THE EDITOR: During the recent Heads of Mission meeting held in POS Prime Minister Manning indicated that in the face of increasing purchases of security equipment from the State of Israel T&T will have to review its foreign policy in the Middle East. In my view, it is clear that PM Manning did not realise that there was a hidden quid pro quo for being granted access to Israeli spying technology. He is now being forced to forge a pro-Israeli foreign policy in the Middle East that will in fact constitute a radical departure from our traditional Middle East Pro-Arab-Palestinian, Group of 77 policy.
Continue reading Designing a Pro-Israel Middle East Policy
Category Archives: General T&T
Chatham residents win smelter war
By Corey Connelly
http://www.guardian.co.tt
Government has decided to immediately discontinue all plans to establish an Alcoa aluminium smelter on the Cap-de-Ville estate, Prime Minister Patrick Manning signalled yesterday.
“Instead, we shall accelerate development of a new industrial estate offshore at Otaheite Bank from which aluminium production can now be pursued together with other industrial plants,” Manning said in a televised Christmas Day address to the nation.
Continue reading Chatham residents win smelter war
Cheap Politics and Racism Cannot Beat the Steelpan
By A. A. Hotep
December 23, 2006
Why try to deny the legitimacy of the Steelpan being our national instrument?
The Steelpan is globally recognized as the only acoustical instrument developed in the 20th century. The fact that this instrument was created and developed in Trinidad and Tobago out of the experiences of Africans seems to be troubling to a few Indians in Trinidad and Tobago.
Continue reading Cheap Politics and Racism Cannot Beat the Steelpan
Exploding the Pan National Instrument Myth
By Stephen Kangal
December 23, 2006
Simultaneous with my recent objections to the notes of the tenor pan being elevated by the National Symbols and Observances Committee (NSOC) to the status of an exclusive cultural symbol to represent the distinctive Indian cultural presence in T&T in the medallion of the OTR and being snowed in by an avalanche of criticisms reinforcing and re-asserting pan as the national instrument, I must now call into question, in this context, Pan Trinbago’s “black mail” mantra and/or ultimatum of:
Continue reading Exploding the Pan National Instrument Myth
Violence Escalates As If He Never Was
By Linda Edwards
December 22, 2006
A Two Thousand Year Search For Peace gets no closer to actuality as 2006 comes to a close. Daily, the dead bodies pile up in the Middle East. In Gaza, where the Israelis (not the Children of Israel) continue to slaughter Palestinians and take their land, while such atrocities continue to be funded by American taxpayers, of whom I am one. Further to the east, in Iraq, children and grandmothers die daily as violence of brother against brother, as well as American death incursions continue to take their toll on humanity.
Continue reading Violence Escalates As If He Never Was
Single regional airline?
By George Alleyne, newsday.co.tt
December 20 2006
The increasing change in carrier preference in the international transport industry by passengers over the past decade and a half, spurred on by the horrendous events of September 11, 2001, along with the seeming reluctance of trade unions representing BWIA workers to appreciate this is the principal reason why BWIA had to be closed down and replaced with Caribbean Airlines.
Continue reading Single regional airline?
Paramin Parang Festival 2006
Paramin Parang Festival Draws Thousands
Parang lovers by the thousands came together for the Paramin Parang Festival 2006 which took place on Monday 18th December, 2006, on the hills of Paramin. This year was the 29th anniversary of this celebration and the turn out was fantastic as usual.
Continue reading ‘Paramin Parang Festival Draws Thousands’
A clip of parang by the Lara Brothers
A clip of parang by the Paraminios Parang Group
Letter to the EMA – Re: The Rapid Rail System
By Stephen Kangal
December 17, 2006
Re: Mandatory Conduct of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Prior to the Award of a Certificate of Environmental Certificate (CEC) for the Design, Build, Operate and Manage (DBOM) Contract for the Establishment of the Rapid Rail System (RRS) by the Ministry of Works and Transport
I have the honour to bring to the attention of the EMA that it must insist that the Ministry of Works and Transport should apply to the Authority for the issue of the appropriate Certificate of Environmental Clearance prior to the award of an international tender to establish the proposed billion dollar 120km Rapid Rail System (RRS) from Diego Martin to Sangre Grande and from POS to San Fernando.
Continue reading Letter to the EMA – Re: The Rapid Rail System
Santa Shah is coming to town
by Raffique Shah
December 17, 2006
I have been thinking about my approach to Christmas which many have described as being that of a Scrooge, not a Santa. True. I dislike seeing people exhaust all their earnings and savings on this one occasion, only to have to resort to borrowing to survive the few months afterwards. It happens to most low-to-middle income earners. With portents of global warming soon bringing an end to all life as we know it, what the hell? So let the masses overeat, drink excessively, and be merry. As for me, I shall join the fete, even transforming myself into Santa. I’m sharing gifts aplenty, too-starting, as usual, with the big boys and girls.
Continue reading Santa Shah is coming to town
The Lopinot Heritage Festival 2006
Member of the Cornelio family serves drinks to commerorate the festive occasion
The Lopinot Heritage Festival 2006
The Lopinot Heritage Festival took place on Sunday 12th December, 2006, to a crowd of hundreds. This event, although very festive in nature, was also an educational experience for visitors to learn about Parang in Lopinot.
The Lopinot Heritage Festival in pictures:
http://triniview.com/album/Lopinot_101206