E.I.R.STRATEGIC ALERT WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Volume 32, No. 37, September 13, 2018

E.I.R.STRATEGIC ALERT WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Volume 32, No. 37, September 13, 2018

The Spirit of the New Paradigm Is Unstoppable, In Spite of Neocon Warmongering The month of September is shaping up as a decisive one for the consolidation of the new paradigm of win-win cooperation. Following on the highly successful China-Africa summit earlier his month in Beijing (cf. below and SAS 36/18), the Eastern Economic Forum was  held on Sept. 11-13 in Vladivostok, for the first time in the context of positive developments on the Korean peninsula. That will be followed at the end of the month by the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where African leaders (at least) are expected to spread the spirit of the New Silk Road, and thereby prevent the proceedings from being hijacked by traditional “geopolitical” thinking. Faced with this dynamic, the trans-Atlantic establishment is fully on a war footing. That includes the escalated efforts to neutralize President Donald Trump, and prepare for his impeachment, because of his intention to end the agenda of permanent war and regime change (cf. below). The UK is taking the lead in strategic provocations of Russia. On Sept. 5, Prime Minister Theresa May took to the floor of Parliament to report that the Crown Prosecution Service and Police had issued warrants for two Russian GRU officials who, they claim, had carried out the novichok attack against the Skripals last March. Again, with no evidence provided other than two mugshots and two aliases since their real names are not even known. “This chemical weapon attack on our soil was part of a wider pattern of Russian behavior that persistently seeks to undermine our security and that of our allies around the world,” Mrs. May claimed. The main flash point remains Syria. UK and US officials, among others, have repeatedly warned that the Syrian armed forces are preparing to use chemical weapons in their offensive to liberate Idlib from the terrorist extremists (cf. SAS 36/18). That begs the question, if they are so sure there are chemical weapons caches, why they don’t release information on the sites so that the OPCW can carry out inspections there. But Russian and Syrian officials have provided much evidence that it is the extremist jihadi groups that have taken refuge in Idlib that are planning, in connivance with British intelligence, to use chemical attacks in order to blame them on government forces and therefore provoke retaliatory measures by the western powers. The UK, US and France have already indicated that they would launch military reprisals in such a case, and 
the German Defense Ministry is reportedly considering, for the first time, taking part in such actions. The situation thus remains highly explosive. But what is clear is that the Syrian Army, with help from Russia and Iran, has managed to retake control of almost all of the national territory, previously held by western-backed “rebel” groups, and that is irreversible. Now a process of national reconciliation has begun as well as preliminary efforts for reconstruction of the country. An international delegation of the Schiller Institute just recently arrived in Damascus to protest against the threat of western military interventions and demand the end of all economic sanctions. They will also take part in the international trade fair in the capital which features, this year, Syria’s participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The turnout, according to Sana news agency, has been unexpectedly large since the event opened on Sept. 7. At this point, China is the only power that has both the political clout and the means to take the lead in reconstruction efforts. The Belt and Road Initiative  Promises End to Colonial Era The Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on Sept. 3-4 represented a watershed moment for the development of Africa and was a clear signal to the rest of the developing world that the paradigm of world politics is changing for the better. Among the 3,000 participants were 50 African heads of state or government and over 100 government ministers. In addition, there were representatives from 25 major international organizations, including most significantly, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. Since the establishment of FOCAC in 2000, China has  initiated more than 3,000 critical infrastructure projects on the continent in the form of railroads, dams, ports, and airports. By 2014, China and China-connected institutions had issued $86 billion in commercial loans. The creation of the much-needed transportation grid in Africa, uniting the countries of the continent and connecting the continent with the wider world, is becoming an integral part of the Belt and Road Initiative. That perspective was fully endorsed at the Summit by the chairman of the African Union, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the present cochair of FOCAC, categorically rejected the propaganda that is 
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being spewed in the Western media that the Belt and Road is a “debt trap” for Africa (cf. below). We are confident, he said, that the BRI  “will reduce the costs and increase the volume of trade between Africa and China. It will encourage the development of Africa’s infrastructure, a critical requirement for meaningful regional and continental integration.” Xu Jinghu, the Special Representative of the Chinese government on African Affairs, told a press conference that Africa has been eager to work together with China on development, not only because it lacks the colonial history of most of Africa’s other creditors, but because China allows African nations to develop in accordance with their own political and social conditions. And by the way, China is by far not the creditor owed the most. President Xi Jinping, in his keynote speech to the Summit, stressed that China follows a “five, no” approach in relations with Africa: “no interference in African countries’ pursuit of development paths that fit their national conditions; no interference in African countries’ internal affairs; no imposition of our will on African countries; no attachment of political strings to assistance to Africa; and no seeking of selfish political gains in investment and financing cooperation with Africa.”  Xi Jinping added his hope that other countries would apply the same approach toward Africa. At a time when the collapse of the “bubble economy” in the trans-Atlantic system is fast approaching, those countries would be well advised to accept Xi’s invitation. But the corner has been turned for Africa, which is firmly embarked, with the assistance of China, on a development path. In 2063, Africa will celebrate its official 100 years since the end of colonization. But, it may be more correct to call 2018 the true end of the colonial era as these countries now at last have the means to work for true economic progress for their 1.2 billion people. As Senegal President Macky Sall, the new African co-chair of FOCAC, said at the concluding press conference of the Summit, Africa has now entered its “golden age.” The War Party in the US Launches  Desperate Escalation against Trump Two attacks against President Trump in the last week demonstrate the resolve of his enemies to use the upcoming mid-term elections to remove him from office, before he thoroughly dismantles the failing post-war order they are desperately trying to protect.  The fanfare around the pre-publication release of the latest book by Bob Woodward, Fear: Trump in the White House , was ramped up by the simultaneous publication in the New York Times of an anti-Trump op ed, purportedly written by a “senior administration official.” Together, they paint a portrait of a White House in chaos, with the President an untrustworthy, ignorant, self-involved incompetent, surrounded by a handful of officials who see themselves as “unsung heroes” trying to save the country from his irrational episodes.  This feeds into the drive by Democrats for a big victory in November, to return the party to majority status in the House, so that they can begin impeachment proceedings against him. Further, it gives backing to the Bush neocon networks among Republicans (the “Never-Trump” faction) who want to retake control of their party. That the two year investigation into “Russian meddling and Trump collusion” in the 2016 election, begun by Obama intelligence officials in spring of 2016 and bolstered by the appointment of Robert Mueller as a special counsel a year later, has turned up no impeachable evidence against Trump, is beside 
the point.  Those who launched the investigation, which originated with British intelligence, know that the whole Russiagate story is a fabrication. They want Trump removed because he has made clear that, if given the opportunity, he will decisively break the British-directed Trans-Atlantic financial and strategic axis, based on imperial geopolitics, and that he is open to participating in a new Four Power alliance to replace the present dysfunctional arrangement, in collaboration with Russia, China and India. Readers can find the specific charges against Trump in the Woodward book and the op ed elsewhere.  There is, though, one passage in the op ed worth reporting, which tells the real story.  The author speaks of a “resistance” inside the White House, which is “thwarting Mr. Trump’s misguided impulses until he is out of office,” such as his “preference for autocrats and dictators,” referring explicitly to North Korean President Kim Jong-un and Russian President Putin. This attack on the two successful summits of Trump comes as there are significant developments related to both (cf. below). At a time when the British are pushing new charges related to the Skripal affair, and a false flag operation regarding chemical weapons in Syria, it is more important than ever that Trump’s desire for a good relationship with Putin be realized. Thus, while defensively insisting that the anti-Trump resistance within the White House “isn’t the work of the so-called Deep State,” what the author describes is a Fifth Column within the administration, collaborating with the architects of Russiagate, to prevent the President from pursuing the agenda for which he was democratically elected, i.e,, for a reversal of the disastrous geopolitical policies of previous administrations. As investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald put it, the alleged White House source “accuses Trump of being ‘anti-democatic’ while boasting of membership in an unelected cabal that covertly imposes their own ideology with zero democratic accountability, mandate or transparency.” Exposing this story and the mobilization of Trump’s electoral base are key to defeating the regime change coup in the U.S. The Late Senator John McCain  and the Neo-Conservatives Senator John McCain has for many long years been known and criticized in the trans-Atlantic world for his outrageous war mongering. In fact, he had become a kind of fixture at the annual Munich Security Conferences, where he would make the case for military action against any and all enemies of what he considered to be his America. While John McCain deserved credit for his war record and his public service, the panegyrics after his recent passing and at his funeral, which gave rise to a media extravaganza, completely ignored this aspect of his long career. And that in itself speaks volumes on the intent of the war party today. That same faction and the Senator himself had decided to use his coming demise to advance the putsch against President Trump, their avowed enemy. His funeral was described by New Yorker Magazine as the “biggest resistance meeting yet”, meaning resistance to Donald Trump. A recent LaRouche Political Action Committee statement points out that “John McCain was a protégé of neo-conservative founder Senator Henry Scoop Jackson, a servant of the British imperial agenda who constantly sought military confrontation with Russia. The British were so enamored of Jackson’s views that they have dedicated an entire society of British intelligence spooks to him, the Henry Jackson Society. The former incarna
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tion of this group was the Committee on Present Danger and the Project for a New American Century in the United States.” Investigative journalist Max Blumenthal wrote a thorough review of McCain’s activities in the Aug. 27th Consortium News
 (https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the-other-side-ofjohn-mccain/?print=print): “McCain did not simply thunder for every major intervention in the post-Cold War era from the Senate floor... He was uniquely ruthless when it comes to advancing imperial goals, barnstorming from one conflict zone to another to personally recruit far right fanatics as American proxies.... In Libya and Syria, he cultivated affiliates of Al-Qaeda as allies, and in Ukraine, McCain recruited actual sig-heiling neo-Nazis... Following the NATO orchestrated murder of Libya’s leader, McCain tweeted: ‘Qaddafi on his way out, Bashar Al Assad is next.’” In addition, McCain also backed the installation of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood to govern Egypt, and supported all kinds of military interventions into Southwest Asia, causing the deaths and suffering of millions, and triggering massive human migration. That part of his legacy deserves no praise. German Expert: “The Only Thing Standing Between Us and the Next War Is Donald Trump” The above is the title of a blog posted on Sept. 7 by Willy Wimmer, former Deputy Defense Minister of Germany and former member of Parliament for 33 years. He warns that “the Washington Establishment and its followers in London,” whom President Trump defies, are preparing a major new war, using the a false flag chemical attack in Syria and/or the Skripal alleged poisoning affair as pretexts. Contrary to the mainstream observers and media in Germany, Willy Wimmer has correctly identified the reasons for the witch hunt against Donald Trump. On the occasion of World Peace Day (Sept.1), he had authored a different piece, in which he warned of the danger of a world war, if the anti-Trump forces gain enough power in the mid-term elections to initiate the impeachment of the President. That piece, re-posted by the German language RT , carries the ominous headline: “2018 will be remembered as the last year of peace in Europe”. The anti-Trump coalition, he wrote, manifest until now in the leading figures of John McCain and Hillary Clinton, has long been preparing for war. “If President Trump is no longer in power, who will prevent this coalition above party lines from implementing its plans that are directed first and foremost against Russia?... The removal of President Trump would mean breaking the dam that protects the fragile peace.” Wimmer points to “the hate potential of Anglo-Saxon global media” as a sign that what is happening in the US “is not a normal or even escalated confrontation, it is a way to destroy the assumed enemy of the American war coalition. That gives an idea of the power of the ‘deep state’.” As for Europe, the praise of deceased Senator John McCain with no mention of his constant push for war, Wimmer points out, shows “where the heart of European heads of governments beats.” All this, the German expert concludes, raises the question of what has been leaned from two world wars, namely namely that no war of aggression would ever be conducted from German territory. And yet, Germany has provided billions of euros to Ukrainian fascist combat units to deploy against the Russianspeaking population of their own country. In a few months from now, the end of WWI in 1918 and the 
creation of the Versailles Treaty will be commemorated, Wimmer says in conclusion, and the year 2019 will commemorate not only the outbreak of WWII in 1939 but also the founding of NATO in 1949, which all ran counter to the principles of the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia. The year 2018, Wimmer warns, may therefore be “the last one to be remembered in which Europe enjoyed peace.” Italian Missions to China Lay Basis  for Unprecedented Cooperation with BRI Italian Economy (Treasury) Minister Giovanni Tria led a delegation to China in late August, which was followed a few days later by that of Undersecretary to the Ministry for Economic Development (industry and trade) Michele Geraci, who stayed on to participate in the CECAC (China-Africa summit). In an interview with CGTN , Giovanni Tria explained that “Italy and China have many complementarities and can develop synergies in infrastructure investments, technologies, food, aerospace. Italy is the second largest manufacturer in Europe and the seventh in the world. China is developing fast a high quality industry and technology. We can put together those technologies and operate together in China, Italy and also third countries.” African countries should be a prime target of such cooperation, as was underscored by Undersecretary Geraci. In an interview with formiche.net , Geraci explained that Chinese investments in Africa “have a return for us Italians because, first of all, it helps to stabilize countries where our companies are active. Furthermore, I believe that it is a duty for an advanced country such as ours, not so much to host those who flee from the African continent, but to help Africans to decide not to leave their own lands. It is the only win-win solution for everybody.” At the China-Africa summit, Geraci met Egyptian and Ethiopian leaders and during his stay in Shanghai and Bejing, he met with numerous Chinese companies and government officials to discuss cooperation in several sectors, from the green economy to electric vehicles, e-commerce, infrastructure, railroads, airlines, construction, steel, banks and investment funds. Geraci also explored the possibility of cooperation between Air China and Alitalia. Coming back to Economy Minister Tria, he held meetings with his counterpart Liu Kun, the central bank governor Yi Gang and the chairman of the board of Bank of China Liu Lian Ge. In his interview with CGTN , Tria dismissed as “fake news” the rumors that Italy is seeking help to finance its public debt; however, he said that “Domestic and foreign investors can decide whether to invest in our public debt. So far, those who did, had a very good return”. A quid pro quo? The Italian delegation also announced that the Bank of Italy would start to build reserve stocks in renminbi. Wrapping up his interview, Tria said that “forty years ago I was in Bejing. I came as a young student from the University of Rome who was very interested in studying the Chinese economy. I witnessed the start-up of the economic reform in 1978-79. “Now I can admire both emotionally and intellectually, looking back at what China did, the progress done by China from an economic point of view but also keeping social stability in a country as big as a continent, and I think that I am optimistic for the future, because what Italy and China share is many thousands years of civilization. Looking back at history is the basis for innovation, the basis to build the future. What I al
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ways say is that Italians and Chinese can talk about the past and the future at the same time.” African Leaders Debunk  the “Debt Trap” Narrative Although Western media generally granted little coverage to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), those that did often emphasized the line that China is drowning African countries in debt they will never be able to repay, i.e., the socalled “debt trap”. That issue was addressed in a number of statements and comments during the Summit, including the following sample: * The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, stated on the sidelines of the summit: “Let me be very clear that Africa has absolutely no debt crisis; African countries are desperate for infrastructure.” According to Xinhua , he noted that their “population is rising, urbanization is there, and fiscal space is very small... They are taking on a lot more debt, but in the right way.” Dismissing the idea that the China-imposed debt has begun to cripple Africa, Adesina pointed out that the continent’s overall debt-to-GDP went up from 22% in 2010 to 37% last year. He stressed that the ratio is markedly lower than the 100 or 150% of many higher-income countries, or of over 50% emerging economies have. * The head of Afria’s most populous nation, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, was just as affirmative. “Let me use this opportunity to address and dispel insinuations about a so-called Chinese debt trap,” he told the press, as reported in TVCNews . “These vital infrastructure projects being funded are perfectly in line with Nigeria’s Economic Recovery & Growth Plan. Some of the debts, it must be noted, are self-liquidating. Nigeria is fully able to repay all the loans as and when due, in keeping with our policy of fiscal prudence and sound housekeeping.” He noted that Nigeria’s partnership with China through FOCAC has resulted in the execution of critical infrastructure projects valued at more than $5 billion, over the last three years. “We have completed West Africa’s first urban rail system, valued at $500 million, in Abuja. Before then was the 180 km rail line that connects Abuja and Kaduna, completed and commissioned in 2016, and running efficiently since then,” Buhari added. * Zimbabwe is one of China’s most ancient trade partners, as President Emmerson Mnangagwa proudly pointed out at the Summit. An editorial published in the government-linked newspaper Chronicle of Zimbabwe during the Summit noted that “China’s assistance to Africa is actually yielding tangible results, and instead of trapping African economies in debt, China-Africa co-operation under the framework of China’s Belt and Road Initiative is intended to target the continent’s major development bottlenecks so as to realize tangible benefits for both peoples.... On a continent where more than 600 million people still have no access to electricity, 40% of the Chinese loans go for power generation and transmission. Another 30% seek to modernize Africa’s transport infrastructure.” The newspaper cites the report released by McKinsey & Company in June 2017 (cf. SAS 24/18 and 27/17), concluding that no other country has such a depth and breadth of engagement with Africa as China, and then continue: “It is rather ironic that Western countries are cautioning Africa against Chinese ‘neocolonialism’ when their own colonial past impoverished the continent by literally sucking it dry of its natural resources.”
Diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula  Moves Forward North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un sent a personal letter to President Trump, which was hand-delivered on Sept. 8, after first being given to South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong who traveled to Pyongyang on Sept. 5. While the content of the letter has not been revealed, Chung reported that Kim said he has “unwavering trust” in President Trump” and hopes to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula before the U.S. President finishes his term. On his return to Seoul, Chung went on national television to report on his visit. Besides confirming that Kim had reiterated his commitment to full denuclearization, he announced that South Korean President Moon would visit Pyongyang from September 18-20 to review progress on the implementation of the Panmunjon Declaration, the document produced during the first summit between Kim and Moon summit in April 2018 (cf. SAS 18/18).  Chung also announced that the planned liaison office between the ROK and the DPRK would be opened in Kaesong, North Korea prior to the Moon-Kim meeting. Chung is both a close and trusted advisor to President Moon and the cousin of Andrew Kim (“Kim Sung-hyun”), the head of the CIA’s Korea Mission Center, who is the top aide to Secretary of State Pompeo in the diplomacy with DPRK. Andrew Kim has accompanied the Secretary in all   his secret diplomacy and was brought out of retirement in May 2017 to head the newly created Korea Mission Center. It was Chung’s briefing to President Donald Trump, after his visit to Pyongyang last spring that prompted the US President to agree to the historic summit with Kim, that took place on June 6 in Singapore. In effect, South Korea has revived the diplomatic process, which has recently been hampered by the US-China trade rift, but also by the frenzied attempts in Washington to prevent Trump’s dealings with so-called “autocrats”, in favor of maintaining the danger of war. While the renewed diplomacy is a welcome turn of events, the sides are still deeply divided over how to sequence the denuclearization. Kim wants a treaty with the United States, formally ending the Korean War as a first step in the confidence building, while Washington wants the DPRK to first provide a concrete step-by-step  timeline for denuclearization, leading to Complete, Verifiable, Irreversible Dismantling (CVID). This month promises to be a crucial moment in the Korea diplomacy. September 9 was the anniversary of the founding of the DPRK. While there was speculation that Xi Jinping would attend the festivities and hold his fourth summit with Kim, Xi decided instead to send Li Zhanshu as his emissary. During a telephone discussion on Sept. 4, Presidents Donald Trump and Moon agreed to meet in New York City later in September during the United Nations General Assembly. Moon has expressed the hope that it may be possible to put a formal end to the 1950-1953 Korean war by the end of the year, which ended with an armistice, but no peace treaty.
E.I.R. STRATEGIC ALERT        www.eir.de  Published by: E.I.R.GmbH,  Bahnstr. 9a, 65205 Wiesbaden Tel.: 0611/73650, Fax: 0611/9740935, Email:  info@eir.com Verantwortl. f. d. Inhalt: Dean Andromidas, Claudio Celani Subscription: EUR 3000/ ISSN  0936-7527 © E.I.R. GmbH  Alle Rechte vorbehalten, auch die des Nachdrucks von Auszügen, derphotomechanischen Wiedergabe und der Übersetzung, Printed in German