Wow -- a banana republic -- what happened to free speech? Note to foreign investors -- criticise the government and they will take your assets and force you to leave. Have we not one statesman in the government? Even my staunch Fox Hillian friends are saying that Fweddy has to go, as well as the PLP.

The supreme irony is that Fweddy wants to kick Izmirlian out for telling the truth. Fweddy's moral compass is so screwed, that he and the Truth are complete strangers.

The Opposition should be raging at this Government!!' Trouble is, do enough of them have "clean hands" ?? Have THEY all paid their business licences and their property tax AND have they all filed their declaration of net worth as the Law dictates? , and does anyone have anything on any of them regarding corruption??? If they are not squeaky clean, they should get the hell out of the House!!... We need a pack of honest statesmen with clean hands to get rid of this PLP!!

We have an Opposition? Sorry; wasn't aware.

We the people are the opposition! We sit back and allow these crooks to continue to bring this country down.

No Freedom of Information Act

NOW "No Freedom of Speech"

Mitchell and Roberts just stop it with your stupid comments! There you go, doing what you are best at, threatening people that dare speak of your incompetence. There’s more us now seeing clearly now. Was once a fool, but no more! No one believes in you anymore, get it? The young people are opening their eyes! Beware, because once their eyes are opened, you are in BIG trouble, mister! Your gov’t has been too busy stealing and going to parties to take the time to look around at the desperate state of our people. You all don’t even throw us a crumb unless we walk the party line! Now you want to talk about Bahamian or not. You should be ashamed of yourself, using us as pawn in your crooked game. You are not Bahamian, you are PLP and that does not equate, not in your current diseased mental state. You want respect for PGC, there is nothing there to respect, he has disgraced the title, he has disgraced our country and we are all in this mess because bad leaders, starting with LOP. I’d say you just don’t have the mental capacity to understand the harm you are doing but it’s been proven that the reason for the disgrace found in our government is greed, solely greed! You know you can get away with it because your disgraced LOP has sadly been your guiding force. Poor you…it’s all you know, to lie, steal, threaten and grab it all for yourself. A sad, sad shame the path our beloved Bahamas is being led to.

Spot on ED

The PLP is ALL FA ME BABY.....The hell with the Bahamian ppl

This is outrageous. Fine disagree with Sarkis but to say that you will kick him out of the country is not right. The government is already looking at seizing the hotels. Wouldn't you be a bit pissed off if someone came and was about to take +/- $750M from you?

What a disgrace.

The Foreign Minister wants to talk about evicting someone who has invested 13 years and $900m into the Bahamas, because he disagrees with the Christie's attempt to nationalise Baha Mar? Can he explain how Sarkis is not acting "in the public interest". What he means is he is not acting in the PLP's interest.

Apparently expatriates should also be sent home as “They criticise the politics of the country."

The leader of the free world, President Obama, is criticized constantly, but somehow Christie is above criticism to the extent someone is threatened with deportation?

Apparently “money does not buy our silence and our subservience.”, unless it comes from the Chinese I guess. I haven't heard a single PLP minister complain about CCA, the sole reason why the resort is not open.

Unless you're Nygard! I guess Sarkis doesn't have the smooze and massage skills of Peter who knows the nature of the beasts and appeals to their more base appetites and instincts.
Fred mussy forget, Peter done tell the world he owns the Bahamas including him and Perry.

CHINAFICATION rolling right along!!

This is precisely how Allyson Maynard-Gibson behaves when she has one of her hissy-tissie "Baha Mar" moments during private meetings with Christie, Gomez and the pudgy fella with the short stubby grubby dirty sticky fingers. The Wicked Witch knows better than Freddy Boy though that she must at least try to wear a very different face in public. I hope she's sore from riding her broom because we can't afford anymore of her lavish trips to China at the honest, hardworking taxpayers' expense!

Geez...all I said is that Freddy Boy is behaving as if he has had something he's not accustomed to shoved up his _ _ _ !

Is amazing how fred come like he actually speaking for Bahamian people but if he only kno..........I wunda if man dem like him ever hear bout tribune242.com comment section!

LORETTA Butler Turner, FNM deputy leader, yesterday insisted that Ministers serving under the previous Ingraham administration were “warned” to stay away from billionaire fashion designer Peter Nygard. - July 16, 2013 -
- For that matter, Mrs Butler-Turner suggested that Mr Nygard used the media to mislead the public about FNM Cabinet Ministers. -
- Mr Ingraham has since assured The Tribune newspaper that he never wanted anything to do with Mr Nygard or the likes of him. -
Comrades, you be da judges of where da hypocrisy runs deeper down they's rotten red sets bones, da most?

Tal is just a troll who sees only yellow and red and does not care about bettering Bahamians. We have to stop feeding the troll.

Comrade Ikalikl, you do not see addressing your workers as "citizens," or organizing them to protest against a nation's democratically elected by the "real citizens," government, as an corrupting influence?
C'mon now, you're not going suggest the protest was all spontaneously about the mood Baha Mar workers?
Let me guess, you also missed how ironic it was to have "citizens" out protesting against the very government, that would take taxpayers monies to pay their salaries, while they took time off from work to protest?

You really are grasping at straws. The workers were cleaning up Goodman's Bay at the point they took time off and held a love-in for Sarkis. Perhaps in your cold, cynical, cash-driven, heart, where rational thought and truth doesn't exist, you cannot understand anything else like altruism, because of the vomit mush injected into your brain, and the PLP money in your pockets.

It's hilarious that when anyone points out the egregious retardation, corruption, kleptocracy and criminal behaviour of the PLP, you always bring up the FNM. Are you that cognitively impaired to see that we are talking solely about the performance of the current PLP government? Are you that rationally obtuse that you cannot stick to the issues? What the FNM has done in past, or the Vanguard party or the UBP or anyone, is not cogent to the excessive moral and political failures of what is happening today. You don't realise that you are making a fool of yourself, like your beloved PLP on a world stage. Everyone who has the slightest interest in the Bahamas reads these pages and comments.

If this is all you have to contribute, then I will get my believer mother to pray for you, and hope against hope that a miracle occurs and you are healed from the blindness in your heart.

Comrade Banker, roll me over and say that part again, about how - "The workers were cleaning up Goodman's Bay at the point they took time off and held a "love-in" for Sarkis.
As a banker, in all your years, has you ever heard of workers for any company in all we many years business history, ever before did staged a "love-in" for they's bossman's, or bosslady's?
You proved today that even a "much-loved" banker has at least one funny joke in them, just waiting come out.

Umm ... may I remind you, that the workers could have been laid off, or sent home without pay because of delayed opening. They were still given salary for doing nothing. My cousin is the night manager for an unopened hotel, and he has nothing but eternal gratitude for the pay that he received for nothing, and thought that it was a very civic-minded thing to use the idle employees to beautify the country. But you know nothing about civic-mindedness, or respect for country, or gratitude for a pay cheque that didn't have to come. You joust here, playing with the truth to promulgate your unenlightened partisan views to try and obliquely justify the unjustifiable. You may think its jokes, but you fail to realise how serious this situation is, with the government acting like Robert Mugabe.

I'm okay, Jack. I have transferable skills and a ticket to ride out of this hell hole. But my loved ones don't -- and they don't have the dirty money that you have from the PLP to sustain them. Unlike you crabbies, us Red Shirts have honesty, decency and patriotism in our blood. Yours roils with the cynicism of hate and corruption. In my anger at your ignorance and perfidy, when the handcart arrives at the gates of Hell for this country, I hope that karma sees fit to wrought intense economic suffering on you, and you see the error of your ways and the blackness in your heart.

Tal, what a desperate statement and totally off base. You are smarter than the previous statement. The PLP is fucking up our country and there is no excuse for apologizing for the unless you are on their gravy train. We face some very lean years ahead. Our country has never face such unstable times, your PLP party is squarely the cause of what is to come. The Bahamian people will be paying for these assholes in government and their false pride for a very long time, you and yours included, so buckle up!

If Christie does not quickly publicly condemn Freddy Boy's unbecoming, undignified, undiplomatic, unstatesmanlike, and un-Bahamian behaviour, then Christie himself is no better a ranting, raving looney-tune of an imbecile than Freddy Boy.

PGC is not in a position to criticize Mitchell. That has been obvious for a number of years now.

How do you know that Fred is not doing Christie's bidding????

I don't expect having a racist xenophobe as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration is going to add much value to this country, especially one that can only use an abnormally small percentage of his brain capacity.

*"Baha Mar is a commercial entity, designed purely for the profit of the developer.”* Ummmm.... no actually it is an entity designed to add hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy, although the Bahamian economy will likely see a small percentage of that, as the majority will no doubt go into the pockets of the politicians such as Mitchell.

I have a feeling that these "politicians" are in the process of digging their own graves yet are too naive to know it. By attracting this much global attention, surely it's a matter of time before the truth get's revealed and they all get exposed. Maybe in a few months they will have wished they spent some money carrying out a refurb her Majesty's Prison.......

Wow. Good one.

So, now we live in a Communist country where people can't speak their minds or against politicians or policies? Wow....guess china's reach has gotten deeper into the Bahamas than originally thought! Watch out Bahamas, you'll be the next communist nation. What next...limiting the number of children people can have? Or where they can travel?

Well, now we have Visa-free travel to China and must apply to go to Canada. So yes... Frightening direction we're headed.

REALLY? You read the Immigration Act and you know EXACTLY how you can shut Sarkis up!!! You obviously REALLY, REALLY do know your job!!

What a sad day for the Bahamas when a major, major investor is threatened with deportation by a jumped up egotistical wanna be statesman for DARING to have a different view from the government. Mitchell should have nothing to say about this dispute whatsoever. PGC will of course fail to rebuke his Foreign Minister because he can't.

This is the Bahamian people's fault!
This is the kind of government that they voted for!
The way that Fred Mitchell and Perry Christie operates is well known to the Bahamian people! And yet they voted for them anyway!

So all of y'all people complaining and voicing your vexation; shut the hell up!
Y'all are getting exactly what you voted for!! Any fool could have seen that the Bahamas would crumble under the likes of the PLP.

If this Government is what we deserve, then what must we do to deserve something better?? ......and is there an alternative on offer that we KNOW is better??

you right u kno. bey when dey is be slingin mud round election time ppl does be all for this or that party. Then when they fail to deliver everybody whan act like it musse be someone else fault. Bahamian love political controversy trusssme nuttin mek more interesting convo, but at the end of the day we should be the bigger person and take responsibility for our choices and their consequences, whether what we did directly or indirectly produced those outcomes. End of the day FNM = PLP = Lie Cheat and Teef

You want respect?
Then Earn it! Should be easy as you are starting from zero!
Your 40 year old strategy of riling up "the Natives" against the foreign invader is done,
notwithstanding that you and your ilk are primarily responsible for the majority of suffering that Bahamians must endure.
You may well want an exodus of foreign investors who belong to the 1% club, as you might end up atop the pile of little that would be left.
Enjoy the flies Fred.

Sad but true! No one is as DISRESPECTFUL as the person who brings a formerly highly respected office into DISREPUTE! You can't climb into any Ministerial suit and then say " 'cause I'm wearing this, no matter WHAT I do you all must still respect me!"

Basically Fred is saying "ya buildings done in da ground. We run tings our way and if you don't like our ways you cud carry ya hip." But leave Bah Mar (for us) when you go. Then take a tour around the Bahamas and see the crumbling and decaying buildings left behind by foreign investors who lost favor with the government or found it impossible to operate their businesses under them. Many Bahamian bus and Bahamian families suffered the same fate.

And now, the unravelling of yet another CORRUPT, post-colonial administration begins...

**IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!**

Buckle up: we're in for a bumpy ride. But, remember, "if you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm."

but yet they can put Bahamians in their place, and from any other example Baha mar will only last a few weeks. Not that we don't have qualified workers, we just don't conduct good business on a small scale. not mentioning a mega business. For those who don't like the comment name me a well ran Bahamian business other than the PLP....LOL who are in the business to destroy

I do not agree with what Mr: Mitchell said . Nor do I agree with what Mr: Sarkis Ismirlian has said and he has said some hurtful things. All concerned need to take some deep breaths and do what is best for the Bahamian people and the Bahamas, There are many people depending on those jobs. to take care of themselves and their children.

Bey dis dude should be renamed 'controversy'. Every time he speak ise always like wtf dis bey sayin?! wow...

Birdie for once I agree with you; you are correct. There is too much mud slinging and not enough focus on a just and equitable solution that will benefit all.

I will say this though and that is that the Bankruptcy proceedings were the correct way to go. You get protection until you can resolve the issues. You also keep as much of the company business going as possible so as to do as little damage as possible to the company. When things are resolved you come out of bankruptcy.

When you apply to wind up a company compulsory you are saying that you are going to destroy the company. Everything comes to a halt and you sell everything off.

True. Winding up was a horrible mistake born out petty mindedness and a fit of pique.

I'm no expert in law so I cannot say which process is better. But I do feel the developer went about it incorrectly and that is the point of contention with the government. If they were looking to operate in good faith for Jesus sake you are telling me the PM which whom you seek support from you do not even give a warning. I will say it before and say it again. There is no one wrong party in this mess. It is disingenuous for Sarkis to make some of the statements he's been making. Equally appalling is the government's approach to all this. There is a lack of professionalism and leadership all around. I don't know why Bahamians are giving Izmirilian a free pass on this. He is to blame just as much as the government and CCA.

And so it continues. I guess as much as we ask for civility the more we get the opposite from the parties involved. Sarkis should learn to reserve comments and so should Fred. In real terms, whether the developer is here or not the show must go on. We are Bahamians and at the end of the day we have to live with how we want our country to be developed. I personally was against this mega project drive by the government. Cable Beach should've been designed as a beautiful coastal village of boutique hotels, all with their unique character and form, it is more personal and it safeguards against this mass loss of jobs in the event the economy slows. It could be a beautiful little destination with it's own distinct character. More importantly it would've allowed for the possibility of small Bahamian hotel brand development. Why don't we the so called stars of tourism have our own hotel brands like breezes or sandals. We have to start thinking broader and believing in ourselves.

Comrade Stapedius, my vision for Cable Beach exactly.
Remember, the Chinese are known for demolishing and rebuilding entire cities but this time with native workers and all non-politician Bahamalanders, calling the shots.
I tell you, she would be something to attract quality spending tourists and longer stay visitors.
Let We the People's, repossess "our" Cable Beach.

What comments exactly caused this latest tirade? I thought Izmirlian treaded lightly in his recent interview with regard to the PM. And his comments prior to the bankruptcy filing, regarding crime, education, etc., were not untrue. I believe many agree with him. So I find it hard to accept that there is a line to be towed in a democracy as it relates to free speech. Talks of revolts, terroristic threats, etc., I would agree. But simply relaying one's side on a public issue is not that. I think the real issue here is Bahamians have never experienced real democracy, and Fred Mitchell is trying to capitalize on that. In a real democracy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Izmirlian's words or actions that warrant him being thrown out of the country.

There is no such thing as a 'real democracy.' There are so many variations of democracy too numerous to count. That being said, the rule of law and justice are important components of any democracy and that is what I believe should be more representative of the integrity of a nation. The problem with everything in the Bahamas it seems has some stench of national politics. People keep bringing party politics into this. It is quite silly to do so and the discussion of national development has much more to do than with the individual party. And to your point about freedom of speech. Yes, we have freedom to speak and voice our opinion but as for everything in life there is a price. So my solution to many of the problems in this mess is that people should speak less and listen more. Sarkis can speak as much as he chooses but all I'm saying is that it doesn't appear to be helping his situation. So why bother? I repeat, everyone shut up and get the project finished. A bunch of public posturing is unnecessary.

"Real democracy" exists when basic democratic principles are followed, and believe it or not, some countries are able to achieve this. Among these principles is respect for different points of view and the separation of powers and judicial independence. You see it as a persistent stench of government, its actually an affront to democracy. What you are suggesting as a resolution, is not democratic. It's conforming to what Bahamians have always accepted. And that doesn't work either. In the absence of FOA, the best thing Izmirlian can do for himself is talk openly and freely. Public posturing is very necessary.

....." cannot buy the young people of the Bahamas". Both political parties prove well every five years how cheap it is to buy the young people of this country. The great majority are so ignorant they literally sell their futures for $20.00 per year on average along with a tee-shirt and a few beers. Next to Haiti, due the extreme poverty that exists there, the youth of The Bahamas are most probably the most egocentric and ignorant in the entire region. The disregard for others in this nation displayed by the youth in Nassau is like nothing seen elsewhere in the western hemisphere.

The government of this country is a continuing embarrassment...

Thats it... i cant think of anything else.

The gravity of Fred Mitchell's misconduct here as Minister of Foreign Affairs cannot be overstated; the above photo and his remarks were spread all of the world in an instant via internet. The Bahamas will now be officially considered a politically unstable country...a lawless country run by a few despots who think they themselves and their political friends and business cronies are entitled to take whatever they want and be held in high regard no matter what! As I write this, I can hear the great swooshing sound in the air of foreign wealth very quickly leaving our financial institutions, permanent and temporary residents making arrangements to live elsewhere and foreign investors pulling the plug on whatever they can as fast as they can. Many of us knew this day of reckoning would come sooner rather than later absent mass political unrest, but, for whatever reason, we just stuck our heads in the sand and refused to do anything about it. The smart money of the wealthiest Bahamian families headed for the hills shortly before the outcome of the 2012 general election. A real blood bath of civil unrest is about to begin and there will be no foreigners or foreign countries coming to our aid. Bahamians will sadly come to reap what they allowed to be sown by corrupt politicians. We have a national crisis of magnitude never before experienced that has been caused, not by the Izmirlian family, but, by the Christie-led PLP government's own very dangerous and greedy quid pro quo relationship with red China. Christie has shamefully refused to dissolve parliament notwithstanding the overwhelming public sentiment of distrust in his government that now borders on outright hatred of himself and his political friends and business cronies. YOUR TIME HAS GONE CHRISTIE.....DO THE ONLY RIGHT THING YOU CAN WHILE YOU STILL CAN......PUT PRESSURE ON CCA, THE CHINESE GENERAL CONTRACTOR OF BAHA MAR, AND THEN CALL FOR A SNAP ELECTION!

Comrade Reality Check, flashback to Ramon Sanchez, leader of the Miami-based Cuban exile group Democracy Movement, who told Miami Media that he was taking advice from the official opposition party (FNM).
When Minister Freddy hit back at the Cuban movements protests against Bahamaland's tourism, he was criticized by the reds and the same bloggers now criticizing his stand against Izmirlian.
Back then you all swore the minister was bringing international harm to the reputation Bahamaland.
You were as wrong then, as you are today.
The reputation Bahamaland was not harmed by the Minister's standing up against foreigners, but may I ask you, whatever in da hell happened to that Cuban Movement?
If you've been listening to the talk radio shows whose calls are not generally PLP supporters, you will soon get to to understand that the people are behind the minister on standing up against Izmirlian, as they were over the Cubans.

Enough with the comrade BS. If you haven't already realized, no one commenting on the Tribune is your comrade, it's quite the opposite.

Fweddy must have tjhought that he was on a PLP platform on Monday instead of an Emancipation Day platform. Or have these two now become synonymous in the PLP's view. Despots is not the word for these idiots.

Someone want a snap election with Minnis at the helm ?. Da rudder broke and da keel done drop off,

It is very simple ,they are starting to smear Izzie b/c after they screw him and he starts to spill the beans about who hand their hands out back in 2002 to 2007 for him to get all that crown land etc their goose is cooked

Freddy just realized how much ppl had they hand in Bah Mars cookie jar and how deep they had their hands in the cookie jar and how many times they had they hands in the cookie so he trying to figure out how he got shared out

From the day Bahamar announced bankruptcy I have beentrying to figure out why the PM **PANICKED**. Panicked so much so that he went to Dr Minnis, who has zero power, for help. That is some serious panicking. If the punch story is correct, with 62million in contracts to "an MP", the irrational moves would now make sense. When people have your money and won't hand it over you get angry. Remember the dug up airport road and the burnt down BAMSI building? That's "they have my money anger". It would explain all the irrational moves and angry outbursts from the PM. This has nothing to do with concern for the Bahamian people, the moves would have been different if it was.

Btw why was the MOU between China and BAMSI and arrival of possibly hundreds of Chinese to Andros, hidden in a Friday/holiday weekend story? It was barely a blip on the radar......

CHINAFICATION coming!

Did the Bahamas recently join Cuba ? This reads like it. Next week they start shooting people for disagreeing...

If it is true that Cabinet members gained lucrative contracts and franchises,
it would show motive to Wind it up and control the process locally:
They must have had to put some personal funding up for their "sweetheart"deals,
and winding up gives them first pick at recouping their expenses/losses.
Think about it.
Foreign jurisdiction bankruptcy proceedings precludes them from pillaging at will.
As for Fred, has not the Government been bought by the Chinese Government,
perhaps more easily than Nygard apparently thinks he did?

I'm not to fond of symbols of religion over actual acts of Christianity, but there's a story on the AP newsfeed this morning about crosses being cut down from catholic church rooftops in China while the parishioners pray below.

Does Perry Christie really know who he's gotten into bed with? Smiling faces doesn't mean friends. These men have STRATEGIC objects and they know the reputation of Bahamian government officials. They STUDIED YOU before they set foot here. **They are doing to you what you do to your constituents. They hand you what you believe is money, but in their mind they know what they're getting is worth one billion times more. They laugh at how stupid you were to sell it.**

PC doesn't care who he's gotten us in bed with. All he cares about is how much kickback he's getting. Pindling didn't care when he was getting in bed with the drug runners and look at who Christie learned from.

This guy has no business representing the Bahamian people.

What an absolute disgusting idiot. Free speech must remain free, we cannot let things slide back to the 80's mentality - black or white - this or that.

Mr. PM please fire him before he destroys our country.

problem is the expats are believing and seeing there not wanted, I know of at least 10 have left and taking there sizable amount of money with them, I know of many more working to sell assets and leave, no country can survive with out to out side investments, . one guy packed up his construction company laid off 30 workers and left.,after immigration gave his wife a hard time . not what we need right now.

So you are buying the faux US vs. THEM tactic that Fred Mitchell is peddling? What is obvious in his comments is that the PLP is hoping to lead a young and hopefully still dumbed down electorate to see this issue in the simple light in which he is presenting it. They always take the native approach to sway Bahamians into a false sense of unity, whether that means dancing to Junkanoo or giving speeches in a rowdy Bahamian vernacular. The fact is, Bahamar will be owned by one foreigner entity or the next, and quite frankly, I don't believe the government cares if the country is teeming with non-Bahamians in the meantime or eternally.

Comrade Gladiator, no worry I do understand why as a red you have chosen to remain a closeted Comrade, I feel your fear you will be seen as a red shirt cheater, and risk being outed as a Comrade. I am with you.

Looks like the misinformation and disinformation troll didn't get the red memo saying all red comrades and red shirts are on the side of red China. Someone please send MM the red memo....and let's pray he's not colour blind!