The plans of the last decade for a North American Union (NAU) led by Robert Pastor, director of the Center for North American Studies at American University (AU) in Washington D.C. have accelerated in recent months under different cover. Pastor died on January 8, but not without having done serious damage to American sovereignty. Through his work toward regionalization of Canada, Mexico, and the United States via NAFTA-style trade agreements, such as those repackaged as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), he helped set the stage for the “need” for those trade agreements now being fast-tracked by the Obama administration.
Analysts note that while statists who press for a regional, then a world, government owe much to Pastor’s leadership, it is an idea not likely to lose much momentum with his death. So, while the NAU may be dormant, integration of Canada, Mexico, and the United States forges ahead under a different name. In fact, Canada and Mexico, two of the three nations to have been integrated via the NAU, are now targeted as two of 12 nations to be included in the TPP. As The New American has noted, the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been designed to follow the EU example of relentless widening and deepening, constantly eroding national sovereignty, while building “transnational governance” that is not restrained by the checks and balances of national constitutions.
Secretary of State John Kerry said no less in a meeting between himself, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, and Mexican Foreign Secretary José Antonio Meade Kuribreña. A January 17, 2014 press release of the event announced the collaboration of the three leaders for the purpose of furthering integration of the three nations. “The second lesson that we can learn from the past couple of decades is that globalization isn’t slowing down any time soon.”
And, less than two weeks later, on January 29, 2014, Jerome Corsi wrote for World Net Daily, “Now, ahead of Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Secretary of State John Kerry presented evidence that a plan originating with the George W. Bush administration to evolve NAFTA into a European Union-style confederation in North America between the U.S., Mexico and Canada has been put into overdrive with the Obama administration’s effort to obtain ‘fast track authority’ to rush the Trans-Pacific Partnership through Congress with limited debate.”
When asked by a reporter if the United States intended to expand NAFTA, Kerry’s answer “suggested that with the expected ratification by Congress of the TPP, the Obama administration already considers the U.S., Mexico and Canada as part of a ‘post-NAFTA’ world.”
Kerry’s answer? “I think that stepping up, all of us, to the TPP, is a very critical component of sort of moving to the next tier, post-NAFTA. So I don’t think you have to open up NAFTA, per se, in order to achieve what we’re trying to achieve.”
Toward that end, leaders of the three nations will meet at the North American Leaders Summit on February 19 in Toluca, Mexico. It signals what Corsi calls the kick-off of the ‘post-NAFTA’ era. The meeting between President Obama, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is almost a copy of one that took place a decade ago in 2005 in Waco, Texas. At the earlier meeting, President Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox, and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin met to establish the Security and Prosperity Partnership, fostered by Pastor. The Obama administration has since shut down the Security and Prosperity Partnership website, spp.gov., pledging to barrel full-speed ahead.
The New American and its affiliate The John Birch Society have consistently and accurately exposed the NAU and its threat to American sovereignty for decades. After The John Birch Society, and others like Corsi, began to expose Pastor’s NAU plan, establishing connections between the NAU, Pastor, and the United Nations by connecting their websites, the NAU website was taken down. In fact, in his most recent book, Pastor credited The John Birch Society for the demise of his NAU plan.
But, just like Whac-A-Mole, you can’t keep a good idea down. Readers seeking to understand Pastor’s influence and the impact he had not only in the United States, but abroad, should note the remark of Mexican Foreign Secretary José Antonio Meade Kuribreña at the January 17 meeting with Kerry: “The North American idea is a very good friend of Mexico and of North America because of what Pastor says — it’s stronger than ever. Mexico, the U.S., and Canada are working together to further our regional community, and that commitment was reaffirmed amongst all of us earlier this morning.”
Analyst Charles Scaliger wrote for The New American in 2013, “In the meantime, expect the Robert Pastors of the world to continue laying the groundwork for eventual North American economic and political union, while simultaneously pushing Transatlantic and Trans-Pacific mergers via the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).”
Corsi once dubbed Robert Pastor the “Father of the NAU.” While serving as vice president of international affairs at American University in Washington, D.C., from 2002-2007, he also served as vice chair of the Independent Task Force on North America. In that post, he authored the Task Force report Building a North American Community (2005), the essential blueprint for implementing the NAU. While no public announcement has been made about Pastor’s replacement, Manuel Suárez-Mier is serving as the CNAS interim director, but some students of the NAU look to members of the 2005 Task Force as possible candidates.
Opposition to the unconstitutional and dangerous trade agreements is critical if American sovereignty stands a chance.
