Strange things have been happening, ent?

Especially since we’re on the doorstep of Venezuela and Hugo Chavez is behaving like he’s ready to take over from Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

So, he’s sewed up the loyalty of many Caribbean nations, except Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados with his PetroCaribe deal which many see as a political move.

After all, with Venezuela being the fifth largest producer in this region and one of the largest suppliers to the United States outside of the Middle East, Chavez has a lot to throw around behind his political dream.

TnT’s PM PATRICK MANNING
(right) is greeted by Israel’s
PM ARIEL SHARON during
a visit to that country to
discuss security matters.

So they have to keep an eye on Chavez.

And what better place to use than Trinidad and Tobago.

The first indication I got came from a former trade unionist and left leaning activist who met me outside the Red House during the annual budget presentation and told me that the Blimp, is really for the US to keep an eye on Venezuela -- the nearest point being just a few miles away.

There is nothing about that TT$40 million piece of equipment which will help fight crime, he contended.

Now that was food for thought, I muttered to myself as I walked away from him.

Indeed, the expensive piece of equipment -- which almost created a rift in the Police Service since the Commissioner of Police, Trevor Paul, did not know that it was up in the air -- has not really helped in anyway.

There are no statistics to prove that.

In any event the Blimp’s two appearances have been purely for public relations purposes; at Independence time and much later at the World Cup qualifying playoff against Bahrain a couple of weeks ago.

Now, think again.

Shortly after, or around the same time that the Blimp arrived in here, an Israeli national with an immigration stamp is living in the Northern Range.

He claims to have come here seeking a woman he met on the Internet and eventually got off very lightly, having been bailed out by his embassy with no offence recorded against him.

I have heard no outrage against the fact that this man had in his possession an immigration stamp.

Where?

How did he come by the stamp?

Not one politician has expressed concern about this, even in the context of crime.

Go anywhere on the Internet and read about agents of Israel’s Secret Service, Mossad, and you will see that passport fraud is one of their specialties.

Was there any coincidence that this man was caught with an immigration stamp?

Okay, there are more questions than answers.

Add to your burden the fact that our Prime Minister Patrick Manning suddenly qualifies for a high-profile State visit to Israel ... and a meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to boot.

And the fact that Mr. Manning dropped the news of the visit like a thief in the night, literally.

It was while the country was on a high from World Cup qualification that Manning slipped in the news at a welcome party for the Soca Warriors that he “would be leaving the country tomorrow”.

The truth hit us the next morning; it was destination Israel!

Of course, it might have also worked in his favour that Imam Yasin Abu Bakr was arrested for talking out of turn and for having guns in his possession even while he was in police custody and was nowhere around the mosque where the arms were allegedly found.

The heavy handed tactics to mash down the walls of Bakr’s office would have looked good on Manning’s resume, as he prepared for his trip to Israel.

After the PM arrived in Jerusalem, we learnt that he was on a mission to get aid.

Well, we will wait to hear on his return at the end of the month and hope that he will report faithfully because the people of this little State ought to know what kind of intrigue we are getting involved with.

It is making news on the internet that Mossad is establishing a base in Trinidad and Tobago.

Check out the website VHeadlines.com and you will see what I mean.

They have also put a new spin to the spate of bombings in and around Port of Spain.

The full text of the story says: “The International Forecaster editor Bob Chapman writes: We reported on the large contingent of Israelis and Mossad personnel in Colombia a couple of months ago ... they are there in the thousands.

“Now we find them popping up in Trinidad and Tobago, which is prosperous due to oil and gas production and processing.

“It is also used by the Israeli Mafia for transshipping drugs.

“We are beginning to see bombings occur and authorities have arrested Dahtangmik Agaronov.

“The drug operation is runned by Sergey Mikhail and Yuri Robolaevich ... their organisation includes 5,000 criminals in Colombia, Moscow and Trinidad and Tobago who not only move cocaine and marijuana, but weapons as well.

“They smuggle many items and engage in extortion.

“Our sources tell us they are about to establish, on behalf of George Bush and the neocons and Israel, a base for ‘revolutionaries’, that is mercenaries, against Venezuela and its President Hugo Chavez Frias ... we’ll keep you updated.”

Now, good people of TnT, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

We should not allow our State to get mired in this kind of nastiness!