XPost: talk.politics.misc, talk.politics.libertarian, alt.society.liberalism   
   XPost: alt.politics.radical-left, alt.society.anarchy   
   From: etacx18@etaoin.com   
      
   Truthout   
      
   Why So Secretive? The Trans-Pacific Partnership as Global Coup   
      
      Sunday, 25 November 2012 09:29 By [23]Andrew Gavin Marshall,   
        Occupy.com | News Analysis   
      
      (Picture)   
      A summit with leaders of the member states of the Trans-Pacific   
      Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) in November, 2010.   
      Pictured, from left, are Naoto Kan (Japan), Nguyễn Minh Triết   
      (Vietnam), Julia Gillard (Australia), Sebastián Piñera (Chile), Lee   
      Hsien Loong (Singapore), Barack Obama (United States), John Key (New   
      Zealand), Hassanal Bolkiah (Brunei), Alan García (Peru), and Muhyiddin   
      Yassin (Malaysia). Six of these leaders represent countries that were   
      negotiating to join the group.   
      
      The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the[31] most secretive and “least   
      transparent” trade negotiations in history.   
      
      Luckily for the populations and societies that will be affected by the   
      agreement, there are public research organizations and alternative   
      media outlets campaigning against it – and they’ve even released   
      several leaks of draft agreement chapters. From these leaks, which are   
      not covered by mainstream corporate-controlled news outlets, we are   
      able to get a better understanding of what the Trans-Pacific   
      Partnership actually encompasses.   
      
      For example, public interest groups have been warning that the TPP   
      could result in millions of lost jobs. As a letter from Congress to   
      United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk stated, the TPP “will   
      create binding policies on future Congresses in numerous areas,”   
      including “those related to labor, patent and copyright, land use,   
      food, agriculture and product standards, natural resources, the   
      environment, professional licensing, state-owned enterprises and   
      government procurement policies, as well as financial, healthcare,   
      energy, telecommunications and other service sector regulations.”   
      
      In other words, as promised, the TPP goes far beyond “trade.”   
      
      Dubbed by many as “NAFTA on steroids” and a “corporate coup,” only   
   two   
      of the TPP’s 26 chapters actually have anything to do with trade. Most   
      of it grants far-reaching new rights and privileges to corporations,   
      specifically related to intellectual property rights (copyright and   
      patent laws), as well as constraints on government regulations.   
      
      The leaked documents revealed that the Obama administration “intends to   
      bestow radical new political powers upon multinational corporations,”   
      as Obama and Kirk have emerged as strong advocates “for policies that   
      environmental activists, financial reform advocates and labor unions   
      have long rejected for eroding key protections currently in domestic   
      laws.”   
      
      In other words, the already ineffective and mostly toothless   
      environmental, financial, and labor regulations that exist are   
      unacceptable to the Obama administration and the 600 corporations   
      aligned with the TPP who are giving him his orders.   
      
      The agreement stipulates that foreign corporations operating in the   
      United States would no longer be subject to domestic U.S. laws   
      regarding protections for the environment, finance or labor rights, and   
      could appeal to an “international tribunal” which would be given the   
      power to overrule American law and impose sanctions on the U.S. for   
      violating the new “rights” of corporations.   
      
      The “international tribunal” that would dictate the laws of the   
      countries would be staffed by corporate lawyers acting as “judges,”   
      thus ensuring that cases taken before them have a “fair and balanced”   
      hearing – fairly balanced in favor of corporate rights above anything   
      else.   
      
      A public interest coalition known as Citizens Trade Campaign published   
      a draft of the TPP chapter on “investment” revealing information about   
      the “international tribunal” which would allow corporations to directly   
      sue governments that have barriers to “potential profits.”   
      
      Arthur Stamoulis, the executive director of Citizens Trade Campaign,   
      explained that the draft texts “clearly contain proposals designed to   
      give transnational corporations special rights that go far beyond those   
      possessed by domestic businesses and American citizens... A proposal   
      that could have such broad effects on environmental, consumer safety   
      and other public interest regulations deserves public scrutiny and   
      debate. It shouldn’t be crafted behind closed doors.”   
      
      Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, a public interest organization,   
      undertook an analysis of the leaked document on investment and   
      explained that the international corporate tribunal would allow   
      corporations to overturn national laws and regulations or demand   
      enormous sums in compensation, with the tribunal “empowered to order   
      payment of unlimited government Treasury funds to foreign investors   
      over TPP claims.”   
      
      Even under NAFTA, over $350 million has been paid by NAFTA-aligned   
      governments to corporations for “barriers” to investment “rights,”   
      including toxic waste dumps, logging rules, as well as bans on various   
      toxic chemicals.   
      
      Because let’s be clear: for corporations, such regulations and concerns   
      over health, safety and environmental issues are perceived solely as   
      “barriers” to investment and profit. Thus their “government” would   
   sue   
      the foreign government on behalf of the corporation, on the premise   
      that such regulations led to potential lost profits, for which the   
      corporation should be compensated.   
      
      The TPP allows the corporations to directly sue the government in   
      question. All of the TPP member countries, except for Australia, have   
      agreed to adhere to the jurisdiction of this international tribunal, an   
      unelected, anti-democratic and corporate-staffed kangaroo-court with   
      legal authority over at least ten nations and their populations.   
      
      Further, TPP countries have not agreed on a set of obligations for   
      corporations to meet in relation to health, labor or environmental   
      standards, and thus a door is opened for corporations to obtain even   
      more rights and privileges to plunder and exploit. Where corporate   
      rights are extended, human and democratic rights are dismantled.   
      
      One of the most important areas in which the TPP has a profound effect   
      is in relation to intellectual property rights, or copyright and patent   
      
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