Nagasaki Peace Declaration 2025: Full Text
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*Statement issued by Nagasaki Mayor Suzuki Shiro, on the 80th year of
nuclear bombing.*
The post Nagasaki Peace Declaration 2025: Full Text appeared firs...
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Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Can trade deals engineered by USA & China solve the West Asian crisis?
Written By mediavigil on Sunday, October 08, 2023 | 11:27 PM
Aren't they fighting for commercial freedom as well?
This crisis is likely to have ramifications for the entire West Asia consisting of Turkey, Syria, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen. The state of Israel was established in 1948. The commercial interests paved the way for its establishment. UN had accepted a partition plan for the division of the region into Arab and Jewish parts. Arab states had rejected it because it undermined their commercial interests.
The Israelite/Jewish culture of the Fertile Crescent has a profound impact on the rest of Western Asia. It gave birth to the three Abrahamic faiths.
The Jewish origins of Christianity and cultural contributions from both Jews and Arabs in Europe has left a lasting impact on Western culture. Significantly, Western culture cannot be imagined independent of the West Asian culture. The other indigenous West Asian religions include Zoroastrianism, Yazidism, Alevism, Druze and the Bahá'í Faith. Notably, almost 93% of Western Asia's inhabitants are Muslims and is characterized by political Islamic, with the exception of Israel, a Jewish state.
In this backdrop, Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader says, “All the agreements of normalisation that you (Arab states) signed with (Israel) will not end this conflict,” referring to the larger Israel-Palestine conflict. The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, which has also attacked Israeli forces, said that the action was a “decisive response to Israel’s continued occupation and a message to those seeking normalisation with Israel”. The word "normalisation" is an euphemism for commercial relationship.
In recent years, Hamas became victorious in the democratic elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council of the limited Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Abrahamic Accords engineered by USA culminated in the UAE becoming the third Arab country, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, to agree to formally normalise its relationship with Israel. The UAE-Israel trade deal was signed in May 2022. Meanwhile, China has engineered a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran this year.
Naftali Bennett, former Israeli Prime Minister spoke about the Hamas's attack. He said,"I have to admit that we were surprised. At the end of the day, intelligence can go only so far." This "surprise" does not sound convincing. It is apprehended that surprise is being feigned. This seems to be the work of some invisible commercial czars, the donors of the ruling parties in Israel and Palestine. In the era of anonymous donors this possibility deserves rigorous scrutiny.
This military failure implies the glaring failure of 2011 born digital Iron Dome system, developed by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, a state-owned arms company, with help from USA. It protects populations and assets by neutralising short-range aerial threats by intercepting targets in the airspace and by destroying the missiles in the air.
One of the most important questions which occupies world's attention is: Why didn’t Israel’s digital border security stop the attack which imperils 75 years of its continued existence? It is apparent that digital guarantees and cyber security assurances are no guarantees.
The fact remains that official and unofficial military forces including the cyber warriors end up becoming soldiers as cannon fodders in service of commercial interests of nations.
The emergence of trade deals between various West Asian States, Israel and Iran doctored by USA and China is likely to pave way for the triumph of commerce over politics.
If the commercial interest of Palestinians can be factored in these deals, no one can prevent the emergence of a peaceful West Asia.
Government of USA makes WTO's Appellate Body defunct
Written By mediavigil on Wednesday, December 02, 2020 | 12:04 AM
World Trade Organization (WTO)'s Appellate Body based in Geneva has been made defunct for now. WTO's Appellate Body, a standing body of seven persons that hears appeals from reports issued by Dispute Resolution Panels in disputes brought by WTO Members was established in 1995 under Article 17 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU).
In official statement, website of WTO states, "Given the ongoing lack of agreement among WTO Members regarding the filling of Appellate Body vacancies, there is no Appellate Body Division available at the current time to deal with the appeal."
On receiving the request of a complaining party, the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) establishes a Dispute Resolution Panel to hear and decide a dispute. The DSB does this by a process called the reverse consensus. The establishment of a Panel under the WTO, DSU regime is ‘automatic’. As a rule, Panels consist of three persons, who are not nationals of the Members involved in the dispute. These persons are often trade diplomats or government officials. Academicians and lawyers generally serve as Panel members. The terms of reference of the Panel are determined by the request for the establishment of a Panel, which identifies the dispute in question and the provisions of the covered agreements allegedly breached. It is the task of Panels to make an objective assessment of the facts of the case and the applicability of and conformity with the relevant covered agreements. The Panel is not a permanent body.
The Appellate Body hears appeals from the reports of dispute settlement Panels. The Appellate Body is a permanent, standing international tribunal. It is composed of seven persons, referred to as Members of the Appellate Body. The Members of the Appellate Body are appointed by the DSB for a term of four years. It can be renewed once. It is only the complaining or responding party that can initiate appellate review proceedings. Appeals are limited to issues of law dealt with in the Panel report or interpretations of law developed by the Panel. The Appellate Body may uphold, modify or reverse the legal findings and conclusions of the Panel that were appealed.
The WTO dispute settlement system is a government-to-government dispute settlement system for disputes concerning rights and obligations of WTO Members. Therefore, only governments are provided access to bring and adjudicate their claims before the WTO. The regime excludes within its purview the rights of individual parties, whose claims must be espoused by their respective states in-order to attain the valid locus to present their case before the WTO.
The jurisdiction of the WTO dispute settlement system is compulsory in nature. In pursuance of Article 23.1 of the DSU, a complaining Member is obliged to bring any dispute arising under the covered agreements to the WTO dispute settlement system.
With regard the jurisdiction of the WTO dispute settlement system, it must be noted that the system is confined to contentious jurisdiction. It does not have advisory jurisdiction.
Although DSU imposes a jurisdiction limitation on Panels and Appellate Body, there is no such rule on applicable law. Article 3.2 of DSU directs Panels and Appellate Body ensure clarification of the pre-existing provisions of those agreements in compliance with pre-existing customary rules of interpretation under public international law.
WTO lost its final Appellate Body member, China’s Zhao Hong on November 30, 2020. Government of USA has been seeking structural reform in the operation of the Appellate Body since 2017. As it could get it done, it engineered its collapse by enduring that departing members are not replaced. By December 2019, the terms of two of the remaining three members of the Appellate Body had expired. At least three members are required in the Appellate Body to hear new appeals. On February 11, 2020, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Robert Lighthizer published a 174 page long Report on the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization wherein it accused the Appellate Body of engaging in ultra vires actions (acting beyond its powers under the mandate) and obiter dicta.
It has pointed out errors in the interpretation of WTO Agreements. It has complaints against errors by Appellate Body concerned with antidumping, countervailing duties, technical barriers to Trade and safeguard tariffs. Notably, Lighthizer used to represent the steel industry which sought tariff protection through trade remedies. USA's trade remedies to the tune of 20-70 percent (by import coverage) in the steel sector were subject to a formal WTO dispute during 1999-2019. The USTR Report is available at: https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/Report_on_the_Appellate_Body_of_the_World_Trade_Organization.pdf
Significantly, filing of appeals has not stopped. Even USA has been filing appeals. Most recently, it notified to the Dispute Settlement Body on 26 October, 2020 of its decision to appeal the Dispute Resolution Panel report in the case brought by China in “United States — Tariff Measures on Certain Goods from China”.
On October 27, 2020, WTO released its notification along with the communication from USA, addressed to the Chairperson of the Dispute
Settlement Body which has been circulated to Members at the request of the delegation of the United States. The communication reads: "Pursuant to Article 16 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of
Disputes (DSU), the United States hereby notifies the Dispute Settlement Body of its decision to
appeal issues of law covered in the report of the Panel in United States – Tariff Measures on Certain
Goods from China (WT/DS543/R & WT/DS543/R/Add.1) and legal interpretations developed by the
Panel.
At this time, no division of the Appellate Body can be established to hear this appeal in accordance
with DSU Article 17.1. The United States will confer with China so the parties may determine the
way forward in this dispute." The Dispute Resolution Panel report was circulated to WTO members on 15 September, 2020.
The report observed that "Under Article 3.8 of the DSU, in cases where there is an infringement of the obligations
assumed under a covered agreement, the action is considered prima facie to constitute a case of
nullification or impairment. The Panel concludes that, to the extent that the measures at issue are
inconsistent with certain provisions of the GATT 1994, they have nullified or impaired benefits
accruing to China under that agreement within the meaning of Article XXIII:1(a) of the GATT 1994.
8.4." It further states: "Pursuant to Article 19.1 of the DSU, the Panel recommends that the United States bring its
measures into conformity with its obligations under the GATT 1994." The 66 page long report is available at:https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/543r_e.pdf alonwith a Addendum to the Panel's Report which is available at: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/543r_a_e.pdf
Whenever it becomes functional again, the Appellate Body can uphold, modify or reverse the legal findings and conclusions of such Dispute Resolution Panels like it did during January 1, 1995- December 10, 2019. The Appellate Body Reports, once adopted by the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), must be accepted by the parties to the dispute.
Gopal Krishna