WERU News Report 11/13/13




WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Audio Archives show

Summary: Producer/Host: Amy Browne Wikileaks today made public one section of a highly secretive trade agreement currently under negotiation. The Trans-Pacific Partnership –or TPP has been called “NAFTA on steroids”. It is being negotiated by 12 countries, with a combined gross domestic product totally 40% of the world’s economy. Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison (D) has called it “largest corporate power grab you never heard of.” Only 3 people from each participating country have been allowed to see the full agreement, but wikileaks managed to obtain a copy of intellectual properties rights section. WikiLeaks’ Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange stated: “The US administration is aggressively pushing the TPP through the US legislative process on the sly.” The advanced draft of the Intellectual Property Rights Chapter, published by WikiLeaks on 13 November 2013, provides the public with the fullest opportunity so far to familiarise themselves with the details and implications of the TPP.” The non-partisan citizen advocacy group Public Citizen has analyzed the document, and determined that the “Leaked Documents Reveal Obama Administration (is) Push(ing) for Internet Freedom Limits, (and) Terms That Raise Drug Prices” We spoke with Public Citizen’s Peter Maybarduk earlier today, to learn more about that, and what else the leaked documents reveal: