“Sovereignty” – A Plaything of the Powerful? For the powerful, sovereignty is a sword; for the small, it must remain a shield Sir Ronald Sanders Sovereignty is supposedly the cornerstone of international order: the formal declaration that every state has the right to govern itself, protect its territory, and determine its own destiny. Yet the charters of the United Nations and the Organization of American States proclaim not the idea of sovereignty in general, but the specific...
Build Back Better and Smarter: a Response to Environmental Challenges Ambassador Curtis A. Ward We repeat our mistakes and get the same results and at times even worse. The prophet Hosea (8:7) warned us, “You sow the wind you shall reap the storm.” Not a literal translation. We often hear, in the immediate aftermath of a disastrous event, where severe destruction of property and loss of lives are experienced, voices raised, especially by politicians, that ‘we will build back better’...
Ambassador Curtis Ward & Scott Silverman A Jamaican and American Community Partnership Project to Provide Jamaica Hurricane Relief, Recovery, and Rebuilding List of Items to Contribute Non-perishable ready-to-eat Foods, etc. Canned meats/fish/vegetables/etc. – sardines – mackerels – corned beef – tuna – salmon – sausages – corn – pre-cooked beans – crackers – luncheon snacks – infant formula and baby food Other...
Jamaica Hurricane Relief A joint effort by Jamaicans and American friends supporting Jamaica Jamaica Needs Your Support! We need your support to provide hurricane relief to the people of Treasure Beach, and the Pedro Plains area, in the parish of St Elizabeth, Jamaica, which is among the most devastated areas of Jamaica as a result of hurricane Melissa (a category 5 hurricane—the largest in recorded history to hit the island– which ravaged the country. Ambassador Curtis Ward...
Unity – in face of U.S. military action Sir Ronald Sanders (31 October 2025) —Four days after the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government reaffirmed the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, Prime Minister Kamla Persad‑Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago startled the region with a public statement that CARICOM should “get together” and take some of the “illegal Venezuelans” sheltering in her country, and that the Community should press Caracas to accept two hundred...
Sanctions — Coerce or Punish? Ambassador Curtis Ward (28 October 2025) — In recent months, we have not focused on U.S. sanctions against Trump administration adversaries. Yet we have seen the administration’s use of sanctions is widespread and, in many cases, more severe. These sanctions directly targeted political leaders, particularly of Venezuela and Iran. Targeting political leaders is unusual. We have also seen sanctions against Haitian gang leaders and others connected to them;...
Former Heads of CARICOM states call for the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace Eleven former heads of government of CARICOM states, led by the Most Hon. P. J. Patterson, former prime minister of Jamaica, have issued a joint statement pleading for maintaining the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace where the Rule of Law is respected. The former prime ministers signing the statement are: Baldwin Spencer (Antigua and Barbuda), Said Musa and Dean Barrow (Belize), Freudel Stuart (Barbados), Edison James...
A New World Order—or the formal admission of the Old? Sir Ronald Sanders (22 October 2025) —The world has long spoken of a “rules-based order,” as though the law itself held dominion over power. Yet, behind the diplomatic courtesies and the fine print of charters, it was power that wrote the rules and altered them at will. The difference today is that the altering is done in full view and only a few feign surprise. We all knew what the Order was even when we hoped for better. We...
Implications of US Military Operations in the southern Caribbean Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (17 October 2025) — As of this writing, U.S. military strikes blowing up six small boats in the southern Caribbean Sea between Venezuela and Trinidad killed nearly 30 people. No evidence has been offered by the Trump administration to the American public or international community to justify these killings. The victims of these summary executions are alleged by the U.S. president to be trafficking...
From Selma to St. George’s: The Transatlantic Currents of Liberation between the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and the Caribbean Gabriel J. Christian, Esq. (11 October 2025) — The struggle for Black freedom is an unbroken conversation across oceans. It is the voice of Africa carried on the trade winds to the Caribbean, reborn in the hymns of plantation fields, and rising again in the marches of Montgomery and Selma. The Caribbean was never a spectator to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement—it...
