As a current example of "free" world trade I choose Venezuela, where there are protesters in the streets, because they cannot buy food.
EXPLOITATION OF THE THIRD WORLD
After the colonies were given their sovereignty, nothing has really changed. The colonial forces still decide how the colonies are exploited, under the guise of international law.
A nice example is the protective measures by the European Union. First they use tax money to support their industry, so that the third world cannot compete with the EU. The EU gets some of this money back, with import duties to ensure that the third world can neither compete in the Euro zone. Then our investors in their best philanthropic guise help these countries, it is only natural that they want to be rewarded. Here a description of how the EU uses protective measures against the third world: http://web.archive.org/web/201302080931 ... asures.php
As a logical result these third world "banana republics" get financial problems, so need to borrow money from the World Bank and the IMF to be able to come around (it's easy to provide loans, when you have the power to print money), for which in return they do exactly what they are told. With these adjustments - of course - their economy gets even more ruined.
One of the best tricks are the trade agreements between countries, at the discretion of the "independent" white judges. From 1959 on, the conclusion of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) for investments with developing countries became popular; in the early years these BITs were based on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1947. In 1995 came the next big development in BITs with the General Agreement on Tariffs in Services (GATS), for investments in services. From the end of the 1980s on there was some kind of explosion in BITs; no longer only between developed and developing countries, but also among and between developed countries, to exclude developing countries. Developing countries got forced to agree on BITs, because without it was simply made impossible to export, while the foreign investors take their money away.
For the history of international treaties for investment see the story of Vandevelde from 2005: http://jilp.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/volume-12-1/van5.pdf
In the following story Anghie names exploitation of developing countries under the guise of international law "positivism": http://law.wisc.edu/gls/documents/tony_ ... ialism.pdf
As long as there are crises, the large investors earn extra money. Any idea who cause the crises?
TTIP/ISDS
Here’s a short list of the consequences of TTIP in the world: http://www.degrowth.de/en/2014/08/ttip- ... -be-aware/
Here an extensive story about the ISDS arbitration: http://corporateeurope.org/2012/11/chap ... troduction
If the EU and the USA sign the TTIP, other areas are excluded and forced to agree on BITs, so the colonial forces can continue to plunder them. I had read a report that the economy of South America decreases with 1.5 to 5.6% and Africa with 1.2 to 4% as a result of TTIP, which has since been removed from the internet.
Here’s another report that explains how TTIP will damage the South American economy: https://www.ictsd.org/bridges-news/brid ... rs-and-the
Based on the arbitration of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) multinationals can sue countries if they think their investments have yielded too little in return. The effect is that when countries take protective measures for environment, health, workers' rights or human rights, they are sued by the multinationals. If subsidies are provided or if subsidies are stopped, countries can be sued. As far as democratically elected parliaments have something to say, this is even further limited by the ISDS. It is the World Bank that decides on these disputes, in other words: by the ISDS arbitrations, the bankers (that are the biggest investors) become even more powerful at the expense of the taxpayer.
First the legal team of an investor looks for the most advantageous Treaty and arbitral tribunal for the claims to have been disadvantaged by a country. The ISDS disputes are judged by 3 arbitrators, of which both parties choose 1 arbitrator, who together choose the President of the arbitration tribunal. In order to give the arbitrators the leverage to judge arbitrarily, many treaties are rather vague. 69% of the arbitrators come from North America or Western Europe.
The most indicted country among ISDS is Argentina for hundreds of millions to billions, for the measures it took in 2001, the crisis in Greece was directed by the IMF and the World Bank and Greece was also indicted repeatedly. Most lawyers concerned and arbitrators claim an hourly rate of over 500 dollars (not even included the exaggerating of the time spent).
The next quote makes clear how independent the ISDS arbitration is, from a lawyer that bragged:
To ensure that the people do not know what is going on: both the ISDS provisions and TTIP negotiations are done in secret (how’s that for democracy?). An inevitable result of TTIP is that health care is privatised. Any idea of the consequences if the investors think they can make more money if the population is reduced?I've got a case right now in front of [a leading international arbitrator]. Every time I go to a conference, he's there. We read each other's books. My opponent on the case ... well, he hasn't got a clue [...]. Between all the partners in our group [...] we've appeared before every single arbitrator worth knowing. Not just once, but multiple times in the past few years and we have the inside knowledge as a result of that.
THE COLONIAL WORLD BANK
It is the Board of Governors, in which all 189 countries represented, that makes the decisions in the World Bank. The catch is that these countries have a voting power based on their economic status. This means that countries that became rich by plundering the colonies now reward themselves with extra voting power.
The voting ratio depends on the matter concerned: 1) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBPRD), 2) International Development Association (IDA), 3) International Finance Corporation (IFC) and 4) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). I have made a sum of the total voting power for 11 Western European countries with the USA, Canada and Australia. This shows that these 14 countries (with less than 15% of the world's population) have 56% of the voting power on whole. On the subject MIGA (including the ISBS, I suppose), these 14 countries account for a whopping 88% of the voting power. Also striking is that the GB and colonies - USA, Canada and Australia - together account for 36% of the control and even 69% for MIGA.
KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS
Of course I´m very proud that my home country the Netherlands not only had a starring role in the slave trade, but in 2014 came first in the whole world in claims for the ISDS. The following advertisement of my favourite law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, shows that the Netherlands is an ideal country to "settle" to evade taxes and sue Governments of countries based on the many beneficial BITs for the rich and corrupt: http://www.debrauw.com/wp-content/uploa ... ergen-.pdf
Theoretically, a company only has to open a mailbox to use the Dutch tax law and BITs. In practice, of course, it is expected that the right people get rewarded (which could even be named investment).
Venezuela was also indicted from the Netherlands by oil companies ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips (EDIT - "new" link to archive): http://archive.is/FtZEx
VENEZUELA
Venezuela, one of the largest oil exporters in the world, for years has been a country that exports more than it imports for (which should have made this country wealthy). In Venezuela there is both a shortage of products in the supermarkets and power cuts: http://www.infowars.com/scenes-from-the ... -for-food/
After Hugo Chávez in 1999 seized power in Venezuela he nationalized the oil industry, because it would be unfair if oil was running out of Venezuela without the population benefitting. Later, in May 2007, he closed the door on the IMF and World Bank. In 2009, Chávez had to beg for a loan from the IMF, which obligated him to devalue the Venezuelan bolivar (causing inflation).
Chávez died in March 2013 and was most likely killed by the CIA. Even the CIA has acknowledged multiple attempts to kill Fidel Castro: http://www.pravdareport.com/opinion/col ... ez_eath-0/
If Chávez was murdered, he didn´t have cancer, but was poisoned and the Cuban doctors, that gave him radiation, chemotherapy and surgery no less than 4 times (!), were complicit to murder. Eva Golinger suspects a bodyguard of Chávez, Salazar, who after his death was granted asylum and federal protection in the USA: http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2 ... racks.html
In 2013 the puppet of the elite Nicolás Maduro was helped to the presidency. Maduro effectively hampers the industry so that it produces less and less, then sells the imported goods so cheap that these are exported (back) abroad at a considerable profit, so that hyperinflation breaks out: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/featur ... 36920.html
The next masterful stroke of Maduro: selling oil and gold reserves. I would say that if Venezuela exports oil, it should be as rich as Saudi Arabia (of course only the lucky few take all the wealth). Selling the gold (e.g. to Citibank and Goldman Sachs) is about the stupidest thing he could do, central banks because they possess gold are allowed to print money: http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/29/news/ec ... index.html
Because the underpriced products are exported to other countries, the crisis can spread across the continent South America (so that the rich investors can get even richer).
The State media calls this: international law, democracy, capitalism, free market and development aid. I call this: abuse of power, slavery, exploitation, corruption and organised crime.
I can see only one real difference between 2016 and the colonial 19th century: because of computer technology the value of a human being is at an absolute minimum.
