OUR BIGGEST PROBLEM

It is always difficult to separate personal leadership shortcomings from politics. But the shortcomings of our political leaders are not the main problem facing us. We need to be aware that there has been a fundamental shift in the politics of this country in which both of the two main parties have grown more homogeneous and the mix of national concerns increasingly has turned towards issues of identity, or  - if you prefer to call a spade a spade - race!

PNM voters are overwhelmingly black, conservative and christian.  UNC voters are overwhelmingly Hindu (which means Indian), Indian Muslim and generally better off. PNM funding comes largely from the Syrian and business communities while UNC funding comes almost exclusively from wealthy Indian businessmen.

The media is largely dominated by blacks and (in the case of the Guardian) the Syrians, and their reporting and editorials generally reflect their bias.  (Although thanks in no small part to the unforced errors on the part of the Rowley regime this has changed recently. It remains to be seen what will happen when the election bell is rung.)

The attitude on both sides is not just that the other side (whoever the "other side" might be) is wrong and misguided, but that the other side is actually evil. In these circumstances compromise and moving forward is all but impossible.

Both parties are hurling themselves off the proverbial cliff in resisting a genuine reaching out to the other side, although, from where I sit Mrs. Persad-Bissessar appears to be more amenable to reaching out than Dr. Rowley. I say this partly because I found both the Prime Minister's and Stuart Young's comments about treason and quislings to be offensive in the extreme. I have not observed any similar statements from either Mrs. Persad-Bissessar or any of her lieutenants.

No. Our country is more divided politically than ever before. There is a distinct lack of trust in the bona fides of "the other side" ... and THAT is probably our biggest problem

FAKE NEWS?

Fake news can come in all shapes and sizes as well as from even so-called "official" sources. You have only got to watch American television, for example, and see the reports of their President's various tweets to know that these days you can't even trust our duly elected leaders to tell the truth. It is with this in mind that we all need to be very aware of any attempts by politicians (both local as well as foreign) to try and manipulate their respective electorates. And with an election due sometime later this year we here in good old T&T will not be spared attempts by our local politicians to spread fake news in order to persuade us to vote for them.

That is why I read a piece on social media that said in essence (my words) that the Rowley led PNM was trying to get either CNN or  the BBC to interview our erstwhile Prime Minister  about how Trinidad & Tobago had such success in dealing with COVID-19 that it ranked Number One in the whole world!

Well, the problem here is that we really don't have enough information to be able to assess for ourselves whether that boast is really valid. For example, we don't really know how much testing has been done. The last time I looked (which was very recently) the number of tests was less than two thousand! (In a population of about 1.4 million that ain't a very good number!) Then, although there have only been eight reported COVID-19 deaths, there is a grave suspicion that this number is actually higher. Is this suspicion verifiable? No. There isn't enough information. Is the suspicion reasonable in all of the circumstances? Unfortunately, yes. You see, if you check the number of pneumonia related deaths in, say,  for the WHOLE of 2018, and then you check the number of pneumonia related deaths for the first three months of this year all of a sudden you will find that the number of pneumonia related deaths in the first three months of this year, you will find that this year in the first three months the death rate for pneumonia was more than double that for the whole of 2018!

Hmmm! Suspicious? Very! Especially when reports say that the COVID-19 symptoms are very similar to those of pneumonia.

So? Back to CNN and the BBC. Question: will their reporters care enough to check on what I've just said above and ask the appropriate questions? Or because this will not be a very big international story and will probably get about three minutes of airtime (if that) they will just let the Prime Minister speak, not question him with anything difficult  ... in other words, give him a free pass ... and then report how well T&T has done.

This has relevance, because both CNN and the BBC have very good reputations and if one (or both) report that T&T has done very well you can just imagine how this will play out on the political hustings! And the poor CNN/BBC reporters will have been unwitting stooges who have been cleverly duped by the Government and who will never understand that the real purpose of their being invited to make this interview was to change the narrative of the real problems that we face with the Delcy Rodriguez/Fuelgate fiasco. 

But , of course, the whole purpose of fake news is to try and change the narrative, deflection,  and it always sounds so much better when the fake news comes from a supposedly reliable source. You have to hand it to the PNM strategists, because if they have indeed thought this one up it's brilliant! But then , nobody ever said they were stupid! They might be a lot of other things, but stupid is definitely not one of them.

DO WE REALLY SUBSCRIBE TO DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES?

With so much going on right now, sometimes it is possible to lose track of everything that has happened over the last almost five years and forget things that were upsetting or hadn't properly been answered or explained away. So, in an effort to keep things in perspective, and in no particular order, here is a list of ten things that have been in the news since the last general election. This list is by no means a complete list, nor is it meant to be a list of the ten most important things that have been questioned and not answered satisfactorily. It's just a list of things which have never been satisfactorily answered with the understanding that there are many other matters that could classify for this listing:

  - the $143,000 cash deposit by Camille Robinson-Regis into her bank account
  - the Delcy Rodriguez visit ostensibly to discuss COVID-19 with no health officials present
  - the 150,000 barrels of gasoline that supposedly went to Aruba but where the tanker mysteriously
     disappeared  for four weeks with the gasoline
  - the Prime Minister calling the Leader of the Opposition a traitor because she wrote to the
    American Embassy about this fuel deal
  - not allowing the stranded cruise ship passengers in Barbados to return home while allowing Delcy
    Rodriguez and her party to come in
  - the lack of clear and credible information about COVID-19 and the lack of testing
  - the covering up of the Daryll Smith matter involving $150,000 of public money and a claim of
    sexual harassment
  - the $500 million repair bill for the Red House
  - the closing down of Petrotrin
  - the lack of transparency concerning the country's finances (e.g., how much has been taken ... and
    put back into the Heritage and Stabilization Fund?)

I could go on, but hopefully, you've got the point. Any one of the above matters requires a complete answer. And while there may be complete answers to all of them, we have never been given those answers.

Now, it is either we live in a democracy or we don't. And it is either that a democracy requires that the people are told the WHOLE truth about everything or it doesn't. And if the whole truth is to be hidden from the people then can we really call what we have a democracy?

BLOWS, MORE BLOWS, FAKE NEWS AND WHETHER STUART YOUNG WILL RESIGN

There is an old Chinese curse: may you live in interesting times. Well, it's hard to see how things could get any more interesting as they are right now. Let's start from the beginning of this week, Sunday 17th May: the Trinidad Express newspaper publishes a front page editorial calling on Stuart Young, the Minister of National Security, to resign. Then the next day the newspaper headlines are screaming about the resignation from the Cabinet of Robert Le Hunte, a former banker and the Vice Chairman of the ruling PNM.  Then on Tuesday comes the extraordinary statement from the American Ambassador where he says that it is not true that he didn't discuss the breaching of the Rio Treaty with Mr. Young. The Ambassador says that he did! This is, of course, basically calling Mr. Young a liar. Guess who the country believes is lying? Mr. Young has since come out with an explanation that can't be repeated here because it simply doesn't make sense. Basically, he seems to be saying that while the Rio Treaty was mentioned in his conversation with the Ambassador it was not mentioned in the context that he meant that it was not mentioned and so he didn't lie or mislead anybody. And if you can understand that you are better than I am!

And today Aruba has said that they didn't purchase any gasoline from Trinidad!

But it is absolutely clear that the Rowley regime has been dealt some very, very serious blows over the last few days. You can't help but wonder what will happen next?

Then social media is full of stories ... most of them fake. One such story that gained prominence over the weekend was that Dr. Rowley's daughter were being deported from the United States. It took about three days for this story to die (it was fake news) but up to today, Wednesday, there were still those asking whether or not there was any truth to it!

It is a measure of how little faith people have in the statements emanating from those at the head of the Government that people were willing to believe that this piece of fake news was indeed real. It was only the fact that the girls have simply not turned up in T&T that finally convinced many that the story was not true. Because most people do realize now that we have not only been consistently lied to by members of the Rowley regime, but that their collective actions have led us into dangerous waters putting us squarely in the cross hairs of the United States.

Nobody believes, for example, that Mr. Le Hunte resigned over a disagreement about WASA. There are stories circulating that there are other, more sinister, reasons as to why Mr. Le Hunte resigned. But your guess is as good as mine as to what the real reasons might be. Certainly, the WASA story is not very credible.

Take yet another story making the rounds right now: it is an established fact that Iran has loaded five tankers with fuel from its refineries and that these tankers are heading for Venezuela. There is intense international speculation as to whether or not the United States will allow the tankers through or whether or not the USA will use its powerful navy to stop the ships from getting through. I definitely (and most unfortunately) do not have a crystal ball so I can't say what will happen, but if I had to bet I'd bet one dollar to one doughnut (we'll decide later who pays the dollar and who pays the doughnut) that the USA will stop the Iranian tankers from getting through.  So far so good! B-u-t there is a report that I have seen that the Iranian tankers are diverting to Trinidad! To which I can only say : they've got to be crazy if this is true!

Iran is subject to American sanctions as is Venezuela. As the old people used to say, 'cockroach have no right in fowl business', and in this case we definitely would be the proverbial cockroach! And if we were so stupid as to allow Iranian sanction busting ships to enter our waters ... well, I shouldn't have to spell that out!

I can only pray that this latest story is also fake news, and that if there is any truth whatsoever to it that the powers-that-be think again and do not allow these tankers into our waters. And if you really have to ask why, then perhaps you need to go back to kindergarten. It will simply take too long to explain.

And I have another bet with the same stakes (one dollar to one doughnut): my bet is that Dr. Rowley will NOT accept Stuart Young's resignation but will call an election instead.

THE AMBITIOUS ANT WHO TRIED TO RAPE THE ELEPHANT

Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary Of The English Language (to give the work it's full name )1989 edition defines the word "traitor" at page 1503 as 'one who betrays a person'; or 'one who betrays his country by violating his allegiance'; or 'one guilty of treason'.  We could go on and look up the definitions of 'treason', 'sedition' and 'disloyalty', but I'm sure that you get the point. It is the very height of 'boldfacedness' and deflection to call Mrs. Persad Bissessar a traitor when she has done nothing except to bring to the country's (and the world's) attention the reckless actions of a Prime Minister and his cabal that have put Trinidad & Tobago squarely in the cross hairs of the huge gun that our neighbour to the north (the United States) has. The former Prime Minister has NOT betrayed her country!

And to make matters even worse I have heard supporters of the Prime Minister say words to the effect that we are an independent country and the United States is 'fars' and out of place to even contemplate telling us what to do. We will do what we like and be friends with whomsoever we like. So, take that!!

Well, that might sound as ambitious as the ant who crawled up the hind leg of an elephant with the intent of rape! But just as the elephant can safely swat the ant away with a swish of its tail, so can the USA do the same to us! Do you really believe that Venezuela, Cuba and Iran can save us? Or even that they will try?

 I don't get it. I really don't! In what universe is the traitor, the treacherous one, guilty of treason by saying 'hey, you who are in charge! You have possibly created a huge problem for us by dealing with these people who are effectively declared enemies of our largest and most powerful neighbour? So, please tell us exactly what you did and why you did it!' In most other people's world the possibly treasonous or traitorous one would be the one who did the act! But that is not the case here! If the Prime Minister is to be believed, the traitor is the one who has called everybody's attention to HIS actions!  Dr. Rowley and his supporters obviously either believe that the best defence is offense, or that their deflecting answering legitimate questions is a good way to run a democracy and that the only time that legitimate questions can be asked of a government is when they are not in power. And what is so awful is that there are many who are buying into this rubbish! And the mainstream media has either been bought off or is so cowed that they are allowing this terrible behaviour to pass with the merest or slightest criticism. Reading the papers and listening to the questioning by reporters of Mrs. Persad Bissessar after her virtual press conference one could not help but get the impression that either the reporters were really stupid and didn't understand how serious the situation is, or the reporters were desperately trying to find something to deflect from what the erstwhile Leader of the Opposition was saying. And this morning one newspaper runs a headline where Dr. Rowley called Mrs. Persad Bissessar a traitor! They pretend to achieve 'balance' by actually reporting in the body of the story what happened and what was actually said, but guess what will make the stronger impression? The headline or the actual story? Get the point?

It really doesn't make sense, and as Hitler's Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels, used to say, 'the bigger the lie and the more often it is repeated the more people will believe it'.

No. This Government has not told us the truth about anything from COVID -19 to Delcy Rodriguez and everything in between. And they clearly aren't going to tell us now. But we should pay attention: all the signs point to an early general election ... possibly in June or July. And with a couple hundred million dollars in advertising revenues from the coming election jumping up, guess why the mainstream media will not rock Dr. Rowley's boat? The COVID-19 restrictions are going to be lifted and before things can get out of hand the election will be upon us. Further, it is a given that the Americans will not take this attempt by our ant to rape their elephant lying down. Therefore, before whatever they do to us can 'bite' it makes sense to call an election early. Watch!

CONNECTING THE DOTS ... RUDY MOONILAL AND HIS CRITICS

In the light of all the negative comments about Rudy Moonilal's letter to the American Ambassador, I was going to write a satirical article showing just how silly the criticisms were and how every criticism that I have read about this imbroglio is simply a  (not so clever) deflection of the real issues. However, somebody sent me this message below and I decided to copy it as if it was my own. I agree with every word in the article:


"CONNECT THE DOTS...
This is bigger than some may want to believe

DATELINES & EVENTS

●Thursday March 26, 2020: United States of America indicts Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his inner circles on charges of Narco Terrorism.

●Friday March 27, 2020: TT Prime Minister Keith Rowley met with Maduro's vice president Delcy Rodriguez at the Prime Minister's Residence in an impromptu urgent private meeting.
Prior to that meeting TT borders were closed from all incoming and out going flights except for those pertaining to Cargo.
Even TT citizens were prevented from returning home.

●Prior to the meeting with PM Rowley and National Security Minister Stuart Young, the Maduro proxy Delcy Rodriguez (who is under heavy EU sanctions) also held secret talks with Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Abalos.
The Spanish Minister has since been at the receiving end of intense rebukes from members of his own government and the Opposition party, as well as from several EU countries.
The Spanish Minister was gave no less than five (5) different reasons/versons for why he met with Delcy Rodriguez.

●Sunday April 12, 2020: Venezuelan journalist Simon Bolivar tweeted that a ship name "Throne" came into Trinidad borders in and around Chaguaramas then departed to Venezuela.
He described it as another example of (drug) smuggling actions.

 ●Wednesday April 21, 2020: Reuters news reported Venezuela has received a 150,000-barrel shipment of gasoline from a company owned by Maduro's friend, Venezuelan shipping magnate Wilmer Ruperti.
The "Aldan" tanker loaded in neighboring Trinidad and Tobago, Refinitiv Eikon data shows.

●Wednesday April 29, 2020: US intelligence alerted and prompted an operation by TT Coast Guard, which intercepted the ship "Throne" with cocaine valued US$160m (TT$663.4m).
US Naval Intelligence was closely monitoring the "Throne" as it sailed from Venezuela to Trinidad and Tobago coast.

●Friday May 1, 2020: International news reported another US Naval Intelligence alerted its EU counterparts, which intercepted another ship off Spain's coast with cocaine valued at US$165m.
An international maritime security site stated the vessel was loaded somewhere in the Caribbean.

●Saturday May 2  2020: The New York Post reported that the US$165m cocaine seizure off the coast of Spain was traced to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

 CRITICAL QUESTIONS
●1. Is it a coincidence that the two countries Delcy Rodriguez visited had intercepted cargo ships with cocaine  due to US-led intelligence?

●2. Is it a coincidence that the value of the two cocaine seizures was approximately the same value (US$160m off the TT coast and US$165m off the coast of Spain)?

●3. How come the Trinidad and Tobago radar system did not detect the first ship name Throne that came into and left Chaguaramas?
Or was it willfully allowed into our borders?

●4. How come National Security Minister Staurt Young did not hold press conference to discuss the seizure of such a huge drug bust?
Why Minister Young so silent on this big issue?
(A seizure of that magnitude certainly warrants bragging rights which he typically would have done).

●5. Apart from gasoline and oil dealings with Maduro proxies, how deep is PM Keith Rowley and National Security Stuart Young otherwise involved in or contaminated with US-indicted narco terrorist dictator Maduro?

STAY TUNED
●More Dots To Connect...
Coming Soonorning an article asking questions and making comments"

And although the article doesn't deal directly with what I call "the Moonilal issue" I would just like to say that in my opinion those who are criticizing the Opposition M.P. should answer the following questions:

- Do you believe that the Americans did NOT know about the ship that delivered 150,000 gallons of gasoline from Trinidad to Aruba BEFORE Mr. Moonilal wrote to them?
- Given that you think that Mr. Moonilal was somehow wrong to write to them would you change your mind if the Americans instead of putting sanctions on the whole country only put them on P.M. Rowley and a few other Cabinet members as a result of Mr. Moonilal telling them 'hey! We didn't know and don't agree with selling gas to Maburro! We aren't going to break your sanctions!'
- What exactly would you have done if you were in Mr. Moonilal's position? Just keep quiet?
- What do you think is the role of the Opposition in a democracy?
- Are you satisfied or are you of the belief that the Prime Minister really had no idea that the gasoline would end up in Venezuela? Really
- Do you think that the visit of the Venezuelan Vice president had anything to do with this/ Or do you think that she really just came to discuss COVID -19?
- Who do you think is more important to us? A country that sells us 70 percent of our food and buys 60 percent of our exports (the USA)? Or a country that bearly trades with us except to supply us wuth drugs and illegal arms (Venezuela)?

You see, I really don't want to argue with anybody about the above matters. All I ask is that those who support the Government of Dr. Rowley simply answer all of the above questions as clearly as possible. I am not interested in your personal opinions of me. They are irrelevant to the questions. Just give the answers!

WE ARE BEING LIED TO ABOUT EVERYTHING

In a conversation with a friend of mine this morning I discovered that he and his circle believe
that what is happening in T&T and whether or not the Government is telling us the truth about how the virus is being handled in T&T, is that we are being told the truth and that the Government is not lying to us about anything.

I found this to be very interesting because it means that the Government propaganda has been very effective and that most people simply do not question what they are told by the authorities. It also means (unfortunately) that those in my friend's circle are not as well informed as they should or could be. As to whether this is the fault of their inherent biases or that of the fact that they simply don't read or question anything, I obviously cannot say, though my money would be more on the fact that most people simply accept unquestioningly what they are told by the authorities and simply don't bother to read or question anything.

Let me give you a small example of what I mean: Yesterday the Prime Minister stood up in Parliament and said that he knew nothing about any tanker with gasoline from Trinidad going to Venezuela. Well, as I explained to my friend, a half truth is often more dangerous than a lie. Taken at face value Dr. Rowley's statement that he knows or knew nothing about the matter in question is clear and unambiguous. But if we dig a little more we discover that Dr. Rowley's Minister of Energy, Franklin Khan,  is reported as acknowledging that a large shipment of gasoline went to a refinery in Aruba. Now, that refinery in Aruba is owned by a company called Citgo which is owned by the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA.

Now, if the gasoline went to PVSA's subsidiary in  Aruba, and Venezuela is experiencing an extreme shortage of gasoline right now with very, very long lines at every gas station in that poor country, and the fact that PDVSA is one hundred percent owned by the Venezuelan Government how much would you like to bet that the gasoline from Trinidad did NOT go to Venezuela? Nothing? Neither would I! And given that the Government through its Minister of Energy knew that the gasoline went to Aruba, how much would you like to bet that the erstwhile Minister did NOT tell his boss (the Prime Minister) that this was going on or had gone on? Nothing? Neither would I! And how much do you want to bet that the Americans are NOT aware of this and are planning right now on how they are going to deal with this sanction busting exercise? Nothing? Neither would I!

That Dr. Rowley clearly told a half truth in Parliament and thus to the country is rather obvious. He can easily say that it is true that he doesn't know of any shipment of gasoline from Trinidad to Venezuela because there was none. But the whole truth is that he knew or ought to have known about the shipment to Aruba and is not so stupid as to be unable to connect the dots from there. Whatever you might think of the Prime Minister 'stupid' is definitely not one of his faults!

Which brings me back to the central point of this post: we are not being told the truth about anything ranging from the coronavirus to the gasoline to Venezuela and everything in between. It is clear to all but the most blind or biased that things are going on and that we are in it  so deeply that it ain't funny! And to those blind supporters of Dr. Rowley & Co., please don't try and deflect from the issues by calling me names or telling me about how wicked and evil the other side is. Give me the straight answers to the straight questions that are being asked about the economy, the %^&*&^%# virus and the gasoline sale (amongst other things). 

If (as appears strongly to be the case) the Government has engaged in a sanctions busting exercise then the whole country is going to pay dearly for it. But let's see what happens next. Certainly, things seem to be unraveling fast and who knows? By next week there may be something else on our minds. But, we should worry. We are not being told the whole truth about anything. And the question is why?