HAITI GIVES A CHANCE TO AMERICA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD
RIA Novosti
21:1218/01/2010
Moscow. (RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev) –
A three-minute tremor in Haiti was sufficient to create a new
international situation for the United States and the rest of the
world. By adopting a smart policy towards Haiti America can win back
its positions, compensate for all its failures (Iraq and Afghanistan),
reverse the anti-American attitudes, and regain its status of a
superpower.
Washington is obviously aware of this. Last week U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton interrupted her Pacific trip and returned home.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and two former presidents from different
parties – Bill Clinton and George W. Bush – have joined the efforts
to save Haiti. Apparently, these efforts will not be limited to
rescue flights to the disaster area. President Barack Obama got it
right. If America saves not only a thousand lives but a de facto
destroyed country, it will restore its international reputation.
This is a huge task. Haiti is like Afghanistan or Somalia. As a state
it exists only formally and governs a limited territory. Strictly
speaking, nobody knows what to do with such failure states. Europeans,
for instance, are doing all they can to avoid military involvement
in Afghan affairs. As for Somalia, the outside world has imposed
maritime quarantine there, albeit not very successfully, but does
not want to interfere in its affairs beyond the coastal line.
Now imagine if Afghanistan or Somalia are struck by a natural
disaster, which will kill about 100,000 people and five times more in
a week. It is not possible to stay away. This is what the situation
in Haiti is like. There are no authorities (its government is located
on a semi-destroyed police station on the airport’s outskirts), no
communications, no fuel… The country has virtually ceased to exist
even in its former shape.
There are no precedents with a possible exception of the tsunami in
December 2004, which took 160,000 lives in Indonesia’s Aceh province.
Indonesia and its authorities are not the most effective in the world
but a multi-national rescue operation was a success. It even put an
end to the local separatist movement.
This is what Haiti needs today – not only help with saving lives but
also complete resetting of its deadlocked state and society. This would
be a good example for Somalia, Afghanistan and some other countries.
But how can this be done in a country with 7.8 million people?
Democratic elections will not work in this case. The UN Trusteeship
Council, which has done almost nothing in the past few years, could
suspend Haiti’s sovereignty for two or three years.
However, judging by the first signs, America is losing its chance.
Everything started out well. Like in Indonesia in 2004, American
warships were the first to act. In Russia almost everyone has quoted
Fox News, which was flushed with America’s grandeur and lashed out
at Russia and China for not helping as much as the United States. But
this is only natural because the earthquake took place 700 miles off
America’s shores. When Spitak in Armenia was hit by an earthquake,
Russia was the first to help and America followed suit.
Now the problem is how to prevent new refugees from Haiti from arriving
in the United States? Washington at least decided not to deport 100,000
or 200,000 illegal immigrants from Haiti who have been in the United
States for a long time and were ready for deportation.
A conflict has already flared up with France. Ostensibly the American
military have occupied the airport in Port-au-Prince and do not allow
aircraft from other countries to land in the capital. The U.S.
favorite "special force" style, which is quite appropriate under the
circumstances, is creating problems for the United States, all the
more so since Americans have long fallen out of favor in Haiti.
Will it come to shootouts in the streets? Maybe the United States
should let France take the lead in helping the French-speaking
population of Haiti? There are numerous issues and resolving any of
them may become a major precedent in the future.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not
necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti