Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - Hier 15:46

Rumours of war and kinetic strikes

BETWEEN THE rumours of war trending and pending, I have deliberately been withholding my comments on the US-Venezuela-TT-Caricom discussions/negotiations/threats, while keeping count of the speedboat strikes as both lives and “cargoes” are destroyed. This does not mean I have not been paying attention; far from it. Picking a side and throwing my full support behind them would have been the easy alternative. But the issues at hand are not that simple. I have chosen the more difficult approach, which is to try and understand each side along with their position and the “whys” behind them. In recent discussions I have shared the idea that it is not easy to make distinctions between the players involved without coming across as being disingenuous or prejudiced towards or against the others. I also acknowledge that, as a people, we are generally weak in maths and hence logic. The issues make it literally impossible to make some serious distinctions. For example, it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between Donald Trump and America. It is equally difficult to distinguish between Nicolás Maduro and Venezuela, between Trinidad and Caricom, and, lastly, between Kamla Persad-Bissessar/UNC and TT. The general rule is that leaders of respective nations speak on behalf of their people. However, it must be duly noted that they only speak on behalf of some of the people. Oftentimes their critics are much louder than their supporters. Social media and AI-generated memes do little to allay the fears of a people prone to panic, as we are. I am not a Trump supporter. Haven’t been one since he called for the hanging of the “Central Park 5” in 1989, when they were first arrested. This despite the fact that New York state does not carry the death penalty. In recent times most of his many decisions have been equally ludicrous, to put it mildly. Nonetheless, I am in support of his approach to dealing with the drug runners. The challenge comes when he tries to convince the world that his reason for seeking to remove Maduro is about drugs. Here he once again demonstrates his illiteracy, showing up on the radar as a total idiot, along with his supporters. Everyone knows Venezuela’s challenges are not about drugs. This is where TT’s Prime Minister loses credibility and crucial support, as she tries to convince people in the region that she, too, buys into the idea that Maduro’s removal is about drugs. But in a world where might makes right, Trump has concluded that “Maduro’s days are numbered.” I have argued for many years, and in many forums, that the war on drugs is being fought from the wrong end. Since it was declared by former US president Richard Nixon in 1971, it has had no impact on the demand. Actually, the demand today is much greater than in 1971 or when Nancy Reagan, former first lady of the US, launched her “Just Say No” campaign in the 80s. Nor did mass incarceration during the 1980s for drug-related offences have any impact. A demand, for anything, will always generate suppliers. Meanwhile, back home, rumours of war continue. With all the rumours trending, the government has once again extended the state of emergency (SoE). So at the end of the year the nation would have been under an SoE for the entire year. And, of course, the police, true to form, will seek to take credit, as they are already doing by arguing that “crime is down.” This same argument was used by a former minister of national security in 2011, and who continues to use that SoE to claim that he was responsible for crime being down. In the midst, we have a phrase thrown around, especially by Caricom member states, referring to the region as a zone of peace. Funny how the Caribbean is currently described as such. For the people making this claim, it is clear that a clearer definition is required. From as far back as I wish to recall, the murder rate in Jamaica have pushed that nation among the top-most murderous nations in the world. And while Jamaica’s murder rate remains high, it’s much lower than previous years. However, in TT the murder rate had been working its way up the charts for years, until the recent SoE, which we saw being extended. It is apparent that governance by SoE has become our new norm. Back at the ranch, our PM is crediting Trump’s “kinetic strikes” as successful, arguing “there has been a reduction…in ganja and cocaine prices on the streets.” Yet we continue to find large caches of weed, with no owners, as the rumours of war and “kinetic strikes” on speedboats make world news. The post Rumours of war and kinetic strikes appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.