I’ve just read a piece by Zach Carter—a reporter and blogger whose work I respect--over at HuffPo, from Wednesday, which was updated just a few hours ago; and, it pretty much has me at a loss for words: "Obama Trade Document Leaked, Revealing New Corporate Powers And Broken Campaign Promises.”
Three Kossacks have written about this story, with one post appearing about a month ago (by Kossack PeteB2, linked HERE), and two appearing here over the past 24 hours (by Kossacks Geenius at Wrok, and joeshikspack, linked HERE and HERE, respectively).
International trade is not exactly one of the hotter topics here, in the blogosphere, or in the MSM for that matter. And, yours truly doesn’t possess much more than a typical voter’s knowledge of the subject, which makes me a little uneasy even posting a diary about it. However, judging from the number of rec’s these three Kossacks’ posts have received, it looks like this story has only reached a few folks at DKos, as well. So, please consider this my part to bring more eyeballs to bear upon what, IMHO, at first glance, may very well end up morphing into one of the bigger/biggest stories of this election year.
What little I do know about this story is that it is one of the most provocative pieces I’ve read in quite awhile; and, if it’s verified, which it appears to be just from reading the annotations/links in it, it’s nothing short of a proverbial nuclear bombshell -- one that’s already, just over the past few days, significantly impacting the progressive political narrative.
I’m sincerely seeking comment from those in the community that are more on top of this subject than yours truly. So please, commenters, take me to school down below!
Without further adieu, go for it…
Obama Trade Document Leaked, Revealing New Corporate Powers And Broken Campaign Promises
Zach Carter
Huffington Post
Posted: 06/13/2012 9:17 am
Updated: 06/13/2012 11:46 pm
WASHINGTON -- A critical document from President Barack Obama's free trade negotiations with eight Pacific nations was leaked online early Wednesday morning, revealing that the administration intends to bestow radical new political powers upon multinational corporations, contradicting prior promises.
The leaked document has been posted on the website of Public Citizen, a long-time critic of the administration's trade objectives. The new leak follows substantial controversy surrounding the secrecy of the talks, in which some members of Congress have complained they are not being given the same access to trade documents that corporate officials receive.
"The outrageous stuff in this leaked text may well be why U.S. trade officials have been so extremely secretive about these past two years of [trade] negotiations," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch in a written statement.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has been so incensed by the lack of access as to introduce legislation requiring further disclosure. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has gone so far as to leak a separate document from the talks on his website. Other Senators are considering writing a letter to Ron Kirk, the top trade negotiator under Obama, demanding more disclosure...
I ask one favor of all commenters, below:
please read the ENTIRE article, with only an excerpt being provided above,
before commenting upon it. I’ve deliberately left out many of the most powerful aspects of Carter’s piece in my post, since they reflect upon the administration in such a monumentally negative manner, I thought it would be nothing short of irresponsible to even discuss the issue without receiving input from those in the community that: a.) read it for the first time in its proper/full context; and, b.) are more knowledgeable about this subject than myself.
In advance, thanks for your input, below!
