You asked me to give you in writing my comments on preemptive war against Iraq which I made at a Wednesday Night, a couple of weeks ago. I have done better. I am sending you the op-ed which I wrote for the Globe and Mail and which appeared today Tuesday 17th September .. see story
Regards, Kimon [ambassador KIMON VALASKAKIS] see Wed1070

Wed-News | Wed948Kimon.htm

October 24, 2001 The Issue is Global Governance www.wfs.org/mmvalaskakis.htm
By Kimon Valaskakis

The Search for A New World Order

THE CLUB OF ATHENS

The Club of Athens is an international initiative to propose improvements to the present world order to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The intellectual foundation for this initiative is the proposition that the present system of international regulation, based on the premise of state sovereignty, is coming under increasing fire from Globalisation which, in creating a borderless world is, also, inadvertently, creating a rule-less world. The basic problem is that while the sovereignty of nation-states is exercised over physical territory, most contemporary challenges are transnational. Indeed the Internet, global warming, global finance, global epidemics, international security etc. can no longer be dealt with at the national level A situation is now arising where a number of key sectors of human activity are threatening to spin out of control. No one seems to be in charge. In addition, the rise in the power of the non-state actors (corporations, special interest groups, civil society etc.) is challenging the supremacy of the national governments and sovereignty itself. While some welcome this phenomenon, others claim that the withering away of traditional sovereignty may also signal the weakening of political democracy where the nations of the world are no longer in control of their destiny.

Who is Involved?

Kimon Valaskakis

The originator of the idea is Dr. Kimon Valaskakis Ambassador of Canada to the OECD. He is professor of economics at the University of Montreal and was formerly the head of the GAMMA Institute, a Canadian forecasting and planning think tank. At time of writing he is assisted by Suzanne Pinet, Secretary-General for Canada and Claude Nigoul, Secretary-General for France. The Club operates through two legal entities, the Global Governance Group (Montreal) a not-for profit Canadian corporation under federal charter and the Global Governance Group (Nice) a French not-for profit corporation. The two legal entities share the same board of directors. A third legal entity may be created as a Greek company with headquarters in Athens.

An International Steering Committee is being formed which will constitute the nucleus of the Club. This Steering Committee will be chaired by Jean-Claude Paye, former secretary-general of the OECD and will involve among others (subject to final confirmation) Boutros Boutros-Ghali former secretary-general of the United Nations, Michel Camdessus, former head of the IMF, Dimitri Germides, former governor of the National Bank of Greece, Marcel Masse, former Canadian Minister, Kyra Bodard, secretary-general of the Academie Diplomatique, Claude Nigoul, secretary-general of the Academie de la Paix in Nice, France, Hughes de Jouvenel, Delegue-General of the Groupe Futuribles in France and Paris Arnoupoulos, former chairman of World Federalists (Canada). The group will recruit the full complement of 100 members of the Club by the end of 2001. Invitations to participate will be made to world leaders such as Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates, George Soros etc

Dr. Valaskakis was until the end of August 1999 the Canadian Ambassador to the OECD, a permanent intergovernmental conference and policy analysis unit involving 29 member states and employing 2000 professionals. Appointed in 1995 by the Canadian Prime Minister, he sat ex officio on the Board of Governors of the OECD and was the plenipotentiary representative of Canada there. He is currently (1) professeur de sciences economiques at the University of Montreal , (2) Conseiller scientifique with Futuribles International and member of its board of directors and (3) Visiting Fellow at INSEAD Business School in Fontainebleau.

• academic career has encompassed 27 years of teaching
• executive, he has headed the GAMMA INSTITUTE
• consulting experience Chairman of ISOGROUP CONSULTANTS
• diplomatic Canadian ambassador in Paris the OECD

Canada and the Asia-Pacific Promise: Hope, Hype and Reality

The Issue is Global Governance By Kimon Valaskakis

The treaty of Westphalia, signed on October 24, 1648, radically changed the concepts of national boundaries and sovereignty in the western world, ending thirty years of combat and upheaval. In so doing, it essentially eradicated the Holy Roman Emperor as a secular ruler in all but a limited territory, establishing Switzerland and the Netherlands as independent states, filling the void left by the HRE with the Hapsburgs. The three and a half subsequent centuries have seen consolidation of the concept of government by the state, but recent changes have clearly demonstrated that Democracy lags behind Westphalia and Westphalia II must be written.

The issue is globalization. It has become evident that, due to equal weighting of member states, the United Nations, while playing an effective, even essential role in many areas, is incapable of dealing with the world’s tribal conflicts that occupy the conscience of the World. With increasing globalization in the realm of Communications and Commerce, the agenda is being driven more by the electronic media, Internet and Transnational Corporations. Meanwhile tribal and religious conflicts continue.

It is clear that because of this situation, the United Nations has been unable to intervene in Kosovo, Intervention by NATO, and more particularly the United States, was clearly illegal under international game rules respecting sovereignty. The campaign was poorly thought out. The Americans, because of their obsession over losing American soldiers in foreign wars made three fundamental errors, namely their alignment with radical Albanian Kosovars, their reluctance to use ground troops and the bombing, which consolidated support for Milosevic [bio] even from his political opponents. In the end, the war stopped when the Russians threatened to discontinue supplying fuel oil to Serbia. The problem, more complex than that in Cyprus, will probably persist as long.

David Nicholson Chair

With CBS and CNN focussing the world’s attention on a small band of international players whose interests and actions are inimical to those of the United States, the real tribal problems, genocide and starvation in Africa for example, are totally ignored.

National economies no longer exist in isolation or as part of colonial trade empires. The interdependence of nations and their economies requires global competition laws. Without global rule of law, "market systems become mafia systems". The obvious solution appears to be a new all-inclusive global government, created not on the United Nations model, but on the European model. The alternative is continuing conflict, chaos and human suffering in every part of the world, as we are seeing now in Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Chechnya, Ethiopia, East Timor....

From the Club of Rome, to the may be a new club,, international diplomats, statesmen, thinkers have actively sought a solution, a workable Global Governance model which can be accepted by nationalists and special interest groups as a benign and necessary alternative to the failing theories of democracy and republicanism.

see The Canadian Association for the Club of Rome

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE DISCUSSION

"I enjoyed the evening, especially the insights into the ordinary life of the OECD - a round of cocktails and seminars- and the difficulties of making any significant changes to the community, given the one nation/one vote/one veto principle.

How does one assign relative voting rights/veto rights? I know the USA in their air bilaterals makes a distinction between "who benefits More'' and therefore should pay more - can one translate such commercial principles into voting rights in terms of who represents more - more wealth, more people, more criticality?

Surely Global Governance demands going beyong the dominant 5 or 7 or 21 and shifting location,perspective and eventually direction.

And this from a missing airline representative:

Sorry I'm going to miss you tonight especially with the hot topics of our financials and the government testimony going on (including the fanciful allegations of oneworld partners -- they did have the oportunity to aid Canadian just as Lufthansa and United aided us). I'll try to get back to you in the next couple weeks.

Meanwhile, it's interesting to discover that the politicians, diplomats and international civil servants are trying to find solutions quite in the same human way as we airline people try to maximize revenues, understanding the psychology of our clients and taking on certain positions and postures."

Diana Nicholson

Edited by Diana Thébaud Nicholson

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