TTIP: International Mega-corporations prevent social and ecological globalization (tags)
In the reality of international monopolist competition, narrow economic profit interests dominate to the disadvantage of broad prosperity gains. Protection of foreign mega-investors before indirect expropriation leads to a dispossession of nation state democracy.
How Wars are Born: the US vs. China (tags)
Those of us making the “radical” claim that wars are the result of economic/corporate interests pushed abroad, were recently given a nod of approval from a typically unfriendly source, The New York Times. The corporate controlled New York Times published a revealing article about how U.S. foreign policy really works, and why. The motive behind the sincerity is that China’s foreign policy was being attacked. However, the article soon made it clear that China’s policy is the same as the U.S.’s : dominating regions that are of “economic (corporate) interest” — raw materials, cheap labor, shipping lanes, markets, etc. — through military buildup.
What is at Stake with Free Trade (tags)
In the ten years since the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in Seattle, global opposition to free trade and “globalization” has exploded. The general public now has a basic understanding of how the world economy works … against them: companies scour the globe searching for slave wages, which help push down wages in “developed” countries; any regulation that reduces profits — environmental, financial, labor, etc. — is destroyed or ignored. The two focal points of the anti-globalization movement have been dismantling of the WTO and free trade agreements; both legitimate targets. However, what happens if both goals are accomplished? Mission Accomplished?
The U.S. Creeps Closer to a Police State (tags)
When word first arrived that the G-20 would be meeting in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, activists began organizing protest demonstrations. Events like this are what freedom of speech is made for. What better occasion to protest than a meeting of the world’s 20 top leaders — most of them deservedly hated — where they will be imposing policy on billions of people worldwide? The majority of protesters consisted of labor and community groups; they encountered an army of police…literally.
Cracks Emerging in NAFTA (tags)
The once-solid North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) is starting to show its age. The 1994 trade agreement that laid the foundation for the economic/political integration of North America is encountering serious internal ruptures, threatening future “progress.” The problems are numerous: fights over trade, immigration, and military cooperation are all issues that Obama recently discussed in Mexico with his NAFTA partners, Mexico and Canada. The annual meeting that usually delivers plans for additional integration was instead used to remedy these heated issues, none of which were fully solved.
Why The U.S. Government Hates Venezuela (tags)
The propaganda wheels are turning fast. The barrage of anti-Venezuela misinformation that began while Bush was in office has intensified in recent months. Not a week goes by without the U.S. mainstream media running at least one story about the “dictatorial” Venezuelan government. Historically, the U.S. government’s foreign policy “coincidentally” matches the opinion of the media and vice versa.
Obama's Real Plan in Latin America (tags)
At first glance Obama seems to have softened U.S. policy toward Latin America, especially when compared to his predecessor. There has been no shortage of editorials praising Obama’s conciliatory approach while comparing it to FDR’s ”Good Neighbor” Latin American policy. It’s important to remember, however, that FDR’s vision of being neighborly meant that the U.S. would merely stop direct military interventions in Latin America, while reserving the right to create and prop up dictators, arm and train unpopular regional militaries, promote economic dominance through free trade and bank loans, conspire with right-wing groups, etc…
U.S. corporations profit from undocumented migrants (tags)
Minutemen/SOS racist assertions derail any open dialogue about NAFTA/WTO free trade policies as a source of undocumented immigration that enables corporations to exploit migrant farmworkers..
Capital Fears: US Corporations Threaten Investment Restrictions (tags)
Qualitative growth is an alternative to quantita-tive growth. Our culture rich in things is poor in soul. Instead of welcoming criticism, we make competition and inequality into dogmas, normalize war and militarize foreign policy.
Behind the love/hate relationship of China and the U.S. (tags)
A zealous distrust of China is something most American’s learn at an early age. The lessons include stunning visuals of atrocities, complete with attacks on helpless Tibetan monks and nuns, fearless democracy-seeking students staring down advancing tanks, and innumerable horrors of life within the totalitarian ‘communist’ society (yes they are still calling themselves that, and yes our government still clings to the word— as an abusive epithet— in a McCarthy-like attempt to browbeat). China cannot be defended if one is on the side of democracy, equality, and freedom, but neither can many of the US’ allies, past and present, who’ve had similar records (the US itself is looking more and more like China every day). Because China is outside the domain of US dominance, it is viewed as a competitor, and a threat; therefore, Chinese human-rights violations are a god-send for the White House PR staff, who look for any reason to conjure fear and create misgivings towards a country who, for purely economic reasons, is the prime candidate to face the US in World War III.