WESTERN EUROPEAN NEWS DIGEST
Al-Ahram Daily Highlights Helga Zepp LaRouche's Leadership
Egypt's semi-official Al-Ahram Daily published a significant article on Nov. 18 about German Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (BueSo) leader Helga Zepp LaRouche's alternative to the current collapsing financial system. The Al-Ahram correspondent in Germany, Abdel-Azeem Hammad, interviewed three "leaders of the anti-globalization movement in Germany," but especially highlighted Zepp LaRouche, because, unlike the others, she fights for an alternative, that proposed by her husband, "most known American economic thinker and rebel against the American regime, Lyndon LaRouche."
Hammad wrote that Zepp LaRouche's "main concern is to call in Germany and Europe for the implementation of the theories of her husband, the most known American economic thinker and rebel against the American regime. These theories consist of convening a new Bretton Woods conference to replace the current financial-monetary system, which was established by the old Bretton Woods agreement after World War II. The objective, she says, is to ensure just worldwide economic development."
Hammad asks the Germans, "Why do we never hear what you exactly want? ... what is your idea of an alternative? This means that you are merely critics and not creators." Then, he publishes a lengthy answer from Zepp LaRouche, who unlike the others, had no trouble with the question.
"This question is not fair," she says, "because the opposition groups do not get enough attention from the controlled mass media to address and express their complete visions to the national and international opinion." The BueSo's idea, writes Hammad, is that "it is proven now that the international financial system is bankrupt, and that the postwar system is on its way to disintegration." Examples are cited from the enormous economic crises that have swept Argentina, Brazil, Russia and South East Asia before, with Zepp LaRouche stressing that "If these nations are allowed to default, the major banks in the U.S. and Europe would go bankrupt. Therefore they try to cheat, by allowing the IMF bailout package to these countries to keep them alive and to pay their debt. If you add to that the depression in Japan and the U.S., passing through Europe, it would be easy to see that the entire system is going to collapse." This is not pessimism, but "an objective reading of the phenomenon."
"The successful solution is represented by the vision of Lyndon LaRouche, according to his wife Helga, the leader of the BueSo," Hammad writes.
She says that "Governments must assume their social responsibilities in the national economies, and in changing the structure of the current financial economic system." This is not a completely new idea, Zepp LaRouche emphasizes, referring to the Lautenbach plan and the work of Friedrich List in launching the industrialization of Germany. She stresses the difference between List's economic model and British free trade, which has returned in the form of globalization. She emphasizes the role of building and maintaining major infrastructure projects and other public investments. She also contrasts Lautenbach with Keynes, and says that American President Franklin Roosevelt, who saved the American economy through the New Deal, adopted some of the ideas of Lautenbach.
"Then, the discussion with Helga moves to the international domain," writes Hammad. He cites Helga's references to the progress achieved internationally for Lyndon LaRouche's idea of a New Bretton Woods conference, emphasizing "this is no longer a cry in the wilderness." She gives examples from the Italian Parliament, Brazil, Russia, adding that such developments are being discussed in many other parts of the world. "She demands that the Bundestag adopt a similar resolution," says Hammad. "She believes that the calls for a New Bretton Woods from around the world will increase and accelerate, because it is the solution which can put an end to exploitation and hegemony."
Hammad promises the readers to send a second report on "how these German leaders think and work." The Arabic text is posted at: http://web2.ahram.org.eg/arab/ahram/2002/11/18/REPO2.HTM]
German Chancellor: 'No' to Active Support for Iraq War, But Signals U.S. Can Use Its Bases
Interviewed on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Prague last week, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder reaffirmed that Germany will not support a war against Iraq, but signalled that the U.S. can use its bases in Germany for such a war. He told journalists that "we have stated clearly and keep doing so, that an active role of Germany will not occur because of the reasons which I have mentioned and which have also been understood."
Asked about indirect support for the Americans, like use of German airspace or movements of American troops in Germany, the Chancellor said: "Listen, I do not intend to issue statements in public, before experts have examined what is being discussed, here. But one thing is clear: We cannot limit movements by our friends in Germany; that is determined by the respective treaties, and these treaties we intend to respect."
From the television footage taken of in Prague, it was clear that despite the hearty handshake between Schroeder and President Bush, the atmosphere remains extremely tense between the two men.
British Chief of Staff Calls into Question Britain's Ability to Fight in Iraq War
British Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Michael Boyce stunned the Blair government last week when he called into question the British Armed Forces' capacity to participate in a war against Iraq, under conditions where the Armed Forces might also need to be used for domestic reasons, in the event of continuing firefighter strikes. The unreadiness to fight exposed by Boyce confirms exactly the situation forecast in the Nov. 1 EIR in an article by Alan Clayton, "Firefighters Strike Looms in Britain."
Admiral Boyce, Britain's most senior military officer, made the statements at a press conference Nov. 20, while standing next to a most uncomfortable British Defence Minister Geoff Hoon, a leading figure in the "War Party" faction of the Blair government. The press conference occurred only 48 hours after the American Ambassador to Britain, William Farish, had personally delivered a formal American request for British military participation in an Iraq war.
Asked by the Daily Telegraph whether he was worried about the impact of an eight-day fire-fighters' strike on Britain's ability to participate in Iraq military action, Boyce said he is "extremely concerned. Clearly, we do not have a box of 19,000 people standing by to be called upon to do fire-fighting duties. They must be drawn from operation units.... We cannot perform at the fullest end of our operational capability, while 19,000 people are tied up, standing by to do the firefighting duties."
A London Times headline paraphrased Boyce that "demoralized troops cannot fight on two fronts," and ran a long quote: "There are a lot of people coming straight off deployment from Bosnia, from Afghanistan or whatever, and gone straight on to these duties without the benefit of any hometime, and so there is a morale and motivation problem to be addressed as well."
German Discontent Grows, as Government Ratchets Up Austerity
More and more German media have begun to document that the new budget cuts and tax increases already announced by the re-elected Schroeder government amount to an extra financial burden of 90-100 euros a month per taxpayer, from January 2003 on. The pre-Christmas "consumer boom" is not occurring, so unemployment shows a net increase, and by the end of January, joblessness nationally is expected to be 4.5-5 million. And, as is becoming clear, the government's insane commitment to balance the budget by fiscal year 2006 implies further budget cuts of 10 billion euros for each of the coming years.
It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Germans feel betrayed by the government, and that deep discontent is spreading, reflected in the fact that the popularity of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats is dropping like a stone: A ZDF poll speaks of a 10% drop for the SPD since the Sept. 22 elections; an Allensbach Institute poll sees a drop of more than 6%; polls from Emnid Institute and Forsa Institute report a drop of 6.5%. The gains for the opposition Christian Democrats are about the same as the SPD's lossesnot because the CDU is seen as more competent, but because the SPD is losing the electorate's confidence. Had the national elections been held on Nov. 17, the winner would have been Christian Democrat Edmund Stoiber, by a margin of several percent over Schroeder.
Reflecting this shift in public sentiment is an opinion column by former SPD chairman and former Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine in today's Bildzeitung, the nation's leading mass tabloid: Lafontaine warned that the present government is putting the nation into the same kind of downward spiral that was characteristic of the 1930-32 drastic austerity regime under Heinrich Bruening, in the final days of the Weimar Republic. The only chance for Germany is a change of policy, forced upon the government by the Social Democratic Party base and the labor unions, Lafontaine wrote.
A well-connected European strategist commented in conversation Nov. 19, "Germany will have no choice but to move toward an SPD/CDU-CSU Grand Coalition.... This current Red-Green government is not capable of running the show, it's that simple. So, within a year or less, there will have to be a grand coalition, and that new government will have to do whatever it entails, to bring some reason into this impossible situation."
According to this source, "The situation in Germany is very serious. All the assumptions of the past 40 years are being called into question, with Germany's ability to be the economic engine for Europe being doubted, and the psychological effect on the German population cannot be underestimated."
Mont Pelerinite Gloats: German Crisis Can Lead to 'Implosion' of EU
EIR Strategic Alert spoke to a leading Mont Pelerin Society figure in Germany last week, who exclaimed that "the current policies of this government will lead to disaster for the German Republic. We may see a Parliamentary vote of no-confidence in the Schroeder government, maybe some kind of Grand Coalition. But the real disaster, will be for the European Union (EU) as a whole. I hope we will see the EU implode, as the Soviet Union did before." He added that Milton Friedman gave a speech three weeks ago, forecasting the implosion of the EU over the next decade or so.
This individual was very favorable to the draconian views of German political analyst Arnulf Baring, as published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung today (see below).
Anglo-American Asset in Germany Calls for Bruening-Style Rule by Emergency Decree
In a commentary in the culture section of the Nov. 19 issue of Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Arnulf Baring, a 70-year-old political scientist and author in the transatlanticist/Mont Pelerinite camp, attacks the present German government for its anti-Bush polemics, and its friendliness towards the Russians, but even more for its failure to impose what he, Baring, believes is necessary today: a regime by emergency decree, of the kind that Chancellor Heinrich Bruening operated from the spring of 1930 to the summer of 1932, based on Emergency Article 48 of the Weimar Republic's Constitution.
He argues that, with Germany on the brink of financial default, of turning into a "DDR of the West," it lacks that kind of Article 48 which would enable it to impose "painful reforms bypassing the Parliament, based on presidential emergency decrees."
"No one would call for a democratic dictatorship, today," Baring assures us. "But what if the normal procedures do not work any longer? We have to probe seriously whether the Constitution of 1949, with its cautiously constructed division of power, is not preventing any energetic consolidation of Germany," he continues. "Not just the party system, also the Constitution finally needs a review, now."
Students of history know that it was in the period of the austerity regime overseen by Bruening (known as the "Hunger Chancellor") that Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party went from being a fringe party, to being the largest party in Germany. Six months after the fall of Bruening's government, of course, Hitler was being sworn in as Chancellor.
More Labor Strikes Coming in Several European Countries
With the first of several announced one-week national strike actions of the British firemen having begun Nov. 22, French truckers have also warned of protests and road blockades, beginning with nationwide actions through this past weekend. The British Trades Union Congress (TUC) is backing the firemen in their struggle against the government.
In Italy, daily protests of Fiat auto workers culminated with a rally of 70,000 workers and supporters in Turin, Fiat's corporate headquarters. Earlier, Fiat workers had blocked the road to the Milan airport, and the Rome-Naples highway.
In Poland, miners have begun a new wave of protests, strike actions, and hunger strikes, in their struggle to save 28 coal mines which the government wants to shut down. In Katowice there took place the biggest mine workers' protest rally took place, with more than 10,000 taking to the streets.
Italian Court Sentences Andreotti to 24 Years for Murder
In a development which stunned the Italian political world, an Italian appeals court last week reversed a 1999 acquittal, and sentenced former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, now a Senator for Life, to 24 years in prison for complicity in the 1979 killing of a journalist.
Parliament members of many leanings described the decision as "scandalous," "shocking," or "incredible." Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi condemned the ruling, and telephoned Andreotti to offer his solidarity, as did the leaders of both houses of Parliament. "The 24-year sentence imposed on Senator Andreotti is the ultimate stage of a judicial scheme, through which politicized sectors of the magistrature have tried to change the course of democratic politics and are trying to rewrite Italian history," said Berlusconi.
The witness against Andreotti was the now-deceased FBI informant Buscetta, convicted in the U.S. in the "Pizza Connection" case, and an admitted Mafioso.
This insane decision occurs after the Italian Chamber of Deputies voted up LaRouche's New Bretton Woods proposal with Andreotti's strong support, and immediately after the Pope addressed the Italian Parliament, calling on Italy to exercise more influence internationally on behalf of the fight for civilization.
In a process which might remind one of the developments surrounding Henry Kissinger's earlier inspiration of the assassination of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978, left- and right-wing parties and currents alike, are moving towards agreement with the call of Berlusconi's Economics Minister Giullio Tremonti, that Italy needs a Franklin Roosevelt-style "New Deal."
Andreotti is expected to appeal the court's decision.
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