August, 2005        Government Invites Hackers

At DEFCON, a hackers conference in Las Vegas, Assistant Secretary of Defense Linton Wells was making his pitch to the attendees; "If you want to work on cutting-edge problems, if you want to be part of the truly great issues of our time ... we invite you to work with us." The Feds arrested Russian programmer Dmitri Skylarov at the 2001 Defcon conference.

Technology commentator Richard Thieme said that there are many Feds attending undercover;"You can't be deceived by the uniforms. I talked at the Pentagon, and one-third of the people in the audience I already knew from Defcon." Attendees who "out" the undercover ops are awarded free "T" shirts.

A "Meet the Feds" panel was atttended by a man who demanded, "I would like to know why the federal government, especially some of the law enforcement agencies, are destroying this country."

Pentagon people would not comment on the rumours that they are looking for people to attack "foreign" networks. "I'm learning while I'm here but I'm also getting the names of people." said Don Blumenthal of the Federal Trade Commission.

August, 2005        Softwood Round to Canadians

The United States has lost another battle in the ongoing U.S.-Canada softwood lumber dispute.

A NAFTA Extraordinary Challenge Committee (ECC) rejected U.S. allegations that an earlier ruling in support of Canada's position violated NAFTA rules.

This is just the most recent in a string of losses by the U.S., where it has been struck down both in NAFTA and WTO tribunals to prove that the Canadian government has been subsidizing lumber. On several occasions, the U.S. was told that it's calculations and method of calculating losses were invalid. The NAFTA report on August 13, 2003 said the U.S. made a mistake in calculating its duties based on U.S. prices, and by not taking Canadian market conditions into consideration. It orders Washington to recalculate them. NAFTA decisions are legally binding and must be put into effect within 60 days.

However, two weeks later, a WTO panel concluded that the U.S. wrongly applied harsh duties on Canadian softwood exports. They also found that provincial stumpage programs provide a "financial benefit" to Canadian producers. But, the panel made it clear that the benefit is not enough to be a subsidy, and does not justify current U.S. duties.

"We are extremely pleased that the ECC dismissed the claims of the United States," said Canada's International Trade Minister Jim Peterson.

"This is a binding decision that clearly eliminates the basis for U.S.-imposed duties on Canadian softwood lumber. We fully expect the United States to abide by this ruling, stop collecting duties and refund the duties collected over the past three years," he said.

Negotiations between Canada and the U.S. are expected to resume next week.

While there have been suggestions that the ruling could bring the softwood dispute to an end after more than four years, the issue may not be resolved. The United States could still file legal challenges outside of NAFTA.

The United States has been collecting duties on Canadian softwood lumber since May 2002, after American lumber producers accused Ottawa of subsidizing lumber exports.

August, 2005        Trade Deficit Grows

In a speech in Texas on Wednesday, President George W. Bush discussed the trade deficit, saying:

"We had a problem in our hemisphere about trade. I don't know if you realize it or not, but most of the goods from Central America came into this country duty-free. Yet eighty percent of our goods were taxed through tariffs in Central American countries. That didn't seem to make sense to me; it certainly wasn't fair. All I say to people is you treat us the way we treat you. If your goods can come into our markets duty-free, our goods ought to be able to go into your markets duty-free."

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis International Economic Accounts Balance of Payments,

"The deficit on goods increased to $186.3 billion from $182.2 billion, as goods imports increased more than exports. More than half the increase in imports was in consumer goods. Much of the increase in exports was in industrial supplies and materials, in consumer goods, and in capital goods."

In the US, the DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or simply CAFTA) bill passed by two votes. At present in contention is the Andean Free Trade Agreement.

"The House passed H.R. 304, to implement the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement [CAFTA], by a recorded vote of 217 ayes to 215 noes, Roll No. 443."

The bill passed by a slight majority in both the House and Senate.

President Bush met for lunch with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at the Bush Ranch in Texas and communicated his desire for the future prosperity of a Colombia free of drug trafficking and violence.

August, 2005        New Canadian Governor General Named

Sources have told the Canadian television network CBC that Michaëlle Jean will become Canada's next governor general. The current officeholder, Adrienne Clarkson, who is recovering from artificial pacemaker surgery, will step down on September 27 to make way for Jean, who is best-known in English-speaking Canada as the host of the CBC television documentary show, "The Passionate Eye".