Reply #1: Monbiot is confirming many of my thoughts about Cancun...

[IrateCitizen]

I think it's especially important to note the end of the article, where he addresses the debt that is owed by developing nations to the IMF. Where the industrialized North has used this as leverage against developing nations, forcing them to open up their markets and implement austerity measures, guaranteeing a neocolonial relationship -- it could now actually be the developing South that will use this as a weapon. If the developing world were to collectively default on their debt, it would be an absolute shitstorm for the banking institutions of the North. While banks would press for bailout packages from their respective governments, a bailout would probably cause the economies to collapse at a level not seen since 1929.

We can only hope that the solidarity between developing nations is maintained through the next couple of years, because this is the situation USTR Robert Zoellick has been looking for -- an opportunity to bully developing nations into signing bilateral trade deals that run counter to their basic economic interest.