Category Archives: USA

Obama’s Africa Speech: Lies, Hypocrisy, and a Prescription for Continued African Dependence

Q. Is Obama better than Bush?

A. It depends how you like your imperialism – with a white face or a black one.

By Stephen Gowans
July 19, 2009

www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

Barack ObamaUS president Barack Obama’s speech at Accra, Ghana on July 11, 2009 was equal parts jaw dropping hypocrisy, outright fiction, sound advice for Africans if taken literally, and advocacy for institutions ideally suited to capital accumulation in Africa by Western investors. Africans should heed the US president’s call to embrace the idea that Africa’s future is up to Africans (and Africans alone) and to build their own nations, but the path Obama proposes, if followed, would condemn Africa to continued underdevelopment and perpetual dependence on the West.
Continue reading Obama’s Africa Speech: Lies, Hypocrisy, and a Prescription for Continued African Dependence

President Ortega’s Opening Statement at the Fifth Summit of the Americas

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega arrives for the opening ceremony of the Fifth Summit of the Americas - April 17, 2009
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega arrives for the opening
ceremony of the Fifth Summit of the Americas – April 17, 2009

Speech by His Excellency Honourable Daniel Ortega Saavedra, President of Nicaragua, on April 17 2009, during the Opening Ceremonies of the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.
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Cry, the Unforgiven Country: Obama’s ‘Continuity’ in Haiti

The area of Bas-Ravine, in the northern part of Haiti
The area of Bas-Ravine, in the northern part of Haiti
Photo taken by Rémi Kaupp wikipedia.org

By Chris Floyd
April 28, 2009 – chris-floyd.com

Haiti has been a cursed nation throughout its existence. As I noted in a piece in 2004:

Exactly two hundred years ago, Haitian slaves overthrew their French masters — the first successful national slave revolt in history. What Spartacus dreamed of doing, the Haitian slaves actually accomplished. It was a tremendous achievement — and the white West has never forgiven them for it.

In order to win international recognition for their new country, Haiti was forced to pay “reparations” to the slaveowners – a crushing burden of debt they were still paying off at the end of the 19th century. The United States, which refused to recognize the country for more than 60 years, invaded Haiti in 1915, primarily to open it up to “foreign ownership of local concerns.” After 19 years of occupation, the Americans backed a series of bloodthirsty dictatorships to protect these “foreign owners.” And still it goes on.

It certainly does — even under the “enlightened” foreign policy of Barack Obama. As John Caruso reports (in separate pieces in A Distant Ocean and A Tiny Revolution), Obama and his “superstar” secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, are loudly championing the latest egregious, brutal farce that Washington and the West have foisted upon the uppity natives of Haiti.
Continue reading Cry, the Unforgiven Country: Obama’s ‘Continuity’ in Haiti

Lack of a CARICOM Strategy at the Fifth Summit

By Stephen Kangal
April 24, 2009

Fifth Summit of the AmericasThe hosting of the recently concluded Fifth Summit of the Americas was portrayed as a CARICOM initiative and, as usual, T&T bore the full costs involved.

I am very disturbed that T&T/CARICOM did not act collectively in an effective manner to maximize returns on T&T’s huge and staggering investment. The CARICOM meeting that was scheduled for Thursday 16 April was not held. No effort was made to concretize a CARICOM strategy at the Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Heads of Government held in Belize prior to the Summit.
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The Summit and the lie

By Fidel Castro Ruz
April 22, 2009 – granma.cu

Fidel CastroSome of the things that Daniel told me would be hard to believe if it was not him who told me them and it was not at a Summit of the Americas where they occurred.

The unusual thing is that there was no such consensus on the final document. The ALBA group did not sign it; that was confirmed in the last exchange with Obama in the presence of Manning and the other leaders in the morning of April 19.
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Post-mortem on Fifth Summit of the Americas

Dr. Kwame Nantambu
April 23, 2009

Fifth Summit of the AmericasThe Fifth Summit of the Americas 17-19 April 2009 in Trinidad and Tobago has come and gone; its final Declaration of Port-of-Spain was not ‘signed, sealed and delivered’ by all thirty-four participating heads of government but most importantly, hemispheric leaders totally misunderstood, misread and miscalculated the formulation of US foreign policy toward the region.
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Venezuela and ALBA Promote “New Climate” in Summit of the Americas

By Tamara Pearson
April 21st 2009
Venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuelan President Hugo ChávezVenezuela and the countries of the Bolivarian Alternative to the Americas (ALBA) decided not to sign the final document of the Summit of the Americas held on April 17-19 in Trinidad and Tobago, saying it excluded Cuba and offered no viable solution to the current economic crisis.
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The Secret Summit

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega arrives for the opening ceremony of the Fifth Summit of the Americas - April 17, 2009
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega arrives for the opening
ceremony of the Fifth Summit of the Americas – April 17, 2009

By Fidel Castro Ruz
April 19, 2009
cuba.cu

Neither represented nor excommunicated, only today could I learn what was discussed at the Summit of Port of Spain. They led us all to entertain hopes that the meeting would not be secret, but those running the show deprived us of such an interesting intellectual exercise. We shall get to know the substance but not the tone of voice, the look in the eyes or the facial look that can be a reflection of a person’s ideas, ethic and character.
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5th Summit of the Americas News: April 21, 2009

Spouses of the visiting Heads of Government Retreat to Point-a-Pierre

The Fifth Summit of the Americas in pictures

What a Summit!
PRIME Minister Patrick Manning has succeeded, perhaps beyond his wildest dreams, in his goals of giving regional leaders a safe and amiable forum to talk, and in showcasing Trinidad and Tobago on the world stage.
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5th Summit of the Americas News: April 20, 2009

Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Patrick Manning and the President of the United States Barack Obama

PM signs alone, no unanimity on declaration

Heads divided on Declaration of PoS

Summit plagued by disorganisation
US PRESIDENT Barack Obama opted out of posing for an official photograph for the Fifth Summit of the Americas when it was taken yesterday as several heads of State skipped the symbolic act amidst chaos at the Prime Minister’s Diplomatic Centre in La Fantasie, St Ann’s.
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