Author: Alicia

Following the report of the UK-based Adam Smith Institute last week that City of London banks were more overleveraged than in 2007 and “an accident waiting to happen,” two new warnings emerged today of the bigger crash threat from the U.S. and European corporate bond markets.

Deutsche Bank chief credit strategist followed up CEO John Cryan’s remarks last week that the central banks had created “bubbles everywhere,” with a warning that “asset prices globally are the most elevated in history.” This history involved is since 1800, and the measures complicated. But the bank is clearly reporting that the credit, or bond markets, are closer than ever before to the highest global average price possible, meaning the lowest global average interest rate possible. Their report says “While they remain this high there is always a risk of a sudden correction that could be destabilising to a financial system and global economy that seems to require such elevated asset prices.”

The report also points to the epidemic in Europe and the United States of bond issues with “lite” or no covenants, meaning the company’s ability to repay cannot be judged. A homey example is given by Jared Kushner’s family real estate company, which owes billions in loans on which it has lacked the revenue even to pay interest.

The latest quarterly report of the Bank for International Settlements contains a warning about a potential corporate debt crisis or collapse. It estimates that 10% of all European non-financial firms are “zombie companies” which have become completely dependent on borrowing at near-zero interest rates, and will go bankrupt with any significant rate rise. They estimate that the ratio in the U.S. corporate sector is 16% “zombies.” Recall that the IMF 2017 global review three months earlier estimated that 20% or more of U.S. non-financial firms would “default” with any significant rate rise, not necessarily the same as going bankrupt; so this is an equally serious warning. “Ultra-low rates have allowed these companies to keep operating…. “In the event of a slowdown or an upward adjustment in interest rates, high debt service payments and default risk could pose challenges to corporates, and thereby create headwinds for GDP growth.”

BIS says investors still think the central banks will return to quantitative easing as soon as any market quakes. “This underlines just how much asset prices appear to depend on the very low bond yields that have prevailed for so long.”

This week the Fed is deciding whether to start selling assets, pushing interest rates up if it announces that. 

Following the report of the UK-based Adam Smith Institute last week that City of London banks were more overleveraged than in 2007 and “an accident waiting to happen,” two new warnings emerged today of the bigger crash threat from the U.S. and European corporate bond markets.

Deutsche Bank chief credit strategist followed up CEO John Cryan’s remarks last week that the central banks had created “bubbles everywhere,” with a warning that “asset prices globally are the most elevated in history.” This history involved is since 1800, and the measures complicated. But the bank is clearly reporting that the credit, or bond markets, are closer than ever before to the highest global average price possible, meaning the lowest global average interest rate possible. Their report says “While they remain this high there is always a risk of a sudden correction that could be destabilising to a financial system and global economy that seems to require such elevated asset prices.”

The report also points to the epidemic in Europe and the United States of bond issues with “lite” or no covenants, meaning the company’s ability to repay cannot be judged. A homey example is given by Jared Kushner’s family real estate company, which owes billions in loans on which it has lacked the revenue even to pay interest.

The latest quarterly report of the Bank for International Settlements contains a warning about a potential corporate debt crisis or collapse. It estimates that 10% of all European non-financial firms are “zombie companies” which have become completely dependent on borrowing at near-zero interest rates, and will go bankrupt with any significant rate rise. They estimate that the ratio in the U.S. corporate sector is 16% “zombies.” Recall that the IMF 2017 global review three months earlier estimated that 20% or more of U.S. non-financial firms would “default” with any significant rate rise, not necessarily the same as going bankrupt; so this is an equally serious warning. “Ultra-low rates have allowed these companies to keep operating…. “In the event of a slowdown or an upward adjustment in interest rates, high debt service payments and default risk could pose challenges to corporates, and thereby create headwinds for GDP growth.”

BIS says investors still think the central banks will return to quantitative easing as soon as any market quakes. “This underlines just how much asset prices appear to depend on the very low bond yields that have prevailed for so long.”

This week the Fed is deciding whether to start selling assets, pushing interest rates up if it announces that. 

New revelations on the role of Saudi Arabia in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, pose the imperative: the ongoing Saudi genocide against Yemen must stop; the Saudi-related networks perpetrating such crimes against humanity must be brought down. Acting on this, opens the way wide for the entire world, including the Mideast, to participate in the New Silk Road—the Belt and Road Initiative—development drive, which is the necessary “peace through development” process needed to end the perpetual warfare in the region.

What is required, is the creation of an international investigative commission into Saudi Arabia’s actions against Yemen, and a set of immediate actions. China this week, indicated its support for such an investigation, and a “political” solution.

• Stop the Saudi bombing and all other attacks on Yemen.
• Stop the Saudi blockade of Yemen’s ports.
• Stop all outside interference in Yemen, to allow a return to the process of negotiation which existed before the start of the bombing, to proceed to resolution of domestic differences.
• Provide immediate food, water, sanitation, medical, power, public health, and all other social relief in full.
• Provide any and all other humanitarian and economic aid urgently required, especially for transportation, shelter and logistics.
• Initiate stand-by preparations for international collaboration to re-build Yemen, and welcome its participation in the development drive of the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ of Eurasia-Africa.

Yet Britain has blocked every attempt at even an international investigative commission, while the UK and the United States continue to supply arms to the Saudi “Coalition” perpetrating the criminal assault. On the American side, the very same backers of Saudi crimes are working to bring down the duly elected government of President Donald Trump. In turn, these interconnect with the British sponsors of the Saudi royalty, going back to the founding of the Saudi Kingdom.

SEE: Shut Down the London/Saudi Terror Network

New Evidence; Bob Mueller Complicit

The new 9/11 revelations, which came out on the eve of the 16th anniversary of the attack, concern specifically evidence of direct Saudi government involvement in the 1999-2001 preparation of the aircraft attacks—including a “dry run” flight attempt in 1999, and show a pattern of cover-up by then FBI-Director Robert Mueller. This is the same Bob Mueller who ran the “Get LaRouche Task Force” in the 1980s, and now leads the investigation-assault against Pres. Donald Trump today, on the bogus charge of Russian interference in the U.S. election.

The new, damning documentation comes in a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, filed in New York Federal District Court, by a group of families of 9/11 victims. These plaintiffs have filed an amended complaint, citing FBI documents, showing that the Saudi government employed and financed two Saudi “students” in the U.S.— Mohammed al-Qudhaeein and Hamdan al-Shalawi—whose attempts to gain access to the cockpit of an America West flight from Phoenix to Washington, D.C., in November, 1999, were of such a threatening nature that the plane made an emergency landing in Ohio.

The two were arrested when the plane landed, and questioned by the FBI, but were released. The FBI later “discovered” that the two had been trained in Afghanistan, had regular contacts with one of the Saudi hijacker-pilots and a senior al Qaeda leader from Saudi Arabia, now held in the Guantanamo prison; were employed by the Saudi government; and were in “frequent contact” with Saudi officials while in the U.S., including attending a symposium hosted by the Saudi Embassy and chaired by the Saudi Ambassador. The Saudi Embassy even paid for the pair’s tickets for the “dry-run” flight.

There is also new attention to the attempted cover-up by then-FBI Director Robert Mueller, which puts him into the spotlight for his role against Trump today. At the time of the investigation by the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11, Mueller prevented the Congressional investigators from interrogating an FBI informant, Abdussattar Shaikh, who had harbored two of the 9/11 Saudi hijackers in San Diego before the attack. Mueller removed Shaikh to an undisclosed location so he couldn’t be questioned, defying even a Congressional subpoena for his testimony. Sen. Bob Graham, Co-Chairman of the Joint Congressional Inquiry, thinks that Mueller acted on authority of the White House, indicating the Bush family’s alignment with British/Saudi geopolitical crimes.

Yemen—Stop the Carnage; Investigate the Crimes

In Yemen today the death and destruction are solely at the hands of Saudi Arabia. The latest U.N. report (Sept. 5) estimates the civilian death toll at at least 5,500 in the past two-and-a-half years (over 10,000 deaths total); with thousands more injured. Cholera cases have exceeded 600,000, with at least 2,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Water and sanitation services have been devastated. Millions are dislocated. There are at least 19 million people in need of humanitarian aid, and over 7 million in desperate need of food. But the Saudis are blocking relief shipments. The Saudis have bombed multiple hospitals, schools and social gatherings. Britain and the U.S. are supplying arms; the U.S. is providing re-fueling and surveillance. In releasing details, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said Sept. 5 that Yemenis are suffering from “an entirely man-made catastrophe.” On Sept. 11, for the third time in three years, Commissioner Zeid asked the U.N. Human Rights Council (of 47 nations) to launch an investigation into violations of international humanitarian law.

On Sept. 13 at a Geneva meeting of the Council, China and several other nations indicated their willingness to back such an international inquiry into the atrocities in Yemen. The Chinese delegate said of the idea, that, “We agree with the moves, including the COI [Commission of Inquiry], to promote the political solving of the Yemen crisis.” Canada and the Netherlands provided a draft text for the Council to establish a COI. But Britain and the U.S. opposed it; Saudi Arabia and cohort nations boycotted the discussion altogether.

Rescue, Rebuild

As horrible as the destruction of life is in Yemen, it is not a “special case.” It expresses British/American policy over the past 60 years, of perpetual war under various banners: regime change, R2P (Responsibility to Protect,) human rights, and other lies. Look at the series of battleground nations: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, Yemen. Syria has been able to resist, with the assistance of Russia. Before that, Vietnam. This must stop.

We can now break with this horrible legacy, and its perpetrators, whose system opposes the general welfare. We can join together in the policy of the New Silk Road, whose capability and intent to serve the common good of mankind, are evident in the way that millions of people in many nations, are collaborating in projects of mutual benefit.

In the United States, there is a new, deep wave of compassion for humanity, and will for development, in the aftermath of the devastation in the Americas from the hurricanes and Mexican earthquake. Americans are looking forward to the economic projects which must be done for the future, and looking back, on how essential projects were not done—flood defenses, water systems, advanced power infrastructure, space-based climate analysis—because they were claimed to be too “costly,” given the U.S. commitment to the various wars, from Vietnam, to Afghanistan, to Iraq, and now Yemen.

No more. Never again. We now can rescue and rebuild.

The first version of the above statement was issued Sept. 12; it was updated Sept. 16, 2017

On Wednesday, Sept. 13, the Foreign Minister of Yemen, Engineer Hisam Sharaf, received in his office in Sana’a the statement of the LaRouche Movement titled “Enemy of Silk Road Paradigm: Saudi Genocide in Yemen,” delivered by Schiller Institute friend Fouad Al-Ghaffari, Chairman of the Yemeni Advisory Office for Coordination with the BRICS, and also the President of the Yemeni Youth Cabinet.

The Yemeni daily Sanaa News covered the meeting with a report titled “The Foreign Minister Receives the Statement of the LaRouche Movement Concerning Yemen and Calling for Stopping the Aggression,” reporting that Al-Ghaffari briefed the minister on the latest international developments concerning Yemen, especially since the Xiamen BRICS Summit, which referenced the situation in Yemen for the first time in its final declaration.

According to Sanaa News, Al-Ghaffari “briefed the Foreign Minister on the vision adopted by Mrs. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who is also known as the New Silk Road Lady, calling for an immediate end to the Saudi aggression on Yemen, and who calls for including Yemen in the New Silk Road initiative.”Sana News reports that the LaRouche Movement statement calls for establishing an international commission to investigate the crimes committed by the Saudi regime, which is known for its aggressive character since its creation, and which is now targeting the program of President Trump.

Al-Ghaffari also briefed the Minister on the efforts being made in the U.S. Congress to stop the sales of arms and ammunition to Saudi Arabia, and that activists in Washington are pushing Congress to end support for the Saudi war that has claimed the lives of at least 10,000 Yemeni civilians and has blocked delivery of food and medicines to millions, causing the greatest humanitarian catastrophe in the country.

Sanaa News also reported that the members of the LaRouche Movement are planning to distribute their statement at the UN General Assembly building in New York, as well as at the conference of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights in Geneva. It further adds that the statement stresses that the aggression against Yemen is part of the regime-change policies pursued by the U.S. and Britain for decades, and that this barbarism can only be outflanked by the rallying around the New Silk Road paradigm.

Sanaa News states the following in the conclusion of its report: “It is noteworthy that His Excellency Eng. Hisham Sharaf had expressed in a letter to his Chinese counterpart in April, the desire for Yemen to join the New Silk Road. The Xiamen Declaration of the BRICS nations has now opened a very important window for Yemen that can be utilized to send a message to the Foreign Ministers of the BRICS, who are intending to meet on the sidelines of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, and to bring the situation in Yemen to the UN Security Council.”

It is a tragic mistake that the members of the United Nations do not recognize the government in Sanaa as the representative of the Yemeni people and their interests—rather they recognize the five-star-hotel resident in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his entourage as the legitimate government of Yemen. Hadi’s mandate as acting president had expired before the Ansarullah (Houthis) put him under house arrest in late 2014. He is being used by the Saudis as a tool to continue the destruction of Yemen, as he has refused to hold any negotiations with the popularly-approved government in Sanaa, composed of members of Ansarullah and the National Congress Party of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Foreign Minister Sharaf is a member of the latter party.

For more information about Al-Ghaffari, visit his Facebook page. 

by Kesha Rogers

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…”

Tuesday, September 12th, marked the 55th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s Rice Stadium “Moon Speech.” In celebration of that historic event which inspired so many, nearly 1,000 people piled into the Stude Concert Hall on the Rice University Campus. The event marking this historic date was titled, “Failure Is Not an Option: Embodying the Credo, We do This Not Because It Is Easy but Because It Is Hard.'” The featured guest speaker was Apollo 13 Astronaut Fred Haise. Ellen Ochoa, Director of Johnson Space Center, also spoke during a brief moderated question-and-answer session along with Haise.

The President of Rice University, David Leebron, quoted in his opening remarks these very words uttered by President John F. Kennedy in his first lecture at Rice University on September 12, 1962:

“We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.” Mr. Leebron explained that in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey that had devastated the Texas region—as now Irma has done to the Florida coast— those words of John F. Kennedy were just as relevant today as they were when first heard 55 years ago.

A captive audience at Stude Hall Tuesday night.

Eighty-four year old astronaut Fred Haise gave an awe-inspiring speech to the packed crowd, which had exceeded everyone’s expectations for attendance. He spoke about the history of the United States’ manned space program, and the harrowing story of the Apollo 13 mission of 1970. Col. Haise was the Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 13. The mission of Apollo 13 had been to land in the Fra Mauro area of the Moon, but an explosion on board the spacecraft forced the crew to instead circle the Moon without landing, and the Fra Mauro site was reassigned to Apollo 14. In speaking about his experience aboard Apollo 13, Haise recounted the tragic loss of life on Apollo 1 in 1967, after a fire broke out in the cockpit as the spacecraft was sitting on the launch pad, killing all three astronauts. The lessons learned from that tragic event, and the commitment made then that “failure is not an option,” saved the lives of Haise and his crewmates later, as he explained. The sacrifice of those who had lost their lives before, may just have saved the lives of others after them.

I think that this is a notable lesson for today. Will we learn the lesson of Harvey? Will we build the infrastructure we need to ensure that not another life will be lost due to man-made error and negligence? So much has been lost, so many have sacrificed—how will we right the wrongs and make the new discoveries which will ensure a better future ahead?

I asked Col. Haise about the lessons that might be learned from the space program and Apollo, that would help to guide the nation during this period of crisis in the aftermath of the hurricanes. He responded by emphasizing the importance of having the right leader, the necessity of teamwork for rebuilding and infrastructure, and the need to put fully-adequate financial resources into that rebuilding—which can only come from a Federal mission, of the sort that Kennedy understood was needed to make Apollo a success. During the question-and-answer session, while Ochoa seemed to toe the line about NASA’s increasingly shifting to reliance on privatized space flight, Col. Haise bluntly pointed out these private companies only exist because of NASA, and, unlike NASA, if they don’t make a profit, they cease to have a mission.

Col. Haise concluded by highlighting the unique quality of human beings to make discoveries, unlike any animal. No pig or dolphin can build a spacecraft, he said, but you can. His speech was given a standing ovation, and the audience left the room greatly inspired, with great hope for the future.

Early press accounts of the Kra Canal Conference held in Bangkok Monday, show that it was a huge success, demonstrating the broad base of support, both within Thailand and internationally, to proceed with this project, which has been supported by EIR and Lyndon LaRouche since the 1970s as part of the “Great Projects” approach to world peace and development.

Articles in the Japanese Nikkei and the Malaysian state news service, Bernama, report on the enthusiasm of the participants. A direct report from EIR’s associate Pakdee Tanapura, a leading organizer of the conference, will follow.

Nikkei writes: “European business leaders in Thailand have joined Chinese government advisers and influential Thais in urging the country’s military junta to construct a $28 billion ship canal through the narrow Isthmus of Kra to link the Indian and Pacific Oceans.” They report that Rolf-Dieter Daniel, president of the European Association for Business and Commerce, the umbrella group of European chambers of commerce in Thailand, strongly promoted the project. “We believe the project should have a very high priority for the government,” he told the conference. He said the Kra Canal (now being called the Thai Canal) “would be one of the most ambitious and transformational infrastructure projects ever contemplated in Asia.” He added that “financially, this project shall not be a problem and will not burden the Thai taxpayer. Therefore, we can only recommend the Thai government to issue a current feasibility study as soon as possible.”

Nikkei reports that diplomats and officials from Japan, China, the U.S., Singapore, Malaysia, and the European Union, among others, attended the event, co-sponsored by the King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, the Thai Canal Association for Study and Development, and the Thai-Chinese Culture and Economy Association of Thailand.

General Pongthep Thesprateep, a former army chief of staff who heads the Thai Canal Association, opened the conference with a call for the government to pick up the project as soon as possible.

“Today marks a very important day in the history of Thailand,” Pongthep said. “I hope that the result of this conference will act as a catalyst for the Thai government to create a national committee for the complete feasibility study of the Thai canal project. The study should provide answers to any doubts that may still exist.”

A former Supreme Commander of the armed forces, General Saiyud Kerdphol, who was a speaker at the conference in 1984 with Mr. LaRouche, sent a long message of support in which he called for the canal to be made a project of the Thai monarchy – “a King’s Project” — to avoid it becoming bogged down in politics. according to Nikkei. Prof. Zhou Dawei from Peking University, told the audience that “The Thai Canal, will make Thailand a true transport hub in the world.” He added: “We strongly believe that under the OBOR initiative, if we give more importance to the Kra Isthmus Canal project, we will definitely be part of a great change in humankind’s history.”

Prof. Jingsong Song from Shanghai Jiao Tong University said, “Thailand should take advantage of China’s position now and start the Kra Canal project. Don’t delay the project, now is the right time.” The Thai Canal, said Song, would not only propel Thailand’s economic ambition but also the Asian and the world’s economies, according to Bernama.

LaRouchePAC’s feature film on the Kra Canal from September 2013

Late August into early September has been a tumultuous time in our Solar System. The United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean are being slammed by a series of intense hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, Jose, Katia). Prior to the hurricanes, the Sun released several explosive solar flares (including the largest in over a decade), launching bursts of plasma directly at the Earth and generating severe geomagnetic storms. In addition to the hurricanes, Mexico was rocked by the largest earthquake in over a century—a magnitude 8.1 quake 90 km off the southwest coast.

These natural events remind us of mankind’s vulnerability to the hazards in our Solar System, and underscore the strategic reality of our times: Nations must come together to defend Earth from these threats.

The magnitude 8.1 Chiapas earthquake has tragically taken about 100 lives (according to information available on Sept. 10). Thanks to electrical sensors and warning systems, many residents were given a warning a few tens of seconds before the earthquake waves reached them—providing just enough time to exit buildings, or find shelter.  But what if we could provide hours’, or even days’ warning before major earthquakes strike?

For decades small groups of pioneering scientists have dedicated themselves to detecting, studying, and understanding precursor signals that appear in the hours, days, and weeks before the eruption of seismic events. These scientists have shown that various forms of electrical, electromagnetic, magnetic, thermal, and other anomalies and signals precede earthquakes, providing the basis for early warning systems that could save countless numbers of lives.

One of the leading pioneers in this area is Prof. Sergey Pulinets, who has presented his revolutionary work to EIR, the Schiller Institute, and the LaRouche PAC. Professor Pulinets has collaborated with his colleague Professor Dimitar Ouzounov in the development of their lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere coupling model. This model explains the physics behind earthquake precursor signals, and provides the theoretical framework for an earthquake early warning system.

Professor Sergey Pulinets, of the Institute of Applied Geophysics in Moscow, presents the evidence that not only can mankind predict earthquakes and related natural disasters, but, in fact, we have the power to change the weather to suit our needs. A presentation given at the “Rescuing Civilization from the Brink” International Schiller Institute Conference Rüsselsheim, Germany, July 2-3, 2011

After extensive study and demonstration, their team is ready to bring this work into active application—if governments are ready to step forward and support the development of earthquake early warning systems.

Presently the leadership of China, Russia, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the BRICS partnership is bringing the world closer to the New Paradigm envisioned by Helga and Lyndon LaRouche. Strategically this means that these leading powers, including in Europe and the U.S.A., must abandon geopolitical ambitions, and engage in strategic collaboration to defend the Earth and all its inhabitants from the challenges that threaten all mankind.

We must collaborate in forecasting earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; we must defend Earth from asteroids and comets; we must learn to control extreme weather events; we must collaborate in the defense of that one humanity which we all share.