Dear Editor,
Recently Stabroek News reported the Venezuelans as chiding Exxon Mobil over the exploration venture being carried out offshore Guyana.
Is it laudable or laughable that the term ‘international law’ came out of their mouths? We should all learn the lesson that the ‘communist’ brotherhood simply melts away when the heat of nationalism is the only game in town. The great General Charles De Gaulle said: “No nation has friends, only interests.”
One wonders what laws they are governed by. We need to go nursery school to get the picture here as we recite the story of ‘The Dog and the Bone’, where a hungry dog was passing a butcher’s shop and the butcher gave the hungry dog a big fat bone. On the way home the dog had to go over a bridge. Through some holes in the bridge the dog saw what he thought was another dog with a bigger bone than the one he had in this mouth. He growled at this reflection and the bone in his mouth fell into the river and he went home hungry as ever. The moral here is, be thankful for what you have and remember contentment is great gain. Do not allow greed to guide your actions.
Venezuela is best advised to spend their time and effort confronting economic conditions and their out-of-control violent crime, and in learning to live peacefully.
Yours faithfully,
John De Barros
