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Today's
Stories
December
4 / 6, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Politicize the CIA? You've Got to
be Kidding
December
3, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Lie Then Escalate
Ben
Tripp
Fun With Boycotts: How to Shop in a
Time of Crisis
Joe
Allen
Murder in El Salvador: the Assassination of Teamster Organizer
Gilberto Soto
Matthew
B. Riley
Human Rights Court Fails Lori Berenson
Meir
Shalev
In the End, It is the Violin that Wins
Bob
Wing
The White Elephant in the Room: Race and Election 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
When McCain Bit His Tongue
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
The EU, the US, Israel and Iran
December
2, 2004
Tito
Tricot
No Justice in Chile: I'm a Torture
Survivor in a Country Where Torturers Still Run Free
Behzad
Yaghmaian
The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration
Dr.
Susan Block
Lana and Me: Meetings with Remarkable Apes
Frank
/ Chowkwanyun
Liberalism and Its Bounds
Lee
Sustar
Standoff in Ukraine: the Bad v. the Corrupt
Patrick
Cockburn
Another Grim Record in Iraq
Mark
Engler
Seattle at Five
Michael
Donnelly
Something Stinks in South Bend: the Firing of Tyrone Willingham
Nate
Collins
The Bay Area Mall on an Ohlone Burial Grounds
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
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Weekend Edition
December 4 / 6, 2004
Doing God's Work or Washington's?
Brazil's
Haitian Mission
By
ANNA IOAKIMEDES
Less than a week after the de facto
February 29 coup d'état that overthrew President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the Brazilian government let it be known
that it would send 1,100 troops to lead and provide the core
units for MINUSTAH, the UN's international peacekeeping force
in Haiti. Brazilian troops arrived and assumed command of the
force in June, relieving a U.S.-led multilateral force of 2,500
already in the country. On November 29, the UN Security Council
announced that the MINUSTAH forces would extend their stay in
Haiti until June 2006, with Brazil continuing to lead the force.
Brazil's stated mission for its presence in Haiti is to support
the decisions of the UN Security Council and aid the Haitian
people. "It is natural for Brazil to be in Haiti,"
said a source within the Brazilian embassy. "There was no
alternative to involvement [there]." However, a number of
independent observers have been quick to claim that Lula da Silva's
reasons for his country's presence are more self-centered than
just maintaining regional peace or helping the Haitians, and
more accurately stem from Brazil's desire to advance its position
on the world stage, a project for which U.S. goodwill is essential.
Domestic
Dissent
In spite of its seemingly innocuous
role as that of "peacekeeper," the MINUSTAH force has
been criticized on a number of grounds. Some isolationist Brazilians
feel that it is wrong for Lula to focus so much attention and
resources on a foreign country when there are serious domestic
problems which need to be addressed. Brazil has one of the worst
income distributions in the world, with one fourth of the country's
population living on earnings of less than two dollars a day.
The gang wars and drug cartels in the urban slums known as
favelas are barely containable and are only met with under-equipped
and under-trained local police forces unable to deal with a problem
of enormous magnitude. As a result, they often lapse into widespread
human rights abuses against the poor or enter into complicity
with the criminals they are supposed to oppose. Given the enormity
of the problems facing their country, many Brazilians are somewhat
resentful of the fact that Lula seems to have grown bored with
helping his own people with their multiple problems, and moved
farther afield.
As Haiti's present, deeply
flawed government was not elected, but rather resulted from the
overthrow of democratically-elected President Aristide at the
behest of U.S. authorities, many Brazilians feel that, by authorizing
a peacekeeping force to Haiti, the UN is implicitly condoning
an illegitimate government that installed a thoroughly incompetent
UN official, interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, whose ineptitude
is to the demonstrable detriment of the Haitian people. Fundamentally,
the case against Lula is that the Brazilian army is not in Haiti
simply to support a peaceful resolution, but rather to help inculcate
a post-Aristide society where Aristide's Lavalas political party
could be disqualified from participating in next year's presidential
balloting. The rationale behind this is that if Lavalas is allowed
to run, it will almost certainly win by a landslide victory,
something the U.S. is entirely against.
In fact, human rights and Haitian
interest groups repeatedly have accused MINUSTAH for idly standing
by as peaceful pro-Aristide demonstrators are shot by Haitian
police (which also includes many members of the corrupt, disbanded
Haitian military), or worse, by the intercession of MINUSTAH
forces themselves on the side of the police. Highly regarded
human rights attorney Brian Concannon has found that, "They're
[the UN force] much more than negligently letting these things
happen. They are playing an active role." Critics also have
alleged that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has played a prejudicial
role against Aristide's Lavalas party and collaborated in legitimizing
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's scheme for forcing Aristide
to flee to exile. Due to this and other factors, many Latin Americans
view the MINSUTAH force in Haiti as a function of Annan's efforts
to win Washington's goodwill, by echoing Powell's contention
that Aristide fled Haiti because he could not win over the opposition,
when, in fact, it was the opposition's fundamental policy not
to speak to Aristide under any circumstances. Lula's critics
now charge that Brazil is aspiring to become another Western
Hemisphere superpower. He has been inundated with critical petitions
and manifestos from his own Workers Party, one of which declared
that, by sending troops to Haiti, Brazil was "reinforce[ing]
the intention of George W. Bush's administration to impose an
unlimited hegemony."
Lula and
Washington at Odds
Given the growing claims that
Lula is in the United States pocket on some issues, his relationship
with that country remains surprisingly touchy. In April of this
year, Brazil became the first developing country to register
and win a complaint against a first world nation in the World
Trade Organization. It did this by insisting and then proving
that U.S. subsidies to cotton farmers unfairly gave an advantage
to U.S. farmers against cotton producers in the rest of the hemisphere.
A September 2003 free-trade summit in Cancún, Mexico,
collapsed when a coalition of developing nations, led by Lula,
protested against unfair trade restrictions on the part of industrialized
nations, an action that sharply nettled Washington. Also grating
to a Bush administration keenly aware of it friends and enemies,
was its bitterness over Brazil's lack of sympathy when it came
to the war in Iraq, with some Brazilian personalities even expressing
their feelings that the attacks of September 11 could be considered
a justified response to an abrasive and aggressive U.S. foreign
policy. Upon announcing that Brazil would stay in Haiti until
the elections, Lula came forth with what some considered a lame
defense of his actions, stating, "If we weren't there (in
Haiti), U.S. troops would be doing what we would never do,"
suggesting that, if Brazil had not taken over the peacekeeping
role in Haiti, the U.S. would be pursuing a militarized nation-building
strategy similar to the one being pursued in Iraq. Lula previously
had subtly criticized the U.S. when he described an August charity
soccer match between Brazil and Haiti as, "a gesture meant
to show the world that not everything should be done with cannons,
machine guns or weapons of mass destruction. Sometimes a gesture
of love is worth much more than certain wars we have been following
through the world media."
A Change
of Heart?
However, in spite of such bilateral
conflicts, the U.S. and Brazil at times seem to have an effective
working relationship. The U.S. failed to condemn Brazil after
the latter refused to let weapons inspectors from the International
Atomic Energy Agency view its nuclear facilities, in spite of
the fact that Washington has judged other countries such as North
Korea and Iran very harshly for a comparable offense. "The
United States understands that Brazil has no interest in a nuclear
weapon, no desire and no plans, no programs, no intention of
moving toward a nuclear weapon," were Powell's conciliatory
words in an interview with Brazilian television. In October,
deep in the middle of President Bush's re-election campaign,
Secretary of State Colin Powell made the time to visit Brazil,
bringing with him nothing but praise for its role in Haiti. "I
take particular note of the tremendous work that is being performed
by the Brazilian contingent in HaitiThey stepped forward and
are playing an important leadership role in the hemisphere and
I think what they did in Haiti demonstrates that," Powell
said. Critics see this amicability on the subject of Haiti as
proof of Lula's complicity with Washington in a scheme to oust
Aristide from power. Supporters of Lula maintain that he is merely
stepping forward to fulfill the mandate of the UN and maintain
regional peace, a role that is not at all new for Brazil, which
has a long history of working with the UN on peacekeeping missions.
Ulterior
Motive
Brazil, possessing the third
largest country in the hemisphere in terms of land mass and the
second largest in population, has long had a significantly more
diminutive position on the world stage than its geopolitical
status would merit. Lula seeks to bring his country to its rightful
position as a world leader in both the Americas as well as internationally.
Brazil is now serving a two year term as a temporary member of
the United Nation's Security Council. The five permanent members
(the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China)
have been on the Council since its inception in 1946. Regional
powers such as Brazil, India and South Africa are in the process
of soliciting the expansion of the Council's membership which
would allow them to be awarded permanent seats based on their
being the leaders in regions of the world now significantly underrepresented.
It is very possible that Brazil's
involvement in Haiti is also an effort to project its capacity
as an international player and to demonstrate that it has the
qualifications to serve as a permanent Security Council member.
The nature of the peacekeeping force that Brazil leads is in
itself significant. Though it contains soldiers from countries
as diverse as Nepal, Benin and Croatia, the clear majority of
the peacekeepers come from Latin America. Thus, Brazil is not
only showcasing itself as a international power, but perhaps
even more importantly, as a country capable of leading and representing
Latin America. Lula's strategy may be paying off: upon being
asked on numerous occasions if the U.S would support Brazil in
its quest for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, Powell
has said that, though the U.S. would wait for the results of
a panel of experts put together by UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan, "I would certainly think Brazil would be a solid
candidate for such expanded membership."
Lula's greatest goal is not
necessarily the salvation of Haiti, but the advancement of Brazil.
In this project, he is proving himself the consummate politician,
willing to use and also serve the U.S. and the UN when they suit
his interests, and to dare6 to disregard them when they do not.
Lula's actions could result in architecting the early stages
of a new superpower, but only if he does not miscalculate the
odds and therefore earn the skepticism of his own people, the
ire of the United States and the growing chagrin of tens of millions
of Latin Americans who genuinely believe that the Brazilian president
is selling out Haiti for his own benefit.
Anna Ioakimedes is a Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
|