EDITOR, The Tribune.

In the US and other countries, we’ve heard about a popular word amongst political circles, simply called “Foreign Policy”. It’s usually the discussion on diplomatic, economic and military affairs with different nations and regions that are allied with your nation or are seeking to work with you on a variety of issues or open up opportunities.

This matter is usually high priority for governments to ensure that the nation’s alliances remain secure and to make reasonable decisions on complex issues that not only affects your homeland, but the countries that work with you.

Sometimes, through foreign policy, the nation will adopt some of the cultural elements from the same place that the national government is working with. Then it’ll eventually spread to the general population, changing the fabric of local society.

Unfortunately, it seems that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has put the serious matters of international policy on the back burner for decades.

COVID 19 has played a role in exposing the weaknesses of our social fabric and national security, and it’s especially worse in the Western Hemisphere as we have the nations with the highest density of COVID cases and equally high death tolls within the US, Mexico and the rest of Latin America.

Even if the pandemic didn’t exist, the cracks were already showing in US as political polarization was at its peak with the 2020 elections and the Capitol Hill siege whilst Mexico and Latin America continue to suffer at the hands of extreme corruption and the drug cartels who rule over the region with terror and impunity.

Then there’s the recent Cold War kerfuffle with Washington, DC, and Beijing, who are fighting for influence over frivolous matters and other nations. Not to mention Venezuela and Cuba still serving the interests of Moscow and Israel and Iran fighting against each other in a seemingly infinite proxy war in the Middle East.

As for the Bahamas’ performance on Foreign Policy? It is abysmal, a grade F sadly. The Bahamian government keeps making bad deals with the unstable nations in the Western Hemisphere, and we embraced the negative cultural influences as a consequence.

Our strong relationship with the US, China, Mexico, and the rest of Latin America was convenient because of the close proximity to the US, our ties to some of Mexico and Latin America’s largest businesses and working with China’s long-term economic policy with the Caribbean. However, it appears to have serious drawbacks that have significantly crippled the development of The Bahamas.

We decided to get caught up with Reagan’s failed policies of the drug war and having one of our cays being used by the Medellin Cartel, which in turn increased crime and brought forward the currently uncontrollable arms trafficking today that contributes to the Bahamas having one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Thanks to the drug money from the 1980s, corruption has also increased tenfold politically and culturally.

In addition to the drug cartels seizing power in most territories in Central and South America, Mexico and Latin American nations provide nothing sustainable for the long-term future of the Bahamas. Just yearly food imports and simple work permits for minimum wage jobs.

Cuba has slightly higher value than the rest of the Caribbean and Central America because of their doctors and teachers we bring in to work in the Bahamas, but is it worth the risk when we deal with a nation that consistently ends up on the bad side of the US and working with Russia? Due to sanctions and embargoes, Cuba doesn’t contribute to The Bahamas’ future.

Speaking of Cold War rivalries, China and the US have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the Bahamas since the 1990s but it has gotten worse when the new Thomas Robinson stadium and Baha Mar was built. Although China provides economic development to this nation when needed, but there’s an agenda between both Beijing and Washington, DC, that the Bahamas needs to avoid.

In a nutshell, The Bahamas’ strongest foreign allies have more cons than there are pros. That’s simply unacceptable and that will have to change. We have to re-evaluate our diplomatic strategies and review countries on what long term benefits they offer to the Bahamas and we must negotiate vigorously to achieve our goals if the country is willing to maintain its sovereignty.

As it stands, Asian and Scandinavian countries are the best candidates for diplomatic relations. They seek to produce and build for humanity’s future for innovative tech rather than focus on frivolous things like the Cold War or wasting time and money on failed policies on the Drug War and allowing ourselves to fall for these agreements that earn us nothing but wasted investments. We don’t want to cut ties with the world and become a “Heisa-Koku” (which translates as “closed country” in Japanese), but we can’t blindly continue to accept bad deals and expect things not to affect us negatively.

It’s time for the Bahamas to grow diplomatically and we mustn’t allow this opportunity to pass by.

AMMAKA RUSSELL

Nassau,

May 22, 2021.