what you won't hear about Haiti

[aerocontrols]

Good to see that the UN security council has unanimously agreed to send a peace-keeping force into Haiti - so far with Canada, France and US contributing troops; probably under US leadership.

Canada? I'm sure the thought is appreciated, but from where are they going to scrape up any troops?

 

[Tmy]

Why is Hati so messed up but the Dominican Republic seems to be OK. WHats up wit dat?

 

[Hutch]

It is also important to note the times the US steps in, not to solve the countries problems, but to protect US 'interests'.

And in this case, the US interests are to prevent another Haitian immigration wave into Florida, which would upset the body politic in an election year....not that anyone is concerned about such base political motives.

Haiti would probably benefit by being "Puerto-rico-ized" by the US, which would hardly make it rich (see PR) but would grant it a stability that is sorely lacking. Doubt if there is an interest or political will to do so on either left or right. So we'll go in, we'll settle things down, and 5-6 years from now we'll face the same thing. Predictable.

 

[Michael Redman]

Canada? I'm sure the thought is appreciated, but from where are they going to scrape up any troops?

Canadian troops were protecting the airport yesterday. They had guns and everything.

TMY, your question is interesting. Why are two countries sharing the same island so different? I think the answers would tell us a lot.

 

[aerocontrols]

For those interested in seeing how Puerto Rico stacks up

link


(actually, that webpage is a pretty nice resource)

 

[aerocontrols]

Canadian troops were protecting the airport yesterday. They had guns and everything.

TMY, your question is interesting. Why are two countries sharing the same island so different? I think the answers would tell us a lot.

30 special forces took control of the airport in order to oversee the evacuation of Canadian citizens.

Special forces are not peacekeepers. I doubt these will stay, and while I'm sure that Canada would like to send peacekeepers, I'm just not sure that they can.

Edit: It occurs to me that, based on what I've written so far, it may appear to someone who doesn't know me better that I'm disparaging the peacekeeping abilities (or martial abilities in general) of the Canadian Armed Forces. I am not. It's just that Canada is already overextended with peacekeeping committments elsewhere, thus I wonder where they will get additional troops in order to make a meaningful contribution in Haiti. /edit

 

[Bottle or the Gun]

Well, in this case many Haitian and French interests have asked us to help. In any case, I think we have some rudimentary duty to help the country since we contributed to their problems.

Now, will there ever be stability in Haiti? Who knows!

Aren't we helping because of international agreements to do so?

 

[aerocontrols]

Aren't we helping because of international agreements to do so?

I suspect we're not. That's the kind of thinking that got us into Vietnam.

 

[demon]

corplinx:
"Whatever the case may be, America and not specifically Bill Clinton now have an obligation to help the Hatians since we goofed up by supporting that rat Aristide. No big deal."

You mean you "goofed" up by supporting the man with the most democratic support in his country?
Has ever a clearer statement on American "democratic" intentions been made? Go to the front of the class corplinx.

Regarding point 1 and 4, Haiti is not in the "expansion" deparment, it's in the "repossession" department, since America has been disastrously interfering in Haiti with troops and coups for over 110 years. Dammit, the US occupied a previously sovereign Haiti for 20 yrs from 1915.

There have been differing specific needs from the US point of view, but the overarching need is control over Haiti and the rest of Latin America to the benefit of its business interests - being utterly unable or unwilling to compete in the world of business without the gun.

This is such a given that the "leftists" you despise and the US political elite share a COMMON view on what the US does, where idealist Americans like yourself willingly have the truth kept from them via a miasma of patriotic ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊. Really, if practically any US administration official, democrat or republican, had to have lunch with an ordinary person say for 7 days in a row, they'd choose a "leftist" over a "US patriot" because at least they'd have something real to talk about and it`s always embarassing to sit with someone for whom you have contempt because you've fooled them so easily.

When the US or any other imperial power goes to war against another country, except in rare circumstances, it goes to war against its own people and the most abject surrender it can hope for from its patriots (or patsies), is the perky, bright, bland attitude of pure belief in its own virtuous violence.
They'll send you to war, but they sure as hell don't want to eat lunch with you, because you're their means to success and nothing more. The content of a patriot's mind is useful to them, but not at all interesting. Which is why Perle and Wolfowitz, Brzinski and Holbrooke - both sides of the fence - can barely bring themselves to stay in your country for more than 6 weeks at a time - they just get so much more entertainment from the European "socialists" they say they despise.

We're all in on their game, corplinx, everyone but American patriots that is.

 

[Dorian Gray]

It's in the US interests to have a stable Haiti so there aren't thousands of them streaming into Miami, to put a fine point on it. Did we force Aristide out, or not?

By the way, I heard that the leader of the rebels is married to a woman from Wisconsin. On NPR, that's where.

 

[corplinx]

corplinx:
"Whatever the case may be, America and not specifically Bill Clinton now have an obligation to help the Hatians since we goofed up by supporting that rat Aristide. No big deal."

You mean you "goofed" up by supporting the man with the most democratic support in his country?
Has ever a clearer statement on American "democratic" intentions been made? Go to the front of the class corplinx.

Regarding point 1 and 4, Haiti is not in the "expansion" deparment, it's in the "repossession" department, since America has been disastrously interfering in Haiti with troops and coups for over 110 years. Dammit, the US occupied a previously sovereign Haiti for 20 yrs from 1915.

There have been differing specific needs from the US point of view, but the overarching need is control over Haiti and the rest of Latin America to the benefit of its business interests - being utterly unable or unwilling to compete in the world of business without the gun.

This is such a given that the "leftists" you despise and the US political elite share a COMMON view on what the US does, where idealist Americans like yourself willingly have the truth kept from them via a miasma of patriotic ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊. Really, if practically any US administration official, democrat or republican, had to have lunch with an ordinary person say for 7 days in a row, they'd choose a "leftist" over a "US patriot" because at least they'd have something real to talk about and it`s always embarassing to sit with someone for whom you have contempt because you've fooled them so easily.

When the US or any other imperial power goes to war against another country, except in rare circumstances, it goes to war against its own people and the most abject surrender it can hope for from its patriots (or patsies), is the perky, bright, bland attitude of pure belief in its own virtuous violence.
They'll send you to war, but they sure as hell don't want to eat lunch with you, because you're their means to success and nothing more. The content of a patriot's mind is useful to them, but not at all interesting. Which is why Perle and Wolfowitz, Brzinski and Holbrooke - both sides of the fence - can barely bring themselves to stay in your country for more than 6 weeks at a time - they just get so much more entertainment from the European "socialists" they say they despise.

We're all in on their game, corplinx, everyone but American patriots that is.

Do you have a random ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ generator or do you really take the time to type all that?

Ad Hominem because I'm too lazy to go there.