Is it time for another "Slave Revolt" in Haiti?

What is your evidence for this?  One of the tragedies is that the earthquake came at a time of significant improvements.

Real GDP has been growing, inflation is down, government revenues and spending are up.  More than a billion dollars in debt was forgiven and the country successfully completed HIPC and MDRI programs that boosted poverty reduction and education spending.  Between 2004 and 2007 child mortality fell by 10%.

Haiti’s Economic Development since 2004/05

Haiti: Restoring Hope, Delivering Credibility

It appears you believe those links offer some kind of reassurance that Haiti is on the right track, I don't, in fact if you do a little more research and read between the lines you can see that it is those who are profitting from the exploitation of the Haitian people who are celebrating their success.

Haitian earthquake: Made in the USA

I will read these reports, but with a very skeptical attitude. They were written by the IMF and the World Bank. Since when have either of these institutions been interested in long term structural reforms that benefit the Haitian people? 

A line of speculation prompted by the obscene photos run by the Globe and Mail today which attended its coverage of the quake; in which corpulent, painfully white Canadian soldiers in ridiculous uniforms and silly hats strike machismo poses with automatic weapons in front of our very own American built incredibly expensive military cargo aircraft on the tarmac in Port au Prince. I can't be the only one to note the bizarre disconnect between the reality of a civil disaster and this bloodthirsty threat display and this is what I'm thinking: it ain't for nuttin that we're sending MILITARY planes and a couple of MILITARY ships down there, presumably staffed with more guntotin' halfwits in silly costumes, to accomplish an essentially civilian task.

Put aside for a moment the long association between our military and national emergencies such as, oh, shovelling snow in Toronto a few years back; I'm sniffing out a darker motive.

For example, Cuba already has 400 doctors on the ground, presumably doing something halfway useful.

No: this is what I'm thinking. The US has directed a couple of aircraft carriers and 10,000 soldiers to Haiti - obviously what the country needs is a lot of foreigners with guns, top of the list really (I guess all those UN troops already stationed there are too busy shooting up the natives in Cite de Soleil) - not so much to deliver a whack of aid, which they'll do, but to promptly reassert its control in a potentially tricky time when the continuity of imperialist rule is threatened by natural disaster. This MUST be first and foremost, with a nod to Naomi Klein, obvious humanitarian motives notwithstanding.

With its proximity to the powerful examples of Venezuela and Cuba, and its historical connections to both, its northern neighbor must be quite nervous about pernicious challenges to the imposed order and sees the need for SIGNIFICANT DISPLAY.

I mean, when i think about it, it is so fucking obvious. Why else, an AIRCRAFT CARRIER for godsakes? It would be far cheaper to requisition or hire any old merchant vessel, probably a lot faster too, in Miami or some such, load it up with portable hospitals and the like and send it off. But no, its gotta be aircraft carriers and ten thousand heavily armed soldiers. i mean, there might be LOOTING for godsakes and that would be THE END OF THE WORLD! Civil order would break down! Er, wait a minute - hasn't it already? And...what is there to loot, anyway in this poor country except, just those resources people might need in time of emergency? And what order exactly?

And, the Alberta National Socialist Party, aka The Government of Canada, enthusiastically embracing its role as Nero's lapdog, must join the little parade with a couple of destroyers; it surely warms the heart of our very own tinpot d. and his drooling acolytes to see OUR very own Tim Horton-eatin' boys in green, beating back those (my god, they're all black! Blek, I tell you!) 'looters' as they help themselves to the resources of their own motherfucking country, as opposed to passively starving to death.

Stay tuned for sexy pics of 'our boys' holding bandaged infants rescued from the rubble, or firmly 'keeping the peace', Somalia-style, in a country where the most popular political party is banned from upcoming elections.

It brings a tear to my eye. I'm so proud to be a Canadian right now!

What You're Not Hearing about Haiti (But Should Be)

According to central planners in Washington, lack of birth control is the source of their problems in Haiti, and not the fact that Haiti is another US-sponsored neoliberal basket case.

Haiti's poverty is matter of policy. Venture back up and read Michelle's link.

If I was in Haiti I would just wait quietly for my benevolent rich fellow citizens to help me out.  Our mainstream media is nasty nasty nasty.  This was in the story and should have been the headline. 

And looting in the poorest country in the hemisphere is somehow more unusual and thus more headline worthy.  

Hell in the capitalist paradise they started looting in New Orleans real quick too.  Are you wearing anything made in Haiti then you've already looted from some worker down there.  Why is it headline worthy when desperate people try to feed themselves?  It is poor bashing. Since Canadian firms are complicit in the impoverishment in Haiti I find it especially appalling.

The Militarization of Emergency Aid to Haiti: Is It A Humanitarian Operation or an Invasion?

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17000

"The unspoken mission of US Southern Command is to ensure the maintenance of subservient national regimes. In all likelihood the humanitarian operation will be used as a pretext and justification to establish a more permanent US military presence in Haiti..."

Hannibal Lector Helps Haiti

Thanks, NoDiff: the Chossudovsky piece would seem to confirm my suspicions. I recommend it to you A_J.

In a nutshell, 10,000 heavily armed foreign troops will shortly be arriving in Haiti 'to maintain order' without apparently bothering to ask permission from the Haitian government. Apparently the indigenous population are incapable of self-organizing, hello White Man's Burden.

The humanitarian force is accompanied by a couple of cruise missile destroyers? Absolutely natural, nothing to be alarmed about there. Its really more of a fashion statement, you can't send aircraft carriers out there NAKED, its simply not done. That part of the Caribbean is swarming with...well, some pretty dangerous fish, anyway. And boatloads of fleeing Haitians perhaps.

The crisis is being exploited in a most cynical fashion to support a vulgar threat display to regional economic competitors of the United States and Canada joins in as willing accomplice. Haiti will be 'assisted' back into its role as cheap labour pool - hard to beat 37 cents an hour on this side of the Pacific - with 20,000 foreign soldiers in total on the ground to make sure the recovery doesn't veer into something CRAZY like the socialism of its immediate neighbours, or even simple democracy. Do NOT hold your breath for the return of elected Prime Minister Aristide, kidnapped in the dead of night by a US Navy SEAL team in 1991 and flown into exile.

A_J, on the subject of leasing commercial shipping i understood the Canadian military deployment to Afghanistan was handled in this way. It is also the case that the merchant marine has been extremely hard hit by the economic collapse - availability not a problem therefore - and there is no reason i can see that they would need significantly more time to mobilize than our naval destroyers - ships manifestly unsuited to the transport of bulk materiel. Given that the most pressing need on the ground is assistance in digging out survivors, ALL shipborne assistance will arrive too late to be of any help there.

But having a couple of American-allied military boats pootling about in the waters off Haiti is a nice way to kiss Uncle Sam's military arse and WILL earn us points with that remarkable MAN OF PEACE President Obama. I couldn't fit the phrase 'cravenly obsequious' in there, but its in the air. There is something truly disgusting about our government's willingness to abase itself before our southern neighbour. IMHO.

Same goes for the ridiculous C-17s. You could lease a commercial cargo 747 with a phone call, but you'd lose the PR opportunity to showcase 'Canadian' military capability. Playing politics with a disaster like this is all in a day's work for Ottawa's warmongers. Either you're duped or you're not, the information is out there.

What a ridiculous construction to put on the cited interview!

Preval states that he showed up at the palace to work but was told it wasn't safe; presumably he was at the airport because it had become the de facto locus of relief efforts. His own house was also destroyed but he said he wasn't concerned about where he'd spend the night, he had work to do.

Another question altogether who had effective control of the country prior to the quake and I'll have to research that some more myself, I'm not up on the character of the Preval regime.

hm, really? You have some evidence of this?

Twitter chatter saying that the pigs were milling around the police HQ and not helping the people.

No, it is expected that relief would be forthcoming immediately from Haitian search and rescue teams. The fact there are no Haitian search and rescue teams is the real issue here, because it begs the question: why are there no Haitian search and rescue teams? The answer of course is obvious. The Haitian government has no capacity because it does not effectively tax the foreign investors and domestic elites who profit from (and promote) Haiti's economic and political underdevelopment.