Follow us on social

Shutterstock_1071347150-scaled

Haitian president Moïse assassinated in his home

The controversial leader had been accused of overstaying his term back in February and cracking down on protesters.

Analysis | Reporting | Latin America

The controversial leader of Haiti was shot and killed, his wife wounded, in his home on Wednesday, according to multiple reports this morning.

Interim prime minister Claude Joseph said president Jovenel Moïse was killed by gunmen overnight. He called the attack “odious, inhuman and barbaric” and called for calm.

Haiti has been on a slow boil for the last several months as Moïse was accused of violating the constitution and election law by extending his term as president when he was supposed to step down on Feb. 7, spurring protests. This followed, according to writer-activist Brian Concannon, years of corruption, gang violence and brutal crackdowns on dissent. He wrote in Responsible Statecraft in March that just before Feb. 7, Moïse's police arrested a Supreme Court justice and several dissidents in what he believed was an attempted coup plot, and later fired the justice and two of the judge's colleagues, as police violently cracked down on ensuing protests.

To say the climate was tense before today, and that Haiti has never recovered from not only its devastating natural disasters, but the systematic corruption, autocratic rule, and poverty dominating the island, is an understatement. More details will follow in Moïse's assassination, but unfortunately the script was written long ago, making the plot ring all too familiar.

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse on stage at the Miramar Cultural Center. He spoke to a capacity audience about Haiti's progress during his first year in office. (shutterstock/gregory reed)
Analysis | Reporting | Latin America
US groups to Biden: End aid if Israel won't stop brutalizing civilians
REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
photo : U.S. President Joe Biden attends a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he visits Israel amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 18, 2023.

US groups to Biden: End aid if Israel won't stop brutalizing civilians

QiOSK

A group of 60 national, state, and local organizations sent a letter to President Biden on Monday urging him to “hold Israel accountable to U.S. law [by] ending arms sales to Israel to protect U.S. interests, achieve a ceasefire, protect civilians, increase aid access in Gaza, and work towards a stable future for the region.”

The policy, humanitarian, and faith-based organizations — which include Amnesty International, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, and the Quincy Institute, publisher of Responsible Statecraft — expressed disappointment with Biden’s policy of “unconditional support of Israel paired with empty threats,” saying the policy has not yielded any meaningful results and serves to harm America’s global reputation.

keep readingShow less
Stefanik UN pick: Win for hardliners aiming to frontload Trump WH
File:President Trump Signs Stefanik Initiatives into Law at Fort ...

Stefanik UN pick: Win for hardliners aiming to frontload Trump WH

Washington Politics

President-elect Trump has named New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik as his choice for ambassador to the United Nations.

The nomination is one of the first major appointments Trump has made since winning the election last week. Stefanik has been a staunch Trump loyalist going back to his first term in office, and she has been one of the most vocal supporters of the war in Gaza over the last year.

keep readingShow less
By the numbers: US missile capacity depleting fast
Top photo credit: Sailors lift ammunition during an on-load aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110). William P. Lawrence is underway on its first operational deployment to the western Pacific region as part of the Nimitz Strike Group Surface Action Group. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Carla Ocampo) File# 130126-N-ZQ631-628

By the numbers: US missile capacity depleting fast

Military Industrial Complex

Regardless of the merits or demerits of the Biden administration’s policies on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the wider Middle East, it has become clear that the United States has been using and giving away its missiles faster than it can produce them.

It is also clear that from the perspective of missile inventories and production, the United States is far from prepared to engage confidently in a sustained direct conflict with a peer competitor like China.

keep readingShow less

Election 2024

Latest

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.