On Sun, 3 Aug 2003 06:03:38 +0900, you wrote: >>murdoch wrote: >> >> > I reitterate my suggestion that folks in other countries may wish to >> > consider legal action through the WTO as a way to get the U.S. to wake >> > up and pay damages, if you think you've been wronged by a global >> > warming related problem. If it turns out that you're correct, it >> > could be a way to get the ball rolling on curbing U.S. emissions, >> > whether anyone in the U.S. likes it or not. >> >> We Americans have an annoying habit of simply ignoring any >>ruling that goes against us, or clamoring that issues like global >>warming are based >>upon "junk science". With that in mind, how can a poor country >>enforce its will against us when we're so economically dominant and >>militarily >>powerful?
>> As long as we maintain that kind of mentality, it will be hard >>to make progress on some of these issues. We've abrogated treaties >>(such as the ABM treaty) and ignore free trade rulings against us at our >>whim. >>We don't want to participate in the International Criminal Court >>because we're afraid our soldiers will be prosecuted for war crimes. We >>invade >>sovereign nations as we see fit, boasting loudly about "democracy" >>and "freedom" when we're really sending our soldiers in to stabilize oil >>prices, >>protect our currency and settle a score with one of twelve dozen >>despots we find particularly irksome in the political realm. >A WTO action might have some interesting side-effects though, >whatever the outcome, get some people thinking, seeing things from a >different point of view maybe. There's also the option of not suing >the US as such but taking action against individual corporations. >Isn't there some such move against Exxon-Mobile? If not, why not? I guess my view is this. While I empathize with some of the basics of Robert's post, I'm not sure that it's entirely true that we in the U.S. have been able to get away with ignoring all important Trade decisions. Surely, I could be wrong. My sense of this is based on occassionally seeing mention of these slow-moving trade disputes in the news over the years. Sometimes we're complaining, sometimes it's someone else. But since we have put ourselves in a spot where we really need trade to continue, can it really be true that we always get away with ignoring all important WTO rulings against us? Sometimes I"m surprised when I read of these disputes in the news, because it looks as though we're actually having to take seriously the decisions of the WTO, particularly when there's something that we ourselves want. I think there must be times when we take at least a shot in the arm over this or that matter. When there's something we want, and where we have much to sell... to folks who have the leverage of tarrifs and bans, then maybe we can be pressured. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/sO0ANB/LIdGAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
