EDITORIAL
Obama, the Maidan Führer, vs. Trump?
Where Does Europe’s Real Interest Lie?
by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, chairwoman of the German political party Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (BüSo)
[Print version of this editorial]
March 4—A New York Times article on March 1 demonstrates why the neoliberal, globalist politicians and media in Europe reacted with such amazing arrogance and shamelessness from the very beginning to the victory of the democratically elected U.S. President! In early Autumn, Obama had already begun to downgrade the intelligence classification of numerous dubious intelligence reports about the alleged manipulation of the American electoral process by Russia—reports partially based on British sources and for which there is absolutely no proof still today. This allowed him to maximize the number of people who had access to these reports. Analogous information was also given to European allies—and obviously to certain media.
That explains the unprecedented arrogance with which these circles—as if by pre-arrangement—were so confident that Trump would not serve his full term in the White House, and that “investigative journalists will now have a lot to do,” as the Tagesschau put it. “Will Donald Trump be murdered, overthrown in a coup, or only impeached?” wrote the British Spectator. The same note was struck by the editor of Die Zeit, Josef Joffe, who mused about “murder in the White House” on public broadcaster ARD’s Press Club program, and by French radio talk show host Karl Zéro in reviewing different murderous ways by which Trump could soon depart this life, on his daily program broadcast by French public radio, France Info.
The London Daily Mail cited an unnamed source—allegedly a friend of the family—saying that Obama wants to personally lead a campaign out of his new mansion in the Kalorama section of Washington, with the goal of removing Trump from the White House, whether through impeachment or resignation.
The Democratic Party repeats, mantra-like, its “narrative” that the supposed Russian hack-attacks were responsible for its defeat, instead of facing the fact that the catastrophic policies of Obama and Hillary Clinton toward “the deplorables” were the cause. Intelligence officials left over from Obama’s administration almost daily leak new wiretap recordings to the media, which are supposed to prove inappropriate relations between members of the Trump Administration and Russia. The latest example: conversations that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had with Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak as member of the Senate Armed Services Committee—talks that were a part of his job—are being used by the Democrats as further ammunition to demand Sessions’ resignation.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on the charges by “unnamed sources” that Kislyak was a spy and recruiter of spies, by saying that all of this reminds him of the Joe McCarthy period, and President Trump himself has spoken of it as an absolute witch-hunt against himself and his administration.
In fact, it is a new McCarthyite witch-hunt that the neoliberal Establishment on both sides of the Atlantic is orchestrating. It’s because Trump has shelved the entire system of “unipolar world” axioms that the United States has pursued since the beginning of the George W. Bush administration—as President Trump had just made clear in his address to a joint session of Congress on Februaty 28. Trump’s argument that one could have rebuilt the U.S. economy two or three times over with the $6 trillion that was spent on the wars in the Middle East, highlights the stark contrast.
The Imminent Financial Threat
But while the neoliberal European Establishment is dropping its democratic mask in an astounding manner and is obviously already speculating about a post-Trump era, it would do better to put its own house in order. The signs of a new, even more dramatic financial crisis than that of 2008, the return of the Greek crisis, the Italian banking crisis, the unpredictable outcomes of elections in many countries this year in which one or more countries might follow the Brexit example—the combination of all of these developments could very quickly call into question the very existence of the euro, and of the EU itself. But the EU governments are obviously just as unable or unwilling to abandon the policies that generated these crises, as the Democratic Party in the United States is, to accept the reasons for its defeat.
Five years after the famous statement of Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank (ECB), that he will do “whatever is necessary” to save the euro, the euro crisis is back in full force; but the central banks, with their quantitative easing and negative interest rates, have already shot their wad. The austerity policy of the Troika—the European Commission, ECB, and the IMF—toward Greece has ruined its economy and brought unspeakable suffering to the population. The stubborn refusal of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble to give Greece debt relief and the increasing desperation of the people of Italy, Spain, and Portugal—threaten to trigger the collapse of the global financial system. The Chinese daily, Global Times, which is close to the government, has warned of precisely that, and of its ramifications for China.
The Greek crisis is of course only one of many landmines that could detonate the trans-Atlantic financial system. In view of the 3.7 trillion euros that the ECB has frittered away over the last five years for the bankrupt European banking system, and of the U.S. government debt of $20 trillion, everything—not just Trump’s future—depends upon him fulfilling his election promise to reintroduce Glass-Steagall and thereby put an end the casino economy.
Banking separation—exactly as FDR carried it out in 1933—is only the first, indispensable step, which must be followed by the other three laws that, as a comprehensive, four-part package, Lyndon LaRouche has defined as necessary to overcome the crisis. The current monetarist policy must be replaced with a return to the American System of Economy in the tradition of Alexander Hamilton, the creation of a national bank and a credit system, and a massive upgrading of the productivity of industry, which can only be achieved with a crash program to develop thermonuclear fusion and international cooperation in space exploration. Resolutions to this effect have already been introduced into 11 state legislatures in the United States.
Even though one may not endorse the view of economics professor Mark Blyth, who thinks the EU could disintegrate in light of the upcoming electoral results in several countries—even before Great Britain activates Article 50 for the Brexit—it should be clear that a “keep it up” policy for the EU and the euro cannot function. Not surprisingly, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker offers nothing new in his White Book for solving the European crisis; his five scenarios are only variants of the same neoliberal geopolitical concepts.
The Alternative: Jump Aboard!
The alternative is as clear as day: The European nations must take up China’s offer of cooperation with the New Silk Road, called the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the last three years, this project has already totally changed the world dynamic: It has brought 70 nations into collaboration with China in the greatest infrastructure and development program in the history of mankind. Instead of trying to strike extremely dubious deals with Mediterranean countries, Mrs. Merkel should rather seize China’s offers to build up, along with other countries, the Middle East and the African continent, and thus to solve the refugee crisis permanently, and in a human fashion.
Apparently the blockheads of neoliberal politics are unable to do this. Finance Minister Schäuble insists on a pound of flesh; he will not even consider debt relief for Greece. China is not only expanding the port of Piraeus as a terminal for the New Silk Road, but is investing in upgrading the rail link from Athens through Belgrade to Budapest, to make it high-speed rail. And what is the EU Commission doing? It is trying to block this project!
It is high time that more and more people join with the BüSo in mobilizing for the true interests of Germany and the other European nations, which lie in cooperation with China, Russia, India, Japan, and other countries on this grand perspective which the New Silk Road has put on the agenda. It is absolutely not in our interest to participate in the witch-hunt against Trump or Putin, and we should be delighted that the new American President rejects wars of intervention.
We have to consider, above all, why large parts of the world find themselves in such a chaotic situation: The cause is the unipolar policy of Bush, Thatcher, Blair, Obama, and Cameron, including the imperial expansion of NATO and the EU up to the borders of Russia, the policy of regime change through color revolutions and wars in Eastern Europe, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa. That includes the neoliberal economic policy with its priority on the interests of the bankers and speculators, so that the Establishment will do better and better, while not even considering the “deplorables” worthy of being deplored.
As you can see, these neoliberals are perfectly illiberal, not to say dictatorial, when democratic majorities go against them.
Fortunately it is not too late to jump aboard of the train of the New Silk Road!
