Honduras Coup

So what's up with that? Does MJ's death clog the US media so much that there hasn't been a mention yet?

Let me start by saying that from what I've read the situation seems to be a little complicated but I assume that everyone here rejects using a nation's army to settle political differences. I don't have the knowledge to identify anyone's motive in this mess but the military ousting a country democratically elected president should never be an option for a nation that considers itself democratic.

What's even more worrying though is that this seems to fit into a climate of growing unrest in Latin America. Do you think there's a danger the region might slip back into a more volatile state than the seeming post cold war calm?

Nice to see there are still Americans trying to live up to the stereotype.

So having a non-binding referendum about whether the next congress should amend the constitution, which was written during the last junta anyway, justifies a coup?

True.

Anyway, international pressure seems to be working anyway and this thing will probably blow over with minimal damage. But I'm more concerned with the region as a whole. Is Chavez's continued presence in the region causing battle lines to be drawn between the two sides of the political spectrum? And why can't this region get rid of this harmful mentality?

Somehow this has affected me a lot and it's probably because of a documentary I recently watched. It was about the what happened in the first year after the dictatorship fell in Greece. In the period from 1945 to 1974 we had a three year civil war with casualties almost equal to WWII, a seven year dictatorship (heavily US supported), almost twenty different governments, constant political strife and numerous armed conflicts with Turkey. So you wouldn't say that Greece was the most stable country. Yet after the dictatorship fell in a single year we got a new constitution, a referendum that changed the government from constitutional monarchy to parliamentary democracy, the legalization of the Communist party, our first undisputed elections in decades and were well on our way to joining the EU. All this with a minimum amount of internal conflict while the Turkish invasion of Cyprus was going on. I think this happened because the conservatives finally decided to step up to the plate and settle things properly.

This why I think Latin American countries seem continually unstable. No one seems committed to permanently and irrevocably settle their conflicts. The status quo has to change in order to finally achieve stability and progress. Because when your country has 70% of its population living below the poverty line, a Chavez or a Zelaya in control are the least of the worries you should have.

I hope those that wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to the coup, because they were "defending the constitution" feel vindicated.

Sorry if I sound a little douchey, but I hold our own Junta responsible for many of Greece's current ills and it pissed me off watching the same excuses they gave at '67 being believed in 2009.

And now Republican members of Congress travel to Honduras to offer their support to the dictatorship. Sure took them long enough.

Isn't it kind of treasonous for elected members of the government to take political action contrary to the expressly stated policy? Wouldn't the same people ask for the heads of Democrats gong to Bagdad to show support to Saddam during Iraq II? Fuck the Republican Party for not kicking them out immediately.