Helga Zepp-LaRouche was one of the guests on CGTN’s “Dialogue” program’s coverage of the situation in Xinjiang. She focused on the tremendous development of China that he she had seen over the years, and the background to Xinjiang destabilization in Brzezinski’s creating terrorism in the U.S. war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Also appearing on the show was Sultan Hali, speaker at the recent Schiller Institute conference.
UN Security Council Unanimously Pushes for Afghan Political Solution—
Aug. 4 (EIRNS)—In New York, the UN Security Council unanimously issued a press statement condemning deliberate attacks on civilians in Afghanistan and all instances of terrorism “in the strongest terms” on Aug. 3, while declaring its opposition to restoration of rule by the Taliban, reported The Associated Press. The council called on the Afghan government and the Taliban “to engage meaningfully in an inclusive, Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process in order to make urgent progress towards a political settlement and a ceasefire.” The council statement also expressed “deep concern” at the high levels of violence and reported serious human rights abuses in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s offensive. It urged an immediate reduction in violence.
It is noteworthy that the U.S., China and Russia (as well as the U.K. and France) all agreed with this perspective on Afghanistan.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani by phone yesterday to press for a political settlement and lecture Ghani on democracy and human rights.
Afghanistan Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar told TOLOnews in an Aug. 2 interview that the Taliban enjoys the support of foreign terrorists in Afghanistan. “The Taliban relies on the support of foreign terrorists and mainly aims to attack cities,” he said. “Afghanistan’s international allies hold the same opinion.”
“Two important encounters will take place in Doha (Qatar) in the coming days: One with our regional allies and the other with international allies in the format of the Extended Troika,” comprised of Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan, Atmar continued. “We are turning to the international community with a request to exert pressure on the Taliban so that this movement observes human rights. Up to now, the Taliban has been brutally assaulting civilians.”
On the ground, heavy fighting reportedly continues in both Herat in western Afghanistan and in the southern province of Helmand. Several airstrikes were reportedly launched by Afghan and U.S. air forces since Tuesday night (Aug. 3), according to security sources. The commander of the Army’s 215 Maiwand Corps, Gen. Sami Sadat, called on residents in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, to evacuate their homes as the army was preparing for a large-scale operation to clear the city of the Taliban. However, as of the latest reports, the army had not made much progress beyond controlling government buildings.
The U.K. Defence Command Paper, “Defence in a Competitive Age,” released by British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace yesterday as a follow-up to the defense, security, and foreign policy review released last week, focuses on the “21st century threats” that the U.K. supposedly faces in a world allegedly characterized by permanent confrontation. “Those of us in government charged to protect and defend have a duty to enter new domains, as well as continuing investment in the traditional ones, but always adapting to the threat,” Wallace wrote in the foreword. “History shows us, time and time again, that failing to do so risks irrelevance and defeat. As the threat changes we must change with it, remaining clear-eyed about what capabilities we retire, why we are doing so, and how they will be replaced.” Therefore, the process for developing the new policy began with “assessing the threats we are encountering and anticipating, before considering how we should address them, and only then with which equipment, and what resources are required to field them.”
“We must actively champion those shared values of liberty, justice and tolerance that have given billions of souls the world over the chance of a better life, and do so through our actions, not just our words. U.K. diplomacy is underwritten by the credibility of the U.K. armed forces, and they will be more integrated, active and agile, capable of both deterring threats and defeating enemies,” Wallace declared. This is all to be backed up by £188 billion in defense spending over the coming four years–an increase of £24 billion or 14%–which, Wallace claimed, “is an investment in that vision of security and prosperity in 2030.”
But the real axiomatic basis for what’s behind the new policy is this: “The notion of war and peace as binary states has given way to a continuum of conflict, requiring us to prepare our forces for more persistent global engagement and constant campaigning, moving seamlessly from operating to war fighting.” The armed forces “{will no longer be held as a force of last resort} [emphasis added], but become more present and active around the world, operating below the threshold of open conflict to uphold our values and secure our interests, partner our friends and enable our allies, whether they are in the Euro-Atlantic, the Indo-Pacific, or beyond.”
In other words, the United Kingdom will be in a permanent state of confrontation, if not always a shooting war, against Russia, China, and any other designated enemies who refuse to submit themselves to the “rules-based international order” dictated by the Anglo-American empire.
Mar. 22 (EIRNS)–An article in the Yemeni News Service Hodhod has a summary of the statement by His Excellency Eng. Hisham Sharaf to the Schiller Institute Conference March 20-21, 2021, “The World at A Crossroad: Two Months into the New Biden Administration”. It mentions the part where he states that Yemen intends to join and work within the framework of the New Silk Road. “Yemen will work its best within the umbrella of the Silk Road to become a successful and active element in the Silk Road Initiative”.
Read the article: “Foreign Minister of Yemen speaks during international conference.”
Russian Response to Biden Won’t End with Recall of Ambassador
March 18, 2021 (EIRNS)–Following President Biden calling President Putin a “killer” in a set up by CNN, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has been recalled to Moscow, and will leave Washington on March 20, according to a statement by the Russian Embassy. The statement added: “The current situation stems from Washington’s deliberate policy. As a matter of fact, Washington has been deliberately driving bilateral cooperation to a dead end in the recent years. The U.S. administration’s non-constructive policy towards our country is in the interest of neither Russia nor the United States and certain reckless statements of U.S. senior officials pose a threat of utter collapse to bilateral relations, which are already excessively confrontational.”
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Soloviev Live YouTube channel on Thursday that Antonov will stay in Russia for consultations for as long as it takes.
“The consultations will take place not only in the Foreign Ministry, but also in various government agencies. How long will it take? Exactly as long as the consultations themselves will take,” she said.
Deputy Speaker of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Konstantin Kosachev commented on Biden‘s statement on Facebook on Thursday: “Such remarks cannot be tolerated under any circumstances and will inevitably raise tensions between our countries. The recall of the Russian ambassador to the U.S. for consultations is a prompt, adequate and the only sensible response in such a situation. I suspect that if the U.S. fails to provide an explanation and apology, it won’t end there,” the senator pointed out.
“This is a fault line. These boorish remarks have killed off all expectations that the new U.S. administration will pursue a new policy towards Russia,” Kosachev noted. According to him, “evaluations like these from a statesman of such a high rank are generally unacceptable.” The Russian senator stressed that the remarks had come from the president of the country “that drops a bomb somewhere in the world every 12 minutes, according to expert estimates. As a result, the deaths of more than 500,000 people have been linked to U.S. actions since 2001. Could you comment on that, Mr. Biden?” Kosachev said.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, referred directly to the current state of Biden’s mind. “I met with incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden at various international events,” Medvedev pointed out, reported TASS. “He gave the impression of a reasonable person then,” he added. “However, it seems that time hasn’t been kind to him,” Medvedev said, declining to give further comment. “I can only quote Freud: ‘Nothing in life is more expensive than illness and stupidity.’”
July 24 (EIRNS) — Moscow-based American foreign affairs expert Andrew Korybko writes on his blog on the website of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), that the ongoing settlement of the Afghanistan war is putting “geo-economics” ahead of the zero-sum game of geopolitics. He writes that “geo-economics” is at the center of the cooperation among the U.S., Russia, China and Pakistan in seeking an Afghan settlement and the creation of the so-called “Quad” of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States which was created on July 16 at the connectivity conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. This latter, Korybko writes, “complements the prior such platform between the former two states, China and Tajikistan back in 2016 as well as the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Uzbekistan (PAKAFUZ) railway project that was agreed upon in February.”
Crucial to the development according to Korybko is Pakistan’s new “Geo-Economic Grand Strategy Is Multi-Alignment,” which was adopted during March’s inaugural Islamabad Security Dialogue, where it was announced that geo-economics will now constitute the basis for all policy formulation and not geopolitics. The first fruits of the policy was the creation of the so-called Quad platform among Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and the U.S.
Korybko writes: “Pakistan is actively fulfilling its geostrategic destiny as the ‘Zipper of Eurasia’” by connecting a variety of stakeholders through their shared economic interests. “Islamabad is leveraging its influence in Afghanistan to advance the neighboring country’s peace process, which saw it facilitate Beijing and Moscow’s incipient ties with the Taliban. Upon these multipolar great powers establishing pragmatic political relations with the group, they were then able to seriously countenance the viability of trans-Afghan connectivity corridors. Russia is interested in reaching the Indian Ocean Region through PAKAFUZ (which can also unofficially be conceptualized as N-CPEC+), while China is pioneering the so-called “Persian Corridor” to Iran via Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The U.S., meanwhile, aims to use PAKAFUZ as a means for expanding its economic influence in the post-withdrawal Afghanistan and the Central Asian republics (CARs).”
As for India, it is finding itself left out of the process, he writes, because it is maintaining a geopolitical policy aimed at countering Pakistan. Nonetheless, he believes now India has begun to seriously reassess its policy away from geopolitical principles, which of course will require an improvement of relations with Pakistan. One option would be reversing the August 2019 abrogation of Article 370 which dismantled the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir to bifurcate the region, which would admittedly be a very difficult political decision.
He concludes: “The very fact that the U.S., which is known for its geopolitically driven zero-sum policies, is joining together with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan in order to expand its economic influence in Central Asia speaks to just how dramatically everything is changing.”
Bolivian Authorities Arrest Former Members of 2019 Coup Government, Charged With Sedition and Terrorism
March 13 (EIRNS)—Bolivian authorities arrested former members of the “government” illegally installed in November of 2019 following the coup d’etat that ousted President Evo Morales, on grounds that he had committed vote fraud. The government of current President Luis Arce is charging 13 individuals, including the former president Jeanine Anez, the former heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police and several former cabinet ministers with “sedition, conspiracy and terrorism.” They are accused of orchestrating the coup, committing violent crimes against the Bolivian people, including the deaths of 37 people, and facilitating the economic looting of the state. Anez was arrested in the wee hours of this morning and flown to La Paz, and several others of the group are also under arrest. Anez’s Interior and Defense Ministers fled the country shortly after Arce won last October’s presidential elections.
EIR has documented that the ouster of Morales on Nov. 11, 2019 was a replay of the fascist 2014 “Maidan ” coup against Ukraine, straight out of the “color revolution” playbook of Gene Sharp and George Soros. https://larouchepub.com/other/2019/4649-coup_in_bolivia_a_replay_of_uk.html Recently declassified documents from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), obtained by {DeclassifiedUK} and published by investigative reporter Matt Kennard on March 8, also reveal the role of the FCO, along with British and U.S. intelligence and financier networks in the period leading up to the coup, preparing the groundwork for financial looting, which was then facilitated once Anez took over and saw the U.K. as Bolivia’s “strategic partner.” Mike Pompeo’s State Department and the Trump National Security Council backed Morales’s ouster, as did British Foreigh Secretary, Dominic Raab.
As a result of revelations about the FCO’s role, on March 10, Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Rogelio Mayta called in the British ambassador, Jeff Glekin, for an explanation. Glekin denied everything and immediately had the embassy issue a press release proclaiming that charges against the U.K. were “disinformation.” But, as was documented in the Bolivian media in December of 2019 and January of 2020, Glekin participated in a planning meeting just a few days before the Nov. 11 coup at the Catholic University in La Paz, organized by the Archbishop, attended by the ambassadors of Brazil and the EU, as well as by the key local players involved in bringing down Morales. Discussion centered on the composition of the government that would replace him.
As might be expected, Anez is screaming that her arrest is “aberrant political persecution,” that she is being charged with “a coup d’etat that never happened,” and lied that her taking power in 2019 was a “constitutional succession due to vote fraud.” On cue, Jose Vivanco, director of George Soros’s Human Rights Watch, tweeted that there were “irregularities” in Anez’s arrest, and concluded that since there is “no evidence” that any of those detained were involved in acts of terrorism–an outright lie– the arrests were likely “politically motivated.” Now Anez is demanding that Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), who was instrumental in Morales’s removal, and the European Union send observers to Bolivia to see how she is being persecuted. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-03-08-revealed-the-uk-supported-the-coup-in-bolivia-to-gain-access-to-its-white-gold/
WFP Chief on Yemen: “This Is Hell”
March 11, 2021 (EIRNS)–David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, called the humanitarian disaster in Yemen “man-made,” and described the conditions in the war-ravaged country as “hell… the worst place on earth,” in a March 9 interview with the Associated Press. Beasley was speaking by video teleconference from Addis Ababa, following a tour of Yemen which included the capital of Sana’a. The WFP needs at least $815 million in Yemen aid over the next six months, but has only $300 million, he said, adding that the agency needs $1.9 billion overall for the year.
Beasley said that at a child malnutrition ward in a Sana’a hospital, he saw children wasting away from lack of food. Many, he said, were on the brink of death from entirely preventable and treatable causes, and they were the lucky ones who were receiving medical care.
“In a children’s wing or ward of a hospital, you know you normally hear crying, and laughter. There’s no crying, there’s no laughter, there’s dead silence,” he said. “I went from room to room, and literally, children that in any other place in the world would be fine, they might get a little sick but they’d get recovered, but not here.”
“This is hell,” he said. “It’s the worst place on earth. And it’s entirely man-made.” Yemen has been the victim of a Saudi war of aggression and a merciless blockade, under the direction of British policy-makers and with American support as well.
Beasley stressed that despite all the accusations, the Houthis have actually eased up on their restrictions on the work of humanitarian aid agencies. “We’ve turned a corner with the Houthis… in terms of cooperation, collaboration,” he said, adding that the only obstacle now is the lack of funding.
South African Riots Are Major Destabilization of this BRICS Nation —
July 14 (EIRNS)—The opposition parties in South Africa are united in blaming (with varying emphases) President Ramaphosa, his government, and the ruling ANC at large, taking no account of the intense undermining of the country by London/Wall Street centered finance—for example, through destroying South Africa’s electric power development. Will no one stand up and tell Ramaphosa that it is his London/Wall Street patrons that are the problem?
As for this immediate destabilization, one interesting voice has been heard. Bantu Holomisa, MP, leader of the minor United Democratic Movement, said on SABC-TV, “We note the curious absence of the police in some areas. There has been radio silence from the top police echelons for two days. They are the ones who usually keep us [meaning, members of Parliament] informed. Are some intelligence people and police behind this?” That is now being investigated, but by whom, and with what end in view? Stay tuned.
Russian Academic Identifies Mackinder Geopolitics as Enemy of Russia and China—
July 13, 2021 (EIRNS)—Global Times yesterday published an interview with Alexander Lukin, head of the Department of International Relations at the Higher School of Economics and director of the Center for East Asian and SCO Studies at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. In a brief editorial note at the beginning, GT notes that China and Russia have witnessed stronger ties, especially given the US’s continued pursuit of ideological confrontation in the world. The question to be addressed is, “How will the trilateral relations among China, Russia, and the US develop and shape the world?”
The interview is extensive, covering a wide range of topics within the China-Russia relationship, but particularly notable is the matter of geopolitics, which the GT interviewers introduced by citing Zbigniew Brzezinski’s “The Grand Chessboard,” in which he warned “that potentially, the most dangerous scenario [for the United States] would be a grand coalition of China, Russia, and perhaps Iran, an ‘anti-hegemonic’ coalition united not by ideology but by complementary grievances [toward the United States].”
“This line of thought agrees that basically the main task of American policy in the new Eurasia should be avoiding the emergence of a single power or alliance of powers hostile to American interests that would control the Eurasian space,” Lukin replied. “This idea has a very long history. In the first half of the 20th century, many Western experts, beginning with the founders of geopolitics, Halford Mackinder and Nicholas John Spykman, said that control over Eurasia was very important. If an anti-Western force gains control over Eurasia, it would be very dangerous for the US and Western Europe.”
Lukin argues that after the fall of the Soviet Union, the US became “too proud” of itself and overestimated its influence in the world. “However, the collapse of the Soviet Union did not stop the general tendencies of world history, including in international relations in many countries which contributed to their becoming stronger, like China, India, Brazil, and others,” he said. “Russia also reemerged as a strong power. India and several other countries also became stronger. But American politicians did not want to see this trend. They thought that they could still control the entire world and punish those who did not conform to their position. Their policy of pressure and containment has only stimulated the coordination between Russia and China, and made their strategic partnerships stronger.”
Compared to Kissinger and Brzezinski, says Lukin, American politicians today don’t really know what they are doing. “Trump wanted to improve relations with Russia, but he could not for domestic reasons,” Lukin continued. “Now you see some articles written by influential American experts, who seem to begin to understand that Russian-Chinese rapprochement is a kind of problem for the US. But they still don’t know what to do about it. They are discussing how to break the Russia-China de facto alliance without giving either Russia or China anything. So that’s also not a very smart position, I would say. They are not going to get anything for nothing. I don’t think they can.
“Contrary to what they might believe, they cannot break our strategic partnership, because it’s based on Russia and China’s national interests.” Full interview is here.
