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Haiti left with no elected government officials as it spirals towards anarchy

theguardian.com

51–60 of 65 posts

Re: Haiti left with no elected government officials as it spirals towards anarchy

#51
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be a shocking violation of Haiti's sovereignty. It would be colonialism. Civil wars are sometimes a necessary thing in the organic development of a nation. In general, it's not the business of other countries to prevent them.

Exactly! For Europeans to develop to the point they could dominate the rest of the world, they took a thousand years to recover from Roman imperialism and develop distinct ethic/national identities. We have to not interfere with the third world and be willing to not interfere for a thousand years for them to sociologically mature to the point they can operate effectively in the first world. The solution to problems c…

Sounds like a good rationale for letting a lot of people die right now.

Re: Haiti left with no elected government officials as it spirals towards anarchy

#52
Haiti has a unique humanitarian history going back to being the first successful slave revolt and subsequently isolated economically by France and her friends namely USA ... with this comes no major trading partners and poverty ... no blog post on Haiti should leave out this origin story of their misery going back 3 centuries

Re: Haiti left with no elected government officials as it spirals towards anarchy

#53
post #25

Maybe China wants to dip a toe into great power style politics, so it can see what being on the world stage actually entails? After all, China is looking for friends, and what better way to make friends than to prop up a failing regime? Propping up Haiti can't be more expensive than propping up North Korea.

Your comment is so weird. China has not shown colonial mindset in the last few hundred years. Even when it had by far, the highest GDP country in the world, it did not colonize other countries. All China wants is for North Korea to not collapse because that would create a huge humanitarian crisis at its borders. Also, Chinese people are more practical. Leave this problem to the Chinese and they’ll find a way to solve…

Perhaps you have not visited the border at arunachal pradesh, or aksai chin. Both are indian territories forcibly occupied by the Chinese.

We (at India) have fought wars in the past 50 years to protect our land from the Chinese invaders.

Furthermore, leaving India aside, let's think about Tibet, the uighur muslims for a moment.

The current Dalai Lama is in exile also.

Re: Haiti left with no elected government officials as it spirals towards anarchy

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to fight a 'ground war' to cause a whole lot of problems. And you risk radicalizing the people.

I have a strong feeling Haitians even in their worst position have had enough of US interference.

Correct. We should stay out of the whole thing, for the benefit of everyone.

Re: Haiti left with no elected government officials as it spirals towards anarchy

#55
post #30

I'm surprised the last of the elected officials didn't call for foreign intervention, though I'm sure no country wants to go in there and fight the street gangs for control. I think the US would have the best shot of restoring order (assuming the Hatian govt asked them). I would imagine no gang in Haiti wants to (or is even capable of) a ground war with the US Army, so the "intervention" would be 90% aid and 10% a sh…

The US has a problematic history of intervention in Haiti, so we aren't the first choice of pretty much anyone on the ground. And consensus is Haiti isn't where anyone is going to be able to shoot their way to a solution. There have been some negotiations around getting Canada to lead an intervention [1], but that hasn't apparently gone too far. So...it'll get a lot worse for most Haitians before it gets better. [1]…

Honestly, it should be the French. If there were a Black African Francophone country that had the spare resources, that would be even better - maybe Algeria in 50 years. I don't think that Haiti wants a bunch of Yankees running around, with our crappy history there.

Re: Haiti left with no elected government officials as it spirals towards anarchy

#56

Why can US invade Afghanistan and Iraq, but not Haiti? Or is it that they fear they would have to face gang members instead of civilians?

The US has lost all desire for war post-Iraq. We're happy to arm Ukraine, but in the 60s? We would have absolutely had boots on the ground.

Re: Haiti left with no elected government officials as it spirals towards anarchy

#57
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That may be true, but I'd also be interested in hearing the best argument for the alternative. You haven't presented yourself a single argument as to why would the Dominican Republic want to do that at first place, how would that benefit them exactly?

The unification of la Hispaniola under a new regime untied to french colonialism could be a strong foundation for political and economical improvements (if made in respect of both cultures). If Canada ever merges with the nearby Turks and Caicos Islands, they could also help improve the economic status of the area by bringing a nice influx of money. Also Canada has a big Haitian diaspora in Quebec, so there are cultu…

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but your line of thinking is very detached from reality. The Dominican Republic doesn't need economic improvements. Sure, every country could always improve their economy. But the quality of life in the DR is good, healthy, stable. Haiti has refused to step up to the plate and improve their country. They don't work their land.

Only Haiti stands to benefit from any "unification". And more importantly, the Dominicans should be the only ones to determine their destiny; not academics who think "improving economic status" is a valid reason for merging one country with another -- without any regard for the preservation of culture, ethnic makeup of the country, history, national identity -- and most importantly: values.

Re: Haiti left with no elected government officials as it spirals towards anarchy

#58
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has a problematic history of intervention in Haiti, so we aren't the first choice of pretty much anyone on the ground. And consensus is Haiti isn't where anyone is going to be able to shoot their way to a solution. There have been some negotiations around getting Canada to lead an intervention [1], but that hasn't apparently gone too far. So...it'll get a lot worse for most Haitians before it gets better. [1]…

Honestly, it should be the French. If there were a Black African Francophone country that had the spare resources, that would be even better - maybe Algeria in 50 years. I don't think that Haiti wants a bunch of Yankees running around, with our crappy history there.

You're probably not wrong, but the French have some crappy history there as well, and haven't had much luck with conflict intervention in former colonies recently (see: Mali). The only certainty is that it's a really complicated problem.

Re: Haiti left with no elected government officials as it spirals towards anarchy

#59
post #46

Why can US invade Afghanistan and Iraq, but not Haiti? Or is it that they fear they would have to face gang members instead of civilians?

The US invaded Iraq and Afghanistan for oil and vengeance for 9/11, but Haiti has nothing the US wants.

[dead]

Re: Haiti left with no elected government officials as it spirals towards anarchy

#60

I'm surprised the last of the elected officials didn't call for foreign intervention, though I'm sure no country wants to go in there and fight the street gangs for control. I think the US would have the best shot of restoring order (assuming the Hatian govt asked them). I would imagine no gang in Haiti wants to (or is even capable of) a ground war with the US Army, so the "intervention" would be 90% aid and 10% a sh…

Like how Baltimore is a law abiding paradise?
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