"The light that comes from wisdom never goes out"
Some years ago, then-Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur told me that unless regional leaders could agree on how to achieve economic parity between Caricom’s member states, a viable Caribbean Single …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — ‘The big fish, small fish problem’”
Sometime in the next 12 months, when the pandemic is fully brought under control in North America and Europe, visitors will return to the Caribbean in significant numbers. Once that …
Recently published visitor arrival figures indicate that Caribbean tourism has started down the long road to recovery. Following a disastrous 2020 during which governments closed borders to try to halt …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Regional tourism recovery predicted”
Last month Britain published two significant post-Brexit policy documents setting out its future thinking on foreign policy, defence, security and development. Both referenced in general terms the importance to the …
What global role should a post-imperial, post-Brexit Britain play? Can it reinvent itself in a manner that convinces a population increasingly divided by education, age, race, location and inequality, let …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — UK’s post-Brexit plans analysed”
There is an old saying that you wait ages for a London bus and then two (or even three) come along at once. It is not an expression, as far …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Ideas offered for UK-Caribbean relations”
In the dying days of the Donald Trump presidency in the United States, the State Department designated Cuba a “state sponsor of terrorism.” Regrettably, the measure will slow efforts by …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — US urged to drop Cuba sanctions”
Joe Biden is now that 46th president of the United States, and many governments and individuals around the world are breathing a collective sigh of relief. This is not because …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Responding to Washington’s new hemispheric thinking”
Last year was a disaster for Caribbean tourism. Estimates suggest that visitor arrivals to the region fell by 75 percent in the last three quarters of 2020, causing overall Caribbean …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Full Caribbean tourism recovery seen as a possibility after 2021”
It is hard to know what the future holds for Venezuela, its opposition leader Juan Guaidó, or the present United States-led policy that emphasises sanctions and isolation. Last week, as …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Post-election, Venezuela’s future considered”
It is hard to know what the future holds for Venezuela, its opposition leader Juan Guaidó, or the present United States-led policy that emphasises sanctions and isolation. Last week, as …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Post-election, Venezuela’s future considered”
This was the year when much of the Caribbean went to the polls. General elections were held in Anguilla, Belize, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Writer says democracy alone is ‘not enough’ in Caribbean”
In the past few days, Pfizer BioNTech, a German-United States company, and the US company Moderna have separately announced that the Covid-19 vaccines they have been developing have proved 95 …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Logistical challenges predicted to follow Covid-19 vaccine”
It is easy to share the excitement felt across the Caribbean at United States President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the polls. However, a calmer voice within suggests that while the …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Caribbean expected to feel the effects of US election”
A few days ago, the United States ambassador in Kingston, Donald Tapia, gave an exclusive interview to the Jamaica Observer. In it, he said that Jamaica has to make a …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — US’s Caribbean policy analysed”
Since late April there have been virtually no tourist arrivals in the Caribbean. In recent days, however, several countries have announced plans to reopen to international travel, albeit in a …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Call made for regional tourism protocol”
The challenge that is now facing almost every Caribbean nation is how best to recover the tourism economy, without which future economic growth and sustainable tax revenues will be all …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Ideas offered for regional tourism recovery”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently said of the coronavirus epidemic, “The stress, the emotion, is just incredible, and rightfully so. It is a situation that is one of the …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Call made for honest leadership as Caribbean fights COVID-19”
The Caribbean is about to experience a crisis of a kind that no one in the region or anywhere else in the world could have predicted. The COVID-19 coronavirus, which …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Call made to start considering a post-virus economic strategy”
Two weeks ago, Caribbean Community heads of government passed a resolution critical of United States’ policy towards Cuba. Under normal circumstances, this would not be worthy of comment: The region …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Trump’s Cuba policy draws scrutiny”
Sometime next month, Russia Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is expected to travel to Cuba. His visit is likely to cement the two nations’ future bilateral relations. It comes after months …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — As US sanctions Cubans, Russia seen to build Caribbean presence”
A few days ago, the Solomon Islands, Taiwan’s largest ally in the Pacific, recognised China. Beijing’s success in encouraging the island grouping to do so is the latest indication of …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — China’s growing influence seen in Caribbean”
Cruise tourism has become a big business, with the Caribbean now accounting for more than 35 percent of all such vacations globally. This year more ships will sail in or …
Continue reading “Commentary — Cruise tourism gets a hard look”
In recent weeks, new evidence has been published suggesting that scientists are now 99 percent certain that human activity is causing global warming. As if to validate this, temperatures in …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Climate change seen as dire threat in region”