If we begin on the presumption that sovereignty is a myth and economic strength aspirational we would have begun on the wrong premise.
It would be the reason why we would allow the Organization of American States, OAS and European Union, EU to subcontract the weaponization of sanctions to every Tom, Dick and Gerry that has rented a megaphone to run commentary on Guyana’s recount countdown
For we are sure that part of their strategy is driven by the fact that 47 years post CARICOM, preceded by CARIFTA and the West Indian Federation, the region remains a study in the sovereignty that member countries hold on to, at the expense of building the unified block all of those agencies never built because of the sovereignty each country wants to hold on to, in a paradox of political irony …
So they’ve established the shots and call them knowing, that they can squeeze the market because it is inherently narrow… sugar growing in almost every member country so if one misbehave they buy from the other…just to illustrate the point and if they decide they ain’t buying Guyana oil then Trinidad may just be willing to step up to fill quota from the region.
We’ve already addressed, in previous posts, that the OAS is not a neutral forum, how the USA uses its economic capacity to single handedly pay some 2/3 of the OAS budget then uses that as a ransom payment for poorer countries to vote for the US agenda, how its chief executioner, Alamagro, once a revered left wing fighter for Latin American politics has now become a bought operative of the US right Wing machine for a handsome salary with perks beyond his station in life, they say, all of which provides optimum conditions for US hegemony through its economic imperial channels…like sanctions.
And its EU counterpart, though seen as less of a proxy for regional interests like, for example, Britain imposing its will on the body to seize Guyana’s oil, the EU comes across as a timid convert to America’s bullying with its signing of a Cooperation Agreement with the OAS, even as it remains an important trading partner with Cuba that has been ‘suspended’ from the OAS since 1962.
Sanctions emanating from the UN we know, by its very declaration, do not occur in a vacuum and we’ve deferred to this declaration by virtue of the UN being a more structured and stable body, not a subsidiary of the United States, even if the US tries to manipulate opinion based on its hefty financial contribution to UN budget.
Getting back to the Sanctions threats, though, looming over Guyana’s declaration of a winner in its 2020 General Elections that have been issued by the US through the stained Pompeo, its Madame Ambassador’s finger wagging in her snarling Open Letter to us all which was preceded by an undressed warning and the Chorus Line of EU, and Canadian Ambassadors support in expected fashion, as the arrival of the International Observers delayed by COVID protocols increases recount countdown anxieties of those who await a date- certain for the recount to begin.
What anxieties, you ask?
Well, Ralph Ramkarran, whose tenure in the PPP was mostly during the time of high crimes and no misdemeanors, penned an Op Ed hinting at a lack of GECOM credibility. Mr. Ramkarran may want to remember that he was lead counsel for Janet Jagan during the overturning of her 1997 ‘victory’ for electoral fraud that hoisted her to illegal occupancy of the Presidency…
That, right there Sir, was NO CREDIBILITY .
But back to the recount countdown.
We’ve already questioned their– the foreign agencies – interpretation of democracy and rights and have submitted that their support of a Party led by a thug, so captured by their Embassy memo’s and WikiLeaks documentation, is representative of the democracy and rights of their expedience and not that which is of benefit to all of Guyanese.
And this is a good time to ask why we have not seen the deployment of Foreign Secretary Carl Greenidge, whom we know has both the international gravitas and the foreign service acumen, buttressed by his academic qualifications, established international relationships and political experience to stand in the gap between organizations that seem unquestionably biased and our elections which would be the product of our rights and our democracy.
We do recall, in show of willingness to serve in a capacity that requires his unique skills, he renounced his British Citizenship and if there ever was a time he was needed, it is now, during this tense, recount countdown period.
About three years ago a Benjamin N. Gedan, with varying portfolios that range from Professor to Director of US National Security, wrote an Opinion on Venezuela with a subtitle:“ Tiny States have outsize power and many are in thrall to the Caracas regime. It included a scathing put down of Caribbean countries in the OAS which he determined should be allowed the equivalent of a fraction of a vote, totaling 1 collective vote : “Given the stakes for the OAS and Venezuela, it is time for a new approach. OAS members should immediately dissolve the organization and replace it with a body that assigns Caribbean members a single, collective vote.
Then, “the Caribbeans should be encouraged not to boycott the new organization… If this measure seems extreme, the alternative is more so: The OAS collapses, or at best, slowly fades away. That is a real possibility. The White House is poised to slash U.S. support for the OAS, which makes up 60% of its budget. In another sign that U.S. patience has reached its limits, the White House is considering destabilizing economic sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector. Last month, President Trump even declined to rule out a “military option.”
I’ve copied whole sections because the Wall Street Journal is a subscription and a link may not take readers to the full level of contempt this organization, Organization of American States, feels for us.
It should not be lost on the reader that Guyana is considered disposable and exists only to the extent that it will tow America’s line.
The good thing is that Trump, the Right Wing’s gift for regime change, is not assured another term in office. The bad thing is that the OAS, operating as a surrogate of America , seemingly, has infected the efficacy of Guyana’s elections.
In politics, appearance is 50% of the charge. And it is here, where the bias of the OAS is entrenched, that the diplomatic strength of Mr. Greenidge could be preempted.
And since we’re asking, we would love to hear more from the President we support during this recount countdown period, more words of assurance, that we are indeed in the process of protecting our right to vote to elect the leader of our choosing and not one dictated to us for the expediency of an OAS, as is the right of every one who votes.
This would certainly be the breaking news that Guyanese, fearful of the foreign bias in our elections, would prefer to hear and from the President whom we would love to see more of in this vital news cycle…not about portfolio reshuffling…
We went into the 2020 Election cycle unaware that supporters of the Coalition were up against an extended political foe in the insular ecosystem of an OAS – dictator of political fortunes of those “tiny countries” which, one of their calloused analysts concluded, as he looked down his upturned nose saying:
“For the past two years, Caribbean governments, in return for Venezuelan assistance, have held the OAS hostage. These countries, most of which are less populous than Staten Island, control 14 of the organization’s 34 votes. They have wielded their influence to thwart all attempts at defending human rights and democratic institutions.
That an organization, itself a bastion of mistrust and political jiggery- pokery, has now hitched its pitching star to the wagon of a Jagdeo, whose dossier with them details reams of conduct that once gave rise to much anxiety over his re-instatement of the overseer of murder from the Ministry of Home Affairs, should cause every Guyanese concern over the use of this Organization to influence their political future, even if we expect the conduit, Trump, to be sorely defeated in November 2020.
And we cannot only stop at concern, win or lose, after the impending recount following the orchestrated disruption that has brought us to the point of foreign powers openly lambasting our duly elected leaders but we must all become advocates at exposing how these organizations pick their leaders amongst us, through the prostitution of financial assistance – even if the leader is a condemned undesirable by their own intelligence pg. 206-208 .
Meanwhile, the performance stage remains on open call for any number of Guyanese willing to trade their patriotic repute for relevance, as they tremble through this mandatory recount countdown waiting period.
When he was operating with more of a soul, we remember Chris Ram as a crusader for government propriety and he has an endless trove of documents demonstrating his patriotism over partisanship, as he cited the criminal conduct of Jagdeo.
These days, like so many others previously of perceived standing, Chris is jostling for a squeeze on the oil -soaked political stage to re-register for some relevance with the Candidate that the US and its OAS feel will be more pliable, considering the dirt that they have on him.
The subcontractors, with their rented megaphones shouting imperialist sanctions against their own country and on behalf of the hegemonic OAS and EU, has just grown by one, now sporting a lineup of every Tom, Dick, Gerry and Ram– an indomitable performer whose clawing for relevance over the years has shown that there’s not a circus in which his talent won’t qualify as main attraction.
