Eruptions of armed aggression by the US should not distract us from the underlying logic of economic imperialism. America's "war for freedom" or "war on terrorism" is at one with its expansionary goals for the market: open invasion in some places, and open markets everywhere.

Eruptions of armed aggression by the United States should not distract us from the underlying logic of economic imperialism. America's ''war for freedom'' or ''war on terrorism'' is at one with its expansionary goals for the market: open invasion in some places, and open markets everywhere.

A major new study on the environmental impacts of genetically engineered (GE) crops has just been released by the British Royal Society. While the study looked into just a single potential problem, the results add yet another concern to the growing list of ecological risks associated with transgenic crops.

La Royal British Society lanzó la semana pasada un nuevo estudio sobre los impactos ambientales de los cultivos genéticamente modificados (GM). Aunque la investigación examinó solo uno de los problemas potenciales, sus resultados añaden otra preocupación a la abultada lista de riesgos ecológicos asociados con los cultivos transgénicos.

We were surprised to see the awkward neologism 'Globophobic' used to describe our organization and the international span of social movements and government representatives with whom we work. There is nothing globophobic in pointing out that poor countries and the farmers within them are systematically hurt by US and EU agricultural policy. Nor does it seem particularly parochial to observe, as successive US Trade representatives have, that the liberalization of agriculture in the WTO concedes much to the US and EU while allowing these countries to fudge, but not significantly change, their subsidy structures.

Sir, Robert Zoellick's commentary, "America will not wait for the won't-do countries" (September 22), is the continuation of the heavy-handed US attitude, which backfired in Cancun and is bound only to aggravate the developing countries' resistance.

Raj Patel*
August 08, 2002

The United States Agency for International Development recently chartered a ship - The Liberty Star - to deliver thirty six thousand tons of grain to an estimated 13 million starving people Southern Africa. The Malawian government accepted the donation, and Zimbabwe has just allowed the grain to be imported, as long as it is milled. Mozambique, however, will not let it cross its soil, and Zambia has decided that it wants nothing to do with it. Why? Because the US cannot guarantee that the grain is not genetically modified.