By Thomas Mc Donagh and Manuel Pérez-Rocha* “..I mentioned the great growth in their economic power, political influence and corrupting action. That is the reason for the alarm with which world opinion should react in the face of a reality of this kind. The power of these corporations is so great that it goes beyond …
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Source: Alainet.org September, 2014 By Aldo Orellana López and Thomas Mc Donagh* Since the beginning of the new millennium, Latin America has been at the forefront of resistance to the imposition of global and regional free trade policies. The most important victory was the defeat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). It was …
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Source: Cbc.ca September 26, 2014 Negotiators finish 5 years of CETA talks, but uncertain ratification, political sales job lie ahead ANALYSIS5:00 AM ETJanyce McGregor, CBC News Prime Minister Stephen Harper may be all smiles during his summit with European Union leaders in Ottawa Friday, as they celebrate the end of five years of tough trade negotiations on …
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Read and download the document by clicking  here This is a document prepared by the Working Group on Investment of the Americas which includes people from several organizations and networks seeking to ensure that international trade and investment is based on social justice and respect for the environment. The objective of this document is to contribute to the …
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Theecologist.org | Thomas Mc Donagh | 17th February 2014 The TPP trade deal would expand a system of corporate rights and private courts that threaten progress on some of our most urgent environmental issues, writes Thomas McDonagh. “In Costa Rica, mining firm Infinito Gold is suing the government for over$1bnfollowing the rejectionof an open-pit mining project that threatened …
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Source: Globalarbitrationreview.com Kyriaki Karadelis • Friday, 28 February 2014 A Spanish company is bringing an UNCITRAL claim against Bolivia over the nationalisation of the state’s main electricity transmission grid on May Day two years ago.

Source: Miningwatch.ca Thursday, February 13, 2014 Source: Blue Planet Project – Common Frontiers – Council of Canadians – MiningWatch Canada (Ottawa/Toronto) Canadian organizations are disappointed that Calgary-based Infinito Goldhas lodged a long-threatened investor-state lawsuit against the Costa Rican government in the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The company is contesting Costa Rica’s …
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Source: Stuff.co.nz 14/02/2014 OPINION: The Trans-Pacific Partnership covers a lot of non-trade matters, so why is there a reluctance to discuss the overall balance of costs and benefits, asks Simon Terry. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is very different from past trade deals and the differences matter. It bundles together standard gains from trade with a wide range of …
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Source: Fpif.org With the U.S. Congress deadlocked over trade, Chile’s progressive new government may be able to win new protections and increase transparency in the TPP talks. President Barack Obama’s failure to win congressional support for “fast track” trade authority has weakened the hands of U.S.  trade officials as they attempt to finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership. …
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Source: Vcc.columbia.edu Perspectives on topical foreign direct investment issues by the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment   The “spaghetti bowl” of IIAs: The end of history? by Joachim Karl*   In his famous book, ”The End of History and the Last Man”, published in 1992, Francis Fukuyama argued that Western democracy represents the end point of …
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