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Gold/Mining/Energy : Euro Impact on Gold, USD ... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: banco$ who wrote (100)	12/1/1998 11:21:00 PM
From: banco$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 289

Did the New York Times establish a position on MAI, Nov. 28th. The newspaper appears to have revealed its position within an article concerning N.G.O.'s (non-governmental organizations) and their relationship to war powers of governments. The Times did not mention the agreement by name, but it's unmistakable, and U.S. newspapers seem to go out of their way to avoid discussing it. Recall that the NAFTA passed by a very narrow margin, and crucial information was left unreported until after the vote. Earlier this year, Preamble's extensive bibliography cited only a couple letters to the editor appearing in the Times, meaning the paper did not feel the MAI was among "All the News That's Fit to Print" as they say, so democracy is a "problem" according to the Times. I will post if any searches that show the paper covered MAI to date. (Just looked, maybe this one from Preamble's bibliography, but reporting seems to fall very short: "Uchitelle, Louis. "International Business — Global Tug, National Tether; As Companies Look Overseas, Governments Hold the Strings." The New York Times, April 30, 1998, p. D1.") "Military Intervention isn't the only problem posed by the nongovernmental groups. Stephen J. Korbrin of the Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies wrote in Foreign Policy this fall how a little known N.G.O. called the Preamble Collaberative mobilized some 600 other private organizations against a planned agreement among 29 industrialized governments to facilitate foreign investment around the world. Mr. Korbin said that the projections underlying the Preamble's charge - that the agreement gave business too much power - were "barely credible worse-case scenarios." Mark Weisbrot, the Preamble's research director, maintains that "the agreement would have given foreign investors new rights against governments without imposing any additional obligations." (New York Times, 28 November 1998, pg. A21) Preamble site: preamble.org ps I am not not interested in other info. Preamble carries on its site in case anyone visits that MAI source. I am interested in the MAI and related arrangements concerning trade and financial architecture.

To: banco$ who wrote (100)	12/7/1998 8:30:00 PM
From: banco$	Respond to of 289

Paris, December 5 "OECD Suspends Talks on Investment Treaty" (the MAI) Bloomberg News PARIS - Negotiations on a treaty setting rules for international investment have been suspended after four years marked by protests from environmental activists, unions and governments, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Friday. The suspension was decided at a meeting of trade officials from some of the organization's 29 members Thursday, the organization said. The end of the talks on the so-called Multilateral Agreement on Investment had been expected since France and then Australia pulled out, saying the proposed draft treaty gave too much power to corporations at the expense of governments. ''Negotiations on the MAI are no longer taking place,'' the organization said. The Paris-based agency coordinates policy among the world's most developed economies. Officials of the organization agreed they would continue to discuss setting some rules on protecting overseas investment but would not be attempting anything as ambitious as the proposed Multilateral Agreement. No special meetings will be set for those talks, they said. (International Herald Tribune)