http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/02/05/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-reveals-real-intentions-behind-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp/
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
has been seeking refuge for close to three years inside Ecuador’s
Embassy in London where he has political asylum. Facing both
investigations in Sweden and the US, he claims that he is doing well
despite his circumstances.
Assange
is wanted in Sweden for questioning on claims of sexual misconduct,
however no charges have been formally filed against him. In the
US, a secret grand jury is investigating him for his role in publishing a
collection of leaked documents regarding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars
as well as state department modes of communication known as cables.
And despite Assange’s asylum, WikiLeaks continues to disclose documents
from leaked drafts of the British nuclear submarine whistleblower
William McNeilly, and hidden information about a European union plan
that seeks to use military force in order to curb the influx of migrants
from Libya. Of the latter, WikiLeaks said, “The documents lay out a
military operation against cross-Mediterranean refugee transport
networks and infrastructure. It details plans to conduct military
operations to destroy boats used for transporting migrants and refugees
in Libyan territory, thereby preventing them from reaching Europe.”
WikiLeaks has also published leaked chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP),
which is a secretive trade agreement among twelve Pacific Rim
countries, including the United States. It would allow them to cover 40
percent of the global economy. The agreement was reached just this past
October, after seven years of negotiations.
But as these matters of economic concern
continue to be negotiated amongst the countries, details continue to be
hidden from the public while WikiLeaks discloses information, like the
“Investment Chapter,” which discusses the US negotiators’ motive to
allow corporations to sue governments if their laws disrupt future
profits a company has declared. Assange says the plan could “chill” the
approval of health and environmental administrations.
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!
sat down at the Edcuadorean Embassy in London for an exclusive
interview with Assange to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the
US debate of what WikiLeaks has revealed concerning the treaty.
“It is very well guarded from the press
and the majority of people and even from congressmen. But 600 U.S.
companies are part of the process and have been given access to various
parts of the TPP,” Assange says of the partnership. “Essentially, every aspect of the modern economy, even banking services, are in the TPP.
And so, that is erecting and embedding
new, ultramodern neoliberal structure in U.S. law and in the laws of the
other countries that are participating, and is putting it in a treaty
form. And by putting it in a treaty form, that means—with 14 countries
involved, means it’s very, very hard to overturn.”
To provide an example of how corporations can sue governments, Assange provides this example:
What if the
government or a state government decides it wants to build a hospital
somewhere, and there’s a private hospital, has been erected nearby?
Well, the TPP gives the constructor of the
private hospital the right to sue the government over the expected—the
loss in expected future profits. This is expected future profits. This
is not an actual loss that has been sustained, where there’s desire to
be compensated; this is a claim about the future.
And to put this idea into practice, he
discusses how similar measures have already been taken to affect
environmental and health regulation laws, including in Togo, Australia,
and Uruguay, which are all being sued by tobacco companies in order to
keep health warnings off of cigarette packages. “Maybe the government is
too powerful, and companies should have a right to sue the government
under various circumstances. But it’s only multinationals that get this
right,” Assange says. “Now, it’s not so easy to get up these cases and
win them. However, the chilling effect, the concern that there might be
such a case, is severe. Each one of these cases, on average, governments
spend more than $10 million for each case, to defend it, even
successfully. So, if you have, you know, a city council or a state
considering legislation, and then there’s a threat from one of these
multinationals about expected future profits, they know that even if
they have the law on their side, even if this TPP is on their side, they can expect to suffer.”
Below is a video of Robert Reich, an
American political economist and professor who served in the
administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, talking
about the deal. He was also Secretary of Labor under President Bill
Clinton from 1993 to 1997.
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