{"id":38804,"date":"2011-07-01T11:20:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-01T15:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=38804"},"modified":"2011-07-01T12:58:44","modified_gmt":"2011-07-01T16:58:44","slug":"commentary-it-all-looks-familiar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-it-all-looks-familiar\/","title":{"rendered":"COMMENTARY: It all looks familiar"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_38805\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38805\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-38805\" title=\"chavez and kaddafi\" src=\"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/chavez-and-kaddafi-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/chavez-and-kaddafi-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/chavez-and-kaddafi-150x97.jpg 150w, https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/chavez-and-kaddafi.jpg 385w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-38805\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chavez (left), Ghadaffi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As I ponder three separate and unrelated news stories in the media I cannot avoid a temptation to ask how they are related to events unfolding in Dominica and what lessons we can learn from them.<\/p>\n<p>First, the real life crime drama playing out in Boston and the fixation of most of the United States on the case that tells a lot about gang warfare, sibling loyalty as well as the fierce bond that holds together members of an immigrant community, the Irish descendants of a working class South Boston neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>James Whitey Bulger is a celebrated gangster who evaded the law for more than fifteen years after spreading terror throughout Boston, having allegedly committed nineteen murders while at the same time being an FBI informant against rival gangs. The case has echoes of official corruption at the highest levels of the FBI and its prosecution is bound to unveil the dark and ugly reality of the double dealing of law enforcement officers whose commitment to fighting crime is compromised by their ethnic and community loyalty.<\/p>\n<p>Consider also the evolving stories of the Libya and Venezuela, two countries to which the leadership of Dominica is tied at the hip.<\/p>\n<p>First, Libya. It has been an open secret in the international community that Colonel Ghadaffi is not only eccentric but has a history of supporting terrorism. It should have come as no surprise that NATO, supported directly by the United States, would be supporting his ouster by helping the rebels who are seeking his ouster.<\/p>\n<p>The news surrounding Venezuela and its enigmatic leader Hugo Chavez is also worthy of attention, perhaps even more so than Libya. This is a man who has been on a mission to create a sphere of influence for himself in the Western Hemisphere and along the way he has patched together a network camp followers that includes the prime minister of our country and others who are all too eager to form an alliance with an evil despot in return for financial assistance that enable them to be their own little despot.<\/p>\n<p>Hugo Chavez finally admitted last night that he has cancer. Ghadaffi is under siege in Tripoli. Some say it\u2019s only a matter of time before he succumbs to NATO bombs or the wrath of his people.<\/p>\n<p>Got a feeling that Dominica\u2019s day of reckoning is coming? If so, you may not be alone. It has long been my opinion and also that of astute observers that Venezuelan and Libyan largesse to Dominica serves as a band aid over a festering wound. In the long run we will be all the poorer for relying on our corrupt benefactors. They will rob us of our will for self determination and economic empowerment. The abrupt termination of financial aid may be painful and disruptive but in the long run, the country may be better off for it.<\/p>\n<p>The twin news of Ghadaffi and Chavez cannot be comforting to baby despot Roosevelt Skerritt. The prime minister seems to have developed a niche of financial backers that have a lot in common. They are both international pariahs, shunned by major international powers on account of their dubious dealings: Chavez for his suspected role in aiding the Columbia rebels who are known drug traffickers, and Ghadaffi for his role in international terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>Dominica\u2019s association with these men will leave a stench with which we will be associated for some time.<\/p>\n<p>It is not a sufficient defense to say that other countries are involved with Venezuela and Libya and have benefited from their largesse.<\/p>\n<p>We must never overlook the fact that Dominica\u2019s relevance in the international community cannot be divorced from its moral and principled positions. When we accept funding from despots with ugly reputations we cast doubt on the true character of our nation as well as exposing the moral bankruptcy of a leader whose sole metric of success seems to be how much dirty money he can attract and how many of his supporters he can compromise and force to remain silent.<\/p>\n<p>This situation does NOT bode well for the country.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the relevance, you might ask, of the reference to the Boston crime gang and the dubious role of the FBI?<\/p>\n<p>Hint: Can anyone in Dominica say with a straight face that the local police is acting professionally, meaning without undue influence from authorities close to the levers of power, in the investigation of a crime involving a former magistrate?<\/p>\n<p>If you believe the answer is yes, then the Boston FBI need not worry about revelations that may emerge from the prosecution of James Whitey Bulger, a fugitive whose arrest they feared would drag their dirty linen in public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As I ponder three separate and unrelated news stories in the media I cannot avoid a temptation to ask how they are related to events unfolding in Dominica and what lessons we can learn from them. First, the real life&#8230;","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":38805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>COMMENTARY: It all looks familiar - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-it-all-looks-familiar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COMMENTARY: It all looks familiar - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As I ponder three separate and unrelated news stories in the media I cannot avoid a temptation to ask how they are related to events unfolding in Dominica and what lessons we can learn from them. 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