Sometimes I just want to think those treaties&#x27; function is to curtail multinationals, so that countries can be able to effectively organize themselves against those corporations who have become hard to regulate in a context of globalization.<p>So if you want to successfully do it, you have to keep as many people in the dark, since I also believe those big companies have a tremendous influence on politicians. Maybe it&#x27;s just to let people negotiate in peace, without having to deal with noise you can see on meetings like the G20 or G8, and all the special interests knocking on your door. Maybe this deal is pure international politics, which is going beyond the scope of democracy (the world is not a democracy, last I checked).<p>We already have separation of church and state, maybe it&#x27;s time to have separation of business and state? That&#x27;s why I think it&#x27;s easy to paint those treaties as A Bad Thing(tm), but I think it&#x27;s more difficult to grasp the complexity of international politics intertwined with international trade.<p>Although I could be completely wrong, but I always tend to take things with a bigger grain of salt when it involves activists who can&#x27;t really give me a clear reason on what X thing is bad.