Tag Archives: USA

General T&T, International, People's Partnership, Politics

Diplomatic Blunders

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By Raffique Shah
November 06, 2011

Raffique ShahTRINIDAD and Tobago’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Rodney Charles, took two rather curious positions over the past week. On October 31, the UNESCO’s General Conference voted on a motion to admit Palestine to that organisation. Mr Charles abstained. Then last Thursday, Mr Charles was one of only three ambassadors who accepted invitations to have lunch with Marine Le Pen, French presidential candidate and leader of the extreme right-wing party, the National Front.
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General T&T, USA, Violence

Remembering September 11…Somewhat Differently

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By Corey Gilkes
September 11, 2011

September 11As you know today is 10 years since a horrific tragedy occurred in New York City, one in which thousands of lives were snuffed out and led to many more tragedies and atrocities. As is the custom today we will see the emotional services as those who lost their lives in that event are remembered and rightly so.
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Business, England, Finance, General T&T, International, Politics, USA

Slash subsidies, prioritise spending

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By Raffique Shah
August 14, 2011

Raffique ShahA WEEK sometimes feels like eternity in today’s fast-paced world. When I wrote last week’s column—”Jam Them!”—for which I received lots of jamming, Standard and Poor’s downgrading of America’s credit rating, and the almost instant global fallout, had not yet happened.

How was I to know that parts of London and other cities in England would erupt into mayhem?
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corruption, England, General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics, Sports

Think the unthinkable

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By Raffique Shah
June 26, 2011

Raffique ShahLAST December, after the FIFA voted on hosts for the 2018 and 2022 football World Cup, I wrote a column in which I suggested that Jack Warner might have exposed Trinidad and Tobago to negative fallouts in international relations because of the perception that he had reneged on promises made to the US and Great Britain.
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General T&T, International, USA

Question for Caricom on Nato’s ‘war’ in Libya

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By Analysis by Rickey Singh
May 15, 2011 – trinidadexpress.com

Muammar Muhammad al-GaddaffiLAST WEEK, while the United Nations humanitarian aid chief, Baroness Valerie Amos, was pleading for at least a pause in hostilities in Libya to help “ease the humanitarian crisis”, NATO’s Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was arrogantly boasting — amid continuing bombing strikes — that President Moammar Gadaffi’s “days are numbered… There is no future for him or his regime…”
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Africa, Books, Education, General T&T, Race and Identity

The Souls of Black Folk

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 04, 2011

Part 2 – Part 1

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeJoseph Winthrop Holley, the founder of Albany State University and the son of a former slave, was born in Albany, Georgia, which explains why he wanted to build a school in his native town. He attended Revere Lay College in Revere, Massachusetts which changed its name to the Boston Evangelical Institute before it merged with another school to form Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary that my former wife attended. During the latter part of the 1980s I visited that seminary often.
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Africa, General T&T, International

Africa’s Global Importance

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 27, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt is true generally that citizens of nation states are emboldened by the relative power their original homelands enjoy in the world’s council of governance. Jews all over the world are emboldened and strengthened by Israel’s power as Indians all over the world are strengthened and empowered by the growing international importance of India which is why not one East Indian demurred when India offered citizenship to Indians in its diaspora after our government allowed Indian and Russian business people to enter Trinidad and Tobago without a visa.
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General T&T, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, Politics, UNC

Rowley’s Failure

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 20, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe hiccups PNM is going through have more to do with Keith Rowley’s failure to lead than Patrick Manning’s political intransigence and nostalgia for power. Manning, the insane victim of his own ill-judgment, is suffering from the failed-leader syndrome to which many past leaders fall prey: an inability to recognize they messed up and ought to leave the political stage quietly if they cannot do so gracefully. This is the difference between great leaders (such as Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania) who knew how to demit office peacefully and stubborn autocrats (such as Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarack of Egypt and Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivore) for whom power is an entrancing aphrodisiac.
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General T&T, International, Internet Issues, Politics

Curbing Cyber Terrorism

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By Raffique Shah
January 15, 2011

Raffique ShahNOBEL Laureate Paul Krugman (Economics, 2008) referred to it as the “Climate of Hate”. In his New York Times column last week, he pointed to “incitement” coming from politicians and media commentators on the far right in America that factored in the murderous carnage in Arizona. Democrat Representative Gabrielle Giffords and Judge John Roll were victims of a wild shooting spree by a mentally disturbed 22-year-old man, which claimed five lives.
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