Its things like this (http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/iraq_seeds.htm) that make me mad... :grr:

Comments?

Terrible yes but does it really surprise you. Maybe thats why Falluja is being bombed- so that it can be rebulit western style just like Japan. They more they take away the culture from them, the easier it is to control them.

Which makes me very, very mad.

I want to hear the opinions of some of the pro-US guys here on this.

D'you reckon the States is still only there to be the good guy, and help the Iraqis get back on their feet? :p

That should dispell some of the myths about the US only declaring war for financial gain...

Sure, this sort of thing is upsetting: it's not just that they're "Westernizing" Iraq, it's that they also want some kind of neo-liberal utopia, complete with flat tax, limited government (except when they need martial law), incentives for agri-business and pharmaceuticals, tort reforms, repealled estate tax, etc. Not only do they want the complete USA/IMF package, but they want all the little extras they haven't been able to pass here yet. Yet another sign, whatever your views on Iraq, of the incompetence of this administration, which puts politics over policy whenever it gets the chance. Even though Kerry would have stayed in Iraq, he certainly wouldn't have had his advisors etc pushing through this kind of radical agenda.

What I find disturbing is that this never made mainstream news. I would have at least thought BBC would cover this.

There could be 1000 reasons for this not being part of the mainstream news. Most likely the government (you know: them!) is all hushing it up. Same with neurological implants placed into children's brains at birth to media control them later on. Do you know why no one reads about neurological implanted spyware? Because the government hushes it all up. Bastards!

I'm with you on this one Faraaz.

This is done here in America. too. It's one of the reasons the independant farmer is dying off and being replaced by huge corporations.

I will add one caveat -- "If it's true."

I am assuming it is...the references provided seem to be authentic. I admit, I haven't checked them up personally, (I have my Soils exam in 4 hours!!!) so it might be false as well, but somehow, I don't have any difficulty believing that the link is authentic. Especially because I only came across it because my Plant Production lecturer thought it was relevant to one of the papers I was working on.

:lol: You guys! Always so eager to paint the US as the bad guy!

Of course if the article is completely accurate, you have cause to be upset.

Unfortunately, the article is misleading at best, and at worst it's wrong.

The law does not "force Iraqi farmers to buy seeds from US corporations". And US corporations cannot patent "seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years."

A corporation cannot "register" a seed variety whose existence is a matter of public knowledge at the time the application is filed, so seeds the Iraqi farmers have been using for hundreds of years, they can continue to use as they wish.

Also, not just US corporations can register seed varieties they bred/developed; any country including Iraq can register a seed variety.

If the Iraqi farmers choose to buy "registered" seeds from a corporation, for whatever reason (probably because it's better than what they have been using in some way), then it's true that they then can't take seeds from the plants they grew and replant them. Just like any other patent, the breeder has the rights to the "invention" of the seed variety.

EDIT:
By the way, the title of this thread is misleading as well. These laws have nothing to do with sanctions.

The law does not "force Iraqi farmers to buy seeds from US corporations".My guess is that "force" here doesn't mean "you can't farm unless you use our seeds, and if you use your seeds, off to Abu Ghraib with you." If it's anything like the US, "force" would mean: "if you don't buy our seeds, you don't get our fertilizers, etc etc, as these products are bundled with the seeds, sometimes at the level of DNA. And if you don't buy any of our products, which are far far cheaper than yours due to our large scale production and our skill at wrangling government subsidies, you'll be SOL when you try to compete with us on the market." So this isn't quite "force" by diktat, but it still does constitute "force," even if it is at least partially driven by "market forces." Just like in the US, some individual farmers who are use to being relatively self-sufficient are going to be steaming mad. However, these Iraqi farmers can still agitate against agribusiness and probably win some concessions: remember the Bolivians who booted Bechtel out of the business of privatizing their water supply...

Heh. Well, perhaps that's true, but the updated patent laws put in place don't affect that one way or the other. :)

Thank God for Cuba, who does not have any copyright laws. ;)

Thank God for Cuba, who does not have any copyright laws.Yeah, we'll see what you say when Fidel starts pirating Ikea, Sweden Boy... ;)