Dec. 24, 2021 — The former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai (2001-2014) said on CNN Dec. 23: “The reality on the ground is that the Taliban are now the de facto authorities in the country.” He welcomed the UN Security Council action, temporarily removing the block of sanctions from the delivery of aid, saying that it is “maybe not enough, but it is a start.”

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On Christmas Day, 1776, George Washington restored hope and optimism within the struggling colonies and the bedraggled Continental Army that the British yoke could be removed and a free nation could be established as a beacon of hope for all mankind. It meant that Christmas celebrations had to be replaced with a stealth surprise attack, crossing the ice-filled Delaware River, in order to win a victory and restore confidence that the colonies could defeat the British.

Over the past weeks, leading US diplomats and intelligence professionals have come to the LaRouche Organization to sound the alarm that the nation is careening toward a nuclear war. They granted interviews to EIR precisely because they recognize that this organization has to unique potential to bring the world together. Leading Chinese economists, a leader from the Chinese-American community, and an Afghanistan Central Bank official have also stepped forward for interviews. Mike Billington, of EIR magazine, will review these messages, and the necessary solutions to stop the war danger and restore sanity and development in the world.

Russian President Vladimir Putin today held his annual in-depth press conference, during which he made the point emphatically that the two proposals he presented last week to the United States and to NATO, for the purpose of discussion and agreement on spelling out terms of security, are not optional. He said evenly of the U.S. reaction, “We have so far seen a positive reaction. U.S. partners told us that they are ready to begin this discussion, these talks, at the very start of next year.” But he pointed out that NATO had “cheated” Russia, with eastward expansion, and Russia needs immediate security guarantees.

As Putlin reiterated his warnings to the U.S. and NATO to not cross the clear "red lines" he has drawn, he said this is not an "ultimatum", but a necessary defense of Russia's national security.  Are his American and NATO "partners" listening?  Putin said there are "certain signals" that a diplomatic resolution is possible, and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov affirmed that discussions will take place in the new year.  Yet NATO, and especially the British, are continuing to move forces to the Russian border, leading to concerns that an attack into eastern Ukraine by Kiev neo-nazi units could provoke a Russian invasion.  At the same time, energy prices in Europe are spiking, as part of an inflationary spiral which will only worsen, as the global Green New Deal is imposed -- though the Atlanticists will blame Russia for energy shortages and blackouts. There are real solutions, beginning with signing the treaties proposed by Putin; dismantle NATO; and adopt Lyndon LaRouche's economic program, which could turn 2022 into an excellent year!

The Russian government is shouting from every rooftop that their strategic red lines are about to be crossed, and that they will respond unless the U.S. and NATO start negotiating seriously. Yesterday’s expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry Board served as the forum for extensive comments about this by both President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Putin also spoke by phone on Dec. 21 with India’s Narendra Modi, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, and France’s Emmanuel Macron, and hammered on the same point with each of them. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also had blunt comments on the matter.

In her Dec. weekly webcast today, Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche called for the U.S., NATO, and the nations of Europe to immediately sign the two strategic treaties presented by the Russian government of Vladimir Putin, as an urgent first step to get the world off its current trajectory towards nuclear war.

Dec. 23, 2021 (EIRNS)—The EU Commission has proposed a new set of taxes to finance the grants extended by the Next Generation EU Fund to member countries. The new taxes will mostly be “Green Taxes” or “Climate Taxes,” plus a share of the new international corporate tax.

The first tax is based on “revenues from emissions trading (ETS); the second draws on the resources generated by the proposed EU carbon border adjustment mechanism; the third is based on the share of residual profits from multinationals that will be re-allocated to EU Member States under the recent OECD/G20 agreement on a re-allocation of taxing rights (”Pillar One“). At cruising speed, in the years 2026-2030, these new sources of revenue are expected to generate, on average, a total of up to €17 billion annually for the EU budget,” says an EU release dated Dec. 22. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_7025

Helga Zepp-LaRouche made an impassioned appeal to viewers of her weekly webcast to use this Christmas period to join with us to mobilize for a New Paradigm. She compared "the commitment to brinksmanship" of Trans-Atlantic war hawks to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, describing this as"extremely worrisome," as it comes from a belief that Russia and China will back down in the face of threats from the U.S. and NATO.