By Raffique Shah
December 21, 2008
It has been that kind of year. It was unpredictable at the beginning, became tumultuous as it regressed (well, I can’t quite say “progressed”), and as it comes to an end it leaves one wondering: would I live to see anything like this again? If you are a humanist, a caring person, you also wonder if your children or grandchildren would experience anything worse than you have in 2008.
Continue reading Descent into animalism
By Raffique Shah
December 14, 2008
EVER since Barack Obama shot into the limelight and coined the campaign slogan “Yes, We Can!” politicians of all hues and persuasions across the world have adopted it to suit their own agendas. Upon becoming President-elect then putting together a same faces, different administrations White House team, Obama ignited a passion for what many see as “national consensus” politics. That, too, has caught on, especially among politicians in opposition, those whose only hope for sharing in the spoils of office lie in accommodation by the lucky ones who have power.
Continue reading No, we can’t
By Andre Bagoo and Clint Chan Tack
Friday, December 12 2008
newsday.co.tt
PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning left hurriedly yesterday for Cuba to undergo surgery at the Cimex Hospital in Havana to remove a malignant tumour in his left kidney.
Manning made the startling revelation at the weekly post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair, where he was the only minister present.
Hours later, Manning left on board a Panamanian Copa aircraft. He told reporters that all steps have been taken to ensure that the Government functions smoothly until he returns home in early January 2009.
Continue reading PM Manning: I do not fear death
By Stephen Gowans
December 08, 2008
gowans.wordpress.com
The crisis in Zimbabwe has intensified. Inflation is incalculably high. The central bank limits – to an inadequate level – the amount of money Zimbabweans can withdraw from their bank accounts daily. Unarmed soldiers riot, their guns kept under lock and key, to prevent an armed uprising. Hospital staff fail to show up for work. The water authority is short of chemicals to purify drinking water. Cholera, easily prevented and cured under normal circumstances, has broken out, leading the government to declare a humanitarian emergency.
Continue reading Cholera Outbreak Outcome of West’s War on Zimbabwe
By Ras Tyehimba
December 07, 2008
Many people agree that this country is in serious crisis. However, I find that many of these perspectives on the state of Trinidad and Tobago rarely touch on the roots of the issues, especially as they fail to recognize that many of the problems we face are built into the very fabric of Caribbean and Trinbagonian society. Thus, addressing these problems calls for a fundamental questioning of the origins and evolution of our society.
Continue reading Failure of the Eurocentric Development Model
By Raffique Shah
Sunday, December 7th 2008
I can’t claim to have known anything about Consumer Affairs Minister Peter Taylor until two weeks when he singled out “doubles” as a target for price reduction. That statement signalled to me that the minister was doubly ignorant about his portfolio, maybe even wholly unsuited for the job. Indeed, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who will read this column from a hospital bed in Havana, may want to consider doubling up on ministers in this ministry by naming a Junior Minister of Doubles.
Continue reading Double up on doubles’ price
By William Blum
December 03, 2008
killinghope.org
Okay, let’s get the obvious out of the way. It was historic. I choked up a number of times, tears came to my eyes, even though I didn’t vote for him. I voted for Ralph Nader for the fourth time in a row.
During the past eight years when I’ve listened to news programs on the radio each day I’ve made sure to be within a few feet of the radio so I could quickly change the station when that preposterous man or one of his disciples came on; I’m not a masochist, I suffer fools very poorly, and I get bored easily. Sad to say, I’m already turning the radio off sometimes when Obama comes on. He doesn’t say anything, or not enough, or not often enough. Platitudes, clichés, promises without substance, “hope and change”, almost everything without sufficient substance, “change and hope”, without specifics, designed not to offend.
Continue reading Vote first; ask questions later
By Sean Douglas
Friday, December 5 2008
MINISTER of Planning, Dr Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde, said over $40 million was paid in commissions to the agents who arranged financing of the Waterfront Project, replying to a question by UNC Senator Mohammed Faisal Rahman in the Senate on Tuesday.
She said the agents for the borrower, the Port-of-Spain Waterfront Development Limited, were First Caribbean International Bank (collateral agent and financial advisor) and Wells Fargo Bank, North America (trustee).
Continue reading Over $40M in agent fees on waterfront project
Dr. Kwame Nantambu
December 03, 2008
Now that a Black man has been duly elected as the 44th President of the United States of America, it is a sine qua non that all Americans should be a bit more cautious and sensitive when apply the label Black to situations, instances and events that occur in every day life.
Put another way, now is the appropriate time for all Americans to cast aside the notion that any and every time something either goes wrong or array or is deemed negative and/or illegal, then, the label Black should be applied.
Continue reading Black Friday Isn’t Black
By Raffique Shah
Sunday, November 30, 2008
EVEN as India’s elite military units were flushing out the remnants of the terrorists who launched a bloody, well-coordinated attack on several symbolic targets in Mumbai, the blame-game was underway. Predictably, Gujarat’s Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, openly accused Pakistan of being behind the attacks. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was more diplomatic in his comments, as was his Foreign Minister. What is clear, though, is following this multi-pronged assault on that country’s commercial capital, war between India and Pakistan is a strong possibility.
Continue reading Religious zealots take us to the brink