{"id":3219,"date":"2019-11-11T18:17:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T18:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=3219"},"modified":"2019-11-11T18:17:20","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T18:17:20","slug":"america-is-flexing-its-muscle-on-jamaica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=3219","title":{"rendered":"America is flexing its muscle on Jamaica"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anthony Barrett<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USA has begun to flex its diplomatic and\nmilitary muscle against Jamaica. First, it leaked that Jamaica has pulled out\nof a security Memorandum of Understanding with their three traditional partners\n– the USA, Canada and the U.K. Secondly, we saw the revocation of visas held by\na government minister, a senior opposition parliamentarian and senior members\nof the security forces and lastly, a cryptic warning by US Admiral Craig S\nFaller, Commander of the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), when he warned\nof China\u2019s campaign of \u201cdisinformation\u201d in Latin America and the Caribbean,\nhinting that President Xi Jinping\u2019s ties with Venezuela were part of a\nhemispheric axis, worsening security concerns in the region. That, my friends,\nis the US overtly linking China to Venezuela and to a lesser extent Cuba, part\nand parcel of their grand hegemonic design.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This column warned in February 2018 when it posited the\nfollowing; \u201cThe people of the Caribbean and Latin America must make known that\nwe are vehemently opposed to any regime change in Venezuela, a good neighbour\nand friend. Through its PETROCARIBE oil credit facilitation to Caribbean\nnations, Venezuela saved the region from greater economic ravages and social\ntumult during the 2008 global economic meltdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to one research site, as of 2015, while the United\nStates remained the principal trading partner of the Caribbean, China and\nVenezuela had emerged as new challengers. I quote from another report, \u201cBeijing\nlikely views the Caribbean as strategically important by virtue of its\nproximity to the United States and major maritime trade routes and\ninfrastructure, such as the Panama Canal and the region\u2019s many ports.\u201d Chinese\ngovernment donations, aid, loans, and investments in construction of roads, port\nfacilities, new government buildings, cricket and soccer stadiums have tempered\nAmerican influence in the region. \nChina\u2019s economic expansion in the Caribbean and Latin America must be of\nserious concern to the Americans who, for centuries, saw the Caribbean and\nLatin America as their backyard and third border. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamaica has been the greatest Caribbean beneficiary of this\nChinese largesse. Therefore, Tillerson\u2019s visit should not be looked at naively.\nIt is possible under a Trump presidency the United States will more forcefully\nresort to the 1823 James Monroe doctrine. \nI doubt that this American administration has the capacity to accept a\nchanging Latin America and Caribbean where they are no longer the ones calling\nin the plays so they will revert to bullying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WARNING NOT HEEDED<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That warning went unheeded or was not finessed enough by\nthis government. Diplomatic events over the last few days have given local and\ninternational political watchers and pundits one clear and irrefutable\nimpression – confusion reigns in Jamaica\u2019s foreign policy. The government seems\nto be out of step or ignorant of the subtleties and nuances involved in\ninternational relations. A number of previous events ultimately brought us to\nthis ignominious place in our brief history as an independent nation. Only the\nobtuse or the arrogant would not have seen the ominous writing on the wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an era when international relations are dominated by the\nfoibles and whims of the transactional US President Donald Trump, Jamaica\nshould have known that dalliance with those considered enemies of the USA would\nbe fraught with intemperate acts of retaliation, rather than cogent diplomacy\nwhich respected sovereignty. Under the Trump administration, the US is\ndetermined to block China\u2019s assent as a super power. With China\u2019s Belt Road\npolicy manifesting itself in the Caribbean, the US wants to reassert the Monroe\nDoctrine or big stick diplomacy in an area long considered the USA\u2019s backyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, as to not get ahead of myself, I will offer this\nchronology: On September 21, 2011, before running for president, Trump tweeted\nverbatim, \u201cChina is neither an ally nor a friend \u2014 they want to beat us and own\nour country.\u201d  On May 2, 2016, while\ncampaigning for the Republican Party\u2019s presidential nomination, Trump said, \u201cWe\ncan\u2019t continue to allow China to rape our country and that\u2019s what they\u2019re\ndoing. It\u2019s the greatest theft in the history of the world.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 6, 2018, the Trump administration slapped China with\n$34 billion in tariffs and promised another $16 billion would be added at a\nlater date. On July 6, 2018, China responded with similar amounts of tariff. To\ndate, the US has slapped tariffs on US$550 billion worth of Chinese products.\nChina, in turn, has set tariffs on US$185 billion worth of US goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FALLER\u2019S BROADSIDE NOT COINCIDENTAL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is in this milieu of economic warfare, Jamaica\u2019s Prime\nMinister Andrew Holness, opted to visit China on a nine-day working trip.\nTherefore, I do not think Admiral Faller\u2019s broadside is coincidental. This will\nnot be the first time that Jamaica has embarked on an independent diplomatic\npath and faced American aggression and threats. One needs only to look at the\ninternational accomplishments and vilifications of successive Michael Manley\ngovernments between 1972 and 1980.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the words of Delano Franklin, \u201cDuring his period in\noffice, he deepened and strengthened, despite the opposition from certain\npolitical quarters, Jamaica’s relationship with, among others, Cuba, China,\nVenezuela, South Africa, Russia and China. Not only does Jamaica now enjoy warm\nfraternal relations with these countries, but the Jamaican economy has also\nbenefited from large projects from some of these countries\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Professor of Public Policy at UWI, Denis Benn,\n\u201cMichael Manley was a true internationalist who understood the complex\ninterplay among national, regional and global processes. He was an articulate\nand persuasive spokesman in fora such as the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group\nof 77.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIndeed, during the 1970s and 1980s, Manley became the most\narticulate voice on behalf of the developing world in championing the cause of\nthe New International Economic Order (NIEO), which dominated the international\neconomic agenda during the period. Almost single-handedly, he challenged the\nforces of oppression both at home and abroad\u201d. Incidentally, Benn is a\nprofessor at The Cyrus Vance Professorship at the Centre for International\nRelations at Mount Holyoke University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holness is no Michael Manley; he has not built the requisite\nrelationship with our CARICOM partners to weather an onslaught by the\nAmericans.  Lest we forget the disdain\nand contempt in which we are held by some in the Caribbean, I will quote from a\nprevious column. \u201cAccording to UWI Professor Rupert Lewis, Kingston (Jamaica)\nshould have abstained from the OAS vote, adding that it would not have been a\ncowardice move. From the end of December 2017, I saw the drift of the Jamaican\ngovernment, by and large, faced with a Trump administration, faced with Nikki\nHaley\u2019s ultimatum to people that we\u2019re watching how you vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Professor Lewis, Jamaica is aligning itself\nwith the ideology of the United States because it is still in a difficult\nfiscal situation. \u201cI can understand the economic aspect, but I can\u2019t understand\nthe separation of the economic aspect from the political position which the\ngovernment has not taken.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PLAYING TOADIE TO UNCLE SAM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This country is once again willing to play toadie to Uncle\nSam for financial aid considerations. No one should ever forget the October 25,\n1983 invasion of Grenada by the USA. No one should ever forget the role played\nby Jamaica\u2019s PM Edward Seaga (JLP) as he toadied up to warmongering President\nRonald Reagan (Rep). Today, Seaga\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9e seems to be in lockstep with\nanother warmonger. Under his leadership, Jamaica has been taking some unpopular\npositions, positions diametrically opposed by most Jamaicans but are in\nAmerica\u2019s interest. That was written in January 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This administration is woefully out of its diplomatic depth\nor the Prime Minister would not be publicly waving this red flag, \u201cJamaica has\nbenefitted from China’s support in several areas including human resource,\ncapacity-building in areas of education and training as well as scores of\nJamaicans benefitting from training in the areas, of agriculture, security,\nlogistics, medicine and urban planning in China.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amateur hour is here folks, sit back and watch this charade\nof foreign policy play out. America is not averse to regime change and or\ndestabilization in their backyard – just look to Cuba and Venezuela. Peace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To compound insults, he also noted that Jamaica shares\nChina’s aspirations for a more \u201copen, inclusive and balanced economic\nglobalization for the common development and prosperity of all countries, as\nwell as the need to make the economies resilient to climate vulnerabilities and\neconomic shocks\u201d.  Adding that 16 Chinese\ncompanies; registered in Jamaica; have already invested more than US$3 billion\nin the country’s economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is like; with bravado but no fortitude; telling Uncle\nSam, \u201cgo to hell with your bellicosity.\u201d Amateur hour is here folks, sit back\nand watch this charade of foreign policy play out because as sure as there are\nsmall potatoes there are big potatoes. America is not averse to regime change\nand or destabilization in their backyard just look to Cuba and Venezuela.\nToday, despite his posturing, the Holness administration must be feeling the\napprehension and uncertainties of the Maduro government now that Uncle Sam has\nbegun to flex its varied muscles against it. \nPeace! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

mocobarrett@yahoo.com<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Barrett The USA has begun to flex its diplomatic and military muscle against Jamaica. First, it leaked that Jamaica has pulled out of a security Memorandum of Understanding with their three traditional partners – the USA, Canada and the U.K. Secondly, we saw the revocation of visas held by a government minister, a senior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10],"tags":[1627,1629,1630,1628,139],"class_list":["post-3219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-editorial","category-letters","tag-america","tag-diplomatic-flex","tag-military","tag-uncle-sam","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3221,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219\/revisions\/3221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}