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militarism | terrorism | security

Colombia’s bad indians’ uprising: meeting with Cauca indigenous
21-Oct-2008 Columbia Reports
On October 13, 12,000 indigenous Colombians marched onto the Pan-American highway in Cauca, and refused to lift their blockade until their demands for land, liberty, and life were met by the state. The resulting clashes between protesters and police killed at least two indigenous Colombians, and wounded at least 70 more. This week the indigenous rights groups will march to Cali, the third-largest city in Colombia, to press their demands.
Defence industry wants US free trade deal
9-Oct-2008 RNZ
The New Zealand defence industry is renewing calls for a free trade agreement with the United States, which would allow New Zealand companies to compete for a slice of US military contracts.
What Alvaro Uribe won’t talk about at the United Nations this week (but probably discussed with President Bush over the weekend)
25-Sep-2008 Upside Down World
At a certain level, I must admit, I almost felt sorry for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe last week. His high-profile visit to Washington was unexpectedly shortened because it became readily apparent that members of the US Congress were not really interested in hearing his last ditch effort to get them to approve the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, FTA.
Colombia as a Model for Latin America
12-Aug-2008 Dissident Voice
The US free trade agreement and the state and paramilitary violence in Colombia are part of the same project
Robert Gates joins PR offensive for Colombia FTA
24-Jul-2008 WW4 Report
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos share a joint op-ed in the New York Times shamelessly trading off the apparent hostage rescue operation to shill for the pending US-Colombia free trade agreement.
Hostage rescue may not free U.S.-Colombia trade deal
3-Jul-2008
Colombia’s dramatic rescue of hostages held for years by a rebel group probably won’t lead to quick approval of a U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement that has been snagged for months in the U.S. Congress.
Ecuador, ALBA and the FARC
16-Jun-2008 Scoop
Recent remarks by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez on the civil war in Colombia and Ecuador’s decision not to join the Alternativa Bolivariana de las Americas (ALBA) solidarity based cooperation initiative shows progressive leaders are taking stock on Latin American integration.
Building its ties to Colombia: Canada’s imperial adventure in the Andes
15-Jun-2008 The Bullet
The United States and Canada have chosen to promote Colombia as an aggressive and heavily militarized bulwark against anti-imperialism in the region — an Israel of the Andes.
Canada-Colombia FTA: When democracy gets in the way, just sign it, eh?
14-Jun-2008 ZNet
Many Canadians may never know the difficulties of people resisting the military imposition of an economic model that is ultimately intended for the entire planet, or for ’our Mother Earth’ as the indigenous peoples in Cauca call it. Many Canadians may not know the extent to which they are kept in the dark through the entrenched telling and retelling of the "Canada the good" mythology. It’s time to wake up, eh?
Dead end for free trade
19-May-2008 Globe and Mail
NAFTA was meant to deliver timely, unfettered access to Canada’s biggest trading partner. Instead, delays are longer, costs are higher, and business models are breaking down, Barrie McKenna writes
The specious "national security" argument
26-Mar-2008 IRC Americas Program
In the past week the Bush administration has unearthed a "national security" justification for passage of the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement that can’t be allowed to stand.
Europe headed for new security deal with Israel
4-Mar-2008 The Arab American News
The European Union is considering new steps to deepen its cooperation on scientific research with Israel, despite admitting that previous funds earmarked for that purpose have gone to firms operating illegally in the Palestinian territories.
El Salvador’s “American-made” Terrorism Act in corporate play
11-Feb-2008 MWC News
Critics of CAFTA say it was no coincidence that the anti-terrorism legislation was enacted six months after the trade agreement. Update on the case against the Suchitoto 13.
From NAFTA to the SPP: Here comes the Security and Prosperity Partnership, but—what security? whose prosperity?
7-Feb-2008 Dollars and Sense
Designed to shore up the United States’ weakening position as a global hegemon, the SPP’s primary goals are to link economic integration of the three NAFTA countries to US security needs; deepen U.S. access to oil, gas, electricity, and water resources throughout the continent; and to provide a privileged-and institutionalized-role for transnational corporations in continental deregulation. The stakes for labor, the environment, and civil liberties in all three countries couldn’t be higher. Yet because of the SPP’s reliance on executive authority to push the agenda, many of the SPP’s initiatives remain virtually invisible, even to many activists.
Joining the fold
20-Dec-2007 Al-Ahram
The US since 2000 espoused even closer links between its strategic interests and trade liberalisation. Europe is not far behind.
Israeli, Palestinian businessmen urge trade talks
12-Dec-2007 The Guardian
Key members of the Israeli and Palestinian private sectors recommended in a joint study that peace negotiators adopt a "Free Trade Agreement Plus" (FTA Plus) as the basis for economic relations between Israel and any future Palestinian state.
Canada: Potential new impediments to M&A transactions
27-Oct-2007 Mondaq
On October 9, 2007, Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, announced that the government of Canada will consider introducing new guidelines on takeovers by foreign state-owned enterprises and amending the Investment Canada Act to permit the review of foreign investments that could compromise Canada’s national security
Ambassador confirms US trade threat to Chile in runup to Iraq war
27-Sep-2007 Santiago Times
Current Chilean Ambassador to the United Nations, Heraldo Muñoz, confirmed Wednesday that, in the run up to the Iraq war, the US government made clear to Chile that it risked jeopardizing the Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries if it did not support a second resolution in the UN Security Council favoring the US invasion of Iraq.
Israeli deal to boost defence
26-Sep-2007 Australian
A surge in Israeli hi-tech investment and the transfer of world-leading military technology is set to be unleashed next year with the expected sealing of a free trade agreement between Australia and Israel.
The politics of corporate party crashing
27-Aug-2007 rabble
The North American global justice movement just exposed the “Security and Prosperity Partnership” (SPP), the latest corporate assault on our democracy, environment and human rights. As activists assess their next steps, many wonder: can we still work together, dig the SPP’s grave still deeper, and then push it in? And where do we go from there?