International Events 5, "As the World Turns"

[Zorral]

Haitians do not WANT the U.S. -- or any other country -- to come in and 'fix' this long and continuing crisis for the country.  The US and others have come in so often and fixed things, i.e. occupied and made things even worse.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/10/world/jovenel-moise-assassinated#haiti-us-troops-opposition

Quote

 

Intellectuals and members of Haiti’s civil society quickly criticized a call by Haitian officials for the United States to send in troops, citing earlier interventions by foreign powers and international organizations that further destabilized Haiti and left a trail of abuses.

“We do not want any U.S. troops on Haiti’s soil,” Monique Clesca, a Haitian pro-democracy activist and former United Nations official, said in a post Friday on Twitter. “The de facto prime minister Claude Joseph does not have any legitimacy to make such a request in our name. No, No & No.”

Many in Haiti had argued that President Jovenel Moïse was no longer legitimately in office at the time of his assassination this week. Mr. Joseph, who said that he was in charge after the killing of Mr. Moïse, has also faced widespread criticism after taking over the country on Tuesday.

Yet, despite the sudden uncertainty brought by Mr. Moïse’s assassination, some residents and intellectuals argue the many questions raised by his killing give them a long-awaited opportunity to reform Haiti’s institutions.

“We never have a chance to figure out the rules of the game ourselves,” said Melodie Cerin, a resident of Port-au-Prince and the co-editor of Woy Magazine, an online publication. “That’s what’s most frustrating to Haitians. We’re put aside each time we’re trying step up.”

A senior Biden administration official said on Friday that there were no plans to provide U.S. military assistance at the moment — and regardless, Haitians have argued that they need to find a solution to the country’s instability on their own.

Operations by outside powers like the United States, and by international organizations like the United Nations, have often added to the instability, they say.

“The solution to the crisis must be Haitian,” said André Michel, a human rights lawyer and opposition leader, calling for a broader institutional debate that would gather politicians, Haiti’s civil society and its diaspora.

Many have also argued that a foreign intervention would simply not work.

“It’s like coming back with a toolbox, but the box has the wrong tools in it,” Ms. Clesca said in a telephone interview. “What needs to be in the toolbox are voices from Haiti.”

Some criticism has focused on the contested legacy of a U.N. peacekeeping mission that intervened in Haiti from 2004 to 2017. Peacekeepers brought cholera to the country, and numerous instances of rape and sexual abuse, including of girls as young as 11, have been documented.

“This is outrageous,” Marlene Daut, a professor of American and African diaspora studies at the University of Virginia, said this week in response to a Washington Post editorial that called for a new international peacekeeping force in Haiti. The editorial described the previous U.N. peacekeeping mission as having brought “a modicum of stability.”

Ms. Clesca said the United Nations now had a disastrous reputation in Haiti. “One needs to be coherent, the United Nations’s nickname is ‘cholera’ or ‘Minustah babies,’” Ms. Clesca said, a reference to the French acronym for the peacekeeping operation in Haiti.

For others, their opposition has been rooted in the way in which the killing of Mr. Moïse has echoed events of the past. “The last U.S. occupation was preceded by the assassination of another Haitian president, under the guise of wanting to restore order, similar to what is happening now,” Woy Magazine wrote in a newsletter this week, alluding to the 1915 assassination of Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. The United States then occupied Haiti until 1934.

“What followed,” Woy Magazine’s Valérie Jean-Charles wrote, “was years of weakening of Haitian institutions and the senseless killings of many Haitians.”

 

While all the bad actors are clamoring for the US to come in, including the former Haitian president Martelly, who wouldn't leave either -- he's begging Biden to make him president again. Among others begging for it from the US.  The ones, of course, who have done this.

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

JFC it's 2021 in this day and age of the "information and tech era" and were still locking helpless laborers in production areas?

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_60e81518e4b0df9868219982

Shame on the bastards responsible!

At Least 52 Dead In Bangladesh Factory Fire As Workers Locked Inside

The main exit gate of the factory, which processes juice, soft drinks and other foods, was locked from inside, a fire official said.

[Zorral]

20 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

JFC it's 2021 in this day and age of the "information and tech era" and were still locking helpless laborers in production areas?

As you say ... We are still commemorating the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire here, where so many women lost their lives for the same reason.  Yet asshats like that guy who won't leave the Social Security Administration so Biden had to fire him -- he made his billions in the manufacture of underwear.  How much you wanna bet he has factories in Bangladesh?  And he thinks the worst thing in the world is benefits and workers compensation and labor unions.  A shoggoth guy all the way, you betcha, which is how he got appointed to the Social Security Administration in the first place, to wreck these SS benefits for workers and others hurt and disabled.

 

[ithanos]

On 7/7/2021 at 3:37 AM, The Marquis de Leech said:

The Samoan Government is prosecuting the Opposition leadership... for the crime of winning an election:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/446289/samoa-police-asked-to-move-against-fast

https://samoaglobalnews.com/head-of-state-says-no-party-has-a-majority-and-hits-back-at-supreme-court-judgment-to-convene-parliament/

(This has escalated quickly over the last couple of months. The Government's response to losing the election was to call another election. The courts declared that unconstitutional. So the Government are ignoring the courts, and pulling this stunt instead).

 

The outcome of this will be interesting. It could be the only example of a government change, or not, without the possibility of military intervention - since Samoa has no standing military. A lot now rests on the integrity of the Samoan Police to enforce the laws ruled on by the courts. 

[TheLastWolf]

13 hours ago, Zorral said:

And here you see demonstrated the knowledge impairment of reel lyfe in peeps who don't do games and anime. Shame, shame! on them!

I... Couldn't get you 

[TheLastWolf]

7 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Shame on the bastards responsible!

At Least 52 Dead In Bangladesh Factory Fire As Workers Locked Inside

The main exit gate of the factory, which processes juice, soft drinks and other foods, was locked from inside, a fire official said

All capitalists consumers of third world manufactured products are responsible indirectly. Maybe you, me anybody nobody 

[Fragile Bird]

46 minutes ago, The_Lone_Wolf said:

All capitalists consumers of third world manufactured products are responsible indirectly. Maybe you, me anybody nobody 

Wouldn’t a food and drink plant be mainly for local consumption? I don’t know.

[ithanos]

34 minutes ago, L'oiseau français said:

Wouldn’t a food and drink plant be mainly for local consumption? I don’t know.

According to this report,

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The factory that caught fire Thursday was subsidiary of Sajeeb Group, a Bangladeshi company that produces juice under Pakistan’s Lahore-based Shezan International Ltd., said Kazi Abdur Rahman, the group’s senior general manager for export.

According to the group’s website, the company exports its products to a number of countries including Australia, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Bhutan, Nepal and nations in the Middle East and Africa.

 

[Varysblackfyre321]

On 7/9/2021 at 8:33 AM, L'oiseau français said:

I just want to make a comment regarding those who said things about women soldiers marching in heels being unimportant.

Excuse me, but you really pissed me off.

This is typical with regard to male/female equality issues. Women are just so effing unimportant. Female soldiers are just a joke, they can march in heels because they’re just pretend soldiers, right? Send them out to combat in heels too, eh? I suspect some general got his rocks off seeing women in heels.

It’s 2021, get your head around the fact that men and women need to be treated equally in the workplace, no matter where that workplace is. 

I can’t see it being more improper than women’s military dress uniforms having skirts

Or that they’re given permission and expected to grow their hair longer with stipulation of it being rolled up.

I personally think all this stuff should be gender neutral to what’s most practical.

But I understand how some can these differences as acceptable towards giving an image of tolerance.

I don’t think women soldiers in heels was meant to be a sordid attempt at mockery.

Perhaps just something meant to show an inclusion for women.

[Varysblackfyre321]

On 6/26/2021 at 9:54 AM, Hereward said:

You don’t think civilians deserve protection from jihadi terrorists, or you think they do, but someone else should bear the risk?

Do you think that’s the primary motivation for Germany to place their soldiers there?

Personally I don’t think so. Imperialism isn’t practiced purely, or mostly out of purely altruistic motivations.

 

[Hereward]

2 hours ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

Do you think that’s the primary motivation for Germany to place their soldiers there?

Personally I don’t think so. Imperialism isn’t practiced purely, or mostly out of purely altruistic motivations.

 

Germany is there under a UN peacekeeping mandate. Germany is a firm supporter of the UN.  If you think they have an ulterior motive, the onus is on you to explain what it is. Please be more specific than "imperialism". 

[kiko]

5 hours ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

Do you think that’s the primary motivation for Germany to place their soldiers there?

Personally I don’t think so. Imperialism isn’t practiced purely, or mostly out of purely altruistic motivations.

 

There is absolutely no desire to go to those places. Most of the public is very much against it. 

The accepted reason for going is our duty within the framework of international bodies. And even that is contested.

Anyway, there is nothing to gain for Germany. Since we are usually only a very junior partner in those endeavors, we have no local clout. It's usually the big bullies that pressure the local governments into favorable business contracts (see GE vs Siemens in Iraq, Total Energy in Africa)

[TheLastWolf]

9 hours ago, L'oiseau français said:

Wouldn’t a food and drink plant be mainly for local consumption? I don’t know.

 

9 hours ago, ithanos said:

According to this report,

 

It was just a calculated guess on my part. Since the capitalism demon is behind nearly everything 

[Varysblackfyre321]

3 hours ago, Hereward said:

Germany is there under a UN peacekeeping mandate. Germany is a firm supporter of the UN.  If you think they have an ulterior motive, the onus is on you to explain what it is. Please be more specific than "imperialism". 

Huh re-reading the previous post I think there’s been a miscommunication on my end.

I had in mind you were asking if it was Germany’s responsibility to protect Malian civilians from Jihadists full-stop. Which I would say no and not the main the motivation for their presence.

But it can be said if Jihadist do consolidate more power in the region it can become  allow it be a beacon/safe-haven for international terrorism which can affect Germany.

To be clear when I used the word “imperialism” to describe Germany’s presence there I didn’t mean for it to sound like I was condemning the troops presence as bad.

Just in a more Blaise neutral way. I understand not all attempts for countries to influence or expand their influence in other countries is equal.

[DMC]

In photos: Thousands of Cubans rally for anti-government protests:

Quote

Thousands of people protested across Cuba on Sunday against food and medicine shortages during the pandemic, per AP.

Why it matters: It's unusual for demonstrations to be held against the Communist government, which is known for cracking down on dissent. The protests in Havana and elsewhere are the biggest since 1994, when an uprising saw many Cubans leave by sea, the New York Times notes.

 

[Zorral]

I saw that too.  Am waiting to learn what our friends and family there on the ground tell us about it.  The thing is that most reporting about what goes on in Cuba is so biased by the US right wing anti-Cuban bias, it's hard to tell what's what via those outlets.

The weird thing about this story? Cuba's been vaccinating people for weeks already. Shoot, Aristide was flown to Cuba to be treated for Covid and is still alive, while his wife died before him in Haiti.

There is no denying food shortages though.  Since the US won't allow banks internationally to deal with Cuba they have all these US Dollars but can't turn them in anywhere in the world and covert them to anything else.

 

[Winterfell is Burning]

As usual, the left in Latin America is mostly, if not entirely silent about the protest in Cuba. The Kirchners, Morales, Lula, Maduro, etc, are all accomplices.

[Zorral]

This is a concerted, organized effort, which for the first time has been able to succeed, thanx to FB. 

Just got off the fone with someone in Matanzas.  This isn't happening in Havana, but elsewhere.  Louis Braun put out the word on television to defend the Revolution.  There were pitched battles then, with the Revolutionaries going out and kicking these gusanos' asses.  60 year old women were out there beating on these guys with their skillets and broom sticks.  It's not that Louis Braun and Cuba don't have friends all over the world -- but because of the US military and the rules we set up no one can do anything.  At this point there's nothing imperial Britain has on the US for atrocity and criminality to other peoples.

The Bolton-tRumpists finally succeeded at getting going what the US bloco has been trying to do since 1960 -- food riots.  And there's nothing we can do -- we can't even send money or supplies due to this, and though our family has enough cash -- nobody in Cuba can use the dollars because there is no bank in the world than can take them thanks to these latest provisions to kill the country.

One wonders ... Biden says the US will not intervene in Haiti's current crisis.  But ... will that hold for Cuba?  Certainly Miami, filled with those dictator-kleptos from all over the world -- including Haiti -- has been gung ho for it since before the Bay of Pigs.  It will be one of the worst blood baths in history, if we do invade and occupy, which the pressure is on Biden to do.  Eff him and his broken promise on which he ran, that he'd restore the situation Obama had put in place.  And eff the Clintons too -- once again.

 

 

[DMC]

Biden already getting hit from the right on Cuba:

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Rubio is already faulting the Biden administration, however, taking aim at how top State Department officials are framing the protests as a response to rising Covid cases and medicine shortages and not opposition to the dictatorship. Rubio criticized President Joe Biden for not speaking up about the protests. He also contended Cuba would threaten another “Mariel” — the mass emigration of Cubans into Florida that happened in 1980.

On cue, Biden's statement today did specifically highlight opposition to the regime:

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"We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba's authoritarian regime," Biden said in a statement.

He continued, "The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights. Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected. The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves."

 

[DMC]

Per AP, Cuba's now blocking social media sites:

Quote

There was no formal organizer of Sunday’s protests; people found out about the rallying points over social media, mostly on Twitter and Facebook, the platforms most used by Cubans. The thousands of Cubans who took to the streets — protesters and pro-government activists alike — wielded smartphones to capture images and send them to relatives and friends or post them online.

On Monday, Cuban authorities were blocking Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, said Alp Toker, director of Netblocks, a London-based internet monitoring firm. “This does seem to be a response to social media-fueled protest,” he said. Twitter did not appear to be blocked, though Toker noted Cuba could cut it off if it wants to.