[E-rundbrief] Info 225 - Deals at WTO and World Bank.

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 225 - Filipe Rufino: US supports Lamy for president of 
WTO; Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman: The Wolfowitz Coup; John 
Perkins: Bekenntnisse eines Economic Hit Man. Unterwegs im Dienst der 
Wirtschaftsmafia. Confessions of an Economic Hitman (Buchtipp)

Bad Ischl, 6.4.2005

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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Der Spitzen-Deal: Ex-US-Vizeverteidigungsminister Paul Wolfowitz an die 
Weltbank-Spitze und ex-EU-Kommissar Pierre Lamy an die WTO-Spitze. 
Warnlichter für die internationale Diplomatie - und noch mehr für die davon 
Betroffenen.

Wie "Economic Hit Men" im Auftrag dieser und ähnlicher Korporatokraten die 
Politik und Wirtschaft von zu sanierenden Staaten - meist 
Entwicklungsländer - in den Ruin und in die Abhängigkeit von Großmächte 
treiben, entlarvt John Perkins aus eigener Erfahrung in seinem Buch.

Matthias Reichl

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US supports Lamy for president of WTO

06.04.2005 - 09:53 CET | By Filipe Rufino

The former French EU commissioner for trade and candidate for the World 
Trade Organisation's presidency, Pascal Lamy, would serve the institution 
"very well", the US Under-secretary of State Robert Zoellick has said.

Speaking on Tuesday (5 April) at a press conference in Geneva, Mr Zoellick, 
who was Mr Lamy's American counterpart during the last tenure of the 
European Commission, said the Frenchman is "a very solid candidate" for the 
helm of the organisation and recommended that he travel to Washington to 
put his ideas to the Bush Administration.

The US has not yet officially indicated which candidate it will support for 
the position, fuelling speculation that Washington will back Mr Lamy for 
the WTO as a reward for tacit European support of Mr Wolfowitz's bid to be 
head of the World Bank.

However, even if "the WTO would be very well served by his candidacy", Mr 
Zoellick quickly added that "there are other candidates as well".

The other candidates to head the WTO are Brazil's WTO ambassador Luis 
Filipe Seixas Corrêa, who has China's support, Mauritius Foreign Minister 
Jaya Krishna Cuttaree, favoured by India, and Uruguayan WTO veteran Carlos 
Perez del Castillo, backed by Australia.

The WTO General Council will nominate a new WTO president on 31 May 2005 at 
the latest, with the winner starting work on 1 September. The four 
candidates have been in the race for the presidency of the international 
trade organisation since 31 December 2004.

The previous mandate, of six years, was split between Thai Supachai 
Panitchpakdi (who has been in charge since 2002) and New Zealander Mike 
Moore. Each served a three-year term in an unprecedented compromise deal.

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The Wolfowitz Coup

By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

Although many thought it was a cruel practical joke when Paul
Wolfowitz's name was first floated to head the World Bank, this was no
April Fool's prank: Last Thursday, the executive directors of the World Bank
approved the key architect of the Iraq war as president of what is
supposed to be the world's largest development agency.

For decades, the World Bank has veered out of control with a
corporate-led development model. The Bank has pushed mega-development
projects that have displaced millions of people, failed to improve
national well-being and thrown countries into a downward debt spiral.
Simultaneously, it has pushed market fundamentalist policies -- including
blind support for privatization, deregulation, and marketization and
commodification of social services and public goods -- that have
benefited multinational corporations, but impoverished hundreds of millions.

Periodically, the Bank acknowledges its past failures -- devastatingly
obvious upon objective review of its record -- and promises to start
anew. With each renewal, however, the institution manages to repeat the
mistakes of the previous era, yet again.

If the Bank is going to continue to exist, it does need a new start, but
not the kind that Paul Wolfowitz's nomination portends.

Wolfowitz assumes the presidency of the Bank thanks to colonialist
tradition and craven geopolitical calculation.

By tradition, but for no conceivably justifiable reason and without any
legal requirement, the United States picks the head of the Bank.
Sneering at the rest of the world, the Bush administration chose a man
who symbolizes U.S. unilateralism and contempt for the rule of law.

Although tradition says the rest of the world accedes to the U.S.
choice, Europe does have the votes to block a U.S. selection, and
organized opposition from developing countries would have made it very
hard for the Wolfowitz nomination to succeed.

But Europe wasn't willing to force a confrontation with the United
States -- it being perfectly clear that the Bush administration knew how
distasteful the nomination would be in Europe, where there is continuing
and overwhelming opposition to the Iraq war.

Instead, the Europeans opted for horse-trading. France hopes to win U.S.
support for its candidate to run the World Trade Organization. Germany
is seeking a seat on the UN Security Council. And the Europeans
reportedly extracted a commitment for a new number two position at the
Bank, to be reserved for a European.

The developing countries also chose to sit on their hands. There was
some Machiavellian calculation here, too -- Brazil also hopes for a
Security Council seat -- but generally the poor countries had a better
defense for staying quiet. Unlike the Europeans, they actually borrow
from the World Bank and are subject to its dictates, so challenging a
presidential contender, with the likelihood of failing, would be a major
gamble.

While the Europeans cut deals, Wolfowitz quickly launched what all
labeled a "charm offensive." He noted his concern for the poor, and
repeated that he understood the Bank chieftain to be a civil servant
responsible to all nations, not just his friends in the Bush
administration. He added that he understands he will have to tamp down
his zealous advocacy of democracy.

Restrain his fervent commitment to democracy?! Are you serious?

Paul Wolfowitz does not have a record of promoting democracy.

He helped sell the Iraq war to the U.S. public on false pretenses of the
threat of weapons of mass destruction, a major betrayal of democratic
principle.

But it wasn't as if bringing democracy to Iraq was the hidden agenda. In
fact, after occupying Iraq, the United States resisted elections in the
country, until Iraqis forced the United States to accede.

Wolfowitz's allies say he worked to promote democracy and human rights
in Indonesia when he was U.S. ambassador there. But as Northwestern
University Professor and Indonesia expert Jeffrey Winters notes, there
is no available press account of Wolfowitz mentioning democracy or human
rights while ambassador -- but an extensive record of apologetics for
the despotic Suharto regime. Indonesian human rights activists say
Wolfowitz never met with them.

Wolfowitz comes to the World Bank presidency with no relevant
development experience but for his oversight of the reconstruction of
Iraq -- a project beset by corruption, cronyism and incompetence, and
which has failed miserably at delivering water, health, security and
other basic services promised to the Iraqi people.

Everything about Wolfowitz's career, including his time in Indonesia and
overseeing Iraqi reconstruction, suggests he is likely to intensify
rather than reform the failed World Bank corporate-led model of development.

Perhaps the only positive note about his assumption of the Bank
presidency is that he brings a skepticism about the institution's
effectiveness, and perhaps a willingness to shrink its controlling
powers, including by getting poor countries off of the loan treadmill.
(In an endless cycle, loans generally end up requiring more loans to be
repaid -- and so make borrowing countries especially vulnerable to
conditions attached to the provision of subsequent loans. Debt payments
also drain vital financial resources from poor countries, with deadly
consequences.) Wolfowitz has indicated interest in substituting grants
for loans, and, especially if prodded by a mobilized, global civil
society movement, may be ready to embrace full and immediate
cancellation of the debts owed by the world's poor countries.

The first chance to help achieve this long-overdue goal will be at the
protests accompanying the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's
annual meetings, April 16-17 in Washington, D.C. For more information on
these activities, see <www.globalizethis.org>.


Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime
Reporter, <http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com>. Robert Weissman is
editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor,
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org. Weissman maintains the blog
www.nowaywolfowitz.org, and is a member of the Mobilization for Global
Justice, which is sponsoring the April protests at the World Bank and
IMF meetings. Mokhiber and Weissman are co-authors of On the Rampage:
Corporate Predators and the Destruction of Democracy (Monroe, Maine:
Common Courage Press, 2005).

(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

This article is posted at:
<http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2005/000201.html>

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USA  von der geachteten Republik zum gefürchteten Empire

Perkins' Aufgabe als Economic Hit Man im Dienst einiger US-Großkonzerne war 
es, Entwicklungsländer durch gezinkte Prognosen zu überteuerten 
Industrieprojekten zu überreden. Die absehbare und gewollte Verschuldung 
der betreffenden Länder diente der US-Regierung als Druckmittel, um 
politisch-ökonomische Eigeninteressen durchzusetzen. Ein Augen öffnender 
Bericht über die Skrupellosigkeit des Imperiums und seinen Treibsatz, die 
"corporatocracy".

Die Spezies der Economic Hit Men (Wirtschaftskiller) ist ein Produkt 
unserer Zeit, in der Kriege gegen andere Länder mehr oder weniger ersetzt 
wurden durch den Wirtschaftsimperialismus von Großkonzernen. Sie sind hoch 
intelligente, hoch bezahlte Profis, die weltweit Länder um Zigmilliarden 
betrügen. Sie schleusen Weltbank-, Regierungsgelder und 
‚Entwicklungskredite' in die Taschen einiger Großkonzerne und reicher 
Familien, die über die natürlichen Ressourcen verfügen. Zu ihrem 
Instrumentarium gehören gezinkte Wirtschafts- und Finanzprognosen, 
Wahlmanipulationen, Schmiergelder, Erpressung, Sex und Morde. Sie treiben 
ein Spiel, das so alt ist wie Macht und Herrschaft; doch im Zeitalter der 
Globalisierung hat es eine neue und bedrohliche Dimension angenommen.

John Perkins war ein Wirtschaftskiller. Seine Aufgabe bestand darin, Länder 
der Dritten Welt zu stark überdimensionierten Infrastrukturmaßnahmen zu 
bewegen, verbunden mit Großkrediten und Auftragsvergabe US-Unternehmen. 
Sobald sich die Bedienung der Kredite als schwierig erwies, kam die 
US-Regierung in Verbindung mit Finanzdienstleistern ins Spiel und 
versuchte, die Wirtschaft der betreffenden Länder in ihrem Sinne zu 
manipulieren.

John Perkins berichtet von internationalen politischen Intrigen auf 
höchster Ebene. Er bereiste die ganze Welt, insbesondere Ecuador, 
Kolumbien, Saudi-Arabien und Persien, und arbeitete mit Männern wie dem 
panamaischen Präsidenten Torrijos, der sein Freund wurde. Er half bei der 
Umsetzung eines Planes, der Milliarden von Petrodollars zurück in die USA 
schleuste und die intime Beziehung zwischen dem 
islamisch-fundamentalistischen Haus Saud und US-Regierungen festigte. 
Perkins' Geschichte dokumentiert die Skrupellosigkeit von 
Wirtschaftskillern und benennt die wahren Gründe für den Fall des Schahs 
von Persien sowie für die Invasionen von Panama und dem Irak.

(John Perkins engagiert sich seit seinem Ausstieg aus der herrschenden 
Wirtschaftsmacht in der Initiative "Dream Change Coalition" - 
www.JohnPerkins.org und www.dreamchange.org - und unterstützt Indiovölker 
in Ecuador und im Amazonas im gewaltfreien Widerstand gegen die Ölbohrungen 
transnationaler Konzerne. Ergänzung: Matthias Reichl)

"Mit Krediten Länder zu ruinieren war meine Aufgabe."
John Perkins

"John Perkins verbindet die Brillanz und Spannung eines 
Graham-Greene-Thrillers mit der Autorität eines Insiders, der in seiner 
eigenen haarsträubenden Geschichte die Namen der Akteure benennt und die 
Verbindungen zwischen der Globalisierung der Konzerne und der 
amerikanischen Regierung aufzeigt."
David Korten, Autor von "When Corporations Rule the World"

"Eine Bombe. Einer der seltenen Fälle, in denen jemand, der tief in unsere 
imperialistische Regierungs- und Konzernstruktur verquickt war, den Mut 
gefunden hat, unmissverständlich deren Funktionsweise aufzudecken."
John E. Mack, Harvard-Professor, Gewinner des Pulitzer Preises

John Perkins: Bekenntnisse eines Economic Hit Man. Unterwegs im Dienst der 
Wirtschaftsmafia. 2005 Riemann Verlag. € 19,- (Originaltitel: Confessions 
of an Economic Hitman. 2004. Verlag: Berrett-Koehler, USA)

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Matthias Reichl

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