With another round of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations slated for the end of this month, the administration of President Barack Obama is aiming to force developing nations to adopt Big Pharma-friendly policies that are so bad for public health Obama himself has opposed them in the United States. Citing leaked drafts of the agreement, as well as officials “familiar with the latest May …
WikiLeaks Releases Section of Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement That Would Affect Health Care – KEVIN GOSZTOLA
WikiLeaks has released a draft of an annex of a secret Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which would likely enable pharmaceutical companies to fight the ability of participating governments to control the rise of drug prices. It would empower companies to mount challenges to Medicare in the United States. For a number of years, the US and eleven other countries—Australia, Brunei, …
A story from the past shows why neocons are dangerous for the global peace and security
Recent documents show that the hardcore branch of the US policy during the Vietnam war, was playing dangerous games with North Vietnam and the Soviets, in order to drag the other side to negotiations. We see today a similar game played by the neocons in Ukraine and Asia-Pacific. In the new Cold War, neocons are playing more dangerous games with …
Democratic Trade War: Obama Says Warren ‘Wrong’ on TPP as Reid Says ‘Hell No’ to Fast Track – Jon Queally
President Obama on Tuesday evening said that progressives like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) who have called out the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement for being a corporate-power grab and have vowed to defeat legislation designed to ram it through Congress are simply “wrong” when it comes to the pending deal between the U.S. and 11 Asian and Pacific nations. Specifically singling …
State Department’s Hypocrisies and Lies
In last month’s Anti-Empire Report, I brought you the latest adventure of U.S. State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki trying to defend the indefensible. She said then: “As a matter of longstanding policy, the United States does not support political transitions by non-constitutional means,” which prompted me to inform my readers: “If you know how to contact Ms. Psaki, tell her to have …
A decisive turning point in the crisis of American imperialism
Yesterday was the deadline for countries to sign up as founding members of the China-backed Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). It will go down in history as marking a significant defeat for the global foreign policy and strategic objectives of United States imperialism. Against strenuous opposition from Washington, more than 40 countries have now indicated they want to be part …
Still Leading Pack, US Arms Exporters Extract Increasing Profits From Foreign Conflict Zones
As the number-one exporter of major arms world-wide, the United States is extracting ever-increasing profits from the global rise in war and military escalation, a new study by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) finds. Between 2010 and 2014, global conventional weapons transfers jumped 16 percent as compared to 2005-2009, the researchers found. The U.S. alone accounted for 31 percent of international …
US Weapons Exporters Lead World in War Profiteering
U.S. weapons exporters lead the world in profits from the booming military arms and equipment business, driven by rising tensions and conflict around the world, according to a new report from London-based analysts. The annual study by IHS Inc.—which looks at military markets in 65 nations, excluding small arms, munitions, and surveillance programs—finds that the United States is behind one-third of all …
Free trade and Mexico’s junk food epidemic
For several years now, transnational food companies have understood that their main growth markets are in the South. To increase their profits they need to “dig into the pyramid”, as one company puts it, meaning they need to develop and sell products targeted at the millions of the world’s poor. These people generally eat food from their own farms or …