EVEN A perfunctory analysis of politics in the three North American Free Trade Agreement countries shows that a North American Union was, is, and always will be a nonstarter. It began as an academic proposal and never got off the ground politically. In that sense, Drake Bennett ("The Amero conspiracy," Ideas, Nov. 25) is right in pointing out the mythic, rather than real, nature of the NAU.
However, outrage over a nonexistent NAU should not be confused with growing criticism of the Security and Prosperity Partnership.
The SPP has proceeded to change national regulations, and create closed business committees without the participation of labor, environmental, or citizen voices. Far from an obscure conspiracy to efface US sovereignty, the SPP negotiations provide a vehicle for more of the corporate integration that has eliminated jobs, impoverished workers, and threatened the environment across borders.
It has also served to extend the dangerous Bush security doctrine to Canada and Mexico, despite its lack of popularity in those countries and among the US public.
It's time to separate out false threats from real threats. A good place to start is to demand transparency in tri-national talks and informed public debate on regional integration.
LAURA CARLSEN
Mexico City
The writer is director of the Americas policy program at the Center for International Policy.
