Executive Intelligence Review

Aug. 10--Following the Aug. 9 St. Petersburg meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recip Erdogan, high-level delegations from both countries are meeting Aug. 11 in a trilateral (foreign, defense, and security (ministers) working meeting to set a collaborative course for ending the Syrian war. Russia and Turkey plan to expand bilateral trade to $100 billion per year, a three-fold increase over previous peaks. The North-South Corridor project will now engage Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Iran, and will fold into China's One Belt, One Road project.

The Russia-Turkey partnership will bring greater stability to the entire Caspian Sea, Balkan, Caucasus region, extending the zone of Eurasian security and prosperity further west.

Lyndon LaRouche emphasized on Wednesday that these developments must not be seen as discrete actions. They are part of a new global dynamic, being led by Russia's Putin and by the Chinese. In the coming weeks, Putin will be hosting the Vladivostok Eastern Economic Forum, which will now be attended by both Japanese Prime Minister Abe and by South Korean President Park. Following the G-20 summit, hosted by China, India will be hosting the annual BRICS leaders summit, which takes place in early October. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi is in India this week, to further advance those crucial bilateral relations, and Indian Prime Minister Modi spoke by video conference with Russian President Putin on Wednesday, commemorating the opening of the first of five Russian-built nuclear power plants under construction in India, and arranging a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20.

LaRouche cited Putin's leadership as defining a new direction for global progress. ``This is a global process being steered by Putin and China. They have effectively taken charge of a new direction in policy, replacing rivalry with collaboration.'' LaRouche noted that this process was fully underway in the middle of 2015, when Putin attended the Chinese celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Asia. It is now blossoming and leaving behind the pathetic old geopolitical games of Barack Obama, the British, and NATO.

The developments in St. Petersburg this week will have a powerful impact in Germany, which is facing economic doom unless the policies of Merkel and Schaeuble are immediately abandoned. Look for dramatic shifts in Germany, which are now urgent. A number of recent studies, published since the fraudulent so-called ECB/EU bank ``stress tests'' have concluded that Deutsche Bank is doomed, is already a ``dead bank walking,'' and only the kind of reorganization that has been promoted by Lyndon and Helga LaRouche, for weeks, now can save the German economy from ruin. LaRouche has warned repeatedly that the collapse of Deutsche Bank and the destruction of the German economy must be avoided at all costs, because such a collapse will greatly increase the danger of world war.

The Putin-Erdogan developments, including the extension of the China OBOR program into the North-South Corridor running from the Persian Gulf up into Europe, afford the perfect opportunity for Germany to change.

The same is true for the United States, where a tremendous policy battle is underway, beneath the surface of the presidential electoral disaster. The push for Glass-Steagall in both party platforms, and the fact that a number of Congressional progressive Democrats and the AFL-CIO have denounced the coup d'etat against Dilma Rouseff in Brazil, in an open letter to John Kerry, are indications that the United States is also ripe for a revolution in policy.

The Schiller Institute has now produced the proceedings of the historic June 2016 Berlin conference, which spelled out the imminent danger of world war but provided the pathway to a new future of peace and prosperity. That report, which defines the policy guidelines for the next American presidency and for a new governing coalition in Germany, is already circulating and is a blueprint for the kind of new policy paradigm that Putin and the Chinese are driving.

Link to Berlin conference report:
http://www.schillerinstitute.org/conf-iclc/2016/0625-berlin/report.html

Putin and Erdogan Move To Promote Cooperation on All Issues

Aug. 9, 2016 (EIRNS) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin received Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg today for a meeting that put both nations on the path of reconciliation, and economic and strategic cooperation throughout Southwest and Central Asia, especially in regard to Syria.

"Cooperation with Russia will help solve issues in the region," Erdogan said in a joint briefing before his meeting with President Putin.

Speaking to the media at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, Putin said: "We are against all kinds of coup attempts. I would like to remind you of our principal attitude.
We are against all attempts that are against the constitution. I hope under your management the Turkish people will overcome this problem," Putin said, referring to the July 15 coup attempt.

Putin is quoted by TASS as having said of their meeting, "We had a substantial and, I would like to stress, constructive conversation on the entire spectrum of bilateral ties, and on the international agenda.... The top priority task is to reach the pre-crisis level of bilateral cooperation.... Russia is ready for such work."

Erdogan agreed: "Our region has political expectations of Turkey and Russia. Turkey-Russia ties have entered into a very different and positive phase."

Testifying to the importance of their meeting and the broadness of the talks, Erdogan was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu, as well as four other Turkish ministers, the Deputy Chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party Mehdi Eker, and Undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan.

On Syria, Putin said: "We believe that democratic transformations can be achieved only by democratic means. This is our position of principle." Since Russia and Turkey had not always seen eye to eye on Syria, they decided to have a separate discussion of the issue with the foreign ministers and security service representatives, Putin said. "I think it is possible to align our views and approaches" on Syria, he told reporters. "We are going to use this common approach as the basis for searching for a mutually acceptable common solution." And, "There is common understanding that combatting terrorism is the most important element of our joint work; we will discuss it in more detail."

Regarding the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, to bring gas from Russia to Turkey, and thence to Greece and Europe, Putin said, "We viewed the Turkish Stream from the very beginning as an opportunity of broadening our cooperation in the gas sphere with Turkey and with Europe and not as an alternative to the South [Stream project]. A segment of the Turkish Stream was stipulated exclusively for domestic consumers in Turkey in view of rising demand and growing economy of the Republic of Turkey. This segment shall not be subject to any doubt, and its implementation may start in the nearest future," Putin said.

On the sidelines, an agreement was reached between the state-backed Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Turkish construction and investment firm Rönesans Holding, to expand cooperation and invest up to $400 million in joint healthcare, construction, and infrastructure projects.

Erdogan Speaks to TASS on Eve of St. Petersburg Meeting with Putin

Aug. 9, 2016 (EIRNS) -- In an interview with TASS broadcast on Russian TV the day before the meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made perfectly clear that his government was fully committed not only to improving relations with Russia, but to also seeking real strategic and economic cooperation. Erdogan warmly referred to Putin as "my dear friend" or the "honorable President Putin."

The most important points in this very lengthy interview dealt with economic and strategic cooperation, especially ending the war in Syria.

On resolving how to deal with those responsible for shooting down the Russian war plane last November and killing of one of the pilots who had safely ejected, Erdogan characterized the incident as a "great misfortune to us and it deeply upset us,"
referring to his letter to Putin. He said, the fighter pilots who had shot down the Su-24 bomber have already been arrested, the investigation is continuing, and the man who murdered the Russian pilot is now in custody and is standing trial. "I would like to emphasize that" he said.

Commenting on Putin's timely telephone call of support within hours after the attempted coup was crushed, Erdogan said, "I recall his high-principled position with gratitude, and I thank him on behalf of myself and the Turkish people. All world leaders must resist treason, government coup attempts, and attacks on their own people. Mr. Putin acted quickly and practically without delay. Once again, I express my gratitude to him."

On their cooperation to end the war in Syria, Erdogan said, "I'll tell you in a frank and straightforward manner. Basically, Russia is fundamentally the key and most important player in establishing peace in Syria. I believe it is necessary to solve this crisis with the help of mutual action by Russia and Turkey. If the talk is about widening the circle of participants, then I already told my dear friend Vladimir [Putin] earlier: if necessary, we'll also involve Iran in the effort. We can invite Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and America.
In this regard, we can form a wide circle of participants. If not, then the Russian Federation and Turkey, given our common 950-km border with Syria, can take some steps, without violating Syria's sovereignty."

Erdogan reiterated his position that Syrian President Bashar Assad has no future in a settlement, but qualified, "Let the Syrian people themselves elect an individual they want to see in power...."

Erdogan attacked the idea of "good terrorists and bad terrorists."
He said that the al-Nusra Front, because it claims to have separated from Al-Qaeda and is supposedly fighting IS, is now called "good terrorists," and the same is true for the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party. "This is an incorrect approach."

Most interesting were Erdogan's remarks regarding economic cooperation. He said the completion of the Akkuyu nuclear power station was on the top of his agenda, because it "is the most important agreement clinched with the Russian Federation, as it deals with nuclear power," and all time lost should be regained by restarting the project. As for the proposed Turkish Steam gas pipeline and other projects, "There are no obstacles whatsoever before us."



China Has a Plan for the Future

Aug. 9, 2016 (EIRNS)--While the rest of the world thinks only short-term, China has a plan: the New Silk Road, London-based hedge fund CEO Stephen Jen told Bloomberg on August 7.

Bloomberg's story, headlined "China's $1.4 Trillion Silk Road Beats the Marshall Plan," has been picked up by a number of other sites, ranging from the Austrialian Financial Review to a Spanish translation appearing in Mexico's {Economia Hoy}, at least.

Jen views China's One Belt, One Road project as "a quintessential example of a geopolitical event that will likely be consequential for the global economy and the balance of political power in the long run.... [I]n terms of its size, [it] could be multiple times larger and more ambitious than the Marshall Plan or the European enlargement," with a potential to touch on 64 countries, 4.4 billion people, and around 40% of the global economy.

There will be difficulties, but "the fact that this is a 30-40 year plan is remarkable as China is the only country with any long-term development plan, and this underscores the policy long-termism [sic] in China, in contrast to the dominance of policy short-termism [sic] in much of the West," said Jen.

Rather humorous from a former IMF economist, former head of Morgan Stanley's global currency team, and now CEO of Eurizon SLJ Capital.

-###-

Executive Intelligence Review