Spiritual Forum

An article by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, of  Executive Intelligence Review. 20th Dec 2013.

How We Shall Break the EU's Stranglehold

"At the European Conference of Germany's Civil Rights Solidarity Movement (BüSo) in Mainz-Kastel, Germany on Dec. 1, the party's national chair, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, gave this keynote speech, which has been slightly revised and shortened for publication.

Good day, dear BüSo members, distinguished guests, our conference is preparatory to the European parliamentary elections in May 2014, and I want to tell you that I am confident that there is a very good chance that we can implement the program that we have made our theme here, and that it will be possible to have a Europe of the Fatherlands,[1] which will be dedicated to a common mission for humanity.

Why am I so optimistic? This is of course not the Zeitgeist here in Germany, which is still groaning from the effects of the "non-election" campaign, which will now continue with a non-discussion during the coalition negotiations. But I am still very optimistic. Because with the European elections scheduled for May 22-25, there is still almost half a year left, and during this half-year there will be such dramatic developments, that nothing will be what it like looks today. In fact, the world is now in incredible turmoil, and it is likely that the EU stranglehold, which is now choking the peoples of Europe, will break by then.

Why am I so optimistic? You may have noticed that an earthquake is taking place right now, breaking apart Ukraine's association with the EU. Ukraine has just removed itself from the vise-grip of the European Commission and the EU bureaucracy, obviously not because—as the media here claim—[Russian President Vladimir] Putin put such unbearable pressure on Ukraine, but, as will become clear during my talk, because people in Ukraine just want to survive, and therefore see no reason to join the bankrupt EU. Instead they see their future in cooperation with Russia, China, India, and the other Eurasian countries.

In other words, Ukraine has made the choice between a dying system, the EU, and the possibility of prosperous cooperation with the Eurasian states. And that is ultimately the choice that we in Germany have to make too. Do we stay in the EU corset or do we choose cooperation with the very, very quickly developing Eurasian Land-Bridge?

There is a very, very great possibility that between now and the elections, the trans-Atlantic financial system will collapse; I would say it's almost certain. The financial system could even disintegrate before the end of this year. There will also be dramatic developments in the battle for reinstatement of Glass-Steagall in the United States; dramatic developments in the collapse of the Obama Administration; and rapid progress in the realization of the Eurasian Land-Bridge.

Critical Weeks for the Financial System

Let's first look at the disintegration of the trans-Atlantic financial system. We have spoken with leading financial experts and well-placed persons in America, and a very large number of these people believe that the chance of a collapse in the next few weeks is far greater than 50%. On Dec. 13, a bipartisan U.S. congressional commission is supposed to present proposals for dealing with the long-term debt, and to date, there is no compromise in sight between the Republicans and the White House; this alone could be enough to cause the collapse of the system of supposedly too big to fail banks.

The next critical point comes when the transitional budget comes to an end on Jan. 15, and then again, when the debt ceiling is reached after Feb. 7.

If the government shuts down during this period between December and early February, as it did in the Fall, raising the threat of U.S. bankruptcy again, then it is the view not only of Lyndon LaRouche, but also of senior people from in and around the Federal Reserve, that the entire global financial system could evaporate, in what was once correctly referred to by Bill Gross of PIMCO as "a supernova of the financial system."

War Danger Shifts to East Asia

So that is one determining factor. The other is of course that we are still at the brink of nuclear war. To be sure, the strategic confrontation over possible U.S. military intervention in Syria has lessened; through a very, very remarkable combination of Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, the danger has been reduced that a military intervention there could escalate to a potentially global thermonuclear war. The danger is not completely gone, but it is considerably reduced. And with the successful agreement of the P5+1 in the negotiations with Iran, the danger of war in Southwest Asia has also become significantly less.

But you all have seen that a new strategic confrontation is building in the Pacific. As usual, the media reports are completely misleading; the headlines tell you that "military hotheads" are arguing over some uninhabited rocks, or that it's all about raw materials that are supposedly to be found in these islands. But in reality something quite different is going on. Namely, China's reaction to the U.S. so-called "Asia Pivot," shifting the American strategic focus to the Pacific region.

In fact, this involves an encirclement strategy: Especially since President Obama's trip to Asia in 2011, the U.S. has been seeking more and more bases and strategic alliances with countries in the region, to be able to overcome mainland China's defenses with U.S. aircraft carriers, and to be able to eliminate China's entire nuclear arsenal with the combined U.S. capabilities.

This was admitted earlier this year, in an article by Keir Lieber and Daryl Press under the title "The New Era of Nuclear Weapons: Deterrence and Conflict," published in Strategic Studies, the quarterly magazine of the U.S. Air Force. The article argued that the existing NATO strategy of "Mutual Assured Destruction" no longer holds up, because the development of nuclear weapons and targeting abilities would now allow the nuclear potential of an opponent to be eliminated without causing radioactive fallout.

A similar article appeared in the Yale Journal of International Affairs, by Prof. Amitai Etzioni, under the title "Who Authorized Preparation for War with China?" He makes practically the same point, saying that the Pentagon has commissioned plans for a war of aggression against China. But he calls for an urgent discussion in Congress and the White House, and the only error in the article, it seems to me, is that he says the Pentagon commissioned this study, whereas to the best of our knowledge it comes from Obama's inner circle.

Then in late October, maps like this one (Figure 1) suddenly appeared in all the Chinese media, posing the thesis that if there is an attack on China, it would be able to reach the entire West Coast of the United States by means of its 70 strategic submarines. You can see that the yellow curve, which shows the fallout, reaches as far as Chicago. And there are other maps, which I don't have here, that show that Chinese ICBMs could reach the East Coast. That was reported a few days later in the Washington Post, Washington Times, and elsewhere.

That is very clearly not a reaction to any islands or uninhabited rocks somewhere in the Pacific Ocean or the China Sea, but is rather a reaction to the American "Revolution in Military Affairs" doctrine. This is a utopian concept, basically treating the military capabilities of states as the only relevant facts, and these facts are then inserted into a kind of computerized geopolitical game theory, and the computer program then spits out the optimal strategy as a derivative.

This theory was already applied in the Iraq War. Now, if you look at Iraq today, you will see that while Iraq perhaps had no special freedoms under Saddam Hussein, it was still prosperous—infrastructure was developed, women could study, and it was basically proceeding in quite a good direction. Today, Iraq is being bombed back to the Stone Age, ripped apart by attacks every day, a religious war between Sunnis and Shi'ites, and absolute poverty. Iraq has been turned into a hell, on the basis of this doctrine.

This is the context in which China, a week ago, set up an air defense zone in the China Sea over the so-called Diaoyu/Sinkako Islands; the Chinese Defense Minister reported at the time that it was intended "to protect against possible air attacks." Three days later, the United States sent two B-52 bombers over this area, without notice, to make it clear that it does not accept this arrangement from China. China initially responded with restraint, but now has sent bombers itself to this region, a quasi-warning that, if there are flights in this area that have not been reported in advance, they run the risk of being shot down. Meanwhile, China sent its aircraft carrier Liaoning past Taiwan in the China Sea, and American aircraft carriers are also heading that way.

While that is certainly not something that would lead immediately to Third World War, of course it aggravates the situation. And Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote an article in the Daily Telegraph a few days ago, comparing this development in the China Sea with what happened from Agadir to Sarajevo [1911-14], with the deployment of the German gunboat Panther to Agadir in Morocco, in an attempt to split the Anglo-French alliance; it failed, putting into motion the pre-history of World War I (or continuing it). This really shows you, especially if you know who Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is, that this was less of a warning and more of a threat, because the forces that are driving for such a confrontation are a part of the Anglo-American establishment.

These two existential strategic dangers determine the framework for the development of Europe—i.e., there are no local events in Europe or anywhere else in the world, and not even any national events, that could be solved within the borders of one country. And the fact that the strategic realities—the financial collapse, the military-strategic threat—were completely absent from the virtual election campaign in Germany and that they now are playing no role at all in the German government coalition negotiations, does not mean that the developments in this terrain are not decisive for the future of Germany and Europe.

That's the negative side; but luckily there are three very important factors that show a strong positive trend, toward a solution. These three trends are all connected to each other, and we are playing a very crucial role in each of them, in one way or another.

The first is of course the mobilization of the LaRouche organization in the United States and worldwide for Glass-Steagall and the World Land-Bridge. The second, extremely important intervention came from Pope Francis, with his new Apostolic Letter; and the third, also enormously important development is the Chinese government, which has adopted the New Silk Road perspective. That has been our policy since at least 1991—but actually for much longer, since 1988, or actually already in 1976.

Evangelii Gaudium

Let's begin with the Pope's Letter. Although the predicates are different, the real meaning of this new Apostolic Exhortation can really only be compared to the encyclical of Pope Pius XI of March 21, 1937. The title of that encyclical was "With Burning Concern," and of course it dealt with the events in Nazi Germany.

What was then directed against the Nazis is directed today against the tyranny of a financial system that kills. In this Exhortation of Nov. 26, 2013, the Pope writes that, as the fifth of the Ten Commandments says, "Thou shalt not kill," that also applies to the economic system, which is leading to exclusion and inequality, an economic order that kills.

This Exhortation, which I can only recommend to each of you to read for yourself, of course generated enormous commotion in the financial media, which completely lost its cool; the same, of course, for the not-so-progressive elements within the Catholic Church itself.

In this document, "Evangelii Gaudium"("The Joy of the Gospel"), the Pope calls on all financial experts and political leaders around the world to carry out a financial reform that defends the common good, that replaces the tyranny of survival of the fittest—where the powerful live at the expense of the powerless, where the Golden Calf of ancient times is worshipped again, and where people are used up and then thrown away.

He sharply attacks the ideologies that defend the absolute autonomy of the markets and financial speculation, and that reject the right and duty of the state to protect the common good. He says that this ideology has created a new tyranny that allows the toleration of evil, an evil embedded in the structures of society, and that has a constant potential for destruction and death.

This absolute domination of markets and financial speculation must be rejected, he says. The dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good must shape all economic policies. He then addresses an urgent appeal to all Catholics—over a billion people worldwide—to break with the customs, rules, and structures that have become a "tomb psychology" that "slowly transforms Christians into mummies in a museum."

We in Germany should also present this direct appeal to all party members and political parties that have a "C" in their name [for "Christian"], e.g., Chancellor Merkel, who recently visited the Pope; Mr. [Horst] Seehofer and all the other members of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union; we should confront them with this papal Exhortation in the coming weeks. And it will naturally have a tremendous impact on countries that have a high proportion of Christians or Catholics, such as France, Italy, Spain, Africa, Latin America, the United States, as well as South Korea and the Philippines. This provides tremendous leverage.

The Mobilization in the United States

Now to the most important factor, which I mentioned first, which is most critical to the solution: our mobilization in the United States. We are the most powerful force in the world, and especially in the U.S., for breaking this tyranny of the murderous financial system. We are engaged in a massive mobilization to bankrupt Wall Street, to end this casino economy forever. Thanks to our several-year-long mobilization, there are new bills in Congress, which now have 80 co-sponsors in the House, 11 in the Senate; and in 25 of the 50 states, resolutions for Glass-Steagall have been either introduced or passed.

This all occurs in a situation in which America—much more so than is perceived in Europe—is in a revolt against Obama, mainly because of the Obamacare health-care reform. When the Pope says that this financial system kills, that is no abstract issue for the up to 93 million Americans who could be effectively cut off from health care by Obamacare; many of them will not be able to afford it, and absolute chaos has erupted. This means that this idea, that the financial system kills, affects people very directly.

Obama is at a record low in the polls for any U.S. President: In recent weeks only 34% supported him, and there is raging "hand-to-hand combat" between Wall Street and the people who want to re-institute Glass-Steagall.

Wall Street has five lobbyists in Washington per Congressman. Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, went personally to Delaware and Texas, to threaten their state legislators that if they dared to support a resolution for Glass-Steagall, he would pull out 40,000 jobs from those states.

In the middle of the government shutdown, a Wall Street delegation went to the White House to tell Obama that they hold him personally responsible for preventing Congress from ever voting on Glass-Steagall.

But efforts are also expanding for the impeachment of President Obama, and there is now a long list of reasons that would suffice for impeachment—about ten constitutional reasons. The more Obama fails—and in Europe itself and even in Germany, people have now been somewhat cured of their "Obamamania"—the angrier Obama gets, of course, the greater becomes his tendency to dictatorially defy the Constitution and to govern on the basis of Carl Schmitt's Emergency Decree policy,[2]by "Executive Orders." An example of this was the vote to change the filibuster rules in the Senate, which had protected the constitutional rights of the minority party.

But a full-scale mobilization is underway for Glass-Steagall throughout the country, and characteristic or symptomatic of the growing mood there was a speech by Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-Mass.], to the Roosevelt Institute, calling for the immediate implementation of Glass-Steagall, and choosing the optimistic slogan: "David beat Goliath.... We just have to pick up the slingshot again."

An Economy that Kills

Let's look at the reality of this economy that kills.

Figure 2 shows world financial aggregates. You can see that stocks and bonds are basically quite small. The way this monster developed, was that after the abolition of Glass-Steagall in 1999, and even continuing beyond the great financial crash of 2008, with a combination of "quantitative easing"—money printing—and the most brutal austerity, derivatives have grown to an unbelievable size: $1.6 quadrillion of financial aggregates, of which $1.4 quadrillion, or nearly 90%, are derivatives. In proportion to the total debt of states and households, plus the stock markets, this is obviously much, much more: Debts and stocks are "peanuts" compared to this monster. The official figures from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) point to $700 trillion in outstanding derivatives, but if you include the "over the counter" (unregistered) derivatives, you get about double that.

Figure 3 shows the trans-Atlantic "quantitative easing" since 2008, which is up to $4 trillion in 2013, currently increasing by $1 trillion per year in the U.S.; next comes the U.K., with an increase of $1.2 trillion in the same period; then $2 trillion from the European Central Bank, for a total of $7 trillion in the trans-Atlantic region. If we assume that bail-in legislation on the Cyprus model were applied throughout the trans-Atlantic region, that would again mean $7 trillion by 2014. If we include the Japanese trillions, we get a grand total of $18 trillion in bailout and bail-in money.

You can easily see that this is only 1% of the $1.6 quadrillion. Even if they totally expropriate savings accounts and business accounts, there is still only one conclusion to be drawn: The system is totally bankrupt. It cannot be saved; it is at an end."

Read more at http://www.larouchepub.com/hzl/2013/4050break_eu_strangle.html