Antigua

In the ongoing saga of David vs. Goliath (Antigua vs. U.S.), it appears the big, bad United States government seems to think they can violate World Trade Organization rules and still dictate the actions of other countries. Afterall, several countries have settled with the U.S. over the banning of online gaming by the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act. It would seem only natural that the behemoth U.S. should think that other nations would take the meager settlements and move on. Taking on the U.S. in any legal action can have dire consequences in other areas.

Antigua & Barbuda was the first country to step up and demand the U.S. honor WTO regulations and allow online gaming access to the U.S. market. The U.S. trade commission ignored the WTO suit filed by Antigua and lost the hearing and subsequent appeals. Finally, after a massive reduction in the original award, the U.S. semi-agreed to the $3.2 million compensation offered to Antigua. The U.S. further went on to attempt to specify how Antigua could collect such compensation.

Well it appears David is not listening again Goliath and now it appears that Antigua may be leading the way in an all out assault on the arrogant position of the United States.

As reported by the leading U.S. entertainment newspaper, Variety:

"The government of Antigua is likely to abrogate intellectual property treaties with the U.S. by the end of March and authorize wholesale copying of American movies, music and other 'soft targets' if the Bush administration fails to respond to proposals for settling a trade dispute between the two counties.

"The Motion Picture Assn. of America has been closely following the case with tremendous concern fearing that the copying could be extensively damaging and that -- worse -- a dangerous precedent could be set for other small countries angry at U.S. trade policy."

"It is not our preferred option to punish the MPAA or others for the U.S. government's intransigence, but the U.S. has refused to negotiate fairly,"

said Mark E. Mendel, who represents Antigua. Goods and materials that would be copied include

"virtually everything from pharmaceuticals to music, anything with IP protection that can be duplicated, though we'll go for softer targets first."

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All of this because some right wing politicians don't want us to play a little online poker. Makes you want to run right out and participate in the politial process, doesn't it?

OK, we all know that the United States government made some trade deals with the Europeans and Antigua-Barbuda and several other countries, in order to enforce the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act. Now it seems some taxpayers would like to know exactly the terms of those trade deals. Seems simply enough, right?

So, it seems freelance writer Ed Brayton filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the financial details of these trade agreements. The United States Trade Representative responded by telling Brayton that the information he requested was classified because of national security.

"Be advised that the document you seek is being withheld in full pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(1), which pertains to information that is properly classified in the interest of national security pursuant to Executive Order 12958."

Brayton writes on his blog,

"Americans, according to this administration, have no right to know how many billions of our tax dollars they've spent with no legislative authorization whatsoever in order to buy the cooperation of other nations and allow them to continue to violate the rights of American adults by preventing them from gambling in the privacy of their own home."

I really want to say something witty or mean and perhaps even sound disgusted but this is just too stupid for words. The only thing that really scares me is that there probably are some Washington officials who really believe that poker is a national security issue; that and we pay these people's salaries to be this incredibly stupid in public.

And finally for U.S. voters, some actual political poker humor.

On the same day (Friday) the the World Trade Organization affirmed a small (21 Million Dollars) trade award to Antigua-Barbuda, the United States Friday urged Antigua to hold off on imposing sanctions authorized by the WTO in a dispute over online gambling, saying Washington was "revising its WTO commitments."

US Trade Representative spokesman Sean Spicer advised Antigua to delay any action after an arbitrator for the Geneva-based World Trade Organization allowed the Caribbean nation to impose sanctions worth 21 million dollars a year. Spicer said Washington has initiated a formal process at the WTO to revise its commitments and is in talks with Antigua and six other WTO members that have claimed to be affected.

"Once the process of clarifying the US schedule of commitments is complete, any issues in our bilateral dispute with Antigua will be moot, and there will no longer be any basis for suspending WTO commitments."

The action marked the latest byzantine twist in a dispute with Antigua and Barbuda, a tiny Caribbean nation that complained in 2003 that the US ban on Internet gambling violated WTO rules. Antigua has repeatedly prevailed in its bid at the WTO to have the US ban declared improper. But US officials said earlier this year that Washington was not bound to change its laws to open its borders to the Internet gambling industry because of an "oversight" in a decade-old trade agreement.

Just when it looked like the United States was going to buy its way out of the World Trade Organiations rulings based on the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, another shoe dropped.

Antigua and Barbuda, which won the original WTO ruling, has announced that the $3.4 billion judgment against the US was only the first step. It seems that:

"The $3.4 billion is just what we're entitled to by virtue of them not having complied with the decision."

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The decision, of course, being the restraint of trade issue when the US closed its cyber-borders to other countries. But it seems there are more damages to be discussed:

"We still have yet to file a claim that addresses the US withdrawal from the 1995 General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) treaty which allows international access to the US online gaming market."

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Early suggestions are that this second claim will be at least as large as the first, bringing the total claim to over $7 billion. Add that to the European Union $15 billion claim against the US for withdrawing from GATS and it appears that the US may not have enough trade concessions available to support the UIGEA.

It would seem that Goliath may want to rethink the evils of online gaming before the wax in the bald eagle's wings begins to melt from flying too close to the Caribbean sun. (Mixed metaphors courtesy of my freshman 'Myths and Fables' course or was that the 'Introduction for American Politics'?).

I want to ask every US poker player a question:

"What have you done lately to repeal the Unlawful Interent Gaming Enforcement Act?"

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I want to ask all non-US players a slightly different question:

"Are you aware that emails to government officials are effective no matter who they come from?" and "Wouldn't you like the US fish back in the online poker pond?"

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Below is a very clear statement (OK, so its a lot more clear with my added comments) of what you can do today in five minutes to get the US Government to back off on the UIGEA. I will work! Take the time to do something to defend your poker freedom today.

This comes from the Antigua Online Gaming Association, who are of course in this for the money. Hey everyone is! But in this case they happen to be on our side.

As you may be aware, online gaming has been under attack by the United States for the last decade. The Government of Antigua and Barbuda has successfully challenged the malicious prosecution of Antiguan operators in the World Trade Organization. The WTO has found that the US's application of its laws against Antiguan entities is protectionist and in violation of the General Agreement on Trade in Services.

This is absolutely true but the US government is attempting to ignore this ruling even though it may cause severe trade problems with the European Union and several other major trading partners. The issue here is not gaming, the WTO rule that was used to make this decision has a wide range of applications on a whole variety of trade issues.

Now that Antigua has won the legal battle, it can use political support in Congress. Here's how you can help. Please email and phone your Representative in the House of Representatives and your two Senators. Remind them that the United States needs to abide by the decision in the Antigua-Gaming matter if they expect other countries to comply with WTO decisions in favor of the United States.

Literally Billions of dollars of trade rulings in favor the the United States could be in peril if the US ignores the Antigua decision.

Here is a link to a letter to the USTR from Representative Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs:

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen eloquently noted, "...our failure to resolve this dispute may harm our credibility as we seek to press countries like China regarding their violations on a range of issues, including intellectual property protection, subsidies, and currency manipulation." She further warned, "In the event the United States fails to reach a satisfactory resolution of the Antigua dispute, it could provide China with an argument to ignore a WTO decision favorable to the United States."

Please send the link above to your Representative and Senators. Ask them to send similar letters to the United States Trade Representative. Let them know you vote, you pay taxes, and you think the United States should comply with the decision in the Antigua-Gaming matter.

Don't assume anyone in Congress knows this information, further don't assume they know you know. Its a bluff, call them on it now, with a quick email.

To contact your Representative and two Senators, follow the links below or call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and give them your zip code. Make sure you call three times.

US House of Representatives
US Senate

Take a Stand! You can do it while playing a Sit-n-Go, which is something they want to take away from you.