Whoever organizes a state and establishes its laws must assume that all men are wicked and will act wickedly whenever they have the chance to do so. – Machiavelli (The Discources)
Barbados has often quoted its revered leader: “Friends of all, satellite of none.” But have we followed what is now a virtual maxim or is it a convenient cop-out? What was our position with respect to the war in Libya? Did we support the stand of the Colonel? Are we sorry that he was defeated and killed?
What about the measure of support that allowed his supporters to be loyal to him while the unified forces of the outside world, acting sometimes even in contravention of their mandate, pressured his soldiers to flee and to surrender? Actually at this moment many loyal soldiers are holding out.
War is wicked. They say “all’s fair in love and war”. Recently I saw Speilberg’s interpretation of war in a film called Warhorse where over 40 000 soldiers were killed in the battle at Somme during the First World War. Gaddafi’s declaration that his opponents were dogs and rats and deserved extermination was nothing but a war cry, iniquitous though it might have been. However, after 40 years of “iron rule” there were certain pluses.
According to figures echoed by Louis Farrakhan recently, 86 per cent of Libyans were learned – so he provided education locally and supported those who went abroad. His country had no overseas debt, as opposed to Barbados and the United States, where the GDP (gross domestic product) cannot even repay their outstanding debt – he could not have been an irresponsible leader of his country. Compare Libya’s position to that of Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland or Portugal. Indeed, his country was in credit to the tune of over 150 tons of gold, plus countless deposits.
What may have been frightening to the United States was the plan to link the purchase of oil to the availability of currencies other than the US dollar. Such a move would have done serious harm to the universal acceptance of the dollar on which the US deficit depends.
I have already made mention of this threat in a previous article. The threat was real with Gaddafi. Besides, he was a threat to Europe in that he had reduced the continent of Africa from its dependence on Europe for access to satellite use.
Most people in Libya owned their home, mostly compliments of the state, and furthermore were entitled to a share of the country’s earnings from oil each year – without having to work for it.
What should concern us above all in the Caribbean is something that the Prime Ministers of St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines may be willing to confirm or deny in their witnessing of a plan to set up a Development Bank in a Caribbean island with one billion dollars in order to help capital and developmental projects in the Caribbean, a move that would have also had spin-off benefits in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and other islands.
While these things may have been to the benefit of countries of the Caribbean and Africa, it certainly could not have gone down well with Europe, especially Britain, and the United States. These latter, because of their perilous economic situation, were unable or unwilling to offer a helping hand even before the onset of the latest world meltdown.
While the Wild Coot will not draw conclusions from these apparent facts or fiction, there is a modicum of another view that can be perceived from this information, even a mustard grain. I invite you to check on an interview given by the Honorable Louis Farrakhan in Jamaica recently. The internet reference is: www.televisionjamaica.com/Programmes/SmileJamaica.aspx/Videos/14261.
We wait to see what will happen now that another country, Iran, has taken a stand against the United States. Are we friends of all, satellite of none? Hypocrisy? Some say diplomacy!
