A group of international activist and scholars have sent a letter to Biden giving their views of what he should do. There are some sensible and interesting ideas:
We propose an investment of $200 billion in the Green Climate Fund.
We propose that the United States take the lead in ending Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions in trade and investment agreements that allow corporations to sue countries for millions and even billions of dollars, when labor, health, and environmental regulations tamper with their expected profits.
The United States must help create a Global Social Protection Fund that marshals global resources to meet the urgent needs of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
We recommend, as a first step, that you renew and increase funding for the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center.
As the world’s biggest spender on the military—more than the next ten countries combined—the United States can help reverse the dangerous rise in global military expenditures by cutting $350 billion from the Pentagon budget and working with China and Russia to reduce global tensions.
We also propose that you close Cold War–era bases in Europe, shut down the Africa Command, and stop new base construction on Okinawa.
We urge you to take the lead in removing weapons from war and potential conflicts, first of all, by honoring its signature to the Arms Trade Treaty and pushing the Senate to ratify it.
The United States can also dramatically reduce the threat of nuclear war by adopting a no-first-use posture and, with Russia, extending the New START arms control treaty.
We also believe that the United States should honor its signature to the Rome Treaty and this time actually ratify the accord in the Senate.
We urge the lifting of broad-based economic sanctions, the issuance of Special Drawing Rights from the IMF to enable countries to address the economic crisis resulting from the COVID pandemic, and the restoration of humanitarian aid to sanctioned jurisdictions.
No comments:
Post a Comment