The Value Added Tax (VAT) debate in The Bahamas ...and the Bahamian politicians, politics and healthy political discourse involved...

Bahamas will ‘pay savagely’ for VAT politics

Consultant fears VAT delay would lead to credit downgrading, loss of policy choices

BY ALISON LOWE
Guardian Business Editor
alison@nasguard.com
Nassau, The Bahamas

The Bahamas will “pay savagely” if plans to implement valued added tax (VAT) gets “bogged down in politics”, a consultant to the government has warned, suggesting that delays in implementing the new revenue measure could lead to serious fiscal woes.

Noting some of the negative response to the proposed new regime to date, Ishmael Lightbourne told Guardian Business that there is “no question” that the new tax regime would represent good fodder for political fireworks when the legislation is introduced in Parliament.

However, pointing to the situation in crisis-stricken Greece, Lightbourne said that The Bahamas’ choice is one of either implementing VAT – or some other revenue raising measure – or being forced to implement new taxes or expenditure cutbacks by “external forces”, like the southern European country.

“I think the essential issue is the country’s fiscal position which is consistently showing a deficit gap, and that is not getting better from our present tax regime, and we are putting ourselves further and further into deficits and national debt,” he said.

“In that position, my focus has always been that if we do not get off that path, we’ll be losing a chance to voluntarily make these changes in terms of expanding the revenue base or reducing the cost of government. When we can’t do that ourselves, external forces come in and impose certain conditions. If you look at Greece, Greece has been under IMF watch or care, and they are having to do things like cut some 12,500 public servants. Those are the types of issues we want to try to avoid.”

Highlighting a continuous “gap” between government’s revenues and expenditures in recent years that has led to a spiralling national debt, which stands at 60 percent of GDP and is projected to hit $4.8 billion by the end of this fiscal year, Lightbourne suggested that The Bahamas’ fiscal situation could take a turn for the worst if a further downgrade occurs as a result of international agencies perceiving that The Bahamas is not committed to fiscal reform, which would increase borrowing costs.

The situation to date is already “pretty dismal”, he highlighted in a recent presentation to the Bahamas Society of Engineers, with the government borrowing to pay administrative and operational expenses such as salaries racking up around $200 million in recurrent deficits alone per year as a result.

To date, it is unclear exactly how the official opposition, the FNM, will respond to the VAT plans. Earlier this year, former junior finance minister Zhivargo Laing suggested that had the party been re-elected during the last

general election, it would have implemented VAT within two to three years of taking office.

In a recent statement, FNM Chairman Darron Cash suggested there need to be more “public discussion” on VAT and the government was not doing a good job on the education process.

The Democratic National Alliance, headed by former FNM Minister Branville McCartney, has recently come out against the tax. In an email sent to supporters yesterday entitled “VAT will destroy us”, the party which ran a slate of candidates in the last election tells supporters that if VAT is implemented, The Bahamas “will never be the same”.

“The cost of living will be going up, the cost of your food, your cable bill and school fees!” said the party.

During an appearance on Guardian Radio’s “Coffee Break”, DNA Chairman Andrew Wilson charged that the tax will destroy the middle class and suggested the government consider a sales tax instead.

Lightbourne said: “You have to look in the real world of politics, any opportunity that presents itself for the opposition to catapult itself in the political arena, they will take. That’s the nature of politics. Now whether they will do that to the detriment of country and allow government to be the fall guy, I’m not sure, [but] that may be their strategy...”

The VAT consultant said that in a recent presentation to the Killarney Constituency Association on VAT, Opposition Leader and Killarney MP Hubert Minnis “made no comment.”

He said that a presentation on VAT to the entire parliament has “yet to come off” but he is hopeful that one can be made shortly.

“They need to be able to see the issues and challenges that we face as a country and how we go about resolving those issues. I’m still hoping that will happen so we can bring to their attention the kind of decisions that need to be made. No matter who is government these issues will present themselves and won’t go away.”

“It’s not VAT or nothing, it’s got to be VAT or something, in order to close this enormous gap we have growing by the year,” he added.

Pauline Peters, another newly-hired VAT consultant and a former head of Grenada’s inland revenue service who led the implementation of VAT in that country, told Guardian Business that while that country may remain challenged with reducing its debt burden, the introduction of VAT in 2010 in Grenada has been helpful.

“It has certainly raised additional revenue that can assist in that process (of reducing debt). One would recognize that the revenue is going to the consolidated fund and the government would prioritize with respect to how that is spent.

“There would’ve been areas that would’ve benefited from increased revenue, such as infrastructural development in the country, the social safety net would’ve been increased, and other financial issues that government would’ve been dealing with.”

October 01, 2013

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

There are four kinds of Bahamian politicians in The Bahamas: the lotioner, the grunt, the lone wolf and the bulldog

Portrait of the ‘lone wolf’

By Ian Strachan
Nassau, Bahamas


Last week I told you there were three kinds of Bahamian politicians. I was wrong. There are actually four. And since I neglected to even say what the three were, let’s get the four names out of the way early. The four types are the ‘lotioner’, the ‘grunt’, the ‘lone wolf’ and the ‘bulldog’. I told you last week about the Lotioner. The leader who leads from behind. The lotioner is the prototypical or classic politician, when you really think about it. Mostly talk, very little action.

The grunt I won’t waste time on. He’s just the kind of guy who hangs onto the coattails of the people in charge. He does what he’s told. He’s a follower really, a drone. So let’s leave him alone and deal with the big boys.

Next up: The lone wolf. Lone wolves can make inspiring, innovative, political leaders. But the truth is they are happier people if they lead in some other sphere than politics—some sphere where you don’t need people to vote for you. They probably do best as businessmen or civic leaders. They are natural leaders, don’t get me wrong. They are driven by passion, by ideals, not by the desire for attention or the desire for power. Well, to be precise, they want power, certainly, but they want it so they can turn the world into what they want it to be. They’re not all charismatic but they can all get in front of the crowd when they have to. The Lone Wolf wants you to hear him more than he wants you to see him.

He has strength of purpose. He can be visionary. But it’s hard for him to play the game of politics. It’s easy for the lone wolf to be political, but he often fails at being a “politician.” The lone wolf has a hard time doing what political survival and political success often call for: Lying, bribing, flattering or BSing the people. Which probably means he won’t last long. Lone wolves make great martyrs. They can’t keep their big mouths shut.

Sometimes, the lone wolf wants to be in charge but he doesn’t want to earn it. He wants you to just hand it to him because heck, he’s obviously the best man for the job. He will probably never earn it because he has a very hard time playing the game of hand go hand come. He’s rarely a good broker of deals. He has trouble understanding why everybody is not motivated by the same thing he is. In short, he wants to be in the game, needs to be in the game, will have no peace if he doesn’t get in there and t’row his blow, but he doesn’t want to play the game by the game’s rules. He wants a different set of rules. He wants to make the game over. He is prone to delusions of grandeur, you might say.

You see, hundreds and thousands have been playing the game just as it is and have no desire or will to change it. And to get to the top of a political party, you need to slip the delegates some cash, promise this one and that one a contract, guarantee this one a job for their louse of a son and that one a promotion they don’t deserve, grin up with scummies of various stripes, but he can’t bring himself, won’t bring himself to do it. He therefore can never really rise to number one under normal circumstances. He fails to understand that though he may be in politics because of a high sense of duty, or because he has what he thinks is something unique to contribute, others are there because they are trying to get over, trying to get ahead or trying to just plain survive. He won’t grease and he won’t lotion, so he remains respected but never trusted. He is a man of action, a man who gets things done. But secret deals often get made after he leaves the room. He is only made aware and included when the leader needs ideas and needs the right language. He is included when the organization needs to really get a difficult job done, a job that requires strategic thinking, analysis, eloquence, hard work and vigilance. But he’s not there when the spoils, the “unofficial spoils” are being discussed and divided.

On a basic level, politics, for the politician, is not so much about right and wrong as it is about compromise. Half measures are often the only measures that are possible. The lone wolf has an all or nothing personality, but in politics you never get “all”, so he usually settles for nothing. (Lone wolves do better as political advisers and consultants, speech writers and strategists, the power behind the throne. They last longer).

There’s another problem with the lone wolf. You have to follow before you can lead in this world and the lone wolf, in his impatience, in his passion, in his pride, in his faith and his own specialness has real trouble following. Lone wolves are never content unless they’re in charge; not really. Oh, they can endure someone else’s leadership for a while but eventually, inevitably, they get cross about something, and lose faith; eventually they’ll jump ship or do something that causes the captain to make them walk the plank.

Even if the lone wolf is in charge, he finds it extremely difficult to share leadership, even if it is going to strengthen his advantage or his cause. He does not trust anyone to properly implement his vision. So this kind of leader is normally less effective than he should be and is probably the most likely of all to burn himself out. (Which feeds his martyr complex).

Because the lone wolf is motivated most by his own principles (and ambitions?), not merely by the pleasures of being part of the winning side, he is the most likely to break party ranks. Because the lone wolf believes he’s the best man for the job, he normally can’t handle being passed over for someone else and can’t endure slowly climbing the ladder. He launches out alone. Better to be leader of a party with five thousand followers than a deputy in a party with forty thousand, apparently.

Oh, and one more thing; the lone wolf is blind to his limitations. He believes things are easier to accomplish than they actually are. And no matter how many times he fails, he is never cured of this affliction: this blind belief that he can do anything he sets his mind to and do it quickly and easily. What he thinks will take three months takes nine. What he thinks will take five years takes 15. But he charges on, normally blazing a trail. A trail ain’t nobody else interested in blazin’, cause they already know it’s too hard or will take too long.

Many political lone wolves die forgotten, penniless or heartbroken, haunted by the thousand good ideas they never brought to reality, the brilliant schemes left half-hatched, the scores of project blue prints gathering dust in the corner of some silent room in their homes. At his best, the lone wolf’s lack of conventional wisdom allows him to achieve remarkable feats. His lack of concern for his own long term political/professional survival challenges everybody around him to step up their game. His level of commitment and intensity makes others look bad. Unfortunately though, a lone wolf often ends up destroyed by the powerful people he helped gain that power, because he eventually decides to play the hero. He takes some principled stand instead of being quiet and being loyal to the team.

Who are the lone wolves? Randol Fawkes, Carlton Francis, Edmund Moxey and Cecil Wallace Whitfield come to mind. B.J. Nottage and Paul Moss perhaps.

Jul 07, 2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamian Politics Blog

The "Lotioner" in Bahamian politics and other kinds of Bahamian politicians

Portrait of the ‘Lotioner’
East Street Blues


BY IAN STRACHAN

Nassau, Bahamas


There are three kinds of Bahamian politicians. The question for the Bahamian electorate is, which kind is the best kind for these times and which should they give the powers of the Prime Minister to?

The first kind I’d call “The Lotioner.” Our people seem to like this kind a lot. They smile a lot. Love to shake hands and hug people. They make sure the black dye in their hair is always done perfectly. They seem to genuinely enjoy high office. I’m not sure they enjoy hard work and making unpopular decisions but they do enjoy attention.

This type of man is popular and has been his whole life. More than anything, he wants to be liked, likes to be liked, and usually that’s not very hard for him because he’s a natural charmer. He never wants to get on the people’s bad side. In fact, he tends to choose his sides depending on where the people stand. As soon as he’s pretty sure where most people stand, he’ll get up and say “You don’t have to vote for me if you want, but such and such is my position!”

Now, as a politician this makes very good sense, since the people elected you and can easily remove you. Popular opinion and popularity are the oxygen and bread the politician needs to survive. But there’s a flip side. The flip side is that the majority are often wrong, often misinformed, often emotional, often short sighted, often bigoted, so the politician who focuses on what the people want to the neglect of all else can turn out to be a leader history has little good to say about.

Pandering to the people at all times is no way to lead. In fact, it makes you a fraud. There are times when the people must be made to do what they would rather not do; there are times when for their own sakes, their appetites must be curbed, their habits altered, their convenience sacrificed.

When power for its own sake is the only goal, not actual progress, the Lotioner becomes a liability. But there he is, constantly flattering us, telling us how great we are, how great our nation is, how blessed he is to have this opportunity, how humbled he is by the power we have bestowed upon him.

Oh, and let us not forget one other very important thing about the Lotioner: he prefers form over substance. Nuts and bolts are anathema to him. He doesn’t have the appetite for it. Or he just doesn’t care about it. He lives for the grand speech, not the backdoor planning meeting. He goes in for grand gestures, for emoting, his goal is to be the One. He rarely ever really has anything he really wants to accomplish once he is the One, so long as he remains the One. The Lotioner strikes as someone who should have been a Hollywood actor but found that the crowds enjoyed political rallies and therefore gave up on the Hollywood dream and pursued Parliament instead. It’s easier.

Lotioners are very astute politicians when it comes to reading the current of popular opinion; they are very adept at expressing things with certitude and conviction even if their actual commitment to what they are saying is paper thin. They love the performance of politics but produce little change. The Lotioner is far better at keeping this going the way they are than he is at making dramatic changes or reform that could get people worked up and angry at him. This leader works better in government than in opposition and works better when times are good than when times are hard. He needs a well oiled machine to sit on top of. Don’t ask him to build the machine.

Now, I must give credit where credit is due. The Lotioner, in his eloquence and shininess is able to bring the masses to a level of euphoria, hopefulness and optimism that the other two kinds of politicians can rarely match. To put it plainly, the man can make you feel good about your life and your world. They can make you believe the world can be a better place. They can make you believe they will deliver that world to you. When they are their best, the Lotioners can make the masses stronger and more united than anyone thought possible.

It helps is the Lotioner is a man of high intelligence. His intelligence doesn’t make him less of a B.S.-er, it makes him more likely to surround himself with people who actually know what they’re doing. A super smart Lotioner, like Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, has good judgement and knows to listen to the experts. Lotioners almost always marry wives that are smarter and more competent than they are. That’s no mistake. You will find that such men lean on their wives heavily for their actual career success.



IAN STRACHAN is Associate Professor of English at The College of The Bahamas. You can write him at strachantalk@gmail or visit www.ianstrachan.wordpress.com.

Jun 30, 2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamian Politics Blog

Big Money and Politics in The Bahamas

Big Money and Politics

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Nassau, The Bahamas



While practically everyone talks a good talk concerning the need for campaign finance reform in the Bahamas; practically no one wants to do anything real about the matter.

This is most unfortunate.

With but months to go before general elections must be called, there are some Bahamians who loath the extent to which politics in this country seems to be driven by money; and therefore by the men and women who are rich enough to buy practically everything their little hearts desire.

Today’s word on the street is to the effect that, some of these men and women of the deep pockets are sometimes minded to fund this or that party – evidently expecting some return on their ‘investments’.

Evidently, practically no one would ever step into the light and confess that, this is why they give; or for that matter, ever say that, when they give, they expect some return for the funds they dole out.

We could quite frankly speaking care less about what people say about the purpose to which their money might or might not be put; but for sure, we are fully cognizant of the fact that, we live in a very real world where talk is cheap and where [by the same token] money buys land.

And that there is an intimate relationship between money and power is – as they say a no-brainer; since this is just the way things are in a place where money always means so very much.

The problem that arises – as far as we can surmise – rests with the extent to which money [and especially Big Money] can and does on occasion go to great lengths to conceal itself and its ownership of this or that political party, individual or entity.

This leads [as day follows night] to a perception that, in such circumstances talk about free and fair elections is just so much high sounding hot air.

Nowhere is this truth as telling as it is in the realm of Bahamian politics where any numbers of political aspirants routinely tell themselves and their publics that, they are solely motivated by their desire for public service.

No one with an iota of common sense is ever fooled by these protestations.

We recount these facts as prelude to our contention that big money has played on extraordinarily large role in funding this nation's best organized political entities.

The truth of the matter is that money does talk.

It is true too that big money can be expected to 'talk big'. And so, no one should be surprised when large donors to political parties expect dividends on their investments.

What compounds this matter of the often illicit relationship between money and power is the nagging suspicion that deals are struck by politicians on the make.

When the day for payback comes, the public interest is itself vitiated and undermined. Again, what makes this matter of money even more troubling is that it is often used to create and embellish a notion that the electorate is in charge.

The picture is obviously more complex.

When millions of dollars can be secretly pumped into electoral contests, extreme questions arise concerning the integrity of the entire democratic project.

We note, too, that this problem is one which pervades politics worldwide. In the United States, for example, campaign finance reform is one of that nation's perennial problems. To their credit they have done something about it.

In The Bahamas, on the other hand, little has been done about the matter. Indeed, the record shows that the problem has gone from bad to worse, with the Progressive Liberal Party and its Free National Movement counterpart apparently getting set for an orgy of money-spending.

Big Money might yet prove pivotal in determining the outcome of general elections whenever the date arrives for Bahamians to do their thing in an environment where that thing is preceded by Big Money and its myriad of oily maneuvers.

Simply put, the elementary and undeniable fact of the matter is that the public interest cannot and will not ever be best served if money moguls can between them curry favor with political aspirants and political parties.

The public should be able to know who has paid what to whom.

The way ahead for this country is for its political leaders to so conduct themselves that no one could expect favors in return for money contributions or any other consideration.

If such were to become principled policy in The Bahamas, there would be an ensuing liberating effect on the entire political process.

Debate would be more honest and genuine leadership would be given an opportunity to have its voice heard.

For the moment, the voice of Big Money continues to drown out others, including some which have a genuine contribution to make to this nation's economic, social and political growth and development.

April 28th, 2011

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Bahamas Blog International

We Bahamians are an ungrateful people

While the world suffers, Bahamians fiddle

tribune242 editorial




WE SWITCHED the television on. Saudi tanks were rolling into Bahrain to prevent that country's social unrest spilling over Saudi borders. Libyans were rushing in mad confusion to avoid tear gas hoses as the Arab League considered asking the UN to impose a no fly zone to stop Col. Muammar Gaddafi strafing his people from the air - a reporter described Libya's turmoil of cruelty as a "problem from hell." Egypt was still in confusion. In short the Middle East was on fire.

Suddenly, television cameras focused on Japan. There one saw a scene of absolute horror. Viewers were told that Japan had just suffered an 8.9 earthquake, the largest in its history, and the fifth largest recorded in this past century. Then as though an invisible giant had drawn in his breath, taking the ocean with it and leaving behind a denuded coastline, there was a powerful outward roar as a mountain of water rushed back across the land. Out of the earthquake, a giant tsunami had been born and in a twinkling of an eye an ancient town had disappeared from the face of the earth. Houses crumbled under its mighty weight, thousands of men, women and children disappeared before they had time to consider what they could do to save themselves.

What we were witnessing would affect the whole world and an already crippled international economy was pushed back just as it was starting to slowly move forward. As a result of the confusion in one section of the world every man, woman and child on the rest of the globe was caught up in the turmoil. If never before, that short sequence of events was proof that we are all one family caught up in each other's destiny on this one big ship called Mother Earth. As gas prices started to climb -- as a result of the Mid-East crisis --and goods, already too expensive, soared, one wondered if indeed Armageddon was near. At least that was what our maid thought.

"Oh, dear God," she moaned, "the world is in confusion!"

Suddenly she turned angry. "We Bahamians," she said, "are an ungrateful people. See how the world is suffering and we have the nerve to complain about a little inconvenience." Yes, when one compares Bahamians' problems against the suffering of other humans on the same planet, they are indeed "little inconveniences" and we should all hang our heads in shame for trying to make the mole hill into the mountain.

Here we have politicians busy trying to score brownie points against their opponents, not for the betterment of the body politic, but to gain a seat in parliament and to win an election.

While Japanese dug through rubble looking for loved ones, occasionally picking up an empty shoe and weeping for the loss of the human who once walked this Earth in it, Bahamians were squabbling over the sale of a telecommunications company that ill performed at the best of times and should have been put on the auction block a long time ago.

"Bahamians are just too selfish and too greedy, always with their hands out instead of trying to do the best they can with what they have until things get better!" she sniffed, with the toss of her head and the suck on the teeth. "They have gold by comparison and they don't appreciate it!"

While others suffer untold damage, some Bahamians are busy trying to organise their own "small Egypt" -- like the monkey wanting to follow fashion no matter how destructive that fashion.

Today Bahamians are busy trying to figure out how many FNM MPs would have to vote in the House against its government's sale of BTC to send the people back to the polls. As Mr Ingraham told them in today's Tribune, a majority vote against the sale of BTC to Cable & Wireless would be a parliamentary show of no confidence in his government. He would then turn the government back to the people; there would be an early general election, and Bahamians could then vote in a new government. However, he pointed out, the sale of BTC was one of the planks in the FNM's platform, one on which the FNM had won the government.

However, with 24 FNM members in the House to the PLP's 17, Brad McCartney is the only likely FNM to break ranks. This will in no way put the FNM's government in jeopardy. However, Mr McCartney has kept everyone guessing about his final decision of whether it will be an "aye" or "nay" for the BTC vote. The fact that, although he attends House meetings, he has avoided party meetings for many weeks, gives a pretty good indication as to how his mind is set.

Anyway, instead of losing precious time over such matters, Bahamians should thank God that they have a job. It is now up to them to give it their best until they can start climbing the ladder upward again.

March 17, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamas: Politicians 'highjacked' community policing

WE TALKED with several Bahamians this weekend about Urban Renewal and its effectiveness. There were many opinions, but all agreed that the programme was doomed from the beginning because it was bogged down in politics.

"You must remember," said one sarcastically, "what is now Urban Renewal started as the Farm Road project when a few policemen were strategically placed to impress the people. No Urban Renewal was on anyone's mind when that happened. The Farm Road project was solely to secure a seat for a politician."

In fact, said another Bahamian, community policing was "highjacked" by the politicians.

It was only when the police went into Farm Road and discovered such squalor in some of the homes that urban renewal was born and eventually the programme spread to other inner cities.

Instead of the police going into communities and discovering what was wrong and instructing the responsible government department to correct it, police found themselves directing home repairs, cleaning up garbage, and generally being involved in non-police work.

Another person did not see much change in the Urban Renewal programme when it came under the FNM-- other than the police being removed from school campuses.

The person felt that it was the parents' responsibility --not that of the police -- to make certain that their child did not go to school with a weapon.

"A lie is being foisted on the Bahamian people that Urban Renewal is dead. This is simply not true," said one police officer. "The programme has not been stopped, however, it has been changed."

He said the police had been providing the leadership.

However, when other organisations took their rightful place in the programme, the police stepped back and returned to their policing duties.

However, they continued to support the programme wherever their assistance was required.

The officer did not agree that the police should have ever been on the school campus. "It undermines the authority of the school principal and the school's staff," he said. However, although no police officer is stationed on the campus, an effective school programme with the police involved is still in place.

Each school has direct contact with the nearest police station and the police are on call whenever needed.

There are also programmes in place to give children police protection early in the morning when they arrive at school and in the afternoon when they are leaving. Police also supervise children who have been suspended from class. The police contact the parents, and have a programme to which the parents take their child for police supervision for as long as they have been banned from the classroom. These children are not wandering the streets. They are very much under police control.

But for politicians to say that Urban Renewal is dead or that protection is not being given to the schools, "is just intellectual dishonesty," was this officer's opinion.

However, another Bahamian saw what should have been a 24-hour community service being turned into a 9am to 5pm job for a civil servant. "They took the police out and flooded us with all these experts," he said. "In the social services you'd be surprised how many hands a request has to go through just to get one thing approved. In every department the public service is very weak."

What this country needs is dedicated community policing where police and people come together, united by a common goal.

Community policing was started long before politicians conjured up the controversial urban renewal programme. It was launched and managed by the police and in the areas where it was being developed, it was very successful.

We were intimately involved with the Nassau programme and gave considerable news space to a similar programme organised in Cat Island.

There was ASP Shannondor Evans, spearheading a programme from the police station in Elizabeth Estates, and Supt. Stephen Dean organising a student band and youth clubs in Cat Island. Both programmes were successful -- regardless of political affiliation residents were working with the police towards a common goal.

Cat Island, we were told, was a good example of how community programmes could make a difference. Faculty and staff at the Cat Island school commented on how the music programmes in particular had helped improve students' grades. It was thought that because of these programmes, students had become more focused.

Tomorrow we shall describe in more detail Mr Evans' successful programme in the Eastern division. This area included Prince Charles, Sea Breeze, Fox Hill Road and the Eastern Road.

There are probably many police men and women who are well versed in community policing. We know of two -- ASP Evans, and Superintendent Dean, who represents the Bahamas on the community policing committee of the International Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police. And we have heard of a third -- Supt. Carolyn Bowe.

These are the people whose skills and enthusiasm should be utilised in helping to coordinate and spread such programmes.

November 23, 2009

tribune242

Bahamas Caribbean Blog International