interview with Antonia Juhahz, project director at the International Forum on Globalization ("http://ifg.org/") and co-author of _Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World Is Possible_.
She speaks about the implications of the recent appointment of Robert Zoellick, formerly of the neo-conservative Project for the New American Century, and currently serving as U.S. Trade Representative, to the number two slot at the State Department. (See his bio at "http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/zoellick-bio.html")
Ms. Johahz is quoted on the Common Dreams site ("http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0111-12.htm") as saying that this appointment "demonstrates the ascendancy of corporate globalization policy in the Bush administration.... Zoellick has been quietly but aggressively advancing the U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area. The Middle East, insulated from such agreements because of its oil wealth, has now been given a clear warning with the invasion of Iraq.... Zoellick is, after all, the man who shamelessly declared barely one week after 9/11 that the administration would be 'countering terror with trade' and then pushed through a series of stalled and unpopular trade agreements. Zoellick, a former member of the Project for a New American Century, ... can be counted upon to aggressively pursue the Bush administration's radical economic agenda from within the State Department."
[Robert Zoellick was a signatory to the 1998 letter to President Clinton advocating "removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power" and urging Clinton to "act now to end the threat of weapons of mass destruction against the U.S." Other signatories included Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, James Woolsey, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, Elliott Abrams and Donald Rumsfeld. See: http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm]
During the interview, Antonia Juhahz also speaks about how international lending institutions like the World Bank control the economies and policies of "developing countries" around the world and, along with the U.S., are now intent on doing the same in the Middle East, which has thus far been insulated from such policies due to its oil wealth.
(See also Naomi Klein's _Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate_ on this same subject.)
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