Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—A former head of state from a Third World nation commented, in conversation with a Schiller Institute representative over the last 24 hours, that the already scary strategic situation has become “dangerously frightening” in the last few weeks. She added that what was most frightening was not the escalation of threats against Russia from Global NATO; nor even the more-than-sobering remarks by Vladimir Putin to his Bishkek press conference, where he spoke about the U.S. nuclear policy of preventive or disarming nuclear strikes: “Regarding a disarming strike, perhaps we should think about using the achievements of our U.S. partners and their ideas about how to ensure their own security. We are just thinking about this.”
What is even more frightening and dangerous, she noted accurately, is the fact that there has been no substantive public response from policymaking layers in the West to the actual import of Putin’s comments. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dismissed them as standard Russian “saber rattling.” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak repeated that Russia-Ukraine negotiations could only be held after Russia totally withdrew its military forces from the Donbass and even Crimea—i.e., never. And mainstream media reports, if they mention the Bishkek comments at all, have simply misrepresented what Putin said as “once again threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine.”
Putin said nothing of the sort, nor has any top Russian government official ever said anything of the sort. What Putin did say was far more sobering: “The United States has a theory and even practice. They have the concept of a preventive strike in their strategy and other policy documents. We do not. Our strategy talks about a retaliatory strike.” He explained that the U.S. policy has gone way beyond mere doctrine, as the NATO use of Ukraine to place nuclear capabilities on Russia’s very doorstep proves. “There were plans to deliver a preventive disarming strike with hypersonic weapons. The United States does not have these weapons,” Putin explained, although they are working on it.
He then dropped the other shoe: “But we do.”
Washington’s response? They leaked plans to send sophisticated Patriot missile systems to Ukraine on short order, to which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that, if true, these would “certainly” be legitimate targets once they arrive in Ukraine.
Earlier in November, two nuclear-equipped submarines—one American, one British—ostentatiously surfaced in the Atlantic Ocean, unusually revealing their location for the world to see, in order to deliver an unmistakable message to Russia (and China): “The United States and the United Kingdom have a long-standing agreement of cooperation in the development and deployment of strategic weapons and supporting system,” the Pentagon officially pronounced. Since it is widely recognized that the British have played by far the most aggressive, leading role in driving the Ukraine war into a full-blown strategic showdown between Global NATO and Russia, such a statement from the U.S. Department of Defense is particularly “dangerously frightening.”
• Watch Harley’s Updates with Harley Schlanger on Thursday December 15, 2022: Every weekday morning on The LaRouche Organization, Schlanger will give you the strategic briefing you need to start your day.
STRATEGIC SHOWDOWN
British Royal Navy Joins U.S. Navy in More Nuclear Saber Rattling
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—The U.S. has engaged in more nuclear saber rattling, this time joined by His Majesty’s Royal Navy.
The USS Tennessee nuclear ballistic missile submarine joined a similar Vanguard class submarine of the Royal Navy—not named—for a photo op somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. The photo also shows a U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury nuclear command and control aircraft making a low pass overhead along with an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter. The subs and aircraft “conducted bi-lateral at sea training designed to validate tactics, techniques, and procedures which strengthens the relationship between uniquely close Allies in support of deterrence and collective security,” reported the Defense Department release on the show of force. “The United States and the United Kingdom have a long-standing agreement of cooperation in the development and deployment of strategic weapons and supporting system.”
The Pentagon’s release is actually dated Nov. 22, but it apparently went largely unnoticed until the UK Defence Journal called attention to it on Dec. 13. “This is just the latest example this year of a highly unusual disclosure related to the Navy’s 14 Ohio class ballistic missile submarines,” writes theWar Zone’sJoseph Trevithick. On Oct. 19, U.S. Central Command announced that Centcom Chief Gen. Michael Kurilla had toured the USS West Virginia somewhere in the Arabian Sea. This was followed by a port visit to the British naval base at Diego Garcia on Oct. 25-31, though that was not announced until Nov. 28. On Nov. 1, the USS Rhode Island, another ballistic missile submarine, sailed into Gibraltar, another overseas British naval base, for a port visit, following a July visit to the British submarine base in Faslane, Scotland.
Russia Flexes Its Nuclear Muscles
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—The Russian Defense Ministry reported the loading of an RS-24 Yars ICBM into a silo at the Kozelsk missile formation in the Kaluga Region in central Russia this morning. The complex process took a few hours and was carried out with the help of a special transporter-loader, reported TASS. “This operation is important, because it will allow yet another ICBM to enter combat duty as scheduled,” Commander of the Kozelsk missile formation Alexey Sokolov said.
Also this morning, a pair of TU-95MS missile-carrying bombers flew a patrol over the Sea of Japan. Sukhoi Su-30SM and Su-35S jets of the Eastern Military District’s Air Force and Air Defense Army provided fighter support for the aerial patrol, the Defense Ministry said.
CNN Reports Biden Administration Finalizing Plans To Send Patriot Batteries to Ukraine
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—CNN reported yesterday that the Biden administration is finalizing plans to send Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine, and that this could be announced as soon as this week. The Pentagon’s plan still needs to be approved by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before it is sent to President Joe Biden for his signature, but the approvals are expected, three unnamed officials told the network.
It is not clear how many missile launchers will be sent, but a typical Patriot battery includes a radar set that detects and tracks targets, computers, power generating equipment, an engagement control station and up to eight launchers, each holding four ready to fire missiles. Once the plans are finalized, the Patriots are expected to ship quickly in the coming days and Ukrainians will be trained to use them at a U.S. Army base in Grafenwoehr, Germany, officials said.
Unlike the air defense systems that have been sent to Ukraine so far, the Patriot system is much more complex. Each battery requires dozens of troops to operate and typically takes months to train.
Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied “certainly,” when asked by a reporter at the Kremlin today whether Patriot batteries would be legitimate targets once they arrive in Ukraine. “I would refrain from commenting for now, though, because these are just media reports. Nowadays, media reports are an unreliable thing. Let us wait for some official information,” he said.
Vatican Secretary of State Urges All To Work for a European Peace Conference
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, two days after reiterating Pope Francis’s offer of the Vatican for peace negotiations over Ukraine, spoke at a Rome conference on the “Spirit of Helsinki” Dec. 13 and called for “work for a new European peace conference,” according to Vatican News. Parolin said the Holy See “is ready to do everything possible to encourage this process.”
The forum was the conference on “Europe and War: From the Spirit of Helsinki to Prospects of Peace,” hosted in Rome by the Italian Embassy to the Holy See. Vatican News quoted Parolin speaking of the conference in terms of peace for all nations: “We need to imagine and build a new project of peace and international solidarity, reminding ourselves that many countries ask to be heard and represented. We need new rules for international treaties, courage to bet on peace and not on the ineluctability of war.” Parolin also said “It is terrifying that there is now talk of nuclear devices and atomic warfare as a possibility.”
The Cardinal Secretary of State again characterized the conflict in Ukraine as resulting from Russian aggression.
Islamic State Bombs China-Owned Hotel in Afghanistan
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—China yesterday advised its citizens to leave Afghanistan “as soon as possible,” after an Islamic State attack on a Chinese-owned hotel in Kabul left three dead assailants and a number of wounded Chinese. The IS group claimed credit for the attack on the Kabul Longan Hotel. According to AP, “at least two hotel guests [were] injured as they tried to escape by jumping out of a window.... Taliban forces rushed to the area and blocked all roads leading to the site.... However, the Emergency Hospital in Kabul said in a tweet Monday that it received 21 casualties, including the bodies of three people.”
On Dec. 13, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin called the attack “egregious in nature” and said China was “deeply shocked.” Beijing demanded a “thorough investigation” and urged the Taliban government “to take resolute and strong measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Afghanistan,” Wang said. “In view of the current security situation in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again advised Chinese citizens and institutions in Afghanistan to evacuate from Afghanistan as soon as possible.”
This attack is an attempt to put an end to Chinese economic activity in Afghanistan, including mining activity and ongoing discussions of extending the Belt and Road Initiative into the area. AP comments: “Chinese firms, with strong government backing, have tentatively sought to pursue opportunities in exploiting Afghanistan’s vast, undeveloped resource deposits, especially the Mes Aynak mine that is believed to hold the world’s largest copper deposit. In October, Taliban-appointed government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid highlighted China as a key part of Afghanistan’s economic development.”
COLLAPSING WESTERN SYSTEM
The Federal Reserve Has More Bad News for Other Nations’ Economies
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—Today’s actions of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve were bad news for the world economy—particularly the developing nations’ economies—and bad news for small and medium-sized businesses in the United States. The FOMC announced an increase of 0.5% in the federal funds rate, to the range of 4.25-4.5%. But in addition the so-called “dot-plot” of its members’ intentions for further increases in that rate averaged out to 5.1%, higher than in previous months’ meetings and indicating they planned to go up by almost another full percent. Finally, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in his press conference following the release, that the federal funds rate would have to be held at “restrictive levels” (restrictive of economic activity and particularly wage increases) “for some time into the future,” until the FOMC is collectively confident that the rate of inflation is returning to 2%!
This “higher for longer” formula means that the destructive effects of Fed policy on developing nations—rapidly increasing their debt burden, devaluing their currencies, and restricting or in extreme cases cutting off their imports—will continue and may get worse.
In the United States economy, the FOMC’s actions and statements caused the half-forgotten “prime rate” of interest to go to 7.5%, meaning that most loans for small and medium-sized firms will bear interest rates about 10% (prime rate plus 3%), for the first time in 15 years. Worse, small business loan costs will have doubled in one year, much as 30-year mortgage rates did in a matter of months this spring and summer. U.S. business investment will fall.
Arrest of Bankman-Fried Prevents Testimony to a Congress Considering His Bill
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—The CEO of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, was arrested in the Bahamas Dec. 12, after the U.S. announced it would file multiple charges including wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering; he is being held without bail as a flight risk by Bahamian authorities, on request of U.S. Department of Justice which seeks his extradition.
The incarceration blocked, at the last minute, Bankman-Fried’s testimony to the House Financial Services Committee’s Dec. 13 hearing, which was likely to have been followed by Senate testimony, that would have provided a “windfall of information coming from Bankman-Fried” that prosecutors could freely use, points out attorney Jonathan Turley’s blog. Turley says, “Yet, that still does not explain why the Justice Department would not want to hear a full account from Bankman-Fried before effectively shutting him down as a criminal defendant. This is the first time that I can recall where the prosecutors, rather than defense counsel, moved effectively to muzzle a defendant.” Bankman-Fried was the Democrats’ second-biggest contributor in the 2021-22 election cycle and partisan politicking would undoubtedly have made him talk about this during the hearings.
But it might also have been thought “politic” to avoid rubbing in the public’s noses that “Bankman-Fraud” initiated the crypto regulation legislation Congress is now considering. CNBC headlined this morning: “Congress Considers Crypto Consumer Protection Bill That Sam Bankman-Fried Backed Before FTX Collapse.” The Senate’s Debbie Stabenow-John Boozman bill, the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act, would seek to ban what is called “decentralized finance” (think Bitcoin) and make digital currencies be traded only on exchanges such as what FTX claimed to be. That would make clear that private digital currencies are securities. This is a necessary step to get to central bank-controlled digital currency.
Contagion from the FTX collapse seemed to be spreading to the other big crypto exchange, Binance, on Dec. 12-13, and it has had to block customers’ withdrawals.
Chaos Reigns in Peru; Support for Castillo a Trap for Ibero-American Presidents
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—Peru continues to be wracked by chaos and violence as protesters especially in the southern part of the country who demand the release of the jailed former President Pedro Castillo are blockading highways and committing acts of vandalism. Two days ago they invaded and shut down the airport in Arequipa, the country’s third largest, and threatened to take over the Cusco airport, causing authorities to close it down. In Lima, protesters tried to storm the national Congress building. Violence has taken the lives of at least seven people, most of them young teens.
Castillo, meanwhile, had said he would be released midday today, but a judge rejected his appeal for release. Late last night, prosecutors filed a request for 18 months of pre-trial detention and are reportedly seeking a three-year jail sentence.
Today, the government of interim President Dina Boluarte declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency which authorizes the National Police and the armed forces to deploy to restore public order and suspends citizens’ right to gather and move freely around the country. Police are allowed to search people’s homes without a warrant and a curfew may be imposed, according to Defense Minister Alberto Otarola. Boluarte is said to be considering moving elections up to December 2023 instead of April 2024, as she had previously announced.
But the dynamic of events in Peru is being driven from outside the country—think London and Washington—guaranteeing a polarization that extends beyond Peru to the rest of Ibero-America. Fanning tensions, on Dec. 8, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian A. Nichols jumped in to declare support for Boluarte one day after she was sworn in. “We applaud Peruvians as they unite in support of their democracy,” said Nichols, adding that “the U.S. welcomes President Boluarte and looks forward to working with her administration to achieve a more democratic, prosperous, and secure region.”
Many of Ibero-America’s “leftist Presidents”—Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico, Luis Arce in Bolivia, Alberto Fernández in Argentina, and Colombia’s Trojan Horse President Gustavo Petro—are defending Castillo, understandably thinking that they could be next on Washington’s hit list (as all but Petro are). This is a trap. No “rural schoolteacher,” Castillo is tied into the whole London-run indigenist movement and also to the Sendero Luminoso narco-terrorist apparatus. He is being deployed to help unleash left-vs.-right warfare across the region.
Contradictory statements from the leftist Puebla Group—a political forum made up of current and former Ibero-American and Spanish leaders—suggest that some of these leaders may be having second thoughts about defending Castillo, however. The Group’s Dec. 8 statement was at first critical of Castillo, criticizing him for the “poor use of his constitutional powers,” his rush to dissolve Congress, and offering their full support for Dina Boluarte. Then a Dec. 11 statement by the Mexican, Colombian, Bolivian and Argentine Presidents offered full support for Castillo and called for him to be reinstated. But yet another Puebla Group statement, also dated Dec. 11, makes no mention of reinstatement, but focuses on Boluarte’s “historic responsibility to set Peru on a democratic path” keeping in mind the “progressive project” which got Castillo elected.
Austria’s Strache Says Sanctions on Russia Are Producing ‘Mass Insolvencies and Bankruptcies’ in Europe
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—Former Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache is very vocal in his opposition to the current EU policy against Russia. In a Dec. 13 interview with RT, he said these policies could trigger a wave of “mass insolvencies and bankruptcies” in 2023, but that anyone who says anything about this “is branded and defamed as a Putin and Russia sympathizer and also as a traitor to Europe.”
Strache said: “We Austrians in particular should adhere to our neutrality and our neutrality status could also play a decisive mediating role here. So far, this has not been practiced.”
“Of course, the media in the European Union are silent about all this,” he continued. “And if you express criticism here today, you are often branded and defamed as a Putin and Russia sympathizer and also as a traitor to Europe....
“People are confronted with the catchphrase that they have to freeze for peace, and then you come to the conclusion: well, freezing doesn’t help, because unfortunately there is no peace ... and then you become unemployed and unemployment has not brought peace because there are no negotiation initiatives—people naturally find [this] very, very repulsive and very questionable.”
SCIENCE & INFRASTRUCTURE
Biden Boast on Fusion Breakthrough Comes from a Nuclear Weapons Program
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—The Dec. 5 experimental result at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) raises the issue of the fourth of Lyndon LaRouche’s four laws, and his Fusion Energy Foundation’s (FEF) approach to the most important scientific frontiers.
The result reported in an Energy Department/National Nuclear Security Agency press conference Dec. 13, followed by a technical panel of NIF team leaders, was an ignited plasma fuel with an output power gain of 50% over the input laser power—not 20% as had been reported in media leaks Dec. 12. This was a very large improvement over the August 2021 shot, which was a huge (25×) improvement over any previous experiments there. Moreover, Dec. 5 was the first net gain in the worldwide history of fusion power R&D.
The energetics of the experiment—which also make clear fusion energy will not be commercialized with this kind of set-up—were given as: “wall outlet power” for the laser array, 300 megajoules; laser input power delivered to the target fuel, 2.05 megajoules; output from ignited fuel, 3.15 megajoules. All in part of a nanosecond. (Note extremely low 0.6% power efficiency of the laser array.)
The key innovation which has probably advanced the NIF experiments of the past two years more than any other—namely, the use of an electric coil to surround the laser-imploded fuel pellet with a strong magnetic field as it explodes—was never mentioned by any director or team leader in the 75-minute presentation of the results. This, despite a Physical Review Letters article on just that subject published Nov. 4, 2022. The lead author and the innovation’s originator, John Moody, wrote, “The application of an external 26 Tesla axial magnetic field to a D2 gas-filled capsule indirectly driven on the National Ignition Facility is observed to increase the ion temperature by 40% and the neutron yield by a factor of 3.2 in a hot spot with areal density and temperature approaching what is required for fusion ignition.” This was written before the Dec. 5 experiment’s much better result.
Why did no one mention this? Perhaps it is irrelevant to the reason for existence of this inertial confinement fusion program at Livermore: To analyze U.S. nuclear warhead performance without nuclear weapons tests. The program will get $641 million in the Fiscal 2023 NDAA —by Chuck Schumer’s efforts according to him—while most fusion R&D now depends on private funds.
If a serious national fusion energy development program were launched, this successful step in “hybridization” of magnetic and inertial confinement fusion would be of great importance. (One might say the idea is “as old as the FEF,” or older.) But apparently not, if improving U.S. warheads for possible nuclear exchanges with other powers is the reason for the United States government funding fusion research.
Russia To Increase the Share of Nuclear Power in Its Grid
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak said Russia will increase the share of nuclear power in its grid from 20% to 25% by 2040. In an article for the Energy Policy magazine on Dec. 13, reported by RT, “Novak wrote that the growing trend of expanding the use of civilian nuclear energy can provide a powerful impetus to further improve the industry in Russia and build up its export potential. ‘Russia is already a leader in the global nuclear industry, possessing colossal technological and scientific potential in this area,’ Novak wrote.”
Novak said that nuclear is currently 20% of Russia’s total energy mix, “whereas in the European part [of Russia] it is almost 40%, this being the biggest source of clean energy in the country.” He also said that Russia’s share in the global market of low-power nuclear reactors would reach 20% by 2030.
U.S. POLITICAL & ECONOMIC
Here’s a Poll Worth Thinking About
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—A recent Gallup poll found that less than 1% of Americans consider Russia the top problem facing the United States—for the fifth month in a row! The mass media clearly think they know better, and are resolutely trying to convince Americans as to what they should be worrying about. But most Americans, curiously enough, are more concerned about their own government (19%), inflation (16%), and the economy (12%).
The Gallup poll further indicated that Americans are on the whole less satisfied with the direction of their country than at any time since 2011, with just 18% expressing optimism about where things are going.
ATTACKING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Celeste Sáenz of Mexico’s Journalists Club Threatened, Harassed
Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—On today’s broadcast of the Journalists Club of Mexico’s regular Voces del periodista (“Journalist Voices”) radio program, Celeste Sáenz de Miera, Secretary General of the Club, reported that she has become the victim of harassment and possible threats.
Sáenz has been an outspoken voice against neoliberal looting and NATO’s war with Russia. Just one week ago, during the awards ceremony for the Journalists Club’s 70th annual National and International Journalist Contest, she denounced Ukraine’s NATO-run Center for Countering Disinformation by name for its hit lists against reporters, operating as part of the drive to impose global censorship of dissenting views. The Schiller Institute and its founder, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, received the Club’s “Freedom of Expression from the Academic Realm” award at that ceremony.
Sáenz revealed that last weekend, drones flew over her home in the city of Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City. The police advised her that drones are not only used for spying, but they can also carry explosive material which they can drop.
She complained that the security personnel assigned to her have not complied with the protocol which they are required to scrupulously follow. She has also received telephone calls to her home from people identifying themselves as members of the National Guard, but from the state of Guerrero, which is very strange, since she lives in the state of Morelos.
Furthermore, the security cameras near her house are out of order and have not been repaired, even though this has been reported to authorities.
Sáenz has filed a complaint with the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes Committed against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE), which is specifically responsible for protecting journalists in Mexico, but the procedures that it has established for protecting journalists have yet to be effective—a protest raised several times during the Dec. 7 awards ceremony.
SBF arrested and a war. What a surprise. Just as we are about to find out all about COVID lies, Hunter Biden, Twitter files, a broken economy, bankruptcies from everywhere. I am not surprised. Citizens unite. Do not COMPLY.
SBF arrested and a war. What a surprise. Just as we are about to find out all about COVID lies, Hunter Biden, Twitter files, a broken economy, bankruptcies from everywhere. I am not surprised. Citizens unite. Do not COMPLY.
Whos down in Whoville are gathering in the square to sing.