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Dear Editor,
Mercury Public Affairs, an internationally known high priced, high stakes public strategy outfit came to notoriety during the investigation of Russian interference in the US elections. It has since been determined that Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chief, who was later jailed for breaking US lobbying laws was “under the ultimate direction” of Vicktor Yanukovitch. Yanukovitch is the former Ukrainian president and Putin puppet, who now lives in exile in Russia
Mercury’s emergence as a key player in the Guyana elections imbroglio should come as no surprise to those who understand the import of Guyana’s recent oil discovery in the context of the geopolitics of the Caribbean Region . (Geopolitics of the Caribbean: Ministates in a Wider World- Thomas D Anderson)
The convergence of allegations of massive electoral fraud as outlined in the Chief Elections Officer’s report and that of the active participation of a number of other questionable individuals in seeking to subvert the functions and the Constitutional authority of the Guyana Elections Commission and its Chief Elections Officer, point to a well coordinated conspiracy to place the oil assets under the control of the opposition party the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). The PPP is controlled by putative strongman and Putin surrogate and wannabe , Bharrat Jagdeo.
Indeed the risk faced by countries with weak institutions, naive leadership and an anachronistic comprehension of national security arrangements leave them as vulnerable targets of the sophisticated stratagems and aggressive manipulation of public opinion. This is a process we have seen unfold regularly with international organs, foreign governments, and other representations of State power, focused on predetermined outcomes of regime change as was evident in the Ukraine, USA and more recently in Bolivia. The protracted, persistent, pernicious and concerted efforts in Guyana to orchestrate an electoral coup against the incumbent Government is now apparent .
The veritable rush of previously handpicked US politicians waiting their cues in the wings, and the other numerous proxies of the hypocritical diplomatic community resident in Guyana to pronounce on the matter while simultaneously dismissing allegations of outside interference demand a collective cognitive dissonance if we were to believe them. The overt attempts to bully and influence the outcome of the elections, totally dismissing or ignoring the role of our courts and other institutional arrangements to resolve these pending matters, is manifest evidence of their nefarious intent.
In the face of a definitive ruling by the Court of Appeal in the matter, Re Eslyn David v The Chief Elections Officer, the opposition PPP in aggravated and flustered desperation frantically procured another vicious assault against the very Guyana Court of Appeal and its judges by having a number of their co-conspirators engaged to undermine the court ruling and openly attempt to influence the decision of the CCJ in the matter it now has before it.
The perception of any real power of the woefully uninformed and perhaps unwitting US senators acutely aware of their upcoming challenges in the November elections in the US, and the few regional Prime Ministers with their own ethical challenges – from allegations of sexual and physical assault to money laundering and acts of public corruption- to threaten a sovereign people with unimaginable hardships ( sanctions and expulsions) is laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic and tragic – predictable tropes for American imperialism and neo-colonialism.
Even as the empire, itself rotting to the core and now in its last throes in the face of collective disgust with its systemic racism, (voter suppression one of the racist tools used being a favorite strategy of successive Republican governments) is faced with sustained universal protests and rebellion rejecting police murders, and other forms of institutional racism.
Some observers have argued that the regime change operation being conducted in Guyana today appears to have its operations under diplomatic cover in the United States Embassy on Duke Street, and acting in open violation of all diplomatic norms. Ms. Lynch, (a not so inappropriate name, in the circumstances) feverishly employs all her reach and energies to keep the knee of oppression and subjugation upon the neck of black voters in our complex socio-political and cultural environment. This lynching – given the history of the PPP and its penchant for extra-judicial killings of black citizens of Guyana is a flagrant slap in the face to the black citizens who are known to be a significant group of the supporters of the ruling multi-racial coalition. They insist that valid votes are the only ones that matter. The spree of extrajudicial killings during the PPPs rule is documented in the UN Special Rapporteur Report, and the disappearance of Collie Wills remains a pending matter before the Inter American Human Rights Commission.
The American Empire, as we know it, struggles today for identity and relevance in the global community. As Ralph Nader noted, “Our society is unraveling institutionally and structurally, and is being replaced by the corporate state of merging big business and government.’ America has suffered a loss of international prestige and geopolitical significance as a result of the misrule of President Trump and his utter incompetence in the face of a global pandemic. The Guyana regime change project, therefore, appears to be an attempt to forge a pernicious alliance of ‘ big business and government’ . The clear and present danger for Guyana, however, is that the unidentifiable ‘big business’ wants to choose as their partner in government a party with a reputation for unbridled corruption, racism and authoritarian behavior.
The rapacious, racist and corrupt PPP, sadly, seems to have emerged as their clearly preferred partner in this venture and no doubt has paid dearly in their financial arrangements with Mercury and others to attain this questionable status as certainly any other criterion for such a role given their record in government strains credulity.
The APNU/AFC coalition was declared winner of the March 2, 2020 general and national elections based on the expressed will of the people by an assessment of, and the declaration of their Valid votes cast! Understandably, coalition supporters demand that the will of the people be accepted and President Granger be sworn in now!
Edward Meertins-George
