BANKERS' DICTATORSHIP IMPOSED:
EU 'Junta' Carries Out
Regime Change in Italy
by Claudio Celani
Nov. 11—In a 2001 visit to Italy, Lyndon LaRouche answered a question on the newly established European Monetary Union by warning that the euro would be "a large road covered with corpses of member nation-states." This prophecy is sadly becoming a reality, as Italy, after Greece, has been subjected to a "regime change," and a brutal deflationary policy as a condition to "save the euro."
LaRouche's forecast has been borne out with horrible precision. The British imperial financial system, which spawned the European Union, has used it to systematically destroy the sovereignty of nations, in the service of sucking out the loot that it requires in an attempt to save its banking system. Of course, the bankruptcy crisis of the financial empire simply gets worse and worse—it cannot be "solved" by the imposition of a financial dictatorship, no matter how brutal. Massive unemployment, skyrocketing debt, and outright genocide as a result of budget cuts and economic collapse, are already the result throughout Europe.
Dictatorship for All
The reality is that this usurious international financial system is dead, and cannot be revived. But the London-based financial oligarchy will brook no opposition, no matter what the cost in human lives. Thus, referenda by nations opposing an EU dictatorship have either not been held, or ignored. The debts of some of the world's most predatory banks, such as members of the Inter-Alpha Group, have been foisted on one nation after another—to the point of forcing them onto their knees for bailouts. Ireland, then Greece, then Portugal, then Spain: All came under the EU yoke, which meant enforced poverty, and political instability.
Indeed, no government is immune, including the allegedly strong core countries of France and Germany.
The aim, as Helga Zepp-LaRouche has repeatedly pointed out, and fought against, is a Europewide government, which will rule from Brussels, in the interest of the supranational financial interests. National constitutions will be thrown aside, as has already been begun, as demanded by former European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet.
In his farewell speech Oct. 19, Trichet was explicit:
"As I already said, would it be too bold, in this future Economic and Monetary Union ... to envisage also an executive branch? Not necessarily a Ministry of Finance that administers a large federal budget. But one that would exert direct responsibilities in at least three domains: first, the rigorous surveillance of both fiscal policies and competitiveness policies with the capacity, in exceptional cases, to take decisions immediately applicable in a particular economy that puts the euro area financial stability in danger [i.e., a fiscal policeman with law enforcement powers]; second, all the typical responsibilities of the executive branches as regards the union's integrated financial sector, so as to accompany the full integration of financial services [read: forget Glass-Steagall]; and third, the representation of the union in international financial institutions."
Such a development in Europe is not, of course, just a European matter. The global system is totally integrated, and the U.S. government itself, run by British puppet Obama, has already committed trillions to supporting it, and major European financial institutions specifically. On the other side, it is the U.S., once British control is removed, that represents the hope for the liberation of Europe from this new financial dictatorship, by the restoration of the principles of national banking embedded in the American Constitution, and especially the 1933 Glass-Steagall law.
Terror Tactics
As of this writing, all bets are that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will announce his resignation on Nov. 12, after which State President Giorgio Napolitano will appoint Mario Monti, a technocrat, who has been a EU Commissioner and a Goldman Sachs advisor, as the "economic hit-man" who will implement a blood-and-tears program of privatizations, and pension and labor "reforms" demanded by the EU.
The "regime change" has been forced upon Italy by terror tactics. Following the announcement of a referendum in Greece on the EU austerity package, financial markets launched a massive speculative attack on Italian bonds and bank stocks. On Nov. 1, the stock market in Milan fell 6.8%, with large banks, such as Intesa Sanpaolo, plunging 15.8%, and Unicredit 12.4%. More importantly, yields on ten-year bonds surged to 6.34%, one notch closer to the 7% threshold which is considered "unsustainable."
With the City of London leading the chorus, the EU demanded a government change in Italy, claiming that as long as Berlusconi remained as premier, the markets would punish Italy. On Nov. 9, yields raised to almost 7.5%, stocks fell, and Berlusconi's own holding, Mediaset, dropped 12%. According to some accounts, the attack on Mediaset was led by two funds, Black Rock and Mackenzie Cundill Investment. And according to the daily Milano Finanza, "rumors say that it was Goldman Sachs which triggered the Italian bond sales."
A Technocratic Government in the Wings
Finally, Berlusconi threw in the towel and announced that he would resign by the end of the week, once the Parliament voted the current "stabilization law," i.e., the bill containing all European Central Bank demands, except so-called structural reforms.
According to the Italian Constitution, when a government resigns, the State President (in this case, Giorgio Napolitano), explores the possibility of a new parliamentary majority, and appoints a new prime minister, according to indications coming from the anticipated majority. If the majority is unchanged from the previous government, the President can again appoint the outgoing premier (in this case, Berlusconi), or another person indicated by the same majority. If he finds no majority, he dissolves Parliament and calls for early elections. Affairs are then run by a caretaker government, usually led by the outgoing prime minister.
None of these procedures were followed in the current crisis. Instead, President Napolitano began organizing a new government even before Berlusconi's resignation. He appointed Monti, a former EU Commissioner, a chairman of the Trilateral Commission, and a former advisor of Goldman Sachs, a Senator for Life, in a clear political message. Today, Napolitano met Monti and discussed his Cabinet with him.
Napolitano has been plotting a EU bankers' government for Italy for months. As the euro crisis sharpened, the President pushed for an EU supranational government, an EU federal budget, and EU absorption of sovereign debts, including the issue of eurobonds to finance the debt. A former communist, Napolitano is among Italy's most pro-British politicians. He is a follower of European Federalists founder Altiero Spinelli, who, as early as 1944, wrote a manifesto calling for the United States of Europe to replace nation-states, which, Spinelli claimed, are intrinsically the cause for wars.
From 1999 to 2004, Napolitano was a member of the European Parliament, where he chaired the Constitutional Affairs Committee, and participated in the Congress for a European Constitution, chaired by former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. That congress produced a European Constitution which was voted down in referenda in France and the Netherlands. Eventually, the same text, with minor modifications, was named a "Treaty"—thus needing no popular vote—and became the Lisbon Treaty.
Not accidentally, the author of the "Treaty" gimmick, Giuliano Amato—another British asset—is rumored to be part of the Monti Cabinet.
Napolitano's plan is to have Monti run a tecnocratic government, with a large parliamentary majority. However, the Lega Nord—a member of Berlusconi's coalition—has already said "no" to Monti. The same came from a component of the opposition, the Italia die Valori party led by populist Antonio Di Pietro. And Berlusconi's party, Il Popolo della Libertà (PdL), is split, so that there is a marginal chance that Napolitano's British plot will fail.
What would a technocratic Cabinet led by Monti do? Even with a blood-and-tears program, it will be hard for Italy to maintain its position on the financial markets. The Financial Times speculated that the new government will file for an IMF loan and submit to the Fund's conditionalities. However, the IMF has €40-80 billions available, not more. The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), in case Italy asks for aid, would have not much more than €100 billion. The only way to bail out Italy would be through the ECB as lender of last resort. The machinery is at work to convince the German government to accept that, perhaps in the face of a great emergency, such as a war in Southwest Asia.
Italy does not need to go the IMF. From a technical standpoint, Italy could even afford to refinance its debt at 7% interest rates for a long period, since the debt has an average maturity of seven years. But the EU intention is not to help Italy: The intention is to sacrifice Italy in order to save the euro.
Monti's bankers' government is a big leap towards the suspension of democracy altogether, as some Italians are beginning to realize. Unfortunately, there is no leader among established parties who has the guts to lead a real opposition, and only the LaRouche organization in Italy is pushing for a national and global solution.
Italy's Choice
On Nov. 5, the National Council of the Italian LaRouche movement MoviSol (Movimento Solidarietà) met in Bologna, to map a strategy for providing leadership to the country. Movisol will move in the next months to expand its reach to influence and organize wider layers of the population.
Italy is faced with the choice of either remaining in the euro and dying a terrible death, or leaving the euro and regaining full economic and political sovereignty. The latter will be a painful process, but the only one that can ensure recovery. Italy would not only have its destiny in its own hands, but would also free all other captive nations, including Germany and France, through a move that would put an end to the euro dictatorship.
Italy alone, however, cannot stop the global collapse and the ensuing dynamic of a world war. Thus, Movisol aims at building a political force that would act in concert with the international LaRouche movement to force a replacement of the bankrupt world financial system with a functioning credit system.
This issue was debated on Nov. 7 between Movisol chairwoman Liliana Gorini and Paolo Savona, a former minister and chairman of the Interbanking Deposit Guarantee Fund, the Italian version of the U.S. FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). Both were asked if Italy should leave the Eurozone, and whether it were true that Berlusconi's method of governing is responsible for 50% of the increased cost of refinancing the debt. Both Gorini and Savona rejected that proposition. According to Gorini, "leaving the euro would be the only way for Berlusconi to save his government and avoid a technocratic government imposed by the European Central Bank," but you would need a statesman like De Gasperi to do that, as you would need a de Gaulle in France, an Adenauer in Germany, and a Franklin Roosevelt in the U.S. "None of the present European governments have the guts to do what LaRouche has been telling them for years: a Glass-Steagall reform; but Italy is under scrutiny and has the power to do that in the next days, rejecting the ECB's blackmail."
Savona commented that he was certainly interested in what LaRouche's movement had to say about the Italian crisis, that he agrees "that alternative ways exist," other than the ECB recipe, and that "it would certainly be ideal to regulate severely the derivatives market, which was the cause of the speculative attacks on state bonds." Savona, who has called on Italy to prepare a "Plan B" for leaving the euro, said that in this moment of speculative attack, it would be impossible for Italy to leave the euro. He said:
"I proposed this one year ago, and certainly, once the speculative attack is over, I would be in favor of Italy's exit from the Monetary Union."
