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Rejecting TPP a Matter of Human Rights

August 14, 2015

Rejecting TPP a Matter of Human Rights

Trade deal would put Canada in consort with nation plagued by trafficking, aggressive corps

Forget about the dairy farms and supply management. The real reasons Canada should withdraw from its unseemly flirtation with the Pacific Rim trade deal are that it would formalize a trade relationship with a country plagued by human rights abuses, and make local laws and regulations designed to protect health and the environment more easily struck down by multinational companies out to fatten their bottom lines.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is a proposed deal between 12 nations. I believe Canada should withdraw from negotiations, but that is unlikely to happen given the three largest parties contesting this fall’s federal election haveexpressed some level of support for it, with NDP support the most ambiguous and Conservative the most enthusiastic. The Green party has joined the NDP in calling for public release of the draft deal before it is signed by Canada, and is the only significant Canadian party to explicitly oppose the deal.

We’ve been hearing a lot over the past few weeks about the TPP. Most of the mainstream media coverage has been obsessively focused on whether delegates from the 12 countries involved would be able to cut a deal at last minute negotiations in Hawaii. The big issues, we were told, were whether the Harper Conservatives would give away Canada’s traditional supply management arrangements for dairy products, and whether the other countries involved would yield to American pressure to re-write intellectual property laws to further enrich big U.S. based multinationals.

While these are both important issues, and arguably enough to suggest Canada should opt out, the combination of secrecy and distraction has meant that some other crucial matters have been ignored.

It is hard for anyone outside the secretive negotiations to assess these matters with any certainty, as details of the deal have yet to be made public.

 

 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

 

Federal election 2015: Choosing the best negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership

August 6, 2015

Federal election 2015: Choosing the best negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership

As politicians score point with loaded sound bites, does it matter if they avoid details?

“You can’t have a debate on such a key issue as the modernization of social programs in 47 days,” Conservative Leader Kim Campbell said during her unsuccessful 1993 election campaign.

The quote, widely interpreted to mean elections are no time for serious issues, was ill-advised. But it seems obvious that Campbell was trying and failing to articulate an absolute truth: that in election campaigns, complexity is washed away in waves of superficial, and often misleading, sound bites.

That’s why in our current election, one of the most crucial issues facing Canadians — trade — is being reduced to caricature. The danger is that instead of a discussion of serious and complex issues, we will end up with a cartoon debate.

‘Oh, yeah?’

We don’t just want Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny taking turns shouting “Oh, yeah?” at each other. But neither do we need to be dragged through the detail of the trade deal. Campbell was right.

Negotiations among 12 nations bordering the Pacific Ocean ended on Friday without a deal, but more meetings are scheduled.

As a regional radio news reporter in Saskatchewan in the 1980s, tasked with making the original Canada-U.S. trade deal comprehensible, I can attest to the fact that sparking interest in the details of a trade deal is a hard sell.

The fact is trade deals are complex, affecting us decades into the future, and not even experts can foresee exactly how. Some of the things that will affect us the most are so nuanced, not to say boring, to

 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks peak as Canada eyes election timing

July 28, 2015

Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks peak as Canada eyes election timing

‘It’s hard to put out a press release during an election, let alone a 21st century trade agreement’

Pity Ed Fast’s campaign manager in Abbotsford, B.C.

While most MPs running for re-election are focused on campaigning, Stephen Harper’s trade minister is in Maui, Hawaii, this week to see if there’s a Trans-Pacific Partnership deal Canada can sign on to.

It’s an agreement, the prime minister said in June, that’s “essential” for Canada, establishing a basis for trade among not only the 12 Pacific Rim countries at the table, but others who could join later — like China, India or the Philippines.

A bad deal for Canada — or a deal so bad Canada has to walk away — would be another blow to the Conservatives’ election narrative of sound economic management.

Trade Minister Ed Fast

Trade Minister Ed Fast joins the talks Tuesday – and might have to interrupt his election campaigning in September if talks drag on. (Daniel Munoz/Reuters)

Fast appeared cool last week, not rising to the bait of Americans launching their position — a dismantling ofCanada’s marketing board regime for dairy, poultry and eggs — loud and clear in the media.

But as ministerial talks begin Tuesday, Fast faces awkward timing.

Newly enabled by fast-track authority from the U.S. Congress, the Americans and Japanese speak of concluding a deal now, and finalizing by the end of the year, before 2016 elections.

The Harper government might want to stretch final bargaining until its own vote is over — to strengthen its mandate and minimize electoral risks from what unfolds.

Timing not up to Canada

One of the trade minister’s former staff said it would be “next to impossible” for Canada to negotiate during the writ period.

Clinton-California

Public opinion in the U.S. is divided over the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal – but U.S. President Barack Obama has fast-track authority to get a deal done sooner rather than later. (Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press)

“It’s hard for a minister to put out a press release during an election campaign, let alone a 21st century trade agreement with 40 per cent of the world’s GDP,” said Adam Taylor, now with Ensight Canada’s international trade practice.

“I think people would never expect a democratic country in the middle of an election to come to the table to negotiate in a meaningful way.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Agriculture Issues Just the Tip of the TPP Iceberg

July 22, 2015

Agriculture Issues Just the Tip of the TPP Iceberg

Trade deal could slam Canadians with rising consumer, health care and education costs

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed trade agreement that encompasses nearly 40 per cent of world GDP, heads to Hawaii later this month for ministerial-level negotiations. According to media reports, this may be the final round of talks, with countries expected to address the remaining contentious issues with their “best offers” in the hope that an agreement can be reached. Canadian coverage of the TPP has centred primarily on U.S. demands for changes to longstanding agricultural market safeguards.

With a national election a few months away, the prospect of overhauling some of Canada’s biggest business sectors has politicians from all parties waffling on the agreement. Canadian International Trade Minister Ed Fast, who will lead the Canadian delegation, maintains that the government has not agreed to dismantle supply management protections and that it will only enter into an agreement if the deal is in the best interests of the country. The opposition parties are similarly hesitant to stake out positions on key issues, noting that they cannot judge the TPP until it is concluded and publicly released.

While the agricultural issues may dominate debate, it is only one unresolved issue of many. Indeed, the concerns associated with the agreement go far beyond the supply of products such as milk and chickens.

Meddles with copyright

First, a recently leaked version of the intellectual property chapter revealed that Canada would have to make significant changes to its copyright and patent rules. The TPP requires Canada to extend the term of copyright to life of the author plus an additional 70 years. The law is currently set at life of the author plus 50 years, which meets the international standard found in the Berne Convention.

 

 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

TPP Deal Puts BC’s Privacy Laws in the Crosshairs

July 16, 2015

TPP Deal Puts BC’s Privacy Laws in the Crosshairs

If negotiators get their way, data could more freely flow across borders.

British Columbia’s privacy laws are in the crosshairs of the nearly completed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. If you’re wondering what the heck data privacy protections have to do with trade, you’re not alone. Public awareness of the far-reaching, 12-country negotiation is scant, with polls showing three-quarters of Canadians have never even heard of the TPP.

Unfortunately for privacy advocates in B.C. and the rest of the country, the advancement of “digital free trade” is a high priority for the U.S. in the negotiations. This carefully chosen euphemism conjures up the free flow of information, the convenience of cloud computing, even escaping Internet censorship. It all sounds so positive.

The thing is, the TPP e-commerce chapter aims not only to free the movement of digital goods, such as software or downloadable music, but also to enshrine the rights of companies to freely move data — including records of financial transactions, consumer behaviour, online communications and medical histories — across borders. This personal data is much sought after by marketers, insurers and intelligence agencies that can build detailed profiles and histories of individuals, frequently without their knowledge or informed consent.

U.S. negotiators are pushing hard to eliminate national laws in TPP countries that require sensitive personal data to be stored on secure local servers, or within national borders. This goal collides with the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Act and similar regulations in Nova Scotia, which are listed as “foreign trade barriers” in a 2015 United States Trade Representative (USTR) report.

According to that report, the B.C. privacy laws “prevent public bodies such as primary and secondary schools, universities, hospitals, government-owned utilities, and public agencies from using U.S. services when personal information could be accessed from or stored in the United States.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

 

 

Sacred Cows? Nah, Secretive Trade Deals Are Mostly Bull

July 15, 2015

Sacred Cows? Nah, Secretive Trade Deals Are Mostly Bull

Global pacts like the TPP threaten made-in-Canada system, argue dairy farmers.

[Editor’s note: The 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, now in advanced stages of negotiation, is ruffling the feathers of Canadian dairy farmers, who worry the agreement will impact the industry’s long-standing “supply management” system that protects farmers from imports. While reports show the U.S. government is pressuring Canada to open up its border to American dairy, the Harper government has only said that it will continue to defend supply management — and is otherwise staying mum on potential concessions. This unsolicited op-ed by the National Farmers Union summarizes farmer fears.]

Trade did not begin when the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement was originally signed, and neither will it stop if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is not signed. Trade agreements’ investor protection clauses that enable corporations to force governments to compensate them when social or environmental policy impedes profits are contrary to democratic values. Today, Canada’s supply management system is under attack. Some trading partners, such as New Zealand and the U.S., want to sell their dairy products to Canadians, and lobbyists from other sectors within Canada would like to sacrifice the supply managed sectors as a way to obtain benefits for their own sectors. While agreements like CETA, the TPP and NAFTA are called “trade” deals, they are really sets of rules that limit governments and empower corporations. The corporate sector may make profits the top priority, but for Canadians, it is common sense to guarantee that our people can rely on both the quality and quantity of food produced by our farmers.

Canadians support supply management for good reason. It is an innovative solution, first developed in Ontario and Quebec in the 1960s. Supply management addressed the problems that led to both milk shortages and over-production and waste, along with uncertain, volatile incomes for dairy farmers. Prices were often below the cost of production and at times, processors would turn farmers away. 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

 

 

President Obama Accepts Slavery in Order to Win TPP Trade Deal

July 10, 2015

President Obama Accepts Slavery in Order to Win TPP Trade Deal

So that U.S. President Barack Obama can end a roadblock and win the agreement of other nations for his proposed Trans Pacific Partnership, he has decided to remove one of the nations, Malaysia, from the U.S. State Department’s official list of countries that allow slavery. Malaysia, which recently found over a hundred graves of discarded slaves, has been on the U.S. State Department’s “Tier 3” list of slave nations, along with North Korea, Zimbabwe, Syria, and Iran, but, unlike those other countries, Obama wants Malaysia to be included in his Trans Pacific Partnership; so, he has decided to remove Malaysia from that official list.

This was first reported by Reuters on July 8th, under the headline “Exclusive: U.S. Upgrades Malaysia in Annual Human Trafficking Report.” Reuters announced: “The United States is upgrading Malaysia from the lowest tier on its list of worst human trafficking centers, U.S. sources said on Wednesday, a move that could smooth the way for an ambitious U.S.-led free-trade deal with the Southeast Asian nation and 11 other countries.”

Zach Carter at Huffington Post headlined, later on July 8th, “Obama To Upgrade Malaysia On Human Rights Despite Mass Graves,”  and he reported that U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) issued a statement saying: “If true, this manipulation of Malaysia’s ranking in the State Department’s 2015 TIP report would be a perversion of the trafficking list and undermine both the integrity of this important report as well as the very difficult task of confronting states about human trafficking.” 

 

However, Senator Menendez, himself, has, behind the scenes, pushed for Obama’s TPP and other mammoth ‘trade’ deals, including TTIP and TISA, even despite these deals allowing participating countries to look the other way and not prosecute when international corporations hire killers to assassinate labor union organizers in a given U.S. trade ‘partner’ country. 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Revolution’s Matchstick

July 1, 2015

Revolution’s Matchstick

Fighting The Trans-Pacific Partnership

Rolling down the corporate-political assembly line is a trade deal so treasonous to the peoples of the world that it should serve as revolution’s matchstick. The treaty is secret, but one fact is well known: the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is being negotiated by transnational corporations without a single US legislator present. Each time I hear this, my eyes blink in disbelief. Without a single legislator present … without their presence at negotiations, without so much as seeing a draft of the deal, and most treacherously, without objection or outcry at their exclusion! President Obama has requested our legislators to “fast track the TPP”, which would allow him to sign the deal prior to sending it to Congress for approval or disapproval. If they agree to this, then Congress eschews its right – and its responsibility – to reject parts of the trade deal and reopen negotiations.

This complicity on the part of our legislators sinks an iron weight in my gut. It smacks not of exclusion, but of willing collusion with transnational corporations that have a proven track record of criminality, destruction, and abuse. In my short lifetime, large corporations have been responsible for poisoning two major gulfs with oil spills, blowing up more than five hundred mountains, destroying numerous watersheds, wrecking the food system with toxins, and causing one in six Americans to be evicted from their homes. They have used the media apparatus to deny the existence of climate change, fomented wars, and obstructed truth and justice so often that it is practically an “industry standard.” The list of grievances can be only partial here, but these abuses alone must sound the alarm bells of our conscience. The largest trade deal since the North American Free Trade Agreement is being written in secret by unelected entities that have consistently abused the global population for the sake of profit.

A single thought rings bell-like in my mind.

We must revolt.

 

THE GREAT TPP DEATHTRAP FOR INDIA, CHINA & 10 OTHER MEMBER-NATIONS

June 29, 2015

The Great TPP Deathtrap for India, China & 10 Other Member-Nations

The Terms of Destruction. The Clues are all there in Obamatrade and Obamacare.

The truth emerges out of the shadows of secrecy…

Let’s start here. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a trade treaty, coming down the homestretch toward ratification, involving 12 nations which account for a staggering 40% of the world’s GDP. The TPP encompasses 775 million consumers.

Waiting in the wings is something much larger. It is the intention, up the road, to fold India and China into the treaty.

China is the most populous nation in the world. 1.4 billion people. India is the second most populous. 1.28 billion people. India is projected to overtake and pass China by 2025.

During his seven years in office, the most publicly recognizable PR man in the world, Barack Obama, has sweated and hammered on two policies. Just two. He is now in a panic over forcing one of those: the TPP. The other one was Obamacare. That’s it. Everything else was a Sunday picnic in the park.

Obamacare, the US national health insurance plan, when you strip it down to basics, was about one thing: bowing to drug companies.

It brought huge numbers of new people, previously uninsured, into the game. Meaning those people would be able to take the drugs—and the prices for those drugs would remain high.

So it is with the TPP, as it turns out. One of the major priorities is forcing member countries to accept higher pricing on medical drugs. Which was exactly the deal in Obamacare. Big Pharma backed Obamacare for the express purpose of cutting out debates about lowering costs on drugs.

In that respect, Obamacare and the TPP are mirror images of each other.

One other vital detail: the TPP will also allow pharmaceutical companies to push drugs and force them into markets where, ordinarily, they could be rejected as unsafe.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

Collapse, Part 4: Loss of Faith in Public Institutions

June 25, 2015

Collapse, Part 4: Loss of Faith in Public Institutions 

Public institutions are now devoted to serving their own vested interests or the interests of private financial Elites.

Though we may think of collapse in terms of ATMs not working and rampaging mobs, collapse actually starts with the intangible loss of faith in public institutions:elected officials, law enforcement, the justice system and the agencies of financial regulation (anti-trust, etc.).

Unsurprisingly to those who discern the structural rot of the status quo,Americans No Longer Believe In Their Institutions:

“Americans’ confidence in most major U.S. institutions remains below the historical average for each one,” a Gallup spokesman said in a news release. All in all, it’s a picture of a nation discouraged about its present and worried about its future, and highly doubtful that its institutions can pull America out of its trough.

Only 8 percent have confidence in Congress, the lowest of all institutions rated. No wonder, given the Congressional credo that we have to pass this bill to find out what’s in it. The latest monstrosity that is cloaked in secrecy and mumbo-jumbo is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which Ellen Brown rightly describes as Straight out of Alice in Wonderland:

The terms of the TPP and the TiSA are so secret that drafts of the negotiations are to remain classified for four years or five years, respectively, after the deals have been passed into law. How can laws be enforced against people and governments who are not allowed to know what was negotiated?

If the Trans-Pacific Partnership is so good for the average American, then why not let us read it and be persuaded by the document itself? Instead, the vast machinery of the American central state is devoted to maintaining the secrecy of the bill and crushing all opposition with threats that are no longer even veiled.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

 

Obama: TPP a secret treaty because ‘US War on Terror requires secrecy’

June 24, 2015

Obama: TPP a secret treaty because ‘US War on Terror requires secrecy’

(Satire): President Obama announced at a White House press conference today that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade treaty details must remain secret because the now 14-year-old US War on Terror requires secrecy from terrorist enemies, secrecy is the founding principle of American freedom, and that secrecy equals safety. Press conference excerpts:

President Obama: As you know, secrecy is a foundational principle of American freedom. From the Founding Father’s secret “Committees of Correspondence,” to Boston’s Old North Church spy signal of “one if by land, two if by sea,” to Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay using the secret name, “Publius,” to publish The Federalist Papers to win support for our Constitution, American patriots have used secrecy to protect our great nation. Secrecy equals freedom.

This is why the current Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty, TPP, is a classified national security secret that cannot be disclosed to the public, even four years or more after it is passed into law. Secrecy keeps Americans safe.

I also remind everyone that America is fighting a War on Terror, and that even after 14 years of brave combat and support of the American public, the terrorists are not defeated. War requires secrecy to keep our troops as safe as possible. TPP makes America stronger, which supports our troops.

Q: Sir, what about the “fast track” that violates the US Constitutional requirement that all treaties be ratified by the Senate under at least 2/3 vote?

 

Obama: The United States is a democracy. Fast track authority was passed into law by Congress. When Congress has the votes and the President approves, that’s the law of the land.

Q: I’m sorry, Mr. President; but how can Congress and you violate the Constitution by ignoring the 2/3 vote requirement just because you say so?

 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

US criminal economics: TPP secret treaty = ‘constitutional republic,’ debt = ‘money’, 500 million+ dead from poverty = ‘necessary.’ Had enough to demand arrests?

June 23, 2015

US criminal economics: TPP secret treaty = ‘constitutional republic,’ debt = ‘money’, 500 million+ dead from poverty = ‘necessary.’ Had enough to demand arrests?

hat tip: Ellen Brown, Web of Debt Blog

“Psychopaths are unable to form emotional attachments or feel real empathy with others, although they often have disarming or even charming personalities. Psychopaths are very manipulative and can easily gain people’s trust. They learn to mimic emotions, despite their inability to actually feel them, and will appear normal to unsuspecting people… When committing crimes, psychopaths carefully plan out every detail in advance and often have contingency plans in place. Unlike their sociopathic counterparts, psychopathic criminals are cool, calm, and meticulous.” – Psychology Today

The .01% psychopathic oligarch “leaders” (and here) in US government, banking/finance, and corporate media wage war upon the 99.99%  in ~100 crucial areas. Aside from lie-began overt unlawful military Wars of Aggression connected to economic domination with the US starting over 200 such armed attacks since WW2 and war-murdering ~30 million people (with these crimes “covered” by corporate media, let’s consider three central economic policies:

 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards”: The Alice in Wonderland World of Fast-tracked Secret Trade Agreements

June 23, 2015

“Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards”: The Alice in Wonderland World of Fast-tracked Secret Trade Agreements

`Let the jury consider their verdict,’ the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.

`No, no!’ said the Queen. `Sentence first–verdict afterwards.’

`Stuff and nonsense!’ said Alice loudly. `The idea of having the sentence first!’

`Hold your tongue!’ said the Queen, turning purple.

`I won’t!’ said Alice.

`Off with her head!’ the Queen shouted at the top of her voice.

                    — Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

Fast-track authority is being sought in the Senate this week for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), along with the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) and any other such trade agreements coming down the pike in the next six years. The terms of the TPP and the TiSA are so secret that drafts of the negotiations are to remain classified for four years or five years, respectively, after the deals have been passed into law. How can laws be enforced against people and governments who are not allowed to know what was negotiated?

The TPP, TiSA and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (or TTIP, which covers Europe) will collectively encompass three-fourths of the world’s GDP; and they ultimately seek to encompass nearly 90 percent of GDP. Despite this enormous global impact, fast-track authority would allow the President to sign the deals before their terms have been made public, and send implementing legislation to Congress that cannot be amended or filibustered and is not subject to the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds treaty vote.

While the deals are being negotiated, lawmakers can see their terms only under the strictest secrecy, and they can be subjected to criminal prosecution for revealing those terms. What we know of them comes only through WikiLeaks. The agreements are being treated as if they were a matter of grave national security, yet they are not about troop movements or military strategy. Something else is obviously going on.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

 

The Four Horses Asses of the TPP Apocalypse

June 19, 2015

The Four Horses Asses of the TPP Apocalypse

Congress members are often pressured in how to vote by the moneyed interests that buy their television ads, which in turn persuade the media to “cover” them nicely and dumb people to vote for them. But more often they are pressured in how to vote by the leaders of their two mega-parties who in turn answer to greater moneyed interests.

Thus three Republicans who voted against their leader’s wishes in one of a package of votes intended to ram through the Trans-Pacific Partnership disaster have now been stripped of their leadership positions.

But carrots are used as often as sticks. In May 2009, 60 congress members voted against dumping another $97 billion into the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. My own misrepresentative Tom Perriello voted for it. Then, in June 2009, 202 congress members voted against that same war funding combined with a massive bailout for East European bankers. Perriello voted for both, even though both progressives AND the Tea Partiers in his district were opposed. The White House immediately rewarded him. Van Jones and Steny Hoyer came down to this district and did events, and shortly later the Secretary of Agriculture did the same. They were all rather pointless events intended as oppotrunities to pose for cameras with Perriello. Obama later did one himself.

At the end of last week, 28 Democrats voted against the interests of Obama, which happen to be identical on the TPP as on so many things with the interests of the Republican leadership. Some of those Democrats may not have needed carrots or sticks. But some clearly got them. Four in particular, we know, were given a ride in a aeroplane. Wheeeeee! Obama took them to the G7 with him on Air Force One. They are the four horses asses of the coming TPP apocalypse.  They are:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

TPP: Unconstitutional tribunal for .01% oligarchs to dictate what is ‘fair trade’

June 15, 2015

TPP: Unconstitutional tribunal for .01% oligarchs to dictate what is ‘fair trade’

“The corporations have bribed the political leaders in every country to sign away their sovereignty and the general welfare of their people to private corporations. Corporations have paid US senators large sums for transferring Congress’ law-making powers to corporations.” – Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary to US Treasury, former editor of the Wall Street Journal

Trans-Pacific-Partnership (TPP) is “secret national security legislation” that President Obama and both parties’ “leaderships” refuse to disclose to the American public, and only visible from WikiLeaks. President Obama attempted “fast track” dictatorial power for Congress to vote for TPP without access to full text or public consideration. “Fast track” violates the US Constitution’s requirement for the Senate to ratify all treaties with 2/3 vote by claiming that 50% is somehow the same (a tie is broken by the VP, so 50% is enough). President Clinton’s justification of “fast track” is here.

TPP is Emperor’s New Clothes’ unconstitutional because it allows a foreign three-person tribunal chosen by the same .01% oligarch powers that created TPP to have power to tax Americans billions of our dollars for claimed “damages” of corporations. These three persons appointed by TPP interests would have dictatorial power to protect corporate claimed “future profits.” From Ellen Brown:

“To date, the highest ISDS award has been for $2.3 billion to Occidental Oil Company against the government of Ecuador over its termination of an oil-concession contract, this although the termination was apparently legal. Still in arbitration is a demand by Vattenfall, a Swedish utility that operates two nuclear plants in Germany, for compensation of €3.7 billion ($4.7 billion) under the ISDS clause of a treaty on energy investments, after the German government decided to shut down its nuclear power industry following the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

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