The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. – Benjamin Franklin
Mike Robinson, Brian Gerrish, Alex Thomson, Patrick Henningsen and Mark Anderson discuss the main stories of 2017, and take a look at the year ahead.
Read about the engineered migrant crisis (below this article):
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– ObamaTrade Is Dead: White House Abandons TPP As EU Halts Trade Talks After Trump Victory:
It appears the entire ‘ObamaTrade’ farce is collapsing under the weight of its secrecy and corporatocracy in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s triumph. First this morning, Bloomberg reported that EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said EU-U.S. negotiations on a free-trade agreement are on hold, and now WSJ reports that the Obama administration on Friday gave up all hope of enacting its sweeping Pacific trade agreement, denting American prestige in the regions at a time when China is flexing its economic and military muscle.
Just days after Donald Trump won the election, all of Washington’s major trade deals are dead or dying.
Read moreObamaTrade Is Dead: White House Abandons TPP As EU Halts Trade Talks After Trump Victory
“A rose (or in this arse a poison) by any othe name is still a rose.
Anyone who thinks the people’s will is respected by the PTB and their Global Corporate leeches, whose only aim is profit at the expense of the worker, is a blinkered idiot.
If Brexit, the TTIP, or TPTA are really doomed as the people think, I believe in fairies.”
Over the weekend, thousands of protesters across multiple countries condemned impending trade deals promoted by governments and their corporate partners.
Though the protests received little coverage from mainstream media, they stretched from Paris to Warsaw.
The demonstrations came amid the Commission on International Trade of the European Parliament’s plans to finalize the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) this week. The policy has been likened to so-called “free trade” deals pushed by President Barack Obama and other Western governments.
Read moreMedia Silent as Anti-Corporate Trade Deal Protests Take Europe by Storm
– 300,000 Join Massive Protests in Germany Against US-EU Corporate Trade Deals:
“CETA and TTIP trade deals threaten environmental and consumer protection for millions of people in Europe, and North America.”
(COMMONDREAMS) Hundreds of thousands took to city streets across Germany on Saturday as they marched against a pair of corporate-backed trade deals they say will undermine democracy, attack workers and local economies, and accelerate the threats posed by corporate hegemony and global warming.
Taking aim at both the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), European Union deals with the United States and Canada respectively, opponents say the agreements are not really concerned with expanding trade but rather increasing corporate power.
Read more300,000 Join Massive Protests in Germany Against US-EU Corporate Trade Deals
H/t reader squodgy:
“Just like the Brexit. Can we really trust those with their noses in the troughs to actually accept and honour the will of the people????
Of course not.”
The global mainstream media have loudly hailed the stunning success of the peoples uprising against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP in the light of its demise. In the last few years protests broke out all over Europe as the unelected bureaucrats steamed ahead with this unpopular trade deal, even after the results of the largest ever consultation study in the EU Commission’s history resulted in a 97% negative response of 150,000 people.
The emerging movement spawned enormous online activism never seen before, culminating in the largest petition in Europe’s history with a staggering collective of over 3.2 million signatures delivered by passionate foot-soldiers right to the epicentre of where the political elite inhabit in the EU. The beating heart of TTIP activism was Berlin, Paris and London. This is not to forget the huge protest effort made by citizens across almost all of the EU’s major cities.
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FYI.
– US Faces Major Setback As Europeans Revolt Against TTIP:
France wants to halt thorny EU-US trade talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) as President Francois Hollande underlined there would be no deal until after President Barack Obama leaves office in January. Matthias Fekl, the French minister for foreign trade, has said his country will call for an end to the deal. France has been sceptical about the TTIP from the start and has threatened to block the deal, arguing the US has offered little in return for concessions made by Europe. All 28 EU member states and the European parliament will have to ratify the TTIP before it comes into force.
The statements came just a couple of days after German economy minister Sigmar Gabriel had said talks for TTIP had de facto failed. Gabriel, who leads Germany’s centre-left Social Democratic party and is vice-chancellor in the coalition government, said Europe mustn’t submit to the American proposals. Mr. Gabriel’s statement is in contrast with the position of Chancellor Angela Merkel who supports the deal. Meanwhile, the US-German conflicts are growing. US courts and authorities took a hard line against the Volkswagen Group, Germany’s largest car manufacturer, in relation to its exhaust scandal. In a deal that does not include all damage claims, VW is required to pay up to 13.6 billion euros. There is a growing chorus in Germany
Read moreUS Faces Major Setback As Europeans Revolt Against TTIP
– “The Americans Give Us Nothing”: France Effectively Kills TTIP, Calls For End To Negotiations:
Just two days after Germany’s outspoken vice chancellor (who has over the past 48 hours slammed not just Merkel’s refugee policy but also Brexit negotiation demands), announced that Obama’s transatlantic trade treaty, the TTIP, is dead, saying negotiations have failed because “we Europeans did not want to subject ourselves to American demands”, France voiced its support to the German position when the French trade minister on Tuesday called for an end to trade negotiations between the European Union and the U.S., the firmest sign yet of opposition in Europe to what would be the most ambitious trade deal in decades.
Matthias Fekl, cited by the WSJ, said on French radio that “France no longer politically supports these negotiations,” adding that “The Americans are giving us nothing. This is not how allies should be negotiating.” Fekl said he would ask the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, at a meeting of trade ministers late September to end negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, generally known as TTIP. The Commission leads talks with the U.S. for the EU.
– TTP, TTIP, TISA and CETA: U.N. Legal Expert Calls Proposed Trade Deals “Illegal”:
Alfred de Zayas, the U.N.’s Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order, is assigned the task to apply the standards of international law to proposed treaties, to determine whether they’re in accord with international law. On Friday, June 24th, he issued his finding on three large proposed treaties regarding international trade among Atlantic countries: TTIP, TISA, and CETA. Earlier, on February 2nd, he had issued a similar finding on the proposed TPP treaty between Pacific countries, and his conclusion there was the same: that the proposed treaty violates international laws, and is inconsistent with democracy.
Read moreTTP, TTIP, TISA and CETA: U.N. Legal Expert Calls Proposed Trade Deals “Illegal”
– Merkel’s TTIP policy is ‘wrong:’ German Vice Chancellor criticizes US-EU free trade deal:
TTIP Hastiness would lead to an unfavorable agreement, German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said, criticizing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s approach to reaching an agreement with the US on harmonizing trade and investment regulations.“It was wrong that, in the euphoria of [President Barack] Obama’s visit to Germany, the Chancellor said that we will be able to conclude negotiations under any circumstances by the end of this year – and that she recently repeated that statement,” Gabriel said in an interview to the German regional RND newspaper group, criticizing Merkel’s stance on negotiations concerning the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US.
Read moreMerkel’s TTIP policy is ‘wrong:’ German Vice Chancellor criticizes US-EU free trade deal
– The Collapse of the European Union: Return to National Sovereignty and to Happy Europeans?:
Imagine – the European Union were to collapse tomorrow – or any day soon for that matter. Europeans would dance in the streets. The EU has become a sheer pothole of fear and terror: Economic sanctions – punishment, mounting militarization, the abolition of civil rights for most Europeans. A group of unelected technocrats, representing 28 countries, many of them unfit to serve in their own countries’ political system, but connected well enough to get a plum job in Brussels – are deciding the future of Europe. In small groups and often in secret chambers they decide the future of Europe.
Read moreThe Collapse of the European Union: Return to National Sovereignty and to Happy Europeans?
Just been contacted by staff from within the Euro Parliament and told I must remove this video. I won’t be. #TTIPhttps://t.co/JkVLDyxMdQ
— Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan (@lukeming) May 4, 2016
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You really can’t make this stuff up!
TTIP is just one of several phony “trade” deals written by corporate lawyers and lobbyists, and negotiated in secret between the Obama administration and various world leaders. This particular scam involves the U.S. and Europe, and it has seen increased public resistance and attention as of late, something I highlighted in the post, Leaked Documents Expose the TTIP Trade Deal as a Subversive Imperial Scam.
Now watch what happened when a MEP (member of European parliament) tried to read the thing. It’s very blurry, but you’ll get the point.
Democracy this is not.
Read moreOUTRAGEOUS: This Is What Happened When A MEP Tried To Read The TTIP Text (MUST-SEE VIDEO)
– Obama: TTIP Necessary So As To Protect Megabanks From Prosecution:
Authored by Eric Zuesse,
On May 7th, Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, or German Economic News, headlined, “USA planen mit TTIP Frontal-Angriff auf Gerichte in Europa” or “U.S. Plans Frontal Attack on Europe’s Courts via TTIP,” and reported that, “America’s urgency to sign TTIP with Europe has solid reason: Megabanks must protect themselves from claims by European investors who allege that they were cheated during the debt crisis. … The U.S. Ambassador to Italy has now let the cat out of the bag on this — probably unintentionally.”
Read moreObama: TTIP Necessary So As To Protect Megabanks From Prosecution
– After the leaks showed what it stands for, this could be the end for TTIP (The Independent):
The documents show that US corporations will be granted unprecedented powers over any new public health or safety regulations to be introduced in future. If any European government does dare to bring in laws to raise social or environmental standards, TTIP will grant US investors the right to sue for loss of profits
Today’s shock leak of the text of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) marks the beginning of the end for the hated EU-US trade deal, and a key moment in the Brexit debate. The unelected negotiators have kept the talks going until now by means of a fanatical level of secrecy, with threats of criminal prosecution for anyone divulging the treaty’s contents.
Now, for the first time, the people of Europe can see for themselves what the European Commission has been doing under cover of darkness – and it is not pretty.
Greenpeace Netherlands has released secret TTIP negotiation documents. We have done so to provide much needed transparency and trigger an informed debate on the treaty. This treaty is threatening to have far reaching implications for the environment and the lives of more than 800 million citizens in the EU and US.
Whether you care about environmental issues, animal welfare, labour rights or internet privacy, you should be concerned about what is in these leaked documents. They underline the strong objections civil society and millions of people around the world have voiced: TTIP is about a huge transfer of power from people to big business.
You can download all the documents below, as a whole and per chapter. For more background info on the content of these documents and TTIP in general, please check . Press contacts can be found .
Protesters wear masks of Barack Obama and Angela Merkel
as they demonstrate against TTIP free trade agreement
– “The TTIP Is Doomed” – France Threatens To Reject Obama’s Huge Transatlantic Trade Deal:
Following this weekend’s leak by Greenpeace demonstrating not only that the TTIP is driven entirely by narrow corporate interests, but that Obama is openly willing to reneg on his pro-environment agenda just to pass the Transatlantic Treaty at any cost, the blowback arrived earlier today when France became the first major European nation which threatened to reject the huge free trade deal between the U.S. and the European Union, because according to AP “it’s too friendly to U.S. business and probably doomed.“
Read more“The TTIP Is Doomed” – France Threatens To Reject Obama’s Huge Transatlantic Trade Deal
– TPP & TTIP Harmful, Economic Studies Find:
Eric Zuesse, originally posted at strategic-culture.org
Presently, three supposed ‘trade’ deals are being proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama, to be signed by major trading nations (except Russia, China, and the other BRICS nations): TPP with Asia, TTIP with Europe, and also (but only for financial and other services) TISA with Europe. The promised benefits in all three cases are said to be economic.
Three independent economic studies have been done, two of Obama’s TTIP treaty with Europe, and one of his TPP treaty with Asia, and all three independent economic analyses find that the publics in each participating country will suffer, and that the owners of international corporations (especially in the U.S.) will benefit, if the proposed ‘trade’ deal goes into effect.
– HILARIOUS RANT: Here’s The Truth About The TTIP:
British Reporter Goes On Hilariously EPIC Rant About The TTIP
When I first watched this, I firmly believed this guy was an actual reporter doing an outtake for the station gag reel. After some digging, I learned that he is Tom Walker, a British political comedian playing a character named Jonathan Pie, and he makes videos like this all the time.
‘Hunt’s just the fluffer. It’s TTIP lining up and lubing up for the NHS.’
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