White House Announces a Slew of Ambassador Nominations, including to Haiti

[magbana]

Ken Merten, Obama's nominee for Amb. to Haiti looks like he will get along fine with Bill Clinton with whom he can plant sweatshops on the denuded hills and mountains of Haiti and call it progress.
magbana

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 4, 2009

President Obama Announces Intent to Nominate Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON - Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals for key administration posts: Carlos Pascual, Ambassador to Mexico; David Jacobson, Ambassador to Canada; Brigadier General James B. Smith, Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Donald Gips, Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa; Patricia N. Moller, Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea; Nicole A. Avant, Ambassador to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas; Kenneth H. Merten, Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti; and Anne E. Derse, Ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania.

President Obama said, "I am grateful that these individuals will help represent our nation abroad during this important time for our country and the world. They bring a depth of experience and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come."

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals today:

Kenneth H. Merten, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti


Kenneth Merten currently serves as Deputy Executive Secretary at the Department of State. A career Foreign Service Officer, he joined the Foreign Service in 1987. His previous overseas diplomatic assignments include Economic Counselor in Paris, France, Economic Section Chief, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Economic Officer at the U.S. Mission to the European Union, in Brussels, Belgium, Economic Officer in Bonn, Germany and Vice Consul in Port-au-Prince. Mr. Merten's Washington assignments include two tours in the State Department Operations Center and service in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs and on the Cuba Desk, as well as a year as Special Assistant to the Special Advisors on Haiti. Mr. Merten holds a B.A. from Miami University in Ohio, and a Masters in Public Administration from American University. Studies at the Université d'Aix-Marseille in France and at Karl Franzens Universität in Austria complement his other academic work.

…….









Brian Concannon Jr., Esq.

Director

Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti

P.O. Box 745

Joseph, OR 97846

541-432-0597

541-263-0029 (cell)

[e-mail]

www.HaitiJustice.org

Skype: Brian.Concannon

[Bacchus39]

1. all Haiti really needs is the return of Aristide

so he can take it back to where he left it, and call it progress.

[magbana]

2. Well. there is progress for the people and then there is progress

for the eight families that own everything in Haiti including the sweatshops. A lot of people think that manufacturing/industrial development is the way out for Haiti and other poor countries. Without adequate education and health care, Haiti's people will always be doomed to near-slave wages and the country will be perpetually attractive to those who wish easy access to cheap (dirt cheap) labor.

Now, luckily for the people of Haiti,Artistide knew that education must be the number one priority. That is why under Aristides administrations (just a few years because of the little interruptions caused by the two coups)he built more schools than all previous administrations combined. He also instituted a nationwide literacy program that was very successful and the Cubans and Partners for Health with Paul Farmer, in solidarity with the people of Haiti, extended health care beyond everyone's greatest hopes. Finally, he doubled the minimum wage.

The Haitian elite and their US buddies had to stop Aristide. He was building the last thing these guys wanted to see in Haiti -- a healthier, better educated, and better paid workforce.

So, let's keep an eye on Clinton and the new Ambassador and see what they do for the people of Haiti.

[Bacchus39]

3. I find it difficult to believe the US doesn't want a better educated and paid

Haiti as opposed to a permanent ward of the US and/or international community but you are certainly entitled to your opinion.

without political stability, not even sweat shop owners will operate in Haiti.

but lets hear your plan for Haiti by Clinton et al. I would think you would be more in favor of a hands-off approach from the US.

[magbana]

4. If the US wanted a better educated Haiti and for that matter the world

illiteracy would have been eradicated a long time ago. Being poor and uneducated leaves people victim to the domination of those who live off of the poor's inability to get out from under.

As for political stability, it was the US, France, and Canada that disrupted that in Haiti through cross border attacks on Lavalas party members a full 18 months before the US kidnapped Aristide. Five days after the kidnapping the people of Haiti hit the streets demanding the return of Aristide and the Multi-national Interim Force (that's the kidnapping three plus Chile)began shooting unarmed demonstrators and hauling people off to prison. The MIF was replaced by the UN peacekeepers, MINUSTAH, in June 2004 and they are still there today and is close to 10,000 peacekeepers in strength. MINUSTAH was deployed to Haiti without a "peacekeeping agreement" -- this was the first time in UN history where peacekeepers were deployed without such an agreement. These agreements are used to define who the warring factions are and how the UN peacekeepers are to maintain a neutral position between the two (sometimes three)which is the sole role of UN peacekeepers. But there were not two sides --just the people and an illegal, unsustainable, murderous interim gov't.

But, the real reason the peacekeepers were in Haiti was to prop up this wildly unpopular coup gov't. against the people who democratically elected a president and whose return they demanded. The UN peacekeepers committed their share of massacres over the last five years in doing their "political stability." And what does this political stability entail? Keeping a tight lid on the population. The peacekeepers are a proxy army for the US and are there to make sure no political activity by the people interferes with manufacturing/industrial development that will only benefit the Haitian elite. Clinton and the new Ambassador will not be there to counter this strategy -- they will be there to support it and translate it into something unrecognizable for world consumption and Haiti will go to hell in a handbasket.

[Bacchus39]

5. I'll be looking for that evil manufacturing and industrial development

to occur in Haiti.

what type of development would occur without the peacekeeping force and with the return of Aristide in your estimation?