Dear Editor,
Mr. Alexander G. Markovsky’s article “Climate Change – Who Stands to Gain?” in the American Thinker of January 2, 2019, is worthy of some echoing and commentary.
The writer is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research at King’s College, New York City. The crux of his argument is that environmental concerns that had existed in the West for some time were crafted and used in the 1960s by President Charles de Gaulle as a “sinister plot to contain American expansionism.”
He writes: “From de Gaulle to Macron, while the political and economic landscape has changed, this strategy remains assertively consistent. He concludes (I believe correctly) that “fossil fuels (oil in particular) will maintain their economic and strategic importance in the US well into the 21st century.”
The French may have “assumed” the role of the world leaders of the environmental movement in 1968, as Mr. Markovsky informs us, but the beginnings of the movement were much earlier in the USA where the real leadership has remained to this very day. “climate change” and “open borders” are intrinsically linked and firmly rooted in the USA. They have been consistently and, until recently, stealthily financed by successive post-World War II US governments (Reagan’s excluded) via the UN, the EU and various US and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The “climate change” and “open borders” movements are the two giant Siamese squids that President Trump and his administration are now trying to wrestle. Quite a task!
I fault Mr. Markovsky for linking French legislation on nature during the 1960s with President de Gaulle’s so-called obsession with Napoleon; with a supposed “messianic vision of returning France to the status of a great power.” In 1964, as epigraph to the foreword of his landmark book Avant que nature meure (Before Nature Dies), published in 1965, ornithologist Jean Dorst placed a rather long (translated) excerpt of President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1908 Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources. President de Gaulle enacting French laws to protect “nature” in France in the 1960s was a “sinister plot designed to contain American expansionism;” really?
Historians have seen the documents; today, they know that the French leftists of that era, Maurice Thorez and his Communists, particularly, were taking their marching orders from the Soviets. Informed readers everywhere are now well aware of the putrid political waters President de Gaulle was forced to sail through in post-World War II France – in spite of him being the French hero of the liberation of his country. That he was able to herd those cats, to keep those hyenas (the left and right) at bay while forging a sense of national unity and solidarity to the extent that he did, is testimony to the exceptional individual he was; to the genius of the man and to his love of country – the French nation.
Gratitude for this great patriot, for all he succeeded in doing for France and for the world is vital in the present debate wherein too many elites in the West are undermining so many of the values he championed. Instead of scapegoating him, Mr. Markovsky and others would benefit greatly from studying his relationship with both the “liberal” and the leftist press of that era. They can begin with Alain Peyrefitte’s C’était de Gaulle (That was de Gaulle), 1994-2000. They will discover how the French media of the 1960s were a preview to most of the US media today.
American conservatives – professed patriots – should be unmasking and naming the key authors of a number of nefarious political events in the 1960s and beyond; events such as the Revolution of May 1968 that drove the patriot-warrior-savior-hero of modern France – Father of the Fifth Republic – out of office. He died two years later in 1970. This great man, a French sovereignist before this expression came into being in Quebec; a nationalist and patriot before these words were soiled and tabooed, was a victim of the politics of the rabid extremists of that era and of so-called liberal journalists.
Like Democritus’ atom, utopianism/socialism/communism/leftism is an ideology that never dies, and no one should wish it to disappear completely. Yesterday’s utopists, communists, bolsheviks, Marxists, Leninists, fascists, socialists and other leftists are morphing into today’s “progressives-globalists-socialists”. Like in chemistry, “Nothing is lost, nothing is created: everything is transformed.” The more it changes, the more it is the same old story. “(…) and there is no new thing under the sun.” But we, my reader, my friend, have made it into 2019 and for that we must be grateful. Happy New Year to all!
Gérard M. Hunt
Dear Editor,
Good morning St. Maarten. I am once again approaching you about an issue I still believe is very important to all of us as a people in which I am challenging all of us to see if we are just people that only complain without seeking a solution for whatever problem or disagreement that we are faced with, or if we are serious about results. I am hereby referring to our 2019 number plates that have been changed from the slogan or trademark of the friendly island which defines all of our people, to 50 years of Carnival which defines some of our people.
I am in no way or form trying to stop Carnival here in St. Maarten, which according to the Minister of Culture is a cultural event and to some the biggest economic contributor to our government coffers. As born-again believers, it is our opinion that the conduct displayed during this festivity is not conducive to our young people and also to the people who profess to be Christians, which is a believer in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The 2019 number plates are finally here on the island and they will be starting to be distributed on Monday, God's willing. Those persons that have met me on the streets and have called me since this issue came out I would like to thank, but moreover challenge, because if we would like to see a solution to the sudden change of our number plate slogan, which was done without even consulting us as the shareholders or owners of this country St. Maarten, then I believe that we should all be united with this cause. This is about protecting our voice in this country so that future general decisions would not be taken without prior consultation with us, the people of St. Maarten.
On Sunday upcoming at 4:30 pm the government in collaboration with the Christian Council of Churches, the St. Maarten United Ministerial Foundation and the Seven Day Adventist Church will be holding its 14th Annual National Day of Prayer and the entire population is invited to attend. This is in no way meant to force anyone to be present at this event but I am just informing you that if we as a people cannot even come together in prayer to thank God for His grace and mercy, especially for sparing our lives after the two devastating hurricanes, namely Irma and Maria that we experienced in 2017, then how are we supposed to be able to see positive results from our government when they realize that we are just all talk and no action.
In closing, I am saying to all of us and especially to the leaders and members of all the 200 registered churches here on our island to come out in numbers to send a clear message that we are truly united because we all serve one God Who never fails but always has the last word.
The ball is now in your court. Do you want to see a change made to the 2019 slogan that is on your number plate? Then you be that change and come out on Sunday, January 13, at the new Government Building at 4:30 pm to show government that we are UNITED. God bless St. Maarten and see you on Sunday, God's willing.
Jeffrey Richardson
The whole government is in turmoil because a smart businessman has imported a load of cheap diesel. They spoke to everybody in the media, sent MEO on them and a minister DEMANDED even that the cargo of diesel had to be off the island within two weeks and of course the people of Curoil claimed that the diesel was of lesser quality and did not meet the standard standards of their company.
The nice thing is that the same laboratory that tested the diesel from Curoil also tested it and gave it its approval. So, what is it that the government is panicking so much?
The importer has met all the requirements and regulations that the same government demands and pays all import duties, excise taxes, etc., and now seems not to be good and they come with all kinds of excuses and fabrications to prevent this cheap cargo on the market.
Now, Mrs. Camelia Romer suddenly claims that because the trucks leaked some oil, they did not meet environmental standards. I was on the floor laughing when I read that, the hypocrite! If you do go “cherry picking” as it is called, then do it across the board. For example, plunging down black water in the sea for years, not forgetting the asbestos mountain on the refinery site, dumping sewage water at Jan Thiel, name it, many examples.
Why defend Curoil so fanatically now? Because for years all those government companies have been social parking places for incompetent political friends who were able to thank us for a generous salary.
And now there is LEGAL competition, which they cannot stop, and now they see their paradise collapse. So, Mrs. Camelia-Romer, come with a better excuse because what you have come up with is a pathetic excuse to defend your political friends.
I can still remember that Paul Wederfoort fought against the refinery years ago because the fuel they delivered was far below the expected quality and was not on an international level and the drivers suffered from it! Then the government also took everything out of the closet only to later accept that Paul was right.
Suddenly we lean heavily on the environment and quality while 20,000 people breathe deadly smoke from the chimneys for years and no one dares to point their finger to that, not even Mrs. Camelia-Romer.
I’m really laughing on this little rock.
Arthur Donker
Curaçao
Once again, for this new year, I would like to reaffirm my most fervent commitment to what we hold dear: entrepreneurship in St. Martin. We were able to spend the first year after Hurricane Irma with resilience and faith in our ability to bounce back. 2018 was rich in movements, challenges, difficulties and emotions. We will also be able to approach 2019 with serenity and perseverance, as we continue to build our future, and our success will be collective.
Our Chamber is the link between the reality of our territory and public decision-makers, and it is in this sense that I want to continue to wear the colours of our uniqueness and continue the battles of this new year which will bring, I am sure, its fair share of challenges in the face of the upcoming deadlines. Our Chamber is unique, it is up to us to make it essential!
On the strength of our commitments and convictions, the President, elected representatives and staff of the Chamber extend to you their warmest and most sincere wishes for this new year. For you, for us, for St. Martin. Happy New Year 2019!
President Angèle Dormoy
Dear Editor,
On Thursday, November 15, 2018, while I am praying around 12:08 midnight, I heard the Lord saying to me He is getting ready to shake this place. Haggai chapter 2:6-7:21
