Guyanese Online
Venezuela to remap offshore oil, escalating tension with Guyana
BLOOMBERG – Venezuela will remap its Caribbean oil and gas prospects in a move that could further stoke a century-long border dispute with Guyana and collide with Exxon Mobil Corp.’s venture in the region, people with knowledge of the plan said. Continue reading
Guyana at Risk: Ethnic Politics, Oil, Venezuelan Opportunism and Why it Should Matter to Washington
Evan Ellis | Global Americans
On Friday, December 21st, as attention in Washington, D.C. shifted from the fight over the border wall and impending government shutdown to last-minute Christmas shopping, the government of Guyana, one of Latin America’s most overlooked strategically important countries, imploded.
Charrandas Persaud, a member of parliament (MP) with the Alliance for Change (AFC), the small centrist partner in the governing coalition, voted against his own party’s leadership in a no-confidence motion. This broke the government’s fragile 33-32 majority in the 65 seat National Assembly, setting the clock running for new national elections within 90 days.
Persaud’s defection set in motion far more than fresh elections and a likely change in government. Continue reading
When Jihadis Kill Jihadis: The Implications of Militant Infighting
Tore Hamming | WPR – World Politics Review
Last week’s attack against a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, by a radicalized French Muslim illustrates that jihadis, or militant Islamists, still pose a serious threat to national security in the U.S.A. and Europe.
Since late 2013, jihadis have also become a threat to other jihadis, regularly killing each other on battlefields across the Middle East in numbers that have observers talking about a jihadi civil war.
In Syria, armed rebels affiliated with al-Qaida and the so-called Islamic State continue to fight each other, while the most potent force battling the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan is the Taliban. Continue reading
The Guyana Institute of Historical Research – call for papers 
12th Research Conference, on Saturday 29 June, 2019
The Guyana Institute of Historical Research, based in Montrose, East Coast Demerara Guyana. will host its 12th Research Conference, on Saturday 29 June, 2019, and is inviting submission of abstracts and papers.
The conference theme is “Labour, military history and, migration.” The early registration fee is
G$5,000 for those who register on/offline between December 2018 and 28 June 2019. The late registration fee: G$10,000.
Abstracts must be submitted by 14 June 2019, and early submission of abstracts will ensure that they are included in the Book of Abstracts. Continue reading
Foreign ‘economic aid’ to Africa – By MOHAMED HAMALUDIN
Africa covers 11.73 million square miles or 20 percent of the Earth’s land mass and has 1.2 billion people or 16 percent of all human beings — second only to Asia in both categories — and a GDP of $6.4 trillion, the seventh largest.
The continent also has 30 percent of the planet’s mineral resources, including oil and gas, uranium, cobalt, copper, diamonds, gold and bauxite. Yet, 30 of its 54 countries are among the poorest in the world, due to a history of famine and wars and centuries of occupation by countries including Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Continue reading
Saying Goodbye to Planet Earth
On the the dawn of the Anthropocene and how humanity has engineered our own march toward collective suicide
“The question is are we smart enough to deal with the effects of our own power?” (Photo: Sanmonku)
The spectacular rise of human civilization—its agrarian societies, cities, states, empires and industrial and technological advances ranging from irrigation and the use of metals to nuclear fusion—took place during the last 10,000 years, after the last ice age. Much of North America was buried, before the ice retreated, under sheets eight times the height of the Empire State Building.
This tiny span of time on a planet that is 4.5 billion years old is known as the Holocene Age. It now appears to be coming to an end with the refusal of our species to significantly curb the carbon emissions and pollutants that might cause human extinction. The human-induced change to the ecosystem, at least for many thousands of years, will probably make the biosphere inhospitable to most forms of life.
The Geopolitics of Love and Hate:
Will We See Russian Troops Parading One Day in Washington?
Dr. Jamal Wakim | An-Nahar
Like the Germans and the French before them, the Americans are attacking Russia through Ukraine – despite a love affair which is at least a thousand years old.
Russian president Vladimir Putin chose to leave the G20 summit held in Brisbane, Australia early after being ill treated by the hosts and by the leaders of the Western World, “because he refused to give ground” in the Ukraine crisis.
The declarations of these leaders adopted the same old “innocent tone” to distance themselves from any responsibility in causing the crisis, or in solving it by accepting any agreement with the Russians. Continue reading
Trump Opens a Pandora’s Box in Middle East
M K Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline
There is no triumphalism in the USA, Britain or France over the missile strike in Syria on Friday
The mood is rather defensive. Indeed, evidence is still lacking on the alleged chemical attacks in Douma, which was the alibi for the missile strike. There are no tall claims, either, as regards the effectiveness of the missile strike in military terms. Continue reading
US Politics: What letters like Mattis’s can foretell. Matt Potter | The Washington Post
‘Dear Boss: I quit.’ What letters like Mattis’s can foretell.
Matt Potter: author of “The Last Goodbye: A History of the World in Resignation Letters.”
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s letter of resignation to President Trump starts ominously, with a frosty disregard for White House form.
H.R. McMaster, in his letter resigning his post as national security adviser, had been “thankful to Trump for the opportunity to serve him and our nation.” Even former attorney general Jeff Sessions, unceremoniously asked to resign, had managed an “Apprentice”-like response: “Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. President.” Continue reading →
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