The Art of Betrayal, a Warning to Caribbean Leaders Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (04 November 2019) — History is replete with the phenomenon of human betrayal. But, unlike any other time in geopolitical history, trust in America’s global leadership has never hit such a dangerously low point. Trust and reliance on Washington, in a downward spiral since January 2017, has now reached its nadir with nowhere lower to go. An act of betrayal in any context is flagitious. Thus, only a naively...
Trump squeezing Cuba to pressure Venezuela could backfire on the U.S. Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (April 20, 2019) — President Donald Trump Administration’s continued pressure on Cuba has two intended consequences. The first is to reverse President Barack Obama’s rapprochement with the Cuban Government, then led by President Raul Castro, with the aim of appeasing some members of the Cuban-American community as payback for the strong support Trump received from them in the 2016...
Setting the Stage for U.S. Geostrategic Agenda Ambassador Curtis A. Ward United States president Donald Trump faces a plethora of geopolitical and geosecurity issues with a new and untested foreign policy team – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser, Ambassador John Bolton. Both share common cause with President Trump on limiting the use of diplomacy in settling world affairs. They project the use of military power as a means to advance U.S. interests abroad. It is...
“This too will pass” – Firing of Andrew McCabe and American global leadership March 18, 2018 — Ambassador Curtis Ward offered comments on Jamaica radio station RJR’s popular weekly news review show, That’s a Rap, with acclaimed journalist and host Earl Moxam. In the wake of the firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, questions arose on the threat to America’s system of justice and America’s moral authority in global leadership; and highlighted...
Trump’s Foreign Policy by the Seat of his Pants Ambassador Curtis A. Ward Understanding United States foreign policy can be perplexing. However, American foreign policy, though complex, usually has been logical and coherent. Astute observers, and by extension foreign governments, could pierce the veil of American foreign policy to reach certain conclusions about underlying objectives. Each U.S. president had a framework – a national security and geopolitical strategy – which provided...
Blackmailing Pakistan is Bad U. S. Policy Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (07 January 2018) — Anyone who understands the geopolitical and security dynamics of Pakistan and neighboring countries – Afghanistan, Iran, India, and China – and the complex and variable relationships between and among these countries, must be scratching their heads trying to figure out current U.S. strategy in the region. Arguably, the most plausible conclusion is that by undermining the Pakistani military, as...
Defying Trump’s Blackmail on UN Vote – Caribbean Countries Divided Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (21 December 2017) — The recent decision by President Donald Trump to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was in complete defiance of United Nations resolutions and international norms. Trump’s decision was in contravention of UN resolutions which have stood for decades. The Palestinians and countries around the world...
U.S. and China faceoff on North Korean Sanctions Ambassador Curtis A. War (25 Aug. 2017) — The cooperative relationship between the U.S. and China on North Korean sanctions got off to a good start in the United Nations Security Council. But, before the ink dried on resolution 2371 (2017), the relationship took a body blow from the bellicose rhetoric which flowed between Washington and Pyongyang. China cautioned President Trump not to travel that road and the U.S. president pulled back...
P.J. Patterson, In His Own Words – Interview with CaribNation TV I sat down as CaribNation TV Host with the Most Honorable P. J. Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica at his New Kingston Office in Jamaica in July 2017 for a conversation which covered a broad range of issues. This conversation with the former Jamaican Prime Minister occured while the Jamaica 55 Diaspora Conference 2017 was underway at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston, attended by over a thousand Jamaicans...
Drums of War Trump UN North Korean Sanctions Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (13 Aug. 2017) — An unusual show of unanimity in the United Nations Security Council imposing new, meaningful targeted commodity and financial sanctions against North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea -DPRK) is on the brink of collapse with the bellicosity from U.S. President Donald Trump. The response by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the UN sanctions was not unexpected. The response from Donald...
