Haiti (Catch all)

[Tom Kratman]

Again, I'm certainly not painting a rosy picture--I think the odds of disappointing results are quite high. However, so have the odds of a great many human endeavors!

Let's try this; give us a plan. What has to be done? What force must we apply? What ROE? Who do we need to kill or terrorize, at least in general? Where is the consensus for applying that society-changing force? (Note: We appear to lack the fortitude even to shoot looters.) Who shall exercise sovereignty over the place and why will that work better? How will we keep the brain drain from occurring if we try to educate them? What will they do for money? Why, in this case, can we expect that most or nearly all aid will not simply be stolen or embezzled? (I am often quite amazed at the degree to which the people who object to trickle-down economics tacitly accept trickle-down aid.) How do we keep farmers employed farming when they cannot compete with free food? What is the reason to believe that, this time, the west will have the sticktoitiveness to keep any such effort going? And if none, or none that are credible, why bother?