Larouche Online Almanac

Published: Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2003

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Volume 2, Issue Number 50
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LaRouche in Paris


Classical Culture: The Case for National Sovereignty

Here are the keynote remarks by Lyndon LaRouche to the annual General Assembly of the Solidarité et Progrès party on Dec. 6 in Paris.

What we shall do here, is consider from approximately a scientific standpoint, the case for national sovereignty, still today, as opposed to some kind of approximation of world government.

Now, what the functional importance is of national sovereignty, for the success of the recovery of this planet from the disasters that are now consuming it: The first thing, let's consider the role of Classical culture. That, if we try to communicate in terms of a language, and we assume that a language is something which can be explained by looking up words in a dictionary, then, we are idiots. As a matter of fact, we are bordering on a state of clinical schizophrenia: because, never does a language, as such, in a literal sense, communicate ideas. A language always occurs against two backgrounds: Speech, writing, refers to something which exists, refers to a situation. It also refers to the culture of the people—as the culture of the people affects the way in which the situation to which the language refers. And therefore, there are always these two, minimally, two different kinds of ironies going on in any intelligent, non-schizophrenic speech. First, the reference of the speech. And second, the cultural view of what the reference means. And this is always ironical. Because, whatever you say, never tells what you mean! What you say, always has a reference, a reference in society, a reference in experience. It refers to that.
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Lyndon LaRouche International Webcast

WE'RE OUT TO CHANGE THE DESTINY OF THE UNITED STATES
Here is the keynote to Lyndon LaRouche's campaign webcast in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 12, 2003. LaRouche was introduced by his campaign spokeswoman Debra Freeman.

Listen to the Archived Webcast.

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this week in history

December 15 - 21, 1777

Everyone with a minimal knowledge of American history, knows that King Louis XVI's France provided the crucial margin of support to the American Revolution, allowing the War of Independence to be won. Yet, I wish to devote this column this week to the French government's recognition of American independence, which occurred on Dec. 17, 1777.

In the small, of course, that act of recognition was due to the intense and brilliant diplomatic activity of America's greatest Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, who had been in Paris negotiating for support, and recruiting international aid for more than a year. But, there is a larger point to be understood today: specifically, the fact that the American Revolution was a project of an international, mostly European, republican elite, who saw the establishment of our republic as a "beacon of hope" and "temple of liberty," for all mankind.

Even the numbskulls who mouth off these days about the French opposition to the criminal U.S. war against Iraq, would have to admit that the United States could never have won the Revolutionary War without French recognition, and subsequent military and financial support. The French gave us millions of dollars, one of their greatest sons, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the deployment of their Navy, all of which were decisive in the outcome of the war against the British. There were more French, than American soldiers at the Battle of Yorktown, the last major battle of the war, which led to the British decision to turn to negotiation.

Of course, the French support was not unconnected to their "inter-imperialist" rivalry with the British Empire, but, there was actually more to it than that, as Franklin always argued.

Paris, like other European capitals, was actually a center of republican ferment, in favor of the American Revolution. Indeed, the idea of establishing a republic on American shores had been taken up by republican circles going back as far as the 15th-Century Italian Renaissance, and had been continued through the networks of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the leading republican genius of the late 17th-early 18th Century, throughout Europe. These circles had sent settlers to America, and had connived to put governors, and others, in place, in order to establish republican governments. Leading intellectuals and artists, such as Ludwig van Beethoven (also born this week, in 1770), Friedrich Schiller, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Jonathan Swift (considerably earlier), all took up the American cause, more or less explicitly.

Thus, when Franklin went to Paris to seek support, he was not coming out of the blue, nor was he approaching a court unfamiliar with the American republican cause. He was approaching a court which had, 100 years earlier, seen the flourishing of the pro-industrial, pro-science, dirigist economic measures of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, and of Leibniz himself, who worked at Colbert's Academy.

True, Europe was never able to free itself of its oligarchy, and spawn true republics like the United States, but there is more that unites us, than separates us, in terms of the republican tradition. "Us against them" is an ideology which was appropriate neither then, nor now. In remembering our debt to the French of 1777, let us revive the republican tradition of respect for the dignity of man, in our relations with Europe, and all nations of the world.

Books:

Empire for Democratic Dummies, Soros-Style
by Stuart Rosenblatt

The Dust of Empire
by Karl E. Meyer
New York: Century Foundation, 2003
237 pages, hardbound, $26

This book sells itself as a guide for confused Americans trying to figure out what United States policy is all about in Central Asia, and looking for some history of the region in which the 'war against terrorism' is being contested. But in reality, The Dust of Empire is a thinly-veiled call for the creation of a liberal imperial world order modelled on the less disgusting aspects of the British Empire of the 19th Century.

The Story of the Casino World's Front-Man
by John Hoefle

Running Scared: The Life and Treacherous Times of Las Vegas Casino King Steve Wynn, by John L. Smith.
Running Scared is a carefully written book which its subject, Steven Wynn, nominally one of the most powerful men in Las Vegas, tried hard to stop. Upon reading it, it is easy to see why, for it portrays Wynn as a rage-driven, megalomaniacal front-man, with a reputation for womanizing and cocaine abuse, whose career was steered by mobsters and bankers, funded by dirty money, and aided by the thick layer of corruption which pervades America's casino capital.

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Features:

Duma Election: A Phase Change in Russian and World History
by Rachel Douglas
A senior Russian economist commented that the Russian parliamentary election results—a sweeping victory for President Putin, and the strong emergence of the Rodina electoral bloc—reflect a universe that is ripe for a LaRouche Presidency in the United States.
  • Documentation: Rodina leader Sergei Glazyev in the Russian press, and coverage of him in EIR over the past decade.
  • LaRouche Interviewed in Russian Magazine
    Speaking to Valyutny Spekulyant (Currency Dealer), economist LaRouche zeroes in on the unique role of the U.S. Presidency at a moment of world economic breakdown.

LaRouche Presents Foreign Policy to Press in Paris
Lyndon LaRouche gave this press conference on Dec. 5, introducing journalists in Paris to his Presidential campaign. "The United States is in a crisis," he said. "The habits of the Baby Boomers, the 50-year-old people, will no longer control the politics of the United States. The poor, the people in the lower 80% of family-income brackets, are going to be brought back into politics. And the leadership of people in the 18-25 age-group, is going to change, and be the spearhead of changing politics in the United States.

"In the meantime, the whole blasted system is coming down, so it's going to make it a new time. The present world system of politics is ended, one way or the other, for better or for worse: You might have idiocy in the future, but it won't be the same kind of idiocy we had in the year 2000."


Economics:

Gingrich's Guillotine Is Behind Medicare 'Reform'
by Richard Freeman
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the "Third Wave" kook and ideologue of the Conservative Revolution, turns out to be a leading force behind the new Medicare Prescription Drug Program—the "reform" which will turn over billions of dollars to the pharmaceutical and insurance companies, while privatizing the Medicare program.

Trans-Asian Trains Run, Koreas Join Rail in April
by Kathy Wolfe
The Trans-Korean Railway is becoming a physical reality—despite all the threats by Washington neo-conservatives, and the furor over North Korean nuclear weapons.

South Africa's Mbeki in Paris, Says 'Free Market' Cannot Develop Africa
by David Cherry
The highpoint of South African President Thabo Mbeki's state visit to France from Nov. 17-19 was his address to the French National Assembly, in which he asked that international 'structural funds' be established to help Africa develop.

India-Sudan: 'Strategic Energy Cooperation'
by Ramtanu Maitra
For several months, New Delhi has been pursuing vigorous diplomatic initiatives in its quest for national oil security, by seeking cooperation in Sudan's petroleum sector. It achieved a major success last June, when the public sector behemoth, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh (ONGC Videsh), bought 25% equity from Canada's Talisman Energy, Inc. in Sudan's Greater Nile Project.

Does the U.S. Want A Space Program, or Not?
by Marsha Freeman

The U.S. manned space program has not had any long-term goals since President Reagan's 1984 proposal to build a space station. Although this was a limited project, and not an initiative to exploring the Solar System, it at least spanned more than one annual budget cycle, and was intended as an element of infrastructure laying the basis for farther exploration, later on.


International:

Russian Ministry Holds Berlin-Paris-Moscow Meet
by Jonathan Tennenbaum
Report from a conference in Berlin on "Berlin-Paris-Moscow—Locomotive for Strategic Cooperation between Russia and the European Union?"

Schröder Trip Boosts German Ties to China
by Rainer Apel

Visiting China Dec. 1-3, for the second time this year, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder had his first official meetings with the new Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who took office several months ago. Schröder's talks in Beijing served the continuity of German-Chinese cooperation within the broader alliance with Russia, India, and France, against the Bush Administration's war drive. And it also served the building of a sound economic base for this strategic alliance.

India, China See 'Window Of Strategic Opportunity'
by Mary Burdman
During the pivotal, crisis-ridden year of 1998, Lyndon LaRouche pointed to the emergence of the 'survivors' bloc' of nations. These nations, especially the Eurasian giants Russia, China, and India, would act, LaRouche said, to defend themselves from the cataclysm that U.S. financial and military policy was imposing on the world.

Jaffee Center Report:
In Cheney's WMD Fraud, Israel Was 'Full Partner'
by Dean Andromidas
A prestigious Israeli institute has confirmed what EIR readers have known for months: Israel was a 'full partner' with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in cooking up a totally false intelligence picture of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. The massive disinformation campaign was launched by all three governments, in concert, to justify the unprovoked invasion of Iraq.


National:

Dick Cheney Is Caught in Yet Another Lie
by Jeffrey Steinberg

The Vice President's top aides are under fire by the press and Congressional investigations, for conduiting lies and disinformation about Iraq into the White House. But as one retired U.S. intelligence official told EIR, "To do anything about it, means taking on Dick Cheney."

LaRouche Webcast:
'We're Out To Change America's Destiny'

In a webcast speech in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 12, Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., candidate for the 2004 Democratic Presidential nomination, said that the world is now in a crisis 'fully as serious as that which Franklin Roosevelt faced in March of 1933.'

Perils Pile Up on Perle
by Michele Steinberg and Scott Thompson

Defense Policy Board member and top neo-con operative Richard Perle has been tarred as a central figure in yet another major financial scandal, this one involving the Boeing Corporation.

Bush Restates One-China Policy, Riles Neo-Cons
by William Jones
Like a gaggle of hens suddenly caught in the farm's sprinkler system, the neo-conservative armchair warriors from the Cheney- Rumsfeld stable furiously scolded President George Bush for his restatement of the one-China policy of the United States on Dec. 9.

Arnie's California:
From the Golden State To the Third World
by Harley Schlanger
The recent bipolar behavior of California's new Governor, the Beast-Man from Hollywood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, makes clear that the warnings issued during the Recall campaign by Lyndon LaRouche were right on the mark.

Creating Roman Legions For Donald Rumsfeld
by Carl Osgood

In his 1957 book, The Soldier and the State, Harvard professor Samuel Huntington presented a Hobbesian vision of what the U.S. military should look like. 'The man of the military ethic is essentially the man of Hobbes,' wrote Huntington, and the military man has no responsibility to judge the ends for which his skills are to be put to use by the civilian authority who employs him.

Why Is the Cato Institute Desperate To Bury the Truth about FDR?
by Nancy Spannaus
In a seminar at the institute, Jim Powell presented his new book, FDR's Folly, How Franklin D. Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression. Nancy Spannaus refutes his lies.

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Coverup Exposed!

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