05 September 2009

Why Obama Won't Use The "M" Word For Honduran Coup.

TIME.COM. ANALYSIS:
"The legal semantics matter. If the State Department labels a coup "military" — the most brutal and anti-democratic kind of overthrow — it automatically triggers a suspension of all non-humanitarian and non-democracy-related U.S. aid. In the case of Honduras, State Department officials insist that those measures have already been taken without the military-coup tag. But critics, who fear Obama is keeping the Honduras coup designation downgraded to mollify conservative Republicans, argue that further steps, like freezing Honduran bank accounts in the U.S., are still available to the Administration. Either way, foreign policy analysts say Obama is setting a precarious precedent by trying to have it both ways."