Tag Archives: Raffique Shah

General T&T

Death before retirement

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By Raffique Shah
October 04, 2025

Raffique ShahAs a columnist who has written a weekly piece in one or more popular newspapers for at least 45 years, I know that I’ve reached my limit when the person who is helping me type the 800 words I am allowed is my daughter: she was in diapers back in 1981 and I used to occasionally shout at her when I tried to concentrate or focus, and now I am in diapers—more out of caution than need.

But knowing that, I have arrived at the point in my life when I can no longer say “that column is mine”, my views and only mine.
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General T&T

What do they know of war?

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By Raffique Shah
September 29, 2025

Raffique ShahWhen I look back at it, I was among a selected few thousands in the world who got around to playing a part in the Cold War. This latter name confuses generations that did not exist then or since. The Cold War was primarily a continuation of hostilities between the “Eastern Bloc” (Russia and many other Communist states on one side) and the United States of America, its NATO allies and others on the other side.
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General T&T, Sports

Thanks for restoring our pride

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By Raffique Shah
September 20, 2025

Raffique ShahThousands here in Trinidad and Tobago who watched the recent World Athletics Championships do not know how fortunate they are to have live telecasting of the prestigious event. A mere 20 years ago there was limited coverage of such events, and very often television and radio stations paid huge sums of money to earn the right to carry the events; both audiences and owners/managers felt cheated. You don’t have to be a fan of athletics or any sport to appreciate what it means for nationals of any country to see their representatives on these international stages-stadia, swimming pools, tennis courts, etc.
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General T&T

TTT, Goebbels, and geriatrics

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By Raffique Shah
September 13, 2025

Raffique ShahAs I move along slowly towards what will be, if I make it, my 80th year on this here earth, mostly I feel as if I am not relevant to what’s happening around me. There was a time when I would easily sit behind my laptop and write up very sound, must-read columns that my many fans would call in to cuss or kiss me over, depending not so much on what was written but how it was written.
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General T&T, International, USA, Venezuela

Aunty Kams, the bad-Jane

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By Raffique Shah
September 06, 2025

Raffique ShahI have remained fascinated for 50 years and more by how the story (or stories) of my exploits, whenever I’ve had cause to recall details, might help people who were born long after the Mutiny at Teteron Barracks to understand what it looked like.

I had that experience again last week when I was putting together some notes; memoirs to prepare my manuscript for publication. People who listen to the story of how two 24-year-young lieutenants trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst joined with their soldiers, leading the latter as we seized control of the barracks.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, USA, Venezuela

Sleeping with the enemy

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By Raffique Shah
August 30, 2025

Raffique ShahPrime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar can never be as uninformed as she portrays herself to be in matters of foreign affairs, to wit: regional and hemispheric alliances. It took previous governments, starting with the PNM in the 1960s, to cultivate good relations with our Spanish-speaking neighbours in Venezuela.

We often forgot then, as many states now learn, that there is the vast expanse of Portuguese-speaking Brazil a step away from Venezuela.
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Agriculture, General T&T

I Commend PM Kamla

By Raffique Shah
August 16, 2025

Raffique ShahI hope I am mistaken, that I have purged myself of the spirit of the sugar industry that came with the first colonisers and all but strangled Trinidad and Tobago’s economy for many years. I am not ungrateful, mark you, for what sugar has given us by way of revenues and opportunities and “solid, liquid cash”, according to Mastana Bahar’s hosts. But its contribution to the wealth of the nation may well have been close to zilch when one considers the number of times it lost money, wrecked people’s savings, and left the country in a state of disaster.
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General T&T, Israel, Palestine, USA

The New Age Hitler

By Raffique Shah
August 09, 2025

Raffique ShahBy the time US President Donald Trump is finished with us, and here I mean the world as we know it now, our world will have changed likely to a backward civilisation, if there is anything civil about reversing progress.

I make this pronouncement boldly as a projection, not prediction, since I don’t believe in hocus-pocus. But he is deep into it and so are many of his “Jim Jones-like cultist followers”.
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General T&T, Schools

What a world

By Raffique Shah
August 02, 2025

Raffique ShahI am very confused by the problems many teenagers face as they come to the end of one cycle or other of the education system. Many moons ago when my generation ended our “schooling” we had a clear vision of what lay ahead.

Those among us who failed the Secondary School Entrance Examination—and there were options there—a significant percentage would move into the secondary school system by attending one of the many private secondary colleges. They would sit an entrance exam to the college of choice and, once successful, their parents would make payments to have them educated. Others who found that cumbersome would opt for what in today’s language is known as business studies.
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Crime in T&T, Finance

Beware of greed

By Raffique Shah
July 26, 2025

Raffique ShahI find it inexcusable that adult Trinidadians and Tobagonians who have benefited from the education and training that this country has offered easily fall victim to modern-day Trinidad “smart-men”.

CCN journalist Mark Bassant has focused on an “investment” that has relieved a significant number of our citizens who, in a couple of years, lost millions of dollars, in some cases, to a bunch of fellas who looked like they never even graduated pre-school. What is even more disturbing is among the people who invested are lawyers and doctors, professionals who are supposed to be “bright”.
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