Tyrants and Traitors: The “Evolution by Stealth” of a North American Union

[reprehensor]

Tyrants and Traitors: The “Evolution by Stealth” of a North American Union

By: Andrew G. Marshall

As a young person in Canada, who wants to live in a free, democratic country, where I have embedded rights and freedoms, I feel that there is nothing more important right now than to find out and spread information regarding the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), which was signed into agreement by the Liberal government in 2005, under then Prime Minister Paul Martin, with President Bush and then-Mexican President Vicente Fox. This agreement was signed shortly after the creation of the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America. This task force is a tri-national grouping of think tanks and interest groups, represented in the United States by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), in Mexico by the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, and in Canada by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) - formerly known as the Business Council on National Issues (BCNI)...

In this report, written by the three countries’ respective SPP ministers within government, stated, “we are pleased to inform you that on June 15, Ministers officially launched the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) that you announced in Cancun”. They continue, “Our three governments recognize that private sector involvement is key to enhancing North America's competitive position in global markets and is the driving force behind innovation and growth. As such, the creation of the NACC provides a voice and a formal role for the private sector. The regular meetings between ministers, senior officials, and the NACC, complemented by ongoing consultations with other interested stakeholders, will help ensure that the SPP remains a cornerstone of North American cooperation”. This means that corporate representatives meet regularly with our elected government officials. The Security and Prosperity Ministers who signed this report were the same American Ministers who signed the previous one, namely, Michael Chertoff and Condoleezza Rice, and on the Canadian side, with the newly elected Canadian Conservative government, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Stockwell Day, Minister of Industry Maxine Mernier and Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. Meanwhile, former Industry Minister in the Liberal government, David Emerson, (from the Canadian Council of Chief Executives), was asked by Prime Minister Harper to cross the aisle and join the Conservative cabinet, where he now sits as Minister of International Trade, where his main first priority was resolving the softwood lumber issue, which the Task Force report clearly indicated was a sour spot for them. On resolving the softwood lumber issue, Emerson stated that those who opposed his proposition were “anti-American”. I’m also sure that it was simply a coincidence that while at the CCCE and before going into Ministerial Positions in the Canadian government, David Emerson was President and CEO of Canfor Corporation, Canada’s largest manufacturer of softwood lumber.

The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) is run out of the US Chamber of Commerce. It is made up of corporate representatives of all three countries, and the Canadian representatives include the CEOs of Manulife Financial, Power Corporation of Canada, Ganong Bros. Limited, Suncor Energy, Canadian National Railway Company, Linamar Corporation, Bell Canada Enterprises, Canfor Corporation (the company David Emerson used to be CEO of before going into government), The Home Depot Company and the Bank of Nova Scotia. The American NACC members include top representatives from the Campbell Soup Company, Chevron Corporation, Ford Motor Company, FedEx Corporation, General Electric Company, General Motors Corporation, Kansas City Southern, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Merck & Co., Inc., Mittal Steel USA, New York Life Insurance Company, The Procter & Gamble Company, UPS, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Whirlpool Corporation. These are some of the biggest corporations, not just in the United States, but in the world, literally advising our elected representatives on how to properly “integrate” our countries to form the North American “Community” (Union) by 2010...

How it works is that the agendas and initiatives under the SPP, which literally cover every aspect of our society, from integration of trade laws, economies, defense, (and with that foreign policy), emergency response, education, transportation, immigration, health and environmental regulations, resources, energy, law enforcement, intelligence, ID cards and a single currency, all these initiatives are not listed as being under a “treaty”, because a treaty would have to go through the three countries’ respective Parliaments and Congressional bodies, and therefore be subjected to examination and debate, and thus, become public. So, the participants call SPP a “dialogue”, and in actuality work through merging the bureaucracies of our three countries, working through the different branches of government where they propose different initiatives, which, in turn, the Executive branch (Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet/ White House and Presidential Administration) pushes and approves, stating that they are “Canadian”, or “American” initiatives, but in reality are “harmonizing” all the changes to be integrated with all three North American countries, to more easily merge us into a North American Union, secretly and without the public being aware. The idea is that they want to move this process of integration so far along without public knowledge that by the time the public becomes aware, remember they state that we must be in this “North American Community” (Union), by 2010, at which time it will be far too late for the public to oppose it, as it will have already become a reality. The ‘No-fly’ list is just an example of this process...

Continued...
http://www.911blogger.com/node/10664

[eridani]

1. Comment from The Guardian--

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/linda_mcquaig/2007/08/sppeak_no_evil.html

Nothing better illustrates the sorry state of progressive politics in North America than the fact that opposition to one of the most anti-democratic developments in recent memory is being spearheaded by Lou Dobbs.

The cantankerous CNN anchor is of course an odd political mix: on one hand, he's a fierce rightwing advocate for a muscular US foreign policy aimed at crushing "Islamofascism"; on the other, he's a populist who at times delivers a refreshing rant against the unchecked power of big business.

In this second role, he's used his dinner hour show to mount something of a crusade against the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a far-reaching treaty currently being negotiated by the United States, Canada and Mexico, with the aim of integrating the three economies more fully.

Dobbs's concern no doubt springs from his phobia that Mexicans will overrun the United States, or that dangerous Canadian ideas about providing medical care for all will be forced down the throats of freedom loving Americans.

But he's correct on at least one important point: the SPP is being negotiated with input exclusively from the business elites in the three countries. Given the wide scope of areas under negotiation - national security, energy, trade - surely there's a need for a much wider consultation involving the public.

Since the SPP initiative was officially launched in March 2005, the public has been effectively shut out of the process. There's been little awareness, let alone public debate, about what's going on. The key advisory body in the SPP is an all business group called the North American Competitiveness Council, made up of 30 CEOs from the United States, Canada and Mexico.

It's fine to have input from business. But why only business? Corporations have interests that aren't necessarily the same as the broader public interest. In fact, these two sets of interest are often in conflict.

(etc)

[reprehensor]

2. Corporations... and the Pentagon.

The level of integration on multiple levels is staggering. Primarily economic, but as Marshall points out, there are groups working to effect perception of this integration on the intellectual level as well;

“Develop a network of centers for North American studies”, and they start by stating, “The European Union provides substantial funding for EU centers in fifteen universities in the United States, as well as twelve Jean Monnet Chairs. The U.S. Department of Education provides similar grants to support language and international studies outside North America, but not within North America. That should change”, which is a clear indication that this is a move towards a North American Union, whether or not they call it that, and they further recommend, “that the three governments open a competition and provide grants to universities in each of the three countries to promote courses, education, and research on North America and assist elementary and secondary schools in teaching about North America”, and that “a student summit should be held periodically in each of the three countries”.

But what is most egregious is that you are not invited. I am not invited. Your Union is not invited. Your opinion is not required. This is NORAM for the corporations, by the corporations, and enforced by the military. And yet, quietly, offices are being set up in Canada, the US and Mexico within their governments, regardless of political stripe, to push through any and all recommendations, which is going to include an Amero, by the looks of it. Perhaps this will be precipitated by an economic collapse to make the medicine taste better, I don't know.

What I do know is that the US Military Industrial Complex is very well represented at SPP meetings, as well as the derivative meetings. Last September, reps from all three countries met in secret at the Banff Springs Hotel to slice up the NORAM pie, some notes were leaked from the meeting, revealing some attendees;

George Schulz
Gen. Peter Pace
Admiral Timothy J. Keating, Commander NORAD/NORTHCOM
Ryan Henry, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

Other reps include;

Caryn Hollis, Principal Director of Western Hemisphere Affairs in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs in the Pentagon
Maj. General Mark A. Volcheff, Director of Plans, Policy & Strategy for NORAD

So beyond the facilitation of corporate desire, we also see that the military establishment and its partners in the private sector will be working hand in hand to push the National Security State into a North American Security State;

"The terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11th, 2001, and the ensuing disruption of North American commerce and travel have served as a reminder of the vulnerability to terrorism our three interdependent nations share. The ability of our societies to persevere and adapt to the 21st century security environment will depend on the degree to which we can extend our fruitful collaboration in the economic sphere to the domain of North American security. Future security arrangements need to be adaptive as well as anticipatory to provide an enduring environment within which the economic and cultural dynamism of North America can be sustained."

- Quote from the abbreviated agenda of the "North American Forum"
http://judicialwatch.org/6123.shtml

Sorry about the Judicial Watch link, but like the Guardian article said, nobody is talking about this utterly un-democratic steamroller in the corporate press.

Maybe this Canadian politician is correct;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1g0qGzcpc0

[eridani]

3. Put all this stuff in the research section. pls? K, thx n/t

[TheWatcher]

4. And yet the American people and many at DU continue to sleep, giggle, scoff and claim this doesn't

exist.

Keep Watching Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader, munching your cheese fries, and feeling good and powerful about how swell everything is in Pleasantville, America.

Our time is just about up.