The British Empire Is Up
To Its Old Evil Tricks

by Helga Zepp LaRouche

Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche is the chairwoman of the Civil Rights Solidarity Movement (BüSo) in Germany. Her article has been translated from German.

While Bundesbank chairman Axel Weber, over Easter, was calling his colleague at the American Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, and other central bank heads, hectically, but without result, in a desperate search for measures by which the meltdown of the financial system could somehow be brought under control, the financial oligarchy escalated its efforts to destabilize many regions of the world, and to strengthen its global control under a new version of the British Empire.

Before the reader rejects this short characterization of the situation in disbelief, with the argument—"But the British Empire doesn't exist any more!" he or she should recall that this is not the first time that old wine was proffered in new bottles. Many apparently separate developing daily events don't make the slightest sense, if you don't look at them in their strategic context. In the face of Orwellian control of the media, it is even more necessary, to judge contemporary developments with the eye of an historian, who has not forgotten the lessons of, for example, the 20th Century.

Spiegel-Online—significantly, only in its English edition—described with rare openness, how hectically Easter turned out for Axel Weber, [German Finance Minister] Peer Steinbrück, other central bankers, and Ben Bernanke, who reported on his own futile attempts to save the insolvent investment bank Bear Stearns. The central bankers allegedly discussed whether they should publicize their secret agreement, that they would never let a bank go under, if its failure could result in a meltdown of the financial system. According to Spiegel, they decided against it, to avoid giving the hedge funds and speculators an incentive. But the participants all knew how explosive this agreement was, because it would mean that the profits would be for the private banks, whereas the general public would have to bear the losses; the rich would be richer and the poor poorer: political dynamite.

Week after week, the outcry about the financial collapse becomes shriller, and threatens the existence of more banks, and thus, will exceed the capacity of the Federal Reserve for rescue actions, which, as Carlos de Benedetti, member of the Board of Directors of the Carlyle Group, warns, has already given out half of the funds it has on its books as assets, namely $400-800 billion. Therefore, the only option the Fed and the other central banks have left is printing money through hyperinflation, in the face of outstanding obligations of hundreds of trillions or more; this would mean hyperinflation à la Weimar 1923, whose current phase is already affecting the poor of this world in the most brutal ways.

When British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, of all people, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke, at their British-French summit on March 26-27, of the establishment of a new "Entente Formidable," for more transparency of the financial markets, and better ways to assign value to complex financial instruments, the German government should really learn the lesson that it doesn't pay to submit to the British Empire, by being more British than the empire itself. Because it was first and foremost the U.S.A. and Great Britain, which blocked Germany's demand for greater transparency at all the past G-8 summits. Now, that would be closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. Transparency can only bring the hopeless bankruptcy of the system to the light of day, and prove that the valuation of the instruments only has the character of toxic waste.

A New 'Entente Cordiale'

And what has German Chancellor Angela Merkel gotten out of so misusing the German presidency of the European Union, by subscribing repeatedly to the basic strategic interests of London, namely the ruinous reduction of CO₂ emissions on account of climate change allegedly caused by man; Gordon Brown's anti-Mugabe policy, and the transformation of Europe into an oligarchical dictatorship by means of the Treaty of Lisbon? The new "Entente Cordiale" between Great Britain and France, which Sarkozy wants to turn into a "fraternity," is aimed against Germany, no less than was the Entente Cordiale of 1904 itself, which was organized by King Edward VII against the alleged domination of the continent by Germany. Then Great Britain used corrupt elements in France in order to organize France's capitulation to Lord Kitchener at Fashoda, and then to organize the anglophile Theophile Delcassé into an alliance against Germany, which represented one of the pieces on the chessboard on which the First World War was staged. The British-French manipulation of the Balkan wars before the First World War belongs to the same category.

The new edition of that Entente was between Margaret Thatcher, with her "Fourth Reich" campaign against German reunification, and François Mitterrand, was no less anti-German; it led ultimately to the destructive Maastricht Treaty. That Mrs. Merkel has now made herself the most ardent champion of the still-more-fearsome Lisbon Treaty, fits in the tradition of the containment of Germany through self-containment, as the involvement of Germany in the EU corset was commonly called. Accordingly, acting government spokesman Thomas Steg assiduously declared that he doesn't consider the British-French Entente to be established against German interests.

In his speech in London, which was described by the British media in a not-exactly-respectful manner as "unctuous," Sarkozy explicitly placed himself in the imperial tradition of the European colonial powers: "What would Europe be without France's ties with the international Francophone organization, those of Spain with the Hispanic world, of Portugal with the Portuguese-speaking world, and of course, the United Kingdom with the Commonwealth and the English-speaking world?" Brown, for his part, underscored the new imperial alignment with his vision of a "Global Europe," which would also be held together through the integration of the logistical and intelligence aspects of NATO with the civilian aspects of the European Union. The danger of this development will unfortunately not be compensated for by the farcical elements of Sarkozy's visit to London, of which there were many. His attempt to hold his wife's hand during the official parade, was halted by Prince Philip with a soft tap on Carla Bruni's shoulder, while a youthful nude photo of her was auctioned off at Christie's, and decorated the international media.

Media Lies About Tibet

The British empire is attempting, on the one side, to manipulate the American election campaign so that Hillary Clinton resigns, Barack Obama is then destroyed, and then an anglophile combination is installed in the White House; and, on the other side, to militarize the EU. Then London wants to meld the two together into a new Atlantic Empire, an intent which will become obvious at the NATO summit at the beginning of April in Bucharest. But there is as yet another dimension. Condoleezza Rice declared openly many times that (neo-con) Washington would never allow another nation or group of nations to achieve anything like the economic and military might of the United States, which means the imperial special relationship of the United States and Great Britain.

Precisely this development is on the horizon, at the moment that the systemic crisis of the global financial system arrives at its end-phase.

The economic strengthening of China, Russia, and India would lead, under normal circumstances, to the point that these countries, in five or ten years, would not only have world-power status, but also could pull past the Anglo-American-centered empire, in the economic sphere. It is absolutely understood in leading circles of these three nations, that it is the policy of the British Empire to, by all means, destroy the strategic partnership among Russia, China, and India—to separate them, in order to destroy each, one by one.

The Tibet campaign, prepared over many years, serves this purpose exactly. This publication will soon document which organizations, NGOs, and foundations have been working for years to use China's Olympic year for a massive territorial destabilization, and possible secession of several provinces. The Western media are participating in this, fully synchronized with this campaign, and are not at all ashamed to print pictures of Nepalese or Indian troops in confrontation with demonstrators, as if they were Chinese troops in Lhasa.

The hypocrisy of the news coverage is not to be outdone. Even though several Western journalists, such as Geoff Dyer of the Financial Times, have stated that the damage caused by the Tibetan demonstrators was enormous, that does not stop them from condemning only the Chinese side. According to the Chinese press, there were, in the capital Lhasa alone, losses of $28 million, and 422 business, seven schools, 120 homes, and six hospitals were destroyed. How should China react to the fact that Tibet, Xinjiang, Sechuan, and probably other regions have been destabilized from the outside, and, at the same time thousands of "Christian" fundies from the United States are visiting villages, in order to "convert" the inhabitants? And if the president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, Tsewant Rigzin, argues for full independence? How would the German government react if foreign powers forcefully were seeking to split off Bavaria, Baden Wuerttemberg, and Saxony? In India, in any case, leading circles have understood that the campaign is intended not only to destroy China's image, and advance separatism, but also to destroy India's relationship with China.

In Russia, it is very well understood what lies behind NATO expansion, and what is aimed at with the absorption of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO: namely, to further the policy of encirclement against Russia, and, with it, to create an unacceptable security situation. At least on this point, Berlin has resisted the pressure of the empire faction. Russia has made it clear, with the expulsion of 150 members of the BP oil company due to alleged visa problems—in reality, there is suspicion of espionage—that it understands the intention. There have appeared in Russia a whole array of highly instructive articles, which document, primarily, the attempted manipulation of the U.S.-Russian relationship by the British Empire over the last 250 years.

Nuclear Power Alliances—Without Germany!

All these strategic manuevers naturally also concern raw materials and energy. Just as the United States is seeking to get control over the Indian nuclear energy program through the proposed U.S.-Indian nuclear treaty, which has been fully rejected by India's Parliament and scientists, so Great Britain wants to extend control, through its special relationship with France at the just-concluded summit, over nuclear energy worldwide. Industry Minister John Hutton explained that Great Britain would take the lead in the development of nuclear energy globally, which, however, is running into resistance in France, which does not want to lose its own technological advantage. Meanwhile, Russia and Japan have decided to establish a civilian nuclear energy alliance between Atomenergoprom and Toshiba, which would make them leaders on the world market, and has delivered a well-deserved shock to the new Entente Formidable.

And Germany? Germany, in this respect, in spite of all its service to the empire, is totally isolated on the question of nuclear energy, and has just given up the Transrapid maglev project for Munich. Eight billion euros of tax money alone was spent for bad debts at Deutsche Industriebank (IKB), but Eu3 billion for a maglev project that could mean abundant benefits for the whole world—this could not be spent!

We find ourselves not only in the worst crisis since 1945, or 1931, as it now is almost commonplace to say. If we continue on this course, then an asymmetrical global war threatens to emerge out of the systemic crisis, a war by which the British Empire would draw the United States, with its special relationship, as well as a militarized EU, into further wars against Eurasia. Such a third world war would throw mankind into a Dark Age.

The only alternative to that is the emergency conference proposed by Lyndon LaRouche, for a New Bretton Woods System and the construction of the Eurasian Land-Bridge, as the seed crystal for reconstruction of the world economy.