Drat those Opportunists

op.por.tun.ist noun: A person who exploits circumstances to gain immediate advantage rather than being guided by principles or plans.

"Baby Doc" is back in Haiti--that poor little country that always seems to get the short end of the stick.
It's all over the news: Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, the horrible former Haitian "life-long president" (read: evil dictator), decided to make his way out of exile in France and head back home. For a guy with a moniker like a bad rapper, Mr. Duvalier has impeccable timing. The November elections in 2010 were a mess and inconclusive, the cholera outbreak has killed thousands and one can only assume will kill many more because the water supply isn't exactly getting any cleaner, those who survived the devastating earthquake are living in more squalorous squalor then before, and Haiti today looks much like Haiti 12 months ago--a wreck. Enter Baby Doc. What are you doing in Haiti, Jean-Claude? Attempting to seize power, maybe? Pardon, me? Oooh, you said, ""I'm not here for politics, I'm here for the reconstruction of Haiti." Duh. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/16/baby-doc-duvalier-haiti-long-exile/ Duvalier fled to France in 1986 after 15 years of following in daddy's footsteps, terrorizing any opposition, authorizing the murder of thousands, and shoveling government and aid funds into his personal accounts as fast as he could. I guess he was saving up so he could do the exile thing in style. The scary part is, in the midst of all of the chaos in Haiti, Duvalier will be welcome to some who see his return as a chance for much-needed stability. It should be noted that, unfortunately, a huge portion of Haiti's population was not yet born when Duvalier was in power, so to them, he is nothing more than a legend. When times are bad, many people who were formerly oppressed begin to see their lives under the rule of a cruel dictator as "the good ol' days" because then, at least we had...To read more about what those good ol' days were like, check out the 1989 article on Duvalier in the Library of Congress Country Studies http://memory.loc.gov/.


Speaking of opportunists, I was curious to know about the current state of affairs in Central Asia. Last year, I wrote about the political unrest in Kyrgyzstan, during which Bakiyev, the former President of Kyrgyzstan, was deposed and the government was overthrown. There were questions swirling about of whether the interim government would be able to control the escalating ethnic tension in the region. Well, apparently the answer to those questions is "no." In June of last year. Kyrgyzstan's government requested that Russia send in troops to handle the situation. Russia basically said, "Not my problem" and sent some humanitarian aid instead. Of course, Russia dove right into the Georgia/South Ossetia conflict but that's a whole different story. So who's to blame for the violent clash between the Uzbeks and the Kyrgyz? Well, according to an article by Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)"local Uzbek leaders, relatives of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiev, drug dealers, religious extremists, and "outside forces" shared responsibility." An official probe in 2011 determined that "various forces, including ethnic Uzbek leaders, wanted to take advantage of the moment when the authorities were helpless and rose in order to pursue their own interests [.]That caused the anger of the Kyrgyz population and became the tipping point for a response from the Kyrgyz side. http://www.rferl.org/content/kyrgyzstan_unrest_uzbekistan_commission_report/2272814.html. The report also says that the conflict could have been prevented by government officials because they had information concerning a potentially violent situation. That's an understatement. It's common knowledge that the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks aren't bosom buddies.Well, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure--or in this case, 400 lives.

On to Tunisia. If you read the CIA World Factbook dated from Jan. 12, Tunisia is a stable nation making progress in many areas and much more liberal than most other Arabic countries https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ts.html. Okay, so the president magically seemed to win election after election since 1987 and the ruling party doesn't tolerate much opposition, but all things considered, Tunisia was doing quite well. Fast forward a few days: President Ali is ousted and a new "unity government" comprised of both Ali's allies and some of the opposition (in lesser positions) has been hastily set up to tide the country over until elections. Surprise! The people were increasingly unhappy about their lack of political freedom and unemployment rates. Last month, an unemployed college grad named Bouazizi protested by setting himself on fire in front of a government building (an act called self-immolation). http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/
This extreme protest led to extreme results. 1.) Bouazizi becomes a symbol for all young, unemployed Tunisians 2.)  President Ali and his family skedaddle  3.) Other countries may follow suit. In case you're wondering, Bouazizi died on Jan. 4, only 10 days before the end of Ali's presidency. Opportunism alert. Yikes.