BACKSTABBERS?
“I’M SORRY to say it, but he’s a backstabber,” said Rudy Guiliani of John Bolton. “When you have someone who is your friend, who says something against you but does not have the guts to come to you and tell you what is his complaint, that’s a backstabber.” (That sentence is a very light paraphrase of his actual rant.)
Exactly, Mr Pompeo, this is how we feel about your response to concerns regarding the withdrawal of US visas from some of our public officials and others without confronting them with your reasons for doing so. No amount of hug-up with the prime minister can make up for the fundamental unfriendliness of your action and continuing position.
Yanking visas and demeaning the public perception of the victims cannot square with the good faith which is an essential ingredient of friendship. In fact, your posture calls into question the genuineness of the entire issue of cooperation between our nations.
Moreso, since the content of foreign relations discussions are behind closed doors and you wouldn’t take any questions from our journalists, and because our leaders, our servants, do not consider it important to report to us promptly, if ever, the benefit of your visit still eludes most Jamaicans.
Relishing and sharing with you the precious right of free expression, I would love to know how Chinese investment in our infrastructure, which we have to pay for, merits your description of “easy money”, the acceptance of which leads to “corruption” and other bad things.
COMPARATIVE LOANS
And please, Sar, when you are finished answering that, kindly itemise the comparative loans and investments that you came offering to us. This is really important, since, as you know, considerable quantities of our wealth finds its way into the United States to help your economy, not ours. Friendship, after all, presupposes reciprocity.
Then there is the cloudy issue of Venezuela and the Organization of American States (OAS). Most of us hold no brief for the Maduro regime, but please do not try to involve us in another Grenada. For our own integrity, we really hold to the principle of non-intervention and do not interfere with people’s business, even when they install administrations that obtained three million votes less than their opponent. Similarly, you will understand that we will prefer a secretary general of the OAS who has a heart for the Caribbean and is not the satrap of any big power.
Lastly, Sir Mike, thanks so much for the assurances that you will use your great authority to stanch the flow of weapons and arms from your country to ours. This is where you can really help us. Friends hold each other accountable, don’t they? So we will be checking anxiously to see how this works – especially those of us who are convinced of the futility of never-ending states of emergency.
PS: Did you get a chance to discuss with Andrew the proposal for you to help pay for the training of our good, good teachers and nurses, especially since, coincident with your visit, American recruiters, sans visas, are taking up residence here?
Yours in irie respect and friendship.