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Date Posted: 08:40:57 11/21/07 Wed
Author: part 2
Subject: Re: November 20, 2007
In reply to: part 1 's message, "November 20, 2007" on 08:39:14 11/21/07 Wed

ECONOMICS

Brainwashed Zombies, Panicked by Huge New Bank Losses, Attack
Bernanke

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--Maddened by mountains of bank losses, including
another $15 billion writeoffs heading for Citicorp according to
some bankers today, Wall Street and London "economists" are
swearing that they are going to compel Federal Reserve Chairman
Ben Bernanke to three more, immediate, interest rate cuts,
reported Bloomberg news this morning. Hyperinflation and dollar
collapse be damned, say these "brainwashed zombies" quoted by
Bloomberg, we'll have our Fed funds rate down to 3.75% or lower
by March.
"[Bernanke] you're wrong and we're going to lead you to the
next ease," Thomas Tucci, head of bond trading for Royal Bank of
Canada's New York investment-bank, is quoted, among many others.
Bloomberg says the entire bond market is shouting in unison,
"Bernanke is withholding some vital information: The economy is
so bad the central bank will have to lower interest rates at
least three-quarters of a percentage point." One of these,
Hoisington Investment Management chief economist Lacy Hunt of
Austin, says the Fed will have to lower quickly to 2%.
"This is nuts," noted American System economist Lyndon
LaRouche. "The only solution to this crash is the revival of
President Franklin Roosevelt's legacy, in new legislation to
protect and rebuild the economy. These people are brainwashed
zombies." [pbg]

You Know the System Is Hemorrhaging, When the Red Cross Is Doing
Derivatives Deals

Nov. 19, 2007 (LPAC) --The Bavarian Red Cross was illegally
involved in three derivatives swap deals, according to German
press accounts last week. The managing director of the aid
organization confirmed the existence of the three swaps, but
maintained it was not illegal. One of the deals has already
dissolved, and the former financial officer was reportedly
dismissed.
An anonymous source had informed the Bavarian Interior
Ministry about "highly speculative interest bets" with which
debts were to be reduced. The Interior Ministry says that such
deals are not allowed for non-profit organizations.
The organization claims, that no membership donations were
used for it, that there was no "speculation," and maintains that
it is not illegal. They claim to have "earned" EU400,000 (with
EU2 million as reserves) by these interest swaps, with no losses
so far, and that they will be able to get out "without damage."
The manager also defended himself, saying that they cannot make
these trades in such a highly professional way as German Telecom,
or the city of Munich can!
As the Munich tabloid AZ reports, many municipalities have
gotten involved with contracts on "risky interest rate deals."
The LaRouche organization in Germany, the BueSo, had warned
the municipalities not to get involved with these kinds of deals,
which now can prove to become fatal for the very functioning of
the fabric of society in the present crash of the financial
system. (efi)

In Preparation for Collapse, London Commercial Leases Shortened
to 18 Months

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--London commercial property market continues to
collapse as banks put large leasing of new space in the City of
London, the semi-autonomous financial district, on hold.
Furthermore, they are signing "flexible" leases for no more than
18 months, rather that the normal 10 to 20 years.
This is being seen as preparation for big layoffs at the
major banks as the collapse of the financial system continues.
This will hit rent prices and therefore property prices. City
property prices are believed to have fallen already by 5 or 10%
since spring, according to a report in {The Times}. Speculators
who have in the last two years bought properties on yields that
were below the cost of debt, based on the idea that price would
go up, are all out of the business now.
HSBC, which sold its own office building in the Canary Wharf
for 1.1 billion pounds, in fact loaned 800 million pounds to the
Spanish real estate company, Metrovacesa. It used this sale to
make its books look better, but now it turns out that HSBC has
not been able to sell this debt and will have to put it on its
own books. [dea]

U.S. Subprime Meltdown Costs Asian Banks Billions

Nov. 19 (LPAC)-- Japan's third-biggest bank, Sumitomo Mitsui
Financial Group, had a 59% decline in second-quarter profits,
mostly because of continuing losses on U.S. mortgage investments.
Net income at the bank fell almost 75 billion yen ($700 million)
in the three months ended Sept. 30, from 124 billion yen a year
earlier, using figures given by Bloomberg news.
In addition, analysts are now expecting that China's third
largest bank, the Bank of China (BOC), may have to set aside 7.7
billion yuan ($1 billion) in provisions for U.S. subprime
investments in the fourth quarter. The BOC may eventually be
forced to triple its subprime charges to 11.3 billion yuan for
the full year, a dramatic increase from 3.6 billion yuan in the
first three quarters, according to analysts. Showing that its
exposure to subprime securities was similar to American banks,
BOC growth began to slow in the third quarter, beginning with a
$322 million writeoff, dropping its profit increase from 51% to
22% in the third quarter. BOC held $7.45 billion in subprime
asset-backed securities and $496 million in collateralized debt
obligations as of Sept. 30, representing 2.86% and 0.19%,
respectively, of its total investment in securities. [mpb]

China Exerts State Authority Over Economy

Nov. 19 (LPAC)-- In a dramatic move, Chinese authorities have, in
the last weeks, ordered the nation's banks to freeze all lending
at the present levels, for the rest of the year. This news, and
the way it was delivered, had the desired immediate effect on the
markets. Halfway around the world, the {Wall Street Journal}
managed to get it on the front page of its print edition by press
time. Although they spend a lot of newsprint fretting about what
effect this will have on the markets, what Rupert Murdoch's
free-marketing "Urinal" is most immediately concerned with is the
decidedly non-market-oriented nature of their intervention.
According to coverage, authorities at the China Banking
Regulatory Commission "quietly ordered" commercial banks to
freeze lending. Although raising interest rates "would be more in
keeping with [a] market-oriented approach to business," they say,
China has already done this four times this year, with no durable
effect. They do, however note that it was the most astute move
they could have made. Without causing a "ripple effect" (market
panic), or increasing the "upward pressure" (inflation) of the
yuan, they have achieved, at least temporarily, a halt to the
wildfire of hyperinflation now engulfing the planet.
This dirigist, or "state-directed" control of the markets is
exactly the reaction which the Urinal (and others within high
financial circles) are terrified of eliciting from the victims of
globalization. In the U.S., the fight continues for the Congress
to assert some Constitutionally mandated authority over the
issuance of currency, and the protection of the general welfare
in the form of the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act. [mpb]

UNITED STATES

Colin Powell: Iran Is Years Away from a Nuclear Bomb

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--"I think Iran is a long way from having anything
that could be anything like a nuclear weapon," former Secretary
of State Colin Powell declared in his Nov. 18 address to the
National Bank of Kuwait's annual international symposium, titled
"Opportunity and Crisis in the Middle East."
Powell weighed in against any U.S. military options against
Iran, arguing that Iran is not an easy target; that U.S. hands
are full with Afghanistan, Iraq, and crises such as Pakistan;
that there is no support for another war among the American
people. Were it do so, the U.S. would be "totally isolated, even
as the international community would condemn such an action,
while the Iranians will use it to solidify its support within
their people," according to a Kuwait News story. We have to be
patient, Powell said, "because there are forces working within
Iran, which may bring about positive changes."
More generally, countries of the world, including Kuwait,
should take a hard look at infrastructure, and the health and
education systems and invest in young people, Powell said. That
goes for the United States, too. Powell told the Kuwaitis that he
finds it unacceptable that 30% of all American youth did not
complete their high school education today. [ggs]

House Committee Hears Testimony on Possible Obstruction of
Justice by Bush Administration to Protect Terrorist Luis Posada
Carriles

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--On November 15, testimony was given at a hearing
before the Committee on Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on
International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight on the
subject of "Diplomatic Assurances on Torture: A Case Study of Why
Some Are Accepted and Others Rejected."
The testimony focused on the case of Luis Posada Carriles,
who, like Orlando Bosch, is accused of having been the
intellectual author of the blowing up of Cubana Airline 455 on
October 16, 1976, killing all 73 passengers and crew members.
Testimony was presented by among others, journalist Ann Louise
Bardach, who interviewed Posada and wrote a 10,000 word article
on the bombing in {The Atlantic Monthly} in November 2006
entitled "Twilight of the Assassins"; Blake Fleetwood, who
interviewed both Posada and Bosch in 1977; and Peter Kornbluh of
the National Security Archive.
In his opening statement Chairman Delahunt pointed out that
Bush had proclaimed that, "if you harbor terrorists, then you are
a terrorist." And yet Posada, despite his terrorist crimes is now
living freely in Miami, Florida. Dalahunt stressed that "pursuant
to a provison in the Patriot Act, the Attorney General [Gonzales]
could have--and should have--designated Posada as a terrorist and
detained him," but the response was "resounding silence."
Moreover, Posada successfully fought extradition to Venezuela,
where the flight originated, on the grounds that he might face
torture, but the administration failed to seek "diplomatic
assurances," that he would not be tortured, even though Venezuela
publicly offered such assurances.
Blake Fleetwood reported that in 1977 both Posada and Bosch
admitted to him that the bombings, including that of the Cubana
Airlines, and killings, were planned at a meeting in the
mountains of the Dominican Republic. He was asked by an attorney
with Homeland Security to testify against Posada, but when the
trial occurred, the DHS never got back to him for his notes and
tapes.
Ann Louise Bardach testified that on Sept. 11, 2006, U.S.
Magistrate Norbert J. Garney reported that "in this case,
Petitioner was never certified by the Attorney General as a
terrorist or danger to the community or national security."
Moreover, the Magistrate, also reported that the Attorney General
never certified any other special conditions which would require
continued detention. In short, the Bush Administration, through
Gonzales, had a number of alternative legal means to ensure
Posada's continued detention, but chose not to employ any of
them.
Bardach also reports that in August 2003, the Miami FBI had
closed its investigation of Posada, which gave a bureaucratic
cover for destruction of the government's own file on Posada in
order to "free up space" in the "overcrowded" evidence room. This
was signed off on by the supervisory agent in charge and the U.S.
Attorney's office. As a result, five boxes of some of the most
crucial data regarding Posada's crimes had been destroyed.
Bardach then said: "Does this not raise the question of possible
obstruction of justice?"
Moreover, the destruction of evidence in this case is not
limited to the U.S. As far back as 1988, Venezuelan President
Carlos Andres Perez asserted that "The Cubana bombing file had
been tampered with." Hugo Chavez likewise complained that in the
days before he assumed the Presidency in 1998, many sensitive
DISIP files were destroyed, including Cubana case records.
In his testimony, Peter Kornbluh reviewed some of the most
damning evidence against Posada:
"Luis Posada Carriles, a demolitions expert trained in the
1960s by the CIA, had foreknowledge of the bombing of the Cubana
Airliner;
"Posada was found in possession of a terrorist target
list--essentially a scouting report on potential sites related to
Cuba;
"The Venezuelan who drafted this report, Hernan Ricardo, was
employed by Posada in Caracas. Ricardo, along with a subordinate
named Freddy Lugo, placed the bombs on the plane before it took
off from Barbados;
"As soon as the mission was accomplished, Ricardo placed
phone calls to both Posada and his co-conspirator Orlando Bosh.
The coded message they left was 'A bus with 73 dogs went off a
cliff and all got killed'"; and
Within hours after the plane went into the ocean, multiple
FBI sources identified Posada, and Bosh as having engineered this
terrorist attack."
Orlando Bosch was granted an administrative pardon on July
17, 1990 by President George H.W. Bush and now lives in Miami,
Florida. (wfw)

Ground Zero's Town Council Gets Food For Thought With Lavish
Dinner

LEESBURG, November 19 (LPAC) -- Tonight, without their knowledge,
the residents of Leesburg treated their Mayor, Vice-Mayor, City
Council Members, chosen Town administrators, and invited State
legislators, to a dinner of filet mignon or mahi-mahi at
Tuscarora Mills, a favorite local bo-bo hang-out. The ostensible
purpose of the dinner was for the Council to press the
legislators to take action on such matters as funding the
erection of appropriately shaped street lamps in the downtown
historic district.
Although, by law, such "gatherings" of the Town Council are
open to the public, the only uninvited guests present were a
single reporter, and a LaRouche PAC organizer.
The organizer offered each attendee copies of the Homeowners
and Bank Protection Act, and "The U.S. Dollar Has Crashed." Most
acknowledged some familiarity with the issue raised. He
explained, using the illustration of an owner of a tiny
dilapidated townhouse in a particular neighborhood, who is being
forced out by a mortgage reset to $3,000 per month, to emphasize
that Leesburg was in desperate shape. Several winced at that.
One adminstrator asked how we know that, "Do you ask people about
their mortgages?" "Generally, we don't," the organizer told him,
"but, when we tell them what we're doing, the stories start
flowing." The organizer remarked to some, that if their
constituents knew they were funding this lavish discussion of the
shape of street lamps, while nothing was being done about the
housing and financial crisis, that might lead to tarring and
feathering, which LaRouche PAC definitely wished to prevent.
The Mayor, who has a long history of opposition to LaRouche,
agreed that the town was in desparate shape, and said she'd love
to meet and discuss the issue further, at some unspecified future
time. She mentioned Gov. Tim Kane's newly announced commission
to study the problem, but agreed when the organizer said, "You've
been around long enough to know that appointing a commission to
study a problem everyone wants to avoid, doesn't always solve it.
And, believe it or not, your constituents know that too."
The Vice-Mayor arrived late, took the leaflets, and said,
"Yes, this is a real problem," as she hurried to her seat at the
table.
A council member, with responsibility on the Town Planning
Commission, said he was familiar with the HBPA, and "We're
looking at it. We're talking about it." He did say, of tarring
and feathering, "we try to steer clear of it."
Three administrative officials, likewise, said they were
familiar with the measure, and agreed that something like it was
necessary.
State Delegate David Poisson said, "I know about it. I've
said I won't discuss it before the legislative session. Stop
calling me. Stop leaving messages, stop harassing me."
Delegate Charles Caputo demanded, "Why are you here? What's
your role at this meeting?" When told, "I came to talk to you,"
he barked, "I don't want to talk to you, is that clear?"
Another "old boy" delegate said he had received a packet of
information from another organizer, and "I've almost gotten
through his cover letter. I'll have to take a close look at it."
[se_]

EUROPE

Attempted Murder of Consultant to Carlo Palermo

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--A consultant to attorney Carlo Palermo escaped a
murder attempt on Nov. 18, as he was working on a major
investigation involving the role of U.S. military vessels in a
disaster that killed 140 civilians in Livorno in 1991. EIR has
helped Palermo in this investigation. Under Palermo's initiative,
prosecutors in Livorno have re-opened the investigation centered
on illegal military movements in the port of Livorno, in the
context of the Desert Storm and Restore Hope operations. New
elements suggest that the collision between the Moby Prince ferry
and an oil tanker that caused the fire on board of the Moby
Prince on April 9, 1991, leading to the deaths of all passengers
and crew, was caused by the presence of U.S. military ships in
the port of Livorno, illegally involved in cargo operations.
Furthermore, Palermo has collected evidence showing that the
commanders of the U.S. military base in Camp Darby, Livorno, lied
about the presence of those ships, and that there was a coverup
on the Italian side in the first investigation that provided the
official "accident" version.
On Sunday, Nov. 18, a consultant to Carlo Palermo in the
Moby Prince case was supposed to meet a witness near Pisa, when
he was assaulted by masked men, knocked down and dazed with a
spray. He was then locked in his car and the car was set on fire.
Only when the smoke filled his throat, the man woke up and
somehow found the energy to get out of the car. He was expected
to report about his meeting to Carlo Palermo, who was waiting in
a hotel in Pisa.
The attempted murder was preceded by a 4-page article in
magazine {Panorama} on Nov. 8, which published contents leaked
from the prosecution office in Livorno. Reliable sources told EIR
that prosecutors were quite disappointed in the article, which
suddenly gave unwanted publicity to their work. The article
reported, among other things, that prosecutor Antonio Giaconi
interrogated former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, who was head
of the Italian government in 1991, to find out about possible
special military agreements between the Italian government and
the U.S. Department of Defense related to the use of the Livorno
port facilities during the Gulf War.
"The prosecution office has never published anything," said
Carlo Palermo to EIR. "The publication of such records is
strange." This, and the attempted murder of Palermo's
collaborator, indicate that "there are evidently well-placed
persons who are following the Prosecution office on one side, and
who are following us on the other side."
The implications of the Moby Prince case could be
devastating for Dick Cheney, the U.S. Secretary of Defense at
that time. The dimensions of the "accident" were so large, that
only the higher levels of the U.S. Defense Department could have
ordered a coverup. The Moby Prince collision occurred after the
official end of Desert Storm, but three days after the beginning
of the Provide Comfort operation, which involved transport of
U.S. personnel and materiel from U.S. bases in Italy to northern
Iraq. [ccc]

Copenhagen Daily Editorializes: No To Attack on Iran

COPENHAGEN, Nov. 19 -- Conservative Danish daily
Jyllands-Posten's has editorial against a military attack on
Iran. Today's editorial, "Iran and the Atomic Bomb," warns
against a military attack, and calls for Europe and the U.S. to
work for a diplomatic solution. It states that since it became
clear that Iran had an atomic program, an American or
American-backed Israeli attack has been discussed. "Just after
Saddam Hussein was overthrown, Washington's hawks were out with
the theory that Iran was next. " Now, Bush is warning his
European friends that it is necessary to prevent Iran from
getting the bomb. The U.S. reaction is understandable. But there
is still the possibility of a diplomatic solution. While Russia
is against sanctions, they also don't want Iran to get the bomb.
"An Israeli or American [military] action against Iran can,
in excess, cause the exact opposite effect as wished.... An
attack could trigger a wave of Iranian nationalism, which will
strengthen the [Iranian] president and his regime, and it will
lead to a situation, which in the worst case, could make the Iraq
war look like a marionette theater."
The editorial concludes that luckily, despite the harsher
American rhetoric, they have understood that even an isolated
preventive attack against the Iranian nuclear facilities, should
be replaced by diplomatic activity, and the prospect of an attack
will diminish as the U.S. election campaign accelerates. The U.S.
and Europe need to cooperate on a diplomatic solution. [mr_]

New Polish Government May Ditch Ballistic Missile Defense

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--The Defense Minister for the Polish government
that took office on Nov. 16, Bogdan Klich, says that he wants to
ensure that Poland's participation in the U.S. ballistic missile
defense program is in his country's interest. Part of the anxiety
in Poland, the Canadian Press reports, is that allowing 10
missile interceptors to be placed in Poland could ``further
strain its already shaky ties with Moscow.'' The previous Polish
government made public that its interest in the missiles was to
counter a ``threat'' from Moscow, not Iran. The new government,
Klich said in an interview with the newspaper {Dziennik}, will
``weigh the benefits and costs for this project, for Poland.''
[mgf]

Italy: Berlusconi Launches New Jacobin Party

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--Silvio Berlusconi announced that he is dissolving
his current party Forza Italia and founding a new party, which he
will call either "Popular Party of Freedom" or "Party of
Freedom." He consciously plays on the image of Jean-Paul Marat,
both with his reference to the "people" and with his use of the
term "parrucconi" ("old fogeys") to attack the political class.
Berlusconi's announcement comes in the context of a campaign
to replace the current political class, initiated months ago by
pro-British oligarchical centers, which have fed a populist,
Mussolini-like "anti-political" mood in the population. The
leader of this campaign, so far, has been business leader Luca
Cordero di Montezemolo. Berlusconi is now offering the
"right-wing" alternative to Montezemolo. Apparently Berlusconi's
current party, Forza Italia, is not populist enough and too
dependent on political compromise with other conservative
parties, such as the Christian Democratic UDC and the right-wing
Alleanza Nazionale (AN). Berlusconi said that he will build his
new party with young people and that the "Parrucconi" should stay
home.[ccc]

Could Bush Declare Emergency Rule? Danish Op-Ed Asks

COPENHAGEN, Nov. 19 -- An Op-Ed, "What Now, America?" in the
Danish daily {Politiken} contrasts the economic method of
Benjamin Frankin and Franklin Roosevelt to that of Adam Smith,
and warns that the voodoo economic system collapse and meltdown
process are threatening the existence of the American republic.
Perhaps Bush will declare a state of emergency before the 2008
election, the author concludes.
Less than a week after the Danish election, in which
Schiller Institute activists ran with the slogan, "After the
financial crash: maglev across the Kattegat," an op-ed by retired
physicist Herbert Rosenbaum, powerfully attacks the Bush
Administration's economic policies. Democratic capitalism is
finally being taken apart in the U.S.A., creating a systemic
collapse, which threatens the global free market mechanisms, the
environment, and the West's ideals of freedom, the author argues.
He wonders why the USA's voodoo-economy has not ruined the
country a long time ago.
After quoting from Benjamin Franklin's famous warning about
the danger of a republic falling into tyranny, he asks "Is the
Republic going to end now?" Is the U.S.A. becoming the kind of
laissez-faire (keep your fingers away) system which was prevalent
when Adam Smith published the {Wealth of Nations?} He describes
the high unemployment rate, bad health and education systems, the
attempt to privatize Social Security, and the destruction of
American industry, infrastructure, and cities. How did it get so
bad?
During the depression, Roosevelt implemented a new social
and financial legislation the New Deal, which tried to save
capitalism from total collapse. Kennedy and Johnson were not able
to carry on FDR's line. Then Reagan brought 200,000 laissez-faire
idealists in. They were still there under Clinton.
Under Bush, there has been deregulation of banks and the
financial world. The dollar is falling, life expectancy falling,
and the deficit is growing. the destabilization of the
democratic foundation in the USA is already accomplished. The
credit bubble has been the locomotive in the economy for a long
time. The central bank is covering for guilty financial
institutions, who have been allowed to harvest their
expropriation profits from the affected home owners and indebted
citizens. Private speculators are being saved from going bankrupt
and to prison, while the final economic meltdown is being
postponed until after the elections in November 2008.
The miracle has held so long because the dollar has been the
world's reserve currency, and there was a well-run production
apparatus and big gold reserves. But now the dollar is being
replaced by private IOU venture vouchers: certificates designed
and issued by super energetic Wheelers and Dealers in all of the
day's 25-26 hours.
The op-ed ends by asking if Bush, as Commander-in-chief,
especially if he hit the bottle again, could announce a state of
emergency before the 2008 election. [mr_]

SOUTHWEST ASIA

Iran's Ahmadinejad will consult with other Arabs on proposed
uranium enrichment center possibly in Switzerland

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--Speaking at a press conference at the close of
the OPEC summit in Saudi Arabia, Iran's President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said on Nov. 18 he will consult with Arab nations on
a plan to enrich uranium outside the region in a neutral country
such as Switzerland. "We will be talking with our (Arab)
friends," he said in exclusive comments to Dow Jones Newswires
and reported by the Jerusalem Post.
The plan was proposed by the Gulf Cooperation Council, and
called for a multinational consortium to be established that
would provide enriched uranium to power plants in Iran, and the
Middle East. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Saud
al-Faisal was reported to have said a last week, "We believe it
should be in a neutral country--Switzerland, for instance."
More than a year ago, as a war-avoidance measure, and to try
to resolve the Iran nuclear issue, Russian President Vladimir
Putin made an offer to provide Iran, through an international
fuel center, with enriched uranium for its future nuclear
reactors. Russia can quickly ramp up its uranium enrichment
capacity to provide the fuel, is building Iran's only civilian
nuclear power plant, and is supplying the Bushehr reactor with
enriched uranium fuel. [dea, mgf]

Swiss mediation efforts in Iran nuclear dispute

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--In an interview with {Neue Zuercher Zeitung} Nov.
18, Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, the former foreign
minister, for the first time tells more about the Switzerland's
mediation in the Iran conflict. "The Iran dossier has entered a
decisive phase: Some of the concerned countries are threatening
harsher sanctions, if Iran does not stop uranium enrichment. At
the center there is the demand by the UN Security Council that
Iran suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition of talks. Iran
is not willing to meet this demand..
"On the one hand, the issue is the right of the member
states of the [Nuclear] Non-Proliferation Treaty, including also
Iran, to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes, on the other
hand, the insistence by the UN Security Council that member
states respect the obligation to drop nuclear weapons plans. So
far, the present situation. Now, to your question why Switzerland
is getting engaged here.
"How could a country like Switzerland not get engaged? I
watch the Iran conflict with great concern. If it escalates
further, it can have unpredictable consequences also for us. I
do not only think of the economic consequences for our exporting
industry. In case a war broke out, millions of human beings could
be affected. It is in the interest of Switzerland to get engaged
here."
Foreign Minister spokesman Johann Aeschlimann said
yesterday that "Switzerland is interested in a negotiated
solution of the Iran nuclear issue and is engaged toward a
reconciliation of the differences between Iran and the
international community." (dea]

SOUTH & EAST ASIA

U.S. Military Proposes Arming Pakistan's Tribal Leaders, Like in
Iraq

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--Escalating its policy to destroy the nation of
Pakistan, the Defense Department's Special Operations Command
(SOC), has proposed, in a ``new and classified'' document, that
there be a ``policy shift.'' The U.S. should ``enlist'' tribal
leaders in the frontier areas, to fight al-Qaeda and the Taliban,
the {New York Times} reports. The proposal, the Times notes, is
modeled, in part, on a similar effort by American forces in Anbar
Province in Iraq to fight insurgents.
A strategy paper, prepared by staff members of the SOC,
would expand U.S. military presence in Pakistan, where now there
are only 50 troops. The strategy would be to directly finance a
separate tribal paramilitary force, and pay militias that agreed
to fight the ``extremists.'' Some elements of the plan, according
to the Times, have already been approved, such as training and
equipping the Frontier Corps, which has about 85,000 members, and
is recruited from border tribes. This project awaits $350 million
in funding.
Training this Frontier Corps remains a ``concern'' to some,
as NATO and American soldiers in Afghanistan have blamed the
Frontier Corps for aiding and abetting Taliban cross-border
attacks, according to the Times. Apparently, the planning for
this approach ``intensified,'' after Adm. Eric Olson became the
head of the new Command, and discussed with Pakistan's President
Pervez Musharraf how the U.S. military could increase cooperation
with Pakistan. [mgf]

Between Pakistan and Iran: Britain Gloats Over Another "Failed
State"

Nov. 19, (LPAC)-- While headlines of the world's papers are
filled with the crisis in the collapsing Pakistan, the British
{Financial Times} will have no mention of it, and instead chooses
to run a feature on neighboring Afghanistan. They obliquely note
that this pivotal country is situated at the potential hub of a
revived Silk Road transit network. They, of course, fail to
mention that the British oligarchy is thoroughly committed to
preventing the realization of this Eurasian Land-Bridge promoted
by the LaRouches. Instead they emphasize that Afghanistan lies on
the verge of collapse and that failure here has additional
strategic implications beyond Asia, since it will reflect back on
NATO, with this as its first "out of area" deployment.
They review evidence of the collapse which is well known:
The Taliban are resurgent, with increased suicide bombings in
major cities. All efforts at retraining a national army, or even
localized police forces have failed. The production of poppies
for opium/heroin has reached unprecedented levels. And, the
nations supporting the invading forces are not only restricting
the movements of their personnel (such as Germany), but many are
facing political opposition at home, and could withdraw their
forces within the next year.
All this combines to leave yet another hole in the world
map, where once a nation stood. At the heart of it, is the "arc
of crisis" championed by British colonialists like Berhard Lewis,
and embraced by Cheneyacs in the United States. [mpb]

China Building World's Longest High-Speed Rail Lines

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--China will have 12,000 km of express rail lines
by 2020, since it has begun construction of 16 new express
passenger lines, the Ministry of Railways announced yesterday.
The new network will include the 1,318 km Beijing-Shanghai line,
which, when finished, will be the longest high-speed rail line in
the world. There will also be express trains linking the
provincial capitals, other important cities in China, and cities
in the key Bohai Sea, Yangtze River, and Pearl River regions.
The Beijing-Tianjin rail line, 115 km long, will be the
first which is capable of reaching 300 km/h, up from the current
high-speed limit of 250 km/h. Track construction has just begun.
(mmc)

Strategic China-Kazakh Nuclear Cooperation

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--Eurasian neighbors China and Kazakhstan, planning
rapid expansion of nuclear energy generation and the nuclear
industry, have concluded a strategic cooperation deal.
State-owned Kazakh nuclear enterprise Kazatomprom announced last
week that China will get a stake in a 2,000-ton-a-year uranium
mine in Kazakhstan, in exchange for Kazakh equity in China's
biggest nuclear power enterprises. At a press conference Nov. 12
in Almaty, Kazatomprom President Moukhtar Dzhakishev announced
"exclusive" Kazatomprom agreements with China's biggest nuclear
producers, Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co and China National
Nuclear Corp. These companies will set up joint ventures with
Kazatomprom to produce uranium, which will be sold to to China as
nuclear fuel by 2013.
Today, the Financial Times reported more details on the
agreement. The FT quoted Dzhakishev saying: "We will swap shares
in uranium production for shares in Chinese atomic facilities....
This is the first time China has allowed any foreign company to
become a shareholder in its atomic power industry enterprises."
He said that the Chinese companies would take a 49% interest in
the mine, with Kazakhstan retaining the 51% majority stake.
Xinhua reported last week that Dzhakishev said that the output
of the Kazakh mine could even exceed 2,000 metric tons because of
rising Chinese demand. Kazakhstan is planning to increase annual
uranium output from 7,200 tons to 18,300 tons by 2010, which will
make Kazakhstan the world's biggest producer, Dzhakishev had
already announced in Tokyo on April 13. It has the second-largest
reserves of the metal, after Australia. Kazatomprom is also
researching the potential to produce a new nuclear fuel, based on
beryllium and uranium, which would have a longer life than
standard uranium fuel.
Dzhakishev also said that China will have to process the
Kazakh uranium in Kazakhstan, and to allow Kazatomprom to use its
nuclear fuel assembly facilities. Kazatomprom bought a 10% stake
in Westinghouse this year, from Toshiba, in a similar deal.
Also last week, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi visited Astana,
capital of Kazakhstan, to sign a number of economic cooperation
and investment agreements, Xinhua reported. This was the fourth
meeting of the China-Kazakhstan Cooperation Committee, and the
two sides proposed cooperation in machinery manufacture,
telecommunications, mining, and rail and other transportation.
The two sides also signed an agreement to build and operate the
China-Kazakhstan natural gas pipeline, between the China National
Petroleum Cooperation and the Kazakhstan National Petroleum and
Natural Gas Co. (mmc)

Starvation and Disease Faced by Multitudes in Bangladesh

Nov. 19 (LPAC)--Bangladesh faces food shortages and outbreaks of
disease in wake of Tropical Cyclone Sidr, it is reported by
Bloomberg today. ``Medical supplies are not reaching the needy as
roads and telecommunications are cut off,'' Wahida Bashar Ahmed,
ActionAid International's emergency coordinator for Bangladesh,
said by telephone from the capital, Dhaka. ``Drinking water is
scarce and people have moved away from cyclone shelters to their
devastated homes. If we are not able to reach them in at least
three days, the situation will go from bad to worse.''
Deaths due to the cyclone could hit 15,000 according to aid
agencies that are on the scene. The Bangladesh Red Crescent has
recovered 3,000 bodies so far, but cannot reach many towns and
villages except by helicopter. One million families have been
displaced, and some estimate that as many as 15 million people
are facing a health crisis in the region, Britain's {Daily
Telegraph} reports.
Bangladesh periodically suffers catastrophic damage from
storms. This can only be remedied by a crash program for flood
and water-control infrastructure in the region, as Lyndon
LaRouche has emphasized for decades. [lmh, mgf]

*** END OF BRIEFING ***

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