U.S. Secretary of State Collin Powell said in a speech last July, "There is growing consensus on sustainable development." Quoting Peruvian Hernando de Soto, Powell added, "The hidden architecture of sustainable development is the law. The law. The law."

While it is certain that Powell was not implying that "global governance" should be used to impose environmental laws, there is good evidence that is exactly what the UN has in mind.

In Nairobi last week at the Global Judges Symposium organized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), over 100 senior judges from around the world drew up an action plan that is clearly the first step toward creation of a World Environmental Organization (WEO) to be modeled after the World Trade Organization.

UNEP head Klaus Tofer wants a WEO to impose both national and international environmental laws upon once-sovereign nations. Until such a tool is in place, heads of state are promoting other ideas.

Blair and Chirac

French President Jacques Chirac continues to advocate a global tax. A spokesman for Chirac said he is disappointed that the infamous Tobin tax on international monetary transactions has fallen out of favor, but he likes the idea of taxes on "airplane tickets, on carbon dioxide, on health products sold in industrialized countries, and indeed on international financial transactions. The idea of wanting to hold back a small share (of global wealth) to relieve poverty is not a mad idea at all. But the debate has been polluted by the campaign on the Tobin Tax."

Prime Minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, accusing America"s standard of living for all sorts of ills said, "One of the biggest challenges of our time is poverty. We must fight it! Because it is unsustainable, and unacceptable, that 15% of the world"s population dominate the world"s wealth and receive 80% of its income."

Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission referring to the 9-11 terror attack on New York City said that they did not "shake our faith in multilateral cooperation. Multilateral cooperation has made remarkable progress in recent yearsŠthe Doha Conference on Trade and the Monterrey Conference on Development Financing were undeniable successesŠ. We must make more progress in reducing poverty and halting the destruction of our environment. We should act all together because it is the only way."

South African President Thabo Mbeki called the wealth differential between rich and poor nations "global apartheid" obviously hoping to mingle the guilt of racial politics into economics. Mbeki has already set the stage for the next step saying, "The UN Millennium Development Goals [from the 2000 Millennium Summit in New York City] reflected a remarkable convergence of views on the challenges facing the world as we enter the third millennium. They call for a more equitable world economy, where all countries have a fair chance to compete, where those who have more will do more for those who have less."

Non-governmental organizations including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth International, World Wildlife Fund, and others are in lock step with these leaders demanding "the 0.7% of a country"s GNP target of overseas development aid." Such a commitment by the U.S. would amount to an increase from $15 billion annually to $70 billion.