Geopolitics updates

Nigerian VP Osinbajo: “Banning Fossil Fuel Investments Would Crush Africa”

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

Nigerian VP Osinbajo: “Banning Fossil Fuel Investments Would Crush Africa”–

Nov 8 (EIRNS)–Adding another voice to the African chorus denouncing the Green Reset– Mark Carney’s drive to “red-line” the developing world, by refusing credit for projects and even proffering pay-offs to never develop your nation– is Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. He wrote an article this Summer, that was re-posted last week during the COP26 Summit. He states that “wealthy nations” cutting investment avenues for carbon-based energy sources in Africa– especially after having profited from them for decades– “will do little to limit carbon emissions globally but much to hurt the continent’s economic prospects.”

Nigeria, a country rich in petroleum and natural gas, is being forced to deny itself the benefit of {its own} resources, Osinbajo says, because the only investments which can be financed are for (interruptible) solar and wind. “For countries such as my own, Nigeria, which is rich in natural resources but still energy poor, {the transition must not come at the expense of affordable and reliable energy} for people, cities, and industry. To the contrary, it must be inclusive, equitable, and just – which means preserving the right to sustainable development and poverty eradication, as enshrined in global treaties such as the 2015 Paris climate accord.”

The Vice President writes, “Africa’s progress could be undone by the rich world’s efforts to curb investments in all fossil fuels,” pointing out with bitter irony that, “Institutions such as the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation {were specifically created to help spur high-impact projects},” the very kind of which they are now refusing to let go forward. [emphasis added]

The fact that Osinbajo wrote this piece, titled, “The divestment delusion: Why banning fossil fuel investments would crush Africa,” over two months ago –about the time that the multinationals were beating a retreat from one of the world’s largest natural gas developments, in Mozambique– should not reduce the power of his statement, in fact just the opposite. Originally published in the August 31 issue of the Foreign Affairs, the magazine of the imperial Council on Foreign Relations, Osinbajo’s piece was republished last week by the Habari Network a publication focusing on Africa and the Caribbean. While the post therefore may not reflect the latest developments in Glasgow, the sentiment and the validity of the charges made against the “climate mafia” in the U.K., the U.S. and Western Europe continue to ring true. The Habari Network article appears here. The original article in Foreign Affairs is here.

China Labels U.S. Foreign Policy on Xinjiang “Weasel Diplomacy”

May 13, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in China, Color Revolutions, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, United States, World war danger updates

May 12 (EIRNS)—China very appropriately has labeled as “weasel policy” U.S. policy toward Xinjiang. Today at the United Nations, the permanent missions of the U.S., the U.K, Germany and an array of NGOs are holding an event on Xinjiang and “the repression of Uighur Muslims.” The spokesman for China’s UN mission issued a hard-hitting statement in response to this insult, while the semi-official Global Times titled its article on the subject: “U.S. `weasel diplomacy’ will not function in Xinjiang.” During the May 10 Foreign Ministry briefing, spokeswoman Hua Chunying also asserted that U.S. behavior on Xinjiang was “just like the weasel paying respect to the hen, without the best of intentions.” Global Times quotes professor Li Haidong, from the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, who warned that the purpose of this “weasel diplomacy” is to turn Xinjiang into another Afghanistan. The proverb quoted by Hua, he said, is that a weasel may put on a friendly face, but will always find the opportunity to catch the hen and eat it.

Global Times adds that this weasel diplomacy has brought war to many countries, pointing to how the U.S. “ruthlessly and barbarically inflamed turmoil in Afghanistan for its own interests,” yet now pretends to care about Xinjiang’s Muslims. It won’t work in Xinjiang, GT admonishes, because Xinjiang “is neither Ukraine nor Afghanistan–China has strong national power, rich resources and powerful strategies.” Li pointedly warns, “If the U.S. tends to believe it could stir up internal chaos in China, it must have overestimated its own strength and underestimated China’s ability to resist external pressures.”

The Chinese UN mission’s statement points to the “sheer lies and political bias” of today’s UN event, and particularly attacks the fact that in the middle of a global pandemic, and when nations should be acting in solidarity to face the challenge of defeating the pandemic, the co-sponsors of this event are obsessed with undermining the unity and collaboration of Member States–violating the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. The spokesman slams the U.S.’s sanctimonious claims of defending Uighur Muslims, when its perpetual wars have slaughtered Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria–killing civilians and displacing tens of millions. The U.S. doesn’t care about the deaths of almost one million Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria but is “very keen” on Uighur Muslims in China, he says. Today’s event, he intones, is “outright political farce.” The full Global Times article is here.

`… Soaring Food Prices and Conflict’ Increases Hunger by a Third in West Africa

April 20, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Agriculture, COVID-19, Economic development updates, General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Healthcare, Healthcare, The Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites

`Explosive Mix of Soaring Food Prices and Conflict’ Increases Hunger by a Third in West Africa

April 19 (EIRNS) — The hunger situation in Africa continues to deteriorate, as relief efforts continue to be overwhelmed with new crises, and receive little help in response to their calls. In an April 16 release under the above title, the World Food Program warned that “more than 31 million people in [western Africa] are expected to [become] food insecure and unable to feed themselves during the coming June-August lean season – the period when food is scarce before the next harvest. That number is more than 30 percent higher than last year and is the highest level in the best part of a decade.

“Food prices have increased dramatically across the region. Local staples are up by nearly 40 percent over the 5-year average, and in some areas, prices are up by more than 200 percent. This is caused in part by the economic impact of measures put in place to contain the spread of the coronavirus over the past year. People’s incomes have plummeted due to reductions in trade, tourism, informal activities and remittances.”

Chris Nikoi, WFP’s Regional Director for West Africa, explained that, “In West Africa, conflict is already driving hunger and misery. The relentless rise in prices acts as a misery multiplier, driving millions deeper into hunger and desperation. Even when food is available, families simply cannot afford it – and soaring prices are pushing a basic meal beyond the reach of millions of poor families who were already struggling to get by. The needs are immense, and unless we can raise the funds we need we simply won’t be able to keep up. We cannot let 2021 become the year of the ration cut,” he warned. [emphasis added]

This year, almost 10 million children under 5 are acutely malnourished across the region,” the WFP says, “with the Sahel alone accounting for half of that number. This number could rise significantly alongside the projected 30 percent increase in hunger, and the high prices of nutritious foods.”

Experts Speak Out Against Suicide in the Name of Climate

November 2, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Economic development updates, Environmentalism updates, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Green New Deal

Experts Speak Out Against Suicide in the Name of Climate –

Oct. 31 (EIRNS) – Quite a number of seasoned experts on power, carbon, and weather are challenging the premises of the Suicide on the Clyde in Glasgow. Among those who have not yet participated in Schiller Institute and LaRouche Organization events, are Bjorn Lomborg, Robert Bryce, and Richard Lindzen.

Swedish economist Lomborg was quoted in Manila Times: “You’ve probably seen the latest alarming headlines: Rising sea levels from climate change could flood 187 million people out of their homes. Don’t believe it. That figure is unrealistic — and it isn’t even new. It appears in a new scholarly paper, whose authors plucked it from a paper published in 2011. And what the earlier paper actually found was that 187 million could be forced to move in the unlikely event that no one does anything, in the next 80 years, to adapt to dramatic rises in sea level.

“In real life, the 2011 paper explained, humans ‘adapt proactively,’ and ‘such adaptation can greatly reduce the possible impacts.’ That means ‘the problem of environmental refugees almost disappears.’ Realistic assumptions reduce the number to between 41,000 and 305,000 — at most, less than 1/600th of the figure in those headlines.

“Sober scientific findings get less attention than alarming and far-fetched scenarios…. We have more knowhow and technology than ever to build dikes, surge barriers and dams, expand beaches and construct dunes, make ecosystem-based barriers like mangrove buffers, improve building codes and construction techniques, and use land planning and hazard mapping to minimize flooding….”

Bryce, a regular Forbes contributor on energy and power, spent two days with no power in Texas in February. He testified Oct. 27 at the House Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on the American power grid. Whereas from 2000-2007 there were fewer than 100 blackouts in any year around the country, in the past three years there have been 220, 278, and 383 blackouts as interruptible sources have been pushed out and onto the grid. “These policies are not just wrongheaded, they are deeply dangerous,” Bryce told the Committee. “Banning the use of liquid and gaseous fuels will reduce America’s energy security because it will concentrate our energy risks on a single energy network, the electric grid. Furthermore, they would require an electric grid with more than two times the capacity of today’s grid. That’s a largely fanciful notion given that the electric grid is faltering under existing demand.” His Forbes piece is here.

Richard Lindzen is emeritus Professor of Meteorology at MIT. He is quoted, also in Manila Times by author Yen Makabenta. After explaining that the demanded “climate mitigation” measures will have no effect on climate, Lindzen says: “Consider what the climate system actually is. This system consists in two turbulent fluids interacting with each other. They are on a rotating planet that is differentially heated by the sun. A vital constituent of the atmospheric component is water in the liquid, solid, and vapor phases, and the changes in phase have vast energetic ramifications. The energy budget of this system involves the absorption and re-emission of about 200 watts per square meter. Doubling CO2 involves a 2 percent perturbation to this budget. So do minor changes in clouds, ocean circulations, and other features, and such changes are common. In this complex multi-factor system, what is the likelihood that the climate (which itself consists of many variables and not just globally averaged temperature anomalies) is controlled by a 2 percent perturbation in the energy budget due to just one of the numerous variables, namely CO2?

“Believing this is pretty close to believing in magic…. After all, science is a mode of inquiry rather than a belief structure.”

Schlanger on Caesar Sanctions Posted by Russian International Affairs Council

April 20, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Color Revolutions, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Media coverage of our activity, Our initiatives (petitions, etc), Stop the Sanctions, World war danger updates

Schlanger on Caesar Sanctions Posted by Russian International Affairs Council

April 19: An article by Harley Schlanger, just written for LaRouche publications on Helga’ Zepp-LaRouche’s call to revoke the Caesar Sanctions, and how the U.S. Congress was incited to pass them, has been posted on the RIAC (Russia International Affairs Council) site. In addition, the RIAC tweeted the article to its 9,500 Twitter followers. RIAC is a institution of the Russian Foreign Minister, and is directed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Here is a link to the Tweet.

Syria Times Reports Dr. Shaaban Attacking British at Schiller Event

May 11, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Color Revolutions, General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Media coverage of our activity, Our conferences, Syria, Syria, World war danger updates

May 10 (EIRNS) – Schiller Institute Southwest Asia representative Hussein Askary reported to EIR that Syrian media is publishing a news item today in which it is made obvious that Syrian government spokesperson Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban used the Schiller Institute conference as a platform to single out the British as instrumental in the propaganda and psychological war against Syria. Dr. Shaaban usually directs her criticism for the military and economy devastation visited upon Syria, at the United States and Saudi Arabia; seldom at Britain. This link is for the English version of the circulating story in Syria Times. The Arabic version was published in several Arabic newspapers and websites, Askary reports.

NYT Opinion Writer: Biden’s Taiwan Policy “Reckless,” Threatens “Catastrophic War”

May 6, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in China, General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, United States, World war danger updates

May 6 (EIRNS)–Under the title: “Biden’s Taiwan Policy Is Truly, Deeply Reckless,” the New York Times Opinion writer Peter Beinart warned on May 5 that the Administration’s policy is bringing us very close to war, and quotes experts that the war would become nuclear. He also quotes military experts that the U.S. could not win such a war — simply driving home that such a war would likely become nuclear by a desperate and crazy U.S. leadership.

Beinart writes: “Like the Trump administration before it, the Biden team is now progressively chipping away” at the One China policy, which has prevented war over these past decades.

He notes: “Last summer, Democrats removed the phrase `one China’ from their platform. In January, Mr. Biden became the first American president since 1978 to host Taiwan’s envoy at his inauguration. In April, his administration announced it was easing decades-old limitations on official U.S. contacts with the Taiwanese government. These policies are increasing the odds of a catastrophic war. The more the United States and Taiwan formally close the door on reunification, the more likely Beijing is to seek reunification by force.”

Beinart quotes Harvard’s Graham Allison: “No Chinese national security official I have ever met, and no U.S. official who has examined the situation, doubts that China would choose war over losing territory it considers vital to its national interest.” He quotes Fareed Zakaria: “The Pentagon has reportedly enacted 18 war games against China over Taiwan, and China has prevailed in every one.” He notes: “Within 500 miles of the island, mainland China boasts 39 air bases. The United States possesses two. To come to Taiwan’s aid, U.S. forces would need to cover huge distances, and China has built an arsenal of advanced anti-ship missiles, sometimes called “carrier-killers,” which are designed to make such a rescue mission hideously costly.”

In other words, the U.S. can not win such a conventional war. Beinart notes: “Some of America’s most experienced China experts — including former ambassador to Beijing J. Stapleton Roy and Chas Freeman, who served as Richard Nixon’s interpreter on his 1972 trip to China — believe such a conflict would risk nuclear war. He adds that, according to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 85 percent of Republican leaders support defending Taiwan militarily, but “only 43 percent of Republicans among the public agree.”

He concludes: “What’s crucial is that the Taiwanese people preserve their individual freedom and the planet does not endure a third world war. The best way for the United States to pursue those goals is by maintaining America’s military support for Taiwan while also maintaining the “one China” framework that for more than four decades has helped keep the peace in one of the most dangerous places on earth. Hawks will call this appeasement. So be it. Ask them how many American lives they’re willing to risk so the United States can have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan.”

Beinart is a professor of journalism and political science at The Newmark School of Journalism at The City University of New York, and is editor-at-large of the “progressive” Jewish Currents..

Global Times Editorial Defends Developing Nations’ `Industrialization’ vs. Climate Geopolitics

April 20, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in China, Economic development updates, Environmentalism updates, General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Green New Deal, New financial order updates, Power & Energy

Global Times Editorial Defends Developing Nations’ `Industrialization’ against Climate Geopolitics

April 19 (EIRNS) — The unsigned editorial in the April 19 Global Times, “To deal with climate change, China-US cooperation is important and sensitive,” takes the global anti-Malthusian resistance shown by India and others to another level. The developing nations’ 2009 resistance to population reduction and genocide, effective in Copenhagen then, is revived.

The unsigned editorial (indicating a Politburo statement) begins with reserve, pointing out that it is “fair to say that China and the U.S. have communicated quite effectively and achieved some results. China has not yet announced plans for its top leader to attend the climate summit; analysts are waiting for things to become clearer.” The editorial likewise points out that “the general environment among the big powers is not good. The U.S. wants to show leadership by working with China and Russia to address the climate challenge, while it is also obstructing China and Russia in other spheres. That is not what normal relations among great powers should be like.”

But then the principles of economic development against environmental extremism become very clear indeed. “UN climate action involves the fundamental interests of humanity, and the specific arrangement for reducing emissions concerning all countries’ major development interests,” says Global Times. “The developed countries have completed industrialization, while developing countries are still in the process of industrialization, and some have just started this process…. People’s living standards are still low in these countries, and it is particularly important to create more resources to improve people’s livelihoods through further industrialization.” The article states that the U.S. has used its power to force more obligations on countries, while taking benefits.

“In an extreme scenario, if the world is about to promote carbon neutrality today, then the world’s economic development pattern will be perpetuated as it is today. The development gap between the developed and underdeveloped countries will become permanent.” The newspaper reminds that while the American elite fight over many issues, they agree on U.S. hegemony. “The current U.S. administration is trying to play the role of a leader and thus squeeze developing countries’ room for growth, as the previous U.S. administration desired.

“China and the U.S. are both the largest emitters; the two countries have huge differences in population and economic development, but the U.S. wants China to take more responsibilities in reducing emissions. It is worth observing the relation between such [environmentalist] pressure from the U.S., and the U.S.’ geopolitical move to pressure China.”

It concludes: “We should promote that the common interests of humanity are jointly defined by the interests of people from all countries, rather than by a handful of countries that want to monopolize this definition.”

Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche suggested today that the editorial has a clarity that would not have come without the LaRouche movement’s organizing and reports exposing the Green New Deal. She called it the strongest statement since the 2009 announcement of the G77 nations that they would not sign the Copenhagen “suicide pact” of population reduction.

An Underprepared India Is Teetering Under Covid-19’s Second Attack

May 6, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in COVID-19, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Healthcare, Healthcare, India

May 5 (EIRNS)—Having withstood the first wave of the Covid-19 attack in 2020 rather commendably, India’s Modi administration declared “victory” and virtually ignored the threat waiting around the corner — the second wave of the virus attack. India is now paying dearly with lives and general chaos caused by global pandemic.

On May 4, WHO figures indicated India accounted for nearly half of the COVID-19 cases reported worldwide in the past week. The WHO said in its weekly epidemiological report that India accounted for 46% of global cases and 25% of global deaths reported in the past week. New daily infections in the country numbered 382,315 on May 5, health ministry data showed, the 14th straight day of more than 300,000 cases. Officially, India has reported more than 3,500 deaths every day throughout the last week.

On May 4, Allahabad High Court (AHC) in Uttar Pradesh observed that the death of Covid-19 patients just because of the lack of oxygen in hospitals, which is widespread throughout the country, is a criminal act and is “no less than a genocide.” The AHC stated that the authorities- in-power are responsible for not taking measures to ensure maintenance of the oxygen supply chain.

In January-February of this year, the first wave of Covid-19 had waned in India and the official numbers showed a 90 percent drop from the peak of 96,000 per day in September 2020. The daily death toll dropped from 1,200 to 80. A sense of triumphalism began to emerge, led by a pack of cheerleaders close to Prime Minister Modi who unleashed vigorous political campaigns in five states going to the polls in March-April. On February 21, the senior leaders of the ruling party, BJP, thanked Prime Minister Modi for his “visionary leadership” that effectively weathered the Covid attack. Addressing the annual conference of Delhi Medical Association on March 7, Modi’s Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan triumphantly declared : “We are in the end game of the Covid-19 pandemic in India.”

By April 4, the second wave of Copvid-19 attack became evident, when daily new cases exceeded the peak load of September 2020. Other than banning exports of vaccines at the end of March, the Modi administration did not take any new measure to either ramp up vaccine production or the production and supply chain of oxygen. Foreign vaccine developers that applied for authorization were told to carry out bridging trials that would take a few months before emergency use authorization could be given. The dam broke loose in mid-April.

It became evident on April 15 that India’s fragile health infrastructure, under the second attack of Covid-19, had collapsed. Oxygen shortages were causing deaths at hospitals throughout India and the vaccination rates dropped from about 3.5 million jabs a day to below 2.5 million, reflecting a looming vaccine crunch.

From one million active cases a week during the last peak, India already has 3.2 million active cases, and the peak lies somewhere in the future. The second wave of Covid-19 has hit India like a tsunami and the Modi government is wholly paralyzed, leaving the people unprotected to face this deadly wave.

End Sanctions, Create a New Paradigm

May 10, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Economic development updates, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Our conferences, World war danger updates

End Sanctions, Create a New Paradigm –

May 9 (EIRNS)—“It seems to me that if mankind is going to survive or not as a species, are we going to go extinct or not, really depends on whether we can overcome being victimized by imperial thinking—divide and conquer—and letting ourselves be in this camp, hostile to the other camp. Or, can we somehow evoke in ourselves and in others this quality of the inner self-development in cohesion with the lawfulness of the creation of the universe?

“It seems to me that this is a method which absolutely must be applied now. I think that on the question of somehow overcoming this geopolitical confrontation, or especially the divisions of identity politics which are increasing divisions by the day—we have to somehow find this inner mechanism, this inner idea which makes us all human belonging to the one human species. Given the pandemic, and the fact that we are really in an unbelievable crisis—a moral crisis, a political, medical, military crisis, an economic crisis, a financial crisis—that we have to start somewhere where we address this question of what makes us all human, and that is the sacredness of every human life on this planet…. And I think we will be able to do that, because I think human beings have the potential to be human.”

With these words Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened the second panel of the Schiller Institute conference “The Moral Collapse of the Trans-Atlantic World Cries Out for a New Paradigm,” an event which brought together speakers from the United States, Europe, South America, Syria, Afghanistan, and Japan. Confronted with the deadly realities of the threat of nuclear war, of pandemic and famine, and of the neo-Malthusianism that has infected the minds of so many and stymies their acting against the very real threats to humanity as a whole.

Barbaric sanctions—murder conducted in the name of “human rights”— are a disgusting tool used to crush countries into submission. The Saudi blockade of Yemen, the U.S. extension of deadly sanctions on Syria—these are clear expressions. But what of the sanctions demanded by the likes of supposedly “progressive” people?

What of the Green demand that nations not develop, not utilize their resources, and not have growing populations?

Whether sanctions take the form of U.S. opposition to a government (think Syria, Russia, Iran), or the Great Reset’s opposition to an atmospheric gas (CO2), the effect of their implementation is to crush development and deprive people of their lives, livelihoods, and futures.

We must not be moral failures! A world in which an accident could result in the unleashing of a barrage of hundreds of nuclear missiles and thousands of warheads, absolutely devastating civilization is not a world that can be tolerated, nor one suitable to the inherent dignity of the human individual.

Share the Schiller Institute conference and rise to the level of thought and action the present demands and the future deserves. (There is a brief 1 min. lag in start of the video.)

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