You read things critical of the government and you wonder if it is motivated by hate or sheer ignorance. I have long held the belief that there is no way certain sections of this society would offer even a modicum of positive appraisal of anything President Ali or his government does.
There are times when people write as if they are experts but the superficiality which they bring to their thoughts makes their “expertise” appear as ignorance. There have been two negative assessments of the impending dialogue between President Ali and President Maduro.
For two outpourings yesterday, the word ignorance is apt. First, a well-known letter writer believes that President Ali should have the Opposition Leader accompany him. Before we describe the mediocrity inherent in this thought, one has to laugh at the mere suggestion.
Imagine the Opposition Leader so disregard the elected President that he refuses to shake his hand. So, as the president arrives at the Ogle airport, Mr. Norton comes out of his car, passes the President and goes right into the plane. When they are on the plane, will they talk to each other? But let’s get into the debate proper as to why Mr. Norton should not go.
What can he tell the President? What advice can he offer the President that the President and an experienced Vice-President, Mr. Jagdeo, do not already know? To take the Opposition Leader along without him having an input into the talks is ill-advised. It is so because what innovative, astute or novel advice can he offer the presidential team?
The letter writer went on to say the president is yet to consult the National Assembly on the St. Vincent dialogue. To tell the Assembly what? There is only one thing he can tell the Assembly – “I am going to St. Vincent as part of my obligation to international diplomacy which statesmen cannot refuse when there are tensions among neighbouring countries, and I will reiterate what all Guyana knows; the 1899 award will not be discussed.”
What can a session of the House instruct President Ali on? He has his advisors and whether one likes him or not, Mr. Jagdeo is one of the most experienced persons in the region on international relations.
I will not discuss the letter-writer’s nonsense about the President speaking to Guyanese and not with them. I suppose he has been with the President each time he visits the untold number of districts throughout Guyana. It is really overbearing how anti-government critics can descend to awful levels of anti-government ranting.
Let’s move to the Stabroek News’s editorial on the St. Vincent covenant. The newspaper said: “There are many things about this meeting that are problematic and unwholesome. The first is that it handsomely rewards President Maduro for the flagrant aggression.” This is where Guyana produces so many experts whose chief characteristic is not expertise but ignorance.
One of the longest serving international negotiators in the entire world is a Guyanese named Shridath Ramphal. This long serving international diplomat has endorsed the St. Vincent dialogue because he knows such situations are necessary in international relations and though their results cannot be predicted, it is an avenue that must be utilised.
Guyana’s main strength in confronting Venezuela is through international diplomacy. It cannot defeat Venezuela on the military front. What the St. Vincent covenant does is that it offers Guyana another forum to win friends and secure international backing.
President “Lula” is one of the key elements in restraining Venezuela. He is one of the key elements in Guyana’s repertoire of diplomatic shuttles. How can Guyana refuse to attend a meeting called to explore peace in the Caribbean, and present at the table will be a sympathetic figure who is a top world leader?
In what way was Maduro rewarded by the St. Vincent dialogue? If you pen those words then alternatively what you are saying is that Guyana should not have accepted the invitation. Really man! This is ignorance without even an infinitesimal knowledge of the stuff international relations is made of.
Stabroek News went on: “Second, summits of this type – at the point of a crisis – come with the expectation that there is something to give, something to negotiate.”
Again what we are seeing here is ignorance of international relations and Guyana is producing too many fake experts that we may have to call in the fumigator to rid this land of the charlatans. What will take place in St. Vincent is not a summit. It is a dialogue between two neighbours called by a third party to facilitate the easing of tensions. A summit is a different thing all together.
