Editorial
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Editorial Violent crimes and the soul of the nation GUYANESE cannot be comfortable with the number of murders that have so frequently been occurring in our country. These past few weeks have been especially bloody—from the murder of young Leonard Archibald to the hacking to death of Kenesha Sheriff-Fraser to the senseless killing of two senior citizens, Constance Fraser and Phyllis Melrose Caesar. It seems as if we have been waking up to one of these violent incidents every day. There were many before and have been others since the ones cited here. What is particularly hard to come to grips with is the wanton disregard for human life that seems to be at play here. Violent crimes are not new to the human experience and to Guyana. Indeed, we have witnessed in recent times in the wider CARICOM Region an alarming rise in such crimes. But, for us in Guyana, we have reached the point where we should not continue to treat this development as normal. If we are to be honest with ourselves, we are being faced with a gathering national security threat
that cannot be explained by any single social factor. It is the multiplicity of causes that must worry those who are charged with maintaining law and order in our society—the circumstances of these murders range from jealousy to domestic abuse to robbery to mental health. Our social scientists have long argued that the root cause of our relatively high crime rate lies in our inability to rid our country of the scourge of poverty. That prognosis still holds true. But what accounts for the sharp increase in violent crimes, whereby those who commit these acts seem to be simultaneously intent on taking the lives of the victims ? It is not unreasonable to conclude that there must be other factors at work. It is difficult not to be swayed in the direction of those who believe that, in addition to the socio-economic condition, we are quickly losing our moral compass—something deadly is taking hold of the soul of the nation. What on earth could explain the targeting of a little boy, full of life and hope and a long, bright future, for the kind of dark end that was meted out to him by
Guyana Chronicle New York Week-ending September Guyana Chronicle New Edition York Edition week ending October29, 20,2017 2017
Russia's Putin: Trump's foes have blocked his agenda
PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia remains open to cooperation with Washington even though President Donald Trump's political foes in the U.S. have tried to prevent him from fulfilling his campaign promises. Asked at a forum of foreign policy experts if Russia is annoyed with Trump's unpredictability, Putin said that it's linked to a "strong resistance inside the country." Russia rejoiced at Trump's victory in the 2016 U.S. election, but its hopes for repairing ties with his administration have been shattered by congressional and FBI investigations into the Trump campaign's ties with Russia. Speaking at the Valdai forum in Sochi, Putin said Trump's political adversaries "haven't allowed him to fulfill any of his election platforms and plans." He emphasised that Trump won an honest victory thanks to his talents, adding that the lack of respect for Trump and his voters shown by his foes is a "deplorable element of the U.S. political system." At the same time, he added that Russia will remain open to cooperate with the United States. U.S. intelligence agencies say that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Russia denies the
charge. "An unprecedented anti-Russian campaign has been unleashed in the United States," Putin said. "After losing the election to Trump, they have put all the blame on Russia and engaged in a frenzied anti-Russian hysteria." He warned that Russia will "momentarily respond quid pro quo" if Washington imposes restrictions on the Russian state-funded RT television network and Sputnik news agency. RT has said it faces a U.S. demand to register as a foreign agent and provide detailed personal data for its staff. It says the request amounts to an attempt to push it out of the U.S. media market. Putin also criticized the U.S. and its allies for missing a chance to build a safer and more stable world after the Cold War and engaging in what he described a "policy based on arrogance, egoism and claims of exclusivity." He pointed at Russia's "unprecedented openness" in allowing the U.S. to inspect and monitor its nuclear weapons facilities after the 1991 Soviet breakup, adding that Moscow has received little in return. "We made a mistake in trusting you too much," he said answering a question about what he thinks was Moscow's mistake in relations with the West after the end of Cold War. "And you have
mistaken that trust for weakness, and abused our trust." The Russian leader noted that the U.S. has been slow to dismantle its chemical weapons arsenals in line with an international treaty, while Russia last month wrapped up the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpiles. He said Russia will stick to its obligations under the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty and will continue to do so. U.S. officials have accused Russia of developing missiles in violation of the treaty, a charge Russia has denied. Putin said the 1987 accord was tilted in the U.S.'s favor, effectively amounting to "unilateral disarmament," as it failed to ban missiles carried by navy ships and aircraft that the U.S. had and the Soviet Union didn't. He said Russia has since developed such cruise missiles for its navy and air force. Asked if he views a global ban on nuclear weapons as a realistic possibility, Putin answered affirmatively. He said Russia would "want it and will be striving to achieve that." The Russian president noted that new precision weapons now under development could be just as devastating as nuclear weapons. He said Russia is also working on such weapons.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in articles in this newspaper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies and views of the management of the New York Edition of the Guyana Chronicle. adults in his communi- the crime rate under con- It is impossible, inhuman not straightforward for the ty? We may be tempted trol. Many will call for and immoral to quantify source is a combination of to view that incident as this and that minister to violent crimes—the im- the social, economic and an isolated one, but we be fired. But, that very pact can never be captured the moral. But it seems have seen too many sim- political chatter may be a by numerical decreases or that we have reached the ilar murders. We should hindrance to a wider soci- increases. point where all sectors and guard against the temp- etal approach to this probSome may be tempted sections of the society must tation to be drawn into lem. How many times have to reach for the easy solu- assume responsibility for that proverbial comfort we, for example, racialised tion—capital punishment. the moment. zone. When young men, the crime and violence in We say easy, because the These mostly young in the course of a robbery, our midst, thus leading operationalising of that men do not drop from the could matter-of-factly, to the belief by some that form of punishment does sky, they come from combut intentionally, snuff their community does not not require rational thought munities. And these comout the lives of two older produce crime and to the or policy-making. We ac- munities are full of churchwomen just because they motivation by others to be knowledge that it is diffi- es and clubs and other raised an alarm on see- defensive about the same? cult to tell the families and organisations of faith. It ing strange men in their If we have not realised by loved ones of the victims of may be that our religious home, then our society is now that this phenomenon violence that capital pun- organisations should tailor in serious trouble. Just cuts across ethnicity, then ishment is not an effective their gospel and teachings look at how a man could we will be forever trapped form of deterrence, that towards helping to create pre-meditate to murder a in a state of paralysis. while it satisfies a limited zones of deterrence from woman for whatever reaThe police force and the desire for justice, it has violence. The mission of son and then calmly take government of the day have not made the rest of us less our churches and schools his own life! so often turned to statistics vulnerable to violence. and social organisations We cannot as a society to explain the crime situThis crime situation is must be to deter our young continue to be comfortable ation—weexpressed are constantly out of control. The gov- newspaper people not just fromare crime, The views and opinions in articles in this with these senseless acts. fed with statistics about the ernment, as stewards of but from the culture of vioThere areof those who will decrease in do crimes. While our day-to-day affairs must the lencepolicies that is eating and away at those the authors and not necessarily reflect turn this into a partisan po- statistics don’t necessarily take the lead in bringing our social fabric. If we do litical football by charging lie, they often of mask the New some sanity the situ- not act in unison views of the management the Yorkto Edition ofbegin thetoGuyana the present government human toll that crime and ation. But we must ad- now, our nation could dewith being unable to bring violence take on a society. mit that the solution is scend into anarchy. Chronicle.
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