explain to him that Ukraine is at war, and it is at war with a country which has huge stocks of sophisticated weaponry and one of the largest standing armies in the world. It cannot be defeated by Nato countries withholding expensive military supplies. It is not in an analogous situation to either the Palestinians or Haiti, the last named of which requires a great deal more than just money to return to some modest level of rational government. All of which is not to say that the developed world has not been miserly with its aid to many peoples and not just those the President mentioned; it is simply to observe that Ukraine falls in a special category.

Since one supposes that Presidents undertaking excursions into the wider world are advised by the Foreign Ministry, and may even have their speeches written for them by Takuba Lodge, clearly some of the officers there need to beef up on how our positions reflect adversely or otherwise on matters of our sovereignty. We have no need to make concessions to Russia, a close ally of Venezuela, or China, another ally of Venezuela who would not support us if the chips were down. And as for President Lula and his anomalous position on Ukraine, why do we have to follow him? The bottom line is that if Russia ever won the war in Ukraine, it would open the floodgates for all kinds of greedy nations, and Guyana, especially could not feel safe. What we need is a more sensibly oriented foreign policy.