Leak at tar sands plant fouls Athabasca River
Tainted water poured for hours into Canada's Athabasca River before a broken pipe was sealed at one of the Suncor tar-sands plants that it is to supply the Keystone XL pipeline.
Tag: FTAs
Watching the Shadows
Obama’s fourth year: a World War 4 Report scorecard
World War 4 Report offers its annual annotated assessment of Obama’s moves in dismantling, continuing or escalating the oppressive apparatus of the Global War on Terrorism.
Central America
Canal intrigues behind Nicaragua border disputes
Colombia sends warships into waters newly awarded to Nicaragua by the World Court, as Managua aggressively plugs an inter-oceanic canal plan to foreign investors.
Planet Watch
Quebec fracking ban challenged under NAFTA
Energy firm Lone Pine Resources is challenging Quebec’s fracking moratorium under the North American Free Trade Agreement, and demanding $250 million in compensation.
Mexico
Mexico: lives claimed in Chihuahua water wars
Hundreds of campeisnos occupied the governor’s office in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua to demand justice following the murder of two water rights activists.
The Amazon
High court rejects Chevron appeal in Ecuador case
The US Supreme Court declined to Chevron’s bid to block global enforcement of a $19 billion judgment by a court in Ecuador, in a victory for 30,000 rainforest dwellers.
East Asia
Pacific FTAs advance amid Sino-Japanese tensions
China and Japan are moving ahead with new Free Trade Agreements such as the ASEAN+6 pact and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, even amid escalated military tensions.
The Andes
Colombia: fired GM workers go on hunger strike
Former employees of General Motors' Colombian subsidiary are on hunger strike to demand reinstatement and compensation for injuries they say they received on the job.
The Amazon
mosque122
The White House is accusing Peru of violating its commitment to protect the Amazon rainforest, threatening to hold Lima in violation of the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement . Robert Lighthizer, President Trump's top trade negotiator, announced that he is seeking consultations with Lima to address concerns about its recent move to curtail the authority of Peru's auditor for timber exports, the Organism for the Supervision of Forestry Resources (OSINFOR), established as a provision of the trade agreement. The move move had been demanded by Peru's logging industry following an OSINFOR seizure of illegal timber. The White House needs support from congressional Democrats to pass the pending US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Trump's replacement for NAFTA, which is supposed to have tougher labor protections. The forestry annex in the Peru agreement was conceived as a model for a new inspection system that could include confiscation at the border of goods found to violate treaty provisions, and the prosecution of companies that import noncompliant products. (Image via Sierra Club)
Mexico
FIRE5
President Trump announced that the US and Mexico have reached an agreement on a new trade deal called the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, which will ultimately terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trump called Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto from the White House to announce the new deal. Among a number of changes to NAFTA, both parties agreed to a provision that would require a significant portion of vehicles to be made in high-wage factories, a measure aimed to discourage factory jobs from leaving the US. Trump said he is in communication with Canada about a new trade deal, but is unsure if it will be part of the US-Mexico Trade Agreement. The Trump administration expects the new pact to be signed by the end of November. (Map: CIA)
North America
Alexandros Grigoropoulos: Presente!
In Episode 13 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg deconstructs Trump's executive order ostensibly ending the policy of family separation on the southern border, and demonstrates how it actually lays the groundwork for indefinite detention of migrants on military bases. The Central American peasantry, expropriated of its lands by state terror, CAFTA and narco-violence, is forced to flee north—now into the arms of Trump's new gulag. Immigrants are the proverbial canaries in the American coal-mine. The Trump crew are testing their methods on them because they are vulnerable, and banking on the likelihood that non-immigrants will say "not my problem." But if they get away with what they are doing now to a vulnerable and isolated population of non-citizens, it sets a precedent—and ultimately nobody is safe. Listen on SoundCloud, and support our podcast via Patreon.
Mexico
Vets occupy National Archives
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador—known by his initials AMLO—will be Mexico's next president, following his victory in the July 1 election. This marks the first time a Mexican presidential candidate of the left has had his victory honored. An obvious question is how AMLO will deal with Donald Trump—who attained office by demonizing Mexicans and pledging to build a wall on the border (and make Mexico pay for it). Last year, AMLO actually filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights against Trump's proposed wall. But he also hired Trump's current crony Rudolph Giuliani as anti-crime czar when he was mayor of Mexico City in 2002. As populists and opponents of free-trade economics, there may be unlikely common ground between the two men. (Photo: El Txoro)