Dear Editor,
If we survive this global pandemic, we may witness the most consequential U.S. Presidential elections for that nation ─ and for the world ─ since the election of President Reagan and his team of Republicans 40 years ago, in November 1980. That is when democracy, self-government, Lincoln’s “government of the people, by the people, for the people” was reclaimed and retrieved from a looming hellish utopia of Soviet world communism.
After much upheaval, social redress and progress in the ’60s, followed by economic depression and hopelessness in the ’70s, the U.S.A. was rescued from impending disaster. The nation was retrieved from the ash-heap of history and Soviet-style world communism where the stewardship of so-called Liberals (Republicans and Democrats) of that era was leading it and its people.
President Nixon’s “rapprochement” with China had led to the Republic of China (Taiwan) being ejected from the United Nations (UN) and Communist China being included as a member state. “Détente” under Presidents Nixon and Carter had led to the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran hostage crisis in 1979.
In 1980, Republican candidate Ronald Reagan was vilified by the defeatists, appeasers and sympathizers of the Soviets and their program of world communism. But the American people elected Ronald Reagan, an ex-movie actor and union leader and his team of enthusiastic reformers. Their governance, with support from the Iron Lady, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the UK, and a few others elsewhere, led to the implosion of the USSR and to the demise of Soviet-style world communism.
Twenty years later, in October 2000, at the very end of his second term in office, President Clinton, a Democrat, granted China normal trade relations with the U.S. He could never have succeeded in enacting the “U.S.A.-China Relation Act of 2000” into law without the strong backing of the Republicans who controlled the Congress: House and Senate.
Business interest was strongly in support of the bill; opponents to it argued that it rewarded a repressive communist state and undermined US labor and environmental protection. The bill pitted corporate and farming groups against organized labor, human rights groups, veterans’ organizations and religious leaders. 164 Republicans and Democrats voted for; 138 Democrats and 2 Independents voted against. The agreement was a triumph for the Republicans and for President Clinton ─ a Democrat!
But the broader context of this legislation is worth noting: the Clinton administration was under a sturdy, stealthy assault by the forces of global governance in the US, at the United Nations (UN) and at the European Union (EU).
“From 1980 to 2005, the World Bank’s loans to China totaled about $40 billion” (most of it US funded), the highest loan on record at the World Bank. (Online Pieter Bottelier, China and the World Bank, April 2006).
Politicians in Europe and in the U.S.A. and the technocrats at the UN and the EU were not concerned with democracy ─ to the contrary ─ they were undermining self-governance by promoting the UN’s “Global Neighborhood” and “Global Governance” (UN Report: Our Global Neighborhood, 1995, chap.2).
On May 19, 2000, the EU agreed to China becoming a member of the WTO; five months later, on October 10, President Clinton signed the “United States-China Relations Act of 2000” into law; the following year, on December 21, 2001, China was welcomed into the World Trade Organization. Without the consent of the U.S.A, China would have remained outside of the WTO which might have forced its leaders to clean up their act. In their numerous signed agreements with the EU, the US and the WTO, Chinese officials promised all sorts of incremental reforms which Europeans and Americans, and the WTO are still awaiting patiently today – twenty years later.
The “U.S.A.-China Relation Act of 2000” decimated American industries and their workers. President Clinton’s successors, Republican President Bush W., and Democrat President Obama stood by and allowed their nation to be stripped of its manufacturing, industrial and military might to the benefit of a ruthless communist nation hell-bent on exporting, on spreading its model of tyrannical government: its repressive Maoist brand of communism throughout the world. The 20-year rape of America by Communist China, the so-called People’s Republic of China, was a consensual affair; it occurred with the consent of America; of Americans; of most of their media; and of their corporate leaders and politicians: Republicans and Democrats.
That is why, like with Ronald Reagan in 1980, it took an outsider, someone who was neither Republican nor Democrat, to address the neglect inflicted on the people, on the working classes of the nation by their politicians, their intellectuals: their corporate and globalist elites. It took an informed outsider to address and to try to redress the exploitation that resulted from that dismal trade agreement with China in 2000. In 2016, it took the TV star businessman Donald J. Trump to tackle the issue of “China!” as he refers to it, and to undertake the most worthy effort of rescuing and restoring his nation’s industrial, commercial and military might. He was wrestling that mighty dragon with very promising results.
And then, with the New Year, while the U.S. Senate was debating the impeachment of the President on trumped-up charges, seemingly out of Communist China, like H1N1 and some other earlier pandemics, coronavirus COVID-19 came to America and to the world: an invisible enemy; centillions of silent, spiked crown killers!
If my information is correct, to date, the virus has taken the lives of 280,000 human beings worldwide including some 79,773 in the US; 5,440 in the Netherlands, 26,310 in France and 18 individuals on “Sweet St. Martin” (French and Dutch). It has crushed the US economy, wiped away everything President Trump and his team had accomplished, everything except the President’s will of steel, his determination to start all over again in a second mandate. Will the American people indulge him?
Gérard M. Hunt
Dear Editor,
This year 2020 marks the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale. This year the world is faced with the COVID-19 pandemic. With all the ups and downs in between this year Nurses Day, we must not allow the situation to take our minds away from this special day.
This Nurses Day, at this crucial time provide the opportunity to celebrate in our hearts our nurses in every area departments, and all Health Care Services providers, Hospitals, Nursing homes, Doctor's clinics, EMS Services (ambulance), Mental Health care, Baby clinics, Collective Prevention Services, (ESF 6) nurses, Private Home care, White &Yellow Cross Foundation, in St. Maarten. Just a moment to recognize you and your hard work.
Nursing has been a profession with high standards and a strong sense of public service for over 160 years. Nurses are those who give support to people who are suffering from any disease. Especially this year 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic.
The profession they have chosen is very remarkable for which it is an honored and well-remembered one once a year.
During this Nurses Day I want to honor all nurses working in the public and private sector and also thank you for the dedicated work you do every day to achieve good health and life for everyone. It is a profession which requires a real dedication to service and support for others.
These great professionals are those who fail to quell the feelings of fear and provide security and necessary care to those who have cracked their health and support physicians in performing their responsibilities. Thanks to their care, patients are able to recover their health.
It is my wish as President of the St. Maarten Nurses Association to send special greetings to all nurses for their hard work in the interest of protecting the health of the population, by reaching out to help all our patients, and especially for making our world more friendly to live.
God bless and keep all of our nurses safe!
Happy Nurses Day.
Nurse Mavis Rombley
President of the St. Maarten Nurses Association
Dear St. Maarteners,
We are writing this letter to the editor because we want the hardworking business owners, island people to know the following:
Apparently some of our government officials find it necessary to have a bbq party with booze, no mask and no social distance behind the Sky Port in Simpson Bay with about 30 people on Wednesday, May 6, 2020 from early afternoon until evening hours.
We small business people are trying to survive this COVID-19 crisis. When we heard about the J’ouvert party we were furious, the fact that people could do such a thing and maybe spoil our possibility on freedom.
We want our St. Maarten special investigation team under Prime Minister Jacobs to investigate this and that all who participated come forward. Names are known and will not be mentioned right now out of respect to Minister Jacobs. We trust she won’t approve such behavior and will act on this immediately.
We are all struggling in these very difficult times to keep our small businesses open. Rules are for every one of us, including these party officials. When people get fined for things they should not do it’s more than normal that these party officials get their part also.
This breaks our hearts and makes us all furious!
We don’t want this to be seen as a small thing. It’s more than ridiculous that things like this even happen. Especially when these officials should be an example for the people of St. Maarten.
We hope, Prime Minister Jacobs, you take action and let the people of St. Maarten know how you feel about this.
Name withheld at author’s request.
Dear Editor,
As has been said by a writer Friday, May 8, 2020, in The Daily Herald, indirectly learn from your Republican foes. I agree. Republicans have “wielded with success, skill, emotion, and patriotism” in their recent, I say, affirmation of President Trump.
I will make my opinion, as a voice of one legal American citizen, in a concise way.
We are fortuitous to have President Trump to guide our country particularly during this Corona Virus occurrence. He has proceeded in the best method possible.
It’s time for Democrats to unite with everyone else in working toward the eradication of this sometimes deadly virus. How about it, stop criticizing, and put your energy into conquering this microorganism. Is this not what’s in the best interest of our country and world?
Scientifically, masks need to be worn during times of groups of people gathered in one place; and especially in confined spaces such as airplanes. Be sensible, and stay at home still as much as possible, and ideally keep the streets as free from people as possible for a little longer, as each country, and the world uniquely opens up slowly, in relation to their progress toward normalcy. This is the only way to conquer this foe, especially until we have a drug to treat, and one to cure this virus.
A quick study in epidemiology would be helpful for those with little understanding of our current situation, including writers.
I hesitate to even think what might have happened if President Trump were not leading. The average person, quiet now, knows what is going on, and will rise to the occasion, and President Trump will win the upcoming election by a landslide.
By the way, being up at 1:00, 2:00, or 3:00am is not unusual for President Trump, as he conducts his duties as President. Not all people require the same amount of sleep each night to function effectively.
Respectively,
I. Ruth M.
Surname withheld at author's request.
Re: Questions of a concern citizen
Dear Madame Prime Minister,
To begin with, thank you for suppling the emergency food ration to senior citizens, and also for your sense of responsibility and leadership during this COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
The main reason for these questions at the end of this letter, is so many promises were made to the people of this country by politicians during the parliamentary election, but none were ever fulfilled as promised.
It seems many promises were made to the people of this country in order to get elected into office, but now they are seeing a lot of deception and empty promises.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way of doing business in the country. One thing for sure is life will never be the same as before. The Internet, social media, and news media have progressed the way forward in bringing valuable information to the community.
However, I suggest to anyone with important questions to address them publicly to you in the same way I have done to get satisfactory results. Please find questions below. Responding to these questions in the news media is most welcome to let the public aware of issues affecting their livelihood.
Joseph Harvey
Questions to the Prime Minister
- Why the Treaty of Concordia in 1648 is not ratified by France and the Netherlands?
- When is the new hospital is going to be build?
- Why is the public library is taking so long to be repaired or rebuilt?
- Why are the tenants of SMHDF not receiving a financial relief from the COVID-19 pandemic stimulus package, and many people are out of work, with cost of living extremely high?
- How many people are unemployed in the country? Please give fair estimate.
- What are the government’s plans to keep the guilder pegged to the United States currency?
- Even though oil prices are low on the world market, why are the prices for gasoline and cooking gas still so high?
- How does your government plan to generate income in this pandemic crisis?
- The people of Belvedere were promised to earn their unit, the tenants are still waiting for a public response from government as promised?
- What is the national debt of country St. Maarten?
- Why there is not a community center for the people of Belvedere?
Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
