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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS COMPUTERS READ BRAINWAVES IN TELEPATHIC NEWS SERVICE GLOBAL TAXATION SYSTEM ON THE AGENDA Vt will never happen," was the almost universal response to our first reports on glob- al taxation nearly a decade ago. The folks at the United Nations, however, believe that it will happen—and soon. In fact, another World Conference is being planned for March 18-22, 2002, in Monterrey, Mexico, to consider the recommendations of a spe- cial High Level Panel on Financing for Development, that has been working since the Millennium Summit last year. The preliminary draft report of the panel is now public, and—surprise, surprise—global taxation is among the recommendations. Their report is much more comprehensive than just global taxation; it proposes UN control over all economic activity. The entire report is available at www.un.org/esa/ffd/. At the time, many people dismissed this Millennium Declaration as just more hot air expelled by ego-bloated bureaucrats. In reality, since it was adopted by the heads of state from more than 150 nations, it is carte blanche approval for the United Nations to do whatever it takes to achieve global governance. The report contains 12 major recommendations, ranging from poor countries getting their economic house in order to a global taxing organisation. These include: * assuring that developed countries contribute 0.7 per cent of GDP to development aid for developing countries into a "common pool" for distribution by the UN; * creating a global Economic Security Council, as proposed by the Commission on Global Governance; * creating an International Tax Organization; * establishing an "adequate international tax source", namely, the Tobin Tax on cur- rency exchange and a global tax on carbon (the use of fossil fuels). These four recommendations are only the skeleton of global economic control. Other recommendations also call for "closer coordination" of such institutions as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Development Program, and "partners" from business, civil society and other intergovernmental organisations. Economic Security Council The Commission on Global Governance (CGG) report, "Our Global Neighborhood", devotes more than 40 of its 410 pages (pp. 157-196f) to a detailed discussion of the new Economic Security Council (ESC). It recommends 23 members, selected on a rotating basis, none with veto power and no permanent members, and prescribes the "consensus" process for decisions rather than voting. Under the auspices of this new UN creation would be incorporated all agencies and organisations that have any influence over the international economy. The CGG recommendation goes into considerable detail about incorporating enforcement of environmental treaties into the responsibilities of the new ESC and the World Trade Organization. All the financial exchange mechanisms would fall under the authority of this new entity, a prerequisite to developing a mechanism for collecting global taxes from whatever source. International Tax Organization This proposed new UN organisation is quite ambitious. Presenting it in language that suggests there is some virtue in eliminating "tax competition", the High Level Panel explains all the wonderful benefits such an organisation could provide. It could set international taxing policy, for example, to ensure that everyone is getting taxed "fairly", that socialist countries, whose tax rates run to 70 and even 80 per cent, are not at a com- petitive disadvantage with the United States where the tax rate is substantially lower. It has visions of such policies as requiring a foreign national, who happens to be working in America, to pay income tax in his country of origin on income earned in America. It also has visions of formulating a global income tax. This recommendation includes "information sharing" among nations, coordinated through the United Nations, in order to track economic activity of every person and every business, everywhere. This proposed organisation is on the agenda for the March meeting, along with the other recommendations. This is real—it is not fantasy—and it is being promoted by the world's leaders. (Source: by Henry Lamb, Environmental Conservation Organization, http-//eco.freedom.org/el/20010901/gtax.shtml) Communication via thought waves ani personalised radio stations will chal- lenge traditional news media, according to an American journalism academic. Former New York Times journalist and University of Maryland Dean o Journalism Thomas Kunkel told a confer- ence in Brisbane that technology was not merely marching ahead, it was sprinting. "Forget the technology of the 21st centu- ry; just in the next five or 10 years we wil be confronted with Buck Rogers kind o developments," Mr Kunkel said. "In the past two weeks I have had con- versations with serious people about how close we are to being able to communicate via thought. Not telekinesis hocus-pocus, but through the ability of computers to read individual brainwave fingerprints. Imagine the commercial, not to mention the moral and ethical, implications of that." He said US researchers had also devel- oped the ability to transmit super-micro radiofrequencies. "This could open up the prospect of per- sonalised broadcasting of information: your own channel, if you will, directed at you only, that operates on your behalf, that operates 24 hours a day," Mr Kunkel said. He said the changes, coupled with a greater emphasis on profits and corporate rationalisation, meant journalists and news organisations needed to consider more carefully the fundamentals of their profes- sion—such as news values and ethics. (Source: by Paul Osborne, AAP, Herald and Weekly Times, July 16, 2001) SILICON-SPEAK AT LIGHT SPEED na world first for Australian researchers, Professor Martin Green, who headed a team from the University of New South Wales, has announced that they have found a way for silicon microchips to communi- cate by light, thus paving the way for even faster and more powerful computers. The new silicon devices eliminate the need for the circuitry and wiring currently used for communicating between chips. This means microchips can send signals to each other directly, thus increasing pro- cessing speed; and because the light is pro- duced by a small amount of energy, the cir- cuit can be opened up for new operations. (Source: The Weekend Australian, August 25-26, 2001, www.theaustralian.com.au) NEXUS +9 OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2001 www.nexusmagazine.com