ZEPP-LAROUCHE WEBCAST

What Will It Take to Defeat the Russiagate Coup and Bring the U.S. and Europe into the New Paradigm?

This is the edited transcript of the Schiller Institute’s October 4, 2018 New Paradigm webcast with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institutes. She is interviewed by Harley Schlanger. A video of the webcast is available.

Harley Schlanger: Hello, I’m Harley Schlanger from the Schiller Institute. Welcome to our weekly international, strategic webcast, featuring our President and founder, Helga Zepp-LaRouche. Earlier this week, Helga spoke of what essentially could be described as a clash between two paradigms, two different dynamics: The collapse going on in the West, and the trans-Atlantic efforts to provoke and use war as a way of maintaining some semblance of control; and on the other side, the continued emergence of the New Paradigm around the New Silk Road, the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, and a diplomatic offensive which includes some aspects of what President Trump is trying to do, as he’s under assault from the British.

British Empire Psywar

We’ve had some new developments, just before the webcast, that Helga was telling me about—charges from the British of new cyber-attacks by the GRU, Russian military intelligence. Why don’t we start with that?

Helga Zepp-LaRouche: This is obviously part of a strategic building up of a scenario of complete hysteria, Russophobia, Sinophobia, everything to influence the environment around the U.S. midterm elections. That is really the timing and the focus. The British are now claiming that they have new evidence that there were many Russian cyber-attacks and that for the first time they say they have absolute proof that it was the GRU; and then Holland also chimed in, calling in the Russian ambassador, telling him this has to stop, claiming that already in April, Russia’s GRU spied on the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, and basically creating a complete hysteria.

Now, I’m not in a position at this point to say whether this happened or not, but one thing is very clear: Given what the U.S. NSA and the British GCHQ are doing—spying on everything and everyone around the globe—these charges are really a lot of psywar, and I think we should not get confused by it. Because for many people it should be clear, that we are in a countdown. Early voting has already begun in several states in the United States and five weeks remain before the November 6 elections, and everything is geared to defeating the Republicans with such a margin in Congress that then the Democrats can line up, possibly with the neo-cons in the Republican Party, and go for an impeachment of President Trump.

This is a heated-up environment in which every tool is being used to create hysteria. I think it is very dangerous. At one of his recent Make America Great Again rallies, Trump said the Democrats have gone completely crazy, and that the only thing motivating them is to destroy and take apart every structure and just go absolutely crazy. I think he’s on the mark. Because what is happening around this Kavanaugh story is really incredible: 90% of all the news media discuss nothing but that. Paul Craig Roberts asked a very useful question, saying, why are we discussing Kavanaugh, when there is a genocide going on in Yemen, which is without precedent?

So people should really not fall for all the confetti, because the issue is whether Trump can defeat this coup apparatus against him and survive into the second half of his four-year term as President, which could happen. A big step in this direction could be when Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein testifies in Congress on Oct. 11 and the coup plotters are all exposed. And if the American public can see all the documents which are now in the process of being declassified, Trump could have the second half of his term, where he would be really free to do what he has promised all along, that is, to get a relationship with Russia on a good footing, and eventually find a solution to this unholy trade war with China, the potential for which I think still exists. Then we are in a completely New Paradigm.

So I would say, for the next five weeks, expect the psywar and orchestration of scandals to escalate, the aim of which is to get people so hyped up that Trump can be gotten out of the White House. That is what I think is the basis for all of these developments.

Trump Strikes Back vs. Sexual McCarthyism

Schlanger: It should not be surprising at all, knowing how the British work, that they would be putting up new charges, given that they’re completely on the defensive after Trump’s order to declassify the documents. And also, George Papadopoulos and others are pointing to the centrality of the British role in setting up Russiagate. This is the way the British operate, and the new attacks on Russia, whatever they’re claiming now about the GRU, they’re still running the Skripal affair, they’re still warning about Russian “genocide” in Syria, and as you pointed out, they’re ignoring the Saudi operations which are committing genocide in Yemen.

Besides the constant anti-Trump drumbeat from the media, President Trump is going out on the campaign trail and has large rallies in Mississippi, in Tennessee, telling people, “Vote as though I’m on the ballot!” From the indications we’re getting, it looks as though he’s getting a response.

Zepp-LaRouche: Yes. I think in Tennessee tens of thousands came. Requests for tickets totaled 92,000, and, as in many other rallies, there was much more overflow than the organizers could handle, so it was really a big, big turnout. I think that the Trump base understands very well what’s going on. Remember that back in June, Rep. Maxine Waters had called on the Democrats to hunt down every member of the Trump Administration, so when they spot someone in a restaurant or gas station, they should build a crowd and push back against them. This incitement to violence has now resulted in groups attacking the offices of Congressmen in the Congress! I mean, this is unbelievable. There were attacks in an airport. Letters with dubious contents were sent to some cabinet members.

An unbelievable witch hunt is being created, not only against Trump, but against anybody who dares to associate with him, such as Brett Kavanaugh.

Tucker Carlson of Fox TV has made a quite useful statement. He said that he is really horrified to observe what is going on, that he grew up among liberals on the West Coast, in California, and in Washington, D.C., who used to believe in free speech, in due process, and basically liberal values; but that the same people are now absolutely against free speech, they’re for undue process, they follow the principle of “guilty until proven innocent.” And I think the civil rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz put a point on it, when he said that this is “sexual McCarthyism,” what is going on against Kavanaugh, and practically everybody. You can basically say, “this person raped me,” and did it 50 years ago, and then that person is guilty, in a completely insane environment.

This is all designed to get out the women’s vote against Trump. What this does to American women is, I think, a really a very dangerous psychological process, and people should really step back and go back to the principle of innocence until proven guilty. In the Kavanaugh case, the accusation of sexual assault is not proven so far. Four witnesses testified that Kavanaugh was not at the relevant party where this is supposed to have happened. And I think Kavanaugh himself said it quite correctly, that the issue is that he was appointed by Trump, and not what he did 36 years ago.

So this is a very dangerous development, and I can only say, this coup, with all of its new facets and shapes and forms, must absolutely be defeated.

The Rogers and Wieczorek Campaigns

Schlanger: One of the leading edges of the fight against the coup, is what LaRouche PAC is doing in particular with the Kesha Rogers for Congress campaign in the Texas 9th Congressional District. Rogers is an experienced political leader; she’s won Democratic nominations before; but she left the Democratic Party because of the insanity we’ve been discussing. Today, One America News conducted a very interesting interview with Rogers, allowing her to actually discuss why she’s running. Kesha Rogers’ Independent campaign, along with that of Ron Wieczorek, Independent for Congress in South Dakota, are the front end of what LaRouche PAC is doing.

Helga, how can activity in these campaigns generate the kind of dynamic that will ensure we can defeat the coup? How exactly is the LaRouche PAC intervening in the midterm elections?

Zepp-LaRouche: Kesha Rogers and Ron Wieczorek are the only candidates, to my knowledge, who are running explicitly on the basis that they are in the race to defeat the coup against Trump. I think that some of the Republicans who have a much lower profile realize that that is exactly the level of the fight which is necessary. Many people are picking up on the fact. Kesha’s campaign is quickly becoming a recognized campaign nationwide, because her opponent, Democratic Party incumbent is Al Green, the self-announced spearhead for the impeachment campaign against Trump.

The fate of the American Republic is at stake. Kesha Rogers is a tremendously courageous woman, and I think she needs all the support. So I would urge you: Get familiar with her, watch her video statements, give money to her campaign, go to Houston as a volunteer and join her campaign; a lot needs to be done. You can also help her campaign from where you are sitting, wherever you are.

This is not just a district in Houston, Texas, but has nationwide significance, and way beyond that. When Trump won the election in 2016, my husband, Lyndon LaRouche, commented that this was not a national event in United States, but an event of international significance, and it still is.

For anybody who still needs proof of the reason why the geopolitical, neo-con establishment is so absolutely freaked out about Trump, look at Trump’s Sept. 25 speech to the United Nations General Assembly. He is challenging, very effectively, all the institutions of the neo-liberal system, that system which has evolved since the collapse of the Soviet Union, into this really aggressive model, which on the one side they claim they are the best and the finest and fight for democracy and human rights, but in reality, all the aggressions are coming from them. All the things which they accuse the Russians of, or the Chinese of, they are doing it!

Trump comes to the White House and says he doesn’t agree with the rules of the WTO, free trade, he doesn’t agree with the International Criminal Court (ICC)—a highly biased court with no real legitimacy—and he basically challenges all these institutions saying, let’s remedy all this in a different system, instead. Now, I’m not defending everything Trump does. His defense of sovereignty could be more applied to everybody, which the Russians and Chinese have rightly pointed to the fact that it is not; because when the United States—and that’s not Trump, it’s more the apparatus of the Senate and the Congress, but nevertheless it comes from the United States—when the United States insists on extraterritorial authority in legal matters, that is the opposite of sovereignty. Now, I can see why Trump has no say in that, because of the CAATSA law (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act), for which 98 of 100 senators voted in such a way that Trump could not veto any part of that decision, so it’s a complex situation.

Trump is trying to get a different system, and he’s trying to end the wars based on the pretext of human rights interventionism, and he’s trying to get a decent relationship with Russia. So it’s really the battle for the whole world, it’s not just an American affair. Therefore, people should really think about what they should do in such a moment.

Schlanger: One additional note on Kesha Rogers’ campaign: Keep your eye on her website, https://www.kesharogers.com. We’re expecting some very significant endorsements coming up in the very near future, along the lines you’re talking about. People seeing this not just as a Congressional District in Texas.

But by the way, Al Green’s District is one of the poorest districts in the United States, and as a Congressman, he’s done nothing to help the people of his District, while he’s grandstanding as“Mr. Impeachment.”

So, keep an eye on Kesha Rogers’ campaign.

NATO Anti-Russia Threats with
German Soldiers

Now, Helga, when you’re talking about dangers in the world, as we move toward the midterm elections in the United States, the largest NATO maneuver since the end of the Cold War is about to take place. There are very wild statements from the U.S. Command, and also the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison, basically saying the United States could “take out the missiles that are in development by Russia.” How do the Russians react to this?

Zepp-LaRouche: I think that they’re quite aware of the fact that these are one provocation after the other. The NATO maneuver you referred to, Trident Juncture 2018, is mainly taking place beginning Oct. 25 in Norway, with Finland and Sweden participating. Altogether 40,000 soldiers from 31 countries, including 10,000 Germans! I feel particularly bad about that, because you know, the Germans should not be in the forefront of an aggressive NATO mode against Russia. Given the history, the Second World War, where Germany and Russia were in enemy positions, it is terrible that Germany is doing this. And also, the Germans should be much more thankful to Russia for agreeing to peaceful German unification 28 years ago.

I really feel bad. I don’t know what’s wrong with these people, but Chancellor Angela Merkel recently said that every problem in the countries of the former Soviet Union is caused by Russia. Then Germany’s so-called Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, said that Russia is increasing aggressions against Europe. All this is, if I may say so, B.S. It’s not true! It’s simply not true. And these people are making themselves instruments of an aggression which, if not stopped, has the potential to lead to catastrophe.

As we have discussed this already in recent past programs, the only thing that stands between all of us and World War III is Donald Trump! [See webcast of Sept. 20, 2018.] People may not like that, but that’s a matter of fact. Should he be defeated and the war hawks get fully back into control—they are already partially in control—nothing could prevent an escalation against Russia. And this woman, Hutchison, for her to say that Russia violated the INF Treaty, which is a highly debated question and which is really not objectively true, and then say that the United States would “take out” Russian missiles! When the whole media went crazy, saying that she is basically advocating preemptive war, she denied it, saying, “I was not talking about pre-emptively striking Russia.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova correctly asked: “Who authorized this lady in such a high diplomatic position to make such incredibly provocative statements? By the American People? The taxpayers should really think about whom they are financing.”

So then, the U.S. European Commander and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, basically said that NATO is already at war with Russia, even if it’s not yet a shooting war, they’re already at war—these are bellicose statements. Several years ago, George Bush Jr. was talking about bringing Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, which is a complete escalation. The discussion about Georgia is still going on; Ukraine, not, but that’s only because the Hungarian government [a member of NATO], Prime Minister Viktor Orban, flat out rejected it.

But there is an aggression from the West, and there are fewer and fewer people who realize that without peace with Russia, civilization will not exist. They are the two largest nuclear powers in the world, the United States and Russia, which together have more than 90% of all nuclear missiles, 20 times or more than is needed to destroy and eliminate the whole human species!

So, anybody who is not pushing for peace with Russia is just irresponsible, criminal, and insane, and we should really not fall into this environment.

This is a very dangerous matter, and that is what’s at stake with the midterm election: its war and peace, and people should be aware of that.

Pushing the U.S. on Infrastructure

Schlanger: Since the May 2017 Beijing Belt and Road Forum conference that you attended, 96% of the projects discussed there have now gotten underway. This is the target; this is what the war hawks are trying to stop. There’s an absolutely incredible statement from the European Union, challenging and basically threatening to break the Chinese initiative.

But there are a lot of positive developments: One of the most important was the first meeting in Rome of the Italian government’s China Task Force. What is going on with both the Belt and Road Initiative and the counter to it?

Zepp-LaRouche: After sleeping through it for years, the European Union has now come up with its own impotent counter-BRI, Europe-Asia connectivity plan, proposing to spend EU123 billion between 2021 and 2027. But given the fact that they were not able to get the matching funds for previous monies, I think we don’t really need to be too concerned that this is a serious counter to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. China is reacting to this plan very calmly, saying they welcome it, and that the more that countries are investing in infrastructure the better. So China is not very disturbed by it. The Silk Road dynamic is simply gaining momentum.

You mentioned the Rome meeting of the Italy’s China Task Force. This was a very successful event. More than 300 people participated yesterday—businessmen, politicians, government representatives, academics, media, and others. Chairing the meeting, Undersecretary for Economic Development Michele Geraci—who initiated this first-of-its-kind task force—was very emphatic, saying that Italy must not miss this chance. As he said, “A country such as Italy, a G-7 member, must not fear Chinese investments”—so very self-assured and very positive.

We talked to several people in Europe who made the point—and there is a growing awareness of it—that it is not China which is to be feared. Everything China is doing with this New Silk Road initiative brings benefits to all the countries that participate; but it is the European decadence which makes the Europeans afraid of it.

It is a fact that what China is doing today is acting on all the values which used to be typical German values: industriousness, effectiveness, reliability, punctuality—all of these used to be typical German values. The only problem is, the Germans are no longer doing it, and China, instead, has made an incredible success in a very short period of time. It is the West that does not want to give up its post-industrial fantasies, and its neo-liberal “money makes money” speculation dreams. It is the West that doesn’t want to go back to science and technology, basic research and development; they don’t want to change their ways. And when they see China rising, they can only attack it in this disgusting way.

But the only thing I can say is: They will not win. Their intransigence is at the expense of their own populations for not joining with China. I’ll give you one example which really excited me quite a bit: The transport ministers of the Visegrad countries—Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary—have just met and decided that they will connect their capitals through a high-speed rail system, with trains going 250-350 kph [155-217 mph]. This is really good; this is exactly what China is doing, connecting all its major cities domestically with such a high-speed train system. If the Visegrad Four, which are not exactly the most technologically advanced countries, so far, in Europe—if they can do it, well, then all the countries which go this way will be on the winning side, and those that don’t will lose.

We are pushing the United States to understand that the only way it can really recover completely, is to build a fast train system connecting all its major cities, develop new infrastructure in large areas such as New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, the Midwest, Los Angeles, San Francisco. Some of these places urgently need that kind of an infrastructure investment, because people are losing their lives commuting four hours every day, or more in some cases. Should the United States join this effort of the New Paradigm, a lot of problems can be easily fixed.

The ‘Singapore Model’

Schlanger: One area where that has occurred, is what you refer to positively as the “Singapore model,” from the President Donald Trump/Chairman Kim Jong-un summit on June 12, where they laid out a strategy, which was largely worked out through collaboration with China, Russia, Japan, and especially the President of South Korea, President Moon Jae-in. And now, it appears that this is back on track. It has been announced that Trump may have a second summit with Kim before the end of the year. Secretary of State Pompeo is going to Pyongyang shortly to meet with Kim.

So I think it’s reiterating what you were just saying, that this approach to politics, to diplomacy works, and it goes against the strategy that was applied by the neo-conservatives with Bush and Obama, of provoking North Korea to the point that we almost had a war.

Helga, I presume that the Singapore model is an example of how this New Silk Road Spirit can turn around world politics.

Zepp-LaRouche: Yes, absolutely. And the media again were absolutely talking it down, saying it was all just utopian propaganda. But it is happening. Pompeo will go to Pyongyang. Both President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and Kim Jong-un of North Korea have said that they want to have a peace treaty, and possibly, unification—at least get the process underway—before the end of the year, and this is very good. China has offered to integrate North Korea into the New Silk Road; Russia has committed to participate in bringing prosperity to North Korea in this arrangement. I think this is all very, very promising.

So this is the Singapore model—turning a conflict into the opposite, by simply bringing in economic development and using dialogue and discussion, instead of interventions under the pretext of human rights and the whole Blair/Obama model. I think the Singapore model is the model to solve any problem in the world.

And we are continuing our campaign for a New Bretton Woods system. Because, as we’ve discussed many times, the danger of a financial crash is absolutely with us. The reverse carry trade from the emerging markets into the dollar—because of the interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve—is going on. We’re sitting on a powder keg.

This threat is avoided only if we go to the New Paradigm, a new credit system in the tradition of the old Bretton Woods, but without the mistakes which were added by Churchill and Truman after Roosevelt was dead, a New Bretton Woods which gives absolutely the ability for development to every country in the world. Glass-Steagall eliminates the casino economy; go to National Banking in every country; have long-term, multilateral treaty arrangements for large projects among many countries in the world; and go for a higher economic platform by increasing productivity—do that by focussing on such high-end research and technology areas as fusion power and cooperation in space exploration. Increase the productivity of the world economy! We could form a world so beautiful to live in—what Xi Jinping and President Trump, and also President Putin, have said, repeatedly, that we could create a beautiful world.

And what is human life all about, but that we use our lives to get a better human race? And I think right now that is what is most needed. Trump was elected because the population in the United States rejected what has happened to the youth, the opiate epidemic, the suicide rates. The same was the case in the Brexit vote, the Italian vote, the Austrian vote, and now the Mexican vote. There is a sort of international tendency, where people do not want institutions associated with the neo-liberal model.

And the neo-liberal establishment just doesn’t want to get it: They keep saying, we have to insist on our rules, on our control, on our status quo. But I think there is an undercurrent, which I hope will determine the outcome of the midterm elections in the United States, an undercurrent of wanting to have development and a more beautiful world, all across the world: it exists in Africa; it exists even in many European nations, eastern Europe, southern Europe, countries that want to be hubs of the New Silk Road, and be part of the New Paradigm.

Get Aboard the New Paradigm!

I think we are actually at a very exciting moment in history. So don’t be passive; get on board with the Schiller Institute. Sign our petition for a New Bretton Woods. Spread the word of this webcast—and just get active with us, because, actually it’s a joyful moment in history to be alive and to be active.

Schlanger: I think people should be encouraged by what you’ve just reported. We do want to expand the outreach of the Schiller Institute website. You can do that—you can talk to your friends, send out posts, wherever you can.

And, to come back to what we were talking about earlier: Check out the https://www.kesharogers.com website and become active in the midterm elections.

Helga, is there anything else you want to cover?

Zepp-LaRouche: Well, I actually want to make you, our audience, curious. Because some nice, very good news will happen in the next day or so around Kesha Rogers’ campaign: So look forward to it, and don’t miss it!

Schlanger: OK. So with that, we’ll see you next week.