Thumbing Our Nose at the British Queen

There is something both emblematic and delightful about the report that the Vice President and Foreign Minister of Panama, Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado, in Thailand as part of a Southeast Asian tour to promote her country’s “connectivity” with the Belt and Road Initiative, urged Thailand to proceed with the construction of the great Kra Canal project. “I think it is very powerful in every way for connectivity in the future. It’s a huge potential for growth for Thailand,” she stated.

Lyndon LaRouche has long promoted the Kra Canal project as not only vital in its own right, but also as the key—along with the expanded Panama Canal, the proposed Nicaraguan Grand Inter- Oceanic Canal, and the expanded Suez Canal—to transforming global infrastructure by creating a single, world ocean: a planetary Maritime Silk Road.

So here is tiny Panama—population 4 million, with a land area smaller than that of the state of South Carolina—that was just beaten around the ears and threatened by the British Empire and their U.S. State Department sidekicks with horrific consequences, for daring to establish diplomatic relations with China and joining the Belt and Road Initiative. But instead of bowing and scraping in fear, Panama is casting its lot with the New Paradigm being constructed around the BRI.

The problem that the British Empire is facing, is that it is not just Panama that is standing up to their threats and blackmail; it is not just Italy. It is also, increasingly, the United States, itself—and that poses a far, far bigger strategic crisis for them. Reflective of their worst fears, a CNN analysis yesterday warned that “Trump is at the top of his dangerous game as midterms loom”—dangerous to the British Empire, to be sure—and that he is “coming across as a president increasingly bullish about himself and at ease in wielding his power.”

Those decisive U.S. midterm elections on Nov. 6 are occurring in a very fluid strategic situation, with decisive inflection points coming in the next 4-6 weeks on most of the key international fronts that have led the global revolt against Establishment policies and parties over recent years—i.e., Brexit, the Trump election, Italy’s elections, Mexico’s elections, etc. Developments around each will affect, and will be powerfully affected by, what happens in the U.S. in the weeks ahead.

• Nov. 5-10: The first-ever China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held in Shanghai, with the participation of over 130 countries and regions, more than 2,800 companies and an expected 300,000 visitors, and featuring high-technology capital goods and other products. Unfortunately, the U.S. is at this point refusing to send any high-level representative, with the usual fraudulent argument about China’s “predatory” practices.

• Nov. 11: Trump and Russian President Putin are scheduled to meet in Paris, on the sidelines of the celebration of the centenary of World War I’s Armistice Day.

• mid-November: the deadline for Italy to submit to EU demands for an austerity budget, or else.

• mid-November: the deadline for derivatives clearing houses to either stay or leave London, as the Brexit impasse looms with a final deadline of March 2019. As Reuters reported yesterday “UK and EU edge closer to the abyss as the two sides remain stuck at Brexit impasse.”

• Nov. 30: the G20 will meet in Buenos Aires, with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled to meet on its sidelines. Putin, India’s Modi, and other world leaders will also be in attendance.

• Dec. 1: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will be inaugurated as President of Mexico; he has stated his desire to have a good working relationship with both the U.S. and China, built around joint economic development.

In short, the entire world could soon be thumbing its nose at the British Queen.