Mark Wignall | Dangerous whirlpool

Whatever else it is, whichever thought you had on your mind; the fact is the Middle East war has impacted the world. Stay with me.

A gaze out on the international horizon and you will see that oil prices have risen sharply. Financial markets are jittery. Poor countries, of which there are many, including Jamaica, are on a financial precipice.

Developed countries like Australia and South Korea are feeling the impact of the high oil prices. Those in the US are also suffering large price increases for gasolene and diesel. Food prices are rising, and soon, with the increased fuel prices, the cost of consumer goods like stoves, refrigerators, and other electronics will increase.

In Jamaica, many are hoping that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has not stalled out. There are more than quite a few who believe that the exigencies of the times, stretching all the way back from the devastation by Melissa last year, did not allow the JLP administration to be at its most creative in the recent Budget presented to the nation. I wish that I could say that it was filled with policies of pragmatism and hope for many Jamaicans. Maybe I missed something.

The prime minister, being a politician, duly raved about the big infrastructure projects in the offing as well as he ought to. I know that Jamaica’s fiscal space has not been expanded by the sudden finds of low-sulphur oil in our southern waters and gold veins all over the hills of Clarendon, so we will have to come down to earth. No miracles have happened.

A question: What does that do to help those in Manchester, St. Elizabeth, and Westmoreland, who still have no roofs over their devastated houses or have no house at all and are barely scratching out a living? Many are still complaining about the level of urgency with which the Government is acting.

I sincerely hope that it is not as if the Government is winded, or as Jamaicans would say, ‘dem bus.’ Another important fact to roll around in your mind Another hurricane season arrives on June 1, about 60 days away.

TRUMP BOWS TO PUTIN OVER CUBA

American power rolled over on us and forced us to divest ourselves of the Cuban medical services that we had, helping us prop up our free medical services to the poorest Jamaicans. All this in the name of the latest ideological stances.

The Democratic-led investigation into Russia and what appeared to be its intrusion into the US 2016 election on behalf of Donald Trump convinced some like me that Putin has always had undue influence over Trump. In the Middle East war, Trump and his fascistic push in Monroe Doctrine 2.0 placed a strict lockdown on oil reaching Cuba because a key part of the policy in seizing Cuba was in starving out its population.

And then Putin sent out a huge oil tanker, with a Russian warship shepherding it through the English channel and across the Atlantic to Cuba. Trump saw it, wet his pants, and knowing that it was a ‘divest cojones’ moment, hurriedly made up a story that he had no problem with Cuba getting some oil from Russia.

Remember now, Russia has sided with Iran in the air invasion by US-Israel, so in Putin sending oil to Cuba against Trump’s international blockade on Cuba is a double snub to Trump saying to him there is little he can do to stop Putin or slow him down.

DANGEROUS PERSIA

Fully cloaked in the rough armour of reckless abandon, US forces and Israel tag-teamed and rained fire from the sky on the kith and kin of Cyrus the Great on February 28 while trying to undo the Persian/Iranian culture he first formed and the pride of its people.

When Iranian schoolgirls were killed, not only was the Persians who were deeply hurt and culturally upset, its wolverine was poked.

One man, leading the greatest example of what ought to be seeing democracy as a working example of people power, has decided that autocracy is the best approach and that conmen and market barkers are worth more than holding true to the deeper meaning of the US Constitution.

Jamaicans cannot play on this chessboard. The JLP as an administration of government and a political party has a fraternal connection with the Republican party, and whether they care for it or not or knowing how disgusting he is, Trump.

America’s peace is the atmosphere that best suits Jamaicans, especially my relatives living there. As it is planned for the Iranian World Cup team to play in America, to me that lessens the probability that any Iranian terror cells gone to sleep in the US will wake us and become active. I am looking forward to that much more than I expected Jamaica to brush by DR Congo in our last-attempt-at-qualifying match.

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.