[oefrha]

> Even though the ruling was subsequently upheld by the Ecuadorian Supreme Court, Chevron immediately made clear that it would not be paying the judgment. Instead, Chevron moved its assets out of the country, making it impossible for the Ecuadorians to collect.

WTF? A nation state couldn’t have seized the assets? It seems that multinational megacorps are truly more powerful than and above the law in small countries these days.

[Lazare]

This isn't about scale, it's about location. Ecuador is a LOT more powerful than you are, but assuming you are not currently in Ecuador and don't have any bank accounts in Ecuador, how do you think they could seize any of your assets, if they had a mind to? Their options start (and very nearly end) at "sending you a polite request".

The backstory here is, Chevron used to have a lot of assets in Ecuador as part of a joint venture with the Ecuador state oil company. The joint venture wound up, Chevron left, and now there's some dispute over whether any remaining clean-up is properly the responsibility of Chevron or Ecuador. But this is being discussed after they closed everything down, sold up, and left.

All that's left if for Ecuador to go try and convince the legal system of other countries (where Chevron does have assets) to do something. And so far, that's not working very well for them.

[oliwarner]

> Their options start (and very nearly end) at "sending you a polite request".

They can send much nastier things too. When you get to state-level actions, the law, or at least the repercussions for breaking it gets a lot iffier.

[austincheney]

Here is a more potent example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company

[mapcars]

>megacorps are truly more powerful than and above the law in small countries these days.

Why in small countries? They do what they want in America too.

[pjc50]

Only if they're _American_ megacorps. BP paid $20bn in fines for Deepwater Horizon.

[thiagoharry]

Of course they are. Megacorps interests already justified coups in some countries.

[Bombthecat]

You should read shadowrun. I think the system there is basically our future...