Port Au Prince airport was closed due to it being taken over by US military aircraft, and flights carrying medical and food relief were diverted to Dominica. Pity the US was'nt as quick in relief, for New Orleans during Katrina.

Pilger said

"Never before has an American president subordinated his government to the military establishment of his discredited predecessor, as Barack Obama has done. In pursuing George W. Bush’s policy of war and domination, Obama has sought from Congress an unprecedented military budget in excess of $700 billion. He has become, in effect, the spokesman for a military coup".

Now this would have to be one of the most cynical comments I have ever heard from anyone seeking to provide thoughtful comments on any incident or event.

If only Obama was interested in the dribble offered by Pilger that he would take the time to make a response to defend US efforts trying to do something positive in Haiti

thanks John. I'm sure you are a very hard person to upset, but i just want to add that not everyone on this forum is screaming commie pinko in your direction. Love your posts here and on Znet and where ever else i can find them. You are a candle in a dark place

John Pilger is writing against Corporate America and the surreptitious manner in which it forces itself onto Haiti. This type of technique is used by Corporate America, Corporate Europe,etc. to impoverish developing nations all over the world.

Naomi Klein calls it the "Shock Doctrine" of Disaster http://fora.tv/2008/10/16/Naomi_Klein_Disaster_Capitalism

"Nobel Laureate and former Chief Economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz wrote a review of The Shock Doctrine for the New York Times, calling the parallel between economic shock therapy and the psychological experiments conducted by Ewen Cameron "overdramatic and unconvincing" but also saying, "the case against these policies is even stronger than the one Klein makes" and that the book contains "a rich description of the political machinations required to force unsavory economic policies on resisting countries." (wikipaedia)

I'm from the right side of politics as far as free markets go and don't share all Pilger's philosphy.John Pilger is 100% correct in his assessment of the Corporate Global Oligarchy trying to rule the planet at the moment.This Oligarcgy is not about freedom of markets or fairness since that takes effort.It is about absolute power without accountability and that means servere suffering for the masses.

Pilger is one of the few Journo's who in the words of John Swinton,is NOT an "intellectual prostitute."

More power to you John.

There are two kinds of political commentator:

Those who work from reality.
Those who work from the perception of some utopian standpoint.

Pilger is of the latter. This means that when he is writing about those who wield a degree of power, they are compared to the pure perfect ideal. Somewhat ironically, the only purists in politics tend to be extremists who end up wreaking havoc.

Thus, whoever he is writing about won't measure up. This approach is all well and good, however Pilger takes things one step further. When they don't measure up to this ideal, they are effectively portrayed as an evil, conspiratorial cabal.

This whole act gets rather childish and repetitive after a while. I'll pass.