In Support of Kamla (Trinidad) and Irfaan (Guyana) Pragmatic US Foreign Policy

Reference is drawn to your editorial, “Pragmatism over Principle” (Mar 1), commentaries and letters chiding the Kamla Persad Bissessar’s led government’s position on the conflict in West Asia. Guyana has taken a similar position as T&T on the US and Israel military intervention on Iran and the latter’s capricious attack on neighbors. On the bombing and elimination of the leadership of sovereign Iran, almost the entire world, the most powerful nations, have not condemned USA. Why should tiny T&T or Guyana? As you correctly concluded, T&T government has pursued a pragmatic policy on the war similar to its position on American’s intervention in Venezuela.

There is a new world order on international relations dictated by President Trump. The consequences for defiance are hefty. Even the most powerful nations, save nuclear powered ones and Canada, comply to (appease) Washington’s dictates. So who is small T&T or Guyana to defy President Trump? Defiance results in some kind of sanction as happened to CARICOM nations, save Guyana and T&T. Nations are being pragmatic.

Your editorial and critics of Kamala’s policy argue for a moral foreign policy and adhering to principles of the global system of relations and respecting sovereignty. Strong nations pursue self-interests without much respect for principles or national sovereignty. Powerful nations like USA and Russia enter into wars to reshape a neighborhood to suit their interests. Recall Soviet or Russian invasion of neighbors. This realpolitik has been around for centuries except for brief periods after the UN was founded. Since the end in 1990 of the bipolar balance of power, between the Soviet Union and USA, powerful nations have been doing their own things to promote and defend their interests. That has particularly been the nature of the international system over the last two decades. Russia, USA, and China, as powerful nuclear weapon and geographically large nations do their own things without much repercussions from the rest of the globe; the exception was the sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the former has remained defiant and unrelenting in its goal. When bombs or invasion don’t work, sanctions and tariffs do; nations quickly capitulate.

Principles cannot save or protect or favor a state as we found out in Venezuela, Iran, Trump’s treatment of CARICOM leaders, among other illustrations. While a nation must embrace principles (of sovereignty, etc.), one must also be pragmatic. It is now a very dangerous world unlike previously. If you don’t support Washington, you run the risk of being penalized as has happened to most of Latin America and the Caribbean nations. Prime Minister Kamla and President Ali of T&T, as have six other Latin American leaders, have been invited to the President’s home, Mara Largo, for a summit on March 7 because of their support for him on foreign policy in the region.

The leader of the free world, President Trump, ruler of the most powerful country, is different from his predecessors. He does not govern under the principles of the UN Charter. He acts unilaterally on foreign relations like no other President did. He is a mercurial hard nationalist who has demonstrated a proclivity for an expansionist (new frontier) ideology to acquire non-American territories. Guyana and T&T are not on the list he wants to acquire although most nationals won’t oppose the idea; they want to be Americans with that cherished blue passport that provides a first world lifestyle and gives them unlimited access to the rest of the world.

President Trump is a transactional leader. You support his policy, and America rewards you. T&T and Guyana, being neighbors of Venezuela and needing American support, find themselves in a serious predicament regardless of which party would have been in government. Side with Trump on the conflict in Venezuela and Iran and retain support on territorial integrity (as well as on oil and gas, minerals, etc.) or face a sovereignty threat, high tariffs, and maybe even decline in oil revenues. There are those who argue that T&T or Guyana can use economic clout (oil and gas and other natural resources) to bargain with Washington on “exercising greater sovereignty” and defying Trump. Those critics don’t understand the people who run the current White House. Iran and Venezuela more natural resources and economic clout than T&T, and they could not bargain with Trump on “sovereignty matters” or make demands. Iran also has some military might and had defied Trump. It is being bombed and forced to capitulate to Washington dictates. Powerful nations as those in Europe (G 7) are kowtowing to President Trump. T&T and Guyana have to adjust to regional and global reality.

PM Kamla and President Ali are right to support USA and to condemn Iran for attacking neighbors that widens the war, risking global economic fallout over energy. T&T and Guyana and CARICOM are not in a position to offer guidance on American global relations. The war must end, and there should be dialogue and diplomacy to end conflict and we should return to a rules-based order. But that won’t happen anytime soon. T&T and Guyana are weak nations that have border issues with Venezuela and need American protection. They must pursue a pragmatic foreign policy that does not run counter to USA security and that also serves their national interests.

Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram