Editorial

Cuba

In his address to Cuba’s National Assembly on August 1, Communist Party Secretary Raoul Castro struck a note of even greater urgency than he has in the past about the need for Cuba to embrace economic reforms.

Caricom and Libya

On Wednesday we reported Caricom Chairman Dr Denzil Douglas of St Kitts and Nevis as saying that Col Gaddafi of Libya should recognize that “the end is apparently very near and in order to prevent further loss of lives that there is now need for him to now relinquish and speak and talk and even discuss how this conflict can come to an end without further bloodshed.”

Diaspora achievements

In the space of a couple of weeks, two expatriate Guyanese were named to high-level positions in the sister Caricom state of Belize: Justice Kenneth Benjamin to the post of Chief Justice of Belize and Professor Cary Fraser to the presidency of the University of Belize.

Gaddafi’s departure and the powers

NATO planes flying over Tripoli on Monday, guaranteeing the movement of anti-Gaddafi forces as they entered the capital, signalled the sharply reduced security of the Colonel and the imminence  of his regime’s defeat.

Governing by lesser standards?

We are in the midst of one of those now familiar seasons, when, for brief periods, serious allegations of inappropriate behaviour by public officials surface, set tongues wagging and, in the face of the indifference of the political administration, wither and eventually die.

Police meeting

When former Assistant Commissioner Paul Slowe spoke out in June last year saying, “sometimes I am ashamed, because when I joined the force you had incidents, yes, but not this blatant corruption of some of the ranks… I believe it has gone out of control,“ he got, of course, a blast of hot air from the Ministry of Home Affairs in response. 

Fidel Castro is 85

The former President of Cuba and revolutionary legend, Fidel Castro, turned 85 last Saturday, a milestone marked by a range of cultural festivities on the island, from which he was noticeably absent.

Unsocial media

History is replete with examples of inventions that ought to have been used specifically for the betterment of mankind being hijacked, misused and abused.

Jamaica at 49

Jamaica celebrated its 49th anniversary of independence on August 6 with much public, and generally critical, comment on the state of the society and economy as the country approaches a half century of sovereign independence.

Our Little Caesars and their political minders

Media accounts of the recent shocking episode of the bullying and intimidation of a team of NIS officers by a prominent businessman and his employees suggest that the act was as crude as it was barefaced,   One of the more disturbing things about the incident is that it appeared to matter little to the perpetrators that they were unlawfully and forcefully menacing and impeding public servants pursuing their legitimate duties as officials of the state.

Version of history

President Jagdeo was holding forth on one of his favourite topics on Thursday – post-independence Guyanese history.

‘The infinite unity of our mutual needs’

As Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Caricom’s new secretary general, assumes office next Monday, he could do no worse than read, if he has not done so already, Sir Shridath Ramphal’s magisterial lecture, delivered at the Bank of Jamaica, on July 22 last.

A few good women

Handing a sort of indefinable victory to women in what may yet prove to be a major skirmish in the age-old battle for gender equity, recent research has proven that companies with women directors tend to do better than those with executive teams made up entirely of men.

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