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February 7, 2023
While we need gas, is it that that gas must be accessed by playing into a hegemonic power’s strategic and tactical geopolitical moves in its contest for global domination with the Russian and Chinese superpowers?
Trinidad and Tobago has established a long and respected record of standing on the principles of respect for the sovereignty of other nations and their right to self-determination and against interference in their internal affairs by big powers. Are we now to squander that exemplary record for the sake of gas at any cost and objectively join with the US-NATO aggressive military bloc against the Sino-Russian military bloc? Are we to take the side of the US in the new US-CHINA Cold War?
By accepting the self-proclaimed ‘right’ of the US to appropriate the sovereign natural resources of Venezuela and accepting that the US can legitimately issue a license to TT or any other country or multinational to exploit Venezuela’s resources has put us in the position of compromising our sovereignty and becoming a willing lackey of a global power seeking complete global domination and put our country and our people in a perilous place.
Since when has any imperialist power, the old colonials of Europe, the neo-colonial US, or the other big powers like Russia and China ever had the interests of the Caribbean and its peoples at heart? When has the US sought the economic or fuel security needs of the region or protected the environmental interests of the region and its nations?
The US, its President, and its Vice President have no more interest in the Caribbean than their predecessors, who have organized many military adventures to impose brutal regimes in several Caribbean and Latin American countries. NAFTA, the Summit of the Americas, and the so-called economic and trade treaties have never served Caribbean interests but those of the US and its OAS military bloc.
We ignore this aspect of the Dragon gas license at our peril. Yes, we need gas. Yes, we welcome gas. But the pragmatic ‘by any means’ will harm the fundamental interests of our country and people in ways that may appear not apparent as we call for celebration and applause because ‘we finally getting Venezuelan gas to prop up our failing hydrocarbon mono-crop economy just as the plantation cash crop mono-crop economy eventually failed. Once again, the necessity to build a balanced and sustainable economy occupies a lower position on the totem pole of national priorities.
Clyde Weatherhead a Citizen fighting for National Purpose and, Principled international relations. February 4, 2023