|Guest Editorial |
The late Barbados Prime Minister, Errol Walton Barrow, in one of his famous speeches, announced that Barbados was going to be “Friends of all and satellites of none”. [ #friendsofall #satellitesofnone #ErrolBarrow #SupportIsrael]
Elaborated, that statement means that Barbados was going to pursue friendly relations with all nations but not be dependent on or a supporter of any other states, in particular the so-called super-powers.
Thanks to the Nation-News, we can now peruse the entire segment of that speech and put it in full context. Here is what Mr. Barrow actually said in his address on the occasion of Barbados’ admission to the United Nations in December 1966:
“We shall not involve ourselves in sterile ideological wranglings because we are exponents not of the diplomacy of power, but of the diplomacy of peace and prosperity. We will not regard any great power as necessarily right in a given dispute unless we are convinced of this, yet at the same time we will not view the great powers with perennial suspicion merely on account of their size, their wealth, or their nuclear potential. We will be friends of all, satellites of none.” (NationNews, 2016)
On the surface, that summary statement represents the highest form of sovereignty or independence one could articulate. One might be inclined to treat his statement as being naïve; about as naïve as “not ever seeing a cane-blade in Barbados”. But there is no doubt in our minds as to the sincerity of both proclamations.
However, fast forward to April 19, 2024. This is when the current administration announced through its official news agency, the GIS (Barbados Government Information Service) that it was officially recognizing Palestine as a state (GIS, 2024).
Given these two contrasting postures, we ask and address the question: Has Barbados defected from the path of friends of all, satellites of none?
Cold war
The late PM made his speech in the era of the Cold War, the non-kinetic, spy, cloak-and-dagger war between the USSR (“Russia”) and the West which ensued after World War II.
That period also saw the genesis of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a movement whose boasted ideal was not to be aligned with or supportive of the “big powers”: either the USA, which was seen as the champion of western democracy and free enterprise, or the USSR (Russia), a champion of the ideology of communism and state control.
Significantly, that movement “emerged in the context of the wave of decolonization that followed World War II” (Andre Munro, Britannica).
NAM was officially formed in 1961. Today the NAM consists of about 120 countries and is regarded as the largest grouping of countries after the UN (United Nations).
Thinking of NAM as a grouping of countries, pursuing a policy of neutrality towards the superpowers, helps us to address our core question through the lens of neutrality.
Neutrality
Non-alignment might be regarded as the conceptual cousin of the broader idea of “neutrality” which is a main theme of international relations. According to Seger (2014) neutrality as a concept means “not taking sides, being impartial or even indifferent to one party’s side or cause”.
Focusing specifically on what he calls the “law of neutrality” Seger has this to say:
“First, the duties and rights of neutrality only apply to sovereign states and not to any other subjects of international law. Secondly, they only apply in a situation of an international armed conflict between two or more states” (Seger, 2014).
Since the Palestinians are NOT recognized as a state by the United Nations, our first salvo then is this: what is Barbados doing recognizing “Palestine” as a state? [#ErrolBarrow #SupportIsrael #satellitesofnone ]
Changed Arena
We would argue, even if in hindsight, that the posture of non-alignment or neutrality was always going to be more idealistic than practical especially for small, poor, developing countries like Barbados, Jamaica and Guyana who signed onto the non-aligned movement in the sixties and seventies.
So, while Barbados and other NAM countries felt relatively remote from superpower influence by dealing with international agencies such as the IMF and the World Bank, the practical fact of the matter was that such institutions were structurally dependent on financial and other resources from the USA and Europe.
Geopolitical Revolution
The international geopolitical arena has changed considerably in the twenty-first century in which we live.
America as a superpower is now on the steep decline while Russia seeks to maintain and to some extent, regain that status. On the other hand, China is emerging as the new superpower while new economic power blocs such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are evolving.
It is in this changed global environment that one must assess the foreign policy of Barbados; to the extent that there is such a thing.
Foreign Policy Adrift
Under the DLP, Barbados acceded to China’s “one-China” policy which means that we cannot recognize Taiwan as an independent state, though it is a vibrant democratic country and has been for many years.
Today, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Haiti, and Belize remain the only Caribbean and Latin American nations that recognize Taiwan. [#SupportTaiwan]
At the same time everybody knows that China is threatening to takeover Taiwan which is an island state unlike mainland Hong Kong which China “reabsorbed’ after saying that it would not.
Under this BLP government, Barbados has moved swiftly to strengthen economic and cultural ties with China, despite China’s terrible record of human rights especially its ongoing genocidal acts towards the Uyghurs – the largest minority ethnic group in China’s north-western province of Xinjiang – as well as its well-known debt trap that masquerades under the guise of the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative).
Unknown to many, China is the aggressor in a land dispute with India over an area along their disputed border in the Himalayan region.
Meanwhile, Barbados and CARICOM are tacitly supporting the oppressive Cuban communist regime in the name of self-interest, that is, for the medical, cultural and other benefits they obtain. The freedom of Cuban people is not on their priority list.
The Palestine Issue
The so-called Palestinians in Gaza, which is a part of the territory of Israel, have been led by the terrorist group Hamas, since 2006. The EU (European Union) has designated Hamas a terrorist organization. It is not a state. It is not recognized by the UN as a state.
By recognizing Palestine as a state and thereby tacitly recognizing the land of the Israel, “from the river to the sea” as its boundaries, this Barbados government is technically dispossessing a friend and UN recognized state of its ancient territory.
Recognizing Palestine as a state is a slap in the face to our long-standing relationship with Israel. We do not understand how the Barbados government can look the Israeli ambassador to Barbados straight in the face after this unnecessary act. We say “unnecessary” because all Barbados has to do is shut up or abstain if a vote is called.
But money does not have to look anyone in the face; it just talks. Such is the intrigue and hypocrisy that is international diplomacy.
One wonders what might be the reaction of this government, if say, the Rastafari community declared themselves a separate state in Barbados and proceeded to claim lands on which they were squatting.
How would it respond if the Muslim community decided to call for a separate state in Barbados to be ruled by Sharia law?
Mianomics
The unwise international intrigue of this BLP administration keeps unravelling and will continue to do because its Prime Minister seeks to obtain glory for herself on the international stage by making the country a debt slave and acting as a real estate agent for international interests seeking to gobble up swaths of this fair land, instead of making serious efforts to develop a vibrant, local, indigenous economy.
We can surmise that, despite the many economists to whom she has access, the PM has no vision or plan for a sovereign, sustainable Barbados economy.
The Budget Speech is now a pure political football that never reaches the goal post. We surmise that despite all the WEF/Sustainable Goals effervescence (aka long talk) that will issue forth from the Minister of Finance, the core issue of the incoming Budget will be about our ability to borrow.
We can also easily surmise that the PM has gone “all in” with the globalist plot to centralize control of the national assets (especially land resources) of all countries under a global ruling elite.
Global Communism
Of course, we see that for what it is: global communism. That is the sum total of the so-called Global Reset.
In their strategizing, this global communist enterprise (GCE) sees the USA MAGA movement, Israel and Russia (ironically), as its sworn enemies.
But you might not be to tell this by consuming the established Putinophobic media. In the eyes of that media, Putin is the arch enemy; not NATO, the de facto military, war-mongering arm of the GCE.
Not that we support Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine. But the man has a point which is best appreciated by considering the billions the lefties in the US Congress keep laundering – we mean sending – to the Ukraine.
We know this is a dizzying lot to take in. That is why we recommend that you order your Red Pill without delay. Our guess is that those who do not know about the Red Pill are probably still in a geo-stationary orbit.
Conclusion
Not all of us have drunk the kool-aid or swallowed the Blue Pill. Therefore, there is much for a new, non-BDLP administration to do and UNDO in this country of ours. #BarbadosRealEstate
So, for the short period of time they are still the government of this country, we at the Barbados Liberation Front (#BarbadosLiberationFront) would prefer if the Prime Minister and her administration took Rhianna’s advice: “Shut up and drive!”
