Well, Folks, the U.S is at it again. I say this with the bitterness and disgust of someone who for the first time in his adult life has watched the toppling of one legitimate government, along side the serious undermining of another: It's quite obvious that this country played a role in the ousting of Haitian president Aristede. As well, the Dominican Republic, Haiti's Island neighbor, is being robbed once again of its sovereignty, as it becomes the first country in the Caribbean that signs a "Free Trade Agreement" with the U similiar to that of Central America. The agreement allows for the Dutiless importation of U.S. agricultural and manufactured goods within the next 5 to 15 years, depending on the commodity. Im sick and tired already, though this is only the thin crust below which lies the blood-ridden inferno that is the history of U.S-Latin America relations. There is yet more disappointment to be had as events unfold in this chaotic hemisphere we call America.

I happen to think that the recent events in Haiti and DR are a direct result of Bush Administration's tax-cuts and wars. The U.N., rightly so, was not about to cover the tab on an illegal war of aggression. With few allies, aside form the occasional spoon and band-aid supplied by Poland, Jordan, the now-redeemed Spain, and a few other "solid supporters", the U.S has had to pay for this war almost entirely out of its [people's] own pocket. With a deficit reaching the trillion mark, something has to give. Education, healthcare, Medicaid, and welfare in the U.S is suffering from the deficit. All of this amounts to a decrease in purchasing power in the United States, so that the internal market is even less able now to absorb the surplus goods being produced (agricultural, manufactured products, etc...). So now the corporate giants need, as always (but even more so now), to resort to the external market and-- since no one else wants to have our crap dumped on them--the U.S will strong-arm, through 'free-trade' agreements, the IMF, and the World Bank, the weakest countries to take in our dump. Hence the current happenings in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

One way in which you might predict the coming of a war, therefore, is by looking out for clusters of new "free-trade' deals through U.S, World Bank, and IMF policy. The Clinton years were CHOCK FULL of those (NAFTA, etc..).That's right, the Dems set 'em up, the Reps knock 'em down. So the entire hemisphere, and not just U.S citizens, suffers from the war in the middle east.