WTO is just another tool for US intervention abroad
Control over food supplies by foreign corporate giants is well underway, and with the WTO agreement on telecommunications signed and delivered, financial services are next in line. Summarizing, the expected consequences of the victory for “American
values” at the WTO are:
A “new tool” for far-reaching US intervention into the internal affairs of others;
The takeover of a crucial sector of foreign economies by US-based corporations;
Benefits for business sectors and the wealthy;
Shifting of costs to the general population;
New and potentially powerful weapons against the threat of democracy [i.e., people over the elites].
In short, the world that the US seeks through international institutions is one based on the rule
of force. No problem arises when communications, finance, and food supplies are taken over by foreign (mainly US) corporations. Matters are different, however, when trade agreements and international law interfere with the projects of the powerful.
Trilateral world view means Latin America belongs to the US
From the early 1970s, the world has been drifting into what’s called tripolarism or trilateralism-3 major economic blocs that compete with each other. Thr first is a yen-based bloc with Japan at its center and the former Japanese colonies
at the periphery. There’s a lot of nonsense written about how the fact that Japan became a major competitor proves how honorable we are. The actual policy option was to restore Japan’s empire, but now all under our control.
The second major competitive
bloc is based in Europe and is dominated by Germany. It’s taking a big step forward with the consolidation of the European Common Market.
The third bloc is the US-dominated, dollar-based one. It was recently extended to incorporate Canada, our major
trading partner, and will soon include Mexico and other parts of the hemisphere, by “free trade agreements” designed primarily for the interests of US investors and their associates. We’ve always assumed that Latin America belongs to us by right.
Nobody in the corporate world or government takes free trade seriously. The parts of the economy tht are able to compete internationally are primarily the state-subsidized ones: capital-intensive agriculture, high-tech industry, etc.
The government has
the public pay for research and development and provides a state-guaranteed market for waste production. If something is marketable, the private sector takes it over. That system of public subsidy and private profit is what is called free enterprise.
Source: What Uncle Sam Really Wants, by Noam Chomsky, p. 13
Jan 13, 1991
Click here for definitions & background information on Free Trade.
