Comment: Yesterday, 12 Jan 2020, marked the 10-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake that was almost a direct hit on Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.
The US launched a huge relief operation, albeit a heavily militarized one, effectively ending up with an occupying force of over 20,000 troops.
We were alarmed at the time by the speed of the initial US mobilization of 10,000 Marines. This wasn't helped by the subsequent revelation that a drill led by US Southern Command had taken place in Miami, Florida, the day before the quake struck.
The drill scenario was specifically about sending a large seaborne militarized relief effort to Haiti following a natural disaster...
Haiti has a longstanding history of US military intervention and occupation going back to the beginning of the 20th Century. US interventionism has contributed to the destruction of Haiti's national economy and the impoverishment of its population.
The devastating earthquake is presented to World public opinion as the sole cause of the country's predicament.
A country has been destroyed, its infrastructure demolished. Its people precipitated into abysmal poverty and despair.
Haiti's history, its colonial past have been erased.
The US military has come to the rescue of an impoverished Nation. What is its Mandate?
Is it a Humanitarian Operation or an Invasion?
Comment: Ynet further reported at the time that the Wikileaks document in question states that Russia made this trade in advance of the Russia-Georgia war in 2008.
A caveat here is of course that the above leak is third-hand information from 'a guy in Mexico who knew a guy...'
Nonetheless, we could well imagine such a 'trade' occurring. We could also imagine that Iran might have long since patched the above problem (given that it was publicly leaked in 2012, 8 years ago), but something along these lines (cyberwarfare, hacking, etc.) may have played a key role in the downing of the Ukraine Airlines flight near Tehran last week.