http://www.senser.com/ Global rules, human rights, worker rights, women's rights, trade, World Trade Organization, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Nike, Reebok, Vietnam, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Sullivan Principles en-us hrfwtoo@yahoo.com hrfwtoo@yahoo.com Robert A. Senser http://www.senser.com/008-01.htm The editorial writers of the New York Times should arrange to take a refresher course on trade from Dani Rodrik, economics professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School. In the meantime, they can make do with a stern lecture from Rodrik about the flaws in a December 23 Times editorial titled "Trade and Prosperity." http://www.senser.com/008-01.htm The greatest free speech case in history Š thatÕs what Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, calls his groupÕs initiative against Communist China, the biggest suppresser of free speech in the world. http://www.senser.com/008-01.htm "No mention has been made of the many hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers who labor under dangerous conditions, making toys and many hundreds of other kinds of export products. If lead paint is used, workers are the ones exposed to lead hour after hour In numerous industries, all too often workers are exposed to noxious fumes and dangerous machinery. They are poor migrants from China's countryside, and they endure work days averaging 11 hours, six to seven days a week, to earn take-home pay of $100 or less a month." -- Anita Chan and Jonathan Unger in the December 13 issue of YaleGlobal. http://www.senser.com/008-01.htm "Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world, has many desperate needs. None of its needs surpasses those of the country's impoverished workers -- men, women, and children, whose elementary rights are flagrantly ignored." http://www.senser.com/008-01.htm On January 1, 2008, the World Trade Organization is wishing itself a Happy New Year by celebrating the 60th anniversary of the multilateral trading system, which first saw day in 1948 as the fledgling General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). http://www.senser.com/008-01.htm The Consumer's Union is far from alone in taking an insular approach. So does the New York Times. http://www.senser.com/008-01.htm Thanks to extraordinary protections granted under intergovernmental rules -- including the just approved U.S. free trade agreement with Peru -- the world's top 10 pharmaceutical multinationals have a near-monopoly in the sale and distribution of drugs across the world. As a result, the pharmaceutical industry is denying medicines to many millions of poor people throughout the world, Oxfam International charges in a carefully documented report "Investing for Life." http://www.senser.com/008-01.htm The grass in the blogging world often appears greener, and there are times when IÕm ready to cross over immediately. At the beginning of December, for example, I was anxious to write and circulate the second story in this issue. Here was an innovative idea to use trade laws to bring down Communist ChinaÕs information barriers, and a blog seemed to be the way to distribute it quickly and effectively