OPINION: Trump-Zelensky dealing: imagine Ali-Jagdeo treatment

Last Updated on Sunday, 2 March 2025, 12:04 by Writer

By GHK Lall

Straight in the face: in reading and absorbing how US chief executive, Donald Trump, dealt so thoughtfully with Ukraine’s chief, Volodymyr Zelensky, a wave of shuddering washes over my already cringing skin. Checking on the fate of the Ukrainian commander-in-chief, what would the American leader not do in the event that he grants an audience to the likes of Guyana’s glorious Head of State, Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali? How would he be? Donald Trump to Irfaan Ali. Or to Guyana’s other remarkable and even more incomparable headman, former President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo. Already, that shapes up to be a potentially enchanting state of affairs: a former president sitting across from another former president. If the Slav was given that special White House red carpet welcome, why not the same, or even shorter thrift for Guyana’s two majestic sons, Dr. Ali and Dr. Jagdeo? With so many medicine men clustered in one space, one can never tell the direction that matters would take, and who could end up scraping themselves off the floor. Get one thing straight: it would not be the American superstar president. Here’s another thought to weigh: if former Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken could have snapped his fingers and summoned brothers Ali and Jagdeo to Washington on the earliest redeye flight, then what would the new man and his vice-presidential sidekick not do to get in their licks and kicks?

For sure, resident American Ambassador, Excellency Nicole D. Theriot would have included in her cables her brutal assessments, as based on intelligence gathered and firsthand encounters with both President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo. Unlike her predecessor, Excellency Theriot has been conspicuously stationary, and awfully quiet. I mark that down to her being more of a studious inclination, and less an activist ambassador. Orders, and just let matters in Guyana develop and come before those who really control things here. If I am this distant from the frequently loud and raucous Ali and Jagdeo symphony orchestra and could still come to the sweetest conclusions about the calibre of the two Guyanese heavyweights, what about Excellency Theriot, who knows the games they are good at playing? All for America and all for Exxon, but nothing else underneath. How can these two gents ever be trusted, when their group has a history of every third word being: Down with America! Down with the CIA? It is startling how they could wipe the egg off their faces and embrace the former head of that same CIA, Mike Pompeo, as if he was some long-lost comrade from the Kremlin? As Reader’s Digest would say: Points to Ponder.

Zelensky has many minerals, quantities of especially coveted rare earth (at bargain prices). Yet he could receive that old-time American bearhug now flooring Europe, then it doesn’t look so good for Guyana. Oil or no oil. President Ali’s and VP Jagdeo’s total surrender, notwithstanding. Zelensky is an ally, not an enemy. No question that Guyana’s President Ali, with prompting from VP Jagdeo, sees himself as a willing partner to prostrate under the American boot. But, depending on the day and the bigger US calculations, all of Irfaan Ali’s posturing could be for naught. If Zelensky, why not Ali? If Zelensky encountered what he did in the courtesy department, why not Ali in a moment of barely concealed impatience (even irascibility) when regard hangs precariously? Think, my fellow Guyanese, think! That urging applies even more to Excellency Ali. Let everyone note that I am not discriminatory in extending charity.

Think of the bigger stakes, with Russia and Putin lurking, a possibly new order in the making. Think not of a new world order. Think of New American World Order, where countries like Guyana and leaders like Irfaan Ali and VP Jagdeo are ordered around. Think of Venezuela and its boatloads of business, and decide how Guyana compares. Guyana is a collateral consideration, and sometimes collateral loses some of its luster, gets damaged in the process. Think of that old American TV gameshow Let’s Make a Deal led by ringmaster, Monty Hall. What is dealing and trading and wheeling on once close partners, if not business? And who is a businessman of a kind that has many world leaders scratching while searching for a precedent? Get used to Donald Trump, the new sheriff in town. He makes the rules, lays down the law, and gets the last say about who stays in town and who must skedaddle. It’s an integral part of the new White House, the new American Way. Half of America deliriously loves it.

Guyana doesn’t count. I hate to say it, but in these new circumstances, Messrs. Ali and Jagdeo stand naked. Their first test was Exxon’s tough guy Mr. Alistair Routledge. The Guyanese quailed and frayed before the Yankee oilman. One last point: if Alistair makes them fall on their faces, what will Donny not do to them? Remember, Zelensky! Recall that one that was tried with British PM Keir Starmer. Our guys will be devoured like cereal flakes. It’s the quintessential breakfast of champions. The biggest one is President Donald J. Trump.