UNITED NATIONS – Greece has given the European Union the middle finger. And the Greeks are by no means alone.
From Scotland to Spain, from France’s National Front to the U.K. Independence Party and Italy’s Northern League, people across Europe prefer their national identities to the sovereignty-eating corpocracy of the EU. They yearn for an ancient heritage rather than a bloodless entity invented by somebody else.
Yet, just as everyone inside the European Union clamors for the exits, President Obama and his fellow travelers want to submerge U.S. sovereignty in a Pacific Union. That is the reality of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), also known as Obamatrade. One of the largest international compacts in the history of the United States, the TPP spans 12 countries on four continents – and it promises to grow and encompass other nations.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., warns that Obamatrade will force the United States into a version of the European Union. “This is far more than a trade agreement, but creates a self-governing and self-perpetuating commission with extraordinary implications for American workers and American sovereignty,” Sessions said after reading the text of the agreement.
“It is a creating of an economic union. The Congressional Research Service said it is a wide-ranging political and economic partnership that is created where the sultan of Brunei gets one vote. The president of the United States gets one vote. Twelve countries – they have the ability to add other treaties and pass them. They have the ability to deal with climate issues, wage issues and environmental issues. There’s just no doubt about that,” Sessions said.
The European Union was sold to the public as a customs union to streamline trade across national borders. But it took on a life of its own, generating rules that applied to not only cross-border commerce, but all economic activity within and between member states. National parliaments were stripped of powers that had been relegated to unelected Eurocrats in Brussels.
Similarly, Obamatrade establishes a supranational Pacific Commission that will generate regulations and enforce them. Member states that don’t comply will be subject to sanctions. It will also oversee the expansion of the partnership to take in more nations.
The elites of both Republican and Democratic parties have pursued so-called “free trade” agreements in order to set ever more binding rules for a deracinated international economic order. The Trans-Pacific Partnership and its sister Trans-Atlantic agreement are the capstones of this decades-long project.
But not all “partners” follow the rules, nor do they share the same vision of a post-nationalist global order.
According to Obama, China has already made inquiries about joining TPP. Once inside, China would be the 800-pound gorilla in the tent.
The U.S., having surrendered its sovereignty to a Pacific Commission controlled by others, would soon find itself dancing to China’s tune.
