Polack Post: Caribbean Hanging By A Parrot
By Peter Polack
Peter Polack
An in-law of mine was given the task to babysit a 75 year old parrot which he promptly abandoned for a weekend trip. The house cat sat on top of the parrot cage, purring and waiting, until the stress killed the elderly bird. That, in a nutshell, is the Caribbean today.
The Caribbean is just like the parrot and the new American hegemony is like the cat.
The horrors recently forced upon the islands include appointment of governments, refusal of visas, becoming wardens for those in breach of American immigration law, remain silent to rendition of leaders, use of land and airspace for military strikes as well as the public declarations of governments that they do wish to attract American attention in any way.
Despite all these concessions, the parrot still lies on top of the cage. Purring.
For the British Overseas tax havens, the cat is the likelihood of a collapse of their life giving financial sector with the global adoption of a minimum corporate tax, except for the USA.
Within the Caribbean, the purring cat, read faux speeches, can be found in government bodies, public and private institutions, procurement entities but leaving out the backbone workers of the islands who struggle to put food on the table, every single day.
In the middle of all this and the hurricane disaster with a tourist season about to end, government officials are taking trips abroad, oblivious to their carbon footprint, Zoom and FaceTime. Although the Auditor General has determined that travel by the highest tourism officials was not extravagant, it does not meant it was sensible travel either then,or now, given the prevailing conditions.
Chosen Brown and I would have to agree given this determination that the ultimate leader should be fearful of the $155 Million spend amidst no or minimal electricity, water, housing or security, especially in the West.
The frequent travellers are hoping that the people of the hurricane afflicted St.James agree with the Auditor-General now, and at the next polls.
This behaviour is especially risky, given that the four members of parliament who are gluing the government together, may not agree with those officials and the Auditor-General.
This would be another purring cat.
The parrot are their seats.
Notes
Peter Polack is a former criminal lawyer from the Cayman Islands for several decades. His books are The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War (2013), Jamaica, The Land of Film (2017) and Guerrilla Warfare: Kings of Revolution (2019). He was a contributor to Encyclopedia of Warfare (2013). His latest book is a compendium of Russian espionage activities with almost five hundred Soviet spies expelled from nearly 100 countries worldwide 1940-88.
His views are his own.
