Call for a Treaty with transparent costs

Mar 27, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

Let’s face facts. Might is ultimately right in our world. Sure, we have progressed to behaving more civilly with each other when the stakes are relatively low. However, there are no holds barred when the stakes are high.

The new administration in the USA seems to get to the greedy point with fewer covering euphemisms of civility. Let us take the opportunity to call for a transparent treaty to pay for their protection from the Venezuelan bully. Make a national contract instead of this dance with ExxonMobil and the USA. We already surrendered our sovereignty to the oil companies in the current Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with its ‘stability clause’ that prevents us from passing any law to change it – for very low returns on our oil and gas resources. Quantify it commercially: not leave us clouded in uncertainty as to the conditions of paying for US military protection. Tell us in a plain treaty what we are getting for how much and for how long.

This is nothing new. Long ago vassal countries used to pay tribute to the emperor. Let it be registered with the United Nations as a bow to modernity. But let the costs be known. We don’t want the politicians on both sides of the deal to get the opportunity to collude with the exploiters, secretly enrich themselves with monetary considerations for their performances, and leave us still wondering if we will be defended in event of a showdown. After all, the Venezuelan aggression happened to start in the 1960s just when the USA did not like the brand of politics they thought we were getting. This recourse only became necessary because as a nation we do not pay genuine tribute to Almighty.

Sincerely

Alfred Bhulai