EIR Economics CONFERENCE IN YAKUTSK, SIBERIA North Eurasian Infrastructure And the Bering Strait Crossing by Rachel Douglas Aug. 28—A three-day confer- ence, “Comprehensive Infra- structure Development in Northeast Russia: from Limita- tions to Growth,” took place Aug. 17-19 in the East Siberian city of Yakutsk. With participa- tion from major Russian re- gional and national institutions, it was representative of “a spirit of optimism coming from a fac- tion in Russia; one of the few important reversals of back- wardness on the planet, so far, in recent years,” identified by Lyndon LaRouche in the LPAC Weekly Report1 of Aug. 11, © 2003 J. Craig Thorpe, commissioned by Cooper 2011. A major focus of the Ya- Consulting Co. kutsk event was the project to Above: Artist’s link Eurasia and North America rendition of the by a multimodal connection, terminal on the including rail, across the Bering Alaska side of the Strait—a great project pro- Bering Strait Railway moted by LaRouche since Tunnel. Russia’s coastline is in the 1978, and a natural extension distance. Right: Proposed route for 1. http://www.larouchepac.com/ the tunnel. node/19062 10 Economics EIR September 2, 2011 of the North American Water and Power Alliance ics, has its roots in Academician Vladimir Vernadsky’s (NAWAPA) design. KEPS organization, the Commission for the Study of The discussions reported from the meeting dem- Natural Productive Forces, of 1915-30. The Council onstrated what LaRouche emphasized in the LPAC was formerly headed by the late Academician Alexan- Weekly Report of Aug. 24 (see Feature in this issue): der Granberg, a specialist in regional development that if the United States does what we must, regarding projects who vigorously advocated building a tunnel productive employment in rebuilding the real econ- across the Bering Strait, until his death last year (see omy, “probably the most enthusiastic partner of the EIR, Sept. 3, 2010), and who was an endorser of the United States in such an undertaking as this, would be November 2009 “Call To Put the LaRouche Plan to Prime Minister Putin of Russia. Putin’s announced Save the World Economy on the International Agenda.” project objectives are in this same direction. Russia is Last year, the SOPS design of the Bering Strait project a very important country, despite the hard times it’s won the Grand Prize for innovation at the Shanghai come upon in recent years, because it commands a World Expo-2010. vast area of rich natural resources, and has an indus- Dr. Victor Razbegin, acting head of the SOPS, told a trial and transportation, and so forth, skill, and scien- pre-event press confer- tific background, that it can be a major factor in col- ence in Moscow on Aug. laboration, not only with China, which it already 12 that the Yakutsk con- tends to collaborate with, but also with a Europe ference would subsume a coming out from under the mess that exists there, discussion of prospects now.” for creating the multi- The Yakutsk discussions also, together with debates modal corridor between around the financing of related Siberian and Russian Eurasia and America, as Far East goals, dramatized that it will be impossible to well as a Chamber of build great development projects as some kind of rear- Commerce and Industry guard action, seeking financing for them within the business summit for dying global monetarist system. They require coopera- Arctic regions. In April tion among nations, each operating with a genuine 2007, Razbegin spoke Dr. Victor Razbegin credit system, as LaRouche has defined it, and with the about the Bering Strait principles thereof governing agreements among them. project at a Moscow Those principles include the orientation of all lending conference on “Megaprojects of Russia’s East,” where to physical-economic activity, and its strict protection, a paper by LaRouche, “Mendeleyev Would Have Ap- under the Glass-Steagall principle, from cannibaliza- proved,” was presented; Razbegin also sent a paper to tion by financial speculation. the Schiller Institute’s September 2007 event in Germany, “The Eurasian Land-Bridge Becomes a Development Reality.” Corridors At the Aug. 12 press conference, Razbegin said: The Yakutsk confer- “The only segment that remains before the continents ence was hosted by the are linked is 4,000 km in Russia and 2,000 km in Alaska government of the Sakha and Canada, so this is a key, pivotal project for develop- Republic-Yakutia, with ing the entire infrastructure of our Northeast. The proj- spon sorship from Rus- ect is for building an integrated main line, not only a sia’s Council for the Study railroad, but a highway and an electric power transmis- of Productive Forces sion line, linking the power grids of the continents. (SOPS) and Chamber of After we build this segment, four out of six continents Commerce and Industry. will be interlinked by these systems.” The SOPS, a joint organi- The regional Sakha News agency gave extensive zation of the Russian EIRNS/Rachel Douglas coverage to the conference, as did Gudok (“the Whis- Academy of Sciences and Academician tle”), the Russian Railways newspaper. Russian Rail- the Ministry of Econom- Alexander Granberg ways CEO Vladimir Yakunin, whose position in charge September 2, 2011 EIR Economics 11 FIGURE 1 the late Soviet period) to Ya- Proposed Route of the Interhemispheric Railroad To Connect Alaska kutsk, capital of the Sakha and Chukotka Through the Bering Strait Railroad Tunnel Republic. Until now, this city of 250,000 people, lo- cated at 62†gN, has had no rail connection to the rest of Russia. Bering The Russian Railways Strait Railroad program and the other fed- Tunnel eral programmatic docu- ment for Siberia and the Russian Far East, the “Pro- gram for Economic and Social Development of the Far East and Transbaikal to the Year 2013,” have both come under heavy pressure Main railroad line Existing railroad line for cutbacks since full-scale Proposed future line financial turmoil broke out Other future rail line in 2007. While Russia’s The proposed Bering Strait Railroad Tunnel is 65 miles long between the multi-hundred-billion re- portals, with 53 miles under water, and two islands, Big Diomede and serve fund, amassed from Little Diomede, in the central channel. the proceeds of selling oil and natural gas, was spent to bail out the banking Hal B.H. Cooper, Cooper Consulting Co. system, budget monies as- signed to these programs of the state-owned company gives him ministerial rank have often simply not been disbursed. Yakunin and in Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s Cabinet, was in- other allies of Putin have fought tenaciously to save volved in planning the event. Gudok of Aug. 8 inter- them. One of their strongest arguments is that, with- viewed Fyodor Pekhterev of the Institute of Transport out the repopulation and development of these re- Economics and Development, on how the Russian gions, it will be impossible to preserve Russia as a Railways line to Yakutsk, continuing on to Magadan on unified nation. the Sea of Okhotsk, and to the Bering Strait coast of the Victor Ishayev, the presidential envoy for the Far Chukhotka Region, will link to Alaska. East Federal District (FEFD), informed Putin in an Aug. TPP-Inform, the Chamber of Commerce and Indus- 16 meeting, that “the reduction of federal budget spend- try media outlet, reported Aug. 23 that the conference ing, assigned for implementation of [the 2013] Program had drawn 500 people, including from Russia, China, measures in the FEFD, totalled 80%.” Last December’s South Korea, the U.S.A., and some European countries. federal budget law cut 147 billion rubles (approximately $24 billion) from this spending for 2011-13, which was Building Railroads already a 62% reduction, and another 35 billion rubles The construction of a rail line to Magadan, and of the disbursements which were confirmed, went to then all the way to the Chukotka village of Uelen, as purposes not included in the Program. the potential terminus of the Bering Strait crossing on Ishayev asked Putin to throw his weight behind key the Russian side, is defined as a “strategic” project in projects in the Far East. He proposed the speedy forma- Russian Railways plans for 2016-30. The company’s tion of a working group to prepare the technical specifi- strategy through 2015 includes construction of the cations for the long-discussed bridge connection be- first leg, a railroad from the Baikal-Amur Mainline tween Sakhalin Island and the Eurasian mainland, (the BAM, or second Trans-Siberian railroad, built in which will not only allow greater economic integration 12 Economics EIR September 2, 2011 Planned Russian Railroad Development to 2030 NORWAY Uelen DEN. SWEDEN FINLAND Murmansk Pevek EST. POLAND LATV. St. Petersburg LITH. Pskov Petrozavodsk Indiga Arkhangelsk Kharasavey BELARUS Ust-Kara Smolensk Vologda Vorkuta Obskaya Bryansk Moscow Syktyvkar UKRAINE Norilsk BELKOMUR Kursk Nadym Nizhny Novgorod CORRIDOR A R C T I C C I R C L E Voronezh Tambov Kazan Polynochnoye Magadan Perm Khanty-Mansiysk Nizhnevartovsk RUSSIA Yakutsk Samara Yekaterinburg Rostov Saratov Ufa Volgograd Olekminsk Lensk S Chelyabinsk E Elgin Aktyubinsk Orenburg V Elista S (coal) I B R A I L R O A D Astrakhan Bodaybo Nalchik Tomsk Omsk Ust-Ilimsk Tynda E GEORGIA Ust-Kut IN Krasnoyarsk L Komsomolsk- Novosibirsk IN M A on-Amur ARM. KAZAKHSTAN B R A I K A L-A M U Makhachkala AZER. D Khabarovsk Irkutsk Chita A O Ulan Ude R I L R A T N JAPAN R A N S - S I B E R I A TURKMENISTAN IRAN MONGOLIA CHINA CHINA Vladivostok UZBEKISTAN Existing railroads New freight railroads New railroads of social importance Planned high-speed rail corridors New railroads of strategic importance Northern sea route BasedBased on a map rreleasedeleased by by Russian Russian Railways Railways with with the the title title “Pr “Prospectiveospective Topology Topology of the of theRussian Russian Federation's Federation’s Rail RailNetwork Network Devel Developmentopment until 2030, until” 2030,” our map our shows map railrshowsoad railroadupgrades upgrades and new construction,and new construction, included in included the government's in the government’s plan for 2007-2030.