[Peace] Fwd: new IPS report on "Coalition of the Coerced"

[phluffhead1099 <zcravens at uiuc.edu>]

--- In v-nv-resist at yahoogroups.com, Fitzhugh MacCrae <alaidh at y...> 
wrote:

--- Erik Leaver <erik at i...> wrote:
> IPS RELEASES REPORT ON U.S. ARM-TWISTING OVER IRAQ
> WAR
> 
> www.ips-dc.org/coalition.htm
> 
> (Washington, DC, February 26, 2003).  As U.S.
> officials intensify their 
> arm-twisting offensive to gather support for a war
> on Iraq, the Institute 
> for Policy Studies is releasing a new study today
> that examines the 
> specific levers of U.S. military, economic, and
> political power.
> 
> The study, entitled "Coalition of the Willing or
> Coalition of the 
> Coerced?," looks at how this leverage applies to
> each current member of the 
> UN Security Council.  It also analyzes the power the
> U.S. government exerts 
> over the broader group of countries that the Bush
> Administration has dubbed 
> the "Coalition of the Willing."  Although the
> Administration refuses to 
> release a list of the members of this coalition, the
> authors compiled a 
> list of 34 nations cited in press reports as
> supporters of the U.S. 
> position on Iraq.
> 
> Major findings:
> 
> •	Although the Bush Administration claims that the
> anonymous "Coalition of 
> the Willing" is the basis of genuine
> multilateralism, the report shows that 
> most were recruited through coercion, bullying, and
> bribery.
> •	The pursuit of access to U.S. export markets is a
> powerful lever for 
> influence over many countries, including Chile and
> Costa Rica, both of 
> which are close to concluding free trade deals with
> the United States; 
> African nations that want to maintain U.S. trade
> preferences; and Mexico, 
> which depends on the U.S. market for about 80
> percent of its export sales.
> •	The populations of the countries in the so-called
> "Coalition of the 
> Willing" make up only about 10 percent of the
> world's population. Opponents 
> of the U.S. position currently include the leading
> economies of four 
> continents (Germany, Brazil, China, and South
> Africa).
> •	President Bush could make or break the chances of
> Eastern European 
> members of the "Coalition of the Willing" that are
> eager to become members 
> of NATO.  In order for these nations to join the
> military alliance, Bush 
> must ask the Senate for approval.
> 
> The authors of the 13-page study include:  IPS UN
> and Middle East expert 
> Phyllis Bennis, IPS Director John Cavanagh, and IPS
> Fellow Sarah 
> Anderson.  According to Bennis, "It's hardly a new
> phenomenon for the U.S. 
> to use bribes and threats to get its way in the UN. 
> What's new this time 
> around is the breathtaking scale of those pressures
> -- because this time 
> around, global public opinion has weighed in, and
> every government leaning 
> Washington's way faces massive opposition at home."
> 
> The study is available at: 
> www.ips-dc.org/coalition.htm.
> 
> Institute for Policy Studies
> 733 15th St. NW #1020, Washington, DC 20005
> Tel:  202/234-9382, Fax:  202/387-7915
> www.ips-dc.org
> 
> ----------------------
> Erik Leaver
> Foreign Policy In Focus
> Institute for Policy Studies
> 733 15th St. NW, Suite 1020
> Washington, DC 20005
> Voice: 202-234-9382, ext. 240
> Cell: 240-535-8725
> Fax: 202-387-7915
> Email: erik at i...
> Web: http://www.fpif.org
>            http://www.ips-dc.org
>

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