This transcript appears in the August 17, 2018 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
[Print version of this transcript]
ZEPP-LAROUCHE WEBCAST
The Time Has Come
To End the Russiagate Fraud!
This is the edited transcript of the August 10, 2018 Schiller Institute New Paradigm webcast, an interview with the founder of the Schiller Institutes, Helga Zepp-LaRouche. She was interviewed by Harley Schlanger. A video of the webcast is available.
Harley Schlanger: Hello! I’m Harley Schlanger from the Schiller Institute. I welcome you to this week’s strategic briefing from founder of the Schiller Institutes, Helga Zepp-LaRouche.
In the past few weeks, we’re seeing growing battles, battles that are going to shape the future of the world. There are the tremendous potentials associated with the Belt and Road Initiative, with what we’ve called the Singapore spirit, and the optimism of the Trump-Putin Helsinki Summit. But we’re also seeing a really grinding battle in the United States over Russiagate, which took a new turn this week when President Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, very combatively attacked the entire Mueller operation, saying that this is going to be turned upside-down; it’s going to blow up against the accusers. We’re now seeing more revelations about the role of Christopher Steele and his British MI6 connections. So Helga, why don’t we start there? Incredible battles are taking place now, in the background, around Russiagate.
Russiagate: A British Intelligence Operation
Helga Zepp-LaRouche: I would say that the atmosphere in the United States has become so hysterical that one has the feeling of a showdown between the forces of the British Empire—the collusion between the Obama-administration heads of U.S. intelligence agencies with British intelligence—and Trump. This is escalating. There is a clear perception in the rest of the world, in Russia, in China, and even in North Korea. People there are making a very clear distinction between policies coming from President Trump and policies which come from high officials in his administration. The attacks are obviously designed to prevent Trump from pursuing his North Korea policy, and his policy with President Putin and Russia, and at the same time to promote escalating antagonism against China. All of this is extremely dangerous.
I think the only way to defeat those attacks is to do exactly what our colleagues in the United States have just done in publishing a new report, “Fish Stinks from the Head” I urge all our viewers, to get this report. Download it, read it, discuss it, and get it around as far as possible, because it documents exactly what is wrong with this apparatus. Not only did Giuliani say that this thing would blow up big, but also that it is not about Trump—it’s what they did. They, here, is the combination of the Obama intelligence people with the British. This will lead to a completely new Watergate and reform. But there is no guaranteed outcome. This is an ongoing British intelligence operation that is now being made more and more public.
The Hill newspaper in Washington had an article two days ago, reporting that Christopher Steele, who was fired by the FBI in November 2016 for leaking information to the media, subsequently had about 60 meetings with Bruce Ohr, then Deputy Attorney General. In an exchange of texts in August 2017, Steele offered to rejoin Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s operation to help speed up Mueller’s investigation. Rod Rosenstein, the present Deputy Attorney General, claimed that he did not know what Bruce Ohr had been doing during those 60 meetings with Christopher Steele. This is disgraceful misconduct, and it is all described in “Fish Stinks from the Head.”
I think the most important thing one can do to defend the Presidency against this coup attempt is to get this information in circulation as widely as possible. This is the battle of the century for mankind, because everything is heating up before the U.S. mid-term elections. Were the Democrats to win control of the House of Representatives, their first step would be to close down all Congressional investigations now occurring. Congressmen Bob Goodlatte and Trey Gowdy have just announced that they will subpoena everybody who has anything to do with the Christopher Steele operation this week.
That could turn the tide completely. I think the more people demand just such actions, and say things like Giuliani, the better the chances are of combatting the hysteria being created. Should the Democrats take control of the House, they would not only close down the investigations, but they would immediately go for impeachment, which could eventually restore the same apparatus that was there with Obama and Hillary. An unstoppable confrontation with Russia and China might then commence. So, there is really a lot at stake. I appeal to everyone listening: Mobilize and work with us to circulate the article as widely as possible.
Schlanger: This new article, “Fish Stinks from the Head,” is written by Barbara Boyd, who also wrote the original article on Mueller and his role going back to the 1980s in the “Get LaRouche” taskforce. This article, and its mass circulation, is just the latest example of the work we have been doing to expose the British connections—Richard Dearlove, Steele, and the penetration by this network of the Trump campaign through Brennan, Clapper, and Comey, among others.
Our organizing and publishing has been instrumental in getting Congress to act. I would add that the FISA warrant that Rep. Devin Nunes is still trying to get declassified is quite significant. Now there’s a push to get Trump, as Giuliani said, to declassify all the documents. We had called for the declassification of every document that had a connection to British intelligence. To reiterate your point Helga, if the British connection gets out, it can blow the whole thing up.
You mentioned the mid-term elections. What can, and should, be done? There are big problems in the Republican Party, including foreign policy toward Russia and China. Maybe we should go to that. What do you make of all these sanctions? This is part of the same battle, isn’t it?
Whither U.S. Foreign Policy?
Zepp-LaRouche: This problem comes from the neo-con element in the Trump administration. Just when Trump tries to get a decent relationship going with Russia, Trump is prevailed upon to impose new sanctions because of the so-called Skripal affair, for which there is, in fact, zero evidence. I think the Russian Foreign Ministry, on the contrary, provided a lot of information on the work of the British Empire and British intelligence. There has been zero proof that Russia was involved in the Skripal poisonings. The Russians are reacting to these new sanctions, which potentially target Russian banking internationally, quite a severe escalation. Prime Minister Medvedev reacted extremely sharply, saying that Russia has to regard the sanctions as a declaration of economic warfare, that Russia will have to take appropriate countermeasures, and that this could have unforeseeable consequences.
I think this is really playing with fire. Russia could go out of the dollar, and go for a completely different kind of financial system, which is one of the many mines which could blow up the entire system. This is really dangerous stuff. Look at the avalanche of sanctions—new sanctions against North Korea, despite the indications that North Korea is doing everything agreed upon between Trump and Kim; new sanctions against Iran; new sanctions against Turkey, over a detained American pastor—a measure completely out of proportion that can only drive Turkey further away from the West and into the dynamic of the BRICS. President Erdogan has already announced, in the context of the Johannesburg BRICS Summit, that Turkey wants to become a member of the BRICS and the BRICS should be called BRICST, with the T at the end for Turkey.
If someone wants to blow up the financial system and blow up NATO, then these actions driving Russia off dollar-denominated international commerce and driving Turkey into the BRICS may be precisely the right thing to do. I think these are very dangerous developments. In a lengthy interview with RT—regarded by some as the devil, but just a news organ, former U.S. diplomat Jim Jatras pointed to the fact that all these sanctions are just one step removed from breaking diplomatic relations and going to war. Indeed, if you look at the anti-Russia hysteria, and now a growing xenophobia, which the Chinese media have picked up on very clearly, I think this is very unhealthy. It’s crazy. In what world do these people think they live? What do they want to do to resolve this? Regime change in Russia, in China, in Iran? The only way to counter this is to say that if the United States wants to solve the economic problems, if an uncontrolled financial blow-out of the entire financial system is to be avoided, we need a Four-Power Agreement to create a New Bretton Woods system and implement the Four Laws of Lyndon LaRouche. For that to be successful, you cannot antagonize the very countries you need to make the kind of reforms which are a lifesaver for the whole civilization.
I urge, you, our audience, not to fall into this anti-Russia, anti-China hysteria, because it can only lead to a catastrophe. What we need instead is win-win cooperation with these countries. There is a lot of reason to be worried about achieving that cooperation, because even some of Trump’s supporters and some Congressmen who support Trump and who are working against the British coup, fall for the propaganda against Russia and China. In my view, this is based on very little knowledge about what these countries actually stand for. Again, I urge you not to fall into this hysteria, but to work with us for a New Bretton Woods system.
Dissent Disallowed
Schlanger: Just two additional notes on the anti-Russia sanctions. When it was announced two days ago that these new sanctions were being implemented by the U.S. government over the Skripal affair, Trump said nothing about it. The media and others were critical of Trump for not taking the lead in pushing this.
I think the other thing that’s important is a new Senate bill being worked on by the usual suspects—Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and Ben Cardin (who was very much involved in the Magnitsky Act). They are talking about new sanctions in response to allegations that Russia is preparing to intervene in the U.S. mid-term elections.
Now, this brings into view another facet of xenophobia. While polling shows that a healthy portion of the American population—in some cases 50%-60%—want discussions to go on with Russia, and they support Trump’s meeting with Putin, we’re now also witnessing the emergence of a much more aggressive thought police in the United States, attacking voices on the Internet and otherwise that speak out against the coup and in favor of the President. I wonder, Helga, if you have some thoughts on this Orwellian suppression of free speech?
Zepp-LaRouche: This is quite something, because it was the Atlantic Council that many months ago signed an agreement with YouTube to fish out all fake news, identifying it as Russian propaganda. So, when YouTube and Apple and some others closed down not only Alex Jones, but also an author from antiwar.com, from the Rand Paul Institute, this is all directed against,— Alex Jones for example, attacked Robert Mueller just before the shutdown occurred. Alex Jones has had 10 million viewers every month. In the last four weeks, he had 17 million viewers, 2.4 million on his YouTube channel.
This is a thought control. I can only hope that enough Americans will counter that and help to undo it. What kind of America will it be if there is only the official opinion—for example, that Russia was responsible for Trump’s victory in the 2016 election, or man-made climate change? There’s a whole series of formulas and dogmatic beliefs you have to have, but if you have a question, or maybe a different scientific opinion, well, you’d better get right with Big Brother.
The fact of the matter is that there are many scientists who have completely different views on why Earth’s climate changes, who look at climate from the standpoint of long-term cycles of the placement of the Solar system in our Galaxy, over millions and hundreds of millions of years, who point out that there has always been a cycle of ice ages, warming periods, small ice ages. The idea that it’s all due to CO2 emissions is questioned by many very serious scientists who have also proven that the way the statistics are being used is completely manipulated.
If you can’t have a scientific debate, then it’s the end of human creativity. This is worse than Goebbels; this is worse than the Stalin period. Where is democracy? Where is freedom of thought? YouTube and these other firms claim that they’re not bound by the First Amendment because they’re private corporations. This was the same argument, by the way, used by the Democratic Party against my husband in the election process, despite the fact that he had sufficient votes and delegates as a candidate, to be able to address the Democratic Party nominating convention. Then, the argument was that the Democratic Party is a private club!
When the people who hold up the banner of democracy and human rights and all of these—look at what they’re doing! They’re banning dissent! This is the thought police. This is absolutely Orwellian, and if this is not being fought but instead people submit to it, we are witnessing it the end of free America. People should really not let that happen.
Schlanger: Another way thought control occurs is by keeping the American people completely ignorant of what you, Helga, been focussed on for the last two decades, really, which is the global movement for the Belt and Road Initiative, the World Land-Bridge, and so on. There’s quite a bit going on with that, following the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg South Africa.
World Is Larger than Dreamed by Geopoliticians
Zepp-LaRouche: It’s almost that you have two universes. Because of the leadership of the BRICS—especially China, but also Russia—there is a change in the dynamic on the African continent, there is a new motion forward.
I think we mentioned this already, but it’s really important to reiterate: Because of the New Silk Road Spirit, the idea that you replace geopolitical confrontation with a “win-win cooperation” for joint ventures, for joint economic infrastructure projects, for joint science cooperation, and cultural exchanges, you have right now a changed political climate where, for example, there is a realistic chance, for the first time since Partition in 1947, that the conflict between India and Pakistan can be settled; you have a very exciting dynamic among the different countries of the Horn of Africa. Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia have all started diplomatic relations with each other, and this is due to the Chinese railroad building between Djibouti and Addis Abeba. For the first time, there is economic development and hope. And this is also going on in many other African countries.
I made the point last week that more dangerous than fake news is the censorship by the mainstream media in not reporting on these positive developments. I made the reference to the 1920s and 1930s in Germany, when, because of the Versailles Treaty, because of the Great Depression, unemployment, right/left confrontations, because of World War II, people fell into a complete cultural pessimism. They were unrooted, they didn’t see any options for the future, and this is why the Nazis could take power.
I made the point that there is a widespread cultural pessimism today in many of the Western countries, including in the United States. Life-expectancy, the clearest economic parameter if an economy is doing well or not, is going down. You now have this unbelievable drug epidemic—so many people have a hard time seeing any potential for a positive change for their lives in the future.
Trump promised that he would bring such a change, and hopefully he is doing this; he has done incredible things already, considering the opposition he’s up against. In Germany, the mainstream media also do not report about the positive things happening in the developing nations. Most Germans think there’s nothing that can be done anyway, and so they are falling again into mass cultural pessimism. This is very dangerous. Were people to see the chance for development of Africa, for the reconstruction of Southwest Asia, well, then, young people would want to become engineers, teachers, doctors, scientists. They would, once again, have hope. But when they only hear in the mainstream media negative news and no vision for the future, then the danger is that they will fall into cultural pessimism and go for really bad options.
I think this is something to be aware of. I encourage people: If YouTube is shutting down certain speakers, you still have the possibility to go to Internet sites of African nations, of Latin American nations, of Russia, China, and make your own judgment: Do not go by what they try to serve you. If you know what to look for, that there is a new world economic order emerging, then you can also verify it yourself—it takes a little bit of work. And, you should help us to spread this webcast, because we’re trying to address the issues which are not being addressed otherwise.
Help us get this webcast known among your friends and colleagues and relatives. Let’s work together against the efforts of the fake news to keep the people in Europe and the United States in the “Valley of the Clueless.” That was the formulation used to describe the people in Dresden during the time of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). People in East Germany would always listen to West German TV and radio, but because Dresden was situated in a valley, its people couldn’t tune in to these broadcasts, and therefore were called the people in the “Valley of the Clueless.”
And that is the condition of many Americans and Europeans now, because listening only to the mainstream media provides no chance, or almost no chance, to get a realistic picture of what the world really looks like.
Space Force vs. the Power of Great Ideas
Schlanger: A lot of what you’re describing is the ongoing fight between the emerging New Paradigm and the desperate attempt to hold onto the old paradigm. One area where this fight is clear is in space, where you have an enormous potential—African countries linking up with China; the Russians working with countries, Vietnam, India.
And yet, the idea of a Space Force, a new, sixth military command, concerned with and operating in outer space, was put forward yesterday in the United States, which is being portrayed as a “war against Russia and China.” Is that how the Russians and the Chinese see this announcement by Vice President Pence?
Zepp-LaRouche: Yes. I think especially the Chinese responded very strongly. I’m sure there will be some Russian statements coming as well. What the Chinese basically said, was that militarizing space is completely unacceptable, that it was clear to all the nations so far that space is to be a peaceful place, and that this reflects an effort by the United States to control the world, to have hegemony over the world.
Now, this must not be the last word. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, when you had the intermediate-range missile crisis between the Soviet SS-20s and the U.S. Pershing 2s, my husband developed a program which was later called the Strategic Defense Initiative, to make sure that in that time, the United States and the Soviet Union would work together to make nuclear weapons obsolete, through cooperation in space.
That potential still exists, but requires a slightly different approach. In any case, it was admitted that the Space Force is not effective against the Kinzhal, Russia’s new hypersonic missile
So there is an incredible tension right now, between those forces who still want to stick to the unipolar world, a world which de facto no longer exists. As I have said many times, the dynamic expressed with the BRICS and the Global South countries working together to overcome underdevelopment, is in my view unstoppable, except by World War III. I mean, blowing up civilization settles that matter. But nobody would be the winner, including those who push such a crazy policy.
It is still possible to overcome all of the tensions by finding a solution on a higher level, a New Paradigm, win-win cooperation. But it will require that the United States clearly accept the fact of this new dynamic, and that even if you want to destroy it, you cannot.
Just take the fact that China has been the leading nation of the world for many centuries, and all it is doing right now is saying that it wants to have, again, a status as a world leader, with great power relationships which makes it an equal partner of the United States and others, and that China does not want to replicate the U.S. hegemonic model. If you take India and China together, the two most population-rich countries in the world, they have together 2.6 billion people. India also is on a very ambitious path, to cooperate with China now in Africa. Japan, too, wants to work with China to develop Africa.
If you think you can stop that, I think you are completely absurd and are operating with outmoded thinking. Looking at the long arc of history, when mankind finally controls and deploys thermonuclear fusion, mankind will have security in raw materials and energy for practically the indefinite future. We are at a major branching point in our history. However, if we try to stick to the status quo, which is already not defendable any more, it can only lead to a disaster.
What we need is a new thinking. I have always called it the thinking of the “coincidence of opposites,” the higher level of the one humanity, what Xi Jinping calls the “community of a shared future for mankind.”
We need this kind of new thinking, the total counter to the present anti-Russia and anti-China hysteria. Once again, if you are not already doing so, I urge you to start thinking this way, because it’s the human way. We are one human species. The astronauts always say, if you look from a space station down to the Earth, you see the one humanity and you see how fragile our little blue planet is, and you don’t think in terms of world war and geopolitical control; you think about what you can do to make sure the Earth is not hit by a meteor. One hit Greenland the other day—another reminder that we had better concentrate on these common aims of mankind.
Help us stem this tide of thought police and crazy efforts by geopoliticians to go for confrontation. Let’s have a different approach: Diplomatic solutions are always possible, dialogue. There is no problem on this planet which cannot be solved through dialogue and diplomacy. War must never again be a means of political conflict resolution. Clausewitz is dead.
Schlanger: [laughs] Well, two things you can do immediately after watching this webcast: 1. Join the Schiller Institute, to become part of the group of thinkers that is changing the world, and 2. Order your own copy of The New Silk Road Becomes the World Land-Bridge, Vol. II, to give you the details that you need so that you can be a thoughtful leader of people around you, to help them also understand exactly this New Paradigm.
Helga, we’ve covered a lot. Is there anything else you want to add?
Zepp-LaRouche: I want all of you to become more active—this is showdown time. If things go wrong, we could be really in a terrible crisis, much worse than it is now. However, if we defeat this coup, then the United States will be a very beautiful place.