Thursday, November 28, 2013

Iceland - Hot Money and Cross Border Finance



Treacherous future still ahead? A look into why the Icelandic government imposed controls over movement of international funds across its borders & its current negotiations to lift those capital controls

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

US Corporations Enlist Ex Intelligence Agents to spy on Non-profits



A new report details how corporations are increasingly spying on nonprofit groups they regard as potential threats.

 The corporate watchdog organization Essential Information found a diverse groups of nonprofits have been targeted with espionage, including environmental, antiwar, public interest, consumer safety, pesticide reform, gun control, social justice, animal rights and arms control groups.

The corporations carrying out the spying include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Wal-Mart, Monsanto, Bank of America, Dow Chemical, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Burger King, McDonald's, Shell, BP, and others. According to the report, these corporations employ former CIA, National Security Agency and FBI agents to engage in private surveillance work, which is often illegal in nature but rarely -- if ever -- prosecuted. 

Gary Ruskin, author of the report, "Spooky Business: Corporate Espionage Against Nonprofit Organizations," and director of the Center for Corporate Policy, a project of Essential Information.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Poor Countries and Civil Society Walk Out of COP 19 Over Inaction over Climage Change



Patrick Bond: Developing countries and green groups must evaluate if walkouts are the best way to get rich countries to address climate change

Thursday, November 14, 2013

TPP Exposed: WikiLeaks Publishes Secret Trade Text to Rewrite Copyright Laws, Limit Internet Freedom



Political Economy Research says get past the CATO crap in the first few minutes  and listen to Lori Wallach and think about what she is saying.

If you do not know anything about TPP watch the video at the bottom of this text first and the top video last.

WikiLeaks has published the secret text to part of the biggest U.S. trade deal in history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

For the past several years, the United States and 12 Pacific Rim nations have been negotiating behind closed doors on the sweeping agreement.

A 95-page draft of a TPP chapter released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday details agreements relating to patents, copyright, trademarks and industrial design -- showing their wide-reaching implications for internet services, civil liberties, publishing rights,and medicine accessibility.

Critics say the deal could rewrite U.S. laws on intellectual property rights, product safety and environmental regulations, while backers say it will help create jobs and boost the economy.

President Obama and U.S. trade representative Michael Froman reportedly wish to finalize the TPP by the end of the year and are pushing Congress to expedite legislation that grants the president something called "fast-track authority."

However, this week some 151 House Democrats and 23 Republicans wrote letters to the administration saying they are unwilling to give the president free reign to "diplomatically legislate."

We host a debate on the TPP between Bill Watson, a trade policy analyst at the Cato Institute, and Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.



For a long time now there has been concern about the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement and what it might mean for intellectual property laws and online rights but little is known about the negotiations for the treaty because talks are being held in secret.

However, WikiLeaks managed to obtain and release the chapter of the agreement concerning IP and people who've been following the talks are more worried than ever.

We spoke to journalist, writer and author of Rebel Code, Glyn Moody about just what the TPP is and the potential consequences of it being signed

Monday, November 11, 2013

EU- US TAFTA Trade Deal - Corporations above Nations



Political Economy Research says TAFTA is for the Atlantic has TPP is for the Pacific and both trade agreements if they can be called that put corporations above nations which is especially why the US is so eager to impose TPP on Pacific Rim and TAFTA on Europe.

TAFTA just like TPP gets very little media coverage because only knowing about it will create opposition to it - basically you have to be daft to support TAFTA and has the Pacific Rim is discovering mad to support TPP.

They hope to keep us ignorant while they do deals behind closed doors.

See Also:
http://democracyandclassstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/everyone-but-china-agreement-prevents.html

Also watch Max Keiser for how angry we should be with TAFTA and TPP