Multilateral murder. posted by Richard Seymour

There was a war, a 'regime change', not so long ago which conformed perfectly to the aspirations of the UN-fetishists. It was not as bloody as Iraq. It was supported by a UN mandate. It was multilateral, bringing the Americans together with the hated French. (Friends at long last). At the time, this was treated as an internal squabble which the 'international community' would 'resolve' by assisting some 'neutral' placeman to power. This was, of course, the Aristide ouster in Haiti. Et voila :

Police terror sweeps across Haiti

UN looks on as slum-dwelling Aristide supporters are killed or thrown into jail without charge.

...

The current repression has led Haitian and international human rights observers to draw comparisons with the darkest days of the 1991-1994 military regime, and with the 1957-1986 dictatorship of François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc'. The difference, they say, is that the current government has had the blessing of the international community.

Neither the US nor the UN, which has a peacekeeping force here of more than 3,000 troops, has censured the abuses committed under the government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who took power in March. 'When 20 to 30 people were getting killed a year there was a cas cade of condemnation pouring down on the Aristide government,' said Brian Concannon Jr, director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. 'Now that as many as 20 to 30 are getting killed in a day, there is silence... It is an obvious double standard.'

I shall remember this when some insinuating right-winger pretends there is a pure antagonism between French and US imperialism, or that Bush is terminating decades of US support for dictators. Coups and repression are still very much on the books, and Old Europe is mucking in...