“You better watch out, you better watch out, Santa Claus is coming to town….” It’s March, not December. Assurance to all well-wishers, including Office at the President and Freedom House, I’ve not lost it. No offense intended, but I am saner than the two biggest local political powers put together. Santa Claus in March is Uncle Sam, the newly returned one. It doesn’t have to be a March appearance. Guyanese should have their calendars ready, and their minds are glued to developments involving other folks elsewhere. Take Volodymyr Zelensky, as an example. Proceed to Ukraine, as a standard, a wakeup call for Guyana’s complacent and errant.
There was Mr. Zelensky and his Ukrainians chugging along a hard, bloody road, only to be abruptly told that it is over. There was Cde Vlad being told by America, of all places, that his Special Military Operation came out ahead. I knew the former KGB man sees the world a little differently than we here in the West. What I didn’t know was that he had an accurate crystal ball, which gave him the inside scoop on how things were going to be in Washington. What would I not give up for that kind of prophetic astuteness!
Good news for Mr. Putin is bad news for Mr. Zelensky. The former can declare victory; the latter must take his place in the loser’s circle under protest and steward’s inquiry.
If that was all, the Ukrainian could have claimed some sort of pyrrhic victory. For whatever it is worth, maybe even a moral one for he and his people’s sacrifices. But he also has to pay the piper and, even worse, play the fool.
The first is minerals for American money; the second is to keep his sanity intact. Both are with his hands tied behind his back, while he puts on his best smiley face to the world. Vlad the Conqueror counts his winnings. The supporting narratives will follow in time. It is the new American version of a full nelson. Get used to it my fellow Guyanese. It is on the way to Guyana.
Remember: “you better watch out; you better watch out…Uncle Sam is coming to town… Pardon is asked for the mangled lyrics. Chalk it up to post Mash. It’s simple, actually. What happened in Las Vegas (Ukraine) doesn’t stay there. I foresee an ominous parallel. It could be the blasted template for Guyana. Right here in South America, there is this 125-year-old stalemate.
It does not quite qualify for the description of Mexican standoff, since one side has the faster draw (is on the move with more firepower). Verbal firewater also to sell its twisted side of a twisted story. It both cases, it is not Guyana. Over there in the shadows of the Urals, it was minerals and money to bring a halt to the three years of mayhem. Around here, by the foothills of Roraima and the banks of the Cuyuni, there is oil and land, there is rebuilding and participating. And there is also that peculiar institution (odious some say) that has fostered total dependency by Guyana on the USA. Consider.
Where was Zelensky getting his muscle and staying power from, but America and its allies? Where has Guyana gotten its shield from, but America and its allies? There have been warships, military brass in full regimental colors, plus a thunderous flyover of two Hornets. As the man now more firmly entrenched over there is prone to saying: it’s a beautiful thing. Who am I to disagree with that cold logic? Now for some more bloodless logic. Who has more oil, and by the oceans? Who has more billions, probably a trillion+, in opportunities begging for the taking?
Who has a dictator with his back to the wall, and who is seemingly more than ready to cut a deal with the dreadful Yankees? If not, what has he got? More years of misery, with no ease in sight? His choice, but look at where his friends are. Putin’s Russia has been hornswoggled. (I like that one). Teheran has been shown the doghouse by Tel Aviv, while the Red Chinese are today greener than Guyana’s PNC. Think the color of US dollars. In short, Caracas finds itself (to borrow one of President Ali’s rare illuminating phrases) ‘holding the short end of a suddenly shorter and weaker stick’. Is this a curious type of geopolitics, analytics, economics, and foreign affairs gymnastics, or what?
Whatever it is, it just brought closure to the long running Guyana-Venezuela serial. It may be as short-lived as the rest of Nicky Maduro’s tenure, but there it is all neatly wrapped in American confetti. In Guyana, there is the similarly committed and similarly beholden parallel to Zelensky. The Ali-Jagdeo Axis. Though two in one, they are not a quarter of Volodymyr. He put up a fight for three years against a superpower, didn’t he?
The Guyanese see Commodore Routledge and they run for cover. Tailor-made for the man at 1600 Pennsylvania. Ukraine was Part 1. Guyana could be Part 2 in the making. All those sweet deals in Venezuela can’t be allowed to go to waste, notwithstanding the Chevron reversal. Some strong citizen on the ranch (State, Defense, CIA) could step up and say consider all these implications, opportunities for America’s competitors. Stay tuned friends.
