By Tom Clifford The Caribbean is in the crosshairs of the US military as Washington deploys a super carrier strike group to waters off Venezuela. The USS Gerald Ford and a large section of its strike group will be stationed in the Caribbean in a what is a major escalation. Officially the US insists that this is a counter-narcotics operation but there are growing concerns that this is the latest development that will result in a possible strike on Venezuela. The new task for the USS Gerald Ford carrier, with dozens of stealth fighter jets and surveillance aircraft, in addition…
Author: The Publisher
By Tom Clifford You’d almost feel sorry for the car drivers. The only way to travel on this enchanted island is by….ah…what exactly? To me, they look like vans, but they are referred to as buses and taxis. For the purposes of this admittedly non-science based argument, let’s agree to call them buses. But regardless of their description, they have common attributes … people who use them have a sense of humor coupled with adventure and are willing to reach out to others. The very act of taking such transport reveals a mindset that is both admirable, compassionate and inquisitive.…
By Tom Clifford Sometimes the utterances, and I have to be careful here, of not exactly lies but untruths can be tolerated, even encouraged for the good of humanity. Congratulating a friend on a new hairstyle even though in your heart of hearts you think it resembles a plowed field is perfectly acceptable. There is one area of human activity where untruths are a frequent, indeed necessary, part of work. I refer of course to real estate agents. They can look a potential customer in the eye and tell them that the place of their dreams is within their grasp…
THE HAGUE — Until a couple of weeks ago, the political surveys ahead of the October 29 elections did not look good for Heera Dijk. But that perspective changed dramatically when D66 made significant progress when surveys projected 18 seats for the party in the Dutch parliament. Dijk is the number 18 on the candidates-list of D66. This increases the chances that the Caribbean part of the Kingdom gets a representative of its own in The Hague. The 45-year old Dijk was born and raised in Delft in the Netherlands as the daughter of a mother from Curacao and a…
By Tom Clifford A rite of passage is an important moment, measuring as it does a new stage. It manifests itself in different ways. It could be a trip to an exotic destination or a good exam result. I think I have come across its reverse. I take no credit for this. Thousands if not millions have experienced such a moment before this writer. I call it my rite of no passage. I am of course referring to the reverse of motion; the law of absolute stillness otherwise known as the island traffic jam. It had my first experience of…
By Tom Clifford There are images that remain etched in the corners of your mind. They can be of momentous or deeply personal events. People just a bit older than this writer can still easily recall where they were when they heard that JFK had been shot in Dallas. I do remember when his brother Bobby was shot. One of my most abiding recollections was with the third member of the trinity. Ted Kennedy, often considered the best politician in terms of grasping issues, but forever condemned to haunt and not occupy the White House because of Chappaquiddick, granted me…
Door René Zwart Den Haag – Voor Heera Dijk leek de Tweede Kamer afgaande op de peilingen van nog maar een paar weken geleden onbereikbaar ver weg. Maar nu D66 fors stijgt in de polls heeft ze met haar 18e plek op de kandidatenlijst een reëel uitzicht op het Kamerlidmaatschap. Daarmee is de kans groot dat het Caribische deel van het Koninkrijk na de verkiezingen van 29 oktober weer een ‘eigen’ volksvertegenwoordiger in Den Haag krijgt. Heera (45) is geboren (in Delft) en getogen in Europees Nederland als kind van een Curaçaose moeder en Surinaamse vader. “Ze waren voor hun…
PHILIPSBURG — Member of Parliament Ardwell Irion went too far when he labeled attorney Jairo Bloem as “a desperate man” who was only interested in promoting himself as the ideal candidate for the position of chairman of the supervisory board of the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS). Bloem took the National Alliance-parliamentarian to court and obtained a verdict: Irion has to rectify contested statements on the website of The Peoples Tribune and pay close to 1,700 Caribbean Guilders (almost $950) for the cost of the procedure. Irion’s contested statements appeared on The Peoples Tribune on September 30,…
By Tom Clifford US threats of intervention and military action, are not unusual; they are the norm. From the end of WW1 in 1918 to 2002 there have been 248 armed conflicts across 153 regions, the United States was involved in 201. The Monroe Doctrine in 1823 declared US dominance over the Western Hemisphere. It was aimed at rapacious European colonial powers but it set the path for aggressive expansionism in the guise of liberty. American interference in Latin American affairs was viewed as natural. It set the way for the Spanish-American War in 1898, which handed the US control…
By StMaartenNews.com Editorial Staff Based on reporting by Tom Clifford PHILIPSBURG — The Caribbean region is once again at the center of global attention as the United States confirms it has authorized covert operations inside Venezuela and deployed B-52 Stratofortress bombers over the Caribbean Sea, raising fears of renewed U.S. military intervention in Latin America. The development follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s confirmation that he approved CIA involvement in Venezuela, a move that has drawn sharp condemnation from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and sparked concern among regional governments about possible military escalation. B-52s Conduct Strategic Flights Near Venezuelan Airspace According…
