NEWS ARCHIVE – July 2013

U.S. wants cross-border officers exempt from Canadian law – CBC (Canadian Broadcasting), July 31, 2013 – The planned pilot project — part of a sweeping Canada-U.S. perimeter security pact — would see the two countries build on joint border-policing efforts by creating integrated teams in areas such as intelligence and criminal investigations. The perimeter deal, being phased in over several years, aims to ensure the safe, speedy passage of goods and people across the 49th parallel while bolstering North American defences.

NORTH AMERICA:
Mexico trucking pilot gets another green light
Fleet Owner, July 30, 2013 – “The question we must answer is whether a facially unambiguous statute of general application is enough to abrogate an existing international agreement without some further indication Congress intended such repudiation,” wrote Judge Janice Rogers Brown in the decision for the majority of the three-judge panel . “We conclude it is not.”
Among other points made in the decision, Judge Brown explained that “to facilitate trade, the United States has entered into ‘executive agreements’ with Mexico and Canada for reciprocal licensing of commercial drivers operating across national borders. Executive agreements are not quite treaties; while the latter require Senate ratification, the former [as in the cross-border plot program] carry the force of law as an exercise of the President’s foreign policy powers… “The Constitution places treaties and federal statutes on equal legal footing– both are “the supreme Law of the Land,” she added later, no doubt for emphasis.
[No judge has the authority to claim that an unconstitutional ceding of power by a silent Congress to an unconstitutional “executive agreement” is the “supreme law of the land.” The Constitution, not some judge’s opinion based upon congressional dereliction, remains the supreme law of the land.]

NORTH AMERICA & A ‘REGIONAL SECURITY FRAMEWORK’:
A Strategy to Reduce Gun Trafficking and Violence in the Americas
Julia E. Sweig, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America Studies, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), July 29, 2013 – With the launch of the Merida Initiative in 2007, the U.S. and Mexican governments agreed to a regional security framework guided by the principle of shared responsibility. Among its domestic obligations, the United States committed to intensify its efforts to combat the illegal trafficking of weapons and ammunition to Mexico and elsewhere in the Americas. Six years later, little has changed: the U.S. civilian firearms market continues to supply the region’s transnational criminal networks with high-powered weaponry that is purchased with limited oversight….Lax U.S. gun laws enable straw purchasers, including those under investigation in Operation Fast and Furious, to legally procure thousands of AK-47 and AR-15 variants….Across the board, Latin American governments are turning toward the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the Union of South American Nations, which pointedly exclude the United States, to handle regional political and security dilemmas. Stronger action to regulate the southward flow of weapons represents an opportunity for the Obama administration to enhance U.S. relevance in the region, especially at the early stages of new regional institutions and security protocols.
[The CFR has the audacity to focus on the “straw purchasers” of weapons in the Fast and Furious scandal, instead of the government officials who facilitated that trafficking, for Obama’s pretext to circumvent Congress and build a “regional security framework.”]

UNASUR:
Rafael Correa: In Ecuador and Latin America send people, not capital
“We are entering a new stage in the Citizen Revolution….Our duty as a government is to dominate the market.”
teleSUR TV, July 29, 2013 (Google Translate) – The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, emphasized that regional integration “should not be reduced to mercantilism. We have to take into account the policy and that brings us closer to markets such as the Mercosur (Southern Common Market) because it is an integration that will [go] beyond commercial “. He noted that “we must all unite to Unasur (Union of South American Nations) because it is not limited to the economic, but also seeks to benefit our peoples.”
[“Our duty as a government is to dominate the market.” – Sounds like Obama – and Mussolini.]

EURASIAN UNION:
Putin to Ukraine: You Belong with Russia, Not Europe
This Day (Nigeria), July 30, 2013 – The Kremlin wants Ukraine to integrate economically with Russia by joining a Moscow-led customs union and then go on to become part of Putin’s grand “Eurasian Union” of former-Soviet states….But Ukraine plans to sign a landmark association agreement with the European Union in November…

ASEAN:
Government urged to push religious harmony as ASEAN chair
Myarmar Times, July 29, 2013 – “[Religious harmony] has become an important global issue and will be one of ASCC’s priorities in 2014,” Daw Nanda Hmun said. ASCC is one of three pillars supporting the ASEAN Community, the others being the ASEAN Economic Community and the ASEAN Political-Security Community. ASCC describes itself as a people-oriented and socially responsible organisation that aims to achieve enduring solidarity and unity among the peoples and member states of ASEAN.

AFRICAN UNION – EAC:
Leaders launch economic bloc
Daily Nation (Kenya), July 29, 2013 – The East African Community (EAC) currently prides itself as the most progressive of all the five regional economic blocks in Africa. But the current success did not come easy….Britain had wanted to create a federation of the three East African states, but the idea was fiercely opposed by the Baganda in Uganda. Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, a strong supporter of the cooperation, was even willing to delay the independence of Tanganyika in 1961 so that the region could attain independence as one federation.
Rush into EA federation is sheer madness – Daily Nation, July 29, 2013 – Astonishingly, even as the countries are facing enormous challenges in establishing a well-functioning Community, there is simultaneously a headlong rush for the creation of a full federation. This is sheer madness. Kenyans need to be very wary that they are not dragged into committing to a “politically correct” goal that will fail because it has no real foundation.

GCC:
Kuwait starts trial operation of linkage with GCC power grid
Kuwait News Agency, July 25, 2013 – The Kuwait Ministry of Electricity and Water announced Sunday the start of the trial operation of Kuwait linkage to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) interconnection power grid.
The Association of the Gulf States with Israel – American Thinker, July 28, 2013 – Arab nations, mainly the oil-rich majority-Sunni countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC), have become increasingly aware that the danger to them and to their existence comes not from Israel, but from Iran, with its aggressive Shia leadership and nuclear threat, and from Islamist extremists becoming more prominent in a number of countries. Indeed, the very existence of the GCC stems from initial appreciation of that threat.

ARAB LEAGUE & ISRAEL:
Netanyahu may be latest hawk to turn dove
Jerulalem Post, July 26, 2013 – A deal with Abbas backed by Saudi Arabia, the rest of the Gulf States and the Arab League as well as Turkey is therefore as tempting to Israel as containing Shi’ites is now urgent for Sunnis. The prospect of formal relations with most Arab governments, and the shrinkage of the active anti- Israeli front to distant Iran and a handful of minor countries would be tempting to any strategic hawk, even to some ideological hawks.

NORTH AMERICA:
Baird, Mexican counterpart talk North American border security agreement
Globe and Mail (Canada), July 25, 2013 – Mexico’s foreign minister says his government seeks a closer, “more strategic” relationship with Canada – one that some day might include a North American border security deal between all three NAFTA partners….“We think a freer and fair mobility, not only of capital and investment and trade, but also of people, would allow for a closer relationship.” Mexico is hopeful the visa will one day be eliminated….

SAARC:
SAFE starts lobbying for Saarc financial integration
Dhaka Tribune, July 25, 2013 – South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE) – the lone association of the stock exchanges in the region – has started lobbying to adopt uniform financial regulations among South Asian countries….SAFE’s plan on developing a harmonised regulatory framework should serve as a first step towards building a financially integrated south Asian region.

AFRICAN UNION
East Africa: EAC States Meet to Harmonise Quality Certification
AllAfrica | Tanzania Daily News, July 26, 2013 – National standards bodies from five East African Community member states are meeting in Arusha to discuss harmonization of quality certification of goods in the region….”Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania must be recognized as a single trading area, but this can only be realized if the countries have the same testing criteria, which means if particular goods pass the standards of one country then they automatically qualify in the other four states,”….
South Africa: Special forces a force multiplier for SADC military interventions – expert – defenceWeb, July 26, 2013 – The special forces are a potentially useful asset that can be used by the SADC [Southern African Development Community] Standby Force as a force multiplier, according to South African Army Colonel Renier Coetzee….The Colonel suggested that in order to fast-track the deployment of forces, the right to decide whether to intervene should be held by a small group of people at the African Union, as this would expedite the process.

UNASUR:
Bolivia’s Morales Calls for South America’s “Technological Liberation”
Latin American Herald Tribune, July 26, 2013 – “The debate not only from a national, but also regional, perspective in Unasur (the Union of South American Nations), should be how we liberate ourselves technologically,” he said. Morales noted that companies hired to build industrial installations in Bolivia “are service providers” and that in the case of the plant being built by Tecnicas Reunidas the investment is with Bolivian funds and does not involve “money from Spain or Europe.”

ASEAN:
As ASEAN Pursues Closer Integration, CFOs in Asia Are Increasingly Bullish on ASEAN Market Prospects
PRWeb, July 26, 2013 – Confidence in the Southeast Asian economies are, surprisingly, far higher than current confidence in China and the United States….Dr Lim Hong Hin, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN, said at a recent conference in London: “Progress towards greater trade, social and political integration is likely to create even larger commercial opportunities in the region.”

SAARC:
India-Pakistani dialogue needed for stable Afghanistan: Envoy
Business Standard (India), July 23, 2013 – Pakistan High Commissioner Salman Bashir agreed with Abdali and said there was need for consultation and cooperation amongst all South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations, especially India and Pakistan, to come out with a solution for a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.

EUROPEAN UNION:
Australia tells Britain not to forsake the European Union
Reuters, July 23, 2013 – Australia’s intervention follows calls from the United States and Japan for Britain not to sever its EU ties and suggests that Cameron’s plan to give Britons a vote on the issue is causing unease with some allies.

UNASUR:
Latin America is no longer living under imperialism dollar
TeleSUR TV, July 23, 2013 – The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, said Tuesday that unlike other nations, the peoples of Latin America no longer live according to the imperialism of the dollar and capital, “is no longer anyone’s backyard.” ….”There are nations that live by the dollar imperialism, imperialism of capital and its interests in market expansion. Instead we here in Latin America we are united and we must follow the path of integration, such as UNASUR (Union of South American Nations) and our own instruments of arbitration “said President Rafael Correa.

GCC & Israel:
Israel opens a ‘virtual embassy’ to Gulf states
Haaretz (Israel), July 21, 2013 – The new account is called Israel in the GCC – the Gulf Cooperation Council, an umbrella group for every Arab state in the Gulf except Iraq. These six Sunni Arab countries have a mutual interest with Israel: coping with the Iranian nuclear threat.

AFRICAN UNION – ECOWAS, EAC
ECA wants ECOWAS to fast-track regional integration through common currency
African Manager, July 21, 2013 – ECOWAS, modelled after the European Union (EU), has been advised to fast-track the process of a common currency, in order to speed up integration of the organisation, according to Stephen Karinge, Director of Regional Integration and Trade at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
Why EA needs regional approach to tackle criminals and terrorists – IPP Media (Tanzania), July 21, 2013 – This is particularly critical as the region moves toward adoption of a single visa regime. Essentially, anyone entering any of the partner states will be deemed to have entered all of them; no additional visas will be required to enter any other state within the Community. This is similar to the Schengen arrangement in the European Union.
AFRICAN UNION – EAC:
EAC moves step closer to single currency
Africa Review (Kenya), July 19, 2013 – East African Community dreams of a single currency are closer to reality after the bloc’s Council of Ministers adopted a draft protocol on the establishment of a Monetary Union this week. The document has now been referred to the Sectoral Council on Legal and Judicial Affairs, which meets in Bujumbura, Burundi next week for legal input, the EAC Secretariat announced here Thursday.
Bank Chiefs Meet in Arusha Over African Monetary Union
Tanzania Daily News, July 18, 2013 – Central Bank Governors from more than ten African countries are meeting in Arusha to, among other things, discuss the proposed single currency for the whole continent. “The African Union (AU) heads of state have directed the continent’s central bank governors to start efforts in creating an African Monetary Union which should lead to the region’s single central bank as well as one currency,” explained Prof Benno Ndulu, the Bank of Tanzania (BOT) governor…. “We hope that the four African trading blocs of EAC, SADC, COMESA and ECOWAS will spearhead single currency efforts to make it easier for us to join the four monetary unions in forming a single currency than working on the more than 60 currencies being used on the continent.”

EURASIAN UNION:
The PRISM Scandal, the Kremlin, and the Eurasian Union
Atlantic Community, July 19, 2013 – Not to be neglected is the fact that the scandal has opened an unexpected window of opportunity for Mr. Putin. Not only has the affair offered him a unique chance to pose as a principled defender of privacy and free information, but the transatlantic estrangement will help him realize his pet project: the establishment of a “Eurasian Union.”
Ukraine compares EU pact signature to ‘fall of Berlin Wall’ – EurActiv, July 19, 2013 – The Ukrainian ambassador to the EU, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, said the signature of an EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which could take place in November, would be similar in magnitude for his country to the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany.

EUROPEAN UNION:
Gotta love that European Union
Jerusalem Post, July 18, 2013 – European countries have a knack for judging and moving Jews. They’re actually quite experienced at banning Jews from schools and universities, depriving Jews of scholarships, and restricting Jews to specific pales of settlement…. At the moment, women are being raped left, right and center in Egypt and Syria, and Christians are being driven out or slaughtered with abandon in both these locations. But don’t worry, Christian Europe is right on top of things. It is tackling those dangerous Israeli settlers raising their children and developing their businesses in Judea and Samaria.
Good observation, except for one important point: Who says Europe is “Christian”?

NORTH AMERICA:
A myopic view of immigration
By Thomas Friedman, Albany Times Union, July 18, 2013 – And, if we were thinking strategically, one of our top foreign policy priorities would be to further integrate North America. I wonder how many Americans know that we sell twice as many exports to Mexico as to China, and we export more than twice as much to Mexico and Canada as to the European Union and three times as much as we do to East Asia.
I wonder if Friedman has a clue that economic integration out of regulatory necessity brings about political integration, and that many Americans know enough about the political systems in Mexico and Canada that they do not wish to compromise the “God-given” rights of the U.S. with the “government-given rights” of its North American neighbors.

UNASUR:
Marquez: Mercosur is the backbone of UNASUR
AVN (Venezuelan News Agency), July 12, 2013 (Google Translate) – The Southern Common Market (Mercosur) is the backbone of the countries of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) grouping, from Argentina to Venezuela, to the three largest economies in Latin America , said Friday Gustavo Márquez, former Minister of Integration and Foreign Trade. He stressed that as the fundamental basis of Mercosur integration UNASUR, is the target of attack by the capitalist empire seeking ways to strengthen its partnerships with the European Union and resurrect the Free Trade Area of ​​the Americas (FTAA).

SAARC:
Uniform Saarc financial regulation drafted
Dhaka Tribune, July 12, 2013 – A draft uniform model of regulations has been announced to promote trade and investment among the South Asian countries. South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE) – the lone association of the stock exchanges in the region – has announced the completion of the first version of its Rule Book which details uniform model of regulations for adoption by all Saarc nations to financially integrate the region, it said in a statement.

UNASUR:
Bolivia claims that Colombia will ‘beachhead’ for NATO
ABC (Spain), July 18, 2013 (Google Translate) – Quintana said it is necessary to strengthen the mechanisms of integration in the continent such as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and Mercosur to prevent Latin America from becoming conflict territory as Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya or Syria.

SAARC:
Pak gives high priority to improvement of ties with India: Envoy
Greater Kashmir, July 16, 2013 – Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif….who was addressing a gathering at the PHD Chambers, also spoke about the need for security and stability in the region and also touched upon the desire to develop SAARC on the lines of the European Union.

AFRICAN UNION – ECOWAS:
ECOWAS And Sub-regional Devt (1)
Leadership Newspapers (Nigeria), July 17, 2013 – The Economic Community of West African States was founded in 1975….The idea behind an economic body for the sub-region was modelled after the European Union former European Economic Community….There is an ultimate target to phase out the nine different and inconvertible currencies of member states with the introduction of a single currency for the Community to be handled by the West African Monetary Institute established in January 2001….The establishment of an ECOWAS Tribunal and ECOWAS Parliament…have all contributed in forging a community spirit and integration culture….

EURASIAN UNION:
Roadmap of Kyrgyzstan’s accession to SES to be drafted in 2013
Belarusian Telegraph Agency, July 16, 2013 – Viktor Khristenko emphasized that the current objective of the Eurasian Economic Commission is the freedom of movement of goods, services, capital and workforce that should become a reality by 1 January 2015, the time when the Eurasian Economic Union becomes operational. The Eurasian Economic Commission plans to study the experience of the European Union and other organizations.

GCC:
Gulf moves closer to water linkage project
Asharq Al Awsat, July 16, 2013 – The Gulf states have started taking concrete steps to study the legal and regulatory aspects of a project to link the regional states’ water systems. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) intends to draw on experience from the electricity linkage project, which has reached the implementation and construction stages, at a time when the water project is still in its infancy. Arab Gulf states are planning–starting in 2020–to make the Arabian Sea and the Sea of Oman the main water resources for the Gulf region in the event of a water shortage from the Arab Gulf.

UNASUR
Hardening Brazil’s Soft Power
By Celso Amorim, Project Syndicate, July 16, 2013 – Through the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) and the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), Brazil is helping to integrate the region politically, economically, socially, and culturally….Brazil coordinates closely on defense matters with its neighbors, both bilaterally and through Unasur’s South American Defense Council, which aims to promote confidence-building, transparency, a joint regional defense industry, and, most important, a common defense identity. One potential mechanism for advancing these objectives is a South American Defense College, now under consideration.
Celso Amorim is Brazil’s Minister of Defense. He was previously Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1994 and from 2003 to 2010.
Mercosur to reduce reliance on foreign technology over spying fears – Xinhua (China), July 16, 2013 – The trade bloc, which groups Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, and its sister organization — the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) — have established working groups on cyber security and the reduction of technological dependence, Antonio Patriota told a press conference in Sao Paulo.

EUROPEAN UNION:
European Union settlement order evokes Israeli ire
Washington Times, July 16, 2013 – Israel is angered by a new order from the European Union that bans member nations from any type of dealings with Israeli settlements that were constructed in disputed areas beyond the 1967 borders.

EUROPEAN UNION:
The US-EU trade deal: don’t buy the hype
London Guardian, July 15, 2013 – Each industry group has a list of regulations that it finds troublesome, which it has been unable to eliminate or weaken at the national or sub-national level. An EU-US trade agreement provides these industry groups with an opportunity to do an end-run around such regulation….This deal is first and foremost about providing powerful industry lobbies with an opportunity to circumvent the normal political process.
The hope for the foreseeable future lies, not in building up a few ambitious central institutions of universal membership and general jurisdiction [i.e., the United Nations and “global government”] as was envisaged at the end of the last war [World War II], but rather in the much more decentralized, disorderly and pragmatic process of inventing or adapting institutions of limited jurisdiction and selected membership…. In short, the “house of world order” will have to be built from the bottom up rather than from the top down. It will look like a great “booming, buzzing confusion,” to use William James’ famous description of reality, but an end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old-fashioned frontal assault.
Richard N. Gardner, “The Hard Road to World Order“, Foreign Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations), April 1974

EUROPEAN UNION, NORTH AMERICA:
Regionalization: the ‘end run around national sovereignty’
By Tim Porter, CircumspectNews.com, July 15, 2013
The effect of these overlapping free trade agreements was further revealed by the globalist ambassador of Mexico to the U.S., Arturo Sarukhánin, in his remarks at the “NAFTA 20″ anniversary conference in San Antonio last November. Commenting on a similar multinational free trade agreement for the Pacific region, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Sarukhánin explained: “I don’t think there’s the political willingness, at least in Canada and in the United States today to go down the route of deepening NAFTA. The beauty of TPP is that it allows us to do this through the back door. Why? Because by having Mexico, Canada, and the United States join the TPP negotiations, it will bring us up from the bootstraps….It modernizes NAFTA….In many ways NAFTA was a 1.0 free trade agreement; TPP is a 3.0 free trade agreement.” (See all of Sarukhánin’s speech here, starting at 33:23)

NORTH AMERICA:
The North American Global Powerhouse
By George P. Schultz, Wall Street Journal, July 11, 2013 – The three Nafta countries together account for $6.63 trillion in total exports and imports. They have among them free-trade agreements with 50 other countries and there is massive overlap among them. The U.S. is now engaged in negotiations for a free-trade agreement with Europe. Mexico already has such an agreement, and Canada is close to one.
George P. Schultz, a former secretary of labor, Treasury and state, and director, Office of Management and Budget, is a distinguished fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
What globalist Schultz does not say is that when all three North American nations sign similar “free-trade” agreements with the EU and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, globalists accomplish their primary, near-term objective, which is a “back-door” alignment of trade rules for deeper regional integration of North America without public knowledge.
Canada train disaster bolsters pipeline case: Our view
USA Today, July 11, 2013 – This surge in oil train shipments has big implications, not least for the seemingly endless controversy over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring oil from huge tar sands deposits in western Canada to terminals in the central USA.

AFRICAN UNION:
Egypt: Don’t Cry for Me Africa
AllAfrica, July 12, 2013 – The spectre of his Muslim Brotherhood’s “martyrs” surging forth to join hands with bruised El Shabaab fighters in Somalia, appeared in the horizon….The African Union, however, has no licence to ignore the struggle by “liberals” for open debates with the Muslim Brotherhood over an inclusive road to nation-building. The Brotherhood would be the biggest losers if outsiders bring Syria to Egypt.
African Union’s doors open to Egypt after democratic elections – World Bulletin, July 12, 2013 – The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Dlamini Zuma said on Wednesday that Egypt could return to being a member of African Union after democratic elections.

EUROPEAN UNON:
The risk of European centralisation
European Voice, July 11, 2013 – Politicians launched monetary union in 1999, despite warnings that the constituent economies were too diverse….The response to these failings, however, was a demand for greater economic integration….The fact that sovereign member states did not deliver on their European commitments is hardly a convincing argument for giving up sovereignty now.

European Union Approves Latvia Entry to Eurozone – Prensa Latina, July 10, 2013 – The European Union (EU) approved today the entry of Latvia to the eurozone, something that will become a reality in January, 2014, when this country assumes the single currency.

GCC:
Egypt’s Old New Rulers
Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2013 – Mr. Beblawi, who is 77, spent a good part of his career working for financial institutions in the UAE and Kuwait. He enjoys good relationships with top financial decision-makers in the in Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

AFRICAN UNION – EAC:
East Africa: Single EAC Visas in the Offing
AllAfrica | New Vision (Uganda), July 10, 2013 – Tourism minister Maria Mutagamba has hailed plans to roll out pilot single visas for the East African Community (EAC) bloc, saying the move will lift Uganda’s tourism potential further. “So many tourists are visiting Kenya but they do not come to Uganda. But if they do not need another visa to (come to Uganda), they will visit Uganda too. In the end, we shall all benefit,” Mutagamba said.

ARAB LEAGUE, AFRICAN UNION:
Tunis bypasses Arab League with call for African Union to solve Egyptian crisis
Middle East Monitor, July 9, 2013 – “The Arab League gave up its mediator’s role the minute that Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi sided with one party against the other.”

UNASUR:
Integration for better or worse
Semana Economica (Peru), July 9, 2013 – While Unasur is born with the mission of bringing together two major blocks, the Andean Community and Mercosur, the political goal of its founders-create an integration that excludes the United States-is maintained. And with all the boredom that can cause anti-imperialist discourse of Evo Morales and company, this goal is valid….In fact, one wonders if they could have discussed the abuse to Evo Morales at a forum of the OAS in Washington DC…

EURASIAN UNION:
Russia’s survivalist in the Kremlin
Japan Times, July 9, 2013 – This November, at its “Eastern Partnership” summit in Vilnius, the EU will decide on whether to proceed with an Association Agreement with Ukraine. Putin views this as a threat to Russia’s economic interests, because Ukraine is unlikely to join his Eurasian Union if it is aligned with the EU — and the Eurasian Union will not amount to much without Ukraine.

EUROPEAN UNION:
IMF urges eurozone to take action on economic growth
RTE News (Ireland), July 9, 2013- The International Monetary Fund has called on eurozone countries to take coordinated action to revive economic growth or risk triggering renewed financial turbulence. The strongly worded statement was released in Washington just hours before European Union finance ministers gathered for talks in Brussels.

SOUTH PACIFIC – PIF:
Experts talk climate change
Fiji Times, July 9, 2013 – Permanent secretary for national disaster management Filipe Alifereti said the meeting would culminate into the formulation of a regional strategy and framework for climate and disaster-resilient development to be considered for endorsement by the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders in 2015.

EURASIAN UNION:
Eurasian Economic Community: Belarus May Be Getting a Raw Deal
Belarus Digest, July 8, 2013 – Belarus is, on the whole, not seeing the benefits that they were expected to accumulate by joining the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), also known as the Customs Union. On the contrary, Belarus’ economic situation does not appear to gain much from it.

INDIA FROM SAARC TO ASEAN?
India’s trade needs strategic regionalism
Business Standard (India), July 6, 2013 – Pakistan still restricts free movement of Indian goods and services in spite of recent initiatives at bilateral rapprochement. As a result, South Asia remains one of the least integrated regions in the world….Given the current global scenario, it would make sense for India to look to a deeper regionalism with the more dynamic economies of Southeast Asia….The entire focus now should be towards a link to the regional supply chains of Asean countries….Connectivity would not only encompass road, rail, air, and sea linkages but also linkages between Indian and southern Asian energy networks (pipelines and electricity grids). It would also include institutional mechanisms to facilitate the movement of people (thus enabling services trade), customs and other regulatory harmonisation, and the liberalisation of education, health, banking and financial services.
[An outside-the-box globalist solution to the India-Pakistan impasse within SAARC could involve a “bloc-buster” arrangement in which China would be offered entry into SAARC, while India would move into ASEAN. In their efforts to corral all the nations of the world into geopolitical regions, globalist negotiators are sure to take the path of least resistance.]

ASEAN:
Asean region on track for 2015 integration
Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 7, 2013 – The 10 member states of Asean are on track to completing the measures needed for the integration of their economies by 2015….Asean envisions an “Asean Economic Community” which will be defined as having a single market and distribution base, a highly competitive economic region with equitable economic development, and a region fully integrated into the global economy.

UNASUR:
Nicaragua and Venezuela willing to grant asylum to Edward Snowden
Fox News, July 6, 2013 – “As head of state, the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American Edward Snowden so that he can live (without) … persecution from the empire,” President Maduro said, referring to the United States….Meanwhile, secret-spilling website WikiLeaks….called for “all strong countries” in the Union of South American Nations to offer Snowden asylym.

AFRICAN UNION – EAC:
East African regional integration on course – says Nairobi
Coastweek (Kenya), July 5, 2013 – Kenya said the integration of the East African Community is on course and will be further deepened by the signing of the Monetary Union Protocol in November.

SAARC:
Next big idea in the Indian Ocean
The Hindu, July 5, 2013 – As Commerce and Industries Minister Anand Sharma, who represented India at the conference, put it, the group embraces five distinct regions, and with them distinct regional economic communities — ASEAN in South East Asia, SAARC in South Asia, GCC in the Gulf, SADC and COMESA in southern Africa, to mention just a few.

ARAB LEAGUE:
Soros’ partner favored as Egypt’s interim prez
Billionaire’s ‘crisis’ group has deep ties to Middle East revolutions
WND, July 4, 2013 – Responsibility to Protect, or Responsibility to Act, as cited by Obama, is a set of principles, now backed by the United Nations, based on the idea that sovereignty is not a privilege but a responsibility….Several of the doctrine’s main founders sit on boards with Soros. The committee that devised the Responsibility to Protect doctrine included Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa as well as Palestinian legislator Ashrawi.

AFRICAN UNION:
SA, African Union face quandary over Egypt ‘coup’
Business Day (South Africa), July 5, 2013 – South Africa and the African Union (AU) will decide on Friday whether to follow their own rules, by suspending Egypt’s AU membership after the army toppled the elected president, or make an exception to avert even greater instability.

SAARC:
Afghanistan quagmire: is there a way out?
Daily Times (Pakistan), July 5, 2013 – The ‘only’ ‘effective’ solution to deal with the post-2014 mess is cooperation between India and Pakistan over Afghanistan….To smooth the process, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), under the leadership of a third country, can be pitched in as a guardian-cum-coordinator. To address the law and order problem, a regional peace building force under SAARC can be constituted.

UNASUR:
We don’t need US Embassy in Bolivia’: Morales, UNASUR slam ‘imperial’ skyjack, demand apologies
RT, July 4, 2013 – An emergency UNASUR meeting has demanded the governments of France, Portugal, Italy and Spain apologize for forcibly halting President Morales’s plane in Austria due to suspicions Edward Snowden might have been aboard.

GCC:
The stars align?
Khaleej Times, July 5, 2013 – Rohani’s promised shift towards a more conciliatory foreign policy is a positive signal….The West has viewed Iran as a military and nuclear threat, primarily to Israel and partly to the Western world as well — a factor that has rarely worried the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries. Iran has been more of an ideological threat to the GCC countries…

NORTH AMERICA:
A step toward American energy independence
Washington Times, July 3, 2013 – As a country, we have long held the goal of achieving American energy independence. We need to do everything we can to reach that goal through an all-of-the-above energy strategy, but if we’re unable to attain that goal immediately, we ought to take the step toward achieving North American energy independence. We have a great opportunity to do that with the Keystone XL pipeline with Canada to the north, and with this transboundary agreement with Mexico to the south.
[This is a classic bait-and-switch based on a false premise. The U.S. doesn’t need Canada’s oil or agreements with Mexico to achieve energy independence. The Keystone XL pipeline should not be seen as a step toward U.S. energy independence, but as a step toward North American interdependence, i.e., an integrated continental infrastructure toward a North American Union.]

EURASIAN UNION, EUROPEAN UNION:
The Eurasian tug-of-war
The Economist, July 5, 2013 – The EU is competing with Russia for the future of its eastern neighbours.

ASEAN:
Harmonising legal standards important for ASEAN’s integration
Channel News Asia, July 4, 2013 – ASEAN’s senior law officials have also been working on various legal integration initiatives. These include harmonising the laws of various member states on arbitration and on the international sale of goods.

GCC:
Qatar’s emir congratulates Egypt’s new interim leader
The Star (Malaysia), July 4, 2013 – Qatar’s allies in the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain had earlier sent congratulatory messages to Mansour.

UNASUR, EUROPEAN UNION:
EU states ground Bolivian leader’s plane in Snowden affair
EU Observer, July 3, 2013 – In a a sign that the incident could turn into an international diplomatic dispute, Cristina Kirchner, the president of Argentina, said Peruvian president Ollanta Humala is to organise a meeting of the Union of South American Nations to discuss the issue.

ASEAN:
China Takes Friendlier Tone at Asean Summit to Counter U.S. Pivot
China turned on the charm at a regional security meeting this week, signaling a change in tone as President Xi Jinping seeks to counter a U.S. push for more influence in Asia. China agreed during an Association of Southeast Asian Nations-hosted forum in Brunei to meet with the 10-member group in September to develop rules to avoid conflict in waters marked by confrontations with nations such as Vietnam and the Philippines.

EUROPEAN UNION, GCC:
Ashton silent on Mideast as EU-Gulf joint Council insists Israel must ‘end all settlement activity in East Jerusalem, West Bank’
European Jewish Press, July 1, 2013 – EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton made scant reference to “regional challenges” following a meeting of the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Bahrain Sunday, as she evaded explicit mention of a joint statement adopted by the meeting which was highly critical of Israel’s settlement policy.

ASEAN:
Kerry at ASEAN Forum for Talks on S. China Sea Disputes
Voice of America, July 1, 2013 – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Brunei for a regional forum of the Association of South East Asian Nations, or ASEAN. The group is hoping to agree on a legally binding code of conduct to manage a series of territorial disputes in the South China Sea among China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. The U.S. Navy is increasingly active in the South China Sea and in joint operations with the Philippines.

AFRICAN UNION:
East African passports set to go international
Africa Review (Kenya), July 2, 2013 – Starting January 2016, the East African Community citizens will begin using regional passports to travel internationally….“If we internationalise, then we shall do away with our home country passports- that’s how it will work,” said Mr Lawrence Mujuni, the executive director Ministry Of East African Affairs.
Should intra-African visas be dropped for Africans? – The Africa Report, July 2, 2013 – On 1 January 2013, Rwanda started issuing visas on arrival for citizens of all African countries. In the african union and across Africa, politicians are debating lifting restrictions on the movement of goods and people.
Zimbabwe: Time to Defend Our Birthright – AllAfrica, July 2, 2013 – Colonel Gaddafi had shown that potential when he successfully championed for the transformation of the Organisation of African Union into a more coherent African Union….Running the economy the size of Libya without any foreign debt was something incomprehensible to the Western communities.

NORTH AMERICA:
Mexico’s Growing Cost Advantage Over China, Other Economies Will Boost Its Exports — and U.S. Manufacturers
Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2013 – Within five years, higher manufacturing exports due to a widening cost advantage over China and other major economies could add $20 billion to $60 billion in output to Mexico’s economy annually. And thanks to the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), U.S. manufacturers of components for everything from automobiles to computers assembled in Mexico also stand to benefit, according to new research by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).