Wednesday, December 11, 2013

in other asia related news....,

HuffPo | The Obama administration appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation, according to two internal memos obtained by The Huffington Post.

The memos, which come from a government involved in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, detail continued disputes in the talks over the deal. The documents reveal broad disagreement over a host of key positions, and general skepticism that an agreement can be reached by year-end. The Obama administration has urged countries to reach a deal by New Year's Day, though there is no technical deadline.

One memo, which was heavily redacted before being provided to HuffPost, was written ahead of a new round of talks in Singapore this week. Read the full text of what HuffPost received here. (Note: Ellipses indicate redacted text. Text in brackets has been added by a third party.) Another document, a chart outlining different country positions on the text, dates from early November, before the round of negotiations in Salt Lake City, Utah. View the chart here. HuffPost was unable to determine which of the 11 non-U.S. nations involved in the talks was responsible for the memo.

"These are not U.S. documents and we have no idea of their authorship or authenticity," a spokesman for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said. "Some elements in them are outdated, others totally inaccurate." The spokesman declined to specify which parts were outdated or inaccurate.
The Obama administration has been leading negotiations on the international trade accord since 2010. The countries involved in the talks include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

One of the most controversial provisions in the talks includes new corporate empowerment language insisted upon by the U.S. government, which would allow foreign companies to challenge laws or regulations in a privately run international court. Under World Trade Organization treaties, this political power to contest government law is reserved for sovereign nations. The U.S. has endorsed some corporate political powers in prior trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the scope of what laws can be challenged appears to be much broader in TPP negotiations. Fist tap Dale.

3 comments:

BigDonOne said...

Enjoy your [Chinese totally contaminated] KFC and Wings, dudes.....http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/now-that-obama-is-allowing-chicken-from-china-what-will-that-do-to-the-chicken-industry

CNu said...

Excellent material Bro. Makheru. The war to end all wars is coming because it's the only thing we're prepared to do. Now that it's become clear that a single bunker buster dropped into SFP 4 will prove decisive in Asia, it's only a matter of time before somebody makes that move. This global infrastructure of light-water reactors is the ultimate suicide solution to the problems of ecological overshoot and the anthropocene extinction. Chernobyl was a test case. This depression and this crash are the operational harbingers of the cull. Everything else is childish conversation....,

Vic78 said...

I wish that region was taken a little more seriously than it is right now. People only talk about them with contempt. And I notice that the people that leave act as if the cousin that makes his meth inside Wal-Mart doesn't exist. It's not like the hood where people at least pretend to give a shit. It is time to pay attention to them. Why are people like Ted Cruz and Louie Gohmert winning elections? Something does need to be done about that. I would suggest dusting off the Howard Dean play book. They should start talking to all those non whites that live in Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina. If they can pull 80% of the non whites and get that sensible 20-30% white vote, they could be on their way to breaking the crazies' electoral hold on that region. I just want governing to be that boring C-SPAN shit again.

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