 Kissinger The Messenger - now I understand what’s wrong with Patty
from BadGalsRadio - RootsRock since 99'
September 02, 2008
Walcott warns against foreign exploitation Monday, 01 September 2008 Nobel Laureate the Hon Derek Walcott, OCC has warned the Caribbean Region against foreign investors whom he asserted did not facilitate or create opportunities for cultural development. Speaking at the opening of the CARIFESTA X Symposia yesterday, (24 August 2008) at the Guyana International Convention Centre, the recipient of the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature contended that the Caribbean was being rapidly exploited under the guise of development, and implored CARICOM governments to strike a balance in an effort to avoid “prostituting themselves to foreign investors.” Mr. Walcott asserted that the Region should encourage investors to put money into the development of cultural infrastructure such as museums and theatres so that the Region could be proud of the legacy it leaves for its children. “ … all I am saying is that when the investors offer to build hotels, you (Caribbean governments) need to say, you can build your hotel but you also need to build a museum or a theatre…” Using his own country as reference, the Saint Lucian born poet and playwright condemned the proposed bridging of his native island’s twin volcanic peaks, the Pitons, as a “terrifying obscenity of greed.” He said although it might be legal, it would leave a gaping wound on the Pitons. Derek Walcott’s statements were preceded by a panel presentation by literary giants Dr. Ian McDonald, Professor David Dabydeen, Professor Kenneth Ramchand, Professor Edward Baugh and Cynthia McLeod all of whom treated with the topic: Caribbean Culture At the Crossroads: Seeking the Past, Living the Present, Exploring the Future. Also expressing strong reservations about the relevance and purpose of the Caribbean Festival of Arts, Mr. Walcott intimated that there was little to celebrate as many artists were living in a state of deprivation. He made an impassioned plea for stronger support of artists in the Region, particularly in the form of providing access to more scholarships for younger artists “You are killing our artists and then celebrating it!” he exclaimed. The poet’s statements were later challenged by His Excellency President Bharrat Jagdeo himself an economist, and while acknowledging that CARICOM governments needed to sustain the development of culture, President Jagdeo argued that it must be viewed in the context of the plethora of harsh economic challenges facing leaders. The President, who officially opened the ceremony, yesterday had enumerated the contributions of artists to the Region as well as the positive impact of culture in economic development. However he also acknowledged that sustaining those achievements was a challenge for the Region especially in the face of harsh economic realities. Caricom danger - Jamaica warns against proposed political union Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Jamaica last night warned that the decision of some Caricom countries to establish a political union would have implications for the structure and future of the regional union and said it would request that the issue be discussed among regional Heads of Government, at which point Kingston will evaluate its position based on those talks. Jamaica s concern was outlined in a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister in response to a joint declaration signed last Thursday by four Caricom countries - Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, and Grenada - indicating their intent to establish a political union by 2013. A Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) report said that Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister Stephenson King of St Lucia, and Grenadian prime minister Tillman Thomas late Thursday night affixed their signatures to a joint declaration that also outlined their commitment to accelerating the establishment of a Caribbean Community Single Economy (CSE) by 2011. The CMC also reported that Manning said he would be meeting with the leaders of Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts, and Montserrat on August 20 to discuss the initiatives agreed at last Thursday s meeting in Trinidad. Yesterday, Jamaica House said that it had taken note of those intended discussions and made it clear that Jamaica respected the right of its regional neighbours to participate in the proposed political union. Prime Minister Bruce Golding, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Kenneth Baugh and his junior minister Dr Ronald Robinson could not be contacted for comment last night as they were said to be attending the weekly meeting of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party s Standing Committee where the matter was expected to be discussed. However, one prominent member of the Cabinet, who asked not to be named, reiterated the party s historical position that, while it is willing to participate fully in economic integration, including the proposed Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), it would not support a regional political union. Dr Baugh has consistently reaffirmed that Jamaica remains deeply committed to the regional integration process. However, there seems to be some concern within the Cabinet as to how far the creation of a single economy will push the region towards political integration. Last night s Jamaica House statement said that the Government has demonstrated its commitment to the process of regional integration as prescribed in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. It also pointed out that this commitment was reaffirmed by Prime Minister Golding at the 29th Heads of Government Conference in July. Indeed, Jamaica is among the most advanced countries in implementing the provisions of the revised treaty, especially with regard to the establishment of the Caricom Single Market, said the statement. Derek Walcott is telling the truth; and we agree anybody remember this why is Port of Spain so interested in the EPA ? well Pat, why did you do this was the question, but now we see the answer. ~RE Kissinger The Messenger Released- 12 July 2004 HENRY KISSINGER TO VISIT TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO WHITE HALL: On Thursday 15th July, 2004, Dr. Henry Kissinger, the 56th Secretary of State of the United States of America, will visit Trinidad and Tobago. Dr. Kissinger is scheduled to meet with Honourable Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and several other Government Officials for broad discussions on relations between Trinidad and Tobago and the USA, as well as matters related to US Energy Security and Regional Drug Interdiction. Secretary Kissinger held several key positions in the US Government including Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; Consultant to the Department of State; United States Arms and Control and Disarmament; Director of the Psychological Strategy Board and Chairman of the National Bipartisan commission. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his role in arranging a ceasefire in North Vietnam. Dr. Kissinger is scheduled to depart Trinidad and Tobago on Friday 16th July, 2004. Henry Kissinger to visit Trinidad, meet with prime minister AP Worldstream 07-14-2004 Dateline: PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger arrives in Trinidad on Thursday for a two-day visit to discuss natural gas and diplomacy with Prime Minister Patrick Manning. A statement from Manning s office said Wednesday the two would discuss Trinidad s natural gas exports to the United States and the Caribbean s relations with Washington and the rest of the world. There were no details. It was not clear who Kissinger would be representing while visiting Trinidad. The U.S. Embassy said it was not involved in the visit and knew nothing about it. Kissinger s office in New York did not return repeated telephone calls seeking comment. Kissinger’s private visit BY JUHEL BROWNE - Sunday 18th July, 2004 / Trinidad Guardian Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said he would be willing to assist the Government upon request but he would not do so as a paid consultant. Kissinger made the comments as he distanced himself from onging negotiations between the Government and a subsidiary of Freeport-McMoran, the US energy company on whose board he once served as a director. Kissinger’s statements were made during a press conference at Whitehall held after his 90 minute meeting with Prime Minister Patrick Manning on Thursday. Kissinger said his consultancy firm, Kissinger Associates Inc is not a lobbying entity. When a journalist asked Manning if he would consider hiring Kissinger to advise him on matters concerning energy, it was the former US State Secretary who responded. “We don’t accept Governments as clients but I would be willing to be helpful,” Kissinger said. Both Kissinger and Manning denied their meeting was meant in any way, to influence Freeport-McMoRan Energy’s negotiations concerning the State’s involvement in a regassificiation terminal planned for the Gulf of Mexico. T s tallest skyscrapers against a backdrop of colonial-era buildings. Traffic snarls throughout this small island country, with imported luxury cars rubbing up against 70 s-era gas guzzlers left from the last time energy prices soared. But it is not only the rising price of crude oil that has produced such excitement and activity in Trinidad, the Caribbean s largest petroleum producer and one of the few islands that is thriving these days. Instead, what is transforming the situation here is another fossil fuel: natural gas. Amid a scramble to meet growing international energy demands and to satisfy an American market where the price of gas has risen to about $7 for each thousand cubic feet from just $2 in 1999, Trinidad has emerged as the Western Hemisphere s leading supplier of liquefied natural gas. It has stealthily outpaced rivals, this year accounting for nearly 80 percent of shipments to the United States, up from virtually nothing five years ago. Trinidad s leap to the forefront in liquid natural gas - a fast-growing area of the energy industry where companies invest billions to chill the fuel to temperatures around 250 degrees below zero and ship it across the seas in supertankers - has ignited rapid growth here. Economic activity increased 13 percent in 2003 and could grow as much again this year. The economy has expanded for 10 consecutive years on Trinidad and Tobago, a twin-island nation of 1.3 million with an area nearly the size of Delaware. Trinidad s gas resources have fueled a web of chemical factories, including nine ammonia plants, an iron and steel complex, and two of the largest methanol plants in the world. The conglomeration of factories, largely in Point Lisas, an industrial site and port south of the capital, Port of Spain, exports most of its production to the United States. We ve become a highly industrialized nation, something that was a pipe dream a few years ago, said Anthony Bryan, former director of the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies on Trinidad. But some ex perts here worry that the natural gas boom is taking on the same character as the oil-fueled growth burst of the 1970 s, which was followed by a ruinous decade-long bust culminating in a violent coup attempt in 1990 by Muslim militants. There s the here-we-go-again phenomenon, said Ronald Ramkissoon, chief economist at Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, the country s largest financial institution. If we re not wise enough to hive away some of the excess money we re getting from this boom, then we stand the risk of getting hit again. Weighing over everything are fears about what will happen when the energy bounty runs out. Although Trinidad is envied by other energy producers, it has just 0.5 percent of the world s proven gas reserves, far less than big producers like Qatar and Russia. Unless big new discoveries are made, the Inter-American Development Bank says, Trinidad s existing reserves guarantee only 20 years of gas and oil production at current extraction rates. For now, though, economic opportunities in Trinidad are luring people and money from elsewhere in the hemisphere. A growing number of Spanish-speaking immigrants from Venezuela and Colombia have moved here recently to fill service jobs in restaurants and other work shunned by Trinidadians. Continental Airlines began flying this summer to Port of Spain directly from Houston, ferrying energy executives eager to cash in on the bonanza. Trinidad owes much of its current good fortune to a plan conceived a decade ago by BP and BG, two of Britain s largest energy companies, together with Repsol of Spain and the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago, to build the first of four large liquid natural gas plants. That strategy transformed BG, formerly British Gas, into the largest corporate supplier of L.N.G. to the United States. By 1999, the venture was ready to start exporting gas. Trinidad quickly leapt ahead of Venezuela, where domestic political quarreling stalled ambitions to exploit ample natural gas reserves. I m reluctant to talk about Venezuela because they re the sleeping giant next door, said Frank Look Kin, president of the state-controlled National Gas Company. You could say we re doing O.K. with what we ve got. The importance of natural gas in Trinidad s economy eclipsed that of oil in recent years, with gas output now worth about $4.8 billion a year compared with $1.4 billion for oil, according to the Inter-American Development Bank. The Bush administration has responded by showering attention on Trinidad, amid concern over a prospective shortage of the fuel, which is used to generate electricity, run industrial processes and heat homes and offices. President Bush surprised Prime Minister Patrick Manning last December when he came to Washington to meet Condoleezza Rice, Mr. Bush s national security adviser. Instead of limiting the visit to her, the White House granted Mr. Manning an impromptu meeting with Mr. Bush to discuss ways of increasing Trinidad s role in resolving problems in other Caribbean countries like Haiti. Seeking to further strengthen ties, Spencer Abraham, the energy secretary, declared in a visit here in April that Trinidad was a very effective example of how a country with natural gas resources can enter the international marketplace. Much noticed here as well was a meeting over the summer between Mr. Manning and Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state. Mr. Kissinger s visit to Trinidad aroused speculation that he might have lobbied the government on behalf of Freeport McMoRan Energy, a New Orleans company that allied itself this year with Trinidad to build a terminal for receiving L.N.G. off Louisiana s coast. Mr. Kissinger is a director emeritus of a mining concern controlled by Freeport McMoRan Energy s parent company. In responding to questions from local reporters, Mr. Kissinger and Mr. Manning denied that the purpose of their meeting was related to negotiations with the Louisiana company. Trinidad s aim to cement its position as the leading supplier to the United States fits into its ambition to help guide the policies of large gas-exporting nations. It has held talks with Algeria and Indonesia to interest them in joining the Louisiana terminal venture. And next year, Trinidad is seeking a more active role in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, a group of more than a dozen nations that also includes Qatar, Iran and Nigeria. Trinidad, a former British colony that gained independence in 1962, views trade as another priority, with Port of Spain competing against several American cities, including Miami and Atlanta, to be selected as administrative headquarters for the planned Free Trade Area of the Americas. The government, meanwhile, intends to invest about $700 million to build a pipeline that would transport gas to seven islands in the eastern Caribbean, including Barbados and Martinique. Trinidadian officials hope to persuade Venezuela to prepare its own gas for export to the United States from Trinidad plants. Despite all the activity, concern persists over the energy industry s influence as memories linger of the painful adjustment Trinidad faced in the 1980 s after oil prices plummeted. But that has not prevented natural gas from ascending to the heights of the economy after oil production reached a peak in 1978. As in many developing countries that are rich in resources, there is a perception that the wealth generated from Trinidad s oil and gas is not widely shared, creating big problems for a nation whose population is largely divided between people of African and Indian descent. Unemployment remains stubbornly high, at around 10 percent. Crime is also a prominent concern, underlined by a spate of kidnappings of wealthy Trinidadians in the last two years. A pressing issue Trinidad faces is how to wriggle more royalties out of the multinational energy producers active in its territory. The issue of who gets what and how from our gas and oil needs to be revisited, said Winston Dookeran, a member of Parliament and former central bank president. [In the budget released on Oct. 8, the government laid out a plan to channel substantial energy revenue to social programs and public security. Included are an increase in old-age pensions of more than 10 percent, lower taxes on brown sugar and funds to hire 744 police officers.] Despite a gross domestic product of about $8,000 a person, about a fifth of the population still lives in poverty. On average, Trinidadians are richer than most Caribbean islanders though still poorer than people in nearby Barbados and the Bahamas, where tourism revenue has improved living standards. Translating its gas reserves into lasting wealth, of course, depends largely on the growth of the liquid natural gas industry in the United States, where more than 30 projects are in planning phases to import the fuel from countries around the world. The boom, Mr. Dookeran, the former central banker, said, is aligning our interests with those of the U.S. like never before. admin for BadGalsRadio - RootsRock since 99', 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: bruce golding, caricom, derek walcott, one economy, patrick manning, trinidad and tobago Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
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