Expressing…

…schadenfreude
Your Eyewitness has always had a fondness for the German word “schadenfreude” – which early on he learnt meant “the feeling of pleasure, joy, or satisfaction you get when something bad happens to someone else”!! In case you think young Eyewitness was a budding psychopath – it’s because he particularly enjoyed the whupping the class bully received in the days of “caning” because he was such a dunce!! The word just occurred to him, however, when he read about the escalation of the hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz – which is a bad thing since folks are getting killed and all that – but he started smiling since this has pushed the crude oil price up to US$100/barrel – and it looks like it might head higher!!
He figures Guyana may soon have to send a thank-you card to Washington and Tehran – especially since Pressie was in the vicinity recently, visiting over in Qatar!! While the US and Iran continue their tit-for-tat games around the Strait of Hormuz – with Iran even seizing a US high-tech underwater drone – it’s not only Guyana but the world that’s discovering an old economic truth: when trouble threatens the world’s oil supply, the price heads northwards!! And how can we in Guyana not smile when that happens??!!
Earlier this year, Reuters calculated that at US$100 oil, Guyana’s share of oil revenue could reach roughly US$4.3 billion for 2026, assuming the then current production volumes – which would be 67 per cent higher than 2025’s figure!! And that was based on the old 14.5 per cent share – not the present 40 per cent, which will keep rising as our production rises past that million-barrel-per-day mark!! Your Eyewitness’ smile is getting wider now that crude has now shattered the psychologically delicious US$100-a-barrel barrier!! For countries worrying about petrol prices, inflation and the cost of keeping their economies moving, that’s hardly a cause for celebration – but for us, it’s rather different. Every additional dollar on the price of our crude potentially means additional revenue for development!!
So, thank you, Iran, and thank you, America. Please continue demonstrating to the world just how indispensable oil remains – even while everybody’s solemnly promising under our sterling environmentally friendly programmes to transition away from it!!  But we should resist the temptation to regard geopolitical instability – in Hormuz or in the China Sea – as an economic strategy. Sooner or later wars end, blockades are lifted, and oil prices eventually fall – as we know to our cost!!
Our job is to convert this temporary windfall into permanent assets – infrastructure, education, healthcare, energy security and a diversified economy!!
The Middle East may be playing with fire – but we should use the resulting heat to cook something useful!!

…paranoia
This present Opposition we have in Guyana can’t be beaten when it comes to milking tragedies by blaming the Government!! Think of that terrible fire at the Mahdia school that took those 19 young lives!! How in God’s name can you blame the Government when one young lady deliberately set the fire out of spite??!! But they did!! And now they’re repeating the grotesque blame game at every step in the way in the tragedy that topped Mahdia – the sinking of the MV Barima with the loss of at least 77 lives!!
“Investigate what happened!!” they screamed!! The Govt establishes a COI of overseas worthies – but it took too long to establish and too long to get going!! Assisting the survivors and family?? The money, material assistance and psychological counselling?? Not enough!! Raising the Barima to uncover possible evidence of what went wrong?? The request for bids took too long and then too long to be evaluated!!
Now that three are shortlisted – expect complaints of favouritism – no matter which firm!! The Govt just can’t win!!

…regret
With all these foreign firms now mining our gold, while your Eyewitness accepts that things have gotta change over time, he yet regrets the passing of the fabled “pork-knocker” of yore!! They weren’t just big spenders – but they opened up our country!!