Archive for the 'International' Category

Crisis next door will continue

Published on June 21, 2019 in General T&T, International, Racism Watch, USA and Venezuela. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

By Raffique Shah
June 21, 2019

Raffique ShahDuring the recent Venezuelan migrants registration exercise, I found myself subconsciously scanning video-clips and photographs of the hundreds of hopefuls who turned up at the three designated centres each day for, I am not ashamed to admit it, applicants of colour. “Where are the Waraos?” I kept asking aloud. “Where are the Afro-Venezuelans?” I spotted one or two of the latter during the two-week exercise, but not one of the indigenous people (Warao and other tribes), who, I am told by fisher-folks who routinely make trips across to the Main”, live closest to Trinidad and Tobago.
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Contradictions Mar our Foreign Policy on Venezuela

Published on April 18, 2019 in General T&T, International, Politics, USA and Venezuela. 1 Comment Tags: , .

By Stephen Kangal
April 18, 2019

Stephen KangalAfter five decades of exercising our nationhood and political independence during which our foreign relations were carefully crafted and marked by clarity, unimpeachable consistency and firmly grounded in the achievement of our national interests on the global and regional stage by the likes of Rose, Constantine, Mc Intyre, Seignoret, Abdullah, Major, Ballah, Dodrige Alleyne, Naimool, Dumas et al our current foreign policy on Venezuela now in the hands of Prime Minister Rowley and a lame-duck Foreign Minister is driven by confusion, contradictions, lack of parliamentary over-sight and embarrassingly and patently inconsistent.
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The Brexit Quagmire

Published on April 6, 2019 in England, European Union, General T&T and International. 7 Comments Tags: , , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 06, 2019

“If you compared Britain to a sphinx, the sphinx would be an open book by comparison. Let’s see how that book speaks over the next week or so.”

—Jean-Claude Juncker, President, European Commission

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Friday Britain was supposed to leave the European Union (EU) after which the land, as Boris Johnson and his Tory friends assured us, was supposed to be flowing in milk and honey. March 29 has come and gone. On that very day the British Parliament rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to leave the EU for a third time. This left British citizens asking: “How did we go so perilously wrong?”
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The Other Venezuela

Published on March 29, 2019 in General T&T, International, USA and Venezuela. Closed Tags: .

The Other Venezuela
By Alborada/Redfish – March 29, 2019
A 15 minute documentary, produced by Alborada for Redfish, shows a reality of Venezuela that is absent from the mainstream coverage.

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Our Living Past

Published on March 28, 2019 in European Union, General T&T, International and Race and Identity. Closed Tags: .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 28, 2019

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTony Barber, Oxford scholar and European editor of the Financial Times, recalls an interesting occurrence when the European Union sought to write a European history book. “One historian from each EU member state was commissioned to write a chapter. The project was abandoned after the British complained that a Spanish historian had dismissed Sir Francis Drake, the Elizabethan maritime hero and victor over the Spanish Armada in 1588, as a mere ‘pirate'” (Financial Times, March 16).
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None so blind…

Published on March 26, 2019 in General T&T, International, USA and Venezuela. 3 Comments Tags: , .

By Raffique Shah
March 26, 2019

Raffique ShahI find it incomprehensible that supposedly-intelligent persons, many of whom have been around for as long as I have, and who ought to know the bloody history of American interventions in the politics of Latin American countries, routinely regurgitate the propaganda emanating from Washington by referring to Venezuela’s besieged president Nicholas Maduro as an “evil dictator”.

When such description comes from the mouths of the lying US president Donald Trump and his close associates, or from Venezuelans who oppose Maduro (and his predecessor Hugo Chavez), I understand that. They have to paint the man as a monster to rally support and political and economic ostracism that they hope will hasten his demise.
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At UN, Anya Parampil speaks on Venezuela regime change war

Published on March 20, 2019 in Crime in T&T, International, USA and Venezuela. 4 Comments Tags: , .

‘The mask of the US is off’: At UN, Anya Parampil speaks on Venezuela regime change war
By The Grayzone – YouTube – March 19, 2019

The Grayzone’s Anya Parampil spoke about the US-led regime change war on Venezuela and the right-wing opposition’s use of violence, at a UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva on March 19, on a panel titled “Humanitarian crisis in Venezuela: Propaganda vs. reality.”
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Who’s to Blame for the Crisis in Venezuela? A Response to Gabriel Hetland

Published on March 19, 2019 in General T&T, International, USA and Venezuela. 4 Comments Tags: , .

Jorge Martin takes recent Gabriel Hetland articles to task, questioning the liberal left’s assessment of the current situation and the solutions proposed.

By Jorge Martin
March 17, 2019 – In Defence of Marxism

Venezuela's FlagThere is a certain trend of opinion amongst the liberal left, particularly in the US, which never felt very comfortable with the Bolivarian revolution. Now, in the midst of a serious and well-organised attempt by Washington to remove Maduro’s government, they insist on equally blaming both sides for the crisis, one which in their view can be resolved through “negotiations between the government and the opposition”. A chief representative of this point of view is Gabriel Hetland, who has written several articles on Venezuela for The Nation, Jacobin and other left-wing publications.
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From Beautillion Ball to Brexit Cauldrom

Published on March 18, 2019 in England, European Union, General T&T and International. Closed Tags: , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 18, 2019

“Brexit has killed and saved her [Theresa May] at the same time….She knows as soon as Brexit’s done, she’s done.”

—Ayesha Hazarika, Former Labor Party Adviser

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt was one of those all-consuming weeks. I did a book-signing at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, on Wednesday March 6 before flying to Dallas, Texas, the following Friday to attend my eldest grandson’s Beautillion, one of those black coming-of-age functions that has its origin in the southern part of the United States. Another grandson called it “a cotillion for dudes,” it being comparable to the cotillion ceremony that is held annually for young black women.

It was one of those proud moments in a black man’s life when he participates in a function that emphasizes his responsibility to his people, his roots, and his family as he crosses the threshold from adolescence to manhood. They call it “a rite of passage.” It is an important stage in a young man’s life.
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Pompeo Imposes Visa Ban on ICC Staff Probing US War Crimes

Published on March 16, 2019 in Afghanistan, General T&T, International and USA. 3 Comments Tags: , .

“It reeks of the very totalitarian practices that are characteristic of the worst human rights abusers.”

By Jessica Corbett
March 15, 2019 – Common Dreams

“This is an unprecedented attempt to skirt international accountability for well-documented war crimes that haunt our clients to this day.”

—Jamil Dakwar, ACLU

USAThe move, Pompeo confirmed to reporters Friday morning, is a direct response to ongoing efforts by the ICC to probe allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity tied to the seemingly endless war in Afghanistan.

Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Program, was among those who spoke out against the decision. The ACLU currently represents Khaled El Masri, Suleiman Salim, and Mohamed Ben Soud, who were all detained and tortured in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2008.
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