How’s… Carolyn doing?

Your Eyewitness has been following the extraordinary candidature of our Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett for the UN Secretary General post even more feverishly now that his Warriors have been “shocked out”! The straw polls of the deciding Security Council members have been alternating the lead between her and Costa Rica’s Rebeca. But the real contest ain’t just about counting straws which of the two  is more acceptable to the five permanent members of the Security Council – the US, China, Russia, Britain, and France. They got vetoes!!
Grynspan’s programme stresses making the UN more efficient, accountable and results-oriented – priorities that make her quite compatible with Washington’s current emphasis on cutting bureaucracy and reforming the organisation!! Rodrigues-Birkett’s been stressing multilateralism, the UN Charter, development and the concerns of small States that are the majority of the UNGA, but realistically these aren’t on the Americans’ radar!!
Rodrigues-Birkett explicitly endorsed several of China’s preferred international initiatives – while Grynspan just reaffirmed the One-China principle – further pleasing the US that sees China as its rival for global hegemony!!
Russia’s much harder to read and there’s no public evidence – with Moscow playing it close to their chest – if they’ve developed a clear preference between the two women!! Carolyn’s emphasis on sovereignty, non-interference and the UN Charter sounds congenial to Moscow – but then Grynspan’s multilateralism and UN experience are also potentially acceptable. It’s a toss-up – which ain’t good for Carolyn!
Britain and France are equally interesting with neither appearing to’ve firmly embraced either candidate!! In fact, reports suggest both countries may still be interested in a broader consensus candidate!! Grynspan, however may have an advantage with Europeans – which the Brits and Frenchies are!! – through her extensive UN and economic credentials while Rodrigues-Birkett offers the alternative of a Caribbean, small-State and Global South perspective that’s peripheral to them!!
However, the latest headline with a nine-to-eight result in favour of Grynspan may conceal the real story. Both candidates are accumulating “discourage” votes as the field narrows and the crucial question is whether they include any of the Big 5. So a candidate could lead the straw poll and still fail if one permanent member is determined to block her!!
For us then, Carolyn remains very much in the race since she’s only one “encourage” vote behind Grynspan and, importantly, hasn’t yet been publicly identified as unacceptable to any of the Big 5!! Your Eyewitness breathlessly looks forward to the next straw poll that may prove decisive!! But let’s accept that the race ain’t about who’s got the most friends – it’s about who can become the candidate whom Beijing, Moscow, London, Paris – but mostly Washington – can all live with!!
And that’s a contest in which little ole Guyana’s now remarkably close to the centre of the room!!

…Washington’s interests aligning?
The New York Times just ran a huge story about “How Guyana Is Feeding the Profits of Exxon Mobil, the Largest U.S. Oil Company”. Not that we didn’t know that – but now all of America and especially Washington knows it!! Earlier, your Eyewitness had already mentioned Reuters’ report that Exxon was advancing negotiations to return to Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt – especially the specific assets that had been nationalised by Chávez!! That’s massive for US diesel production!!
So as ExxonMobil’s interests increasingly span the oil wealth of both Guyana and Venezuela, Guyana’s strategic importance to Washington is gonna be growing!!.That doesn’t mean Exxon’s gonna be determining America’s UN vote – but it certainly gives Washington an additional reason to view a highly-experienced Guyanese diplomat as a candidate with an unusually direct understanding of one of the hemisphere’s emerging strategic theatres!!
And this is where our government’s close coordination with Washington on hemispheric security and a host of other issues further adds to Carolyn’s side of the equation!!

…the heist trial?
Looks like the trial of the rigging crew that tried to pull off the heist of the 2020 elections is gonna drag on until even the witnesses forget what they saw.
What was that about justice delayed??