E.I.R.STRATEGIC ALERT
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Volume 33, No. 5, January 31, 2019
Davos Bash Overshadowed
by Threat of New Financial Crash
The self-styled international elite gathered this year in the Swiss
resort of Davos for the World Economic Forum was decidedly less
upbeat than at previous events. For one thing, some Western lead-
ers such as Donald Trump, Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron
had to forgo attendance due to respective domestic turmoil.
And it didn’t help, of course, that the IMF released gloomy
growth perspectives for the world economy just as the private
jets were landing (in record numbers) in the ski resort. That
compounded the fears of the City of London that it just might
implode as a financial center under the “hard Brexit” option.
Just days before the event began on Jan. 22, it was announced
by the consulting firm EY that, according to conservative esti-
mates, about 10% of the total assets of the UK banking sector
has left London for Europe already.
Then again, Oxfam released a new report timed with the elit-
ist gathering, which shows that the richest 26 individuals in the
world hold as much wealth as the poorest half of the world
population! Which speaks volumes on the social inequality of the
current globalized system.
And not to forget the report by the Bank of England, publicly
released on the final day of the proceedings, estimating that the
volume of leveraged loans worldwide exceeds $2.2 trillion. That
is nearly twice as much as the “most commonly cited estimate of
1.3 tr.” and comparable to US subprime before the crisis. Some
45% of that total are held through collateralised loan obliga-
tions. The implicit warning is that a new crash is coming.
In sum, enough bad publicity to dampen the spirits at an
event that (still) prides itself as the meeting place of the 2000
most influential people in the world!
The one brighter note of the gathering was struck by Chinese
Vice President Wang Qishan, who reviewed the tremendous
progress that his country has made since the founding of the
People’s Republic 70 years ago. During that time, an impover-
ished, backward agricultural nation was transformed into the
world’s largest industrial producer. However, Wang stressed,
China wants to work with others to achieve similar results. In-
stead of fighting over a limited pie, he said, “we should work
together to make the pie bigger and find new ways to share it
more equitably”.
Against such a demonstration of the “new paradigm”, the
“old paradigm” of the failed trans-Atlantic system was upheld by
mega-speculator George Soros. Interestingly, he raved against
President Xi Jinping as the greatest threat today to the concept
of an “open society” [open to vulture funds] which he has fi-
nanced throughout the world. The other two great dangers he
named were Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The
implicit conclusion of George Soros is a call for “regime change”
operations in all three countries...
Russiagate: “Stasi” Tactics against Consultant
Roger Stone Can’t Cover up Lack of Crime
The pre-dawn raid on the home of Roger Stone on Jan. 25,
in which armor-clad FBI agents brandishing weapons pounded
on his front door, in front of a TV camera, was scripted like a
scene out of a movie. In this case, the target was not a noto-
rious terrorist, a violent narcotics trafficker, or a murderous
psychopath, but a well-known, successful political consultant
and long-time associate of Donald Trump, who is charged with
such “crimes” as “lying to the Congress.” This is yet another of
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s alleged “bombshells”, in which
the investigators deliberately create perjury traps by harassing
and bankrupting potential witnesses.
Famed civil liberties attorney Alan Dershowitz pointed out
that, like most of Mueller’s indictments, the charges have noth-
ing to do with the ostensible purpose of the investigation, which
is to prove collusion between the Trump campaign and Rus-
sian meddling in the 2016 election. The “purpose of the in-
dictment”, Dershowitz said, “was to get [Stone] to cooperate
against Trump.” In fact, we would add, there is no mention of
Russia in the 24-page indictment.
For nearly two years now, anti-Trump media and Democratic
Party elected officials, such as Rep. Adam Schiff, have waged
a campaign against Stone, which complemented the efforts of
the Special Counsel’s team. Mueller is attempting to prove that
Stone had advanced notice of the dumping on Wikileaks the
documents from Hillary Clinton’s campaign, to provide evidence
that Trump himself, through his former campaign manager and
long-time friend and associate Roger Stone, was in “collusion”
with Vladimir Putin and his Russian team of election meddlers.
Stone denies the charges.
Failing to find any evidence to back up charges of meddling,
or collusion by the campaign, or of Stone’s “Russian connec-
tions,” Mueller has resorted to “process crimes” (obstruction of
justice, false statements, etc.) to convince Stone that he should
“flip” on Trump, and give the special counsel the evidence he
needs to justify his witch hunt.
But Stone continues to refuse to give Mueller what he wants.
Following his release on bail, he said that he will “cooperate”
EIR STRATEGIC ALERT 2 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER n°5 / 2019
with Mueller, by telling the truth of what he knows, that there has
been no contact by him with the Russians, nor any discussion with
Trump of the documents on Wikileaks , but that he will not make
up a story to implicate the President in anything illegal.
Stone has been a fixture in American politics for decades, go-
ing back to his work with Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald
Reagan. From his time with Reagan, he developed an appreciation
for Lyndon LaRouche, who had been brought in by Reagan to
negotiate with the Soviet Union on the proposed Strategic Defense
Initiative. Today, Stone is a strong supporter of the President’s
commitment to break with the provocative geopolitics of the es-
tablishment behind the Bush and Obama presidencies, especially
in their threats against Russia, and replace it with dialogue and
cooperation with Putin, as well as with China’s Xi Jinping.
Staging a brute force raid against this consultant, who would
have gladly turned himself in, has more in common with the tac-
tics of the East German Stasi than with an honest, truth-seeking
investigation. And that displays this crowd’s utter disregard of
Constitutional protections.
The Apparatus behind the Railroading of
Lyndon LaRouche and the Current Putschists
The LaRouche Political Action Committee in the United States is-
sued a statement on Jan. 21, on the eve of the 30th anniversary
of the imprisonment of US political leader Lyndon LaRouche
and six associates on trumped-up charges of conspiracy to avoid
repaying loans, to demand that they be fully exonerated today,
and LaRouche’s policies be implemented.
The statement notes that many Americans were shocked to
find out just this month (cf. SAS 4/19) that “Robert Mueller’s
apparatus moved to put the President of the United States,
Donald Trump, on trial for treason, because he dared to meet
and converse with Russian President Vladimir Putin; because he
has referred to NATO as being ‘obsolete’ and questioned its role;
and because he fired his director of the FBI, James Comey, as
the Constitution prescribes he has the authority to do.” The dis-
belief grew as it “became public that top echelons of the FBI, the
CIA, and the Democratic Party -- all on instructions from British
intelligence -- had been, and still are to this day, engaged in an
active coup d’etat against the elected President of the U.S.”
But those Americans, the statement urges, need to under-
stand that Lyndon LaRouche and a group of associates were
railroaded into prison with lengthy sentences in 1989, as a re-
sult of the illegal maneuvers of the same political apparatus. The
jailing of Lyndon LaRouche for five years represented a blatant
attempt to prevent the principles and policies he defended from
being adopted by the United States. Had they prevailed, the
world would be a very different place today. The LaRouche PAC
shows why that is:
* “Because LaRouche’s policies for replacing the deadly loot-
ing of Wall Street and the City of London with a just New World
Economic Order of universal, high-tech development, were not
implemented, hundreds of millions of people around the world
remained in poverty and tens of millions perished unnecessarily.
It has only been with China’s recent adoption of policies very
similar to those proposed by LaRouche up to 50 years ago, that
the genocide has stopped in at least large parts of the planet.
* “Because LaRouche’s SDI policy, as adopted and proposed
by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, was sabotaged and not
carried out, the world today teeters at the edge of thermonucle-
ar confrontation. Only a return to LaRouche’s original design of
the SDI ballistic missile defense system -- based on new physical
principles and cooperation with Russia and China, not against
them -- can now pull us back from the brink.
* “Because LaRouche’s proposal for cooperation between East
and West after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification
of Germany (famously forecast by LaRouche in October 1988)
was rejected, and LaRouche was hauled off to jail scarcely three
months later, Russia was ravaged and the West looted under
Thatcher, Bush, and Mitterrand. And a wave of permanent wars
was unleashed, which is with us still today.
* “Because LaRouche’s proposed war on drugs against Lon-
don’s Dope, Inc. banking apparatus was never implemented, a
drug epidemic today is poisoning our nation and the world.
* “And because LaRouche’s policies for generating a new Re-
naissance of classical culture and science were swept aside, we
now stare into the pit of hell of a New Dark Age that is engulf-
ing our youth in particular.”
Read the full statement at https://larouchepub.com/pr_
lar/2019/190121_30_yrs_ago.html
The Aachen Treaty, Two Lame Ducks
Attempt a Flight Forward
On Jan. 22, French President Macron and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel signed a friendship treaty between the two coun-
tries that comes down to creating a “super State”. The Aachen
treaty, which is presented by its authors as a “second Elysée
Treaty,” referring to the historic friendship agreement signed in
1963 by Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle, would in fact
make those two giants of statecraft roll over in their graves.
The good news, however, is that the strategem won’t go far.
The Treaty marks the official death of European integration,
in that it aims at forming a political bloc that dictates policy in
the EU, builds up a “European” military force outside of NATO,
and shapes their economies according to a Malthusian blueprint.
It is viewed with hostility by all the other 25 EU partners, as
well as by opposition forces in Germany and France, that may
soon take power.
The text calls for “the admission of the Federal Republic of
Germany as a permanent member of the UN Security Coun-
cil” as “a priority of Franco-German diplomacy.” That basically
throws the idea of a UNSC seat for the EU out the window.
It also calls for joint efforts in achieving climate targets and ad-
vancing “the energy transition.” Does that mean that France will
adopt the suicidal German agenda and give up nuclear energy?
As for the call to “promote convergence between the two
states and improve the competitiveness of their economies,”
this is typical EU language for balanced budgets and zero deficit
policies. It’s hard to believe that France could survive such a
“convergence”, all the more so as the signing occurs just as Paris
is openly violating the deficit rules.
One aspect of the Treaty, however, deserves more attention,
and that is the military aspect. Chapter 2, on “Peace, Security
and Development,” says that “The two states will deepen their
cooperation on foreign policy, defense, external and internal se-
curity and development, while striving to strengthen Europe’s
autonomous [i.e., separate from NATO] capacity for action.
They will consult each other in order to define common posi-
tions on any major decision affecting their common interests
and to act jointly in all cases where such is possible.” The two
countries will also help each other “in case of armed aggression
against their territories”.
This is in keeping with Macron’s proposal for a European
Army. At first sight, it looks just as unrealistic as all the other
propositions of the Aachen Treaty, given the pathetic conditions
and recent military performances of both countries. French frig-
ates recently misfired during air strikes on Syria, while the en-
tire German submarine fleet has been stranded due to technical
EIR STRATEGIC ALERT n°5 / 2019 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 3
problems, not to mention the embarrassing failures of Angela
Merkel’s government plane headed for the G20 in Argentina
or of Development Minister Gerd Müller’s aircraft breakdown
in Africa.
Furthermore, Britain has reacted negatively to Macron’s pro-
posal for a EU Army, as the UK is about to leave the European
Union. However, since the Aachen Treaty seems designed to ac-
celerate the otherwise inevitable disintegration of the EU, in a
not distant future, London could join a Western Military Union
emerging out of the ashes of the EU. This is the view of the
British information site “UK Column”, which notes that such a
union has been British policy since at least 1948.
Switzerland Confirms Promising Prospects
with China’s New Silk Road
In the context of Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan’s visit to
Switzerland prior to his participation at the World Economic
Forum in Davos, Swiss President Ueli Maurer again pointed to
the opportunities for Swiss industry offered by China’s Belt and
Road project. In contrast to substantial restrictions which the
European Union has imposed on Chinese direct investments into
European companies, the Swiss will not do so, Maurer stressed.
The Swiss economy has generally greatly benefited in the past
from unrestricted access to other countries, and therefore wel-
comes Chinese investors today.
Switzerland is not afraid of China, he said, announcing that
during his state visit to China in April, he will sign a far-reaching
agreement of increased cooperation with the Chinese.
Wang Qishan himself, a historian by profession, turned out to
be very interested in the history of Switzerland, particularly as
related to the House of Hapsburg. On his request, the Chinese
Vice President was treated to a tour of the original Hapsburg
castle in Aargau. At a short reception there, he exchanged views
with Aargau Governor Urs Hofmann on the history of the Haps-
burg Empire’s relation to the Chinese Empire 500 years ago
along the old silk road by land and by sea, which led to the blos-
soming of trade with silk, porcelain and tea. “In the heydey of
the Hapsburgs, he said, the sun never set on their entire empire
— and the same was true for the historic Silk Road between
China and Europe. And it is exactly this Silk Road which will be
revived with the Belt-and-Road initiative.”
Wang Qishan stressed the importance of cultural relations
between countries and peoples, noting that a “common view of
history makes understanding possible also in other areas.”
German Doctors Expose Hysteria
over “Fine Particle” Emissions
“The Diesel Fine Dust Story Is All Lies,” Such was the front page
banner headline of Germany’s leading tabloid Bild on Jan. 23,
thus catapulting critics of the anti-diesel campaign into the pub-
lic debate in a big way. The article reported on a petition signed
by 107 medical doctors, initiated by the former president of the
German Society of Pneumatologists (DGP) Dieter Köhler, which
charges the anti-diesel lobby with manipulating the interpreta-
tion of data concerning fine dust and n-oxide in urban regions.
That interpretation, they charge, assumes the biased viewpoint
that such emissions are lethal for human beings, whereas no
evidence to back that claim has has ever been provided.
The data which medical doctors have on pneumology patients
requiring treatment rather point to smoking as a real danger;
after two months of smoking cigarettes, a smoker has inhaled
more than a non-smoker will during his entire lifetime, the peti-
tion states. And therefore, “most smokers should die after a
few months”. The signatories call for a return to hard facts and
sound science, as well as for an end to the witchhunt against
diesel car drivers.
Following this petition, the national automobile club of Ger-
many ADAC announced that it would commission an indepen-
dent survey to determine how strong the scientific evidence
really is. With over 20 million members, the ADAC is an institu-
tional heavyweight, whose voice cannot be ignored in Germany.
Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer reacted immediately, wel-
coming the ADAC announcement as an “important step to steer
the debate into the realm of facts.”
The current hysteria over emissions has been used to justify
the ban of diesel cars from urban centers entirely. In Hamburg
and Stuttgart, as well as in Essen and on the crucial highway
section A40 in the west of the country, bans are already in ef-
fect, and at least 50 more cities may follow suit in the spring.
Millions of daily commuters will be hit by this insanity. In addi-
tion, the government is considering imposing a speed limit of
130 kph on all highways, to reduce carbon emission, which is
sure to provoke a popular revolt.
Prof. Matthias Klingner of the Fraunhofer Institute for Trans-
port Research in Dresden, a leading critic of the diesel hysteria,
took to the media on Jan. 25, to assert that the “fine dust”
which environmentalists claim comes from diesel cars, is actu-
ally caused by sun rays warming the surface of the Earth. The
dust phenomenon has been around on the globe for millions
and millions of years, he pointed out, and for just as long, it has
also been a crucial component of cloud formation in the atmo-
sphere, without which there would be no rain...
War Party Wants Regime Change in Venezuela,
Indirect Targets are Russia and China
On Jan. 23, the recently elected President of the Venezuelan
National Assembly Juan Guaidó declared himself the interim
President of Venezuela, charging President Nicolás Maduro with
usurping power. Immediately thereafter, the White House, at
the urging of war party in Washington, notably including Vice
President Mike Pence, National Security Adviser John Bolton,
and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, announced that it rec-
ognized Guaidó as interim President. This overt call for regime
change threatens to unleash geopolitical confrontation in the
Americas, possibly including violent civil war inside Venezuela.
But even more ominously beyond that, it is an international at-
tempt to stop the extension of the Belt and Road Initiative in
the Americas, with the argument, as VP Pence has charged, that
“rogue” nations like Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba are Russian
and Chinese “beachheads” in the region, and their governments
must be overthrown.
The justification given in the White House statement was that
the National Assembly, “the only legitimate branch of govern-
ment duly elected by the Venezuelan people” had invoked the
national Constitution “to declare Nicolás Maduro illegitimate,
and the office of the presidency there vacant.” Since then,
the usual gaggle of neo-conservatives have raved against the
Maduro regime, its repressive policies, and the (very real) dire
humanitarian crisis afflicting a large part of the Venezuelan
population.
Pompeo deployed to the Organization of American States (OAS)
Jan. 24 to demand that its members “take sides,” then called an
emergency session of the UN Security Council Jan. 26 to try to
secure majority support for a statement demanding Maduro step
down and Guaidó be recognized. That attempt failed due to the
opposition from permanent members Russia, China and a few
others, prompting sharp attacks from Pompeo.
From Europe, the French, German, Spanish and UK govern-
EIR STRATEGIC ALERT 4 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER n°5 / 2019
ments quickly agreed to support the interim President unless
snap presidential elections are held within 8 days. Although a
majority of Ibero-American nations sided with Washington, the
Mexican and Uruguayan governments did not, calling instead
for respect for the principles of non-intervention and peaceful
resolution of conflicts. Russian President Vladimir Putin, and
the Chinese Foreign Ministry also issued statements denouncing
outside interference in Venezuela’s affairs and called for cooler
heads to prevail.
At this point, the situation remains extremely dangerous, and
there should be no confusion as to what is going on. Lyndon
LaRouche was among the first international political leaders to
harshly criticize the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez,
and his anointed successor Nicolás Maduro, for their Jacobin-
ism which played right into the hands of the City of London and
Wall Street. But LaRouche also repeatedly insisted that regime-
change operations should never be employed, as they open
the Pandora’s Box of efforts to end the Westphalian system of
national sovereignty and unleash chaos. The current effort to
topple the Maduro government could well do just that, in much
the same way as the Bush-Obama regime-change operations did
in Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere.
Africa: Italian Undersecretary Promotes
Joint Projects with China
In an interview with Class-NCBC TV on Jan. 23, the Italian Un-
dersecretary of State for Economic Development Michele Geraci
promoted joint infrastructure projects in Africa with China, as
well as a reasonable approach for the United States to lower its
trade deficit with China, initiatives which have long been pro-
posed by the Schiller Institute worldwide.
For the Italian economist, the way to “solve the migration
problem is to create conditions for Africa to have sustainable
economic and social development.” The real problem is not “the
few thousands” of migrants now, but “the 20 million youth” of
tomorrow who won’t be able to find a job in Africa.
China and Italy have already signed a Memorandum of Un-
derstanding on cooperation in third countries, Geraci recalled,
namely “the 50 African countries where we interlock with China
in sectors such as agriculture, development of infrastructure,
construction, and energy. In these sectors, Italy and China are
competitors from one standpoint, because they have similar
competences, but from another standpoint they are comple-
mentary, such as in agricultural equipment, where Italy is very
strong and is helping Africa in a process very similar to what
occurred in China: migration from rural to urban areas.” The
African population needs infrastructure.
Italy is not planning to cooperate with China alone, Geraci
said, but with many other countries, including those in Europe.
While the development of Africa is a business venture, it also
“stabilizes a continent and it is therefore what I believe to be
a win-win situation for everyone and perhaps also a morally,
ethically right thing.”
As for the US-Chinese trade dispute, Geraci suggested differ-
ent ways to re-establish the balance. For example, the Chinese
could invest in the United States in infrastructure, something
which “the Chinese have shown that they are very good at this
and the U.S. needs”. That would improve the capital account
between the two countries. Or, as a first step, China could pur-
chase aircraft from the US, which it needs to handle the ex-
pected increase in air traffic.
Micele Geraci, who lived in China for ten years, visited the
United States last November, where he met with government
officials and members of Congress.
Reinvestigate Assassinations of John and Robert
Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X
To mark this year’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 60 promi-
nent American academics, lawyers, intellectuals, and researchers,
including two of Robert F. Kennedy’s children, have called on Con-
gress to open new investigations into four assassinations of the
1960s that had “a disastrous impact on the course of American
history.” The four are President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert
Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.
The group, which calls itself a “Truth and Reconciliation Com-
mittee”, also proposes setting up an oversight capability for
the release of all documents related to the Kennedy assassina-
tion and presidency. Although the JFK Records Collection Act
of 1992 mandated such public transparency of the documents,
that law “has been routinely defied by the CIA and other federal
agencies,” it states.
Written by Adam Walinsky, a former speechwriter and lead-
ing aide of Senator Robert Kennedy, the statement opens by
saying, “Four major political murders traumatized American life
in the 1960s and cast a shadow over the country for decades
thereafter. John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr.
and Robert F. Kennedy were each in their own unique way at-
tempting to turn the United States away from war toward dis-
armament and peace, away from domestic violence and division
toward civil amity and justice. Their killings were together a
savage, concerted assault on American democracy and the tragic
consequences of these assassinations still haunt our nation.”
Among the signers of the joint statement are Isaac Newton
Farris, Jr., a nephew of Martin Luther King and past president
of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Rev. James
M. Lawson, Jr., a close associate of Dr. King; Robert F. Kennedy,
Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, children of Sen. Robert
Kennedy; G. Robert Blakey, the chief counsel of the House Se-
lect Commitee on Assassinations, which determined in 1979
that the President John Kennedy had been the victim of a prob-
able conspiracy; Dr. Robert McClelland, one of the surgeons at
Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas who tried to save Presi-
dent Kennedy’s life, and saw clear evidence that he had been
struck by bullets from the front and the rear; Daniel Ellsberg,
whose release of the Pentagon Papers exposed the lies behind
the build-up of the Vietnam War, filmmaker Oliver Stone, etc.
Polls taken have repeatedly found that the majority of Ameri-
cans do not believe the official narratives of how, in each of the
four cases, “lone assassins” carried out the killing. They suspect
a far more sinister policy grouping behind them, which the La-
Rouche Political Action Committee has defined as the current
form of the “British Empire”. There is a direct link from those
networks to the current furious attempt to overthrow the pres-
idency of Donald Trump, using such instruments as the FBI and
other agencies of the so-called “deep state”.
Correction: In last week’s issue, we mistakenly wrote that the
above call was issued on the 60th anniversary of MLK’s assas-
sination. In fact, he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
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Verantwortl. f. d. Inhalt: Dean Andromidas, Claudio Celani
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