E.I.R.STRATEGIC ALERT
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Volume 35, No. 7, February 18, 2021
Space Exploration Points the Way
to Mankind’s Future
This week and last have seen three exciting and highly chal lenging missions to Mars, which will greatly expand our knowledge of the universe, how it developed, how it func tions, and what our future role in it will be. The missions launched by the United Arab Emirates (Hope) and China (Questions to Heaven) have already arrived in the Martian orbit, while NASA’s Perseverance will hopefully land on the surface of the Red Planet shortly after you have read this is sue of our newsletter (cf. below).
Space exploration, as any astronaut will confirm, shows just how much all of Earth’s inhabitants are part of the one mankind, with common interests and goals. Lyndon LaRouche persistently called for joint missions among nations to work together on “the common aims of mankind”, and so rise above the seemingly insoluble geopolitical, ethnic, and other quarrels and conflicts that dominate the news on a daily basis.
Here on Earth, the fight to protect the entire planet from disease is another exemplary area where international co operation is needed. It is certainly an illusion to think that “rich countries” or those with so-called “Western values” will be able to shield themselves from pandemics. Thus, the relevance of the Schiller Institute’s call for a modern global health system.
Another immediate area of concern is the famine which, according to the World Food Program, threatens to hit 270 million people this year alone. Producing enough food for the entire world population is eminently possible through a mobi
lization of even the means now at our disposal. Space exploration, however, is special. It was described in a very direct and poignant way by the head of the Emirate Space Agency, the 34 year old Sarah al-Amiri, in a video from 2017 in which she presented the Mars mission: “Today our region, the Middle East, is filled with turmoil. It is a region that is going through a few of its darkest hours. And what we are doing at the Hope Emirates Mars mission is providing a message. The Middle East is made up of over 50% youth. This project Hope is being run by a team that is under 35, a team that is made up of 34% women. The aver age age is 27. An entire nation is putting its hope on a team of youth, and presenting a message to the region…
“Science to me is the most international form of collabora tion. It is limitless. It is borderless. And it’s run by passions of individuals for the benefit of human understanding.”
“The Great Leap Backwards”:
EIR Exposes the Green New Deal
Executive Intelligence Review has just released a Special Report warning of the extreme danger represented by the “Green Deal”, as it is known in the European Union, or the Green New Deal in the United States, and which is called “The Great Reset” by the leaders of the World Economic Forum. Among those prominent leaders are Britain’s Prince Charles, former Bank of England chief Mark Carney, Sir Michael Bloomberg, and Larry Fink, the CEO of the $8 trillion Wealth Management Fund BlackRock.
This plan is already being implemented worldwide. If car ried out, it will see central banks and the too-big-to-fail pri vate financial institutions take over the direction of national economies from sovereign governments, and cut off credit to fossil fuel power generation and to industrial and agricultural enterprises which, in their perverted view, emit too much car bon. Meanwhile it is creating a huge new bubble in the “sus tainable fuel” sector, in the hopes of propping up the current bankrupt financial system.
The Special Report also exposes the many “fake science” explanations that the British Empire has invented over the centuries in an effort to reduce the world’s population, from the racist eugenics policies which governed the British slave trade and the genocide in India and other colonies, to the current hoax of anthropogenic climate change due to carbon emissions.
EIR and the LaRouche Movement internationally have ex posed this imperial evil over the past 50 years, and propose to counter it with in-depth growth of the physical economy, based on science drivers and infrastructure development, which allows for maintaining expanding populations at higher standards of living.
The purpose of this Special Report is to offer the under standing needed to stop the Empire’s Great Reset now, and establish a policy of global cooperation for peace through de velopment. To purchase copies in pdf format, please contact us at info@eir.de.
Italy: Enter a Government
of “Creative Destruction”
After ensuring the support of almost all the parliamentary fac tions, the new Prime Minister Mario Draghi, a former Gold man Sachs VP and former ECB chair, presented his govern ment on Feb. 12, composed of a team of trusted hitmen for
the job. As Finance Minister, he chose a fellow central banker, Daniele Franco from the Bank of Italy, while the Innovation Ministry goes to Vittorio Colao, a former Morgan Stanley in vestment banker and former Vodafone Italia CEO, who lives in London with his family.
The main innovation, however, is the creation of a Ministry for Ecological Transition , which is reported to include en ergy policy and oversee the so-called “green” investments to be co-financed by the EU Resiliency and Reconstruction Fund (RRF). The head of the new ministry is Roberto Cingolani, a nanotechnologist who now heads technological development at the national defense industry Leonardo SpA. Cingolani is a climate policy supporter and has called, among other things, for reducing production and consumption of meat to avoid cow farting-induced climate change.
Another key post for the Recovery Plan, the Infrastructure and Transportation Ministry, went to another climate change fanatic, Enrico Giovannini, a statistician and former minister who accompanied Greta Thunberg to Rome in April 2019, in
troducing her as a lecturer in the Italian Senate. Giovannini is a member of the malthusian Club of Rome and has co-authored a Great Reset manifesto which claims that Green Transition is the continuation of FDR’s Economic Bill of Rights.
Current ministers Luigi Di Maio (M5S), Lorenzo Guerini (PD) and Roberto Speranza remain at Foreign Affairs, De fense and Health, to guarantee continuity.
Ironically, Draghi will have to deal urgently with a few ma jor crises produced as a result of decisions he made as “Priva tization Czar” in the 1990s: the steel sector, the national air company Alitalia and the national highway company Auto strade per l’Italia (Aspi). Europe’s largest steel plant, Ilva in Taranto, southern Italy, an integrated-cycle plant is set to be shut down for environmental reasons under a judiciary order issued Feb. 12. All three companies, Ilva, Alitalia and Espi, were sold to private interests, which did not invest in produc tivity and safety but sucked profits out of them. Now, they are bankrupt and the state is moving to buy them back, including their huge debt.
Lega head Salvini has called for keeping the Taranto Steel plant open, using it to provide steel for building infrastruc tures in Southern Italy. At the same time, a group of over 150 academicians, led by Schiller Institute friend Prof. Enzo Siviero, has launched a public call to Draghi to comply with formal EU recommendations and reduce the gap between rich and poorer regions by modernizing transport infrastructure in Southern Italy, including the Messina bridge between Sicily and the mainland.
EU Policy Spells the End
of Modern Agriculture
In the two weeks leading up to the Feb. 10 discussion in the German cabinet on the controversial new restrictions on the use of pesticides and insecticides now planned, farmers took to the streets of major German cities in protest actions. The restrictions envisage the total ban of glyphosate by the end
of 2023 in all specially-defined “nature protection zones” and “in the vicinity of human settlements”. Estimates are that this would take up to 30% of arable land out of farm ing in Germany.
It comes on top of all the other restrictions provided for in the EU’s “farm to fork” strategy, that would lead to a dras tic drop in agricultural production and an explosion of food prices (cf. SAS 23, 27, 48/20).
The green ideology pushed by the EU Commission under the pretext of “saving the climate” has been strongly de nounced by the President of the German Farmers Association Joachim Rukwiek as incompatible with modern agriculture in Germany. To illustrate his point, he pulled around an old me chanical plough, requiring only “manpower”, in front of the Chancellor’s office on Feb. 10.
In addition to Environment Minister Svenja Schulze, the protests have also targeted Agriculture Minister Julia Klöck ner, who flatly rejected the farmers’ call for intervention by the government to guarantee cost-covering parity prices for farm products. In her “fact sheet” released Jan. 27, Klöckner reiterates the EU Commission’s narrative on the alleged ben efits of open global markets, claiming they can regulate prices much better than state interventions.
Protecting domestic agricultural products, the paper main tains, is not advantageous for the private consumer who pre fers a “higher diversity of offered products” not necessarily produced in Germany.
On the European level, three farm organizations have de nounced the EU plans to ratify a free trade agreement with the South American Mercosur bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Para guay and Uruguay). Copa-Cogeca (Committee of Profes sional Agricultural Organisations--General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives), CIBE (International Association of European Beet Growers) and AVEC (Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade in the EU Countries) explain in a 6-minute video the three main reasons for their opposition to the agreement reached in June 2019 with Mercosur.
It would threaten the existence of “already fragile sectors” such as beef production, by transferring the bargaining pow er from EU livestock farmers to big operators in Mercosur countries. Secondly, it would destroy the poultry sector, since the amount of annual imports allowed are equivalent to pro duction of Denmark, Finland and Sweden combined. Lastly, it does not require non -EU producers to respect the same strict standards imposed on European farmers, for instance on carbondioxide emissions. Moreover, according to the CIBE, Brazil uses 27 (!) herbicides and insecticides that are banned in Europe.
Assange vs. Navalny: A Shocking Display of Double Standards in Brussels and Washington A spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department confirmed on Feb. 12 that the government had filed an appeal against the ruling handed down on Jan. 4 by English Judge Vanessa Ba raitser, which rejected the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the United States on health grounds (cf. SAS 1, 2/21, 52/20).
Meanwhile, the life of the political prisoner continues to be endangered by the conditions under which he is being held in London’s Belmarsh prison. The appeal was filed despite the letter signed by numerous civil liberties and human rights
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organizations in the United States, calling the indictment itself a “a grave threat to press freedom, both in the United States and abroad.”
In the European Parliament, Irish MEP Clare Daly contrast ed the way Julian Assange has been treated to the fawining over Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny in a statement on Feb. 9 in Strasbourg (https://twitter.com/ClareDalyMEP/ status/1359554507475140609). We quote: “Listening to the relentless Russia-phobia in this place, why are people sur prised that Russia sees no point in engaging with the EU? I’m as happy as anybody else to stand up for anybody’s rights, including Navalny’s, but let’s be honest about him: He’s a vi cious anti-immigrant racist, on maybe 4% of support, rallying hundreds and thousands in cities of millions -- hardly a mass movement. And we wouldn’t be discussing him at all if he were arrested anywhere else other than in Russia.
“Meanwhile, Julian Assange has been incarcerated for al most 10 years for exposing U.S. war crimes. We can’t men tion his name. Tomorrow, Pablo Hasél, a Catalan rapper, is going to prison for his lyrics. Where is the call to sanction Spain? Tomorrow, 62-year-old Claire Grady is going to prison in West Virginia, for her role in the non-violent Plowshare action against Trident [nuclear submarines].” Where are the protests, she asked? “Nowhere! Because this isn’t about hu man rights. This is a geopolitical agenda against Russia, fueled by a military-industrial complex who need an enemy to justify their millions.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also issued a strong warning to the European Union, due to the blatant interfer ence in Russian affairs over the Navalny affair. On Feb. 8, the Polish mission had organized an online meeting in Brussels with two top aides to Navalny as well as representatives of the EU and of various countries to discuss how to respond to the jailing of the opposition figure. Lavrov warned that Russia was prepared for a break with the EU if the latter insists on imposing sanctions that cause economic damage, in addition to the punitive measures taken over Ukraine and Crimea.
Donald Trump Acquitted in Impeachment Trial, as Polarization Increases
It was obvious from the very beginning that Donald Trump would not be convicted by the Senate of “incitement of insur rection”. Yet, the Democratic leadership proceeded anyway, knowing they would not succeed. They then decided to end the process without calling witnesses in order to prevent the presentation of any evidence showing that the charge into the Capitol on Jan. 6 had been pre-planned well before President Trump delivered his famous speech, and was known in ad vance to police and intelligence agencies. There was never any intention to conduct a real investigation into what happened.
So what was the point of the exercise? The post-acquittal response of leaders in both parties shows that the issue behind the continuing attack on the former President is to demonize anyone who breaks from the official narrative shaping politics in the United States. Trump’s crime, in the eyes of his real op
ponents burrowed into the nation’s intelligence agencies and law enforcement, and serving as permanent bureaucrats in government, is that he rejected that narrative and refused to “go along to get along” in Washington, in particular by con
tinuing the “endless wars”.
The ultimate goal of Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic gang
is now shared by many of the establishment Republicans who are speaking out against the former President, such as Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. They not only want to keep Trump from ever running again, but to prevent any future challenges to their “Washington consensus” from emerging. The calls for a toughened Patriot Act to spy on and discourage “domestic terrorism” and the censorship of anti-mainstream media will have an opposite effect. A number of those who might have rallied in opposition to the neo-liberal and neo conservative agenda of both parties’ leaders may become “radicalized”, convinced by the “crackdown” that there is no longer a pathway for non-violent protest. This then provides a justification for applying further measures to crush any op
position, and to strip away constitutional protections. Is that not their actual intention?
With Great Caution, Beijing Hopes for Improved Relations with Washington Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden held their first telephone call on Feb. 10, one week after the U.S. President’s first for eign policy speech, which was characterized as “very tough” on China, and four days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in his call with Yang Jiechi that Beijing would be “held accountable” for threatening stability in the Indo-Pacific.
According to the State Departement readout of the Feb. 10 discussion, Biden took up many controversial issues, such as the alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, “repression” in Hong Kong, “assertive actions” toward Taiwan, etc. The Chinese report on the call was somewhat more upbeat, while noting that Xi had indicated the need for “mutual respect” in the relationship going forward, and pointed out that both Hong Kong and Xinjiang were strictly internal matters.
Xi also proposed that the two countries revive the channels of communication between the two foreign ministries, and military forces, many of which had been broken during the last period of the Trump Administration, when then-Secretary of State Pompeo and others went on an anti-China rampage, complete with increasing punitive measures.
Nonetheless, there is no sense of euphoria in Beijing about future relations. The Biden Administration has made clear that Washington is to continue “setting the rules” for how the world works, and reasserting its traditional role as pri
mum inter pares. That is not consistent with China’s intention to become a major player itself in determining those rules, in pursuing, for example, global cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative.
Other signs from Washington are also worrisome for Bei jing. On Feb. 10, at the request of the new Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the Pentagon set up a new task force to chart out “a strong path forward on China-related matters”, ac cording to Biden. In that way, he vowed, the U.S. will “meet the China challenge and ensure the American people win the competition of the future”.
As concerns COVID, the two Presidents reportedly asserted the need for cooperation during their call. The White House, however, later called into question the findings of a WHO in vestigative team which had just spent four weeks in Wuhan, and found no evidence that the virus had escaped from a lab in the city and said it may not have originated in Wuhan at all. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan insisted on Feb. 14 that any such report must be “independent” and “free
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from intervention or alteration” by the Chinese government. In rejecting the criticism, the Chinese Foreign Ministry noted that his government had continually worked with the WHO, whereas the U.S. had left the organization entirely. Experts working on the team also dismissed the insinuations.
Youth Movement Initiative to Bring LaRouche’s Scientific Method to the Universities February 12, 2021 marked the second anniversary of the death of philosopher and economist Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr, at the age of 96. The LaRouche Organization and the Schiller Institute commemorated that day with a 19-hour livestream of various speeches and lectures given over the decades by LaRouche, which opened and concluded with the powerful memorial concert which was held in New York City on June 8 in the year of his death.
The livestream featured some of LaRouche’s most critical history-changing interventions -- but to those who knew him and his legacy, far more than 19 hours would be required to revisit even a fraction of the contributions he made which changed history. In that regard, LaRouche was a true scientist, always challenging the prevailing assumptions of the day, in
cluding his own, and developing a “higher hypothesis.” On this second anniversary, the LaRouche International Youth Movement also launched an initiative called “LaRouche in the universities. What really is power?” This initiative con sists of training young students, professors and other inter ested parties in the method of and contributions to physical economy developed by LaRouche.
The Youth Movement’s call states: “We must introduce in all curricula the history of those ideas which, in the course of the evolution of human civilization, have allowed us to emerge from existential crises with renewed vigor to create a renais
sance at a higher level. And that’s what the ideas on statecraft and the agapic principle that LaRouche contributed during his lifetime represent.”
The statement notes that “What we instill in the minds and hearts of our youth through their education, will give them the tools to decide what they will do with their lives, taking up the mission of a ‘commitment to society’ to improve our universe... ” The ideas that Lyndon LaRouche defended in his lifetime, are what “we young people have assumed the responsibility of bringing to fruition with even greater force today.”
Intensive and Groundbreaking Exploration of Mars Is Set to Begin
The first two of this year’s three visitors to Mars arrived last week. The orbiter Hope from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) entered into orbit around the red planet on Feb. 9 , followed one day later by China’s Tianwen-1. The American Perseverance rover is scheduled to arrive on Feb. 18. All three spacecraft start their exploration mission with a challenge.
The average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 380,000 km, which creates a one second communications delay. This is small enough for the Mission Control on Earth to be able to guide a spacecraft. But the current distance from the Earth to Mars is nearly 200 million km, creating a communications delay of about 10 minutes. If any of the Mars craft should have a problem landing, the engineers would only learn of it
once it were all over. Each spacecraft must be programmed in extremely precise detail for its orbital insertion at Mars, months before it arrives, using the best information about conditions on Mars at that time. Unlike landing on the Moon, Mars has an atmosphere, seasons, and weather.
As we write, Hope and Tianwen-1 have successfully made it into orbit around Mars. From there, the paths for the space craft diverge, and reflect the stage of development and expe rience of each of the three space agencies.
For the UAE, this Hope mission is a daring experiment and the first ever deep space mission for this fledgling space agency. The orbiter will study Martian weather dynamics. In addition to making a contribution to the science of Mars, and consciously reaching back in history to the Arab Renaissance, the country’s leadership hopes to inspire a generation of Arab youth with the space program.
Some Emirati officials had given the mission only a 50-50 chance of success so the achievement has sparked tremen dous optimism worldwide.
China’s Tianwen-1 (“Questions to Heaven”) mission is also a high-risk endeavor, trying something no other nation has attempted. Every other space agency in its first visit to Mars went into orbit to learn about the red planet, scout out pos
sible landing sites, observe the range of weather conditions, etc., before attempting, on subsequent missions, a landing. (Only the U.S. has actually succeeded a landing on Mars). China’s orbiter is is carrying a lander with a rover, and will remain in orbit for up to two months, while high resolution photographs are taken of the chosen landing site to make sure it is safe. Once it has landed on the surface, the rover will operate there for 90 days.
It is a risky approach. If the orbiter fails, three craft will be lost. But if it is a success, China is saving time. Since space craft can only be launched from the Earth to Mars every 26 months, they are eliminating one mission, and thus saving more than two years.
As for NASA’s mission, the rover Perseverance faces a chal lenging descent and landing. Rather than being lowered with the help of only a parachute and airbags, the vehicle will rely for the final stage on a rocket platform called a sky crane to touch down on the Martian surface. The time it will take between reaching the planet’s upper atmosphere and landing has been dubbed NASA’s “seven minutes of terror”. Persever ance will search for signs of ancient microbial life, indicating the past habitability of Mars. In addition to collecting samples of rock and soil, the mission will test technologies to help pave the way for future human exploration of Mars, including the production of oxygen.
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EIR STRATEGIC ALERT 4 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER n° 7 / 2021
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