News Archive – Jan-June 2017

NORTH AMERICA:
Don’t Renegotiate NAFTA: Get US Out!
While running for the oval office, President Trump noted to crowds how destructive NAFTA was to individuals, businesses, and states. Now he says he may keep NAFTA.
By Charles Scaliger, New American, June 26, 2017Whether President Trump truly believes renegotiating NAFTA could possibly benefit Americans is not for us to speculate. This author finds it difficult to believe, however, that President Trump can possibly be unaware of what internationalist elites have foisted on Europeans in the name of free trade; the entire European unification scheme has unfolded in the course of Trump’s lifetime, and is worth recalling here as a cautionary tale.

GCC flagGCC-mapGCC:
Corker vows to block US arms sales to GCC
DefenseNews, June 26, 2017 – Powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker announced he is blocking U.S. arms sales to Gulf Cooperation Council member states to pressure a resolution to the escalating row over Qatar…. The council is an alliance of six Middle Eastern countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
GCC citizens launch petition to end Gulf crisis
Signatories: lack of effective political and economic integration between GCC nations
Aljazeera (Doha, Qatar) June 14, 2017 – One of the petition writers and key initiators, Qatar University PhD student Esraa al-Muftah, told Al Jazeera that the petition calls for the “immediate cessation of any actions that lead to the escalation of the situation and which the impact the ability of people to move and freely reside within the GCC states.”
….Lack of popular participation and the lack of effective political and economic integration between the GCC nations have rendered the people’s parliaments futile, the signatories told Al Jazeera.

EU-flagEUROPEAN UNION:
Warning of U.S. desertion, EU chief calls for European defense
EU - SearchlightJuncker: ‘I see the tide turning’ for a European Army
Reuters, June 9, 2017 – Europe’s chief executive appealed to EU governments on Friday to forge a military alliance to defend the bloc and enhance its power abroad, warning that the United States was no longer prepared to do it for them.
Two days after unveiling a multi-billion euro plan to help fund European defense research, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said it was time to integrate militaries and defense industries, seizing on the strong backing from France’s new president and Britain’s decision to leave the bloc.
….Britain had long blocked EU defense integration, fearing a European army that would challenge national sovereignty.

GCC flaggulf_cooperation_council_v20GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL:
White House takes a harder line with Qatar
CBS News, June 9, 2017 – The Trump administration is supporting many of Saudi Arabia’s demands that Qatar drop all connections with and alleged financing of the Muslim Brotherhood — both inside its borders and in other countries, including Jordan, CBS News foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan reports.
….According to the White House, Mr. Trump also reiterated the importance of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), in the wake of several key GCC members, including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, cutting off diplomatic relations with Qatar.
The news seemed to contradict what Mr. Trump said in the Middle East last month, when he claimed he had helped unify the Muslim world. In the call with the Qatari leader, Mr. Trump said the U.S. wants a “united Gulf Cooperation Council to promote regional stability, but never at the expense of eliminating funding for radical extremism or defeating terrorism.”

AU-FlagAFRICAN UNION:
U.S. Won’t Back France on Supporting an African Force to Fight Terrorism: Official
AU - African Union & Sub-Regions‘Mandate of the force way too broad, lacking precision; and would set a dangerous precedent’
Newsweek, June 9, 2017 – The United States is wary of a French push for the U.N. Security Council to authorize a West African force to combat terrorism and trafficking in the Sahel region because it does not believe it is warranted and does not want the world body to help fund it, diplomats said on Thursday.
….The United States is currently trying to cut the cost of U.N. peacekeeping and is reviewing each of the 16 missions as they come up for Security Council renewal. Washington is the largest contributor, paying 28.5 percent of the $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget.

AU-FlagAFRICAN UNION – EAC version of ‘DREAM Act’:
EAC inches closer to harmonised higher education
Key element is facilitation of free movement of students
Rationalisation of the labour market’ one of EAC goals
EAC - MAPThe New Times (Rwanda), May 31, 2017 – Expectations are high after the latest East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit in Tanzania declared the region as a common higher education area in a bid to harmonise and enhance quality of education.
….”Considering that rationalisation of the labour market is one of the goals for the EAC, a graduate from Rwanda will confidently apply for a job in Kenya or Uganda as the quality of graduates produced within the region will be the same,” Mbabazi said.
According to Lyambabaje, the key element is the facilitation of free movement of students to be able to take courses in one university, accumulate credits and validate those courses in the original university and graduate.
“It means that if you identify a course that is not offered in your country, you can go and take that course in another university in the region and come back and validate it and graduate,” Prof. Lyambabaje said.

GCC flagGCC and ‘ARAB NATO’:
US, six Gulf countries join hands to curb terror financing
Business Standard, May 23, 2017 – The US and six Gulf countries have joined hands to curb financing terror organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Haqqani network and the Taliban.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed by the US and six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh on the sidelines of the historic visit of President Donald Trump, US Department of Treasury said
Gulf countries are a major source of funding major terrorist organisations across the globe including LeT which is responsible for major terror attacks in India.
Exactly. See Global Shakedown: ISIS, Ukraine and the New Cold War
Donald Trump to announce $350bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia – one of the largest in history
The deal will be part of the president’s proposal that Gulf nations form an ‘Arab Nato’
The Independent (London, UK), May 17, 2017 – The idea of an Arab Nato is not new. There was talk in 2015 of a “response force” in Egypt, comprised of approximately 40,000 troops from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and a few other Gulf nations.
The “response force” would have had a Nato-like command structure, with soldiers paid for by their own countries and the Gulf Cooperation Council made up of wealthy oil economies finance operations and management of the force.
gulf_cooperation_council_v20From the Archives:
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…. Yet there is reason to hope Europe’s past and present can inform the Middle East’s future. Just as a warring continent found peace through unity by creating what became the EU, Arabs, Turks, Kurds and other groups in the region could find relative peace in ever closer union. 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.
Joint Gulf army becoming a reality – Oman said to opt out
Arab Times (Kuwait), April 3, 2016 – The establishment of a joint Gulf army is becoming a reality with the final agreement on the formation of a great defensive and offensive military system with the participation of all military sectors, and decision of the Gulf states to build a number of nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, reports Al-Shahed daily quoting informed sources. The sources revealed the allocation of a common budget to support the Gulf project and make it a success so that it can preserve the unity of the Gulf territory from external threats, disclosing that all the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries except Oman have agreed to participate in the Gulf army.

GCC flagisrael-flagGCC, ISRAEL:
Gulf states warm to Israel, see possibility of Palestinian peace deal
Fox News, May 16, 2017 – Gulf states that long opposed Israel’s every move are proposing a rapprochemont in the hopes of restarting the Palestinian peace process. The development comes just days ahead of historic meetings between President Trump and Middle Eastern leaders. It consists of a draft proposal reportedly offered up by Sunni Muslim Gulf states and offers closer economic and diplomatic ties with Israel in exchange for significant moves in restarting the Palestinian peace process….
After arriving in Saudi Arabia on Friday, [Trump] is expected to attend an “Arab, Islamic and American Conference” on Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and over a dozen heads of state from Arab and Islamic nations including Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Pakistan and the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

EU-flagEUROPEAN UNION:EU - Searchlight
I’ll defend Europe!’ Macron snubs French national anthem & walks out to EU song after win
Express (London, UK), May 8, 2017 – In the past French politicians have announced their victory to the sound of La Marseillaise, which has stood as their anthem for hundreds of years. But Mr Macron, who has gained support from major European figures including Jean-Claude Juncker and Angela Merkel, instead blasted the anthem of Europe ‘Ode to Joy’ from the speakers as he waved to adoring crowds of voters outside the Louvre museum.

UNASUR - FLAG - 119 x 73UNASUR, MERCOSUR:
Unasur to be purged of its “ideological bias” anticipates Paraguay
To recover integration profile from ‘progressives’
Merco Press (South Atlantic News Agency, Uruguay), April 30, 2017 – Paraguay has stated it is time to put an end to the “ideological bias” of the Union of South American Nations, Unasur, and recover its integration profile which was the main purpose of its creation. A foreign ministers summit of the region will address and advance the issue.
Unasur was originally created as the brainchild of Brazil with the purpose of uniting and UNASUR - Clenched Fistorganizing the region, and became official in 2011. All South American countries are full members. However at the time Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador and their “progressive” profile prevailed as the main force in the southern continent. It was the time of Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, the Kirchners, Hugo Chavez, Rafael Correa.
The leftist UNASUR bloc had been developing a divergent, maverick brand of regional mercantilism that could also be described as “regional protectionism.” Under their scheme, South American nations would still surrender sovereignty gradually to a continental authority like the European Union, but would combine continental resources and “Unite!” in protection and defiance against the corporate globalist network of regions managed by the EU, Western “colonialists,” “imperialists” and financiers.
A similar sentiment was occurring within the African Union, but globalist financiers encouraged both of these early integration efforts anyway, believing that they could overtly or covertly steer both blocs into the globalist web at a later stage of regional development. That is exactly what is happening on both continents
today.

nafta-flagNORTH AMERICA – NAFTA:
Trump Tells Foreign Leaders That Nafta Can Stay for Now
Illegal immigration in southern Arizona.New York Times, April 26, 2017 – “It is my privilege to bring NAFTA up-to-date through renegotiation,” Mr. Trump said in a statement issued by the White House at 10:33 p.m. “I believe that the end result will make all three countries stronger and better.”
The announcement appeared to be an example of Mr. Trump’s deal-making in real time. It followed a day in which officials signaled that he was laying the groundwork to pull out of Nafta — a move intended to increase pressure on Congress to authorize new negotiations, and on Canada and Mexico to accede to American demands.
Shot Across The Bow: Mexico Considers Boycott Of U.S. Corn
KPBS (San Diego State University), April 14, 2017 – A boycott would also hurt U.S. corn growers from the Dakotas to the Midwest to Arizona, California and Texas. Mexico’s deputy economy minister, Juan Carlos Baker, told the Financial Times that negotiations are underway with Argentina and Brazil to offer them duty-free access to the Mexican market now enjoyed by U.S. growers under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
NAFTA helped U.S. corn farmers, but may have boosted illegal immigration
KUAR | NPR, March 21, 2017 – But it turns out the policy wonks got it wrong. They didn’t count on stories like Elaine’s. She’s a 22-year-old woman who’s in the U.S. illegally. We’re identifying her by her middle name because she fears deportation.
“I was born in 1994,” she said. “For Mexico, it was a very monumental year — it was the year that NAFTA took place.”
Her mom’s family grew corn in Morelos, Mexico, back when NAFTA was signed. The trade deal opened up Mexico as a market for U.S. farm products. They poured in, including tons of cheap U.S. corn….
The farmers in Mexico couldn’t compete against the Midwestern corn giants. Many downsized or folded. Elaine’s mom left her farm family and headed to the U.S. in search of better economic opportunities.

EU-flagEUROPEAN UNION:
China throws weight behind a strong European Union
EU - SearchlightSees EU as ‘indispensable part of a balanced multipolar world order’
South China Morning Post, March 15, 2017 – China will continue to support a united European Union and a strong euro, Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday, sending a clear message of the country’s hopes for the World Map wRegions, Titles 200 x 118bloc’s future…. “I would like to stress specifically that China supports a united, prosperous and stable European Union. It supports a strong euro, and Europe integration,” Li said.
Cui Hongjian, director of European studies at the China ­Institute of International Studies, said that from China’s perspective, supporting the EU was ­essential. “Supporting the EU and the euro is the foundation on which all of Beijing’s Europe policies are built,” Cui said. “In terms of global governance, the Chinese leadership sees the EU as an indispensable part of a balanced multipolar world order.”

NAFTA helped U.S. corn farmers, but may have boosted illegal immigration
Illegal immigration in southern Arizona.KUAR | NPR, March 21, 2017 – But it turns out the policy wonks got it wrong. They didn’t count on stories like Elaine’s. She’s a 22-year-old woman who’s in the U.S. illegally. We’re identifying her by her middle name because she fears deportation.
“I was born in 1994,” she said. “For Mexico, it was a very monumental year — it was the year that NAFTA took place.”
Her mom’s family grew corn in Morelos, Mexico, back when NAFTA was signed. The trade deal opened up Mexico as a market for U.S. farm products. They poured in, including tons of cheap U.S. corn….
The farmers in Mexico couldn’t compete against the Midwestern corn giants. Many downsized or folded. Elaine’s mom left her farm family and headed to the U.S. in search of better economic opportunities.

EU-flagEUROPEAN UNION:
China throws weight behind a strong European Union
EU - SearchlightSees EU as ‘indispensable part of a balanced multipolar world order’
South China Morning Post, March 15, 2017 – China will continue to support a united European Union and a strong euro, Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday, sending a clear message of the country’s hopes for the World Map wRegions, Titles 200 x 118bloc’s future…. “I would like to stress specifically that China supports a united, prosperous and stable European Union. It supports a strong euro, and Europe integration,” Li said.
Cui Hongjian, director of European studies at the China ­Institute of International Studies, said that from China’s perspective, supporting the EU was ­essential. “Supporting the EU and the euro is the foundation on which all of Beijing’s Europe policies are built,” Cui said. “In terms of global governance, the Chinese leadership sees the EU as an indispensable part of a balanced multipolar world order.”

Eurasec Flageurasian-european_unionsEURASIAN UNION:
Germany claims officially impossibility to develop EU-Turkey economic cooperation
Turkey has already adopted a decision on joining the Eurasian Economic Union
ABC.az (Azerbaijan), March 13, 2017 – Earlier, Russian economist Mikhail Khazin stated that Turkey has already adopted a decision on joining the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), and will announce this decision after relations with the EU are ruined completely.
Russia stands for stronger integration within EAEU
Regional integration processes ‘surging all around the globe’
TASS (Russia), March 13, 2017 – Russia stands for boosting integration processes within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) being aware of the importance of keeping a single global system, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the meeting with Tigran Sarkisyan, Chairman of the EAEU’s board, on Monday.
“Integration processes are surging all around the globe, particularly with regard to regional integration,” the minister said. “We are all in favor of their expansion, keeping in mind how important it is to maintain a single global system, including within the WTO (World Trade Organization – TASS),” Lavrov added.

nafta-flagIllegal immigration in southern Arizona.NORTH AMERICA
:
Mexico warns U.S. it will end NAFTA talks if tariff pushed
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | Bloomberg, March 3, 2017 – Mexico’s top trade negotiator doubled down this week on threats to break off talks to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying his country will walk away if the U.S. insists on slapping duties or quotas on any products from south of the border.
“The moment that they say, ‘We’re going to put a 20 percent tariff on cars,’ I get up from the table,” Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Monday in an interview. “Bye-bye.”
This doesn’t mean, Guajardo emphasized, that Mexico would be looking to scrap NAFTA. But by saying it refuses to even discuss the kind of tariffs President Donald Trump has long trumpeted, the country is ratcheting up the pressure on U.S. negotiators and essentially daring them to pull out of the 23-year-old pact.

Eurasec FlagEU-flageurasian-european_unionsEURASIAN UNION, EUROPEAN UNION:
Russia-Turkey Ties May Bring Ankara to Eurasian Union in Future – Erdogan’s Aide
Sputnik (Russia), Feb 27, 2017 – Bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia could lead to a Eurasian union in the future as the fate of the European Union is uncertain, the Turkish president’s chief adviser Ilnur Cevik said Monday. According to media reports, Kazakhstan invited Turkey to join the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in 2014.

AU-FlagECOWAS-MAPAFRICAN UNION – ECOWAS:
Morocco Shifts Its Policy Focus From Arab Ties To ‘pan-africanism’, Writes ECOWAS Chair
Global News Network Liberia, Feb 27, 2017 – Morocco has informed Liberia, the current chair of the Economic Community of West African States, of its desire to join the economic alliance as a full member…. The Maghreb country rejoined the African Union in January, signalling a move away from North African diplomacy and close ties with Arab states. Last year Morocco refused to host the Arab League summit.

AU-FlagEAC - MAPAFICAN UNION – EAC:
EAC a step closer to Monetary Union after adoption of key draft instruments
The New Times (Rwanda), Feb 22, 2017 – Government lawyers from the East African Community partner states last week gave the green light to the draft legislation that seeks to establish the regional monetary institute that is seen as crucial in having a common currency in the bloc.

nafta-flagUNASUR - FLAG - 119 x 73NAFTA, MERCOSUR (UNASUR):
Brazil and Argentina Agree to Move Closer to Pacific Alliance
Goal to bring the bloc closer together and its expand diplomatic ties with other regions of the world
IndraStra, Feb 17, 2017 – In his speech, Macri said he expects the partnership to cause a historical impact on MERCOSUR and lead to Brazil and Argentina taking better positions, and not just in the Latin-American scenario. According to the Argentine president, 2017 will be “a year of positive turns for the development of this strategic alliance as well as for the strengthening of the ties between the bloc and the world.”
Could Trump’s politics unite the divided countries of Latin America?
Election of Trump may well accelerate the process’
mercosurFrance24, Feb 16, 2017 – Currently the countries of Latin America are split between the Mercosur (or Mercosul) and Pacific Alliance organisations. Mercosur, formed in 1991, includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela (current suspended), as well as five associate members. The Pacific Alliance consists of four countries: Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.-
As Olivia Ronsain, a specialist in international relations and economics, remarked in a note on Diploweb, the two organisations are built on different models: “We believe that the Pacific Alliance is destined to become, in the short-term, a free trade zone, since it has eliminated 92% of customs barriers,” she explained. “The Alliance aims to evolve into a common market… Unlike Mercosur, the Pacific Alliance is not meant to be a customs union since it will not set up a common external tariff.”
Meanwhile, Mercosur was founded in the 1990s at the instigation of the progressive governments of Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. Mercosur has a political purpose beyond economic and customs integration, making it more similar to the European Union, if on a smaller scale.
As NAFTA Stumbles, Mercosur Senses Opportunity
STRATFOR, Feb 8, 2016 – To be clear, NAFTA talks are not necessarily going to collapse. There is still a long way to go before that could occur, and much is still uncertain. Regardless, members of Mercosur, a trade bloc thousands of kilometers to the south of NAFTA, are already cozying up with Mexico to secure their spot should NAFTA fall apart.
Argentina and Brazil hope to revive Mercosur – Global Trade Review, Feb 8, 2017 – Following their meeting this week, Brazil’s President Michel Temer said the two heads of states had discussed ways to remove “obstacles to trade” within Mercosur, as well as regional integration – namely with the Pacific Alliance – and a trade agreement with the European Union (EU)…. But according to Edward Glossop, Latin America economist at Capital Economics, the two countries have a lot of work to do if they are to revive the 1991 agreement, which many consider a disappointment.

AU-FlagAFRICAN UNION – EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY:
Don’t fast-track East African Community integration, says IMF
EAC - MAPGo slow on monetary union and federation in wake of Brexit from EU
The East African (Kenya), Feb 6, 2017 – The International Monetary Fund…managing director Christine Lagarde said fissures in the bloc over Economic Partnership Agreement, the single tourist visa, non-tariff barriers on movement of people, goods and capital were signs that the building blocks were not firmly in place.
“Coming from the European Union and a country that is part of the Eurozone, I would certainly stress that making haste slowly is probably the best way to go and consolidate one step at a time, to make sure that the steps you have taken are actually solid, sustainable and will take you to the next level,” Ms Lagarde said while on a visit to Kampala, Uganda last week.
She said the East African Community should focus on consolidating integration gains achieved in infrastructure, the Common Market and the Customs Union integration while going slow on the monetary union and federation projects in the wake of Britain’s exit from the EU.

EU-flag EU - european_union_mapEUROPEAN UNION:
Donald Trump is a threat to the European Union, EU Parliament chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt says

Guy Verhofstadt

Guy Verhofstadt

The Independent (London), Jan 30, 2017 – Guy Verhofstadt made the comment at a speech in London on Monday afternoon, warning that the union was facing a three-pronged attack from outside forces.
Germany urges EU to speed trade deals after Trump, Brexit – Reuters, Jan 27, 2017 – Germany called on the European Union on Friday to speed deals to open trade with a dozen or more countries, mainly in Asia, and to boost support for free trade around the world in response to scepticism about it from new U.S. President Donald Trump.

nafta-flag NAFTA:
Think About the U.K. in Nafta. Really.
BloombergView, Jan 27, 2017 – Trump’s campaign description of Nafta as “the worst trade deal ever” would seem to box him in. But his recent emphasis on renegotiating the pact with Mexico and Canada suggests he’s aware of the enormous amount of bilateral trade at stake — U.S. trade with its neighbors more than tripled since the deal was signed — and maybe even the complex web of supply chains that would be disrupted by scrapping it. Tearing the deal apart and stitching it back together with the U.K. included would be a risky gambit, but it would allow him to claim that he reformed Nafta (maybe even renaming it), while also rebutting critics who say he is a reckless protectionist.

EUROPEAN UNION:
Britain could have ‘fast track back to EU’ after Brexit, says European Parliament chief negotiator
The Telegraph (London), Jan 27, 2017 – Britain could be handed an accelerated path to re-join the European Union if it decides to reapply for membership after it has left the bloc, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator has claimed.
Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister and arch European federalist, said that future British governments would have a way back into Europe if they decided to reverse course after Brexit, possibly even on a fastrack.

nafta-flagIllegal immigration in southern Arizona.NORTH AMERICA:
With NAFTA under threat, Japanese automakers wary of Trump’s trade stance
Japan Times, Jan 24, 2016 – Trump has repeatedly said he will impose tariffs on cars imported from Mexico.
“The carmakers would have to raise the prices of those imported cars, so it would weaken their price competitiveness in the U.S. market,” said Shigeru Matsumura, a senior analyst at SMBC Friend Research Center. Analysts said Nissan is likely to be hit hard by the potential border tax. The Yokohama-based automaker runs three factories in Mexico.
Trump pulls U.S. out of TPP, will renegotiate NAFTA ‘at the appropriate time’ – CBC (Canada), Jan 23, 2017 – The new U.S. president made good on one of his campaign promises Monday, NAU - 3 Countries in TPPformally withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal, and signalling his intention to renegotiate NAFTA “at the appropriate time.”
….At a press briefing later on Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said no further executive orders are planned today, but more movements on trade are expected later this week.
Republican senator’s bill aims to reel in Trump’s trade power
CNN, Jan 19, 2017 – Donald Trump can get tough on America’s top trade partners on Day 1 of his presidency. Trump has threatened tariffs on goods coming from Mexico or China, and he doesn’t need approval from Congress to do it. On the eve of his presidency, his own party is trying to reel in those powers.
Republican Senator Mike Lee announced a new bill Thursday that would require Trump to go through Congress to use tariffs or to withdraw from free trade deals like NAFTA, the agreement between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. Lee’s bill, which is slated to be introduced Friday, is one of the most concrete signs of GOP opposition to Trump’s trade agenda.

AU-FlagASEAN FlagUNASUR - FLAG - 119 x 73SAARC Flag

‘REGION-BUILDING’:
Regional economic communities a conduit for South–South cooperation in science
‘A world increasingly characterized by economic blocs’
Economic communities have taken inspiration from the European Union model’
UNESCO.org, (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), Jan 17, 2017 – Increasingly, the long-term economic plans adopted by regional communities in the South are accompanied by a policy or strategy for science. For instance, the Policy on Science and Technology adopted in 2011 by the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) ‘is an integral part of Vision 2020’, the subregion’s development blueprint to 2020.
The report observes that, even though the focus of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has always been on the creation of a single market along the lines of the European model, ‘leaders have long acknowledged that successful economic integration will hinge on how well member states manage to assimilate science and technology’. When ASEAN’s Vision 2020 was adopted in 1997, its stated goal ‘was for the region to be technologically competitive by 2020’….
Also new is the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). It, too, is modelled on the European Union and, thus, embraces the free movement of goods, services, capital and people among its 12 members. UNASUR plans to establish a common parliament and currency. Governments have also been discussing the idea of standardizing university degrees in member countries. Rather than creating other new institutions, UNASUR plans to rely on existing trade blocs like the Common Market for the South (Mercosur) and the Andean Community.
Not all the more established regional economic communities have enjoyed the same level of success. For instance, ‘since its inception in 1985, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has failed to emulate the success of [ASEAN] in fostering regional integration in trade and other areas, including in science, technology and innovation’, observes the report. ‘South Asia remains one of the world’s least economically integrated regions, with intraregional trade accounting for merely 5% of total trade’. Read More 1- 2

nafta-flagNAFTA:
How Trump’s Twitter tirades are changing the culture of the car industry
‘Of course, globalization isn’t a force of nature’
NWO - Integration Not a Fact of Life [CFR]Vox, Jan 14, 2017 – Trump has put carmakers on notice that they’ll be denounced on Trump’s 20-million-follower Twitter account any time they announce plans to open factories in Mexico or close them in the United States….
Economic nationalism is not a new force in American politics. For decades, politicians have railed against multinational companies shipping jobs overseas. But until Trump’s election, complaints about outsourcing were often made with an air of resignation. Even people who criticized companies for outsourcing jobs and shuttering American plants didn’t have a serious plan for preventing them from doing so. Globalization was treated more like a force of nature than a matter of human choice.
Of course, globalization isn’t a force of nature. The global economy has become more and more integrated because of policy decisions that world leaders made over the course of several decades — culminating in the 1990s with the signing of NAFTA and the creation of the World Trade Organization.

EU-flagEU - SearchlightEUROPEAN UNION:
European FBI – Possible Future For The European Union?
Hungary Today, Jan 13, 2017 – The Socialist Party supports a proposal to create a Europe-wide law enforcement agency similar to the FBI in the United States, Zsolt Molnár, the Socialist head of parliament’s national security committee, said. “The Hungarian Socialist Party welcomes the proposal put forward by Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, aimed at establishing a European security union and a European FBI,” Molnár said, adding that his party had long been calling for bolstering EU law enforcement agency Europol and the creation of an EU security agency that would run parallel to national secret services.

nafta-flagNAFTA:
Mexico says it will negotiate with President-elect Donald Trump
USA Today, Jan 10, 2017 – Mexico’s foreign relations secretary says the country wants to negotiate changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement as soon as possible…. Videgaray said Mexico is willing to negotiate Trump’s plan to build a border wall but Mexico won’t pay for it.

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