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out that "Kirk and Fahrenkopf's lobbying practices | Obama's principal foreign policy adviser. demonstrate a willingness to protect corporate interests According to official Trilateral Commission at the expense of voters’ interests”. membership lists, there are only 87 members from the The current structure enables corporations to give | USA (the other 337 members are from other countries). money to both the Democratic and Republican parties, | Thus, within two weeks of Obama's inauguration, his which essentially supports their duopoly over the appointments encompassed more than 12 per cent of the political process and excludes third-party voices that may | Commission's entire US membership. be hostile to corporate power. Trilateral appointees include: Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner; Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan 21. Recession Causes States to Cut Welfare Rice; National Security Advisor, Gen. James L. Jones; Many states are in the midst of aggressive action to Deputy National Security Advisor, Thomas Donilon, push thousands of eligible mothers off Temporary Chairman, Economic Recovery Advisory Board, Paul Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), traditionally known Volcker; Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis as welfare. Families are being denied C. Blair; Assistant Secretary of State for aid so that savings can be redirected in East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt M. state budgets. Campbell; Deputy Secretary of State, Nationally, the number of welfare ames Steinberg; State Department ecpients ore “en 40 perc Obama was ppecial es Richard Haass, State etween an une : epartment Special Envoy, Dennis Louisiana, Texas and Illinois have each groomed for the Ross; and State Department Special sop Pe 80 per cent “ adult recipients presidency by voy Richare Holbrooke. sth since January . Georgia had a e originally stated purpose of the per cent drop, with fewer than 2,500 key members of lrilateral Commission was to create a sts reauine belts, down tom | the Trilateral | (Ne eration Economic rer, In 2006, the Georgia Coalition Commission. into fostering "closer cooperation Against Domes ic Violence conducted Most notably, among these core democratic a survey to find out why so many industrialized areas of the world women were suddenly failing to Zbigniew with shared leadership get benefits. They discovered that q g responsibilities in the wider caseworkers actively discouraged Brzezinski...has international system". women ‘rom applying and been Obama's 3 A slam W: F reportedly told applicants they +e : . Activists Slam Water Forum would have to be surgically principal foreign Water rights activists blasted sterilised before they could apply policy adviser. the World Water Forum, held in Turkey in late March 2009, as a corporate trade show promoting the privatisation of water. The forum opened with police firing tear gas and detaining protesters shouting "Water for life, not for for TANF. Disabled women were told they couldn't apply because they didn't meet work requirements. Others were warned that the state could take their children if they applied for benefits. Women are increasingly vulnerable to sexual __ profit". assault and exploitation—sometimes by the state According to its website, the World Water Forum is "an Officials or caseworkers assigned to help them. Arrests of | open, all-inclusive, multi-stakeholder process" where women for prostitution and petty crime went up as more governments, NGOs, businesses and others "create links, and more families were denied welfare. debate and attempt to find solutions to achieve water out that "Kirk and Fahrenkopf's lobbying practices demonstrate a willingness to protect corporate interests at the expense of voters’ interests”. The current structure enables corporations to give money to both the Democratic and Republican parties, which essentially supports their duopoly over the political process and excludes third-party voices that may be hostile to corporate power. Obama was ” presidency by key members of the Trilateral Zbigniew - Brzezinski...has principal foreign policy adviser. profit”. According to its website, the World Water Forum is "an open, all-inclusive, multi-stakeholder process” where governments, NGOs, businesses and others "create links, debate and attempt to find solutions to achieve water security". However, the Forum's main organiser, the World Water Council, is dominated by two of the world's largest private water corporations, Suez and Veolia Water. Critics contend that the Council's links to Suez and Veolia, as well as the large representation of the business industry, compromise its legitimacy. Corporate interests that make up the World Water Council are in constant contact with the World Bank and other financial institutions. The Council promotes extraordinarily 22. Obama's Trilateral Commission Team President Barack Obama appointed 11 members of the Trilateral Commission to top-level and key positions in his administration within his first 10 days in office. This represents a very narrow source of international leadership inside the administration. Obama was groomed for the presidency by key members of the Trilateral Commission. Most notably, Zbigniew Brzezinski, co-founder of the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller in 1973, has been NEXUS ¢ 19 groomed for the Commission. Most notably, been Obama's Continued on page 79 DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010 www.nexusmagazine.com