Critics Trash Obama Over Af-Pak Policy

Dec. 2 (EIRNS)—After months of deliberations, President Obama made his second Afghanistan-Pakistan policy statement on Dec. 1, facing grim-faced cadets at West Point. Lyndon LaRouche summarily stated of the policy: "It won't work." Numerous critics at home and abroad have jumped on the opportunity to trash Obama.

Obama came under attack because of his complete disregard of the facts. He attacked Kabul for corruption and bad governance, while never mentioning that the massive opium-heroin trafficking network set up since the U.S./NATO occupation is feeding the terrorists, as well as the bankers in the City of London and Wall Street.

He also failed to report that the Taliban is not an Afghan product, but was born in Pakistani territory in 1994, with Saudi money and backing from the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)—with the British pulling the strings. Similar forces also nourished al-Qaeda and gave it shelter in Afghan territory. Al-Qaeda and the leadership of the Afghan Taliban escaped defeat by the U.S. forces post-9/11 by taking shelter in Pakistani territory.

Obama talked about building up an adequately trained Afghan National Army (ANA) and handing over to them the security responsibility for Afghanistan. This he plans to achieve in 18 months before the drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan begins. The fact remains that the ANA is full of non-Pushtuns (mostly Tajiks) and the U.S./NATO troops are battling the Pushtun community. Only one out of ten insurgents in Afghanistan is a Taliban. It has also been proven again and again that the ANA does not want to fight the Pushtun insurgents on behalf of the occupiers.

Climate Accord Could Break India from Commonwealth

Nov. 29 (EIRNS)—China, India, South Africa, and Brazil have signed a draft declaration which includes non-negotiable demands for the Copenhagen climate summit in December. The declaration was drafted by Beijing, and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao called a previously unannounced meeting in the Chinese capital Nov. 27 with the outspoken Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, Brazilian Presidential Advisor Marcel Fortuna Biato, South African Environment Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, and the Sudanese representative for the G77 nations.

This agreement is especially important if it gets India to break from the British Queen's Commonwealth, Lyndon LaRouche said today. But it has to hold—and the concern is that Brazil, with its Hapsburg heritage, could undermine the other nations.

The draft certainly differs from the Commonwealth's Climate Consensus declaration issued at the summit in Trinidad and Tobago, which states, "We believe an internationally legally binding agreement is essential."

After the meeting in Beijing, Ramesh emphasized that the countries' draft declaration includes agreement to walk out of Copenhagen, if necessary, to protect their national interests. "We will not exit in isolation. We will coordinate our exit if any of our non-negotiable terms is violated. Our entry and exit will be collective," Ramesh said. "This basic draft fully meets India's goals and aspirations. We hope it is made the basis of discussions at the conference." The "non-negotiables," he said, are that the countries would never accept legally binding emissions cuts; unsupported mitigation actions; international measurement, reporting and verification of unsupported mitigation actions; and the use of climate change as a trade barrier, The Hindu reported.

Japan Takes Desperate Stimulus Measures

Dec. 1 (EIRNS)—Japan finds itself in an exacerbated crisis, as the Dubai meltdown has sent new flows of hot money into Tokyo, driving the yen up against the dollar, and aggravating the already depressed export-based economy. The global panic last week after the Dubai World default sent the yen to a 16-year high, leading to emergency meetings of the Cabinet on Nov. 29, and the Bank of Japan on Nov. 30. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama instructed the Cabinet to come up with solutions, but no one had any new ideas.

The result is more of the same: The government will issue another $31 billion stimulus, mainly to help collapsing exporters, and the Bank of Japan announced another $113 billion in liquidity to be pumped into the banking system.

Lyndon LaRouche commented that there are two Japans: the oligarchical Japan and the industrial Japan. The country has few natural resources, so its natural role is using Japanese technology to develop North Asia, with its vast natural resources. Involve India in this, involve the United States, and it can work. But by giving in to "globalization," Japan has been coerced to focus on consumer goods rather than expanding its historic strength in machine tools and heavy industry, and has allowed its food production to be cut back (except for rice), so that now it has to earn its food through exports.