British invasion on Statia
by Jacob Gelt Dekker Statia’s delusional political leader, Clyde van Putten, insists that St. Eustatius is an easy prey to be ransacked by Dutch Marines. The incident of 1780, was for van Putten as if it happened yesterday. The worst hurricane ever razed most of the island to the ground, and killed at least 4,000 people. Our modern concept of More...
Clean up the Caribbean
by Jacob Gelt Dekker Six months after the Van Putten-Statia incident, financial mismanagement, abuse of power, fraud, theft, embezzlement of public funds, widespread corruption and favoritism, personal intimidations, More...
A haven for the globetrotting gourmet
By Chris Morvan You wouldn’t believe how excited I was to find a dripping, stinking piece of Brie in a supermarket chiller last week. But then you probably haven’t spent the last four years in countries where More...
Caribbean Micro- and Mini-States
by Jacob Gelt Dekker Hurricane Maria of 2017 posed a tough question to Caribbean islands, to rebuild or not to rebuild. And a far more intriguing dilemma, can Caribbean mini- and micro-States continue to exist? The More...
Hiram Beakes of Saba
by Jacob Gelt Dekker Sex, romance, and true love played out with Hiram Beakes. Hiram Beakes was a young man and a scion of the ruling family on the island of Saba. His story of licentious sex that turned into true More...
Wealth tourism development in the Caribbean
By Cdr. Bud Slabbaert “We want more private and business aircraft coming to our airport.” – “You’re right,” I responded. “We’re looking for a mover-and-shaker to do it” – “Good thing,” I More...
The Caribbean demand: obey me or else
By Chris Morvan There is a character trait I’ve noticed in other parts of the Caribbean that I was dismayed to find exists here: the official’s need to be obeyed. By “official” I mean anyone in any walk More...
STATE OF THE NATIONS
A newcomer’s view of St Maarten/St Martin By Chris Morvan The island where I find myself has a split personality. It can’t make up its mind if its name is Martin or Maarten. Nor is it consistent about what language More...
Hub-spoke airlift in the Caribbean
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert A hub-spoke distribution network is a system of connections arranged like a wheel in which all traffic moves along spokes connected to the hub at the center. Since we are dealing with airlift, More...
The Caribbean needs incubators
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert Wow, why, what? Is there an upcoming baby-boom? Is it related to this year’s carnival? Why don’t they distribute contraceptives? Those are questions that I don’t have answers for. But More...
