US mulls sanctions against Ukraine

US mulls sanctions against Ukraine

White House "appalled" by Ukrainian government's crackdown on massive protests at Kiev's Independence Square.

Last updated: 12 Dec 2013 02:23

 Ukraine has been gripped by weeks of demonstrations after the government rejected an EU trade deal [Reuters]

The United States may impose sanctions against Ukraine if security forces intensify a crackdown on anti-government demonstrators in the capital's Independence Square.

US lawmakers said on Wednesday they were considering legislation to deny visas to Ukrainian officials or to freeze their American assets if violence escalates at the central protest camp.

White House deputy spokesman Josh Earnest said the US was "appalled" at how the government has handled the political crisis.

"The Ukrainian government's response to peaceful protests over the last two weeks has been completely unacceptable... The right to peaceful protest and assembly must be respected," Earnest said.

Kiev has been gripped by weeks of demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of people against President Viktor Yanukovich's decision to reject a European Union trade pact and steer Ukraine closer to Russia.

If he continues to use bulldozers and batons to break up peaceful demonstrations, there could be consequences.Chris Murphy, Democratic Senator

Several dozen people were injured in the early hours of Wednesday when riot police and Interior Ministry special forces moved against the demonstrators' last stronghold in Independence Square.

Security forces initially tore down makeshift barricades but were eventually forced to retreat amid cheers from the demonstrators, whose ranks swelled through the night.

US Senate and House of Representatives aides cited discussions at the staff level about Congress responding to the unrest in Ukraine with legislation along the lines of the Magnitsky Act, which bars Russian officials believed to be involved in human-rights abuses from entering the United States.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who chairs the Senate's Europe subcommittee, said lawmakers would be closely monitoring Yanukovich's conduct in the days ahead.

"If he continues to use bulldozers and batons to break up peaceful demonstrations, there could be consequences, real consequences, from the Congress," Murphy said.

The US State Department said it was considering all options, including sanctions.

Talks rejected

Ukraine's police have been criticised by the West for heavy-handedness in dealing with protests even before the latest crackdown, with dozens of demonstrators injured in clashes last week.

Yanukovich has vowed that the authorities would never use force against peaceful protests, and urged the opposition to sit down for talks.

"For the sake of achieving compromise I am calling on the opposition not to reject [talks], not to follow the path of confrontation and ultimatums," Yanukovich said in a statement on Wednesday.

But the opposition, which earlier ruled out any negotiations until he dismissed the government and punished riot police for crushing a smaller protest on November 30, vowed to do everything to topple the president.

"With what happened last night, Yanukovich closed off the path to any kind of compromise," opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko told a news conference, adding they "had planned to have talks with Yanukovich. We understand that Yanukovich has no wish to talk to the people and only understands physical force, which he uses against the protesters."

An estimated 5,000 pro-EU demonstrators were camping out in Independence Square on Wednesday night, reinforcing barricades with snow and sand bags.

U.S. Suspends Nonlethal Aid to Syrian Rebels in North

U.S. Suspends Nonlethal Aid to Syrian Rebels in North

The decision was made after moderate Syrian rebel forces reporting to Gen. Salim Idris, the nominal head of the rebel Free Syrian Army, came under attack last week from fighters aligned with Al Qaeda, according to an account provided by an American official.

The Islamic Front, an alliance of rebel fighters that has broken with General Idris’s moderate opposition but opposes the Qaeda affiliate in Syria, joined the fray, the American official said.

After the dust cleared, the Islamic Front appeared to have taken control of warehouses in Atmeh that contain equipment and supplies provided by the United States, added the American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing internal reports.

The first reports of military actions are often confused and inexact. But it seems clear that American officials are concerned that some aid has indeed fallen into the wrong hands.

“We have seen reports that Islamic Front forces have seized the Atmeh headquarters and warehouses,” a State Department official said.

“As a result of this situation, the United States has suspended all further deliveries of nonlethal assistance into northern Syria,” the official added. “The humanitarian aid to the Syrian people is not impacted by this suspension.”

The episode illustrates two trends that pose major challenges for the Obama administration’s goal of strengthening the moderate Syrian opposition and persuading President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to yield power.

One is the growing strength of Qaeda-affiliated forces, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The other is the fracturing of the Assad opposition, which has led some commanders to break away from General Idris’s Supreme Military Council, which the United States is backing, to form their own coalitions.

Since suspending aid, American officials have begun an inventory to determine how much of the nonlethal equipment and supplies are controlled by forces reporting to General Idris.

Under the Obama administration’s division of labor, the State Department is in charge of supplying nonlethal aid, like radios, vehicles and food rations. The C.I.A. runs a covert program to arm and train Syrian rebels. There was no indication that the nonlethal-aid suspension would affect that program.

“We are working with General Idris and the S.M.C. to inventory the status of U.S. equipment and supplies provided to the S.M.C.,” the State Department official said, referring to the Supreme Military Council. “We are gathering the facts and consulting with friends of the Syrian opposition on next steps in support of the
Syrian people.”

Time Magazine's PERSON OF THE YEAR 2013

December 6, 2013 12:05 pm
The scandal at the Vatican bank
By Rachel Sanderson
An 11-month FT investigation reveals the extent of mismanagement at the €5bn-asset bank
©Reuters

On June 28 this year, Italian police arrested a silver-haired priest, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, in Rome. The cleric, nicknamed Monsignor Cinquecento after the €500 bills he habitually carried around with him, was charged with fraud and corruption, together with a former secret service agent and a ­financial broker. All
three were suspected of attempting to smuggle €20m by private plane across the border from Switzerland.
Prosecutors alleged that the priest, a former banker, was using the Institute for Religious Works – the formal name for the Vatican’s bank – to move money for businessmen based in the Naples region, widely regarded in Italy as a haven of organised crime. Worse still, Scarano (who, together with the other men, has
denied any wrongdoing) had until only a month earlier been head of the accounting department at the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the treasury of the Vatican.

The arrest, and the headlines that screamed across the Italian press, was the latest shock for the Holy See. The year had already witnessed an emotional upheaval in the church with the resignation in February of the aged Pope Benedict XVI – the first time in 700 years a pope had stepped down voluntarily. But this new
crisis demanded cold, hard resolve. For regulators and politicians in Europe who had pushed for change in the Vatican’s scandal-plagued bank over the previous four years – from the Bank of Italy under Mario Draghi to officials in Mario Monti’s government and in Brussels – it served as evidence of their concerns.

Those worries also jolted a number of international financiers determined to press for reform.
In early July, Peter Sutherland, non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International and the former attorney-general of Ireland, flew into Vatican City. His mission – although described by some insiders as simply a “bit part” in the wider drive for change – was an illuminating one. Sutherland, a practising Catholic and an unpaid consultant to the Vatican’s treasury, had been asked by reformers in the church to speak with the council of cardinals, the most senior advisers to the pope. His message to the men who filed into a room near Doma Santa Marta, the plain-fronted residence of Pope Francis, was respectful but direct.
The banker, who declined to comment for this story, added his voice to the many in and outside the church asking the world’s smallest city-state to change its ways. “Transparency is important and necessary,” Sutherland said, according to two people who were informed of proceedings in the closed-door meeting.
The cardinals, known for long, contemplative consultations, were surprisingly receptive, said one of those informed. After a decade of paedophilia scandals, the allegations of financial impropriety seemed set to unleash another storm of criticism and had to be addressed. Outside auditors as well as financial risk
consultants were already coming into the Vatican but the arrest of Scarano made the case for reform unavoidable. “We cannot have any more scandal. It is so shameful,” a senior member of the Vatican’s financial administration said.

The Financial Times has investigated the extent of the mismanagement at the Vatican bank. In this audio slideshow, find out how the scandal erupted and what has been done to help strengthen the bank.
How God’s bank ended up as a financial penitent this year is a bracing chapter in the history of financial reforms that have swelled up in the aftermath of the 2008 credit crisis. Untouchable havens such as Switzerland and Liechtenstein were forced to open their chocolate-box palaces to the probes of international regulators. This year the power of the popes was challenged.

''I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandela's life'' US President Obama.

The Independent Cartoon

''I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandela's life. My very first political action, the first thing I ever did that involved an issue or a policy or politics, was a protest against apartheid. I studied his words and his writings. The day that he was released from prison gave me a sense of what human beings can do when they’re guided by their hopes and not by their fears. And like so many around the globe, I cannot fully imagine my own life without the example that Nelson Mandela set, and so long as I live I will do what I can to learn from him.'' 

US President Obama

"தமிழர்" என்ற சொல்லை நீக்குமாறு முதலமைச்சர் சி.வி.விக்னேஸ்வரன் தெரிவித்தார்.

வட மாகாண ஆளுநரான முன்னாள் இராணுவ இனப் படுகொலையாளனை அகற்றுவதன் பேரால் ஏகாதிபத்திய NGO க்களுக்கு வழி திறந்து விட முயல்கின்றது வடக்கு மாகாணசபை.

சிவில் சமூகத்தை சேர்ந்தவரை ஆளுநராக நியமிக்கவும்: வட மாகாண சபையில் பிரேரணை

செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை, 10 டிசெம்பர் 2013 12:38 0 COMMENTS
-குணசேகரன் சுரேன், எஸ்.கே.பிரசாத்

சிவில் சமூகத்தை சார்ந்தவரும் மனித உரிமைகள் தொடர்பான பூரண அறிவுடையவருமான ஒருவரே வட மாகாண ஆளுநராக நியமிக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என தீர்மானமொன்று நிறைவேற்றப்பட்டுள்ளது.

வட மாகாண சபையின் மாதாந்த அமர்வு இன்று செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை காலை முதல் நடைபெற்று வருகின்றது. இதன்போதே ஜனாதிபதிக்கு முன்வைக்கப்பட்டிருந்த பிரேரணை சபை உறுப்பினர்களினால் ஏகமனதாக நிறைவேற்றப்பட்டது.

சிவில் சமூகத்தைச் சேர்ந்த வட மாகாண தமிழர் ஒருவரே ஆளுநராக நியமிக்குமாறு ஜனாதிபதியிடம் பரிந்துரைக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என்ற பிரேரணையொன்றை மாகாண சபை உறுப்பினர் எம்.கே.சிவாஜிலிங்கம் சபையில் முன்வைத்தார்.

இந்த பிரேரணையை ஆறுமுகம் கந்தையா சர்வேஸ்வரன் வழிமொழிந்தார். எனினும் இந்த பிரேரணையில் மாற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்துமாறு எதிர்க்கட்சி உறுப்பினர் செனவிரத்ன எ.டி. தர்மபாலா வேண்டுகோள் விடுத்தார்.

இதனையடுத்து, குறித்த பிரேரணையிலுள்ள "தமிழர்" என்ற சொல்லை நீக்குமாறு முதலமைச்சர் சி.வி.விக்னேஸ்வரன் தெரிவித்தார். தமிழர் என்ற சொல் வேண்டாம் என்றால் வட மாகாணத்தை சேர்ந்த ஒருவர் என்பதையும் நீக்க வேண்டும் என மாகாண சபை உறுப்பினர் கனகரத்தினம் விந்தன தெரிவித்தார்.

இறுதியாக சிவில் சமூகத்தை சார்ந்தவரும் மனித உரிமைகள் தொடர்பான பூரண அறிவுடையவருமான ஒருவரே வட மாகாண ஆளுநராக நியமிக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என்ற பிரேரணை சபையில் முன்வைக்கப்பட்டது. இது அனைத்து உறுப்பினர்களினாலும் ஏற்றுக்கொள்ளப்பட்டதையடுத்து ஏகமனதாக சபையில் பிரேரணை நிறைவேற்றப்பட்டது.

அத்துடன் வடக்கில் இராணுவத்தை அகற்றி சிவில் சமூகம் உருவாக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என்ற  பிரேரணையும் மாகாண சபை உறுப்பினர் எம்.கே.சிவாஜிலிங்கத்தினால் முன்வைக்கப்பட்டது. இதனை மாகாண சபை உறுப்பினர் கனகரத்தினம் விந்தன் வழிமொழிந்தார். இப்பிரேரணையும் ஏகமனதாக நிறைவேற்றப்பட்டது.

குறிப்பு:

வட மாகாண ஆளுநரான முன்னாள் இராணுவ இனப் படுகொலையாளனை அகற்றுவதன் பேரால் ஏகாதிபத்திய NGO க்களுக்கு வழி திறந்து விட முயல்கின்றது வடக்கு மாகாணசபை.

காணி நிலம் வேண்டும்! இராணுவம் நில்லாத காணி நிலம் வேண்டும்!!

Tribunal rules government guilty: (Colombo Gazette)

Tribunal rules government guilty
December 10, 2013
1386057538_PPT tribunal

The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) which concluded its second hearing on Sri Lanka in Bremen, Germany today, found the Government guilty of committing grave human rights abuses and also found that India, Britain and the US were complicit in those crimes.

An eminent panel of jurors were assembled by the PPT to hear charges made against Sri Lanka by the International Human Rights Association (IMRV) in Bremen and the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka (IFPSL).

The charges were that the British, US and Indian states are guilty of complicity in the allegations raised against the Sri Lankan government.

The first phase of the Tribunal, which was held in January 2010 in Dublin, was the first ever international effort to investigate the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the final stages of the protracted conflict in Sri Lanka.

The second phase was held this week with the participation of direct victims as well as expert witnesses from Europe and several other countries.

In addition to this, reports and documents compiled by different international and local organisations and human rights groups since 2009 were also submitted to the Panel.

Among those who spoke at the tribunal are members of the Tamil Diaspora and ‘No Fire Zone’ Director Callum Macrae.

Rulings by the people tribunal are usually are sent to major international bodies and many have been discussed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva so the ruling on Sri Lanka is likely to be passed on to the Council ahead of its March 2014 session. (Colombo Gazette)

India Continues Secret Military Ties with Sri Lanka

India Continues Secret Military Ties with Sri Lanka
By N C Bipindra - NEW DELHI
Published: 01st Dec 2013 09:46:48 AM

  Chief of Indian Navy Admiral D K Joshi (left)with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse

India’s diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka may face rough weather due to pressure from political groups in Tamil Nadu, but its defence ties would continue as usual through joint training, sharing of warfare expertise and military exchanges.

Indian Defence Ministry sources say that “political diplomacy with Sri Lanka may go through its pulls and pressures from political parties in Tamil Nadu, but military ties would not get tied down by such considerations” and would go on as usual.

“Political issues won’t affect military ties. There is an Indian security consideration involved in defence ties with Colombo. Sri Lanka is a very important nation in the maritime domain in the Indian Ocean Region,” a senior Defence Ministry official said.

There was also a clear signal in this regard in the form of Indian Navy chief Admiral D K Joshi’s five-day visit to the island nation this week, where he met the Sri Lankan political and military top brass to share critical inputs on military matters concerning the Indian Ocean region.

The Navy chief’s visit, though, was down played by the Indian defence establishment, whose members refused to talk about it till the visit was over, just as the External Affairs Ministry played down Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse’s two-day stay in New Delhi on Thursday and Friday.

Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s brother Gotabaya met with senior officials in the Indian External Affairs and Defence Ministries, but the meetings were kept under wraps till he left for Colombo on Friday.

In the case of Admiral Joshi, while Colombo went public about his visit and participation in the Galle Maritime dialogue that focused on Indian Ocean Region, New Delhi preferred to maintain a stoic silence about his visit.

Only earlier this month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had skipped the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet in Colombo, where India was represented by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. The Indian government took this decision under pressure from political groups in Tamil Nadu who are opposed to any diplomatic ties with Sri Lanka over the ethnic Lankan Tamils’ rights issue.

Indian Navy chief, during his stay, attended the Galle dialogue earlier in the week where he pitched for regulation of private maritime security forces, against the backdrop of the recent Indian experience in detaining an American-owned cargo ship off the Tamil Nadu coast.

Joshi was joined at the meet by naval leadership from 35 other maritime powers from the region. He also interacted with Gotabaya there. During his stay, Joshi met Sri Lankan Chief of Defence Staff General Jagath Jayasuriya and Navy Commander Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage, where the two sides discussed
various military cooperation topics, particularly in the maritime domain such as anti-piracy operations and maritime crimes.

On the last day of his visit, Joshi met President Mahinda Rajapakse, where the two discussed the Indian offer to train Lankan Navy officers in the B.Tech course at the Indian Naval Academy (INA) at Ezhimala, Kerala.

The Indian Navy chief assured priority to Sri Lankan officers at the INA from among the foreign applicants. Sri Lankan foreign minister professor G L Peiris was present during those discussions, in which bilateral cooperation in anti-piracy operations was a key topic, say sources.

The two sides also talked about curbing the attacks on Indian fishermen at the high seas by the Lankan naval forces.

Indian Navy chief travelled around the island nation to several major maritime locations, including Trincomalee and Mannar.

Power Play

After the PM skipped the commonwealth summit, India is believed to be going through a phase of having lowest leverages with Sri Lanka in recent years. But there is an opportunity to up the leverage with Sri Lanka interested in ensuring the UNHRC reprimand in March next year is not that harsh. India hopes this allows
it to play a role, so that it regains strategic space in Sri Lanka. It requires this ‘leverage’ to be able to extract commitments from Colombo on fishermen issues, keep the lid on inclination in the ruling regime to dilute 13th amendment and that the northern provincial government is allowed to function.

Sri Lanka guilty of genocide: PPT verdict

Sri Lanka guilty of genocide: PPT verdict
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 December 2013, 11:08 GMT]

After an assessment of evidences presented by eyewitnesses and experts, judges of the Permanent People’s Tribunal reached unanimous consensus that the Sri Lankan state was guilty of crimes of genocide against the Eezham Tamils and that the genocide is continuing even after the end of the military operations against the LTTE. Concluding the four day session with a press conference at Bremen on Tuesday, the judges also noted that the Sri Lankan military did not have capacity to commit genocide on its own and that it was supported by the UK-USA-India axis. While the judges held the USA and the UK to be complicit in the genocidal process, they were of the opinion that more evidence was needed as regards India’s role.

PPT Session II at Bremen, Germany

The Eezham Tamils were killed not as individuals but as a group and the target of the Sri Lankan state was the destruction of the identity of this group, the findings noted.

The judges took care to highlight the significance of the usage of the term ‘Eelam Tamil’ to refer to the genocide-affected Tamils from the North-East of the island of Sri Lanka.

Noting that the protracted history of genocide extended much before the beginning of the armed conflict, the Tribunal asserted that the Sri Lankan state continued to commit acts of genocide after the end of the “genocidal onslaught” against the de-facto state of the LTTE.

This, however, was not possible without the assistance of world powers.

The UK’s historical role in assisting Sri Lanka, its complicity in procuring arms in aiding and shielding the perpetrator of genocide was discussed.

The judges also noted that the USA’s military-to-military relationship with Sri Lanka enhanced the capacity of the latter to commit genocide. The Tribunal was of the opinion that US role in the peace process tilted balance in favour of the Sri Lankan state and led to the massacre of Tamils in 2009.

However, the Tribunal wished to postpone deliberations on India's role in the genocide pending submission of potential evidence.

Responding to a question from TamilNet on the failure of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Sri Lanka, Dr. Denis Halliday, one of the judges, opined that the R2P doctrine introduced by Gareth Evans was a cover for intervention but not genuine humanitarian intervention, as evidenced in the case of genocide against Eezham Tamils in the island.

The UN has failed the Eezham Tamils and maybe even complicit in the genocide, he said, also noting the failure of the International Community to take appropriate steps.

Burmese democracy activist Maung Zarni, answering a question on the use of the label of ‘terrorism’ to the LTTE, said that terrorism was a "discursive, strategic and political term" cooked-up by world powers as regards to their geo-political interests.

Comparing LTTE and Nelson Mandela’s ANC, he said that a whole movement cannot be labelled as terrorist on the basis of few acts.

=========================
Following are the names of judges selected by the PPT:

Gabriele Della Morte is a researcher and Professor of International Law at the Università Cattolica di Milano. He was also associate professor in International system, institutions and rules, Chargé de cours at the Académie de droit international humanitaire et des droits de l'homme of Geneva (2007-2008), counsel for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) (2003-2004), Law Clerk for the Prosecutor Office of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (2000) and member of a government delegation for the establishment of the International Criminal Court (1998).

José Elías Esteve Molto, international lawyer and legal expert on Tibet. He is the main lawyer who researched and drafted both lawsuits for international crimes committed in Tibet and a recent one for crimes in Burma. He is a Professor in International Law at the University of Valencia. 

Daniel Feierstein
Director of the Centre for Genocide Studies at the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, Professor in the Faculty of Genocide at the University of Buenos Aires and a member of CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas - The Argentine National Centre for Scholars). He has been elected as the president of the 'International Association of Genocide Scholars'.

Sévane Garibian
An expert on Genocide and International Law. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Geneva and Lecturer at the University of Neuchâtel, where she teaches Legal Philosophy and International Criminal Law. Her work focuses on issues related to law facing State crimes.

Haluk Gerger
A respected academic and a Middle East analyst who was imprisoned in Turkey for his political activism. He is known for his support for Kurdish people's right to self-determination.

Javier Giraldo Moreno
Colombian Theologian and human rights activist based in Bogota. Known for his depth of analysis in contextualising genocide affected communities. He is Vice-President of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal.

Denis Halliday 
Former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. He resigned from his 34 year old career in the UN in protest of the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the Security Council. Laureate of the Gandhi International Peace Award.

Manfred O. Hinz 
Professor for Public Law, Political Sociology and Sociology of Law at the University of Bremen. He has a long history of engagement in solidarity with liberation struggles in Africa, specially Namibia and the West Sahara. He, for several years, held the UNESCO chair for human rights and democracy of the University of Namibia whilst he was a professor there. 

Helen Jarvis
She served as Chief of the Public Affairs Section from the inception of the the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the special Cambodian court which receives international assistance through the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT). The court is commonly referred to by the more informal name the Khmer Rouge Tribunal or the Cambodia Tribunal.

Øystein Tveter
A Norwegian scholar of International Law and a member of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on extra-judicial killings and violations of human rights in the Philippines.

Maung Zarni
He is a Burmese democracy activist who founded the Free Burma Coalition in 1995. He is one of the few Burmese intellectuals who have come forward to unconditionally oppose the increased discrimination and violence against the Rohingya Muslims and publicly criticised Aung San Suu Kyi on this issue.

Source:Tamilnet

தேசிய எல்லைகள் மீறி உலகைக் குதறப்போகும் $1tn அந்நிய நிதி மூலதனம்!

WTO agrees global trade deal worth $1tn
By Andrew Walker
BBC Economics correspondent

Ministers from 159 countries have reached a deal intended to boost global trade at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

The World Trade Organization's first comprehensive agreement involves an effort to simplify the procedures for doing business across borders.

There will also be improved duty-free access for goods sold by the world's poorest countries.

The deal, which could add about $1tn to world trade, gives developing nations more scope to increase farm subsidies.

"For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered," said WTO chief Roberto Azevedo, as the organisation reached its first comprehensive agreement since it was founded in 1995.

Bureaucratic barriers to commerce can be a big problem.

Africa, for example, has the longest customs delays in the world. The African Development Bank says it can take 36 hours to get goods through the customs post at the Victoria Falls crossing from Zambia into Zimbabwe.

And there are often more barriers to negotiate once goods are over the border. The highway between Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria has 69 official checkpoints.

It takes time and costs money dealing with these delays. It can be disastrous for a cargo of perishable goods. These are exactly the kind of barriers that the WTO deal is intended to tackle.

Dealing with them would certainly make it cheaper for business to move goods across borders. And if it's cheaper, they will do more of it.

"This time the entire membership came together. We have put the 'world' back in World Trade Organization," he said.

Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said the deal would "benefit all WTO members".

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the "historic" agreement could be a "lifeline" for the world's poorest people, as well as benefiting British businesses to the tune of more than $1bn (£600m).

However, the "Bali package", as the WTO calls the agreement, was criticised by some development campaigners who said it was not going far enough.

Rich and poor

It is worth spelling out something what is not covered by this - tariffs or taxes on imported goods.

Dealing with them has been the bread butter of past trade rounds - but not for this deal.

The core of this agreement is what is called trade facilitation. This is about reducing the costs and delays involved in international trade. It is often described as "cutting red tape".

Some analysts suggest the benefits could be large. An influential Washington think tank has put the potential gains to the world economy at close to $1tn and 20m million jobs.

   The rich countries have agreed to help the poorer WTO members with implementing this agreement.

Another important aspect of the Bali package is about enabling poor countries to sell their goods more easily. This part is about tariffs, and also quota limits on imports.

Rich countries and the more advanced developing countries have agreed to cut tariffs on products from the poorest nations.

EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht told the BBC that if the poorest nations "have more trading capacity it will also result in more investment in logistics and infrastructure".

But campaigners describe the plan as weak.

Nick Dearden of the World Development Movement said: "If the US and EU really wanted to tackle global poverty, they would have made the least-developed-countries package much stronger."

WTO chief Roberto Azevedo: "For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered"

Credibility test

Getting this deal has involved introducing some extra flexibility into the existing WTO rules on farm subsidies. India led the campaign, by insisting that it should be allowed to subsidise grain under its new food security law.

There is a strong possibility that India's policy would break WTO rules that limit farm subsidies.

A "peace clause" has been agreed, under which members agree not to initiate WTO disputes against those breaching the subsidy limits as part of a food-security programme. But it only lasts four years and there is criticism from campaigners.

John Hilary of War on Want, a UK-based group, said: "The negotiations have failed to secure permanent protection for countries to safeguard the food rights of their peoples, exposing hundreds of millions to the prospect of hunger and starvation simply in order to satisfy the dogma of free trade."

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WTO approves landmark global trade deal
By Shawn Donnan in Nusa Dua

Ministers from around the world sealed the first global trade deal in a generation on Saturday in a move hailed as a tonic for both the global economy and the battered credibility of the World Trade Organisation.
Almost two decades after the WTO was founded ministers from its 159 member countries approved a “trade facilitation” agreement to set common customs standards and ease the flow of goods through borders around the world. They also took decisions on a range of issues from how the WTO should respond to
government food security programmes to securing better market access to the rich world for the globe’s least developed economies.

Business groups immediately praised the trade facilitation deal as a needed stimulus for the global economy. The International Chamber of Commerce estimates it will lower the cost of doing trade by as much as 10-15 per cent and add $1tn to global output.

But those benefits are likely to take years to materialise and the more immediate impact was in a badly needed boost for the 159-member WTO’s credibility. Years of stalled talks have caused many to grow cynical about its capacity to deliver anything.

“For the first time in its history the WTO has delivered. We are back in business,” Roberto Azevêdo, the Brazilian who took over as director-general of the WTO in September, told reporters after the deal.

“Today we have saved the WTO,” said Karel Degucht, the European trade commissioner.
Mr Azevêdo shepherded three months of intensive negotiations leading up to the deal and he drew a standing ovation from members after the deal was done. Many WTO members praised Mr Azevêdo for his work to deliver the deal and restoring faith to a system that was demoralised when Pascal Lamy, the
Frenchman who led it for eight years, left at the end of August.

Michael Froman, the US trade representative, said the new director-general had played a “critical role to bring us to this point” and also praised the Brazilian’s creation of a “new WTO”.

Approval of the deal came after Mr Azevêdo helped end a stand-off between India and the US over how the WTO should treat government food programmes for the poor and how they buy grains from farmers.

Working with Indonesia’s trade minister, Mr Azevêdo also overcame a bid by Cuba and three allies to block to have the WTO call for the lifting of the 53 year old US trade embargo on the Caribbean island.

But his biggest task now will be building on the success in Bali and using it to tackle the big issue of what to do next with the 12-year-old and long-stalled Doha Round.

“Bali is just the beginning,” Mr Azevêdo said on Saturday.
The ministers in Bali called on WTO negotiators in Geneva to use the next 12 months to draft a work plan for the future.

Likely to feature in that debate are discussions over whether to tackle the Doha Round in smaller bites or resume efforts to finish it as a whole. Some countries are also keen to see new “21st century” issues added to the 12-year-old agenda like investment and competition and even how to treat flows of data around the
world.

“This jump starts the post-Bali agenda,” said Jeffrey Schott, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

But it also had illustrated two important things about the current dynamics within the WTO, he said.
Even as some accuse the US of abandoning the WTO to pursue regional and sectoral agreements outside its confines the hard work done in Bali by Mr Froman and his team to secure a deal had illustrated that Washington still cared about the multilateral institution, Mr Schott said.

This week’s events in Bali had also shown, he said, how the big emerging economies no longer acted as a bloc within the WTO. Brazil, China, and Russia all pushed for a deal to be done even as India threatened to block it, a stance even small developing economies in Africa had expressed frustration with.
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Saturday, December 7, 2013
WTO agrees last-minute, historic deal worth $1tn


The World Trade Organization has reached its first ever trade reform deal to the roar of approval from nearly 160 ministers who had gathered on the Indonesian island of Bali to decide on the make-or-break agreement that could add $1 trillion to the global economy.

The approval came after Cuba dropped a last-gasp threat to veto the package of measures.

"For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered," WTO chief Roberto Azevedo told exhausted ministers after the talks which had dragged into an extra day on the tropical resort island.

"This time the entire membership came together. We have put the 'world' back in World Trade Organization," he said. "We're back in business...Bali is just the beginning."
The talks, which had opened on Tuesday, nearly came unstuck at the last minute when Cuba suddenly refused to accept a deal that would not help pry open the US embargo of the Caribbean island, forcing negotiations to drag into Saturday morning.

Cuba later agreed on a compromise with the United States.

But there was skepticism how much had really been achieved.

"Beyond papering over a serious dispute on food security, precious little was progress was made at Bali," said Simon Evenett, professor of international trade at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland. "Dealing with the fracas on food security sucked the oxygen out of the rest of the talks."

The talks had begun under a cloud because of an insistence by India at the outset that it would only back an agreement if there was a compromise on food subsidies because of its massive program for stockpiling food to feed its poor.

India, which will holds elections next year, won plaudits at home for taking a stand on behalf of the world's poor.

An eventual compromise was greeted with jubilation by Trade Minister Anand Sharma. While India had insisted on a permanent exemption from the WTO rules, the final text aimed to recommend a permanent solution within four years.

But the agreement is a milestone for the 159 WTO members, marking the organization's first global trade agreement since it was created in 1995.

It also rescues the WTO from the brink of failure and will rekindle confidence in its ability to lower barriers to trade worldwide, after 12 years of fruitless negotiations.

The deal would lower trade barriers and speed up the passage of goods through customs. Analysts estimate that over time it could boost the world economy by hundreds of billions of dollars and create more than 20 million jobs, mostly in developing countries.

It still needs to be approved by each member government.

"It is good for both developed and developing members alike," US Trade Representative Michael Froman said.

A study by the Washington, DC-based Peterson Institute of International Economics estimated the agreement would inject $960 billion into the global economy and create 21 million jobs, 18 million of them in developing nations.

The deal slashes red tape at customs around the world, gives improved terms of trade to the poorest countries, and allows developing countries to skirt the normal rules on farm subsidies if they are trying to feed the poor.

The ministers had gathered with a clear warning that failure to reach agreement in Bali would turn the WTO into an irrelevance and trigger a rush towards regional and bilateral trade pacts.

It came almost 20 years to the day since a similar nail-biting conclusion to another marathon negotiation - the talks to agree the creation of the WTO itself, which wrapped up in mid-December 1993. That was the last global trade deal.

The Bali meeting was also noticeable for its lack of anti-WTO protests compared to the street battles when ministers met in Seattle 14 years ago.

The Bali accord will help revive confidence in the WTO's ability to negotiate global trade deals, after it consistently failed to clinch agreement in the Doha round of talks that started in 2001 and proved hugely over-ambitious.

As the Doha round stuttered to a halt, momentum shifted away from global trade pacts in favor of regional deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership that the United States is negotiating with 11 other countries, and a similar agreement it is pursuing bilaterally with the European Union.