10-04-2019, 02:40 PM
BIT and Investor-State Dispute Settlement
When I started my investigation on how the third world is enslaved through the IMF and World Bank, TTIP was a controversial issue. Some links in this post refer to Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Treaty (TTIP), but this isn’t very relevant to this post.
This post is mostly about the effect of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) and the arbitration of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) of the World Bank. This gives companies the possibility to “sue” states, so they can get “compensation” if (democratically elected) parliaments make laws that they don’t like. This is the corner stone of modern day colonialism.
RESERVE REQUIREMENTS BANKS
American banks only have to back up investments (or loans) with a cash reserve ratio of 10%. This means with an American savings account for 10,000 dollar, the banks can invest an additional 90,000 dollar. In the European Union the reserve requirement is even lower with 1%, so European financial institutions can even invest 990,000 for 10,000 dollar. Great Britain has a 0% cash reserve ratio (so British banks can invest without limit).
On the other hand: Brazil has a reserve requirement of 45%, so with 10,000 dollar Brazilian banks can invest “only”12,222 dollar. In 1978 Turkey had a reserve requirement of 62.7%, so with 10,000 dollar it could only invest 5,949 dollar.
EXPLOITATION OF THE THIRD WORLD
The colonial forces still decide how the colonies are exploited, under the guise of international law.
A nice example is the protective measures by the European Union. With tax money the European industry is supported, so that the third world cannot compete with the EU. The EU lets the third world pay with import duties so the third world has to pay to export to the Euro zone. Here’s a description of how the EU uses protective measures against the third world: http://web.archive.org/web/2013020809311...asures.php
As a logical result these third world "banana republics" get financial problems, so need to borrow money from the World Bank and IMF to be able to make end meet, for which in return they do exactly what they are told. So their countries can be plundered even better.
One of the best tricks are trade agreements between countries, at the discretion of the white judges. From 1959 on, BITs became ever more popular; in the early years these BITs were based on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1947. In 1995 came the next big development in BITs with the General Agreement on Tariffs in Services (GATS), for investments in services. In March 2001, the WTO would design a system to replace democracy with article VIA of General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The GATS Disputes Panel decides if a law is “more burdensome than necessary”, in which case the WTO can simply set it aside.
From the end of the 1980s on there was some kind of explosion in BITs; no longer only between developed and developing countries, but also among and between developed countries, to exclude developing countries. Developing countries got forced to agree on BITs, because without it they couldn’t export, while foreign investors take all the money.
For the history of international treaties for investment see the story of Vandevelde from 2005: http://jilp.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/volume-12-1/van5.pdf
In the following story Anghie names exploitation of developing countries under the guise of international law "positivism": http://web.archive.org/web/2019051919070...ialism.pdf
WTO, TABD, TRIPS
Before transitory heads of state (like presidents) meet at the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) provides them with the details of their agenda. TABD pairs influential politicians to powerful CEOs. The corporate directors give the politicians a grade on “the scorecard”. In this way big corporations rule over politrics.
One TABD proposal would reverse the $5 billion judgment against Exxon for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. TABD’s Products Liability Group that, under the guise of eliminating “non-tariff” trade barriers, takes aim at American citizens’ right to sue corporations.
The WTO’s penal system to keep the colonies in slavery is the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The USA unilaterally exempts itself from TRIPS, so US retailers can still import cheap drugs. The WTO requires, on penalty of sanctions, that every nation pass laws granting patents on genetically modified seeds and drugs. When Thailand tried to register traditional medicines as intellectual property, the US Trade Representative wrote that this would “hamper medical research”, so Thailand got nothing.
Goldman Sachs chaired TABD when Peter Sutherland was president of WTO, and Sutherland went to Goldman Sachs after he left WTO.
ISDS
Based on the arbitration of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) multinationals can sue countries if they think their investments yield too little in return. The effect is that when countries take protective measures for environment, health, workers' rights or human rights, they can be sued by multinationals. If subsidies are granted or if subsidies are dropped, countries can be sued. As far as democratically elected parliaments have something to say, this is even further limited by the ISDS. It is the World Bank that decides on these disputes, in other words: by the ISDS arbitrations, the bankers (the biggest investors) become even more powerful at the expense of the taxpayer.
First the legal team of an investor looks for the most advantageous Treaty and arbitral tribunal for the claims that they were disadvantaged by a country. The ISDS disputes are judged by 3 arbitrators, of which both parties choose 1 arbitrator, who together choose the President of the arbitration tribunal. In order to give the arbitrators the leverage to judge arbitrarily, many treaties are rather vague. 69% of the arbitrators come from North America or Western Europe.
The most indicted country among ISDS is Argentina for hundreds of millions to billions, for the measures it took in 2001, the crisis in Greece was directed by the IMF and the World Bank and Greece was also indicted repeatedly. Most lawyers involved claim an hourly rate of over 500 dollars.
The next quote makes clear how “independent” the ISDS arbitration is, from a lawyer that bragged:
THE COLONIAL WORLD BANK
It is the Board of Governors, in which all 189 countries represented, that makes the decisions in the World Bank. The catch is that these countries have a voting power based on their economic status. This means that countries that became rich by plundering the colonies now reward themselves with extra voting power.
The voting ratio depends on the matter concerned: 1) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBPRD), 2) International Development Association (IDA), 3) International Finance Corporation (IFC) and 4) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
I have made a sum of the total voting power for 11 Western European countries with the USA, Canada and Australia. This shows that these 14 countries (with less than 15% of the world's population) have 56% of the voting power on whole.
On MIGA these 14 countries account for a whopping 88% of the voting power. Also striking is that the English speaking USA, GB, Canada and Australia - together account for 36% of the total and 69% for MIGA.
KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS
I must be very proud that my home country the Netherlands not only had a starring role in the slave trade, but in 2014 was first place in the whole wide world in claims for the ISDS. Theoretically, a company only has to open a mailbox to use Dutch tax law and BITs.
The following advertisement of my “favourite” law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, shows that the Netherlands is an ideal country to evade taxes and sue countries based on the many beneficial BITs for the rich and corrupt: http://www.debrauw.com/wp-content/upload...ergen-.pdf
When I started my investigation on how the third world is enslaved through the IMF and World Bank, TTIP was a controversial issue. Some links in this post refer to Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Treaty (TTIP), but this isn’t very relevant to this post.
This post is mostly about the effect of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) and the arbitration of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) of the World Bank. This gives companies the possibility to “sue” states, so they can get “compensation” if (democratically elected) parliaments make laws that they don’t like. This is the corner stone of modern day colonialism.
RESERVE REQUIREMENTS BANKS
American banks only have to back up investments (or loans) with a cash reserve ratio of 10%. This means with an American savings account for 10,000 dollar, the banks can invest an additional 90,000 dollar. In the European Union the reserve requirement is even lower with 1%, so European financial institutions can even invest 990,000 for 10,000 dollar. Great Britain has a 0% cash reserve ratio (so British banks can invest without limit).
On the other hand: Brazil has a reserve requirement of 45%, so with 10,000 dollar Brazilian banks can invest “only”12,222 dollar. In 1978 Turkey had a reserve requirement of 62.7%, so with 10,000 dollar it could only invest 5,949 dollar.
EXPLOITATION OF THE THIRD WORLD
The colonial forces still decide how the colonies are exploited, under the guise of international law.
A nice example is the protective measures by the European Union. With tax money the European industry is supported, so that the third world cannot compete with the EU. The EU lets the third world pay with import duties so the third world has to pay to export to the Euro zone. Here’s a description of how the EU uses protective measures against the third world: http://web.archive.org/web/2013020809311...asures.php
As a logical result these third world "banana republics" get financial problems, so need to borrow money from the World Bank and IMF to be able to make end meet, for which in return they do exactly what they are told. So their countries can be plundered even better.
One of the best tricks are trade agreements between countries, at the discretion of the white judges. From 1959 on, BITs became ever more popular; in the early years these BITs were based on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1947. In 1995 came the next big development in BITs with the General Agreement on Tariffs in Services (GATS), for investments in services. In March 2001, the WTO would design a system to replace democracy with article VIA of General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The GATS Disputes Panel decides if a law is “more burdensome than necessary”, in which case the WTO can simply set it aside.
From the end of the 1980s on there was some kind of explosion in BITs; no longer only between developed and developing countries, but also among and between developed countries, to exclude developing countries. Developing countries got forced to agree on BITs, because without it they couldn’t export, while foreign investors take all the money.
For the history of international treaties for investment see the story of Vandevelde from 2005: http://jilp.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/volume-12-1/van5.pdf
In the following story Anghie names exploitation of developing countries under the guise of international law "positivism": http://web.archive.org/web/2019051919070...ialism.pdf
WTO, TABD, TRIPS
Before transitory heads of state (like presidents) meet at the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) provides them with the details of their agenda. TABD pairs influential politicians to powerful CEOs. The corporate directors give the politicians a grade on “the scorecard”. In this way big corporations rule over politrics.
One TABD proposal would reverse the $5 billion judgment against Exxon for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. TABD’s Products Liability Group that, under the guise of eliminating “non-tariff” trade barriers, takes aim at American citizens’ right to sue corporations.
The WTO’s penal system to keep the colonies in slavery is the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The USA unilaterally exempts itself from TRIPS, so US retailers can still import cheap drugs. The WTO requires, on penalty of sanctions, that every nation pass laws granting patents on genetically modified seeds and drugs. When Thailand tried to register traditional medicines as intellectual property, the US Trade Representative wrote that this would “hamper medical research”, so Thailand got nothing.
Goldman Sachs chaired TABD when Peter Sutherland was president of WTO, and Sutherland went to Goldman Sachs after he left WTO.
ISDS
Based on the arbitration of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) multinationals can sue countries if they think their investments yield too little in return. The effect is that when countries take protective measures for environment, health, workers' rights or human rights, they can be sued by multinationals. If subsidies are granted or if subsidies are dropped, countries can be sued. As far as democratically elected parliaments have something to say, this is even further limited by the ISDS. It is the World Bank that decides on these disputes, in other words: by the ISDS arbitrations, the bankers (the biggest investors) become even more powerful at the expense of the taxpayer.
First the legal team of an investor looks for the most advantageous Treaty and arbitral tribunal for the claims that they were disadvantaged by a country. The ISDS disputes are judged by 3 arbitrators, of which both parties choose 1 arbitrator, who together choose the President of the arbitration tribunal. In order to give the arbitrators the leverage to judge arbitrarily, many treaties are rather vague. 69% of the arbitrators come from North America or Western Europe.
The most indicted country among ISDS is Argentina for hundreds of millions to billions, for the measures it took in 2001, the crisis in Greece was directed by the IMF and the World Bank and Greece was also indicted repeatedly. Most lawyers involved claim an hourly rate of over 500 dollars.
The next quote makes clear how “independent” the ISDS arbitration is, from a lawyer that bragged:
Quote:I've got a case right now in front of [a leading international arbitrator]. Every time I go to a conference, he's there. We read each other's books. My opponent on the case ... well, he hasn't got a clue [...]. Between all the partners in our group [...] we've appeared before every single arbitrator worth knowing. Not just once, but multiple times in the past few years and we have the inside knowledge as a result of that.To ensure that the people do not know what is going on: both the ISDS provisions and TTIP negotiations are done in secret: http://corporateeurope.org/2012/11/chapt...troduction
THE COLONIAL WORLD BANK
It is the Board of Governors, in which all 189 countries represented, that makes the decisions in the World Bank. The catch is that these countries have a voting power based on their economic status. This means that countries that became rich by plundering the colonies now reward themselves with extra voting power.
The voting ratio depends on the matter concerned: 1) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBPRD), 2) International Development Association (IDA), 3) International Finance Corporation (IFC) and 4) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
I have made a sum of the total voting power for 11 Western European countries with the USA, Canada and Australia. This shows that these 14 countries (with less than 15% of the world's population) have 56% of the voting power on whole.
On MIGA these 14 countries account for a whopping 88% of the voting power. Also striking is that the English speaking USA, GB, Canada and Australia - together account for 36% of the total and 69% for MIGA.
KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS
I must be very proud that my home country the Netherlands not only had a starring role in the slave trade, but in 2014 was first place in the whole wide world in claims for the ISDS. Theoretically, a company only has to open a mailbox to use Dutch tax law and BITs.
The following advertisement of my “favourite” law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, shows that the Netherlands is an ideal country to evade taxes and sue countries based on the many beneficial BITs for the rich and corrupt: http://www.debrauw.com/wp-content/upload...ergen-.pdf
The Order of the Garter rules the world: https://www.lawfulpath.com/forum/viewtop...5549#p5549