…Burnham as GOAT

Apart from his pugilistic skills, Muhammed Ali had a way with words that made his mouth more than match his fists!! But it was his wife in the nineties who introduced a word that’s now entered the English language – GOAT or G.O.A.T. – when she used it to describe her husband as the “Greatest Of All Time”!!! It has caught on and transcended its early sports affiliations. The irony is the lower-case version – goat – has always been the complete opposite!!
Well, down here in Ole Mudland, as we continue grappling with our MV Barima tragedy and the greatly diminished PNC leader Aubrey Norton struggling to retain some relevance – he just announced that among Guyanese leaders, Burnham was the GOAT!! But let’s be honest – based on his history, wasn’t he more like the lower-case version – a goat?? Let’s count the ways to justify our evaluation! We can do worse than start with the notable tragedy of mass deaths in Burnham’s days – compared to the Barima. Quick now – didn’t NINE HINDRED AND EIGHTEEN people die up in the Northwest where the Barima was headed?? It has tagged our country ever since as a living hell!!
Now THAT tragedy is normally dismissed as being an American one since the dead were all from Stateside. But weren’t they human beings trying to carve out a piece of our Mudland to make it habitable and productive?? And more to the point, weren’t they supportive of Burnham and the PNC – not only at the national level, but even providing sexual succour to some big ones in the PNC?? And after their mass death, had their gold and jewellery scooped up by a PNC big one who’s still around??
But what was really incredible was Norton describing Burnham as a man of “integrity”!! So a man who went on the CIA payroll – at US$5000 monthly according to the Committee 303 Declassified files – to trigger racial hostilities that linger with us today – has integrity??!! Or ordering the assassination of one of our nation’s best and brightest – Walter Rodney – as proved by a Commission of Inquiry attesting to his integrity??!!
Then, to add insult to injury, Norton boasted that Burnham ensured our nation was housed, clothed and fed during his regime?? Is this why the 1989 McIntyre Report pegged us as the second poorest country in the hemisphere – just above Haiti – from being on par with TT in 1964?? Then SURE education was free – free to wallow at the bottom as our educational system collapsed – while teachers survive by selling “sweetie” to students!!
You can fool some of the people some of the time – but never all of the people all of the time!!
Burnham the goat!!

…the western hemisphere
Last year, the Trump Administration launched its “National Security Strategy” – quickly dubbed the “Donroe Doctrine”!!  It sought to secure hemispheric dominance by asserting a hard-line US sphere of influence across the region. More explicitly, it also aims to shut out strategic competitors – primarily China, but also Russia and Iran – from controlling vital infrastructure, resources, or military positioning in the region!!
As an operational subcomponent, it then launched Joint Task Force-Southern Spear with 18 countries – including Guyana – to counter narco-trafficking and its train of criminal activities that’s destabilising our countries. Well, on Tuesday, Southern Spear was transitioned to Joint Task Force-Western Hemisphere, which is gonna build “on a legacy of excellence to secure the region and defeat all threats”!!!
It will be “a purpose-built force synchronising US military operations with allies and partners to counter threats, strengthen regional security, and respond rapidly to crises across the Western Hemisphere”!!
Yep… we have gotta move from snuffing out those boatloads of drugs heading north to cutting them off in their local lairs!!

…warped heritage
A boat without proper licences and safety certifications was hired by Sanction Man to take him to Moruca – and was turned back!!
What do they expect from a fella who cut his teeth on illegal smuggling? Paperwork??

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