18 July, 2010

AllVoices



Anguilla in the overseas press.  When I first read the article on Anguilla in All Voices I was concerned.  How could a newspaper publish such rubbish about UK "oppression" of Anguilla?  This is an extract:
“Anguilla has been nervously managing United Kingdom's threats to take governance of the country. Anguilla, a self governing and autonomous island country in the Caribbean, is also an UK territory with an installed UK governor overseeing "proper governance".

Just prior to the General Elections in the UK, Chris Bryant, the Foreign Affairs Minister at that time, had not only made threats against Anguilla but decisively and unilaterally rejected Anguilla's proposed budgets and refused to review amended budgets. This had many local government officials worried about UK's agenda there and saw this act as a sign that the UK was not willing to allow the Anguilla government to continue.

When speaking of Anguilla, the UK officials compare Anguilla to the Turks and Caicos. Recall that the UK invaded Turks and Caicos last August 2009 for what the UK called corruption concerns. However, nearly a year later, the UK has been unable to prove any local corruption and has pieced together a circumstantial case by using uncorroborated testimony by a dubious local opposition party …’ etc
I asked around about the paper and the author of the article.  I am not worried any longer.  A correspondent wrote me:
AllVoices is a blog, disguised in the form of an online newspaper,
where anyone can post any lies or rubbish.  Chris Burke is a
fictitious person who is an apologist for the Misick criminal
conspiracy.
I then Googled the four words Chris Burke journalist Turks and got enough to satisfy me that the characterisation of both is accurate.  The blog is unmoderated.  The author is reputedly a fanatical supporter of Misick masquerading as an English journalist residing in TCI.  She first started writing under this pseudonym in January of this year.

9 comments:

  1. There appears to be massive, widespread, serious corruption in TCI. The reasons no charges have been "proven" is that a Special Prosecutor was appointed, but the FCO failed for months to provide her with the funding she needed to investigate and prepare the many cases on her desk. Under the new UK government, this has now been corrected. The amount of work to be done is staggering, but they are now making good progress.

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  2. I believe the following letter, from yesterday's TCI Journal, accurately reflects the attitude of the public in TCI. Note that it is signed "C.B." I'm sure that any connection to "Chris Burke" is purely coincidental.


    http://www.tcijournal.com/index.php?idsub=2968&id=8
    July 17, 2010 – Letter – Long Awaited Awakening in TCI

    Dear Editors,

    At long last we are beginning to see a long awaited awakening in TCI.

    * Ms. Lillian Misick’s speech this week telling it the way it really is, is a sign of intelligent and meaningful leadership in this country at last.

    * The numerous letters and chatter of support for Ms. Misick indicates sound common sense in the streets.

    * The many questions now being raised by the many regarding the obvious suspicious dealings of politicians past present and "wannabes", indicates a new demand for accountability never seen here before.

    * The beginnings of a new understanding and support for the British team in TCI which comes from a growing awareness of the magnitude of the deceit and theft by the previous administration and no doubt some of the opposition, shows maturity.

    * The turning away from Michael Misick and his cronies, effectively by the whole of the TCI, indicates good judgment. (It looks like the largest turnout to his "rallies" was about 20 recently- and that was on his home pitch in North Caicos)

    So what I believe we are seeing at last is a nation that is developing;

    * Intelligent and meaningful leadership
    * Common sense voteers
    * A demand for accountability
    * Maturity as a people
    * Good overall judgment.

    Pretty encouraging I\'d say -at last.

    Sincerely,

    C.B.

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  3. APP officials have been using letters from the prolific "Chris Burke" like the one you quote in their deceptive, self-serving campaign to "prove" to us that the evil British are out to get us, so we need to declare independence immediately.

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  4. "Chris Burke" first appeared shortly after Cem Kinay's company (one of Misick's "benefactors") advertised for political bloggers. This person initially claimed on Blogcritics to be a UK reporter, although the byline appears nowhere else but in this context. The posts originally appeared on Blogcritics, where the moderators complained about the number of fake ids being used to create the impression of support. As well as defending Misick, "Burke" also sought to assure the public that she had investigated Kinay's development and found it to be sound and on target, right up to the moment it collapsed. Burke is undoubtedly a fake name. The site is registered to a woman called Ericha Parks, who seems to have run similar astroturf scams for conservative interests in here home (apparently) state of California. The only thing I find impossible to fathom is how Kinay fails to realize what an idiot this makes him look.

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  5. "British oppression?" Let's look at it another way:

    Suppose I wanted to start my own country on an idyllic island with 13,000 pretty nice people and, of course, a few bad apples (no matter where you go, there'll be a few who are rotten to the core).

    No taxes, we'll run a tight ship and fund income pretty much the way that country over there, Anguilla, does. (Too bad they got sloppy during good times, but if they manage themselves well, they'll pull out of it.)

    Now, I can foresee some MAJOR problems that would stop me from doing this:

    1) Some rogue country might invade us.

    2) We could get totally flattened by a hurricane or tsunami.

    3) Some bad guys might actually trick our small population into winning an election in this new country with all kinds of crazy promises, then strip the coffers bare.

    4) It's possible we might hit on hard times and need to borrow a few million here or there.

    So it sure would be nice if a country like the UK or the US or Canada gave us special status. Call us an "independent overseas territory" (has a nice ring to it). We get independence AND all the resources of a major country for disasters.

    Oh yes, we'd also like to be able to send all our lazy over to that country so they can collect welfare over there, too. That would be pretty cool.

    Which country would be choose? I'm sure they'd be lining up for this incredible opportunity.

    Those Canadians are pretty nice, but heck, any one of those 3 would do. We wouldn't ask for a penny and wouldn't for any other help at all. We'll manage our own internal affairs.

    All we'd ask is to take care of those BIG PROBLEMS if they ever happen:

    1) Defend us if St. Martin attacks us (ha ha!).

    2) Help us out if we get flattened by a hurricane or tsunami

    3) If ever there is corruption on par like there is in the TCI, whether we ask you to come in or you have strong enough suspicion to come in, please do come in, clean house and get out.

    4) If we need to borrow from the international community, co-sign our loan because we know that without a major power's OK, we'd never float a loan of more than $1 million. And if we did, the interest rates would kill us.

    Hmmmmmm. Didn't Canada turn down a deal like that with the TCI? Maybe they won't be lining up for the opportunity.

    Come to think of it, how in the world could we ever get a country like the U.S., Canada or the U.K. to go for an incredible deal like this???

    OH wait, that's exactly what Anguilla has now. And there are people there who want to get rid of the UK?

    Please, if you do rid yourself of the British, send them over to us? We're starting a new country. Say, is Scrub Island for sale? ;-)

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  6. >Say, is Scrub Island for sale?

    Got a beat and you can dance to it.

    Even better, turn it into a proprietary district, like Disney World has in Florida.

    There's even a website for stuff like this: http://micronations.wordpress.com/resources/how-to-start-your-own-country/

    Run by Patri Friedman, son of David (a, heh, anarchocapitalist...) and grandson of Milton. Yup. That Milton Friedman.

    Too bad he's a seasteading guy. ;-)

    Geodesic nationhood, anyone?

    Well, if Anquilla can't the roads, since this isn't Libertarian Paradise anymore, how about a certain family at least selling Scrub Island. Heck, even a very long lease would do. Turn it into the Hong Kong (okay, maybe the Singapore, er... oh, forget it -- the Scrub Island then) of the Caribbean.

    Heck, it's even got a longer runway than Anguilla does, right? Need to build a harbor. And a cyberport, for all those dark fibers going through it. Lessee, gonna need natural gas (just bigger port, for LNG), and electricity (maybe one of those "nuclear batteries" Bussard wants to sell for US$10mil), and water (see "nuclear battery", above...) and a causeway to Mainland Anguilla, and...

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  7. *sell* the roads.

    Type fast, think slow. Must be a Texan...

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  8. In the 1700’s an English economist referred to Anguillians as ".......being perhaps the laziest creatures in the world.”

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  9. Judging by Anonymous at 3:55 I would say it looks like you got under "Chris Burke's" skin, Don.

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