News Archive – September 2015
NORTH AMERICA: ‘CONTINENTAL HEALTHCARE’?
Democrat pushes ObamaCare coverage for all immigrants
The Hill, Sept 30, 2015 – Congress’s most vocal immigration reformer introduced legislation Wednesday that would extend ObamaCare to the millions of people who are in the country illegally. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez said his bill serves both a moral and economic purpose. Invoking the recent visit of Pope Francis, the Illinois Democrat said expanding the law’s health benefits would help the nation’s most vulnerable…. “The goal is to make integration and inclusion real for millions of families that are locked out under current law.”
GCC:
Lessons from the Greek Debt Crisis for Gulf Monetary Union
RUSI (Royal United Services Institute – UK), Sept 29, 2015 – The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – have drawn inspiration from the European project for their own integration plans since 1981. Generally speaking, the example set has been positive: the EU’s architects have deftly convinced countries embroiled in deep-seated conflicts to set aside their political differences in the pursuit of economic gains, most notably those associated with the European single market.
Unfortunately, more recently the EU has been trailblazing in the mismanagement category, culminating in the ongoing Greek debt crisis. As this continues to play out, there are important lessons to be gleaned for GCC countries, especially as they make progress towards the launch of their own single currency.
AFRICAN UNION:
China to provide AU $100 Million in military assistance for peacekeeping
China Daily, Sept 29, 2015 – China will establish a $1 billion “China-UN Peace and Development Fund” to support the United Nations’ multilateral cooperation and boost world peace, President Xi Jinping said on Monday…. In the next five years, China will provide $100 million in aid to the African Union to support the building of an African standby force and an emergency response and quick-response force, Xi said.
EURASIAN UNION:
Turkey Seeks to Intensify Cooperation With EEU
Sputnik (Russia), Sept 29, 2015 – Turkey is interested in intensifying its cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said Tuesday.
Read Putin’s U.N. General Assembly speech
Washington Post, Sept 28, 2015 – “Contrary to the policy of exclusiveness, Russia proposes harmonizing original economic projects. I refer to the so-called integration of integrations based on universal and transparent rules of international trade. As an example, I would like to cite our plans to interconnect the Eurasian economic union, and China’s initiative of the Silk Road economic belt. We still believe that harmonizing the integration processes within the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union is highly promising.
UNASUR:
Integration is a strategy to stop the destabilization in the region, leftist activists say
Agencia Pública de Noticias del Ecuador (Google Translate), Sept 28, 2015 – The Latin American integration in areas such as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is needed to curb the attempts to destabilize progressive governments in the region, they agreed Monday’s high-level international speakers attending the II Latin American Meeting Progressive (ELAP), which takes place in Quito….
“Only unity of peoples, strength and clarity of purpose and the way we can move forward.” …. The judiciary, sectors of the state apparatus, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) funded from the United States and from Europe, which have sought to create both political and economic crises.
AFRICAN UNION:
Towards a continental Free Trade Area
The Herald (Zimbabwe), Sept 28, 2015 – The objective is to move Africa towards one Common Market and Monetary Union with common macro-economic convergence. Already Africa has achieved the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) of Sadc, Ecowas and EAC. Before proceeding with this article, some definitions are required: According to ZEPARU –
- A Free Trade Area is an agreement between two or more trading partners to facilitate trade by removing all tariff and non-tariff barriers.
- A Monetary Union incorporates a shared currency.
- A Customs Union entails a common external tariff by member countries. The Abuja Treaty targeted the establishment of the African Economic Community (Customs Union) over a 34-year period.
- A Common Market adds to the FTA the free movement of services, capital and labour
- An Economic Union combines a Customs Union with a Common Market and a
- Fiscal Union introduces a shared fiscal and budgetary policy (macro-economic convergence).
In order to speed up regional integration and address the low intra African trade, Africa is working on establishing a Continental Free Trade Area by the year 2017…. Pundits of economic integration actually argue that the CFTA is probably much more than just an economic agenda. It is indeed a political agenda as well.
New secure ECOWAS Brown Card unveiled
Graphic (Ghana), Sept 28, 2015 – The ECOWAS Brown Card Scheme is the sub-regional version of the Green Card in the European Community, the Pink Card of the Arab countries and the Yellow Card within the East African Economic block…. Mr Glover explained that the scheme was introduced to help promote free movement of persons and goods within the sub-region. He said it played an important role in the integration process and promoted trade in the region. “The ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme was established by Protocol on the free movement of persons and goods across national boundaries of ECOWAS-member states,” he explained.
EURASIAN UNION:
Eurasian Union Wants UN Observer Status
Silk Road Reporters, Sept 25, 2015 – “The Kremlin needs something like this, because it will allow them to get approval for the Union as a legitimate multilateral institution. But if this union is applying to the UN it means that it is now more a political union rather than an economic union, like the organization used to describe itself before.” …. Political scientist Dan Sterling, on the other side, says he was surprised to hear that an economic union is seeking an observer status in a political organization.
AFRICAN UNION:
South Africa President Jacob Zuma on Libya and the European Migration Crisis
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Sept 25, 2015 – South African media reports that at one point Zuma departed from the text to say, inter alia, “Before the Arab Spring and before the killing of Gaddafi there were no refugees flying or flocking to European countries. It was all quiet….Things were normal in the north of Africa…. Those who were part of destabilizing that part of the world don’t want to accept refugees. It is their responsibility. They caused it. They must address it.”…. He resents the NATO and the west’s ignoring an African Union (AU) “roadmap” for a solution to the Libya crisis. He particularly resents NATO’s decision instead to work with the Arab League during the Libya crisis rather than the AU. He shares the widespread sentiment among African leaders that North Africa is an area of responsibility for the AU and not a part of the Middle East.
EURASIAN UNION:
Russia and Turkey: Dreams and facts
Daily Sabah (Turkey), Sept 24, 2015 – If Russia wants this customs union to flourish into a monetary and political one, it …. cannot achieve its objective of a union through cooperation with closed and autarchic economies such as Syria and Iran…. In short, Kremlin’s proposal of a new union, a new economy and trade cycle and a concomitant monetary system is applicable, but it will remain the dream of a 19th century empire without Turkey.
PIF:
Pacific Hiri Declaration To Enhance Regionalism
CTA Brussels, Sept 24, 2015 – Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat has published the Hiri declaration on strengthening Cooperation to enhance regional integration. The Heads of States and Governments of the Pacific Islands Forum Member Countries, met in Port Moresby for the Forty-Sixth Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting and declared, inter alia, on point 4 of the statement: “[We] Acknowledge the importance of the establishment of the Forum as the paramount regional organization that promotes cooperation and integration of governance and alignment of polices in order to further Forum members’ shared goals of economic growth, sustainable development and security”.
NORTH AMERICA:
Marco Rubio Promotes Welfare And Citizenship For Illegals In Middle of America’s Immigration Crisis
Breitbart, Sept 23, 2015 – In a September 21 interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Rubio said that within 10 or 12 years — which would be after the U.S. foreign-born population has swelled above 51 million on current trends — “you could have a broader debate about how has this worked out and should we allow some of them [the illegal foreign-born] to apply for green cards and eventually citizenship.”
In a quote provided yesterday to New York Magazine, Rubio’s spokesman made clear that Rubio’s position on citizenship for illegals has not changed since he worked with President Obama and Senator Schumer on the “Gang of Eight Bill.”
AFRICAN UNION:
In African Union, Globalist Agenda Becomes Clear
By Alex Newman, The New American, Sept 21, 2015 – In Africa, owing to a lack of infrastructure and communications, unifying the entire continent all at once is simply not practical. So, globalist planners — both from the “West” and from the “East” — are making use of sub-regional governments that will eventually all be merged under the emerging single African regime….
That, in essence, is what globalist forces eventually hope to do to the entire world. Once national governments worldwide finish surrendering their sovereignty to regional regimes — the EU, the AU, Vladimir Putin’s Eurasion Union, the Union of South American States (UNASUR or UNASUL), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Middle-East Union, and more — all of the regional blocs will be subsumed under a single global authority.
None of this is a secret, and those involved in the agenda have openly boasted of their machinations. “The contemporary quest for world order [world government] will require a coherent strategy to establish a concept of order [regional government] within the various regions and to relate these regional orders [governments] to one another,” explained senior globalist Henry Kissinger in his latest book, World Order.
EURASIAN UNION:
Russia’s Gazprom may switch to gas trading in ruble
PanARMENIAN.Net, Sept 22, 2015 – Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan suggested at the Eurasian Economic Union’s Intergovernmental Council in Grodno that EEU member states use the ruble for payments. According to the PM, that would reduce dependence on the dollar.
GCC:
Iraq now center of regional power struggle
Manila Times | Stratfor, Sept 21, 2015 – Sensing an opportunity to enhance their own influence in Iraq, Gulf Cooperation Council members led by Saudi Arabia have taken steps to curry favor with the al-Abadi government. After 25 years of diplomatic absence, Saudi Arabia will open an embassy in Baghdad and a consulate in Arbil on Sept. 24, after the conclusion of the Eid al-Adha holiday. Other Gulf states are not far behind; on Sept. 11, Qatar selected its future ambassador to Iraq.
Several of the GCC states, including Saudi Arabia, may try to raise their standing in Iraq by offering to mediate talks between Baghdad and Iraq’s Sunni tribes. Qatar, for instance, hosted a large group of Iraqi lawmakers earlier this month in what it called an “Iraqi reconciliation initiative.” The Iraqi government and the Gulf Cooperation Council also share the goal of limiting Iran’s influence in Iraq while undermining the Islamic State’s power in the region.
ASEAN:
South Korea supports ASEAN integration
Manila Bulletin, Sept 20, 2015 – Korean Ambassador Kim Young-sun, secretary general of the ASEAN-Korea Centre in Seoul, told Manila Bulletin and nine other ASEAN journalists in Seoul that South Korea is “supportive of the efforts of ASEAN to form the ASEAN region into one community.” ….“Normally people compare the ASEAN community with the European Union. But when you look at the reality of EU, to bring this highest level of integration, it took almost 50 years. Some people are also arguing that it is not possible for ASEAN countries to achieve the highest level of integration that EU has because of large cultural differences and because of wider gap of economic conditions of member countries.” ….In the case of EU, he said, “to bring greater integration, they somewhat yielded some of the sovereignty and interests of their countries.
AFRICAN UNION:
Continent’s Sub-Regions Could Wage ‘Regional Mercantilism’ as Precursor to Union
Prospects for a More Peaceful Africa: The Potential of a Monetary Union
International Policy Digest, Sept 18, 2015 – The African Union is in the process of creating an economic and monetary union like the European Union as one of its primary goals…. The proposed steps to be taken before the implementation of full economic union—with regional economic unions serving as precursors to the final unification of all of Africa under a single currency and economy—has some benefits, but it has one glaring weakness. It is inevitable that some of these precursor economic unions will be stronger than others and may vastly outperform the others which might result in the more powerful unions balking even though all the other unions do combine. The result could be two competing economic blocs rather than a unified Africa. While the situation may still be preferable to the current state of affairs, it is easy to imagine situations in which conflict between the states in these two potential economic blocs could develop. The ability to strengthen military capabilities in countries in the stronger economic block could cause some nations to implement revisionist policies in search of natural resources.
Africa must learn from Europe’s structural failures – The Herald (Zimbabwe), Sept 18, 2015 – The euro has been the model for Africa’s planned but not yet delivered regional currencies. European policymakers’ spectacular failure to manage their single currency, does not mean that Africa should abandon its plans. But, the economic model and rules employed by the Eurozone should be rejected. Europe has piloted a currency union based on one-sided competition and internal race to the bottom. Africa could introduce single currencies based on solidarity.
Africa regional frameworks on migration’s intro-regional consultations convene in Ghana – News Hour (Bangladesh), Sept 18, 2015 – The Forum is also expected to assess the status of implementation of the Protocols on free movement of persons of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) across Africa (namely the Arab Maghreb Union, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Community of Sahel-Saharan States, East African Community, Economic Community of Central African States, Economic Community of Western African States, Intergovernmental Authority on Development and the Southern Africa Development Community), evaluate the visa issuance regimes of African countries in order to facilitate the implementation of continent-wide visa free regimes and assess progress made in the inception phase of the JLMP and its way forward.
EUROPEAN UNION:
European Union members that don’t help refugees won’t get money : German Minister Sigmar Gabriel
Economic Times (India), Sept 18, 2015 – Countries that do not share European values of human empathy and solidarity cannot count on receiving money from the bloc, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned in an interview with the newspaper Bild.
GCC:
Saudi Arabia’s Reach In Yemen: Fighting For Regional Dominance – Analysis
Eurasian Review, Sept 16, 2015 – The Saudis and their Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) allies, especially the United Arab Emirates, are currently engaged in finishing the job by pushing north with the objective of ridding the entire country of any groups that are affiliated with Iran. Once Yemen is secure, the Saudis will begin to plan utilising their increasing strategic alliances and formidable military infrastructure to address the Syrian civil war….
EURASIAN UNION, ASEAN:
Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) plans FTA expansion within ASEAN
ASEAN Briefing, Sept 17, 2015 – Formed in January 2015, the EAEU boasts a common market comprised of five nations (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia), 176 million people, and a gross domestic product of 2.5 trillion dollars…. The size of the EAEU and its importance in world trade have not gone without notice. According to Minister Ulyukayev, “More than 40 countries and international organizations have expressed interest in establishing a free trade zone with the EAEU — China, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia” included.
EUROPEAN UNION:
A United States of Europe? Good luck
Chicago Tribune, Sept 15, 2015 – The good citizens of Europe are unlikely to cheer at the thought of their taxes being set by bodies other than their national parliaments, and not just because taxes are almost universally disliked. It’s far from clear that the denizens of the euro region — a political construct designed first and foremost to stop what the poetSiegfried Sassoon described as the “biologic urge to readjust the map of Europe” through war — are hankering to transfer yet more sovereignty to Brussels and Strasbourg. Juncker and his colleagues need to stop forcing the issue — or risk splintering a union that’s already stressed to breaking point.
AFRICAN UNION – AMU:
Arab Maghreb Union: Overcoming Competition in Favor of Cooperation
Jadaliyya (Arab Studies Institute), Sept 14, 2015 – The AMU is the region’s first real attempt at achieving economic integration, and is the first of its kind to include all five Maghreb countries–Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. Whereas other regional initiatives have been pursued, most of them followed the structure of bilateral agreements as opposed to the foundation of multilateral treaties that unify the region as a whole. The AMU aimed to change that….
Joint capital energy investments, especially between the two energy giants in the region (Algeria and Morocco), will lead to more sustainable and cooperative energy production and consumption. The possibility of greater energy sharing and bonds can usher in better bilateral relations amongst each member state, and can lead to the formation of a regional Maghreb electricity market that is open to competition.
EURASIAN UNION:
Understanding China’s Eurasian Pivot
The Diplomat, Sept 10, 2015 – The success of this Eurasian pivot may well prove to be a “nightmare” for the United States as Beijing’s economic and strategic heft attracts a weakened Russia into a partnership to stabilize and modernize Eurasia on the basis of “authoritarian state-centric capitalism.” ….President Vladimir Putin attempted to reanimate the concept of a “Eurasian Union” (an idea first floated by Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1994) in a October 2011 op-ed in Izvestia in which he foresaw it as a “supra-national body” that would “coordinate economic and currency policy” as a means of providing a “new post-crisis” development model.
“Authoritarian state-centric capitalism” is a euphemism for old-fashioned fascism, and is the same big gov/big business “crony corporatism” that is characteristic of all the world’s emerging regional blocs, including the North American version. Putin’s envisioned “new post-crisis” development model indicates a deliberate plan to take crisis management into the realm of crisis creation for the purpose of achieving this goal.
Igor Morozov: “Geopolitical decision-making and development center is shifting from Europe to Asia”
Vestnik Kavkaza (Russia), Sept 11, 2015 – Today we don’t speak about a common currency, but a monetary union implies the intensification of a national currency conversion of all settlements and access to foreign markets. I think that by 2020 we will reach a new stage of integration…. We are working on algorithms, we look at the European Union to avoid the mistakes that our partners in Europe made. And here we go slightly sequentially, gaining momentum, so the participation of the EAEU in the inter-regional cooperation within the framework of integration groupings is a completely objective process, it is the next.
Armenia to allow Russian citizens to travel with internal passports
ArmeniaNow, Sept 11, 2015 – In January Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union set up by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan (and now also including Kyrgyzstan) that implies free movement of goods, capitals and workforce in the territory of the Union. Eurasian Intergovernmental Council Discusses Financial Stability in Belarus Meeting
Astana Times (Kazakhstan), Sept 10, 2015 – The meeting agenda included coordinated industrial policy within the Euasian Economic Union (EAEU) framework, macroeconomic and financial stability, formation of a single market for services, development of relations with foreign countries and international organisations…. The Eurasian Economic Union is an international economic integration association of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. The Intergovernmental Council of the EAEU heads of government is a key governing body of the union, which is tasked with ensuring implementation and control over the realisation of the union treaty and decisions of the Supreme Council of the presidents.
Russia is ready to establish airbases in neighboring countries – Russian PM – RT (Russia), Sept 9, 2015 – Russia could create more Air Force facilities on the territories of Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member-states, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told journalists at the meeting of the heads of Eurasian Economic Union governments…. The Eurasian Economic Union, which was established on May 29 2014, is a regional economic union that currently includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kirgizia. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a wider regional military alliance, founded on May 15 1992, that also includes Tajikistan.
ARAB LEAGUE:
Arab League, Arab Parliament sign cooperation MoU
Kuwait News Agency, Sept 9, 2015 – Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi and Arab Parliament Speaker Ahmed Al-Jarwan signed Thursday a memorandum of cooperation to establish an official partnership between the two bodies…. The memorandum will be a future legal reference for the partnership between the two bodies.
NEW REGIONAL ORDER:
What are the ties that bind us?
IOL News (South Africa), Sept 9, 2015 – The British Empire began evolving into the Commonwealth between the two world wars…. Economically, Commonwealth countries are divided between those who are members of the European Union (EU), the Caribbean Community (Caricom), Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS, Southern African Development Community and the East African Community, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation…. Pan-Africanism and the African Union also form strong bonds between states who are also Commonwealth members.
AFRICAN UNION – ECOWAS:
WAMI abandons ECO for new currency
GhanaWeb, Sept 10, 2015 – All countries in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region are expected to move to a single currency regime by 2020, after failed attempts to introduce the ECO for the non- Francophone countries in the region. The new single currency, which is expected to facilitate trade among countries, would be introduced after all the 15 countries in the sub-region meet an outlined convergence criteria and would also see the establishment of the ECOWAS Central Bank. As a result, the West Africa Monetary Institute (WAMI) has abandoned the introduction of the ECO and would now be joining the entire ECOWAS to introduce the new currency for the sub-region.
ECOWAS Standby Force to be fully operational in December – Star Africa, Sept 9, 2015 – The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, says that the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) will be fully operational by December 2015.
GCC:
Why Aren’t Gulf Countries Taking in Syrian Refugees?
Newsweek, Sept 9, 2015 – Migrants make up the majority of the workforce in all the Gulf countries; and in Qatar and UAE, make up more than 85 percent of the population.It is this population and resource structure that makes the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states such demographic protectionists when it comes to refugees. The vast majority of migrants stay for only a few years, and are assumed to be returning home afterward.
EUROPEAN UNION:
European Union calls for mandatory refugee quotas
USA Today, Sept 9, 2015 – European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker urged European countries on Wednesday to undertake a “swift, determined and comprehensive” response to the region’s migration crisis by increasing aid, coordination and imposing binding refugee quotas for the bloc’s 28 members…. Some 500,000 migrants have entered Europe this year, many from conflict-torn Syria and Libya. Several thousand have died trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea alone, the United Nations estimates.
This refugee crisis was created by empowerment of the ISIS hordes by Western nations and their Sunni Arab “allies,” ostensibly through indiscriminate military aid given to Islamic jihadist “freedom fighters” in both Libya and Syria. The result is another shakedown of both European and Arab nations to capitulate further into regional jurisdictions, i.e., the European Union and its developing facsimile, an expanded “Middle East Union” with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations forming its core. Never wasting a good crisis, the Machiavellian Council on Foreign Relations posted the following article on its website in 2014:
The EU Offers a Model for Unifying the Middle East
– Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), June 19, 2014 – Not long ago, Europe was a continent that resembled how the Middle East looks today…. After all, most of its problems – terrorism, poverty, unemployment, sectarianism, refugee crises, water shortages – require regional answers. No country can solve its problems on its own.
This is the standard line that the CFR globalists are using to build every emerging regional bloc on earth, and it will increasingly be heard in “North America” as well. See the video, “Global Shakedown: ISIS, Ukraine and the New Cold War.”
EURASIAN UNION:
Eurasian Intergovernmental Council session starts in Grodno
Armenian News Agency, Sept 8, 2015 – The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is an international economic integration association of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The Intergovernmental Council of EEU heads of government is a key governing body of the Union, which is tasked to ensure implementation and control over the realization of the Union treaty and decisions of the Supreme Council of the presidents…. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan and Russia.
AFRICAN UNION – ECOWAS:
ECOWAS will not meet
single currency deadline – Bankers
CitiFM (Ghana), Sept 8, 2015 – Some bankers fear the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will fail to meet the new deadline for the introduction of a single currency for the sub region…. ECOWAS has set 2020 as the deadline for the commencement of its single currency policy in the region. Speaking to Citi Business News banking consultant and Head of the Osei Tutu II Centre for Executive Education and research Nana Otuo Acheampong said to achieve a single currency, member countries will have to get their economy in shape.
EURASIAN UNION:
Goodbye Dollar, Hello Altyn? In Ex-Soviet Union, Possible Future Currency Has Rich Past
Radio Free Europe/Radio Libeerty, Sept 5, 2015 – The move came as the ruble and other currencies across the region continue to suffer. It followed months of calls in Russia for the creation of a single currency for the Eurasian Economic Union, which comprises Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. The proposed name: the “altyn.” For many, altyn sounds less Russian than Turkic — an impression that is completely accurate and raises many questions.
EUROPEAN UNION:
Shock poll reveals Britain would quit the European Union if referendum was held tomorrow
Mirror (London, UK), Sept 6, 2015 – Britain would vote to quit the EU if the vote was held tomorrow, a shock poll has revealed. The result goes against months of polling which have showed a comfortable victory for the campaign to stay.
Ban EU from campaigning in referendum, 100 Tories to warn – The Telegraph (London, UK), Sept 5, 2015 – More than 100 Tory MPs could tomorrow back plans to formally bar the European Union from campaigning during the referendum on Britain’s membership.
PIF:
Australia says Forum is premier Pacific grouping
Radio New Zealand, Sept 3, 2015 – Australia says it regards the Pacific Islands Forum as the premier organisation in the Pacific but it welcomes any contribution the Pacific Islands Development Forum can make to the region.
UNASUR:
The US and the Militarization of Latin America
teleSUR English, Sept 2, 2015 – Ultimately, U.S. militarization in Latin America is an attempt to check militarily the rise of regional cooperation and independence. The development of ALBA, Unasur, PetroCaribe, and other multilateral institutions not controlled by the U.S. has alarmed many in Washington who see their former “backyard” slipping out of their grasp. And so, the U.S. has moved to block this development with military force.
The regional component is also critical to the U.S. militarization agenda. Washington wants to block any further integration, while also checking the growing influence of China and other non-western actors who are increasingly penetrating the region through investments. Essentially, the U.S. is doing in the Americas, what it is doing in Africa, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific regions: using its military to block independent development.
This is not entirely true. The globalists controlling Washington encourage regional integration, but are using military force, foreign aid, international loan-sharking and other means of persuasion to steer any maverick integration movements into linking up with the West’s globalist, New World Order network of regional blocs, using the European Union as its prototype.
EURASIAN UNION:
Vladimir Putin To Visit China To Discuss Linking Eurasian Economic Union, Silk Road East-West Trading Route
International Business Timjes, Sept 2, 2015 – Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov …. also said that the Russian president would meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to discuss trade and economic cooperation. Putin will also meet Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to discuss similar issues.
Putin Says Sanctions Have Spurred Russian Shift To China – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Sept 2, 2015 – Putin told a student in Sochi earlier in the day that the recent steep fall of the ruble hasn’t been all bad for the Russian economy, as it’s making Russian exports cheaper and more competitive in the global marketplace…. He told the student that Russia hasn’t sought to stop the ruble’s decline through central bank intervention because “we do not regulate this situation in a nonmarket way” and “because, if we do, we will quickly burn off our gold reserves.”
Currency.kg: external shocks and internal speculation – 24.kg News Agency, Sept 2, 2015 – The som is experiencing an unprecedented pressure since the beginning of 2015. National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic somehow managed to keep the currency afloat. But August has become a real test of strength for the bankers, and businessmen…. After Kyrgyzstan’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union the situation is changing. There will be integration of our financial markets with the markets of Kazakhstan and Russia,” the head of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic Tolkunbek Abdygulov stated.
AFRICAN UNION: COMESA and the NEW REGIONAL MERCANTILISM:
Comesa calls for accelerated development of regional resources policy framework
Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly, Sept 2, 2015 – The secretary general for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) has called on member States to accelerate the pace of developing a harmonised regional policy framework for the resources sector. Sindiso Ngwenya told delegates at the Africa Downunder conference that the policy framework should be aligned with Comesa’s regional integration aspirations, as well as the tripartite free-trade agreement signed with the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
ASEAN:
Time for a Reevaluation of ASEAN’s Role
The Diplomat, Sept 1, 2015 – The two watchwords for a post-2015 ASEAN would therefore be inclusivity and convergence. Inclusivity refers to the opening up of ASEAN to multiple stakeholders covering all spectrum of society, while convergence refers to the confluence of interests and authority under the single roof of the ASEAN Secretariat with a mandate to speak on behalf of all the member states.