News reports have been emerging over the past hour of the successful launching of a 'new round' at the WTO. The last draft declaration, hurriedly tabled and presented this morning, well after the original deadline of midnight Nov.13 (Qatar time), was reluctantly accepted by developing nations after being subjected to immense pressure over the past 30 hours of non-stop negotiating. Eventually, the various leveraging tactics of the pro-neoliberal states, including threats to withdraw much needed aid and other urgently needed support to developing countries, won the day. The final marathon night of negotiations was crucial in undermining solidarity, as the smaller delegations of developing nations were ill-equipped to mount a coordinated defence against the divide-and-conquer strategies of the much larger delegations from the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Europe.

The solidarity of the developing nations' resistance was initially weakened by the illusion that Europe - spearheaded by France - would nix the deal alone, which would have allowed the developing nations to avoid culpability in the eyes of the USA. But early this morning, the EU withdrew its demands to maintain agricultural subsidies, under condition of the addition of an important caveat clause to negotiations. By this time, only India continued to resist the formidable pressures being exerted by the Western neoliberal machine. Left as the only remaining opposition, India eventually relented, as regional instability and competition with Pakistan over American aid offered ample leverage points for negotiators seeking to expand corporate globalization.

The so-called 'new round' is a relatively weak document which constitutes basically a commitment to continue ongoing negotiations and new negotiations in certain sectors such as investment and competition codes. Caveats such as that won by France stipulating that the outcome of the new negotiations would not be pre-judged suggest that there is, in reality, no real consensus to advance global economic liberalization, and that this 'new round' is simply an agreement to talk about it. In any other circumstances, the word 'round' would not have been applied.

But desperate to generate the illusion that Seattle was relegated to the past, Canada and the US, the leading forces in the push to liberalize, are spinning this not only as a 'round', but as a major victory. From their perspective, it is a victory, in the sense that it has proven that by distancing themselves from the unwelcome influence of mass protests, they can gain the extra leeway needed to bully their opposition into submission.