I'll ask again-UAE port deal and the WTO

[underpants]

According to the article below UAE can make the US Congress okay the deal due to the WTO agreements.

Is this true?

IF so how in the world are they (THEM) going to keep this out of the news and/or explain this to the base?

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0227-20.htm

When Americans No Longer Own America
by Thom Hartmann


Everything today is driven by profits for multinationals, supported by the lawmaking power of the WTO. Thus, parts for our missiles are now made in China, a country that last year threatened us with nuclear weapons. Our oil comes from a country that birthed a Wahabist movement that ultimately led to 14 Saudi citizens flying jetliners into the World Trade buildings and the Pentagon. Germans now own the Chrysler auto assembly lines that turned out tanks to use against Germany in WWII. And the price of labor in America is being held down by over ten million illegal workers, a situation that was impossible twenty-five years ago when unions were the first bulwark against dilution of the American labor force.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote of King George III in the Declaration of Independence, "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation…" he just as easily could have been writing of World Trade Organization, which now has the legal authority to force the United States to overturn laws passed at both local, state, and federal levels with dictates devised by tribunals made up of representatives of multinational corporations. If Dubai loses in the American Congress, their next stop will almost certainly be the WTO.

Ultimately, it's not about security -- it's about money. In the multinational corporatocracy's "flat world," money trumps the national good, community concerns, labor interests, and the environment. NAFTA, CAFTA, and WTO tribunals can - and regularly do - strike down local and national laws. Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man" are replaced by Antonin Scalia's "Rights of Corporate Persons."

[TomInTib]

1. True. This whole brouhaha is just a red herring...

and an opportunity for Congresspeople to voice their "opposition" for their own political benefit.

[Sensitivity]

2. No doubt it is a NeoCon tactic to take best advantage of the Deal

while poking an Arab country in the eye.

[TomInTib]

3. Check this profile on Vin Weber (lead lobbyist for UAE on Port deal)....

and keep in mind it is almost a year old.

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1381

Here is a snip:

Humphrey Institute: Senior Fellow; Co-Director of Policy Forum (1)
National Endowment for Democracy: Chairman of the Board (2)
Empower America: Co-Founder (1)
George W. Bush Campaign: Adviser (5)
Project for the New American Century: Letter on War on Terrorism: Signatory (2001) (8)
Project for the New American Century: Letter to Gingrich and Lott on Iraq: Signatory (1998) (8)
Project for the New American Century: Letter to President Clinton on Iraq: Signatory (1998) (8)
Project for the New American Century: Statement of Principles: Signatory (1997) (8)
Aspen Institute Domestic Strategy Group: Co-Chairman (2)
Center of the American Experiment: Senior Fellow

What a guy.

Oh yeah, James A Baker III is chief counsel for UAE on this.

[Sensitivity]

4. What about Frank Gafney et. al -- almost all pro-israel faction of NeoCon

There is a huge list.

[Sejanus]

5. WTO

No they can't make us accept the deal BUT the United States will be sanctioned by the WTO for unfair trading absent a waiver-when Shrub imposed the steel quotas the US was forced to rescind them when we got hit with the kitchen sink

[underpants]

6. Welcome to DU

From what I am reading you are right. The WTO does have the ability to resolve this and has several options available to make its decision stick.

Funny how no one is paying any attention to this part of it....of course MSM is lead to water so often they have just gotten accustomed to being told what and how to report stories.

[Just Me]

7. But, does the WTO require legal liability be suspended in the contract?

:shrug: