IN THIS ISSUE
HOW
TO LOSE A WAR
By Walden Bello
CRISIS IN WTO TALKS
By Aileen Kwa
SQUARE PEGS IN ROUND HOLES
By Shalmali Guttal
The end of Taliban rule could "come gradually area by area, or very suddenly" according to UK foreign secretary Jack Straw. That's hardly the kind of talk that will rally the troops. Indeed, it's the kind of talk that confirms one's sneaking suspicion that the US and the UK may have badly misjudged their opportunistic adventure into Afghanistan. They don't seem to have a plan or an exit strategy and, in any case, what would winning mean? In their view, perhaps, nothing short of an end to Islamic fundamentalism? Is that what they want? And isn't a Holy War precisely what bin Laden has been angling for? In this issue of Focus on Trade, Walden Bello argues that the war against bin Laden is a battle between "spirit and matter" and that, by entering into that logic, the US has "stumbled into bin Laden's preferred terrain of battle."
Aileen Kwa's report on the state of WTO negotiations in Geneva just three
weeks before the Fourth Ministerial in Doha will no doubt evoke a feeling
of d?j? vu for all those who followed the preparations for Seattle. As one
developing country trade negotiator remarked just a few weeks ago, the situation
is worse now than it was during the preparations for Seattle, an assessment
that makes perfect sense after reading Shalmali Guttal's "Square Pegs
in Round Holes: The WTO and Democracy" where she describes how the bias
of the WTO favors the rich countries in everything from the content of the
agreements to the selection of the chair for its committees.
Focus-on-Trade is a regular electronic bulletin providing updates and analysis of trends in regional and world trade and finance, with an emphasis on analysis of these trends from an integrative, interdisciplinary viewpoint that is sensitive not only to economic issues, but also to ecological, political, gender and social issues. Your contributions and comments are welcome. Please contact us c/o CUSRI, Wisit Prachuabmoh Building, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330 Thailand. Tel: (66 2) 218 7363/7364/7365, Fax: (66 2) 255 9976, E-Mail: admin@focusweb.org, Website: http://focusweb.org. Focus on the Global South is an autonomous programme of policy research and action of the Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute (CUSRI) based in Bangkok.