With the help of governments and their intelligence agencies, the global arms trade continues to be a controlling and corrupting force throughout the world.
Swets files for bankruptcy 23.09.14 | Bookseller staff 51 20 398 Netherlands-based information services provider Swets is insolvent and has filed for bankruptcy, according to German book trade magazine Börsenblatt. Swets, based in Lieden, describes itself as "the global market leader in content management services for libraries and publishers." Founded in 1901, it has local offices in 27 countries, including the UK.
Devinder Sharma, NEW DELHI, Nov 28 2013 : "India, a country which lived in the shadows of a ship-to-mouth existence when food would go directly from the ship to hungry mouths has over the years emerged self-sufficient in food production. This historic turnaround was possible only because India had adopted the two planks of what I call a remarkable famine-avoidance strategy: providing farmers with an assured price support for their produce, and introducing a food procurement system that provided for a guaranteed market and at the same time helped get food to the poor in the deficit regions through a network of ration shops. Withdrawing the price support for farmers or freezing it at the de-minimis level of 10 percent as applicable under the Agreement on Agriculture will make farmers vulnerable to the vagaries of the market."
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) has obtained from Wikileaks a complete copy of the consolidated negotiating text for the IP Chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). (Copy here, and on the Wikileaks site here: https://wikileaks.org/tpp/) The leaked text was distributed among the Chief Negotiators by the USTR after the 19th Round of Negotiations at Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, in August 27th, 2013.
by Martin Khor In the recent public debate surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), an issue that seems to stands out is the investor-state dispute settlement system (ISDS).
World trade growth has not returned to its pre-crisis rate; it fell to just 2% in 2012, and Unctad points out that imports to developed regions, including the US and Europe, are still below 2007 levels. It suggests this downward trend "highlights the vulnerabilities developing countries continue to face at a time of lacklustre growth in developed countries".
In sum the draft confirms the will to impose greater regulatory "convergence" and "harmonization" of future regulations between the EU and the US in the only interest of transnational corporations and the financial industry. The vagueness of the draft would allow the Commission great freedom to achieve this. Social, labour and environmental rights in both sides of the Atlantic are under fire.
Am Dienstag hatten Demokraten des linken Flügels im Senat gegen eine Verhandlungsvollmacht des Präsidenten gestimmt. Überraschend schnell gelang ein Kompromiss.
Few people know that the European member states taken as a whole is one of the biggest arms exporters in the world. On the international stage Europe likes to present itself as a continent that stands for democracy and peace, but this façade does not correspond to reality.
Did you know that the EU wants to allocate more than 40 billion euros to the research, development and procurement of new arms? That the arms industry is trying to hijack the European Defence policy? Read all about it on this page.
There is a ruler — Jeff Bezos, even though he has stepped down as CEO — and there are lesser officials, not just senior vice presidents but fulfillment center managers, human resources employees, and the heads of Amazon’s delivery service partners, which, while legally separate entities, pop up in Amazon’s wake and often exist solely to carry out its delivery needs, the separation so fictitious that many of their drivers wear Amazon-branded uniforms and drive Amazon-branded vans.
The market for the €2bn Irish beef and livestock sector is being put at serious risk by ongoing EU/Canadian trade negotiations, says IFA president John Bryan.
Tom Mulcair is urging traditional NDP allies to wait until they see the fine print of a Canada-European Union free trade deal before assuming it's unacceptable or that he's sold out.
European Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmström has made a bad choice in appointing Jan Eric Frydman as Special Adviser on EU-US Trade Policy. Frydman, whose ongoing work for Swedish law firm Ekenberg & Andersson creates potential conflicts of interest, has a strong pro-ISDS background and a tricky revolving door history. He's part of the problem, not the solution.
When he isn’t spewing insults, the Republican frontrunner is hammering home a powerful message about free trade and its victims
Trump’s words articulate the populist backlash against liberalism that has been building slowly for decades and may very well occupy the White House itself, whereupon the entire world will be required to take seriously its demented ideas
My name is Kyle MacDonald and I traded one red paperclip for a house. I started with one red paperclip on July 12 2005 and 14 trades later, on July 12, 2006 I will trade with the Town of Kipling Saskatchewan for a house located at 503 Main Street. Feel fr
EurActiv 10 janvier 2014 Lors d'un débat au Sénat, l'ensemble des partis a émis de vives critiques à l'encontre du Partenariat Transatlantique en négociation avec les Etats-Unis. La ministre en charge du Commerce extérieure, Nicole Bricq, le souligne non sans dépit. C'est surtout en France que l'on constate une mobilisation sur ce que les français appellent le « traité » transatlantique. Chevènement: "On ne peut pas parler de libre-échange lors les parités passent de 1 à 2 entre l'euro et le dollar en l'espace d'une décennie seulement " Marie-Noëlle Lienemann, sénatrice PS: "« Je suis très hostile à ce traité » a d’emblée prévenu l’ex-député européenne. « Force est de constater que la mondialisation heureuse n'a pas eu lieu ! Nous sommes dans une logique où les firmes multinationales ne sont pas dans une situation que nous pouvons réguler a-t-elle indiqué.
Phillip Dorling, Sidney Morning Herald , Nov 14, : "WikiLeaks has exposed details of secret trade negotiations that could leave Australians paying more for drugs and medicines, movies, computer games and software, and be placed under surveillance as part of a US-led crackdown on internet piracy."
the Trade and Development Report 2013 argues that export-led strategies – mainstay policies for countries such as China, South Korea and, to a lesser extent, South Africa – are no longer viable. Instead, more balanced strategies, geared towards generating a greater role for domestic and regional demand, should be pursued.
BRUSSELS (AFP) – A long-awaited trade deal between the European Union and the United States could be in jeopardy over allegations that Washington bugged EU offices, European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding warned.
Anna MacDonald of Control Arms speaks at the start of the ceremony for the signing of the Arms Trade Treaty at United Nations headquarters in New York, Jun. 3, 2013
"The biggest Brazilian investor in Africa - and one of the biggest investors in the continent from anywhere - is Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, which is usually known as Vale. It is one of the three biggest mining companies in the world and is the world's biggest iron ore miner, controlling about 27% of the global market. It also produces coal, nickel, copper, bauxite, alumina, aluminium and a wide range of other commodities. As a result of the needs of its mining operations, it also invests heavily in power plants, railways and port infrastructure. Vale currently has investments totalling $7.7bn in nine African countries and plans to invest more than $18bn in Africa over the next five years but much will depend on the direction of global markets over that time." "The firm's biggest investment, however, is its Moatize coal mining project in the Moatize Basin of Tete Province in northwestern Mozambique."
If you've been campaigning against TTIP and CETA get ready for JEFTA - the upcoming EU trade deal with Japan. But this time, there may be a twist as JEFT...
Einer NGO-Analyse zufolge könnte das EU-Japan-Handelsabkommen den Einfluss von Lobbyisten auf die Politik stärken – durch so genannte regulatorische Kooperation.