The public is hardly interested in the details of budgetary explanations and analysis and for many like myself, I find going through figures to be sheer drudgery. But I could not help but feel a sense of elation at the conclusion of the budget speech by the Minister responsible for Finance. As was expected, and consistent with his first term as Minister of Finance, the Budget projected a sense of optimism and this was underlined by increasing benefits for the most vulnerable, removal of burdensome taxes and increased expenditure for services and infrastructure.
Continue reading “NO NEW TAXES”TAIWAN
As is to be expected, a complete reorientation of US-Guyana relations took place with the visit of Secretary of State Pompeo in September last year. With the emerging importance of Guyana as a petroleum producing state, it was natural that the US would want to place greater emphasis of its relations with Guyana. The critical role of the US Government in promoting free and fair elections resulting in a change in government provided the opportunity for the unusual high level visit of Secretary of State Pompeo. It could be that the Secretary’s visit reflected deep US concern at the Venezuelan Decree that Guyana’s maritime space, including the area covering the Stabroek Block, was under its military jurisdiction., thereby posing a significant threat to US economic interests.
Continue reading “TAIWAN”VENEZUELA ESCALATES THREAT TO GUYANA
Triggered by the decision of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) on December 18, 2020, upholding the Court’s jurisdiction to determine the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award establishing and defining the border between Venezuela and British Guiana, Venezuela has predictably escalated its threat to Guyana’s sovereignty. The Secretary General of the United Nations, under the discretion granted to him by the Geneva Agreement of 1966 between Venezuela, British Guiana and Great Britain, had referred the issue to the ICJ for determination in January 2018, after decades of bilateral and UN sponsored discussions had failed to resolve the issue.
Continue reading “VENEZUELA ESCALATES THREAT TO GUYANA”VICTIMOLOGY AND ITS NARRATIVES
In a letter to SN of January 13 Dr. Kwesi Sansculotte-Greenidge pointed out the necessity and possibility of a political solution to Guyana’s ethno-political problems through constitutional restructuring. The proposals, which would find many supporters, flounders on the narratives of victimology by Guyana’s two major ethnic groups which fuel a relentless drive to seek dominance. It is this, not satanic evil, that is evidenced in the nature of organized political activity in Guyana and is responsible for Guyana’s ethno-political dilemmas.
Continue reading “VICTIMOLOGY AND ITS NARRATIVES”THE STORMING OF THE US CAPITOL
It is difficult to avoid the shocking events of Wednesday last in the United States of America. But whatever the politics of those of us who are not US citizens, however limited our understanding of US history and politics, and whatever criticisms we may have of American domestic and foreign policies, it is a matter of vital importance for the world that American democracy, the world’s oldest, remains strong. American policy has not always benefitted all Americans or the countries which it has sought to influence, by peaceful or violent means. But, as in Guyana over the past twenty-five years, it was the existence of American democracy that enabled democracy in Guyana, the subversion of which the US initially influenced in the past, to be restored in 1992 and to be sustained in 2020. The survival of democracy in the US is vital for its survival in Guyana. And its survival in Guyana is a pre-requisite for the eventual success of attaining inclusivity in governance.
Continue reading “THE STORMING OF THE US CAPITOL”