TISA

TTP, TTIP, TISA and CETA: U.N. Legal Expert Calls Proposed Trade Deals “Illegal”

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– TTP, TTIP, TISA and CETA: U.N. Legal Expert Calls Proposed Trade Deals “Illegal”:

Alfred de Zayas, the U.N.’s Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order, is assigned the task to apply the standards of international law to proposed treaties, to determine whether they’re in accord with international law. On Friday, June 24th, he issued his finding on three large proposed treaties regarding international trade among Atlantic countries: TTIP, TISA, and CETA. Earlier, on February 2nd, he had issued a similar finding on the proposed TPP treaty between Pacific countries, and his conclusion there was the same: that the proposed treaty violates international laws, and is inconsistent with democracy. 

Read moreTTP, TTIP, TISA and CETA: U.N. Legal Expert Calls Proposed Trade Deals “Illegal”

Forget the TPP: Wikileaks Releases Documents From The Equally Shady “Trade in Services Agreement”

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“If you think the corporate-fascist state is overbearing and oppressive now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

– Forget the TPP: Wikileaks Releases Documents From The Equally Shady “Trade in Services Agreement” (Liberty Blitzkrieg, June 6, 2015):

Forget the TPP – Wikileaks Releases Documents from the Equally Shady “Trade in Services Agreement,” or TISA

If it sounds complicated, it is. The important point is that this trade agreement contains a crucial discussion of governments’ abilities to meaningfully protect civil liberties. And it is not being treated as a human rights discussion. It is being framed solely as an economic issue, ignoring the implications for human rights, and it is being held in a classified document that the public is now seeing months after it was negotiated, and only because it was released through WikiLeaks.

The process is also highly secretive—in fact, trade agreement texts are classified. While the executive branch does consult with members of Congress, even congressional staffers with security clearance have until recently been prevented from seeing the texts. Furthermore, certain trade industry advisers are allowed access to U.S. negotiating objectives and negotiators that the public and public interest groups do not have

– From the Slate article: Privacy Is Not a Barrier to Trade

Trade In Services Agreement

If you haven’t heard about about the Trade in Services Agreement, aka TISA, don’t worry, you’re not alone. While I had heard of it before, I never read anything substantial about it until today. What sparked my reading interest on the subject were a series of very troubling articles published via several media outlets following a document dump by Wikileaks. Here’s how the whistleblower organization describes the TISA leak on it document release page:

Read moreForget the TPP: Wikileaks Releases Documents From The Equally Shady “Trade in Services Agreement”