Tag: international

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Haiti?

Post author By David
Post date January 19, 2010
4 Comments on How Do You Solve a Problem Like Haiti?

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photo credit: United Nations Development Programme

These days everybody wants to help the poor people of Haiti – and that’s obviously a good thing but when I think about Haiti it makes me wonder what the proper course of action is for outside nations to help that struggling country. I’m not talking about the proper course of action to help after the earthquake last week – that’s relatively simple to answer: get aid in supplies and personnel on the ground quickly to restore order and save lives (even though it’s not an easy task). I’m talking about the real fundamental problems that have been plaguing the nation of Haiti as demonstrated by their history of the last 20 years.

In the last 20 years there have been four regular elections – the winner of all four has alternated between Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his good friend René Préval. As far as I understand they never ran against each other so this is not a matter of oscillating between political parties. Both times that Aristide was elected he was later exiled. The first time he was eventually returned to power thanks to U.S. intervention – the second time it was the U.S. that sent him into exile. Hence my question – what is to be done for Haiti?

Tags Elevated, Haiti, international, KVNU FTP, news, questions

National

A Tale of Two Vice Presidents

Post author By David
Post date October 15, 2009
6 Comments on A Tale of Two Vice Presidents

photo credit: BlatantNews.com

Once upon a time there was a young president who had campaigned on a platform of using the military more conservatively than his predecessor (who happened to be in the other party). During the campaign he had chosen a more experienced man as his running mate in an effort to soothe those voters who might be uncomfortable with his youth an lack of extensive experience.

Once in office an opportunity for military action presented itself and his vice president was among those who were keen to take the opportunity. Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, the president heeded the advice of his hawkish vice president and took the necessary steps to expand his use of the military contrary to his campaign rhetoric.

Of course I am talking about George Bush here and his vice president, Dick Cheney. The trick is that the first paragraph applies word for word to Barack Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden.

Tags Afghanistan, Biden, Bush, Cheney, Elevated, foreign policy, international, Iraq, military, Obama, war

General

Put the Shoe on the Other Foot

Post author By David
Post date October 6, 2009
6 Comments on Put the Shoe on the Other Foot

photo credit: Doug20022

I’m beginning to conclude that we should never make a political decision without first reversing our perspective of the decision and seeing how it looks. For example, on health care there is a lot of focus on what this will look like for those who want insurance but can’t get it. Only now do any politicians seem to be considering what this legislation does to those who have insurance or don’t want it.

Rep. Ron Paul does this with Afghanistan and I’d like to have a hypothetical look at Iran right now to see what it looks like.

Tags Elevated, foreign policy, international, Iran, perspective, WMD

General

Facts From Honduras

One month after Manuel Zalaya was sent into exile we are hearing very little news on the situation. The crisis in Honduras is still not resolved however and now Roberto Micheletti, the interim President, is expressing his views in the Wall Streett Journal. The views that he shares sound like he is very much on the same page as Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, whose position I covered a couple of weeks ago.

I’m not sure if the story withered from lack of interest or if the facts being cited by the current leadership of Honduras make it hard to continue pushing the version of events that the media seemed to prefer.

Tags Honduras, international, media, Wall Street Journal

General

An Inside View on the Honduran Situation

Post author By David
Post date July 10, 2009
2 Comments on An Inside View on the Honduran Situation

It’s always nice to have my positions validated by someone with more inside information than I have. I just learned that Tegucigalpa Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga has taken the same position as I have expressed on every point of the situation in Honduras. (You have to read my posts and my comments afterwards to see me express each of these positions.)

Rodriguez issued a statement in a televised address declaring Zelaya’s ouster legal.
He recommends seeking a peaceful solution to the political crisis.
He has rejected international criticism of Zelaya’s ouster.
He has condemned the manner in which Zelaya was kicked out of the country.

To me that’s even better than scouring the Honduran constitution to back up my views on the situation (although that has been done as well).

Tags Cato, connections, current events, Honduras, international

National

The Monroe Doctrine

I remember learning about The Monroe Doctrine in history classes – mostly about the interpretation of it called Manifest Destiny. I found it enlightening to review some background surrounding this speech to Congress. In Wikipedia the doctrine is summed up like so:

President Monroe claimed the United States of America, although only a fledgling nation at the time, would not interfere in European wars or internal dealings, and in turn, expected Europe to stay out of the affairs of the New World.

Considering that this nation was not yet 50 years old this would be seen as presumptuous, but the Wikipedia summary missed a key distinction that Monroe specified:

With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere.

While the idea that the United States at that time could interfere with internal European affairs was laughable this was still a world in which proximity was of paramount importance and this “fledgling nation” had already shown that it could – because of distances – become a serious thorn in the side of one of Europe’s most powerful nations. I’m sure that despite the audacity of the statement the powers of Europe were only too pleased to have the United States promise not to interfere with their existing colonies.

What I wish regarding the Monroe Doctrine is that we would remember two other forgotten parts of it:

In the wars of the European powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do so. (emphasis added)

This should not be interpreted as being limited to European powers – it should also apply to out treatment of the rest of the world. Unfortunately throughout the last half century it not only comports with but in fact has been our de facto policy to interfere. In contrast we should be able to say today that:

Our policy, in regard to {other nations} . . . is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of any of its powers; to consider the government de facto as the legitimate government for us; to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those relations . . .

In case that is not perfectly clear to anyone I would say “hint, hint – think Honduras.” Instead of denouncing the removal of a dictatorial president we should treat the interim (read de facto) president as the legitimate leader of the country. Our relations with that nation should be no different today than they were last week (when their government was less secure than it is today).

Tags documents, history, Honduras, international

culture

News on the Honduran Coup

Post author By David
Post date June 30, 2009
13 Comments on News on the Honduran Coup

When I first heard about the military coup in Honduras I noticed some reference to the extra-constitutional activities of the ousted president and the attempts by their legislative and judicial branches to check his actions. Soon however I noticed a shift in the news coverage as a party line began to develop. First Hugo Chavez was condemning the coup and then others joined the chorus – including the U.S. Soon the news coverage had been dumbed down to exclude any mention of the real reasons for the coup while focusing on the ideal that “there should be no military coups in the modern world.” (That came from an analyst on NPR.)

[quote]I began to wonder what to do or say as I began to feel that we were being misled but feeling powerless to say anything meaningful because I don’t consider myself to have any expertise on Honduras. Thankfully today I stumbled onto a good analysis at NO QUARTER by Larry Johnson. (Warning – there is one instance of Language I Would Never Use™ in the article.)

Johnson reminds readers of the facts of the case:

For starters the ousted President, Zelaya, had become close buddies with Chavez of Venezuela and was pushing to over turn the Honduran Constitution that limited Presidents to one term. This was not your typical military coup. This had the backing of the legislature and the judiciary. But Zelaya is doing a good job of playing the victim.

My first reaction had been that the United States should not get involved but after reading Johnson’s recommendation that the U.S. needs to engage [quote1]I would clarify my position to say that the U.S. should not get involved internally in Honduras, but that we should also make it very clear that expect others (Chavez and cronies) to not meddle internally in Honduras either. The Hondurans started this on their own and should be allowed to finish it on their own. The only way that any other nation should be involved is if the Honduran’s clearly seek that external assistance.

I was impressed with how accurate Johnson’s assessment seemed to be (and it seemed very consistent with the perceptions of some other people I know who have firsthand experience of living in Honduras), but perhaps I should not be surprised considering that he has intelligence experience specifically in Honduras:

I was the Honduran analyst at the CIA from 1986 thru 1989. I also lived in Honduras running a community development in the campo back in 1978.

Tags current events, Honduras, international, media, military, NPR, unconstitutional

General

International Hazing/Initiation

Post author By David
Post date March 10, 2009
No Comments on International Hazing/Initiation

Yesterday there was a very short story on NPR that caught my attention. Apparently a number of Chinese military ships came very close to an unarmed American military ship in international waters. Close was specified to be under 20 feet at one point which is very close in nautical terms. The suggestion by the reporter was that this was a test of the Obama administration by the Chinese government similar to the capture of an American spy plane by the Chinese very early in the Bush administration.

As I heard that the thought came to me that the situation sounds very much like a high school hazing or a fraternity initiation – except that the stakes are much higher. Either the leaders of China are foolishly playing games with their military, or they are making sure of each new administration in case they ever feel the need to becopme belligerent. (Personally I think the safest assumption is to believe the latter option.)

Tags China, government, international, military

culture

The Other Side of the Sentiment

Post author By David
Post date September 12, 2008
11 Comments on The Other Side of the Sentiment

As I was walking to the bus stop this morning I saw an image attached to the garage door of one of my neighbors.

I’ve heard/seen that sentiment before, but with all my thinking about the flag and the meaning of patriotism lately it struck me differently. I appreciate the sentiment that we are not a nation that is afraid to stand up for what is right and to stick to a difficult task, but I think this sentiment cuts both ways. These colors should not run to create strife any more than they should run from an appropriate struggle. We have too much talk from the right about how strong the military is and ought to be. Instead we should be happy that our military is strong, and work on our nation to make sure it is worthy of such strength.

Tags flag, ideal, international, patriotism, war

culture National

Patriot Day

I appreciate the idea of Patriot Day as a way to mark our modern “day of infamy.” It is unfortunate that the event has been used so effectively to manipulate our politics. Once upon a time, America represented more to the world than simply a big bully who was allowed, because of might and wealth, to impose his will on others. Our only hope of regaining that once-deserved prominence is to fix our own government and stop worrying about the rest of the world. We need to ensure our own security as a nation wiht a government that adheres to sound financial principles rather than relying on smoke, mirrors, and the boundless faith of the rest of the world to prop up our economic place in the world.

Some will accuse me of being isolationist. They would be wrong. There is no reason that we cannot lend a hand to other nations and participate in the international community, but our foreign policy must focus on our own actions. In other words, we should be policing ourselves more than policing everyone else.

Being a patriot means doing what is best, rather than what is easiest or most popular. We need more patriots in the nation who are willing to talk together, identify the real serious problems we face, and find solutions rather than politically expedient (popular) patches. I still believe this is possible, but not if we run our nation in reaction to the events of the past. Let’s fix America and let the other nations ask for our help if they want it.

Tags connections, history, holidays, international, patriotism