Archive for March 10th, 2015

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10/03/2015

TPP, Peace and Conflict – It’s Not about Trade, It’s about How We Trade

Human Wrongs Watch

By Patrick. T. Hiller, Ph.D.*

War Prevention Initiative – TRANSCEND Media Service

Let’s get one thing straight to begin with. Trade is good. We do it all the time. Trade has been pretty much part of recorded human history and evidence reveals prehistorical trade routes in many parts of the world. It becomes a little bit trickier when we look at large-scale international trade agreements.

trade-is-not-the-issue

The question as to whether foreign trade promotes peace and development or destructive conflict has been debated for a long time. One of the most current controversies on free trade agreements evolves around the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The history of free trade agreements, the secrecy around TPP, and the leaked information of the actual agreement suggest tremendous potential for social conflict if implemented.

Described by its promoters as a “next-generation model for addressing both new and traditional trade and investment issues, supporting the creation and retention of jobs and promoting economic development in our countries,” TPP is already facing broad resistance.

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10/03/2015

The “New World Order”

Human Wrongs Watch

By Johan Galtung*

Johan Galtung

Johan Galtung

Kuala Lumpur, 10 March 2015 – TRANSCEND Media Service – [The “New World Order”] …is the title of our conference. There will never be any such thing. “New”, yes; “World”, yes–“Order”, No.

Wherever there is life there is contradiction, dialectic, forces and counter-forces. At the very obvious level the question arises–Order, in whose interest, against whom?

Sow any new order and the seeds of its undoing are already taking root, sprouts are coming. As the Chinese say, “There are human beings without contradictions; they are called corpses.” Follow that hint; go to the moon. New moons once a month, and order, the order of death, of non-life. The Old Moon Order.

As part of this Perdana Global Peace Foundation Conference, so well composed by Dr Hitam, President Tun Dr. Mahathir unveiled a giant copy of my book just published, Abolishing War: Criminalizing War, Removing War Causes, Removing War as an Institution (TPU and IIUM Press, 2015) together with a smaller book Clash of Civilizations[i]

And in the morning Michel Chossudovsky’s Globalizing War was unveiled; quite a combination, the criminal US globalization into all corners of the world to preserve hegemony under the pretext of war on terrorism, IS.

Quite a combination, the stark reality of what happens, globalizing, and the less known reality of Abolishing–slowly people being woven together, coming to reasonable understandings.

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | Leave a Comment »

10/03/2015

British MPs Say US-EU Free Trade Deal Must Not Leave Govts at Multinationals’ Mercy

Human Wrongs Watch

10 March 2015 (RT)* — British MPs are protesting the US-EU TTIP free trade deal that could enable multinational corporations to sue governments if newly introduced rules harm their businesses, thus weakening essential European health and food regulations.

**Map: The EU (green) and the USA (orange) shown on a world map. | Author: Ssolbergj | Wikimedia Commons

**The EU (green) and the USA (orange) shown on a world map. | Author: Ssolbergj | Wikimedia Commons

With the help of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), transnational corporations could impose lax US regulation on EU countries regarding genetically modified crops, use of chemicals in cosmetics and treatment of meat cattle with growth hormones.

The TTIP will also complicate strengthening EU’s environmental and animal welfare regulations, the British parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) warns.

In its current form, the TTIP contains an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) that allows shareholders and companies to sue countries that “restrict their business practices.”

“EU states must retain their ‘right to regulate’, but a TTIP treaty text that enshrines such a safeguard will be meaningless if the prospect of ISDS litigation produces a chilling effect on future regulation-setting,” the committee said.

Committee chair Joan Walley, a Labour MP, was quoted by The Independent as saying: “Europe must retain its right to regulate. That needs to be embedded in any treaty text.”

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10/03/2015

Greece Told Deeper Austerity Needed to Secure Additional Loans

Human Wrongs Watch

By Robert Stevens*

10 March 2015, WSWS — Euro zone finance ministers met Monday [9 March 2015] to discuss a set of proposals from the Syriza-led Greek government based on the austerity programme both sides signed on February 20. Greece was required to submit a list of austerity measures deemed acceptable to its creditors as a precondition for receiving a pending load of €7.2 billion and any further loans.

**Image: The moutza, an insulting gesture in Greek culture, is extensively used in the protests. | Author: Ggia | Wikimedia Commons

**The moutza, an insulting gesture in Greek culture, is extensively used in the protests. | Author: Ggia | Wikimedia Commons

The Eurogroup meeting ended within 90 minutes. In a clear sign that there would be no retreat from finalising an austerity package, the finance ministers agreed that “technical talks” between Greece and its main creditors, the European Union (EU), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), would begin Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference following the meeting, Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said, “We have spent the last two weeks discussing who will meet whom, where, and in what configuration. It’s been a complete waste of time…”

The Eurogroup “needed to see signs that reforms are being implemented,” he demanded, warning that there “can be no talk about early disbursement if there is no agreement and no implementation.”

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