Obama and McCain, Pinky and the Brain July 28, 2009
Posted by Emir in Humour, Politics.Tags: brain, funny, mccain, obama, pinky, Politics
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I was googling for a photo of someone drinking tea with their pinky finger sticking out. I needed it in order to poke some fun at a friend. 
In the process, I ran into the below picture. I lol’ed. I lol’ed some more. I decided to share. So here:
Obama and McCain, Pinky and the Brain!
Caribbean Integration September 3, 2008
Posted by Emir in Politics, Trinidad and Tobago.Tags: Caribbean, caricom, csme, federation, Manning, Politics, trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago, union
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Yes – unfortunately for those who may have wished otherwise I have not in fact died. I was simply caught up in a slew of real-world activities that acted as a brick wall of sorts between me and my blog.
So our dear Prime Minister Patrick Manning has decided to pursue regional integration amongst Caricom states – economically by the year 2011 and politically by the year 2013. To this end, Manning has been jetting about the region selling his idea. Thus far, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia have signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the matter.
So is this a good idea or not? Well, it really does depend on what angle you look at it from. In the short term this could actually be quite a drain on T&T’s economy in trying to sustain the others. In addition, T&T businesses will probably end up outclassing many of the smaller enterprises on the other islands. But what about in the long haul? We live in the era of super states. China and India are poised to reclaim their place as the world’s most powerful economies, the Russian Federation is sitting on immense oil wealth and has begun flexing its muscles once again, the European Union has become incredibly powerful and the United States is doing all it can to closer integrate itself with Canada and Mexico. Meanwhile there are inklings of unions in the African continent, South America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
What place would small island nations such as those found in the Caribbean have in a world of unions and federations? How would our voice be heard and how will we effectively get the best value for our resources on the open market? It has to be admitted that there is some element of truth in saying to integrate or perish.
It will be a long, rough road and yes, a united Caribbean front has been attempted before and failed. – look up the West Indies Federation of 1958. However, we live in a different time and while I do not see it happening in Manning’s proposed time frame I think the seeds have been now planted in people’s minds. As time passes by the idea will become more palpable and eventually could even be accepted by the masses.
We shall see. Done right, a united Caribbean could in fact benefit us all.
Russia considering nuclear arms August 17, 2008
Posted by Emir in Current Events, Politics, World Affairs.Tags: america, baltic, nuclear, poland, Politics, russia, war
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Russia is considering arming its Baltic fleet with nuclear arms, reports the UK’s The Sunday Times via Times Online (link). This of course entails nuclear warheads on Russian Federation submarines, cruisers and aircraft much like in the days of the Cold War.
The move has been reported to be in response to American plans for a missile defense shield in Europe, specifically with respect to Poland permitting components of the defense shield to be installed on its soil. Moscow, possibly viewing the missile shield as a threat has warned Poland that it could face a nuclear strike for such actions. According to Moscow, its Baltic fleet has suffered underfunding since the collapse of the communist USSR, but that is about to change.
Now I can of course go on reiterating the various news reports, but I am sure anyone who finds the time to read this blog is capable of reading those reports on their own. The entire affair is undoubtedly part of a much deeper issue with each side having their own reasons for their actions. However; I must say that the involved nations are playing an extremely dangerous game.
For what reason does the United States need to set up a missile shield over Europe? Just how bold can that nation be? Why does Poland need to permit foreign missile arms to be installed on its soil? Is it that much of a pushover? Or do they have some ulterior motive for permitting such an act? And finally, why does Russia regardless of its worries over the missile shield need to respond with the threat of nuclear attack of all the possible options?
This is of course the start of a very worrisome state of affairs. During the Cold War, the USA and USSR were preventing from ever actually escalating to nuclear warfare by what is known as MAD, short for Mutually Assured Destruction. Both countries were acutely aware that should one attack the other, an equal retaliation would be launched before any targets were even struck that would assure both suffer far worse than Japan did in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To this day, both the United States of America and the Russian Federation who now control most of the old USSR land and resources retain significant nuclear stockpiles.
With Russia’s economy experiencing steady growth and their Siberian region containing what is considered by many to be one of the world’s last vast oil reserves, Russia is poised to once again become a powerful adversary of the United States. A second cold war between these two highly armed nuclear powerhouses is not what the world needs.
