…plays
As our profile rises in the world — not because of our Guyanese charm, but because of the light crude flowing from under our Atlantic waters!! – we gotta have a good handle to help us navigate through the new challenges we’ll face, or are already facing!! We know that Mad Maduro presents our most clear and present danger, since he’s had the temerity to announce to the world that he’s ANNEXED two-thirds of our national territory – all of the Essequibo west of the eponymous river – and to the hell with what anyone thinks. Least of all us!!
He’s gonna go ballistic when he realises now that the US has “reimposed sanctions” for free and fair elections in Venezuela; his oil production’s gonna plateau – at best – at 1 million bpm, which we’ll match by 2027!! How dare us wogs of the thieving British colonial state – that’s now in tatters – match them in their one and only claim to fame – oil!!
But there’s a lesson here we gotta learn as we tussle with the big boys – and girls! Things are rarely as they seem!! Israel’s goings-on over in the Gaza Strip are so notorious that your Eyewitness hopes it doesn’t need repetition – and yet nothing’s been done by the international community to stop even genocide of the Palestinians. The threat of a nuclear conflagration didn’t change anything. The lesson is that even between sworn enemies – Iran, Israel and the US – a game of “let’s pretend” was played for the consumption of domestic audiences, but things continued as they were!! Nothing strategic was touched!!
So, what are our chances against Mad Maduro, who’s clearly following in the path of his hero Putin – who’s invaded the Ukraine and is about to annex a huge chunk of their real estate – on the identical premise of Mad Maduro. To wit that, historically, eastern Ukraine was Russia’s to begin with!! Well, here, we’re told the US reimposed sanctions on Venezuelan oil, ‘cause Mad Maduro played fast and loose with the Barbados Agreement for free and fair elections. Or was it another case of “let’s pretend”, because of greater interests??
Pertinently, only Licence 44 was cancelled. This had allowed PDVSA to expand exports to pre-Covid levels, so’s to improve cash flow and secure imports of diluents and fuel for the domestic market. Most significantly, however, authorizations previously granted under Licence 41 – to oil firms including Chevron, Repsol and Eni, which secures Venezuela’s oil flows to the United States and Europe – CONTINUES unabated!!
No wonder Mad Maduro’s given the middle finger to Venezuelan opposition, and continued his sabre-rattling towards us! Even as we receive all sorts of assurances from the Yanks – on their “support”.
We’re on our own, baby!!
…in Haiti
Your Eyewitness has been asking for years when Haiti’s agony gonna end. Hey…he knows from our own bitter experience with Burnham what dictatorial rule can do to a nation. But while we had Burnham to their Papa and Baby Doc, they not only have earthquakes and hurricanes, but interfering big powers that insist in sticking their noses into their affairs. Right off the bat, after they’d defeated France and supposedly secured their independence, up came the US and collaborated with France to impose huge reparations that took them a hundred years to pay off.
Well, cut to the present, where big power interference has made ruling the country into a game of musical chairs – even as an elite continues using various stratagems to rape the country. The latest has been to use heavily-armed gangs to control the capital by killing citizens indiscriminately. Caricom has now brokered a power transfer that had the unelected Prime Minister resign and a Transitional Council of nine locals installed to prepare for elections.
Your Eyewitness isn’t sanguine.
…of youths
Back in the 60s and 70s, campus protests across the US most effectively highlighted the resistance of ordinary Americans to the Vietnam War. Today, campus protests have erupted nationwide to demand the US stop backing Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.
