Battleangel

As suspected, AllofMP3 became the pivotal case in the WTO accession negotiations. WTO membership may seem like a good idea right now, but it will turn out to be one of the worst decisions Russia has ever made — on the same level as allowing its natural riches to be commandeered by foreign backed robber barons (the so called oligarchs) at the demand of the IMF and the New World Order.

An official document posted to Digg today summarizes an agreement between the U.S. and Russia in which Russia has agreed to close down AllofMP3.com, and any sites that “permit illegal distribution of music and other copyright works.”

The agreement is dated November 19 and posted to the Web site for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. It summarizes the joint efforts of the two countries to fight content piracy, an issue known to be centered in Russia and Eastern Europe.

“This agreement sets the stage for further progress on IPR issues in Russia through the next phase of multilateral negotiations, during which the United States and other WTO members will examine Russia’s IPR regime,” states the document.

Personally, I’ve never used AllofMP3. I mean, why bother when you have BitTorrent. I’ll never buy a new album as long as I live, for no other reason than to spite the media oligarchy (the second oligarchy that Russia sells out to).

While the loss of AllofMP3 matters little per se being an indicative test case, the details of WTO accession negotiations blackmailings are far more troubling. Why for instance is the United States allowed to negotiate on behalf of the WTO? And why are the only issues on the table narrow IPR issues geared specifically towards American business interests? I would think there are 147 other nations or so with a saying in this, many of which have little or no interest in IPR. But here we are, with America having done the bulk of negotiating, using up negotiation capital and bringing a slanted deal to be rubber stamped.