Melbourne report, WTO troubles

[Lisa & Ian Murray]

Indeed, time is running out for Moore who has only two more years at
the helm of the WTO. The political fudge which shoehorned him into
the job means he has a shorter than usual term, split with his rival,
the Thai finance minister, Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi. Moore was the
US's first choice and Supachai made himself so unpopular with US
negotiators during the selection process, that some insiders doubt he
will be able to muster sufficient support from the world's biggest
trading nation to launch a round during his term of office which ends
in 2005.
==============
This is fab, and what folks in Seattle have been hoping for.  Moore is a
bumbling idiot with all the communications and other coritcal skills of
Dub'ya and it is that incompetence which will give the "South" time to
figure out a strategy which will [a] give it much greater wiggle room within
the WTO or [b] more time to figure out how to coordinate rupturing the thing
from within with  Southern grassroots efforts [instead of Public Citizen
etc. which totally blew it with the China debacle] leading the way  to
finish off the deligitimization from outside.  The damn thing is totally
dysfunctional given the needs and priorities of the 21st century and 5 years
is not an unreasonable time for taking it apart.

Ian