Obiang Mangue, who emphasized the generosity of China in fighting “vaccine hoarding” by wealthier nations. As quoted by Xinhua “Faced with the pandemic, no country, no matter how powerful, has been spared. However, in this context of crisis, only China has extended its hand to Equatorial Guinea, which has become the first African country to receive Chinese vaccine aid, and we are grateful for it.”
Early Monday morning 200,000 doses arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe, with the country committing to purchase an additional 600,000 which they expect in early March. In a statement, President Mnangagwa “applauded” China, “for its consistent humane policy of treating Covid-19 vaccines as global public goods. This kind gesture,” he said, “further attests to the fact that the People’s Republic of China is indeed a true friend of Zimbabwe.”
Other countries in line to receive shots from China include Pakistan, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Mongolia, the Palestinian territories, Belarus, and Sierra Leone, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement “seen by” {Reuters}.
Another from Beethoven’s “new path”, the “Waldstein” sonata, Opus 53.
We come to the “Waldstein” sonata, Opus 53, dedicated to one of Beethoven’s earliest patrons. When Beethoven departed Bonn for Vienna, it was Count von Waldstein, Privy Councillor to the Archbishop-Elector of Bonn, who forecast that Beethoven would “receive the spirit of Mozart from the hands of Haydn”.
The sonata itself was described by one reviewer as being “full of strange whims and very difficult to perform”. A wonderful work of art, it exemplifies the “new path” in composition that Beethoven had determined to blaze. It’s performed here by Lucas Jussen. [Notes by Margaret Scialdone.]
The future is being shaped by the battle between two Paradigms: One, that of the unilateralist insistence, directed from London and Washington, that all nations must give up sovereignty and submit to the phony Rules-Based Order of imperial financial dictators; or move into an era defined by peaceful cooperation for mutual benefit. The world is currently trapped in the former, but signs exist that the latter can be brought into being, depending on the courage and creativity of citizens in moving governments to act in the interests of the people of sovereign republics, rather than bow down to an imperial oligarchy. Join the Schiller Institute for our online conference, June 26 and 27 — to participate in the mobilization to create a new anti-Malthusian paradigm. Register for the Schiller Institute conference: https://bit.ly/34NTlkb
June 19 (EIRNS) — The big surprise with the No vote over the new Swiss CO2 law was the fact that the majority of young people voted against it. According to the website 20 Minuten website, 54% of those over 65 — that is to say the Boomers — voted in favor of the new law, while 58% of those under 34 voted against it, according to a 20 Minuten and Tamedia survey of 16,249 participants. See report here.
The leading Swiss weekly Weltwoche wrote that the result signaled a “turning point in international climate policy,” a “popular uprising” in which the Swiss electorate rebelled “against the dictates of the elites…. The Swiss are going on a climate strike, just differently than what those in power intended. They want less government action against climate change instead of more.”
The claim that was circulating, that many people voted against the new law because it was not “strong enough” also seems to have not been decisive, according to the survey, since only 2% of the no voters claimed they cast their ballot against it for that reason. According to the survey, fear of higher costs was the main argument against the CO2 law, including among young people.
Swiss Social Democratic Party parliament group leader Roger Nordmann claimed that the no vote was not a strike against climate policy, but had to concede that it showed that “the ‘green wave’ has ebbed — that’s clear. The rejected proposal has shown that the policy of big tones, of constant outbidding with even more ambitious climate targets has had its day.” He called for a climate policy of small steps, and not expensive and extravagant “wallet-regulated” ones.
The Swiss national broadcaster SRF had a similar take on the young no vote, quoting a 19-year-old saying: “You certainly have the money in the back of your mind, that you will have to pay more afterwards. In fact, that was the most important point when I think about it. “
Official statistics on the voting are expected to be released sometime in July.
Interestingly, another poll showed that 51% of Swiss would have voted against the framework agreement with the EU, which the government walked away from last month. Only 35% would have backed it, according to a survey. There was overwhelming support for suspending the talks.
The climate is heating up for those tyrants!
Navalny Supporters Re-group for Spring Offensive To Try To Topple Putin
Feb. 15 (EIRNS)—The Russian opposition to President Putin led by Alexey Nalvany has gone into what it calls a “strategic pause” until Spring, after more than 10,000 people were detained in two consecutive weekends of street protests throughout Russia demanding Navalny’s release from jail, Isabelle Khurshudyan reports in the Feb. 14 {Washington Post}. To avoid jail and other actions by the government, Navalny’s forces have decided to regroup and return to the streets in the Spring, and back candidates in the September Parliamentary elections to challenge Russian President Putin’, and his Party’s hold on power. Navalny has already been sentenced to two years in prison for parole violations, with other cases pending. He returned to Russia from Germany in January, after his recovery from what was claimed by Porton Down to be poisoning.
Navalny’s “Chief of Staff” Leononid Volkov told the {Post} Feb. 5 that Navalny’s forces “could not sustain the detentions and beatings” and that continued protests could hinder their goal of winning more opposition seats in the September elections, as well as “paralyze the work of the regional headquarters. Alexei has asked us to concentrate on this autumn, when State Duma elections will be held,” Volkov said, according to the {Post}. Germany’s {Der Spiegel} reported that Navalny’s wife is now in Frankfurt, Germany for “a private visit.”
Last year in Belarus, with 9 million population vs. Russia’s 150 million, much larger daily demonstrations than those for Navalny were held for months after opposition groups, and some Western countries said the elections were rigged in favor of Belarus’s longtime leader, Alexander Lukashenko. These demonstrations sometimes had 200,000 people on the streets. But they steadily lost momentum, Khurshudyan writes.
Two years ago, ahead of Moscow City Council elections, Navalny promoted a system he called “Smart Voting,” which involves informing voters which candidates had the best chances to defeat candidates from Putin’s ruling United Russia Party, but the author claims members of Navalny’s Party are typically prohibited from becoming candidates.
China to US: Our Security Laws Contrasted with Yours
June 19 (EIRNS)–Chinese authorities in Hongkong arrested five executives of the Apple Daily newspaper under the new security law. This is the paper of Jimmy Lai, the pal of the core neocons in the US and the darling of the regime change institutions. Lai financed and publicized much of the anarchist terror that swept Hongkong in 2019, as well as the earlier “umbrella revolution.” Lai has been convicted and is now in jail.
The Global Times editorial today quotes the responses from the US and UK foreign affairs officials: “On Twitter, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab inaccurately accused that the search and arrest `demonstrate Beijing is using the National Security Law to target dissenting voices, not tackle public security.’ The US State Department `condemned’ the arrests and asked for their immediate release. `We are deeply concerned by Hong Kong authorities’ selective use of the national security law to arbitrarily target independent media organizations,’ Ned Price, US State Department spokesperson, said.”
GT responded: “The US and the UK must accept the reality that they can no longer influence the situation in Hong Kong. The city has returned to its motherland, and is now governed by the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China and the Basic Law.” They noted that Hongkong is now peaceful, allowing the population the freedom to go about their lives, which was massively disrupted during the riots.
Most interesting, they show the restraint shown in Hongkong compared to the police actions in the US: “The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has been focusing on rebuilding the people’s consensus while exercising restraint in taking legal enforcement action. At least 521 people have been arrested and charged with crimes in the US’ few-hour long Capitol Hill riots; yet since the turmoil in Hong Kong, much more severe social damage has been made in Hong Kong, and only 62 people were prosecuted after the national security law came into effect.”
