Julian Assange On The TPP: "Deal Isn't About Trade, It's About Corporate Control"
It’s mostly not about trade. Only 5 of the 29 chapters are about traditional trade.– Julian Assange in a recent interview with Democracy Now
I’ve focused a little bit more of my attention on the Trans-Pacific Partnership lately, as the Obama Administration scrambles to attain “fast-track” authority from Congress.
The content of this unbelievably dangerous gift to multi-national corporations is being kept secret from the public, and for very good reason.
* * *
For some background on the TPP and where it stands, see:
* * *
What little we know about the TPP has come from whistleblower site, Wikileaks. This is what Julian Assange thinks of this “trade” treaty in his own words.
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Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:06 | 6138780Mr. Knockout
I am making a good salary from home 1500-3000/ Dollers week , which is amazing, under a year ago I was jobless in a horrible economy. I thank God every day I was blessed with these instructions and now it's my duty to pay it forward and share it with Everyone, Here is I started... www.jobs-review.com
Snowden,
Its not just the corps, the govts are playing the game of controlled opposition where revolving doors and lies hypnotize sheep.
Please tell Amy Goodman that too.
RIPS
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:09 | 6138791TeamDepends
Wow, he's albino Snake Plissken now.
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:16 | 6138801greenskeeper carl
haha i doubt he would hold up as well as snake plissken in that kind of environment. but he does look like shit. I can't imagine being cooped up like he has been. Id have lost it by now. No amount of hookers and blow could keep me happy inside that embassy for this long, I don't know how he keeps his sanity.
Even if TPP was the greatest thing since sliced bread it should still be voted down based on how it's being approached for passage (typical Obama bullshit). I'm about fucking sick of secret back room deals. This is Obamacare minus ANY debate or review. Anyone who votes in favor of these extra-Constitutional agreeements needs to be hanged by the neck until they are dead, dead, dead.
(If it was such a great deal why wouldn't you be trumpeting it from on high and singing its praises from every street corner?)
I am interested in these 4 chapters that wiki-leaks is claiming to have obtained and released. Why is there no mention of it here in the writeup? Or by mentioning it, or posting a link to it, does ZH potentially face some blowback?
For anyone who is interested. And lazier than I am.
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 00:27 | 6138915TruxtonSpangler
Dude should go full man-bun and drop all pretense.
This seems a fitting time for a dose of reality from George...
How prophetic...
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 04:56 | 6139155winchester
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 10:00 | 6139715Gaius Frakkin' ...
Shit like this just highlights how corrupt and dumb the entire system has become. You'd think at least one congressman or senator would have the guts or political savvy to come forward with these documents, but nope. You'd think these documents would be posted in every newspaper with a dying readership, but nope. Instead, you must rely on a “criminal” held up in an Ecuadorian embassy and probably some intern who uploaded the documents to Wikileaks. Well, it seems we still have one intern working somewhere who isn't completed corrupted. Thank God for that I guess. Now watch as he/she is hunted down with the full force of the surveillance state and thrown in prison for ten plus years. Now watch as millions of nitwit buffoons celebrate their freedumbs on the 4th of july just like they did on memorial day.
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 00:34 | 6138927Oh regional Indian
Snowed in! Unbelievable what a legend this limited hangout has grown into.
Hiding in an embassy in London for...5 years now? Accused of condomless sex - rape in sweden.
Yes yes, no controllers here, move on....
*head shake* then:
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 03:41 | 6139115NeoRandian
Pretty easy to spot the NSA disinfo. Just look for anyone mentioning 'limited hangout'.
Come on guys.
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 13:48 | 6139781Paveway IV
I'm tired of the old tactic of accusing anyone who pisses off the government of being a limited hangout. That got old after about two weeks of it becomming popular.
Sy Hersh is a limited hangout? Who cares - he's done more for exposing the psychopaths for what they are than ANYONE accusing him of being a limited hangout. The CIA planted rumors that he worked for the CIA when he exposed the My Lai massacre forty-five years ago. Nobody is being clever by making up the same claim just because they don't like his opinions on Israel.
Assange is a limited hangout? He's CIA? So fucking what - same thing applies. I would rather have a very public and vocal CIA 'limited hangout' that calls out the state psychopaths than a lunatic fringe with an opinion that is IGNORED by nearly everyone. I don't care if Assange is a cross-dressing reptilian Mossad-CIA from another dimension - I care about his message.
Snowden is a limited hangout? Same thing applies. NSA plant or not, his persona has done more to bring awareness to the psychopthic fascists running the U.S. than every alternative blog before him. Don't listen to him because he's an agency limited hangout? Fuck you. He's made a hell of a lot more impact than anyone ELSE on the consciousness of the U.S.
I would rather have effective whistleblowers (fake or not) and 'artificially small' conspiracies so people wake the fuck up instead of getting into useless debates about anyone's suggestion of 'a bigger conspiracy' hiding behind that. Being skeptical about Hersh, Assange, Snowden or anyone else is always appropriate, but there are way too many internet posters that try way too hard to invalidate their messages, derail discussion and bury information under the spector of 'alphabet-agency limited-hangout' suggestions.
I don't give a fuck WHEN bin Laden died or if he is even dead today - I only know my government repeatedly lied about his circumstances. That's the most important part. 'My conspiracy is better than yours' takes the spotlight off the lying fascists in the government while everyone debates which conspiracy theory is truthier. Useless.
The government lied to the people it claims to represent. Fuck your bigger, better consipracy - it's irrelevant.
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 04:48 | 6139147RaceToTheBottom
If he had only donated to the Clintons or to the Bush family, this could be all behind him....
Free Corzine...
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 07:19 | 6139286Low Tech Future
" between the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei Darussam"
No China?
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 06:52 | 6139244negative rates
He would give himself away that way.
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 06:55 | 6139242negative rates
Howard Hughes was mesmorized by the television, they said he spent the last 20 years of his life in total seclusion, they would leave food at the door and walk away before he opened the door, now some say he was already insane, I wonder where he was going?
Had no idea he was 8 ft. tall.
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 01:18 | 6138976Urban Redneck
I think he's more albino Steven Seagal than albino Snake Plisken
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:15 | 6138799James_Cole
Please tell Amy Goodman that too.
I think she might already be onto that.
Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back
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Truth, Torture, and the American Way: The History and Consequences of U.S. Involvement in Torture
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 00:36 | 6138930palmereldritch
*We the Cartels*
*Corporations suggests too much that there is an actual intent of a semblance of free enterprise capitalism. This is laughable as even an allusion.
when will people stop blaming the corporations and understand that it's Govt. that creates the corporate monopolies to keep their rich buddies cashed up for the next election donation.
I don't know why you got down voted for that comment. You are totally correct. It is the state and its concrete edifice the government who have the people's authority to create crony cartels.
No government then no cartels.
Government then Cartels
Government then Cartels
As long as the state exists, so will the the potential for corruption. If politicians and their benefactors can get together to sit at the top of the power and wealth pyramid they will.
It's like the old adage 'why do you rob banks ? Because that's where the money is'.
It's like the old adage 'why do you rob banks ? Because that's where the money is'.
The TPP is the result of accepting a group of corrupt men to be rulers.
then prove it
at the end, it's the classic conversation we all witness worldwide from your side of the pond
someone rants about cartels, trusts and crony capitalism (applause from me). and then, like a pop-up box angel, the other comes and says: "leave biziness alone!" paired with "it's all the government's fault!", and followed by your "no gov, no cartels"
which might or might not be correct, then what we are missing is... proof
show me any corner of the planet devoid of "state". show me any plan to make any territory devoid of "state" that has any chance to succeed
until you* have proved that if there is no state there are no cartels... we have to find different solutions to current problems. and that means... regulations, preferrably smart ones (the horror, eh?)
possibly you* have your heart at the right spot, by asking the abolition of the state. your* criticism is often excellent
but it is as probable that it's a huge amount of money from cartels that speaks. or both. particularly "leave biziness alone!", which is actually "leave Big Business alone"
I'm just being skeptical, you see? I just note that there is a lot of money spent for a few very, veryinteresting messages, for example: "voting does not matter", "who does not vote is the better citizen", "democracy is two wolfes and one lamb voting on a snack", and so on, which might be debatable singularily, but in their total give one message:
WORK, CONSUME, GET INTO DEBT, KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, DON'T CRITICIZE BIG BIZ AND DON'T DEMAND ANYTHING FROM POLITICS - signed, your megacorporate masters
perhaps I'm too skeptical?
anyway, I agree with "As long as the state exists, so will the the potential for corruption". but that can be extended to everything where humans are involved, any kind of enterprise that involves more then one individual. State, churches, unions, parties, banks, companies, all is corruptible. humans are corruptible. but in order to corrupt... someone has to make an "indecent proposal", doesn't it?
on what we do really agree? that cartels are corruption. whereas one argues that something has to be done, and the other argues that nothing has to be done... except waiting for the end of the state
I remain... skeptical. also about... you (*), both of you. then the above conversation is between a 20 week old account and a 26 week old account. just noting, 'nuff said
I tend to disagree with quite a bit of your posts, but I think your skepticism on the issue is necessary and warranted. Most people are incapable of understanding that both business entities and government are simply forms of social competition. Because they're called different things, people assume they're actually different without giving it a second thought. They're simply different arms of the same function, competition.
Additionally, to make the claim that one solely begets the other is complete nonsense. The state is necessary to create the conditions capable of fostering viable business growth, just like production is necessary to fund the state. As best I can tell, you cannot practically separate the two. The trick is finding the optimal balance between them, which humans are incapable of over any reasonable time period. This is because, going back to the first point, that these institutions are simply the culmination of our competition against one another; all people do not have equal power.
The state's intrusion into business isn't universally applicable. Rather, this tends to be directed at particular industries or even particular businesses. Once a particular business gets large enough, and risk averse enough, it has no choice but to attempt to influence the state to help ensure it remains a going concern. Once the state gets large enough, this type of interaction comprises such a large portion of its function that there is no longer any material check or balance to its expansion and the relationship between the state and business becomes more and more intertwined. Eventually, the two become indestinguishable. The important aspect isn't what the system of government looks like on paper, but rather how all of the parties actually interact with one another. This tends to be fairly universal amongst all of the world's locales, just that the methods of control differ... ranging from very subtle to the "boot stamping on a face" method. Nonetheless, there is always power and control.
In the end, the nuthuggery of capitalism is like a "pop-up box angel" (whatever the fuck that is). Capitalism, socialism, and everything in between, are all simply labels to describe the status of our competition (often after-the-fact, given we lack any sort of observation/assessment mechanism that can make that determination in real time and the line between them is vague at best). Leaving business alone leads to private institutions that practically mimic the state. The only thing we know for certain is that power consolidates and eventually reaches a limit and crashes... the same cycle that all life must face.
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:10 | 6138794James_Cole
1500-3000/ Dollers week
Gawd that sounds like a lot of dollers, how's that in USD?
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 03:07 | 6139081Sailorgirl
duh.
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:07 | 6138785williambanzai7
Mandatory extrajudicial dispute resolution, forcing ISPs to administer prior restraint of copyright fair use/free speech. In the USSA that is trade.
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 00:46 | 6138937palmereldritch
It's about redefining copyright as a trojan horse for destroying the concept of private property. Technically this is Communism by stealth. But now monetized and standardized across the www if not opposed. God forbid if the power of technology and communication is allowed to raise the standard of living and liberty for everyone on the planet.
Brought to us by the same NWO demonic assholes who have never been held accountable politically, legally or criminally for the last 100 years.
Govt. has to own everything, in the long run, that is the goal of every government...
Even the concept of a marriage license was a fee paid to the King to waive his right to bone the bride on her wedding night.... Govt. always wants it all.
that has little to do with a different political preference: should justice be public or private?
which roughly breaks down to: should justice be:
A) a completely private affair settled by corporate courts or
B) a public affair settled by juries of peers or
C) a public affair detailed by laws from an elected body of lawgivers and settled by career state servants?
TPP, TTIP and other megacorporate inroads want A)
meanwhile, English-speaking countries in theory have B). I write "in theory" because statistics say that 95% of the US incarcerations result in settlements without a jury deciding
and then there are countries, like on the continent of Europe, which prefer C). Quaint, "statist", if you want... and yet our preference
private courts? thanks, but no, thanks. the end result would be megacorps suing sovereign states for "changing the rules"... in front of corporate courts
if we had this system, we would have to give the governments some slush funds to match the "good business" that corporations can give to private courts. a kind of distasteful "counter-corruption"
Depending on the court level, but for all practical trial issues, we have B in america. The fact that people choose to settle, knowing the charges and facts against them, isn't indicative of anything other than the system has an option to be efficient. You have the right to a jury trial, but you also have the right to forgo trial... The settlement rate is about the same for civil matters, maybe slightly more in favor of settlement, although juries are often waived in favor of a bench trial.
Anyone who advocates for private courts is simply advocating for their own private execution. Anyone who advocates for the state to decide their fate is advocating for their own public execution. There are other options that work incredibly well...
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 05:41 | 6139179agent default
Corporate stupidity 101. Once the ISPs lose their common carrier status they will be open to lawsuits for every single thing on the internet. Nice one.
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:09 | 6138789Rock On Roger
Eighteen trillion two hundred forty four billion five hundred forty three million five hundred thousand
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:17 | 6138806ThirteenthFloor
Rock on-> all govt numbers are rigged. So is that one.
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:42 | 6138856Rock On Roger
Aye, the decimal point needs to be further right.
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:10 | 6138793Paveway IV
WTF? When did Assange start turning in to the White Wizard version of Gandalf?
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 01:06 | 6138969Oh regional Indian
I think it's all that lack of Vitamin D, hiding in the Are-you-gayan embassy in londonium....
Wicked leaks need a strong diaper!
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:12 | 6138795holdbuysell
The idea of a world controlled by corporate 'citizens' whose sole aim is economic profit should give every human pause.
A world dominated by money should give every human pause.
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 23:35 | 6138844Anusocracy
A world dominated by man should give every human pause.
A world dominated by whoom?
the cartels realize they need a structure
to their dominance over the earth, thus
they have designed a document that will result
in humans being being born with paws; that should
give us pause. the tpp is the monopolist's
and cartel's manifesto. it is an update
of the crime syndicate and money mob "bible".
that is why it is mostly secret and probably
incoherent. .... off the rails, man.
to their dominance over the earth, thus
they have designed a document that will result
in humans being being born with paws; that should
give us pause. the tpp is the monopolist's
and cartel's manifesto. it is an update
of the crime syndicate and money mob "bible".
that is why it is mostly secret and probably
incoherent. .... off the rails, man.
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 03:25 | 6139106NeoRandian
There's a reason we print "In God We Trust" on every instance of money, Mammon.
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