22 January, 2010
Analysis: Rachel Cohen and Alan Maass
THE SIEGE OF HAITI
A ring of U.S. warships on patrol off Haiti’s coast to stop desperate people from trying to flee is a stark symbol of Washington’s attitude toward refugees.
socialistworker.org/2010/01/22/siege-of-haiti
Comment: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
THE MEDIA’S SCAPEGOATING REFLEX
The earthquake that rocked Haiti has brought back hard memories of the racist atmosphere whipped up after the Katrina disaster in New Orleans.
socialistworker.org/2010/01/22/media-scapegoating-reflex
Comment: Sasha Kramer
HAITI’S HOPE AMID THE SUFFERING
An activist describes how Haitians are enduring in dire circumstances—in contrast to the media reports of violence.
socialistworker.org/2010/01/21/hope-amid-the-suffering
US rejects Latin American claim it is ‘occupying’ Haiti
AFP
Her comments came after Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua — all three led by anti-US governments — claimed Washington was using the international relief …
www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hxPFjXRHzg1A1D9UuUAKhbd7j98A
Morales deplores US ‘occupation’ of Haiti
Carlos Valdez, Associated Press
LA PAZ, Bolivia — President Evo Morales said Wednesday that Bolivia would seek U.N. condemnation of what he called the U.S. military occupation of earthquake-stricken Haiti. “The United States cannot use a natural disaster to militarily occupy Haiti,” he told reporters at the presidential palace. “Haiti doesn’t need more blood,” Morales added, implying that the militarized U.S. humanitarian mission could lead to bloodshed.
feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=43924886&f=157895&u=3170875&c=0
Pan-African News Wire: Cuba, China, Venezuela Send Immediate …
By Pan-African News Wire A relief plane from Venezuela was among the first to land in the stricken country, where normal services had ground to a halt. Venezuelan and Brazilian doctors soon joined the Cuban teams, who were accustomed to working in spartan …
panafricannews.blogspot.com/2010/01/cuba-china-venezuela-send-immediate.html
WEISBROT: US “Security Concerns” Could Cost Many Lives in Haiti …
By magbana
In 2002, when a U.S.-backed military coup temporarily toppled the elected government of Venezuela, most governments in the hemisphere responded quickly and helped force the return of democratic rule. But two years later, when Haiti’s …
hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/weisbrot-us-security-concerns-could-cost-many-lives-in-haiti/
Chavez says US ‘weapon’ caused Haiti quake 21 Jan 2010
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez Wednesday accused the United States of causing the destruction in Haiti by testing a ‘tectonic weapon’ to induce the catastrophic earthquake that hit the country last week. President Chavez said the US was “playing God” by testing devices capable of creating eco-type catastrophes, the Spanish newspaper ABC quoted him as saying. Venezuelan media have reported that the earthquake “may be associated with the project called HAARP, a system that can generate violent and unexpected changes in climate.” HAARP, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, is a study run in Alaska directed at the occasional reconfiguration of the properties of the Earth’s ionosphere to improve satellite communications. Former US Secretary of Defense William Cohen in 1997 expressed concern over countries engaging “in eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves.”
www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116688§ionid=351020704
US says it will stay in Haiti for long term 22 Jan 2010
Despite criticism for the US military presence in quake-stricken Haiti, Washington says it has a long-term plan to stay in the country. “We are there for the long term, this is not something that will be resolved quickly and easily,” US Ambassador to the UN Alejandro Wolff said on Thursday. Just three days after a magnitude 7 earthquake jolted Haiti on January 12, the United States began to send military forces to the impoverished Caribbean nation.
www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116762§ionid=351020706
CIA Contractor Now Flying Spy Drone Over Haiti By Noah Shachtman 19 Jan 2010
A controversial CIA contractor has found new work in Haiti, flying drones on disaster recovery duty. When last we heard from Evergreen International Aviation, the Oregon-based firm was offering to post sentries at local voting centers during the 2008 election, “detaining troublemakers” and making sure voters “do not get out of control.” Now, company vice president Sam White tells Aviation Week that the firm is flying at least one ScanEagle surveillance drone over Haiti.
www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/cia-contractor-now-flying-spy-drone-over-haiti/
Haiti to resettle 400,000 quake victims to camps 21 Jan 2010
Within days, the government will move 400,000 people made homeless by Haiti’s epic earthquake from their improvised camps throughout the shattered capital to new resettlement areas camps on the outskirts, a top Haitian official said Thursday. Authorities are worried about sanitation and disease outbreaks in makeshift settlements like the one on the city’s central Champs de Mars plaza, said Fritz Longchamp, chief of staff to President Rene Preval.
channels.isp.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?flok=FF-APO-1102&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20100121%2F2133912267.htm
Doctors Without Borders Plane with Lifesaving Medical Supplies Diverted Again from Landing in Haiti —Patients in Dire Need of Emergency Care Dying from Delays in Arrival of Medical Supplies 19 Jan 2010
A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) cargo plane carrying 12 tons of medical equipment, including drugs, surgical supplies and two dialysis machines, was turned away three times from Port-au-Prince airport since Sunday night despite repeated assurances of its ability to land there. This 12-ton cargo was part of the contents of an earlier plane carrying a total of 40 tons of supplies that was blocked from landing on Sunday morning. Since January 14, MSF has had five planes diverted from the original destination of Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Republic. These planes carried a total of 85 tons of medical and relief supplies.
www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=4176
Venezuela steps up aid effort to Haiti, questions U.S. military …
By mary
Venezuela was the first country to send aid after the disaster struck on Jan. 12, with an advance team of doctors, search and rescue experts as well as food, water, medical supplies and rescue equipment arriving in Port-au-Prince on the …
www.sfbayview.com/2010/venezuela-steps-up-aid-effort-to-haiti-questions-u-s-military-deployment/
Banks Reopening In Quake – Hit Haiti
New York Times
By REUTERS PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Shops began to reopen in Haiti’s capital on Thursday and banking services were to resume at the weekend but the …
www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/01/22/world/international-uk-quake-haiti.html
Stars to turn out for Haiti telethon Friday
Los Angeles Times
Nearly one week after the earthquake struck Haiti, Seraphine Joseph, 2, is still waiting to be cared for at a clinic in Leogane. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles …
www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-telethon22-2010jan22,0,5891457.story
US offers protected status for Haitian immigrants
Washington Post
Under the temporary protected status program, or TPS, eligible participants
have an 18-month reprieve during which they can work to send money back to
Haiti …
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012104095.html
Nations set differences aside to expedite relief to Haiti
USA Today
By Marisol Bello, USA TODAY JIMANI, Dominican Republic — This small, dusty border town has become a superhighway of help into Haiti. …
www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-01-21-Haiti-Dominican_N.htm
Fine line between stealing, surviving in Haiti
USA Today
By Jack Gruber, USA TODAY By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Andre Pierre pulled a crude wooden cart Thursday with car tires for wheels …
www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-01-21-haiti-looting_N.htm
UN: Haiti accepts DR offer to send 150 troops
Washington Post
By EDITH M. LEDERER AP UNITED NATIONS — The Dominican Republic is sending 150 troops to help secure a critical land route in Haiti used to deliver supplies …
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012103095.html
Haiti earthquake gives Guantanamo new mission
Washington Post
The US has designated Guantanamo, less than 200 miles from Haiti, as the hub of the aid operation. Dozens of helicopters and planes take off daily to ferry …
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012103547.html
Organizations divided on adoptions of Haitian children
Chicago Tribune
By Oscar Avila and Cynthia Dizikes, Tribune reporters The dramatic retrieval of orphans from Haiti — including five destined for Chicago Friday — has raised …
www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-haiti-adopt-side-20100121,0,1247432.story
College seeks return of faculty, students missing in Haiti
Boston Globe
(J. Pat Carter/Associated Press) By Travis Andersen As the family of a college student from Rutland missing in Haiti marked her 20th birthday yesterday, …
www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/22/fla_college_seeks_return_of_all_faculty_students_missing_in_haiti/
US charity for Haiti outpaces giving after tsunami
Washington Post
By BRETT ZONGKER AP WASHINGTON — Donations to US charities for Haiti earthquake relief are outpacing donations from the days after the Asian tsunami in …
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012103178.html
Leo DiCaprio Donates $1 Million Towards Haiti Earthquake Relief
By The Huffington Post News Editors
Leonardo DiCaprio announced that he was donating $1 million Thursday to the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, the relief effort led by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. DiCaprio made the donation through his own organization, …
www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/21/leo-dicaprio-donates-1-mi_n_432417.html
Plug-and-Play Hospitals Inflate In Haiti – Doctors Without Borders …
By Mark Wilson
You’ve probably heard something about Doctors Without Borders (also known as the Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) lately, given their involvement in Haiti. Here, we see the organization set up what they call “plug-and-play” …
gizmodo.com/5453887/plug+and+play-hospitals-inflate-in-haiti
Madonna, Beyonce on ‘Hope for Haiti’ Telethon Team | PopEater.com
By PopEater Staff
Beyonce and Madonna are the latest stars to flock to Friday’s ‘Hope for Haiti’ telethon, joining some of the biggest names in music in a.
www.popeater.com/2010/01/21/madonna-beyonce-hope-for-haiti-telethon/
Haiti: HOWTO set up a plug-and-play hospital – Doctors Without …
By Xeni Jardin
They are setting up one of these in Haiti right now: 9 tents, 100 beds, including surgery and intensive care areas. And if you think Windows install kits are heavy? This one weighs 41 metric tons. To learn more, I spoke to MSF Logistics …
www.boingboing.net/2010/01/21/haiti-howto-set-up-a.html
Dominican Peacekeepers in Haiti | UN Dispatch
By Matthew Cordell
*UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal is reporting confusion over whether Haiti will accept Dominican peacekeepers with some officials saying that Haiti has reversed its earlier decision to deny the offer. If so, this is great news, because, …
www.undispatch.com/no-dominican-peacekeepers-haiti
Hugo Chavez Mouthpiece Says US Hit Haiti With ‘Earthquake Weapon’
FOXNews
Citing an alleged report from Russia’s Northern Fleet, the Venezuelan strongman’s state mouthpiece ViVe TV shot out a press release saying the 7.0 magnitude …
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583588,00.html
21 January, 2010
Slate explains the logistics of reporting in Haiti
Posted by Trafton Kenney on January 21, 2010 at 11:52 AM
“If aid organizations are having such a hard time delivering food and medical supplies, how are so many journalists getting into Haiti?” According to Rastogi, they’re catching flights on empty seats through Air Mobility Command, a unit of the Air Force that coordinates airlift support for the army and its humanitarian missions.
www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/01/slate_explains_the_logistics_of_reportin.php
CIA Contractor Now Flying Spy Drone Over Haiti By Noah Shachtman 19 Jan 2010
A controversial CIA contractor has found new work in Haiti, flying drones on disaster recovery duty. When last we heard from Evergreen International Aviation, the Oregon-based firm was offering to post sentries at local voting centers during the 2008 election, “detaining troublemakers” and making sure voters “do not get out of control.” Now, company vice president Sam White tells Aviation Week that the firm is flying at least one ScanEagle surveillance drone over Haiti.
www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/cia-contractor-now-flying-spy-drone-over-haiti/
“Humanity cannot be divided”: Gaza shows solidarity with Haiti
Rami Almeghari writing from the occupied Gaza Strip
January 20, 2010 – “We have been living a man-made disaster actually for the past 62 years,” said Palestinian parliamentarian Jamal al-Khudari, a chairman of the Gaza-based Committee to Break the Siege. “We would like to send out a message of solidarity to the people of Haiti, who are now facing a natural disaster. Despite the harsh conditions Gaza people live under here — the Israeli blockade and military actions — people here sent symbolic assistance to their brothers and sisters in Haiti.” The committee collected a a symbolic amount of food and some cash donations for earthquake-stricken Haiti, where tens of thousands have been killed and countless others were injured and displaced…
www.uruknet.de/?p=62391
US Military’s “Security” Not Helping Haitians
By Dolores M. Bernal
January 20, 2010 – …You will see video from all networks showing the looting and the “violent” Haitians. It’s like deliberately dehumanizing the very same people we thought were as humans as you and I a week ago. Black people already freak out many whites in America — they are portrayed as criminals, gangsters, violent thugs. It’s nothing new, these are cultural beliefs that never seem to really improve. Showing the black people in Haiti behaving desperately, could easy trigger the notions that those are not people, they are criminals…I’ll tell you what real security is: showing up to protect the victims, not the valuables, collapsed banks or grocery stores. If anything, our troops should be blasting open those stores so people could have easier access to the food inside. The FMLN in San Salvador did just that, they blew open the marketplace because they knew people were hungry. Desperate situations call for desperate measures…
www.uruknet.de/?p=62387
Solidarity, Not Charity: Helping Haitians Help Themselves
Randall Amster J.D., Ph.D., Truthout: “In the wake of a disaster such as Haiti is experiencing right now, there’s a strong impetus to help coming from people across a wide range of persuasions and perspectives. This is a good thing, of course, and yet even empathetic intentions can go awry when they foster conditions that can leave vulnerable people in a permanent state of dependency.”
messenger.truthout.org/ss/link.php?M=239627&N=470&C=76a196c220c6b4abf0e0378da6549ca1&L=3978
When the Media Is the Disaster: Covering Haiti
Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch.com: “Soon after almost every disaster the crimes begin: ruthless, selfish, indifferent to human suffering, and generating far more suffering. The perpetrators go unpunished and live to commit further crimes against humanity. They care less for human life than for property. They act without regard for consequences.”
messenger.truthout.org/ss/link.php?M=239627&N=470&C=76a196c220c6b4abf0e0378da6549ca1&L=3980
Haiti: Aid or the Marines?
Bruno Odent, L’Humanite: “Although Haiti needs an exceptional international mobilization, Washington’s assumption of military control there assumes some counterproductive aspects and is not without ulterior geo-strategic motives.”
messenger.truthout.org/ss/link.php?M=239627&N=470&C=76a196c220c6b4abf0e0378da6549ca1&L=3984
GRITtv: Resisting the Shock Doctrine in Haiti
GRITtv with Laura Flanders: “The Heritage Foundation didn’t wait very long after the earthquake in Haiti to issue its recommendations for Shock Doctrine-style ‘reforms,’ and the IMF has already offered a conditional loan to help rebuild. Haiti has seen enough of this type of policy already, and is in need of a different type of thinking: one not imposed from without, but developed from within the country and its communities.”
messenger.truthout.org/ss/link.php?M=239627&N=470&C=76a196c220c6b4abf0e0378da6549ca1&L=3985
Haiti’s mass graves swell; doctors fear more death:
Workers are carving out mass graves on a hillside north of Haiti’s capital, using earth-movers to bury 10,000 earthquake victims in a single day while relief workers warn the death toll could increase.
snipurl.com/u5a7n
Aid ‘piled up’ as Haiti stays hungry:
I am sitting a couple of hundred metres away from the runway of Port au Prince airport and I am frustrated. I wonder if I am allowed to say that as a journalist. But, having been in Haiti for the past few days, I realise normal rules no longer apply.
snipurl.com/u5a7u
Too big a task – Medics worry they can’t ‘heal’ Haiti:
The horrifying fact is there are Haitians dying from cuts that were left unattended. There are others who had no choice but to settle with the gaping holes in their bodies
snipurl.com/u5a85
Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations plane with relief aid for Haiti stranded in Caracas:
Russia’s Charges d’Affaires in Venezuela Vladimir Tokmakov told Itar-Tass that the IL-76 plane was being grounded in Caracas because the U.S. air traffic controllers, who are in control of the Port -au-Prince airport, were constantly delaying permission to fly into the Haitian capital.
www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14739950&PageNum=0
The myth of Haiti’s lawless streets:
To withhold aid because of the ‘security situation’ is a miserable excuse for agencies’ failure to deliver desperately needed help
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/20/haiti-aid-agency-security
Haiti needs water, not occupation:
The US has never wanted Haitian self-rule, and its focus on ‘security concerns’ has hampered the earthquake aid response
snipurl.com/u5a8k
A Haiti Disaster Relief Scenario Was Envisaged by the US Military One Day Before the Earthquake:
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense (DoD), was involved in organizing these scenarios on behalf of US Southern Command.(SOUTHCOM).
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17122
Chavez says US ‘weapon’ caused Haiti quake:
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez Wednesday accused the United States of causing the destruction in Haiti by testing a ‘tectonic weapon’ to induce the catastrophic earthquake that hit the country last week.
presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116688§ionid=351020704
CIA Contractor Now Flying Spy Drone Over Haiti :
When last we heard from Evergreen International Aviation, the Oregon-based firm was offering to post sentries at local voting centers during the 2008 election, “detaining troublemakers” and making sure voters “do not get out of control.” – Now, company vice president Sam White tells Aviation Week that the firm is flying at least one ScanEagle surveillance drone over Haiti. “
snipurl.com/u5a96
The New Dark Age 