Category Archives: International

Caribbean, Cuba, General T&T, International, USA, Venezuela

Refugees aggravate T&T woes

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By Raffique Shah
November 21, 2018

Raffique ShahTrinidad and Tobago has found itself in an unenviable, as well as untenable, position of having to deal with hundreds of mostly Venezuelan and Cuban nationals who have entered this country, legally and illegally, then announcing themselves as refugees or seeking political asylum.

This situation is unenviable because we are the only English-speaking Caribbean island-state that faces an influx of Spanish-speaking refugees, in addition to Jamaicans and Nigerians who have overstayed their Immigration-approved time, and some Chinese, Syrians and Lebanese. Except for the fairly-prosperous Dominican Republic that shares the large island of Hispaniola with poverty-stricken Haiti, where nationals of the latter invade the former on foot, whence they face rigid deportation procedures, T&T is a unique magnet for illegal immigrants.
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England, General T&T, International

The Incredible Dream – Pt 3

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 19, 2018

PART 3

“The further you look into the past, the further you can see into the future.”

— Sir Winston Churchill

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOver the past month, I visited London, England, Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland where I delivered several lectures and participated in the launch of David Featherstone, ed., Marxism, Colonialism, and Cricket: C. L. R. James’s Beyond a Boundary in which I contributed a chapter on James’s intellectual origins and his knowledge of early Trinidad’s history.
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Crime in T&T, Germany, International, USA

Remembering the savagery of war

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By Raffique Shah
November 14, 2018

Raffique ShahI awoke last Sunday morning to see and hear French President Emmanuel Macron deliver an address before scores of world leaders gathered in Paris to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. His was a good speech, an appeal for the world to not just to pay homage to the eight million-plus servicemen and women who lost their lives in the mistaken belief that they were fighting “the war to end all wars”, but also to note that if we did not learn from history, we were doomed to repeat the mistakes our forebears made.
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General T&T, International, USA

America’s Angry White Men

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 08, 2018

“An increasingly diverse society no longer accepts the God-given right of white males from the right families to run things, and a society with many empowered, educated women is finally rejecting the droit de seigneur once granted to powerful men.”

—Paul Krugman, New York Times

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeYesterday the U.S. Senate elected Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court by the narrowest of margins despite the objections of 2,400+ law professors and Justice John Paul Stevens, former justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Stevens noted: “He’s a fine federal judge, and he should have been confirmed when he was nominated. But I think that his performance during the hearings caused me to change my mind” (New York Times, October 5).
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England, General T&T, International

Independence Child/Pan Africanist Vision

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 24, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeSeveral years ago Glenda Morean, Trinidad and Tobago’s High Commissioner in London, invited me to attend an intimate luncheon with Ulric Cross and four other people. It was the first time I met Cross, this distinguished man. Although I knew Cross’s reputation as a combat bomber navigator during World War II, my most indelible image of him was that of an ageless being playing a good game of tennis in his eighties.
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General T&T, International, Law, USA

US sanctions 2 Trinis over ISIS terrorism

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By Carla Bridglal and Jensen La Vende
September 20, 2018 – newsday.co.tt

Trini ISIS fightersTWO Trinidadian men were yesterday sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for suspicion of financing ISIS. This now triggers local authorities to initiate civil proceedings that can see the assets of both men seized.

Emraan Ali, 51, a Syria-based TT-US dual citizen and Eddie Aleong, 34, also known as Ishmael Mohammed, Ishmail Muhammed and Ismail’il Ali, were sanctioned under Executive Order (EO) 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism.
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General T&T, India, International

Recognising the writing, not the writer

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By Raffique Shah
August 29, 2018

Raffique ShahDuring my only visit to India, which I made in 1983, I found myself subconsciously looking everywhere for human faeces. Wherever I went, from the modern quarter of New Delhi where I stayed in what was probably a four-star hotel that overlooked manicured lawns and streets swept clean every day, to the slums that sat like festering sores next to the opulence of Bollywood in what was then Bombay, I kept my eyes peeled, looking for excrement.

Now, this might sound strange to the average person, especially since I was someone of Indian descent who was visiting the land of my ancestors for the first and only time. There is so much to see in that vast sub-continent—ancient historical sites (I did tour the Ajanta caves), the Taj Mahal (which I did not see) and other relics, Mahatma Gandhi’s artifacts and much, much more.
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England, General T&T, International

Compiling the Costs of a No-Deal Brexit Armageddon

By Stephen Kangal
August 09, 2018

Stephen KangalThe image of traffic jams approaching the port of Dover conjures up chilling and growing fears for the unquantifiable consequences of a no-deal Brexit cliff-edge, doomsday scenario from the UK’s withdrawal from the single market, European Court, functional co-operation and the customs union of the EU. The panic button (clock is ticking) is being increasingly pressed on both sides with eight months left to reach agreement on the crucial Withdrawal Bill by 30 March 2019.
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General T&T, International, Recession

Crying over Caroni’s evaporated aged rums

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By Raffique Shah
August 02, 2018

Raffique ShahSometimes when you live long enough, you get around to enjoying the proverbial “last laugh”, or, in this case, the “last cry”, depending on your perspective.

On Republic Day 2000, I wrote a story in the now-defunct Independent newspaper telling of a report compiled by a professional “alcohol valuator”, American Robert Fuchs, that assessed the value of the aged rum stocks that Caroni Ltd held at its bonds on the compound of the distillery at Caroni Village.

Fuchs told Caroni that its 18,000-plus casks of rum of varying vintages, if converted into premium aged rums on a phased basis, could gross between TT $1 billion and $6 billion, depending on “intent of product”.
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General T&T, International, Russia, USA

US Political Ecology Militates Against Putin’s Visit

By Stephen Kangal
August 01, 2018

Stephen KangalWith the shock- waves of the post-Helsinki outrage still manifesting itself both in Capitol Hill and the US media, President Trump’s invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to The White House this autumn without the input/ knowledge of national intelligence head Dan Coats is an overt diversionary tactic designed to pour oil on troubled waters.
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