Category Archives: USA

England, General T&T, International, USA

Royal Politics Shapes The Windsor Wedding

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By Stephen Kangal
May 21, 2018

Stephen KangalThe Royal Wedding between Prince Harry and American-born Meghan Markle that was solemnised at the historic Windsor Castle was billed to be a showcase of the cultural and ceremonial embodiment of British aristocracy, tradition and indeed of the British Raj in all its regal splendour descended into the realm of subliminal politics and public/race relations.

It started with Prince Charles walking down his future daughter-in-law Meghan down the aisle instead of her mother Doria who was at the wedding. This was intended to symbolise Royal assent and acceptance of the mixed-race Meghan into the Royal Family.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, International, Law, Police, USA, Violence

No guns in our schools

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By Raffique Shah
February 27, 2018

Raffique ShahWhile I empathise with the trainee teacher who was robbed at gunpoint on her school’s compound last Wednesday morning—I suffered a similar fate at my home back in 2002—I do not understand why people are shocked by the brazen, early morning robbery.

If we feel schools should be sacrosanct, that bandits and other criminals should show respect for our institutes of education, perish the thought. Some parents, teachers and students have long jettisoned that notion by their misbehavior, and students’ brawls captured on the ubiquitous phone-video-cameras are among the most popular fare uploaded onto sundry so-called social media Internet sites, providing perverse entertainment for people who seem to spend all their waking hours digesting cyber-garbage.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, International, Islam, Syria, USA, Violence

FBI tip on terror threat

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By Nalinee Seelal
February 17, 2018 – newsday.co.tt

Trini ISIS fightersUS law-enforcement officers, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), tipped off TT’s Special Branch and the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) in December last year on plans by a certain group of local Muslims to bomb the US Embassy in Port of Spain between Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, International, Iraq, Law, Syria, USA

Meeting the ISIS challenge head-on

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Trinidad Express
January 22, 2018 – trinidadexpress.com

Trini ISIS fightersTHERE ought to be no question that the authorities here must see the urgency of the need to establish effective safeguards for the preservation of national safety and security, with the return home of persons who were enlisted as members of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS).
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Caribbean, France, General T&T, Haiti, International, USA

No regrets for making Haiti a ‘shithole’?

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By Sir Ronald Sanders
January 13, 2018 – telesurtv.net

Haiti(The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States and the OAS. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto. The views expressed are his own)

The effect of the inappropriate depiction of Haiti, El Salvador and all African nations as “shit hole” countries is a matter that the people of the United States of America and their government and Congress should contemplate seriously.
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General T&T, Haiti, International, USA

Why The US Owes Haiti Billions – The Briefest History

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By Bill Quigley
November 27, 2013 – ccrjustice.org

HaitiWhy does the US owe Haiti Billions? Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State, stated his foreign policy view as the “Pottery Barn rule.” That is – “if you break it, you own it.”

The US has worked to break Haiti for over 200 years. We owe Haiti. Not charity. We owe Haiti as a matter of justice. Reparations. And not the $100 million promised by President Obama either – that is Powerball money. The US owes Haiti Billions – with a big B.
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General T&T, International, Israel, Palestine, Politics, USA

Foreign Policy Blunder

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 02, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOnce I read our government had abstained on the United Nation’s resolution to condemn the United States decision to anoint Jerusalem as Israel’s capital I raced to the Tunapuna cemetery to reacquaint myself with the words on C. L. R. James’s gravestone, which read: “Time would pass, old empires would fall and new ones take their place, the relations of countries and the relations of classes had to change, before I discovered that it is not quality of goods and utility which matter, but movement; not where you are or what you have, but where you have come from, where you are going and the rate at which you are getting there” (Beyond a Boundary).
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Caribbean, CARICOM, General T&T, International, Israel, PNM, Politics, USA

Between Big Stick Policy and Dollar Diplomacy

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Contesting Caribbean Subservience in the Age of Trump

By Tyehimba
December 24, 2017

Donald TrumpThere was an overwhelming vote within the United Nations general assembly against the United States’ unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. 128 members of the general assembly voted against motion, 9 nations voted for, while 35 nations including Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Panama, Mexico and Canada, abstained. The non-binding vote came days after the United States used its veto power to overturn a UN security council resolution that called for a withdrawal of the recognition by Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had threatened that the United States would be taking names of all the countries who supported the resolution, while President Trump threatened to cut foreign aid to those countries.
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CARICOM, General T&T, International, Israel, PNM, Politics, USA

Moses explains T&T’s stance on Israel

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By Gail Alexander
December 23, 2017 – guardian.co.tt

Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis MosesThis country’s policy has always been to support steadfast recognition of the State of Israel with secure territorial borders as well as establishment of a Palestinian State, the Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses said yesterday.

He gave this explanation when asked about T&T’s abstention from Thursday’s vote in the United Nations General Assembly resolution on the status of Jerusalem.
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