Forum Post: WikiLeaks Reveals Global Trade Deal Kept More Secret Than the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Posted 9 years ago on June 19, 2014, 8:39 p.m. EST by LeoYo
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WikiLeaks Reveals Global Trade Deal Kept More Secret Than the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Thursday, 19 June 2014 14:29
By Mike Ludwig, Truthout | Report
Embattled WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange announced Wednesday from London the publication of a secret draft text of the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), a controversial global trade agreement said to make it easier for corporations to make profits and operate with impunity across borders.
The whistleblower and transparency website WikiLeaks published on Thursday the secret draft text of the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) Financial Services Annex, a controversial global trade agreement promoted by the United States and European Union that covers 50 countries and is opposed by global trade unions and anti-globalization activists.
Activists expect the TISA deal to promote privatization of public services in countries across the globe, and WikiLeaks said the secrecy surrounding the trade negotiations exceeds that of even the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) that has made headlines in the past year.
Demonstrations erupted in Geneva in April as diplomats met in secret for the sixth round of negotiations over TISA, which would cover international trade in a wide range of service industries ranging from finance and telecommunications to transportation and even local utilities such as water. Protesters demanded that the draft text be released, but it has remained secret until now.
Public Services International (PSI), a global trade union federating public service workers in 150 countries, has reported that TISA threatens to allow multinational corporations to permanently privatize vital public services such as healthcare and transportation in countries across the world.
"This agreement is all about making it easier for corporations to make profits and operate with impunity across borders," said PSI General Secretary Rosa Pavanelli in response to the leak. "The aim of public services should not be to make profits for large multinational corporations. Ensuring that failed privatizations can never be reversed is free-market ideology gone mad."
The leak comes two years to the day that WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange began hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London after the country offered him asylum to evade prosecution in the United States for publishing secret US government documents. Assange is also wanted in Sweden for questioning over sexual assault allegations lodged against him in 2010.
The secrecy of the TISA negotiations "exceeds even the controversial Trans-Pacific Partner Agreement (TPPA) and runs counter to moves in the WTO towards greater openness," wrote Jane Kelsey, a law professor at the University of Auckland in New Zealand who analyzed the leaked documents on behalf of Wikileaks, which leaked portions of the TPPA in the past.
The same governments that installed the failed global trade deregulation models in the World Trade Organization that lead to the global financial meltdown are now promoting TISA, according to Kelsey and WikiLeaks.
Kelsey's analysis also confirms the concerns of trade unions like PSI that the TISA agreement would lock governments into and extend their current levels of deregulation and trade liberalization, thus preventing governments from returning public services into public hands when privatizations fail and establishing greater regulations to protect the environment and workers safety.
The US Chamber of Commerce, which supports privatization and global trade deregulation, has said that the "payoff from TISA could be huge" for domestic service industry firms and presents "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to tear down barriers to international trade."
The Chamber has recommended that TISA "eliminate regulatory inconsistencies" and ensure that private companies are not put at a disadvantage when they compete with "state-owned enterprises."
While TISA negotiations are being held outside the WTO framework, the countries involved are WTO members, and the negotiations are being crafted to be compatible with existing global trade services agreements. The current negotiating countries include Australia, Canada, Chile, Taiwan, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States and the European Union's 28 member states.
The TISA countries will meet again for a seventh round of negotiations in Geneva from June 23 to 27.
Leaks Put Spotlight on Assange
WikiLeaks officials announced the TISA leaks on Wednesday during a press call from London featuring embattled Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange.
Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy since the country accepted his request for asylum two years ago out of fear that he would be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges for publishing thousands of US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010.
Assange and his supporters fear that, if he leaves the embassy, he will be arrested and brought to Sweden to face questioning from prosecutors over sexual assault allegations made by two women in 2010. From Sweden, his attorneys said, Assange would be given a "one-way ticket" to the United States. Assange's attorneys said they have invited Swedish prosecutors to question him at the embassy in London or over Skype, but the prosecutors have refused.
"But for that bear in the room in the United States, we would not be in that situation," said Michael Ratner, a WikiLeaks attorney from the United States.
New information on the Swedish case against Assange will be revealed next week, Assange's legal council said, but they declined to elaborate on the nature of the information.
For the past two years, London police have kept the embassy under surveillance and stood ready to arrest Assange should he leave the building, which has cost British taxpayers $10 million, according to reports.
Assange said he continues to be the target of "the largest ever criminal investigation into a publisher by the US Department of Justice," and demanded that Attorney General Eric Holder end its investigation of WikiLeaks or resign. He also warned President Obama about leaving office with a legacy that includes "extrajudicial killings, including those of Americans" and chilling free speech by targeting more journalists for investigation than "all other presidents combined."
"It is against the stated principles of the United States, and, I believe, the values supported by its people, to have a four-year criminal investigation against a publisher," Assange said. "The ongoing existence of that investigation produces a chilling effect, not just on internet-based publishers, but all publishers."
While hiding in the embassy, Assange said he has been busy working as a trustee for the Courage Foundation, a defense fund for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
When asked about the conditions of his exile in the embassy, Assange pointed out that Chelsea Manning, the US intelligence analyst who was sentenced to 35 years in prison last year for leaking secret US military documents to WikiLeaks, was in much more difficult circumstances. Assange said Manning's "ongoing situation" remains a "big concern."
The government leaks provided by Manning and Snowden gave journalists and the world an invaluable and unprecedented look into US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, US foreign policy and the US government's vast worldwide intelligence network, but the federal government contends the leaks compromised national security.
Copyright, Truthout.
Dear Defense Contractor CEOs: Why Is the Pentagon Buying Weapons With Chinese Parts Instead of US Parts?
Friday, 20 June 2014 10:23
By Victoria Bruce, Truthout | Op-Ed
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/24445-dear-defense-contractor-ceos-why-is-the-pentagon-buying-weapons-full-of-chinese-parts-when-you-could-get-them-here-in-the-us
Last month in Washington DC, a group of legislative staffers from the House and Senate Armed Services Committees attended a briefing on a topic of grave national security: China's complete dominance of rare earth elements and their fabrication into weapons systems that are sold to the US Defense Department.
Most startling at the briefing was a slideshow showing the top weapons systems used by the US military - all of which are 100 percent dependent on China for essential rare earth components: Lockheed Martin's F-16, Raytheon's ground-to-air missile, Boeing's Ground-Based Midcourse Defense missile, Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk, and General Atomics' MQ-1 Predator. At least 80 of our nation's primary weapon systems wouldn't work at all without Chinese-sourced rare earth materials.
Many Armed Services staffs were outraged to learn the depth of the problem. Many felt that the Department of Defense (DoD) and others had misled them into believing that the problem was mostly rectified. Some staffers promised to take action.
Fortunately, a bipartisan Senate bill that would release China's grip on our defense systems is already on the table: The National Rare Earth Act of 2014, co-sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia). The act would bring mining and processing of rare earth materials back to the United States in a cooperative with the European Union, Japan, Australia and Canada - essentially cutting our ties and dependency to China and building new relationships with our economic allies.
The plan to get the Senate bill passed was to fold it into the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as an amendment, a brilliant strategy that would jump-start a fully integrated value chain of rare earth materials and products and bring technology and defense companies back to the United States.
Then, a week after the briefing, Senator Blunt's office sent out a memo that due to "DoD objections" to the National Rare Earth Cooperative Act, his office wouldn't move forward with the bill in the NDAA. This bold inaction essentially guarantees the United States' dependence on China for our national defense - probably forever.
How is it possible that our Department of Defense does not want to have a secure national source for weapons technology? Would the Pentagon really rather depend on China for our national security, a country with which we have dubious relations? Or is the DoD pandering to the demands of the multitrillion-dollar defense industry?
The United States does not need to open new mines, lower environmental standards, allow new mining on state and federal lands, or give tax breaks, loan guarantees or cash-grants. The United States has abundant unused rare earth resources that mining companies are currently treating as mine waste, due to thorium, a companion element that is slightly radioactive. These high-value rare earth ores can be processed into the components we need for our military technology in a multinational, cooperatively owned facility, here in the USA. The thorium would be safely stored in a self-funded centralized facility.
China has already played the rare earth card in geopolitical maneuvers, cutting exports and sending markets into a frenzy, even cutting off Japan completely, freezing its manufacturing of hybrid vehicles. Are we next? Has anyone thought about how this plays out in the context of the "Asian pivot," a Cold War "containment strategy"?
It seems unfathomable that we would put our national defense in the hands of the Chinese. That is, unless we care more about profits for shareholders of defense companies than our country's national security. When advocates for the National Rare Earth bill reached out to major defense contractors over the last two years to support the bill, they got nothing but deafening silence in return. Off the record, a source from one of the largest contractors agreed that the situation was perilous. Still, his company didn't want to be associated with the legislation. The reason? China was their sole supplier of rare earth materials, and one of their largest customers.
They didn't want to make China mad. They didn't want to hurt their bottom line.
So I write to you, Dear CEOs of Raytheon, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, GE, General Atomics and all CEOs of the companies who are contracted to help defend our country,
This matter of national security is in your hands. Sadly, only you have the power to influence Washington to release us from the grip of China. Do it for the good of our national defense. Do it for the good of the future of the United States. Do the right thing for our country, and make sure the National Rare Earth Cooperative Act is an amendment to the 2014 NDAA. Our men and women in uniform and all citizens of the United States will thank you for choosing patriotism and dedication to our country's future over your company's quarterly profits.
Copyright, Truthout.
OMG - such abundance of insane thinking and actions.
OH well all water under the bridge - besides - they wouldn't possibly consider using this freely given knowledge against us - Hey? What with our being one of their largest market places and all.
My belief is that virtually every incident of profound corruption within our government is inspired by greed. Also that virtually every high ranking member of our government is sold out to those who contribute to election campaigns, those who promise to return favors, those who bribe outright, or those who are within circles of friends and family. It's almost entirely about the money except in those rare cases where there is no financial conflict of interest to be had. This excellent post, if accurate, and it probably is, indicates once again, that when it comes to politics, nothing, I mean NOTHING comes before the money. Not honor, ethics, safety, security, or anything remotely resembling patriotism.
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.
Every single man, woman, and child who celebrates, tolerates, or excuses greed, that is, the very concept of extreme personal wealth is partly to blame for this profound example of corruption and virtually all others. For it is that concept which intoxicates man like no other. Except maybe for the basic instinct to survive, greed will slam through every potential influence like a runaway train through a picket fence.
Now, because of our profound ignorance and our cowardly refusal over many years to acknowledge the intoxicating effects of greed, the very concept of extreme personal wealth, it has become a worldwide epidemic corrupting virtually all business and government leaders and the masses ruled over.
It will be our downfall.
Greed the #1 cause of Disease Death and Destruction in the World.
Until a comet slams into it.
Still the comet is a rather uncertain possibility - as to the next ones arrival anyway - Greed on the other hand = 24/7/365 until the planet buster hits.
Forget the missile defense system. We'll just bribe the comet.
{ EDIT } HaH - immovable object falls prey to corruption/bribery? Or is that = immovable object meets implacable greed? Heh sorry about the laughter - there no doubt are some insanely greedy assholes who would be happy to go with that concept - wouldn't be so strange to them considering the fiction they currently live and foster - would actually confirm (?) comfort their world view.
EDIT:
Hah watch this guys - I'm gonna make it an offer it can't for sanity's sake turn down
When I'm through with it - it will circle the earth and get trapped by the earths gravity.
Hold on HOLD ON - I didn't think that we believed in gravity and such things - isn't it just an expression?
Well I guess we will find out if my negotiation - ahem - when my negotiation is successful and it starts circling the planet
How will we know?
Well when I start plundering it for it's resources - if it don't make a break for it and run away - then we can ponder that gravity might be more than just an expression!
How will you negotiate with it?
Hah - simple - I'll use a radio.
But but will it understand You?
Everyone Understands Money My Boy Everyone!
( note to self look into renting or otherwise acquiring broadcasting station )
( query to self - do I already own one? if not why not! )
BTW does anyone know it's name yet?
( note to self stop calling it it - might stall negotiations )
I don't even know what to say anymore except that it is time to hold individuals accountable for corporations forming feudalistic empires...they can't be safe and sound while whistleblowers are held up in hiding and in fear of being assassinated ...they must be called out
But but but....whistle-blowers remove the scapegoating excuses! Spoils the whole institution of pass the buck and plausible deny-ability and the whole "who Me ?" defense.