By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Senior Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
FORMER Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said The Bahamas has no choice but to sanction Russia after its deadly invasion of Ukraine.
He said The Bahamas should close its ports to Russian vessels.
“The Bahamas has no choice but to sanction Russia just as the western world has done in terms of shipping, in terms of banking, in terms of whatever other transactions, much like night follows day,” he said. “I can’t imagine us dragging our feet on it either. I noted the prime minister’s comment when he came out of CARICOM. That’s what CARICOM said but that can’t be The Bahamas’ position. It’s not in our interest to be otherwise than supportive. I think the same things applies to our skies, our seas for boats and what not in terms of stuff in our ports.”
In March, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said CARICOM was awaiting a decision from the United Nations Security Council before taking a position on whether member states should impose sanctions on Russia.
The Bahamas over the weekend ordered financial institutions to halt transactions with Russian people and entities sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
A notice from financial services regulators said: “After consultation with the government of The Bahamas and with due consideration to interests of this jurisdiction and the financial services sector operator within it, the agencies comprising the Group of Financial Services Regulators (GFSR) hereby direct regulated entities that are licensed or authorised to operate from or within The Bahamas not to engage in transactions with sanctioned persons, entities or businesses linked to Russia and Belarus.
“Regulated entities should apply the highest level of risk management controls to deter the potential for any misuse of the Bahamian financial system in the current global environments and indeed every circumstance.
“For the purposes of this directive, sanctions include those issued by the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, the European Union and other jurisdictions, which the GFSR may specify from time to time.”
The GFSR includes the Central Bank of The Bahamas, Securities Commission of The Bahamas, Insurance Commission of The Bahamas, Compliance Commission of The Bahamas and the Gaming Board.
Comments
Twocent 2 years, 2 months ago
Hubert Ingraham either shows his ignorance of political science or believes we are the ignorant ones. The media propaganda painting Russia a the bad guy is all formed out of American/western foreign policy to develop World Order under an American ideology. Russia was sitting nice and quietly, but refusing to join their order, while America pushed the EU and NATO ever closer to their boundaries. The Monroe Doctrine which seems to only apply to to the USA would see things differently had the Bahamas, Mexico, or Florida, let’s say, been militarily occupied by China; they would be doing what Russia is now doing. Think back to Cuba! Look at all the other countries that didn’t want to be part of their system. There has been a systematic approach to infiltrate countries, start a civil uprising, support the pro-western politicians and drive their imperialism across the globe. Isn’t that why we had such trouble with a certain ambassador and voted Ingraham out, because he was betraying the sovereignty of the Bahamas?
Twocent 2 years, 2 months ago
With America here and China too….neutral is a very wise choice. Do we really want to test that theory? Or does our own elite know more about the global elite’s agenda than they want us to know. PLP/FNM CHINA/USA a rose is a rose; I’m just asking. Sounds like Antichrist.
Twocent 2 years, 2 months ago
Prof John Mearsheimer. U-tube his politically informed, American, perspective.
Roman 2 years, 2 months ago
Former Prime Minister is absolutely right. Russia has violated the UN Charter and numerous multilateral treaties - not to mention bilateral treaties with Ukraine, including the Budapest Memorandum in which Russia pledged to respect Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity in exchange for Ukraine giving up the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Putin's Russia is a rogue country. The world must stand up to Russia and do everything to help Ukraine fight off the brutal Russian invasion. By helping Ukraine, the Bahamas would help uphold the world's international order, respect for international treaties and international law. The Bahamas is a respected and responsible member of the international community of nations and needs to do its part. Banning Russian aircraft from its airspace and Russian ships from its ports would send a clear message to Russia and the world that the Bahamas stands for a civilized peaceful world order.
GodSpeed 2 years, 2 months ago
Ok, talking about international law where were you the last 30 years when the US was bombing just about any nation it wanted to? Iraq war was completely based on lies and killed thousands of innocent civilians. Nobody gave a damn. Bahamas should stay out of it, neutrality in all situations, just like Switzerland USED to be.
Roman 2 years, 2 months ago
This is not a valid argument. Even if the US were wrong regarding Iraq, two wrongs do not make a right. Whataboutism is a classic way to avoid an argument by diverting attention to other issues. Let's admit the truth, Russia is committing horrendous crimes and invading a sovereign independent country, Ukraine, wants to be a democratic country, respecting human rights and the rule of law.. The Bahamas must support the principles of justice, respect for international law and adopt policies to ensure that Putin's Russia is penalized for its open and brutal aggression. If the Bahamas did not nothing, what would be the consequences? It would imply that any powerful neighbour of the Bahamas that has military strength could invade the Bahamas and force it to submit to its dictates. Therefore, it is in the interests of the Bahamas to Stand for Ukraine.
GodSpeed 2 years, 2 months ago
Bahamas should "Stand with Ukraine"? Do you even know anything about Ukraine? Do you even know why Russia invaded Ukraine? Do you know that there was a coup in Ukraine in 2014 to remove the democratically elected pro-Russian leader in Ukraine? Do you know the US State Department, US Embassy in Ukraine and US Ambassador in Ukraine were caught organizing this coup through leaked phone calls in cooperation with an extremist far-right actual Neo Nazi group in Ukraine that now is apart of their regular army? This is all verifiable, look it up. Go search for "Azov Battalion" and read about it or check the Wikipedia entry for "Azov Battalion". I'm talking about people that openly profess the Nazi ideology, do the Nazi salute, wear their symbols and endorse racism and fascism, OPENLY. This is who is fighting Russia, that's who you're cheering on, people that would view you as subhuman basically. For 8 years they've been shelling the pro-Russian eastern parts of Ukraine that wanted to secede after the US led coup to install a puppet government. That's what the leadership of Ukraine is today, a US puppet government. Why was the US instigating these actions on Russia's borders?
Funny how the Democrats in the US will work with ACTUAL Nazis, when they attacked President Trump falsely as being one. Even Alexei Navalny, the man that the western media paints as some kind of saint hero that Putin "poisoned" is a vile racist that said despicable things about Blacks. All this talk of "justice" and "international law" yet you disregard the hypocrisy of the US as "whataboutism". The Iraq War was ILLEGAL, where was all the outrage then? How come nobody blacklisted and sanctioned the US? The Bahamas has nothing to do with that conflict and should stay out of it.
Proguing 2 years, 2 months ago
"The Bahamas is a respected .....member of the international community of nations" sure, that is why the Euros have been putting us on every black list they could think of in the last 20 years...
"The world must stand up to Russia" This is not taking place. Do you know that countries that either abstained or voted against condemning Russia in the UN vote contain more than half 53 percent of the world's population?
Roman 2 years, 2 months ago
It shows how little support Russia has at the General Assembly. Russia only received 5 votes, its own, Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Eritrea. - not exactly stellar democracies (lol). The resolution for Ukraine received 141 votes. As to abstention some countries officials were not informed and some are just corrupt and want to make money from business relations with Russian oligarchs and don't worry about the double-standards of their country's foreign policies., The world is standing up to Russia - the sanctions are badly hitting the Russian economy, disinvestment, plunging currency worth less than half before the invasion of Ukraine, frozen assets, etc. Yes, the Bahamas is respected member of the international community. The black list was just an attempt to prevent organized crime from using the Bahamas banking system to wash their ill-gotten money. Supporting the Western democracies is in the interest of the Bahamas, as the the Bahamas shares the values, of freedom, peace, democracy, rule of law and respect for the international world order , including international treaties and obligations.
bahamianson 2 years, 2 months ago
Y3ah because we are not a sovreignn country. They dictate to us.
Proguing 2 years, 2 months ago
Interesting point of view from South Africa's President Ramaphosa: “The war could have been avoided if NATO had heeded the warnings from amongst its own leaders and officials over the years that its eastward expansion would lead to greater, not less, instability in the region,”
"The approach that we have chosen to take, which is appreciated by many, is that we are insisting that there should be dialogue. Screaming and shouting is not going to bring an end to this conflict.”
Roman 2 years, 2 months ago
It is not that NATO wanted the eastward expansion. Rather, it is the Baltic countries, Poland, Rumania that wanted to join NATO to obtain security from NATO in the event of Russian aggression. Ukraine was a neutral country, was horrified in 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia,. The fear of Russian imperialism became more acute when Russia invaded in 2014 and annexed Crimea and sponsored an uprising in the Donbass. Ukraine therefore needed and needs protection. Who else is able to protect Ukraine from Russian imperialism and colonialism? I would also like to point out that being nice to Russia does not work. Numerous heads of state tried to persuade Putin not to invade Ukraine - it did not work. To deal with a bully one needs to show more strength and resolve than the bully. A bully only understands force - let's not be naïve in these matters.
tribanon 2 years, 2 months ago
One puffy and obese from too much alcohol and the other from too much food. These two deserve each other, but sadly the Bahamian people never deserved either of them.
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