THE Director of the Council On Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), a left-of-centre Washington research and information organisation, warned the Mid-Ocean News that Bermuda must beware the Government-level "cronyism, nepotism, and corruption" that had plagued other small island nations.

And the COHA director added that he was pleased and surprised by the local reaction to the release of his organisation's January 4 "press memorandum" titled "Is Bermuda's Independence Near? Unlikely."

COHA director Dr. Larry Birns said Bermuda's Progressive Labour Party Government showed every indication of being "limousine liberals" who should pay greater attention to the views of the public, and that he was astonished by the size of the salaries paid to Government politicians.

"I doubt that there are many State legislatures here who pay themselves amounts comparable to the Bermuda Government," said Dr.Birns. "That situation is truly extraordinary."

Dr. Birns said that he said that as someone who sees himself and COHA as being comfortably left of centre, and "no friend of Tories".

The 1,200-word COHA report on the possibility of Bermuda Independence, prepared by research associate Ashley Rasmussen and approved by Dr. Birns, was rather scathing of the Premier's pursuit of sovereignty in the face of strong public opposition.

It opened with a five-point introductory summary: "The debate over Bermuda's Independence continues with intensity, but without much success in a country that (has) possessed self-rule for centuries; the tsunami tragedy has absorbed the island colony, but a political tsunami that will bring on Independence is not likely to occur; recent polls indicate that more than sixty per cent of Bermudians shun Independence; Bermuda's Premier Alex Scott leads the Independence movement, but according to polls, he almost goes out of his way to misinterpret public sentiment on the issue, which could probably cost him dearly; were Bermuda to gain autonomy, little would in fact change, because when it comes to internal issues, its government possesses plenary power."

COHA is highly regarded in the Americas as an important "think-tank" for the hemisphere. Dr. Birns was a co-founder of COHA in 1975, and he has been director since inception. He is a former defence researcher and member of the Institute of Strategic Studies in London, and was the first officer for the UN Economic Commission for Latin America in Santiago, Chile.

He taught and lectured for 15 years in Latin American Studies, Comparative Government, and International Law at a number of universities and colleges in the US and England. He was educated at Columbia and Oxford, where his thesis covered British nuclear strategy.

"COHA is very enthusiastic about transparency in Government," said Dr. Birns, "and much of Central and Latin America, and the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean suffer from cronyism, nepotism, and corruption. It must be said that few of these islands are identifiably better off since they gained Independence, and many have suffered from excessive corruption, like the Lynden Pindling Government in the Bahamas.

"I say that also as a general admirer of Caricom; I think that it is a principled body which has been resolute in its support of the Aristide government in Haiti, although that stand wasn't popular in Washington.

"We were also in favour of those countries which took a stand against the Iraq war, and we condemned the reaction of Washington to those who did so. For example, the foreign ministers of Chile and Mexico spoke out against the war, and (Secretary of State) Colin Powell called their respective Presidents, Lagos and Fox, and had them replaced. That was gunboat diplomacy without even bothering to send the gunboats."

Dr. Birns also said that COHA was in favour of normalisation of relations with Cuba, and that maintaining a relationship with Cuba was "an easy way for a lot of governments to 'give the finger' to Washington."

"We have been vigorous opponents of much of what the Clinton and Bush administrations have done in the hemisphere, but any government which 'gives the finger' to Washington, has to be cognisant of relative strengths and the extent to which the US exerts control. It already controls the World Bank and the IMF, and has veto power over the IADB (the Inter-American Development Bank), which is important in the hemisphere.

"It's a matter of balance: we don't approve of the way the Manning government in Trinidad goes out of its way to curry favour with Washington."

Dr. Birns said he thought that the Government of Bermuda should pay closer attention to local governance, and not get too concerned about taking positions on hemispheric affairs.

"I think that Mr. Scott and his Government appear to be more interested in the robes of power, rather than in getting things done that will give Bermudians more confidence in the Government.

"I was astonished by the response we got to our report on Bermuda, extraordinary given the size of the island. We can be quoted at length in the New York Times or the New Yorker, and not receive a single response. We received calls and must have had more than thirty e-mails from people in Bermuda who read about our report in TheRoyal Gazette.

"Our press releases go to about 7,000 journalists world-wide, including over 150 just at the New York Times, and because we can track these things, we know that the Bermuda press release was downloaded by thousands of journalists around the world.

"Our humble press memorandum was simply the first wave of what we can predict will be a great deal of scrutiny of Bermuda. A lot of people are concerned with these issues, and Bermuda will not be thought of as just a place for a nice break or to move capital, but as a living political environment.

"Mr. Scott will discover that the price of taking a position that is not consonant with the bulk of where the population is right now is going to be scrutiny, and the question is whether this Government can stand up to scrutiny.

"Despite Bermuda clearly being in the hemisphere, we have not taken it seriously enough in the past and we intend to get serious about Bermuda. We had a meeting this morning and two or three of our researchers are going to take Bermuda on as a preferential, favourite item of research.

"We are going to do a lot of retroactive work on Bermuda, and it has, to some extent, been because of the volume of e-mails from Bermuda, and the amount of interest shown by journalists all over the world.

"I must say that the calls and e-mails we got from Bermuda, both pro-Government and anti-Government, have been incredibly charming!"