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Press Release

China, Russia Warn Europe and U.S.:
Your Anti-Nation-State Policies
Are Coming Back To Haunt You

October 2017

Iñigo Urkullu

Oct. 23, 2017 (EIRNS)—As expected, the long-festering separatist drive of the Basque region of Spain has now been piled onto the Catalonia crisis. Inigo Urkullu, president of the Basque Autonomous Community, writing in the London Guardian today, called upon the European Union to move in to oversee negotiations on a new Spanish "plurinational" nation, in the name of "self-determination" and "democracy." Like the Catalan separatists, Urkullu swore allegiance to the supranational project of the dying EU paradigm.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had warned in his speech to the Valdai Forum last week, that "the situation in Spain clearly shows how fragile stability can be even in a prosperous and established state," pointing to the deliberate decision after the collapse of the Soviet Union to let "the genie of European internal division" out of the bottle as a driving force in today’s crisis.

"In the case of Catalonia, we saw the European Union and a number of other states unanimously condemn the supporters of independence.... [M]ore thought should have gone into this earlier. What, no one was aware of these centuries-old disagreements in Europe? They knew, did they not? However, at one time they basically welcomed the disintegration of a number of states in Europe, without hiding their joy on this matter,"

citing Kosovo, in particular. Putin warned that such double standards "pose serious danger to the stable development of Europe and other continents, and to the advancement of integration processes across the world."

Similarly, in an editorial statement today, China’s Global Times, which reflects official policy, pointed to the role of the West’s "democracy" double-standards in creating the Catalan separatist crisis, and calls on Europe to "wake up:"

"The West’s extravagant explanation over democracy, freedom and human rights over a long period of time is the fundamental reason this time, which provides the Catalan separatist movement a moral high ground it’s not supposed to have. Leaders requiring ‘democracy’ in Catalonia are more confident on the strength of their righteousness than those in the Spanish government who are preparing to file a lawsuit against them.

"There have been signs of the emergence of separatism in the West, but in prosperous old days, sufficient bread and butter helped dissolve the problem. However, the situation has changed. The Catalan independence movement is revealing a real danger....

"A state is still an effective and basic unit for human society and in maintaining world order. But during the decades after the Cold War, the West had destroyed some countries it does not like, supported almost every single anti-government activity in those nations and backed most of the separatist movements there, making people believe that democracy is above everything. Yet what happened in Catalonia may be a turning point.

"The Catalan independence movement sets off alarm bells for Europe to adjust. Europeans are addicted to their previous glory. But the continent is now facing various challenges. It’s time for them to wake up."

In her October 26 Webcast, Schiller Institute Founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche situated the Catalonia issue in the larger strategic context. There is no solution to the problem that is causing the distress in there in the current paradigm. To resolve this crisis in Catalonia and Spain requires a shift to the New Silk Road.

Harley Schlanger:  … Now, I got an email from someone who asked if you could talk about the significance of the Catalan separatist movement, in the context of this fight between the old paradigm and the new; because I think there's been a lot of confusion about what it represents, partly coming from the European Union itself.

So, what's behind this, and why is it happening?  

Helga Zepp-LaRouche:  First of all, I think the Catalonia development is also an effect of the neo-con/neo-liberal paradigm.  Because in Spain, as in Greece, Italy, and Portugal, they were hit by the absolutely brutal austerity of the Troika. Spain, despite the fact that many young people left, and many skilled laborers left, still has an unemployment rate among the youth of, I think, up to 60%--young people who neither have a job, nor are in education, which means they have no future!

This is something which has hit all of Spain, and an Italian Member of the European Parliament named Marco Zanni said correctly, that the fight between the Catalans and the Spanish federal government is a fight between the poor and the poorer. And I think that that is what triggered the unwillingness of the Catalans to continue to pay the federal government--so the trigger, therefore, is in the overall policy of the Troika. Like the Brexit, or the victory of President Trump, or the "no" to the referendum in Italy, or the recent election result in Austria, or the Czech Republic--all of these reflect the discontent of the population with the neo-liberal economic policy.

But there are other features to it.  Of course it is wrong for the Catalans to demand independence, because it goes against the constitution, and we cannot have a "Europe of the regions," because this is the design, not only of the federalist movement of Coudenhove-Kalergi, of the Pan-European Union, of the British who are supporting the Catalans openly in all their newspapers, because they like the destruction of the nation-state.  And if you have 50 or 100 small regional entities all being "independent," of course, as compared to the supranational institution of the EU, they would have absolutely no power and therefore the common good of the people could not be defended. The significance of the emergence of the nation-state was that it is the only institution which, especially in times of crisis, defends the common good of the people, not the private interests. So there is that aspect of it.

But then there is also another point, which I think President Putin of Russia pointed to.  He said:  Well, the West was so emphatic in pushing democracy, democracy, democracy, and they developed this double standard.  Democracy and independence for Kosovo is fine, but of course, now they are caught in a paradox, because if the same thing happens to a pro-EU government like that of Prime Minister Rajoy [in Spain], then of course there is a contradiction, because there is no good solution. Because if the Catalans declare independence, and Rajoy allows it, that threatens the integrity of the Spanish state, so he cannot do that.  On the other side, if he tries to quell the masses in the streets -- and there were hundreds of thousands of people in the streets in Barcelona and there will probably be again in these coming days -- and if he uses military means or police power, then that is terrible for all the values the EU is supposed to represent, like democracy and human rights, and things like that.

So it's a paradox where there is no solution within that system.

Now, we have said, very clearly, the only way you can remedy that situation is that Spain fully take a role as a hub in the New Silk Road, which Rajoy already wants Spain to do--because only if you develop the Iberian peninsula fully as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, can you overcome the tensions between the different provinces of Spain; and by the way, the leader of the Basque region also supported the Catalans already, so this has a tremendously explosive power.

There is one other aspect to be said about it, and that is that in Spain, a dossier came out which we have not yet been fully able to look into, but it does mention that the Catalan independence movement is supported by Soros, by the Ukrainian Maidan forces, and by [Gene] Sharp, who is the author of the whole "color revolution" coming from Oxford and Cambridge--so this is a big story, and this will all be investigated  and looked at. Because George Soros is the main force behind a lot of these color revolutions, including that in the United States.

So, the answer obviously, is the Belt and Road Initiative, the New Silk Road, common development for all, and then a solution can be found. And in that light, I think it's very positive that Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, just met with his Ukrainian counterpart [Pavlo Klimkin] and Ukraine and China said that they want to cooperate very closely in the Belt and Road Initiative.  And there, again, that is what we have said for year: The only way that you can solve the Ukraine crisis--where the west of Ukraine is Western oriented, Catholic; and the eastern part, is Orthodox, Russian oriented -- the only way that you can get back to the unity of Ukraine, is if the Eurasian Land-Bridge, the New Silk Road, is in construction from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and in that way, a higher level of cooperation is implemented, which then solves all of these conflicts.  So that is also a very promising development.