Readers of the Stabroek News (SN) and the Mexican Embassy in Guyana are expecting a chastisement from the newspaper of the Mexican President. Here is what the Mexican president said: “They (the U.S.) don’t do anything. It’s more, a lot more, what they authorize for the war in Ukraine than what they give to help with poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean. Remove blockades and stop harassing independent and free countries, an integrated plan for cooperation so the Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Ecuadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans wouldn’t be forced to emigrate.”

After how SN went after President Ali for making the identical comment, SN readers will expect a dressing down for the Mexican president and I guess the Mexican embassy will take note. Informing his two hosts on Good Morning Britain of how the US has poured resources into Ukraine that Haiti has not got in 60 years, SN went after the President observing: “The President deplored the disparity in support given by the developed world to Ukraine, compared to the Palestinian people and Haiti. Someone should explain to him that Ukraine is at war.” Ukraine falls in a special category.

The Mexican president went further than President Ali, as you can see from the quote above. So e can expect an editorial from SN educating the Mexican President on the intricacies of international relations. The Mexican president will be informed that Ukraine is a special situation and is a country that is at war.
In my reply to SN (see my column of Thursday, September 28, 2023 headlined, “Ignorance of international relations may be a crime”), I made the point that President Ali merely used the aid to Ukraine issue to underscore the point that the US have resources that it is stingy with when it comes to developing countries.
The Mexican President must have seen the interview on Good Morning Britain because his remark on the aid to Ukraine carries the identical meaning to President Ali’s delivery. He is pontificating on the vast resources that the US has given to Ukraine it has not delivered to its neighbours in Latin America to alleviate poverty.

Now here are a few lines in that SN editorial that remind us of the power of the colonial mentality even after 55 years of independence in the CARICOM region. I quote SN: “And as for President Lula and his anomalous position on Ukraine, why do we have to follow him?” So if we should not follow President Lula, which world leader then shall we follow?
Is it President Biden? And why Biden? If it is Biden, then why in a world of superpower rivalry should we take the word of any of the superpower leaders? And why should we avoid following Lula when Lula is in good company? The world’s most enduring democracy, India, has not taken a position of condemnation of Russia.
What Guyana, CARICOM, China, India, South Africa, and dozens of other countries have done is to rightfully condemn the unjust and violent violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine by Russia. But a large number of nations have avoided following the US Government’s frenzied position on Russia. It is important not to write the following words, “The American position on Russia.” There is no unified American position on Russia.

There are three distinct American positions on the Russian invasion. The first is the unlimited outpouring of resources by the Government of the US. The second position is that of Republican lawmakers who do not agree with continued aid to Ukraine and such aid will probably stop if Trump wins and the war is still ongoing. The third position comes from American academia. The foreign affairs professors are against the Russian invasion, but they put sophisticated analysis on why Russia invaded by citing the inherent security concerns of all nations.

What the editors of SN need to know about President Lula and many others like the leaders in India and South Africa is that they do not want to follow the American lead on Russia because they feel the US and Russia are made of the same thinking and are alike when it comes to security interests and that the US have engaged in tragic wars that were determined by the very reason Russia is in Ukraine. Dozens of countries know the US concern for the sovereignty of Ukraine is not based on the universal principles of respect for sovereignty. There is Yemen, a war that the US supports. The Israeli air force constantly violates the sovereignty of Syria by bombing it. Finally, how much respect does the US have for Palestinian sovereignty?