MADRE Associate Director, Yifat Susskind, writes about the political crisis in Haiti that erupted in mid-February, when an armed movement seeking to overthrow Haiti’s President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, went on a rampage in a dozen Haitian towns.
According to Susskind, Haiti’s opposition represents only 8 percent of the population. With no chance of winning through democratic elections, they rely instead on armed violence to foment a political crisis that will lead to the fall of the government. Whatever the outcome of the crisis in Haiti, Susskind suggests, chances are that one group of thugs will be replaced with another.
In the latter part of his article, Susskind provides insight as to why it’s so hard for us to get a clear picture of what’s happening in Haiti, and makes demands of the U.S. administration and the world community to intervene.

Head over to Jay Currie’s blog to read a fascinating essay by David Goodhart — one of Great Britain’s leading liberal intellectuals and editor of the progressives’ journal, Prospect — who offers a penetrating analysis of one of the most contentious issues facing developed nations today.

Philosopher, poet, literary and cultural critic, George Santayana’s nostrum “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it” has particular resonance today, especially as it relates to the role Halliburton — the former employer of both President George W. Bush, and Vice-President Dick Cheney — currently plays in the reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
In this article published on TomDispatch.com, Renato Redentor Constantino discusses the correlation between current day events in Iraq — as they unfold as part of the White House’s plan for global hegemony — and historical forays by the United States into the Philippines over a century ago, and more recently in Vietnam.