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unhappycamper
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December 29, 2013
No French PRISM Program
Le Monde, France
By Philippe Aigrain
Translated By Wade Halliburton
17 December 2013
Edited by Bora Mici
~snip~
This text is identical to the one voted on during the first hearing, on Dec. 3, in the National Assembly. Therefore, the bill has passed, and, within it is the highly contested Article 20. This article focuses on access to "information or documents processed or preserved by" the networks of web providers or electronic communications services, "including the technical data relating to the identification of numbers of subscription or connection to electronic communications services." It indicates that such information and documents "can be collected on solicitation of the network and transmitted in real time by the operators." What's more, the debate around this article continues in the hope of seeing it result in a referral to the Constitutional Council by lawmakers.
Some claim to be able to put an end to this debate by affirming that the article would not be more than a cosmetic trim for existing provisions, ensuring their readability, or even that it would act more as a monitor for certain rights. According to them, opposition comes only from misinformation disseminated by the Association of Community Internet Services, some of whose members are major collectors and exploiters of personal data.
We confirm the government's inaction in protecting its own citizens from the severe violation of their fundamental rights through surveillance. Far from granting asylum to Edward Snowden, for a time, it transformed itself into an auxiliary police at the behest of the United States during the prohibited flyover of the Bolivian president's plane over our territory. Since then, France has agreed for the European Council to defer to 2015 the adoption of new European regulations on the protection of data.
Have they suspended the agreement on the sphere of security — the Safe Harbor Agreement — which allows the transfer of personal data to the United States, as the member states have the right to do when facing such a clear violation? And in the end, here, we have adopted a text that opens the door to the same abuse as the 2008 FISA Amendment Act, the legal basis invoked by the NSA to justify the PRISM program.
No French PRISM Program
http://watchingamerica.com/News/228859/no-french-prism-program/No French PRISM Program
Le Monde, France
By Philippe Aigrain
Translated By Wade Halliburton
17 December 2013
Edited by Bora Mici
~snip~
This text is identical to the one voted on during the first hearing, on Dec. 3, in the National Assembly. Therefore, the bill has passed, and, within it is the highly contested Article 20. This article focuses on access to "information or documents processed or preserved by" the networks of web providers or electronic communications services, "including the technical data relating to the identification of numbers of subscription or connection to electronic communications services." It indicates that such information and documents "can be collected on solicitation of the network and transmitted in real time by the operators." What's more, the debate around this article continues in the hope of seeing it result in a referral to the Constitutional Council by lawmakers.
Some claim to be able to put an end to this debate by affirming that the article would not be more than a cosmetic trim for existing provisions, ensuring their readability, or even that it would act more as a monitor for certain rights. According to them, opposition comes only from misinformation disseminated by the Association of Community Internet Services, some of whose members are major collectors and exploiters of personal data.
We confirm the government's inaction in protecting its own citizens from the severe violation of their fundamental rights through surveillance. Far from granting asylum to Edward Snowden, for a time, it transformed itself into an auxiliary police at the behest of the United States during the prohibited flyover of the Bolivian president's plane over our territory. Since then, France has agreed for the European Council to defer to 2015 the adoption of new European regulations on the protection of data.
Have they suspended the agreement on the sphere of security — the Safe Harbor Agreement — which allows the transfer of personal data to the United States, as the member states have the right to do when facing such a clear violation? And in the end, here, we have adopted a text that opens the door to the same abuse as the 2008 FISA Amendment Act, the legal basis invoked by the NSA to justify the PRISM program.
December 29, 2013
After years of speculation that electronics can be accessed by intelligence agencies through a back door, an internal NSA catalog reveals that such methods already exist for numerous end-user devices.
Shopping for Spy Gear: Catalog Advertises NSA Toolbox
By Jacob Appelbaum, Judith Horchert and Christian Stöcker
December 29, 2013 – 09:19 AM
When it comes to modern firewalls for corporate computer networks, the world's second largest network equipment manufacturer doesn't skimp on praising its own work. According to Juniper Networks' online PR copy, the company's products are "ideal" for protecting large companies and computing centers from unwanted access from outside. They claim the performance of the company's special computers is "unmatched" and their firewalls are the "best-in-class." Despite these assurances, though, there is one attacker none of these products can fend off -- the United States' National Security Agency.
Specialists at the intelligence organization succeeded years ago in penetrating the company's digital firewalls. A document viewed by SPIEGEL resembling a product catalog reveals that an NSA division called ANT has burrowed its way into nearly all the security architecture made by the major players in the industry -- including American global market leader Cisco and its Chinese competitor Huawei, but also producers of mass-market goods, such as US computer-maker Dell.
A 50-Page Catalog
These NSA agents, who specialize in secret back doors, are able to keep an eye on all levels of our digital lives -- from computing centers to individual computers, from laptops to mobile phones. For nearly every lock, ANT seems to have a key in its toolbox. And no matter what walls companies erect, the NSA's specialists seem already to have gotten past them.
This, at least, is the impression gained from flipping through the 50-page document. The list reads like a mail-order catalog, one from which other NSA employees can order technologies from the ANT division for tapping their targets' data. The catalog even lists the prices for these electronic break-in tools, with costs ranging from free to $250,000.
Shopping for Spy Gear: Catalog Advertises NSA Toolbox
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/catalog-reveals-nsa-has-back-doors-for-numerous-devices-a-940994.htmlAfter years of speculation that electronics can be accessed by intelligence agencies through a back door, an internal NSA catalog reveals that such methods already exist for numerous end-user devices.
Shopping for Spy Gear: Catalog Advertises NSA Toolbox
By Jacob Appelbaum, Judith Horchert and Christian Stöcker
December 29, 2013 – 09:19 AM
When it comes to modern firewalls for corporate computer networks, the world's second largest network equipment manufacturer doesn't skimp on praising its own work. According to Juniper Networks' online PR copy, the company's products are "ideal" for protecting large companies and computing centers from unwanted access from outside. They claim the performance of the company's special computers is "unmatched" and their firewalls are the "best-in-class." Despite these assurances, though, there is one attacker none of these products can fend off -- the United States' National Security Agency.
Specialists at the intelligence organization succeeded years ago in penetrating the company's digital firewalls. A document viewed by SPIEGEL resembling a product catalog reveals that an NSA division called ANT has burrowed its way into nearly all the security architecture made by the major players in the industry -- including American global market leader Cisco and its Chinese competitor Huawei, but also producers of mass-market goods, such as US computer-maker Dell.
A 50-Page Catalog
These NSA agents, who specialize in secret back doors, are able to keep an eye on all levels of our digital lives -- from computing centers to individual computers, from laptops to mobile phones. For nearly every lock, ANT seems to have a key in its toolbox. And no matter what walls companies erect, the NSA's specialists seem already to have gotten past them.
This, at least, is the impression gained from flipping through the 50-page document. The list reads like a mail-order catalog, one from which other NSA employees can order technologies from the ANT division for tapping their targets' data. The catalog even lists the prices for these electronic break-in tools, with costs ranging from free to $250,000.
December 29, 2013
Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit
www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-nsa-uses-powerful-toolbox-in-effort-to-spy-on-global-networks-a-940969.html
The NSA's TAO hacking unit is considered to be the intelligence agency's top secret weapon. It maintains its own covert network, infiltrates computers around the world and even intercepts shipping deliveries to plant back doors in electronics ordered by those it is targeting.
Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit
By SPIEGEL Staff
December 29, 2013 – 09:18 AM
~snip~
In the United States, a country of cars and commuters, the mysterious garage door problem quickly became an issue for local politicians. Ultimately, the municipal government solved the riddle. Fault for the error lay with the United States' foreign intelligence service, the National Security Agency, which has offices in San Antonio. Officials at the agency were forced to admit that one of the NSA's radio antennas was broadcasting at the same frequency as the garage door openers. Embarrassed officials at the intelligence agency promised to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and soon the doors began opening again.
It was thanks to the garage door opener episode that Texans learned just how far the NSA's work had encroached upon their daily lives. For quite some time now, the intelligence agency has maintained a branch with around 2,000 employees at Lackland Air Force Base, also in San Antonio. In 2005, the agency took over a former Sony computer chip plant in the western part of the city. A brisk pace of construction commenced inside this enormous compound. The acquisition of the former chip factory at Sony Place was part of a massive expansion the agency began after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
On-Call Digital Plumbers
One of the two main buildings at the former plant has since housed a sophisticated NSA unit, one that has benefited the most from this expansion and has grown the fastest in recent years -- the Office of Tailored Access Operations, or TAO. This is the NSA's top operative unit -- something like a squad of plumbers that can be called in when normal access to a target is blocked.
According to internal NSA documents viewed by SPIEGEL, these on-call digital plumbers are involved in many sensitive operations conducted by American intelligence agencies. TAO's area of operations ranges from counterterrorism to cyber attacks to traditional espionage. The documents reveal just how diversified the tools at TAO's disposal have become -- and also how it exploits the technical weaknesses of the IT industry, from Microsoft to Cisco and Huawei, to carry out its discreet and efficient attacks.
December 28, 2013
NDAA offers limited reforms to Guantánamo and military sexual assault policy, yet keeps 'war economy' dollars flowing
No Austerity for Military Budget in 2014
- Sarah Lazare, staff writer
Published on Friday, December 27, 2013 by Common Dreams
In an era of bipartisan agreement on austerity cuts to vital services and workers' benefits, military-industrial-complex spending will continue into the new year untouched.
President Barack Obama signed into law on Thursday the National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2014 that allots $526.8 billion for the Pentagon's budget and $80 billion for the war in Afghanistan—totaling nearly $607 billion in defense-related spending.
This is nearly $30 billion more than was agreed to in the bipartisan federal budget deal that was also signed by Obama on Thursday.
“The passage of a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that calls for $30 billion more for the Pentagon and allied agencies than is contained in the recent budget deal passed by both houses of Congress is just the latest indication that defense hawks continue to live in their own world, untroubled by fiscal constraints,” said William Hartung, director of the Arms & Security Project at the Center for International Policy.
No Austerity for Military Budget in 2014
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/12/27-3NDAA offers limited reforms to Guantánamo and military sexual assault policy, yet keeps 'war economy' dollars flowing
No Austerity for Military Budget in 2014
- Sarah Lazare, staff writer
Published on Friday, December 27, 2013 by Common Dreams
In an era of bipartisan agreement on austerity cuts to vital services and workers' benefits, military-industrial-complex spending will continue into the new year untouched.
President Barack Obama signed into law on Thursday the National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2014 that allots $526.8 billion for the Pentagon's budget and $80 billion for the war in Afghanistan—totaling nearly $607 billion in defense-related spending.
This is nearly $30 billion more than was agreed to in the bipartisan federal budget deal that was also signed by Obama on Thursday.
“The passage of a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that calls for $30 billion more for the Pentagon and allied agencies than is contained in the recent budget deal passed by both houses of Congress is just the latest indication that defense hawks continue to live in their own world, untroubled by fiscal constraints,” said William Hartung, director of the Arms & Security Project at the Center for International Policy.
December 28, 2013
MRAPs are parked at the Sultan Kheyl outpost ini Wardak province, close to Highway 1, a main military supply route for U.S. until recently. At a cost of $1 million dollars each, the U.S. military is chopping up as many as 2,000 MRPs in Afghanistan and selling them as scrap because of the cost of shipping them home.
From MRAP to scrap: U.S. military chops up $1-million vehicles
By David Zucchino
December 27, 2013, 6:00 a.m.
BAGRAM, Afghanistan — Faced with an epidemic of deadly roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. military officials ordered up a fleet of V-hulled 16-ton armored behemoths in 2007 to help protect American soldiers and Marines.
At a cost of $1 million each, the ugly tan beasts known as MRAPS have saved countless lives and absorbed or deflected thousands of insurgent bomb blasts in teeming cities, desert flats and rutted mountain roadways. The lumbering vehicles are so beloved that soldiers have scrawled notes of thanks on their armor.
So why would the U.S. military suddenly start chopping up as many as 2,000 of the vehicles and selling them as scrap? After all, just six years have passed since high-tech MRAPs were developed and 27,000 of them cranked out and shipped in a $50-billion production blitz.
As it turns out, the Pentagon produced a glut of the mine-resistant, ambush-protected trucks. The military brass has now calculated that it's not worth the cost of shipping home damaged, worn or excess MRAPs to bases already deemed oversupplied with the blast-deflecting vehicles.
From MRAP to scrap: U.S. military chops up $1-million vehicles
http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-afghanistan-armor-20131227,0,5362453.storyMRAPs are parked at the Sultan Kheyl outpost ini Wardak province, close to Highway 1, a main military supply route for U.S. until recently. At a cost of $1 million dollars each, the U.S. military is chopping up as many as 2,000 MRPs in Afghanistan and selling them as scrap because of the cost of shipping them home.
From MRAP to scrap: U.S. military chops up $1-million vehicles
By David Zucchino
December 27, 2013, 6:00 a.m.
BAGRAM, Afghanistan — Faced with an epidemic of deadly roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. military officials ordered up a fleet of V-hulled 16-ton armored behemoths in 2007 to help protect American soldiers and Marines.
At a cost of $1 million each, the ugly tan beasts known as MRAPS have saved countless lives and absorbed or deflected thousands of insurgent bomb blasts in teeming cities, desert flats and rutted mountain roadways. The lumbering vehicles are so beloved that soldiers have scrawled notes of thanks on their armor.
So why would the U.S. military suddenly start chopping up as many as 2,000 of the vehicles and selling them as scrap? After all, just six years have passed since high-tech MRAPs were developed and 27,000 of them cranked out and shipped in a $50-billion production blitz.
As it turns out, the Pentagon produced a glut of the mine-resistant, ambush-protected trucks. The military brass has now calculated that it's not worth the cost of shipping home damaged, worn or excess MRAPs to bases already deemed oversupplied with the blast-deflecting vehicles.
December 28, 2013
Military sex assault reports jump by 50 percent
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
The Associated Press - • Published: December 27, 2013 | 6:50 pm
WASHINGTON - The number of reported sexual assaults across the military shot up by more than 50 percent this year, an increase that defense officials say may suggest that victims are becoming more willing to come forward after a tumultuous year of scandals that shined a spotlight on the crimes and put pressure on the military to take aggressive action.
A string of high-profile assaults and arrests triggered outrage in Congress and set off months of debate over how to change the military justice system, while military leaders launched a series of new programs intended to beef up accountability and encourage victims to come forward.
According to early data obtained by The Associated Press, there were more than 5,000 reports of sexual assault filed during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, compared to the 3,374 in 2012. Of those 2013 reports, about 10 percent involved incidents that occurred before the victim got into the military, up from just 4 percent only a year ago. That increase, officials said, suggests that confidence in the system is growing and that victims are more willing to come forward.
Asked about the preliminary data, defense officials were cautious in their conclusions. But they said surveys, focus groups and repeated meetings with service members throughout the year suggest that the number of actual incidents - from unwanted sexual contact and harassment to violent assaults - has remained largely steady.
Military sex assault reports jump by 50 percent
http://gazette.com/military-sex-assault-reports-jump-by-50-percent/article/1511677Military sex assault reports jump by 50 percent
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
The Associated Press - • Published: December 27, 2013 | 6:50 pm
WASHINGTON - The number of reported sexual assaults across the military shot up by more than 50 percent this year, an increase that defense officials say may suggest that victims are becoming more willing to come forward after a tumultuous year of scandals that shined a spotlight on the crimes and put pressure on the military to take aggressive action.
A string of high-profile assaults and arrests triggered outrage in Congress and set off months of debate over how to change the military justice system, while military leaders launched a series of new programs intended to beef up accountability and encourage victims to come forward.
According to early data obtained by The Associated Press, there were more than 5,000 reports of sexual assault filed during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, compared to the 3,374 in 2012. Of those 2013 reports, about 10 percent involved incidents that occurred before the victim got into the military, up from just 4 percent only a year ago. That increase, officials said, suggests that confidence in the system is growing and that victims are more willing to come forward.
Asked about the preliminary data, defense officials were cautious in their conclusions. But they said surveys, focus groups and repeated meetings with service members throughout the year suggest that the number of actual incidents - from unwanted sexual contact and harassment to violent assaults - has remained largely steady.
December 27, 2013
Big tax breaks might not be important for states luring jobs
By JIM TANKERSLEY
The Washington Post
December 27, 2013
Sometime early next year, Boeing will select the location for a new manufacturing plant to build its 777X airliner, gifting what it promises will be thousands of good-paying jobs to the winner.
Those jobs are shaping up to be one of the most sought-after economic development prizes of 2014. Every state that covets them is, at Boeing’s urging, preparing a package of tax breaks and other government incentives, reaching into the billions of dollars. It’s the latest example of a decade-long trend: As good jobs have become harder to find, states have approved bigger economic handouts to attract or keep individual companies.
New economic research suggests that’s often not a good idea, and it implies that states could be bidding too much to attract the Boeing plant.
Two economists — Owen Zidar, a doctoral candidate at the University of California at Berkeley, and Juan Carlos Suarez Serrato, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University — write in a forthcoming paper that companies aren’t nearly as mobile as economists have long assumed. Cutting taxes, they conclude, might not be the best way to boost firms’ bottom lines and keep them around.
Big tax breaks might not be important for states luring jobs
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/12/27/2966274/big-tax-breaks-might-not-be-important.htmlBig tax breaks might not be important for states luring jobs
By JIM TANKERSLEY
The Washington Post
December 27, 2013
Sometime early next year, Boeing will select the location for a new manufacturing plant to build its 777X airliner, gifting what it promises will be thousands of good-paying jobs to the winner.
Those jobs are shaping up to be one of the most sought-after economic development prizes of 2014. Every state that covets them is, at Boeing’s urging, preparing a package of tax breaks and other government incentives, reaching into the billions of dollars. It’s the latest example of a decade-long trend: As good jobs have become harder to find, states have approved bigger economic handouts to attract or keep individual companies.
New economic research suggests that’s often not a good idea, and it implies that states could be bidding too much to attract the Boeing plant.
Two economists — Owen Zidar, a doctoral candidate at the University of California at Berkeley, and Juan Carlos Suarez Serrato, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University — write in a forthcoming paper that companies aren’t nearly as mobile as economists have long assumed. Cutting taxes, they conclude, might not be the best way to boost firms’ bottom lines and keep them around.
December 27, 2013
Turkey Erdogan Corruption Probe
In this photo released by the Turkish Presidency Press Office, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, center, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 7th left, during a meeting of the National Security Council in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013. After a decade of dominance over Turkey's political scene, a rapidly developing corruption and bribery scandal has for the first time left Erdogan looking off balance and not in control of the political reins.
Turkey: court overturns move blocking probe
The Associated Press
December 27, 2013 Updated 5 minutes ago
ANKARA, Turkey — A Turkish high court has suspended an attempt by the government to funnel all corruption investigations through top police and judicial officials.
Critics have accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of trying to stifle a corruption investigation targeting some of his allies by dismissing police chiefs and changing the rules on how the probes are conducted.
The High Administrative Court said Friday it was suspending the change to regulation pending more deliberations on the issue, a week after Turkey's bar association petitioned the court for its cancellation.
Erdogan reshuffled his government this week after three ministers, whose sons were detained as part the probe, resigned. He says the probe is part of a wider conspiracy aimed at bringing his government down.
Turkey: court overturns move blocking probe
http://www.adn.com/2013/12/27/3247601/turkey-army-wants-to-stay-out.htmlTurkey Erdogan Corruption Probe
In this photo released by the Turkish Presidency Press Office, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, center, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 7th left, during a meeting of the National Security Council in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013. After a decade of dominance over Turkey's political scene, a rapidly developing corruption and bribery scandal has for the first time left Erdogan looking off balance and not in control of the political reins.
Turkey: court overturns move blocking probe
The Associated Press
December 27, 2013 Updated 5 minutes ago
ANKARA, Turkey — A Turkish high court has suspended an attempt by the government to funnel all corruption investigations through top police and judicial officials.
Critics have accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of trying to stifle a corruption investigation targeting some of his allies by dismissing police chiefs and changing the rules on how the probes are conducted.
The High Administrative Court said Friday it was suspending the change to regulation pending more deliberations on the issue, a week after Turkey's bar association petitioned the court for its cancellation.
Erdogan reshuffled his government this week after three ministers, whose sons were detained as part the probe, resigned. He says the probe is part of a wider conspiracy aimed at bringing his government down.
December 27, 2013
Beechcraft to be bought by Cessna parent company
The Associated Press
December 26, 2013 Updated 3 hours ago
WICHITA, Kan. — Cessna Aircraft parent company Textron Inc. said Thursday it will buy Beechcraft Corp. for approximately $1.4 billion, a deal that would combine two mainstays of Wichita's general aviation industry.
The announcement by Providence, R.I.-based Textron caps a year that saw Beechcraft emerge from bankruptcy largely freed from debt and its unprofitable Hawker business jet operations, which it stopped making to focus on turboprop and piston aircraft as well as trainers and light attack planes for the military.
Textron said it expects to complete the acquisition early next year.
"The acquisition of Beechcraft is a tremendous opportunity to extend our general aviation business," Textron chairman and CEO Scott C. Donnelly said. "From our customers' perspective, this creates a broader selection of aircraft and a larger service footprint — all sharing the same high standards of quality and innovation."
Beechcraft to be bought by Cessna parent company
http://www.adn.com/2013/12/26/3247287/beechcraft-to-be-bought-by-cessna.htmlBeechcraft to be bought by Cessna parent company
The Associated Press
December 26, 2013 Updated 3 hours ago
WICHITA, Kan. — Cessna Aircraft parent company Textron Inc. said Thursday it will buy Beechcraft Corp. for approximately $1.4 billion, a deal that would combine two mainstays of Wichita's general aviation industry.
The announcement by Providence, R.I.-based Textron caps a year that saw Beechcraft emerge from bankruptcy largely freed from debt and its unprofitable Hawker business jet operations, which it stopped making to focus on turboprop and piston aircraft as well as trainers and light attack planes for the military.
Textron said it expects to complete the acquisition early next year.
"The acquisition of Beechcraft is a tremendous opportunity to extend our general aviation business," Textron chairman and CEO Scott C. Donnelly said. "From our customers' perspective, this creates a broader selection of aircraft and a larger service footprint — all sharing the same high standards of quality and innovation."
December 27, 2013
EU chief negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero (L) and US chief negotiator Dan Mullaney (R ) give a joint press conference after the second round of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on November 15,2013 at the EU Headquarters in Brussels.
Transatlantic Trade Agreement Threatens Environment and Health in US and Europe
by Erich Pica and Magda Stoczkiewicz
Published on Thursday, December 26, 2013 by The Huffington Post
Negotiations between the United States and European Union for a free trade agreement, which resumed this week in Washington, represent one of the biggest threats we have seen in our lifetimes to an environmentally sustainable and socially just world.
The deal, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, is billed as the biggest bilateral free trade agreement in history. It is being touted as a means to boost trade and create jobs, but in reality the United States already has free trade with Europe, and vice versa. Tariffs are already low and the exchange of goods and services is robust.
Friends of the Earth U.S. and Friends of the Earth Europe are deeply concerned that the negotiating objectives for an agreement have little to do with free trade and everything to do with corporate power. TTIP risks being a partnership of those who seek to prevent and roll back democratically agreed safeguards in areas such as food and chemical safety, agriculture and energy.
What we fear the negotiations really aim for is a massive weakening of standards and regulations for the protection of people and our environment. Such rules are branded "trade irritants," making them seem like an annoying itch for the corporations that have to adhere to them. These companies would therefore like to see them removed, irrespective of the fact that the very reason for these rules' creation is to protect citizens, consumers and nature.
Transatlantic Trade Agreement Threatens Environment and Health in US and Europe
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/12/26-3EU chief negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero (L) and US chief negotiator Dan Mullaney (R ) give a joint press conference after the second round of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on November 15,2013 at the EU Headquarters in Brussels.
Transatlantic Trade Agreement Threatens Environment and Health in US and Europe
by Erich Pica and Magda Stoczkiewicz
Published on Thursday, December 26, 2013 by The Huffington Post
Negotiations between the United States and European Union for a free trade agreement, which resumed this week in Washington, represent one of the biggest threats we have seen in our lifetimes to an environmentally sustainable and socially just world.
The deal, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, is billed as the biggest bilateral free trade agreement in history. It is being touted as a means to boost trade and create jobs, but in reality the United States already has free trade with Europe, and vice versa. Tariffs are already low and the exchange of goods and services is robust.
Friends of the Earth U.S. and Friends of the Earth Europe are deeply concerned that the negotiating objectives for an agreement have little to do with free trade and everything to do with corporate power. TTIP risks being a partnership of those who seek to prevent and roll back democratically agreed safeguards in areas such as food and chemical safety, agriculture and energy.
What we fear the negotiations really aim for is a massive weakening of standards and regulations for the protection of people and our environment. Such rules are branded "trade irritants," making them seem like an annoying itch for the corporations that have to adhere to them. These companies would therefore like to see them removed, irrespective of the fact that the very reason for these rules' creation is to protect citizens, consumers and nature.
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