by Rick Lowe
In a Tribune Special report on Saturday, July 22, 2006, Sir Arthur Foulkes is interviewed by journalist Chester Robards on “Why it is important to make judgements about the USA”.
The interview was a basically an opportunity for Sir Athur to respond to criticism to one of his articles posted over at BahamaPundit. See this link for the entire article.
Here is one comment by Sir Arthur that stood out:
“We don’t want to see America involved in wars and with a huge national debt. So the criticism is made in that spirit”.
This is fair comment and anyone should be free to chastise America (or The Bahamas for that matter) for policies they disagree with. But (and you knew a but was in there didn’t you?) criticising America in one breath and then getting cosy with Cuba and Venezuela in the next is cause for concern.
If our travails at courting Cuba is to help her people that is one thing, but to open an embassy there when a representative office would work, speaks volumes.
This blogger thinks our Minister of Foreign Affairs needs to turn down the volume.
Are we forgetting who the underdog is in Cuba? It’s not the Cuban government. It’s her people. They are held as no more than chattel to the state.
The Nassau Institute circulated a commentary in July 2005 titled Strange Acquaintances that sums it up quite nicely.
I realise I am a neophyte to Sir Arthur when it comes to diplomacy (he was high commissioner to the United Kingdom and ambassador to the European Union and since 1999 he has been ambassador to China) but I don’t carry the regional baggage either.
