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The Americas Summit & Golding’s alter Ego

Thank God for an unevenful resolution to the hijacking situation.

At approximately 6:40 am (Monday, April 20) members of the Jamaica Defence Force Counter Terrorism Operations Group entered the cabin of the aircraft and effected a tactical resolution authorized by the incident commando and in the process disarmed and arrested the gunman who has been identified as Stephen Fray from a Montego Bay address while rescuing the other hostages on board.

I’ll be tracking the Canadian response via

this link.

The much anticipated Americas summit is over. First let’s summarize the consensus of the summit, and then imagine what Prime minister Golding may have thought on his trip back to Jamaica.

Summit Pillars – Human prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability

If you were a wordsmiter, this was a great occasion to craft and decorate a lot of nice words to let these leaders look good, 98 paragraphs of such words. Here is the executive summary of said words.

The Declaration of Commitment recognises that meeting long-term goals will require tackling short-term economic challenges. “We are committed to addressing the current economic and financial crisis in order to achieve our objectives of promoting human prosperity and securing our citizens’ future,” the document states. “We are determined to enhance our cooperation and work together to restore global growth and achieve needed reforms in the world’s financial systems.”

Harper, & Golding & Obama

The longest section of the document, on human prosperity, lays out measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of anti-poverty efforts, promote job creation and prevent exploitation of workers. It also calls for action to strengthen food security, promote good nutrition and broaden access to health care, particularly for the most vulnerable. Health-related commitments include measures to reduce neonatal mortality, combat both communicable and non-communicable diseases and continue efforts against HIV/AIDS. “We commit to strengthening public policies aimed at reducing the incidence of mother-to-child transmission of HIV to less than 5% by 2015,” the document states.

Golding & Obama

It also lays out a series of education-related commitments, among them achieving universal primary education by 2015, a secondary education enrolment rate of 75% by 2010 and a minimum 40% participation in tertiary education by 2020.

The section on energy security looks at aspects such as energy efficiency and conservation and calls for the development of renewable energy sources and technologies. It notes that energy “is an essential resource for improving the standard of living of our peoples and that access to energy is of paramount importance to economic growth with equity and social inclusion.”

Chavez & Golding

Environmental sustainability, the third pillar of the Fifth Summit theme, is another area in which the region’s leaders called for cooperation. The Declaration of Commitment recognises “the adverse impacts of climate change on all countries of the Hemisphere, in particular, Small Island Developing States, countries with low-lying coastal, arid and semi-arid areas or areas liable to floods, drought and desertification, developing countries with fragile mountainous ecosystems and land-locked countries.”

Now, were there any substantive take aways?

Obama pledge $30M for additional security – piracy, drugs, and gun control.
Obama pledge an invite to Washington later this year for a follow up meeting.

My reaction: big whoop.

This declaration is so toothless, it would have difficulty having a bowl of porridge

G20 announced a $1T help for developing countries and the only monies mention is $30M?

Forgive my ignorance, but where is the linkage to the big pot?

Maybe I am just irked to see the headlines declaring that this is a meeting of Latin America, and Obama, and some floating the trial balloon that the next summit should be in Cuba. How should the Prime Minister take all of this?

As Golding headed home, what are some of the thinking that may have coursed through his fertile mind?

I better get to writing a book and find a way of making a big splash when we get back to Washington. This could shot up to #2 on Amazon like that idiot’s book. Hmmm, is he such a idiot or a genius marketing persona?
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Should I create an alternative position to bring some additional muscle in our struggle on the world stage?
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I am the studious , thoughtful type, and I am pretty type-casted. Chavez, and Ortega are also type-casted as bad boys. Do I need to hire a government rude boy?
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What would be the profile of this new office:
Someone with sharp elbows like Obama’s Rahm Emanuel.
Need someone who is not a grievance pimp, but can spot an opportunity that we can exploit.
Be a loud mouth that CNN would seek out and get on Larry King Live, early and often.
Be willing to shout un-delicate stuff such as “Cuba is not the entire Caribbean”, i.e. un-apologetically look out for our self interest.
Some one to publicly call Chavez and his ilk names.
Someone who can be a type of catalyst within Caricom that they will engage in some heated debate to move the initiatives beyond the present molasses politeness.
Some one who I can fire as a shock absorber for outrage should he/she go too far.