GEOPOLITICAL NEWS & VIEWS
from Executive Intelligence Review + Vanessa Beeley in Damascus, Syria + iEarlGrey in St Petersburg, Russia (8th February 2023)
Stop This Drive Towards a Two-Front Global War!
Feb. 7, 2023 (EIRNS)—The national rally against “the war machine” being organized for Feb. 19 before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., is coming none too soon.
War against one nuclear power is not enough. The State Department announced this week that it is busy organizing a “coalition of like-minded countries” to work in “lock-step” to confront China, citing the example of the “coalition of like-minded countries” which Press Spokesman Ned Price bragged again that the Biden administration organized against Russia—which has brought us already to the brink of nuclear war.
And now we are to prepare to confront a second nuclear power over high-altitude balloons, which the U.S. government raves are floating “over five continents”?
Look for a moment at how the situation looks through China’s eyes. Russia and China are treated in U.S. strategic policy documents as adversaries to be contained or derailed. The Chinese hear U.S. military and civilian officials repeat that the goal of the war in Ukraine is the “strategic defeat” of Russia. The pace of U.S. naval sorties near China picks up. Neighboring Japan is welcomed as a partner of NATO, and Japanese media now report that the U.S. is discussing an agreement to install long-range, even hypersonic missiles on Japanese territory. High-level Pentagon officials publicly report that they are preparing for war with China, and an Air Force general sends a memo to his troops advising them to get their family and legal matters in order, because they will likely be fighting China by 2025—and he is not cashiered. China sees such U.S. diplomats as Victoria “Maidan coup” Nuland deploy, one after the after, to organize provocations and opposition to China from the countries along China’s Himalayas border.
There was cautious hope in China that the November 2022 agreement between Presidents Biden and Xi Jinping, that differences between the United States and China should be handled carefully through hard diplomatic work so as to avoid conflict, was a counter policy to the “war machine.” Now that agreement is “on hold,” while an international anti-China coalition is hyped up around a Chinese high-altitude balloon which Gen. Glenn VanHerck, head of NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, admits that the Pentagon was aware of days before the scare propaganda started, and that it was his assessment “that this balloon did not present a physical military threat to North America.”
This is a policy in search of an incident—and that policy is gambling on provoking and winning showdowns with two nuclear powers.
This insanity comes at the same time that the devastation in Türkiye and Syria from two back-to-back earthquakes cry out for humanity to join together and cooperate on saving lives! And what does the U.S. government do? President Biden and the State Department refuse to lift the brutal sanctions the U.S. has imposed for years on Syria—and any nation which seeks to help or trade with that nation—in the name of protecting the Syrian people.
These crimes against humanity are too much. The Schiller Institute has issued a call, demanding that the sanctions be lifted. The Middle East Council of Churches, representing all the various Christian denominations in that region, urge that sanctions be lifted. From within the United States, former state senator Col. (ret.) Richard Black issued a biting statement today against this criminal policy.
Statements—and actions—from other Americans must follow, demanding that this policy end. People from some 50 countries who participated in the Schiller Institute’s Feb. 4 conference, “The Age of Reason or the Annihilation of Humanity?,” showed the fighting spirit which is beginning to break out in the United States as well, to overturn this genocidal policy of unending war, leading to nuclear war. Join us, in building the upcoming Feb. 19 rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, and sister rallies in numerous cities across the United States, Europe, and Ibero-America.
• Watch Harley’s Updates with Harley Schlanger on Wednesday February 8, 2023: Every weekday morning on The LaRouche Organization, Schlanger will give you the strategic briefing you need to start your day.
STRATEGIC SHOWDOWN
U.S. State Department Organizing a ‘Coalition of the Willing’ Against China over Balloons
Feb. 7, 2023 (EIRNS)—State Department press spokesman Ned Price told reporters Monday that it is way too soon to talk about when Secretary of State Blinken’s dialogue with China will be taken up again, because the U.S. is busy “consulting with a broad array of like-minded countries” on joint steps to take against this latest “challenge” from China: “high-altitude surveillance balloons,” he alleged, are floating “across five continents.”
Reminiscent of the language used in building the coalition against Russia in the run-up to Feb. 24, 2022, Price spoke about “working in lockstep” with U.S. allies against China. “Other regions of the world have also been subjected to these brazen violations of sovereignty as well. We think it’s important in the first instance that we share as much as we can, because these are challenges that many of us have and will continue to have to confront together,” he said. The “like-minded countries around the world” need to “do what we can to see to it that, as an international community, we’re speaking very clearly to the PRC to underscore that it’s irresponsible, it’s inappropriate, and at the end of the day it is unacceptable.”
Indeed, the catchword of the day was that China is the one taking “reckless, irresponsible, inappropriate action,” not the U.S. using F-22 fighter jets to shoot down a balloon.
Price solemnly repeated the litany about how the U.S. “has been very clear that we seek lines of communication and lines of dialogue to remain open” with China, while reporting that the U.S. had not provided China any advance warning that the U.S. was going to shoot down the balloon, but notified them “after the fact.” So much for “lines of communication.”
Question: Where does this leave the U.S.-China relationship?
Answer: “We’ve always been clear-eyed about this relationship. We know it’s the most consequential, we know it’s the most complex relationship we have in all of our bilateral relationships. We suspect it’s also the most consequential and complex bilateral relationship on the face of the Earth,” blah, blah, blah.
But, as he repeated over and over, “now we are focused on coordinating closely with our allies and partners, sharing information, comparing notes, making sure that they understand the information that we have in our possession, they understand the basis for our actions, and that they understand the brazen nature of this violation of our sovereignty, violations of sovereignty that are not unique to us, that have taken place across countries and across regions around the globe. So that’s going to continue to be our focus in the coming days.”
Anglo-American Media Goad China To Retaliate after ‘Balloon Affair’
Feb. 7, 2023 (EIRNS)—Western media pounded Chinese Foreign Ministry press spokeswoman Mao Ning on Monday about the balloon affair, with idiotic questions such as the Wall Street Journal’s “To your knowledge, are there any other balloons in the world that currently the government or China has lost control of?,” and Bloomberg’s “Why is China having so much trouble controlling weather balloons?”
Two questions sounded hopeful that China might respond to the war hawks in kind. Britain’s warhawk Sky News asked: “The eyes of the world are now on China, as you know, following the shooting down of that balloon. Does China recognize how dangerous this moment could be? And with that in mind, should it avoid tit-for-tat escalations, especially if the debris gathered shows that the balloon was spying?”
The New York Times wanted to know: “Is China taking the position that it reserves the right to shoot down unmanned aircraft that fly across its borders without permission, or is China taking the position that it is wrong to shoot down unmanned aircraft that fly across borders without permission?”
Mao Ning did not take that bait. She stressed that the U.S. use of force “on a strayed unmanned civilian airship ... violates customary international practice,” and that the U.S. had gone ahead with the use of force despite China’s “repeated communication with the U.S..... This is a clear overreaction. The Chinese side is firmly opposed to that. The U.S. side needs to stop pushing the envelope and stop escalating or exacerbating the situation. The Chinese side will respond as necessary in light of the development of the situation.”
The Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Feb. 5, following the shooting down of the balloon, which was reportedly delivered personally to the U.S. Embassy the following day by Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng. That démarche reads:
“China strongly disapproves of and protests against the U.S. attack on a civilian unmanned airship by force. The Chinese side has, after verification, repeatedly informed the U.S. side of the civilian nature of the airship and conveyed that its entry into the U.S. due to force majeure was totally unexpected. The Chinese side has clearly asked the U.S. side to properly handle the matter in a calm, professional and restrained manner. The spokesperson of the U.S. Department of Defense also noted that the balloon does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground. Under such circumstances, the U.S. use of force is a clear overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.
“China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company concerned, and reserves the right to make further responses if necessary.”
Japan and U.S. Reportedly Talking about Stationing Long-Range Missiles on Kyushu
Feb. 7. 2023 (EIRNS)—According to a Feb. 5 report published by Reuters based on a story run in Japan’s Sankei Shimbun, Washington has suggested deploying medium-range missiles in Japan as part of a plan to ostensibly bolster defenses against China along the East and South China Seas. The deployment of U.S. forces in Japan may include long-range hypersonic weapons and Tomahawks, the newspaper reported, adding, without citing sources, that Tokyo is poised to start serious discussion toward accepting the deployment. Japan’s southern island of Kyushu is mooted as one possible location for these missiles.
China took notice. Chinese military analysts warn that the plan poses a serious threat to regional countries, including China, North Korea, and Russia, Global Times responded in a Feb. 6. article headlined: “China Could ‘Make Strategic Response’ If U.S. Deploys Medium-range Missiles in Japan.”
Song Zhongping, a well-known Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told Global Times that if the plan is eventually carried out, it means that the U.S. intends to further damage regional peace and security, and is actually planning military interventions to disrupt China’s reunification process in the future. “New deployment of U.S. missiles in Japan will not only pose a threat to China, but also to North Korea and Russia in the region. China is right to take strategic action to respond if such a provocative and dangerous act is made by the U.S.,” Song stated.
While Washington intends to deploy new weapons for U.S. forces in Japan, Tokyo is also planning to purchase Tomahawk missiles from the U.S. and is developing its own hypersonic missiles, according to media reports, Global Times adds. It reflects the U.S. and Japan’s obvious scheme to militarily contain China, and their intention to interfere in the Taiwan question by force, analysts said.
China’s Himalayas Borders Targetted by Anglo-American Troublemakers
Feb. 7, 2023 (EIRNS)—Last November, imperialists at Britain’s neocon Council for Geostrategy outlined a “geopolitical strategy for the Himalayas” to foment trouble along China’s borders in that area. Once again, we find the U.S. carrying out British instructions. Consider the following summary timeline of U.S. “diplomatic” deployments to Central and South Asia since 2023 began:
Jan. 7: National Security Council Senior Director for South Asia Rear Adm. Eileen Laubacher arrived in Bangladesh for a four-day visit. Aligning Bangladesh with the U.S.’s Indo-Pacific Strategy was widely reported to top her agenda. Bangladesh has increasingly turned to China for infrastructure investment and trade. Local press speculated that Laubacher was laying the groundwork for winning Bangladesh over, and perhaps establishing a U.S. base there.
Jan. 12-13: Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, infamous as the official who delivered U.S. orders to Pakistan to oust its Prime Minister Imran Khan, visited India. He brazenly promoted new border conflicts between India and China, telling NDTV while in New Delhi: “We have not seen China take good faith steps to resolve the border issue. In fact, quite the opposite, with aggressive Chinese moves, most recently, in India’s Northeast. In 2020, when the Galwan Valley clash happened, the U.S. was the first to criticize Chinese aggression and offer support to India. The U.S. will continue to stand with India.”
Jan. 14-15: Secretary Donald Lu visited Bangladesh. Local press reports that containing China and the U.S. anti-China Indo-Pacific Strategy was high on his agenda.
Jan. 30: Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland deployed to Nepal for “marathon meetings.” She told journalists afterwards that she had (1) warned Nepal’s officials against “autocrats trying to change the global rules”; and (2) informed them that “Nepal can have an economic relationship with all of your neighbors” (how white of you, ’Toria!), but they had better protect their sovereignty and avoid deals that are not “open and transparent,” as U.S. officials label Chinese investments. (The U.S. is so protective of Nepal’s sovereignty, that in 2022, Lu threatened that if Nepal’s Parliament did not approve the U.S. “offer” of a Millennium Challenge Corporation infrastructure grant, which some Nepalese MPs viewed as a foot in the door for a U.S. military base, that U.S. relations with Nepal would be called into question.)
Jan. 31: Nuland held meetings in India. Here, she was publicly more diplomatic than in Nepal, although the anti-China “Indo-Pacific Strategy” was high on her agenda. Before leaving on this Asian trip, Nuland had told U.S. Senators she would be pressuring India on its military and trade ties with Russia.
Feb. 1: Now in Sri Lanka, Nuland returned to public attacks on China, demanding that Beijing “do its share” in bailing out Sri Lanka’s debts, so it could pay off its Western creditors (BlackRock, etc.).
COLLAPSING WESTERN SYSTEM
Washington’s Sanctions Are Suppressing Syrian Response to Earthquake Devastation
Feb. 7, 2023 (EIRNS)—Rescue and recovery efforts in northern Syria, devastated by the same major Feb. 5 earthquake centered near Ganziatep that struck wide areas of southern Türkiye, are facing great difficulties as a result of the 12 years of war and brutal economic sanctions imposed on the country by the U.S. and its European allies. Syria’s Foreign Ministry issued an appeal to UN member states and to the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent and other international organizations to help the efforts of the Syrian government to face the human catastrophe, and quickly, so the government can rescue those who are still trapped under debris.
The Biden administration has responded to Syria’s appeal by declaring that it will not work with the Syrian government, which has been the target of a U.S. regime-change policy since the Obama administration. Instead, the U.S. will only work with “U.S.-supported humanitarian partners.” State Department spokesman Ned Price cynically repeating Washington’s lies to reporters about the Damascus administration: “I will make the point that it would be quite ironic, if not even counterproductive, for us to reach out to a government that has brutalized its people over the course of a dozen years now—gassing them, slaughtering them, being responsible for much of the suffering that they have endured.”
Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen news service reported that whereas several Western countries mobilized rapidly to send aid and rescue workers to Türkiye, they have decided to exclude Syria and neglect it, offering only condolences and expressing their readiness to support the affected Syrians, in what Al Mayadeen called “a clear act of hypocrisy and double standards.”
“Due to the war that weakened the infrastructure in Syria, the draconian Western sanctions imposed on the country, the U.S. occupation of some Syrian land, as well as the looting of billions of dollars of its resources, Syria is unable to fully respond to the tragic catastrophe. As a result, the number of victims of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake is on the rise,” Al Mayadeen reports. “It is noteworthy that in 2020, then-U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law the so-called Caesar Act, under which Congress authorized severe economic sanctions against Syria. In accordance with the sanctions, anyone doing business with the Syrian authorities is potentially exposed to travel restrictions and financial sanctions.”
Independent journalist Vanessa Beeley posted a report from Bashar Murtada on her Telegram channel yesterday: “International cargo planes are unable to land at Syrian airports as a result of the U.S. blockade, and countries require Syrian airlines to transport aid on board their civil planes!!!
“As is well known, the so-called Caesar Act comes in the context of practicing economic terrorism and it is considered one of the most dangerous types of crimes against humanity.”
Beeley posted another statement from a Aleppo businessman Fares Shehabi: “Lift your God damned sanctions so we can open our airports to receive international aid..! In Aleppo alone more than 50 buildings have been destroyed resulting in more than 160 deaths so far and thousands of injuries. Thousands of families are now without shelter! What kind of evil governments pose economic & travel sanctions on earthquake devastated nations..?!”
By late Tuesday in the region, the death toll in Syria had exceeded 1,800 people, with more than 4,200 injured, and the numbers are rising.
Col. Richard Black on Blood-Curdling U.S. Refusal To Aid Syrian Earthquake Disaster Victims
Feb. 7, 2023 (EIRNS)—Col. Richard Black (ret.) issued the following statement today in response to the U.S. refusal to provide any assistance to Syria in response to the horrendous earthquake which struck northern Syria and southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, admitting that its policy was an act of vengeance against Syria’s rejection to submit to the U.S. regime-change war and sanctions imposed on their country for the past 12 years. Colonel Black was Marine combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam and an officer with the Army Judge Advocate General Corps, who headed the Army’s Criminal Division at the Pentagon. He later served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and the state Senate. His statement:
“On Monday, there was a terrible earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria. It was a 7.8 on the Richter scale; a shallow earthquake that was very damaging. It has hit Syria’s second largest city, Aleppo, and done enormous damage and created many casualties. The Biden administration has sent aid to Türkiye, has reached out to them, has aid workers going there. However, the United States State Department chose this time of death and suffering to make a very antagonistic statement towards the people of Syria. There was a fellow, Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, who said, ‘I will make the point that it would be quite ironic, if not even counterproductive, for us to reach out to a government that has brutalized its people over the course of a dozen years now—gassing them, slaughtering them, being responsible for much of the suffering that they have endured.’
“I have got to tell you, I have never seen such a barbaric response to a tragedy where you literally have people in Aleppo city, Syria who are looking up at piles of concrete, their lives are coming to an end, they’re freezing in the cold. They’re there without food, without water, and they’re dying. Meanwhile, the State Department takes that opportunity to re-emphasize the fact that we are bitter because we could not impose our will on the Syrian people.
“It was in 2020 that the United States imposed the Syria sanctions out of anger at the fact that Syria had driven back the ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorists that the United States had supported, and was trying to overwhelm the government with. So, now the State Department looks at this as an opportunity to simply ratchet up the regime of starvation and freezing that we have imposed on Syria through the cruel Caesar sanctions.
“I’m quite disgusted by the actions of the United States State Department. It is really unbecoming of any civilized nation that they would choose this moment to take out their vengeance on the poor suffering people of Syria. Thank you.”
Colonel Black’s video statement is also available on the Schiller Institute website.
Middle East Council of Churches Demands Immediately Lifting Sanctions against Syria
Feb. 7, 2023 (EIRNS)—The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) called yesterday for the immediate lifting of sanctions imposed on Syria. They charge that the current blockade has prevented their organization from carrying out relief operations for the earthquake throughout the country. “We urge the immediate lifting of sanctions on Syria and allowing access to all materials, so sanctions may not turn into a crime against humanity,” said the attendees of the Council in a statement. They “called on the international community and the international Ecumenical family to provide urgent emergency aid to the region, in coordination with the Middle East Council of Churches, the Churches, and their affiliated institutions.”
For their part, “despite their limited resources as a result of the blockade, all the Churches in the Middle East have put their resources at the disposal of the affected and displaced people due to the earthquake, since the first moments of the disaster.”
The churches “will spare no effort in doing all they can to relieve their pain and lead them towards prosperity and progress,” continued the statement, stressing that the Churches in the Middle East “always support their people.”
Founded in 1974, the MECC is headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, and includes the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Evangelical Churches, and the Catholic Churches of the region.
Oil Price Cap Is Backfiring Against Europe
Feb. 7, 2023 (EIRNS)—Petroleum products may rise in cost by 20-30% in the next few months, now that the European Union has agreed on a price ceiling for Russian petroleum products, Russian financial analyst Vladislav Antonov told Izvestia. Previously, Europe bought petroleum products from Russia directly, but now it will have to do so via oil refineries in India, China, and other countries. The increase in logistical constraints will significantly affect the prices, Antonov pointed out.
On Feb. 3, the EU set the maximum price for premium-to-crude products at $100/barrel and the maximum price for discount-to-crude products at $45/barrel. From now on, Europe will not only be forced to buy petroleum products from resellers at a higher price, but also may face a deficit in diesel as motor fuel, as well as naphtha as a material for oil refining and liquefied petroleum gas, warns Dmitry Gusev, Deputy Chairman of the Reliable Partner association that brings together energy producers and sellers. “Given European industries have shrunk amid the energy crisis and amid a relatively minor risk of oil deficit, LPG supplies will likely come from the United States, while diesel and naphtha imports from India and China will cause a spike in prices and pose shortage risks,” Gusev said.
SCIENCE & INFRASTRUCTURE
Rosatom Has 10 Countries Interested in Nuclear Reactors
Feb. 7, 2023 (EIRNS)—Interfax, citing Alexei Likhachev, the head of Russia’s state nuclear company, Rosatom, in an interview with the Rossiya- 24 TV, reports that Rosatom, is currently in talks with about 10 countries on building nuclear power plants, with three or four of them being already close to concluding an intergovernmental agreement.
“Up to approximately 10 other countries are in talks with us about launching joint business with regard to construction of nuclear power plants. And in three or four cases we are close to signing intergovernmental deals,” Likhachev said, naming Bangladesh, India, Egypt, China, and Türkiye among the countries interested in new projects. Rosatom’s book of overseas nuclear plant construction projects comprised 35 power units at the end of 2021.
Reach the source at www.larouchepub.com
Today's harrowing report from Al Jazeera in Turkey:
https://youtu.be/NoKwnkeo5CU
This fuckery and hell will end when THE PEOPLE end it.
Until then, it's a free-for-all for the various Evil Leadership to try and take out as many human beings as is possible, however they can... More 5G towers going up, more squeezing of food supplies, more generally nastiness, and now they want to kill great swaths of us in actual war...
WE CAN STOP THIS INSANITY WHENEVER WE WANT TO. We only need numbers. And to get numbers, we only need a hard-core percentage of ACTIVISM. Let's go, Stackers. This is OUR JOB.