Should America Intervene in Haiti? ‘Go to Hell’ and Other Views

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

New York Times Opinion

New York Times, Journalism, News, Society & Culture, Ross Douthat

4.0 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2022

⏱️ 31 minutes

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Summary

The United States has a long history of military intervention in other countries. Today, Haiti is in crisis. The country is facing gang violence, extreme hunger and intense political turmoil, sparked largely by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last year. And with a call from acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry, requesting international military assistance, the United States faces a familiar question: To intervene or not to intervene? To discuss, Jane Coaston brings together New York Times Opinion columnists Lydia Polgreen and Nick Kristof, who both have firsthand experience in Haiti. Their careers covering crises in other countries have shaped how they view U.S. intervention in the country and elsewhere around the world. “There are more problems in international relations than there are solutions, and I think Haiti, right now, is one example of that,” Kristof says. Mentioned in this episode: “‘This Is It. This Is Our Chance.’ It’s Time for Everyone to Get Out of Haiti’s Way.” by Lydia Polgreen for The New York Times “The Other Afghan Women” by Anand Gopal for The New Yorker (A full transcript of the episode will be available midday on the Times website.)

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the argument. I'm Jane Christian.
0:07.0	Like a lot of you, I've been reading Nick Christophe's work for a long time.
0:11.0	He's been writing about human rights and foreign affairs since before I was born.
0:15.0	And over the years I've disagreed with him about a lot of things.
0:18.0	Like Nick is an Oregon State beaver's fan.
0:21.0	And more importantly, he also thought that invading Libya was a good thing for Libyans.
0:26.0	It wasn't.
0:29.0	I don't know how calm this Lydia Polgren feels about Oregon State.
0:33.0	But I do know that she has spent a lot of time reporting on international conflicts, particularly in the Global South.
0:39.0	So I invited them on to talk about if, when, and how the US should intervene in other countries.
0:44.0	More specifically, we're talking about Haiti.
0:48.0	For many people listening as podcasts, you may know more about voting rights in Maricopa County than what's happening in Haiti.
0:54.0	So let me catch you up.
0:56.0	The US and Haiti go back, way back.
0:59.0	And we've this habit of intervening every once in a while.
1:03.0	And historically, that hasn't gone very well.
1:06.0	Look up 1915, 1994, 2004.
1:10.0	Now it's 2022, and Haiti is in crisis.
1:13.0	The country is facing brutal gang violence, extreme hunger, and intense political turmoil, sparked by the President's assassination last year.
1:20.0	In this past October, the widely unpopular acting Prime Minister put out a call for international military assistance.
1:27.0	Which means the US has another chance to intervene.
1:30.0	But should we?
	...

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