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THE NATION, FEBRUARY 3,1998. Pipeli (r)
- Subject: THE NATION, FEBRUARY 3,1998. Pipeli (r)
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 02:03:00
Pipeline will decide fate
of US financial support
A senior US administration official recently
stated that ''it's going to be an enormously
tough fight'' for congressional passage of
US$18 billion in new American
contributions to the IMF. These funds will be
needed to fund future economic
emergencies in countries like Thailand.
Two powerful groups oppose this IMF bill.
Liberal Democrats who are concerned
about environmental standards and labour
rights oppose this bill on the grounds that
IMF bail-outs are designed to subsidise
bad government and crony capitalism at the
expense of labour rights and the
environment. Conservative Republicans
oppose IMF funding due to their belief that
the market, rather than the IMF, should
resolve Asia's economic problems.
You need 218 votes in the US Congress
(assuming everyone votes), and the Clinton
Administration so far has only 150 votes, to
pass the IMF legislation. It will be an uphill
battle for the Clinton Administration to
secure the additional 75 votes needed to
pass this legislation. What would
complicate and perhaps cripple the Clinton
Administration's efforts to help Asia would
be pictures and videotapes of PTT
bulldozers attacking environmentalists
trying to protect the national parks and
protected forests in Thailand.
The PTT-Unocal death gas pipeline will
determine the economic future of both
Burma and Thailand.
Myint Thein
Dallas, Texas