Obama signs anti-BDS bill into law

The broader legislation faced an uphill battle after Obama’s usual allies — Democrats in the House of Representative — bucked his authority and voted against key provisions out of concern that liberalization of trade could impact American jobs.But on Monday, Obama signed into law the so-called “fast track” authorization that will allow US trade negotiators to work out a long-awaited deal with Asian states known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Trade Promotion Authority legislation also contained the anti-BDS provisions, which make rejection of the phenomenon a top priority for US negotiators as they work on a more distant free trade agreement with the European Union.

These guidelines, sponsors hope, will discourage European governments from participating in BDS activities by leveraging the incentive of free trade with the US. “This is an historic milestone in the fight against Israel’s enemies, as American opposition to insidious efforts to demonize and isolate the Jewish state is now the law of the land. The bipartisan bill enacted today conditions any free trade agreement with the European Union on its rejection of BDS,” said Rep. Peter Roskam, who, together with Rep. Juan Vargas sponsored one of two anti-BDS provisions in the law.


http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-signs-anti-bds-bill-into-law/


Well done Obama, who like I said would never abandon Israel and now takes the right move to combat the new extreme Left wing Jew haters. People are starting to wise up that the BDS is just a front for antisemitism.

Also epic fail by the BDS:

You stupid, ignorant fool. Never mind the BDS bit, don't you have the slightest idea what the TPP agreement will do? Are you out of your mind? Do you know why so many people around the world are fighting TPP?

Trade officials from the U.S. and eleven Pacific Rim nations—Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam— have been in negotiations cloaked in secrecy. They want to complete a new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) "free trade" agreement that could eventually include every Pacific Rim nation from China and Russia to Indonesia. America's worst job-offshoring corporations, major global banks, agribusiness, and pharmaceutical giants want this deal to be a corporate power tool with unprecedented attacks on our most basic rights and needs.

Do you think the people involved in BDS will take one bit of notice of this, not a chance. However, TPP will make a huge difference to millions, and not in a good way.


The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement being negotiated between the United States and eleven other nations in the Pacific Rim would empower tens of thousands of corporations or firms to sue governments through largely secret tribunal proceedings if regulations violated their expectation for profits.

WikiLeaks released another drafted chapter from the agreement, the “Investment” chapter [PDF], on March 25, adding to previous publications of the “Intellectual Property Rights” and “Environment” chapters that were released in November 2013 and January 2014 respectively.

“The leaked text would empower foreign firms to directly ‘sue’ signatory governments in extrajudicial investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) tribunals over domestic policies that apply equally to domestic and foreign firms that foreign firms claim violate their new substantive investor rights,” according to Lori Wallach and Ben Beachy of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch [PDF].

“There they could demand taxpayer compensation for domestic financial, health, environmental, land use and other policies and government actions they claim undermine TPP foreign investor privileges, such as the ‘right’ to a regulatory framework that conforms to their ‘expectations.'”

Essentially, a parallel corporate legal system would be established permitting firms to circumvent domestic courts.

Wallach and Beachy estimate “9,000 foreign-owned firms in the United States” would be empowered to “launch ISDS cases against the US government.” Additionally, 18,000 US-owned firms would be empowered to launch cases against governments signed on to the agreement.

A tribunal, according to the chapter, would have “three arbitrators” or judges. Each disputing party would be able to appoint an arbitrator. A third arbitrator would be agreed upon by the disputing parties. These arbitrators are likely to be private sector attorneys.

Wallach and Beachy explain how this might work:

…The corporation initiating a case chooses the venue and selects one of the “judges” from a roster. The defending government chooses another, and those two select the third (Article II.21). Since only foreign investors can launch cases and also select one of the three tribunalists, ISDS tribunalists have a structural incentive to concoct fanciful interpretations of foreign investors’ rights and order that they be compensated for breaches of obligations to which signatory governments never agreed. Lawyers that do so while serving as a tribunalist in one ISDS case can increase the number of investors interested in launching new cases and enhance the likelihood that investors will select them for future tribunals…

Corporations would enjoy the benefit of being able to sue and decide what information they wanted to be protected and kept secret during proceedings.

An entire section of the chapter describes how tribunals may award damages or “restitution of property.” There are no limits outlined in this section. The tribunals could order a government to pay unlimited amounts of money if “violations” were found to have occurred. Members of the tribunal also get to determine how much a government has to pay them for arbitrating a dispute.

If the trade agreement was ratified with this language included, a host of domestic policies relating to the climate, energy, labor, mining, medicine, tobacco and toxic chemicals would be open to extrajudicial lawsuits.

As explained by Wallach and Beachy in their analysis:

Under US “free trade” agreements (FTAs) alone, foreign firms have already pocketed more than $440 million in taxpayer money via investor-state cases. This includes cases against natural resource policies, environmental protections, health and safety measures and more. ISDS tribunals have ordered more than $3.6 billion in compensation to investors under all US FTAs and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). More than $38 billion remains in pending ISDS claims under these pacts, nearly all of which relate to environmental, energy, financial regulation, public health, land use and transportation policies. Even when governments win cases, they are often ordered to pay for a share of the tribunal’s costs. Given that the costs just for defending a challenged policy in an ISDS case total $8 million on average, the mere filing of a case can create a chilling effect on government policymaking, even if the government expects to win.

Very few regulations are passed by the US government these days, but imagine what would happen if there was a threat of extrajudicial lawsuits. Would it mean Congress proactively passes legislation to abolish certain regulations that create liabilities?

Philip Dorling for the Sydney Morning Herald noted in his report, “The Philip Morris tobacco company is currently using the ISDS provisions of Australia’s investment agreement with Hong Kong to sue the Australian government for billions of dollars over Australia’s plain packaging legislation.”

Australia appears to be one of the few countries insisting it be allowed exemptions. “Any measures comprising or related to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, Medicare Benefits Scheme, the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator,” according to the leaked chapter. The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator oversees regulation of genetically modified food.

However, US companies oppose these exemptions, and it does not appear the scope of the exemptions would protect Australia from a lot of the litigation that could be launched by corporations.

Green Party trade spokesman James Shaw in New Zealand wholly condemned the TPP:

…If New Zealanders vote for greater environmental protections or rules to assist local business, we should be able to do that…But under these rules foreign companies can trump the public’s vote. The leaked documents show that there are provisions for setting up a special court which multinational corporations can use to sue countries, such as New Zealand, for breaching the TPPA. Cases in these special courts overseas have seen governments have to pay companies millions of dollars. These courts can have a chilling effect on local democracy. New Zealand should not be dictated by a special court set up for companies that has no domestic accountability or oversight…

Senator Chuck Schumer had similar fears and told the New York Times “savvy deep-pocketed foreign conglomerates could challenge a broad range of laws we pass at every level of government, such as made-in-America laws or anti-tobacco laws.”

Of course, a larger fear signatory countries should have is that US firms will use their immense power as they are given the ability to file suits.

“US negotiators are still pushing, over the objection of most other TPP nations, to empower foreign investors to bring to TPP ISDS tribunals their contract disputes with TPP signatory governments relating to natural resource concessions on federal lands, government procurement projects for construction of infrastructure projects, as well as contracts relating to the operation of utilities,” according to Public Citizen.

Granting US-based corporations, as well as foreign firms, authority to gut public interest policies and enable corporations to award themselves millions of dollars if they are unsatisfied with the investor environment in a country amounts to a grand international conspiracy.

Obviously, that is why this is the first leaked chapter published by WikiLeaks to have the words, “This document must be protected from unauthorized disclosure.”

Countries apparently agreed to not release any of the contents of this chapter until four years after the TPP was in force or four years after negotiations. None want the citizens who will be most impacted by this trade agreement to be able to raise any alarms about the power countries are planning to award corporations.

http://firedoglake.com/2015/03/26/thousands-of-us-firms-would-be-empowered-to-sue-governments-according-to-tpp-chapter-published-by-wikileaks/

You are a disgrace, and would give up every right we have so that you could lick a few more boots.

So when the BDS has been exposed what do we get from sassy?

Abuse.

That is all people need to know

Thanks sassy

This is the best news ever now the BDS which is a front for antisemitism has been hit with a massive damaging blow in its quest to destroy Israel

No you obsequious worm, I don't give a fuck about the BDS part of it, because nobody will take the slightest notice of it. The TPP on the other hand, could destroy the rights of millions around the world, including Britain. If you had a brain you'd be dangerous, but as you haven't you are just a joke who latches on to anything without finding out what it is all about.

Cuchulain wrote:So when the BDS has been exposed what do we get from sassy?

Abuse.

That is all people need to know

Thanks sassy

This is the best news ever now the BDS which is a front for antisemitism has been hit with a massive damaging blow in its quest to destroy Israel

It's just lip service in that they have to object to it - nothing more than that. The USA already trades with countries that ban Israeli good totally.

Calm down Didge, It'll make little difference when the deal eventually gets sealed with the EU. It's years away.

I am not the one that needs to be calm Irn lol

As I say happy days, another defeat for antisemitism, which i am sure you will agree is great news

The only thing is a defeat of is the rights of ordinary people. As for the BDS part, it won't make a bit of difference. I can just see S.Africa going 'oh yes, we mustn't support BDS because America says so', or Sweden and Norwary etc. Don't make me laugh.

No this is a victory against antisemitism, because people have woken up to the appalling claims made by the BDS which are disgusting.
People are fighting back against antisemitism and that movement is growing sassy. People are walking up to your lies