Sorry for the slow pace of late. I’ve been trying to catch up some at work and my social life has been pretty busy at the same time. We caught the original Inherit the Wind at AFI last night and it was rather fun. Caught part of a lecture afterwards, apparently the most effective way to promote belief in the theory of evolution to the U.S. public is to play up the practical science that has resulted from it, particularly in the medical field. Also apparently insulting people’s religion isn’t that effective of an approach and plays into opposition framing. Shocker there.
In any event jumping back a little we returned to Dublin on the 13th and went to Dublin Castle on the 14th. Most every museum in Ireland is only open from 10 am – 5 pm, so it can be rather tricky to get in that much non-wandering sight seeing. As a result, here’s some more pictures of things we could see from outside.
We actually wandered to the East part of town a bit on the evening of the 13th and saw the Customs House, the historic center of tax flows from Ireland to Britain. Also there was a memorial to the victims of the Irish potato famine and a Quaker ship that managed unlike most of the coffin boats never lost a passenger to America. What we commonly heard about the famine was that the population of Ireland was around four million, around a million died and another million emigrated. The population is about back to the four million level but hasn’t ever gone higher.
In any event, the remainder of the pictures were largely buildings and the like that we thought were neat.
Dublin Castle had been the seat of British administrative power in Ireland. It’s still a government building and used for state functions notably including some of the negotiations leading to peace in Northern Ireland. The castle itself is only viewable via tours, but they do depart fairly regularly and our guide at least was excellent in addition to providing fairly snarky commentary for an official tour.
The artwork was a mix of Irish cultural heritage and British work with typically unsubtle themes. In various ways Hibernia, a woman symbolizing Ireland with a name originating in the Roman’s view of how cold the place was, would be shown as subordinate to Britannia. Speaking of British art, Amusing, the one throne had its legs cut off because the Queen Victoria was a bit shorter than the King that commissioned it and it wouldn’t do to have dangling legs.
In addition to the main castle tour, we got to see the foundations and some of the archeological record of the prior occupants. The castle grounds were always a defensible position back to when the Vikings first founded Dublin which was at the time known as Dublina. The name actually means dark pool for self-explanatory reasons. They believe the various fortresses were never actually conquered directly, this wasn’t where William of Orange won his conquest. The castles resilience was shown in a fairly morbid way, they had found a collection of skulls in what had been the moat, they’d presumably fallen there after having been mounted as a warning.
The trip from Cork back to Dublin was fairly uneventful. We walked to the station and got the photos we couldn’t easily have gotten in the rain. There was one neat panorama in an office as we walked by. For whatever reasons our seats were properly reserved this our time with our names showing up in little red LED boards by the seats. The first time they just had ticket stubs so this was a bit more impressive. For whatever reason seat reservations seemed to be in play on the northbound but not on the southbound ones. I suspect that the way the directions worked out was just a coincidence though.
The final picture is of the fare gates at Heuston station in Dublin. Those gates work fine for the dart but despite fancy appropriate tickets they don’t seem to work for the cross country rail. That said, this wasn’t a big deal as they seemed well aware of the problems and consistently took steps to allow people to get around the fare gates. I’m guessing the full integration attempt is still in its infancy, seems worth doing in the long run.
Happily our second night in Cork was not interrupted by a fire alarm. That morning, avoiding the $25 buffet in the Clarion, we went out to the English Market. I haven’t actually been too the Eastern Market in DC, but it did remind me of a higher end version of some of the indoor riverside markets in New Orleans. There’s a wide variety of small butcher stands, bakeries, and other food sources. In addition there was a neat second story cafe overlooking one of the courtyards.
Cork had a more intimate feel than Dublin. The central city is on an island between two rivers with good pedestrian thoroughfares. Beyond the rivers hills were fairly common with some streets that look San Franciscan. The weather had been moderately rainy as it was off and on for the rest of the trip, but it wasn’t so bad as to dissuade us from walking. As a side note, our walks did benefit from a set of Ireland cards we’d bought. Each had directions and commentary on the front with a map on the back. The maps were often quite zoomed in and made for handy little guides even when veering off the main path. If I find the cards in the next week or two I’ll be sure to plug them by name.
Hello again! Once more I'm stealing the blog to write a realquick entry about our trip to and from the Cliffs of Moher (about which Greg wrote the entry proper).
It's about a two and a half hour drive from Cork to the cliffs, which are on the western side of Ireland. Two major (and fairly obvious) geographical differences between there and the US:
You can a good chunk of the way across the country in two and a half hours.
The Atlantic Ocean is on the west coast.
Fairly soon after we set out, we passed through a village that was having its annual horse fair the next day. In addition to the horses that had arrived, there were a lot of vendor tents lining the streets, selling fairly random merchandise (like a bootleg Winnie the Pooh toy with the moniker of "Mr. Bear.") Traffic was fairly slow, so we decided to detour on the way back.
For the most part, the trip was quite pleasant. Good conversation and relaxation. There were a few brief downpours along the way, but they cleared up fairly quickly, and the weather was quite nice when we reached the Cliffs.
We passed through Limerick on the outgoing and return trips, but no commemorative poems were written. On the way back, we managed to repeatedly end up near a car towing a Model T.
That night, we ate dinner at a restaurant called Amicus, which had a rather interesting and diverse selection of foods. I had curry with chicken, while Greg had a pizza topped with black pudding. The experiment was interesting, though not necessarily successful.
Afterwards, we said a quick goodbye to my friends, as it was late and raining fairly heavily. I was sad to part ways, but hope that we'll be able to visit them again or have them come visit. It was really awesome to meet up with them and I had so much fun hanging out together!
Kate’s friend had been so kind as to drive us to the UNESCO world heritage site the Cliffs of Moher. The facilities there were intentionally unobtrusive and blended into the nearby hills in a matter reminiscent of hobbits. There’s some video included, I’ve got a habit of playing around switching from landscape to portrait view and vice versa. It’s probably a bad habit, I’ll cut it out for future trips unless anyone likes it. In this case the video is there to capture the tides and the rather impressive wind. We stayed away from the edges as if you were caught off guard a gust could easily push you a few feet. The rustling of the grass reminds me of some Miyazaki animated landscapes.
A few points of note. Kate’s friend let me know that these were the cliffs of insanity from Princess Bride. Also, I heard from one of my interns that they feature in the latest Harry Potter movie, Half Blood Prince. Actually he thought it was a different set of cliffs, but a quick google search seems to indicate they are Moher’s. One thing to watch out for in the slideshow: several of my photos do focus on the shoreline. There actually is a cave down there, although apparently tours by boat approach are no longer done for safety reasons. Odd cultural note, there were a fair number of adds around the country for voting for the cliffs in a 7-up natural wonders of the world competition. In any event, this is one of the ones probably worth full screening if you have the inclination.
As tourist icons go, Blarney castle did not disappoint. While the locals were surprised at the number of people, it seemed quite reasonable to me and at worst meant there was a bit of a line on the parapets. The castle does make for quite a lovely ruin as the wooden floors and ceilings have all collapsed but enough of the building was done in stone that it’s still widely accessible.
The castle itself is predominantly a keep. There is a curtain wall off to one side, but restrictions on approach are primarily a result of the hill that loops you around the castle offering multiple opportunities for defenders to shoot at you. The keep itself had a range of protective measures, from murder holes to arrow slits to small spiral staircases that in one case include a medieval security check point. From the history I read, it sounds as if the family had a tendency towards fratricide, so they weren’t necessarily being paranoid in building the defenses.
Considering I’m in political science/international relations I did kiss the stone. I figure my diplomacy and bluff skills could use all the help they could get. Supposedly Blarney got its meaning as a more refined version of B.S. because of an Irish lord that managed to effectively maintain a polite but non-committal stance towards England’s monarch of the time. Thus the applications to international relations were there from the start.
In real time, we arrived home safely today. But for the purposes of this log, we’re back exploring Cork and western Ireland and grateful for the company and transportation provided by Kate’s friends.
Our first night in Cork was interrupted by someone, presumably a drunkard, pulling a fire alarm. We got back to sleep easily enough, but the 3:30 am wake up was not fun. Thankfully the day itself was much better. First stop was the Cork Gaol, an impressive stone facility that imprisoned people for largely poverty related crimes. It was also overstuffed during the Irish civil war. The design of the main chambers actually represented an improvement over the dank corridors of older facilities. However, the philosophy of the time emphasized silence and solitude which may help prevent recidivist training but on the other hand probably breaks many of the people punished under such a system. We close out the pictures with some overhead views of Cork.
If we ever manage to pull off prison reform in the States I suspect future generations may visit a new crop of jail museums spread throughout much of the U.S. The exhibits will probably point out the absurdities in our current system and we’ll be earnestly or snarkily knocked by the visitors. Sen. Webb has been doing some good work on these issues, here’s hoping we get these museums sooner rather than later.
Question for any commenters: Am I the only one that tends to actively try to plan escapes when visiting museum jails and the like? Does everyone do it?
Hi there! Once again, I steal my husband’s blog account to bring you more tales of interest! (To me, at least.)
Our original plan was to meet up with a friend of mine who lives in Cork. We were going to head to Cobh (pronounced “Cove”), departure point for many of those emigrating from Ireland due to the famine, and also the last port of call for the Titanic. About half an hour before we were due to arrive, we get a text from my friend asking if we can change plans since the weather had gotten so horrible. Sure enough, we looked out of the train window to see that the increasingly cloudy weather had turned into a driving rain.
Said rain kept on as we arrived in the city. In a rare departure from using public transit, we took a cab from the train station to the hotel since we weren’t familiar at all with the bus routes and this was no weather to be walking around in. I can safely say that it was one of the two worst weather events we encountered on the entire trip. (The second would be some sporadic but heavy downpours to and from the Cliffs of Moher the next day.)
After checking in at the hotel, we rested up a bit, then headed down to the hotel lobby to meet up with my friend. This would be our first face-to-face meeting, as we’d only ever communicated online before. To my extremely pleasant surprise, another friend of ours who lives in the UK had come over to meet up as well. Totally unexpected, and really great to meet her. We then headed off for dinner at No. 5 Fenn’s Quay, which offered a nice selection of traditional Irish dishes. Much geeky conversation was had (we all play the same MMO, and Greg has absorbed way too much from listening to me babble). Afterwards we walked around for a bit, then headed back to the hotel so we could prepare for all the sights we were planning on seeing tomorrow.
First off, a few practical tips from our Ireland rail experience. Overall the system was rather straightforward to use. Prices seem to be considerably cheaper online, and you can still order tickets the night before and pick them up at the station with no difficulty. You’d have to be traveling a lot more than we did to make proper use of any of the rail passes and I’m guessing if you are traveling that much it’s probably worth also springing for the bus pass. That covered, a few details:
Reserved seats will be specified on your ticket and will sometimes be specified at the seats themselves. You’ll have a car letter and a seat number, the car letter is specified in the electronic readout on the side of the car, but not elsewhere.
People seem to regularly crowd in the close cars, leaving a fair amount of room if you walk to the more distant ones. I’m not sure how to combine this with optimal car picking for reservations.
Snack carts go through with reasonable selection. The selection is a bit better at the actual snack cars although when we wanted a full meal not all the sandwiches on the menu were available. The sandwiches themselves weren’t half bad, but they’re also not that exciting. This all really makes sense, as none of the train rides will be that long.
The fare gates seem to work just fine for the commuter rail but often were had trouble processing proper rail tickets. Fortunately they seem well aware of this problem and take steps to resolve it.
The LAUS, a streetcar light rail system, provides a nice chic way to get between the two main stations in Dublin. In this, Dublin has a leg up on Chicago where the integration of the elevated rail and the railroads is not impressive.
Trains were often a bit late but weren’t catastrophically so. I did like the reliability signs that were up in the station and included on the slideshow.
Since our first train trip was discussed in an earlier entry, let me dwell a bit on LUAS. It’s the intra-city light rail system in Dublin. There’s two lines and they don’t directly connect although you should be able to get between them via the other transit options with no trouble. The system seems pretty recent, actually, the sleek sexy cars seem like they’re from the near future or a world’s fair rather than the present. The fare machines are also nice, although the touch pads take some force to use. One cool feature, the bills and cards it would take depended on what you were buying, so it could do credit cards and larger bills and such but only for big purchases. That seems like a fair way to avoid having change problems or paying a lot in credit card fees. I’ll probably go through and tag all of my transit pictures at some point for early review, but I did take a fair number on each line to try to give a feel for the integration into the city and also what the ride was like. One last note for now, I learned from my wife’s local friend that LUAS apparently is the Irish word for tram and not an acronym as I assumed. Some clever engineer may have also back-fitted an acronym for something, but if so I haven’t figured out what it could stand for.
We had the Black Taxi tour drop us off around Queen's University. Dinner was at Vila Italia which was recommended by our driver. Not half bad. The university itself was fun to wander around in because of its interesting architecture. Also, despite its age, it did have advanced physics research facilities. Such research had a long tradition, notably visible in the statue of Lord Kelvin, an alumnus who gave his name to the temperature scale. The new library also had interesting architecture that imitated the overall design while still being of our time.
Another pleasurable part of the walk was the lovely college town by the University. It really puts College Park's Route 1 to shame although I'm told I should be grateful because UMBC had nothing at all. Finally, when taking the bus back to town, we had an interesting chat with a local we’d met over by Lord Kelvin’s statue. He was a veritable well of local information and also quite interested in physical sciences (e.g. apparently vertical take off technology has an inventor in Belfast). He recommended checking out Michael Talbot’s book, the Holographic Universe.
To my surprise, we were actually in Belfast shortly before the Orangemen march. That’s the time when a group of Unionists (Protestants who want to stay in the UK) do their traditional march celebrating the a victory of William of Orange in Ireland. As a side note, Orange was his color because he was from Holland, he was the Norman that conquered the UK. This march goes through a Catholic neighborhood and thus tends to direct clashes. The controversy over the march, and the larger marching season, is a symptom of sectarian conflict and not a root cause, but it does make for good news stories.
The tour, done in the back of a black taxi that Belfast is known for, got into the deeper issues. Here’s wikipedia’s full summary of the Troubles. A short version is that Catholics were a minority in Northern Ireland and often discriminated against. The British army was actually sent in to protect them around 1970 but ended up throwing oil on the fire at Bloody Sunday in (London)Derry when protesters were shot. Civilians were killed by partisans and security forces had happened prior to that point, but that was when the bombing campaign got going. In Belfast the center of the conflict was in two polarized neighborhoods in the West part of the city that were immediately adjacent to one another. The tour went through both of them, pictures on the Loyalist side first.
The square at the start is a march staging area. It’s surrounded by murals, some historical, some focusing on paramilitary (including terrorist) leaders, and a few that are harder to characterize.
Next stop was the “Peace wall” between the two communities. There were multiple gates with no checkpoints, though they would be closed in the evening. Similarly getting around the wall wouldn’t be hard at all. Instead, it serves to force anyone seeking to cause trouble to go through a few chokepoints, throw things over the wall at the caged backyards on the far side, or travel outside of their strongholds before or after an attack. While the Good Friday peace accord has been in place for around a decade now, our driver, Tom, didn’t think the wall would be going away anytime soon. I think he’s probably right. Walls do a good job of providing protection but they also calcify lines of division. You can’t attack as easily but nor can you intermingle.
The ones that came later on the Catholic side were more recognizable as appeals for legitimacy or agitation regarding other conflicts. The most interesting one for me was the mural of Bobby Sands, who was an IRA leader that the leadership managed to get himself elected as an MP while he was in prison. He subsequently died on hunger strike as part of an attempt to get IRA prisoners treated as political prisoners/P.O.W.s. Apparently he’s still a contested symbol between those in the IRA that compromised and breakaway hardliners, but I think the mural we saw was firmly in the mainline camp. On the Catholic side there we’d also seen a remembrance garden listing the IRA and civilian dead from the Troubles. Though there were certainly dead on the Unionist side, we didn’t see any of such shrines, so I’m not sure how they’d be different.
On the whole, the Black Taxi tour was well worth doing at 25 pounds for two people. As an added bonus we got dropped off over at Queen’s university setting up our dinner and walk for the evening.
The Giant’s Causeway is an odd and amazing geographic phenomenon on the north coast of Northern Ireland. It’s not actually convenient to much of anything and we ended up deciding to take an express tour bus there rather than do the more inclusive transit bus route but have to risk a transfer and lost even more hours to travel.
So what’s this phenomenon? Volcanic rock cooled and split into fairly regularly shaped hexagons over a noteworthy portion of the beach. Put a bit more floridly, if Celtic legends play tactical RPGs with the world, they do so on hexes. I’ve never seen anything like it and am grateful I had the chance to see it here. I may well show this gratitude via a silly incredibly brief clip we filmed made but won’t finish editing until after the honeymoon.
Hello again! I have once more commandeered the blog from my husband so I can write this entry.
After checking into our hotel room and grabbing some mediocre sandwiches from a nearby shop (it was midafternoon and we were desperately hungry) we went in search of the bus route that would take us to Cave Hill, the huge hill that overlooks the city from the northwest. There are a couple of bus info kiosks conveniently located at the central square, so we were able to find out the route, but unfortunately didn’t quite get the information on which stop it was exactly. Undeterred, we hopped on bus route 1 and headed onward and upward.
As it turned out, we actually went slightly past the street leading to the park entrance, but Greg spotted the sign as we drove past and the next stop wasn’t too far off. The driver may or may not have been annoyed at the tourists with spotty information. We then strolled through a neighborhood of nice houses that led right up to the entrance.
Even before climbing Cave Hill, we were already at a pretty good elevation, so we stopped to take a few pictures of the city. A local gentleman stopped to check and see how we were doing, and then strolled along with us to Belfast Castle, telling us about the castle’s history and about the city itself, pointing out the shipyards and their giant cranes, and showing us where (on a very clear day) you can see across to Scotland. We parted ways at the castle, which was hosting a wedding reception. I’d not actually seen men in formal dress kilts before, so that was pretty cool.
After doing a quick stroll around the visitors’ center (with a really cool spiral staircase to get up and back) we headed out to walk up Cave Hill. Greg wanted to see McArt’s Fort, a ruin of an old fort set on a natural rock outcropping. The map didn’t make it look too far, or so I thought.
The first part of the trip is uphill through woods that occasionally part to offer a lovely view of the city below. The next part is a narrow trail through an area of tall grass where you can’t quite see where the trail leads until you reach that part of it. With the wind blowing through the grasses and the sun shining down from above the cliffs, I swear it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. It’s also at this point where you can see some of the actual caves of Cave Hill. There’s one in particular that you can almost climb right up to if you have a good sense of balance and decently sure footing (neither of which I have, but Greg does, so he climbed up and got some pictures).
After going around the hill a bit, the trail gets steeper and there are steps to navigate. There’s a very brief pass through some more trees, and then more uphill climbing. At this point I was starting to seriously get tired and wondered how much farther it was to the fort. I didn’t want to turn back, though, because we really were almost there. I was sure of it. It was just after the top of this hill… oh, wait, that’s another hill. Okay, this time, right? (I am a novice hiker, as is probably painfully obvious, although I’d like to think this one added a bit to my credibility.)
Finally, we really did reach the top. And it suddenly clicked that the huge hill we’d been looking up at all this time, the one towering over the city? We really were at the very top of it. And the view was amazing. We’d been admiring it all along, but now there was nothing behind us, just the shadows of the clouds darkening patches of the city below.
We crossed over to the outcropping of McArt’s Fort and took yet more pictures and ate some of the trail snacks we’d had the foresight to bring along. After resting up a bit, we headed back downhill. The trip down was naturally easier and faster. We wanted to find the Volunteers’ Well, but we took the wrong trail and missed it. We ended up at one of the park exits and figured that since we’d found what we really came to see, we might as well head off. The nearest bus stop wasn’t too far of a walk, and so we returned to the city.
Over the next couple of days, I’d look up at Cave Hill whenever I had the chance and remind myself that yes, we really did stand on the very top.
Hello! This is not actually Greg. This is Greg’s wife. I have stolen the blog to write up a quick entry on our Dublin->Belfast train trip.
After some confusion regarding what bus route led to Connelly Station (one shopkeeper gave me walking directions, which would have been okay if we weren’t hauling luggage) we walked a few blocks, hopped a bus and reached the station.
The Enterprise train from Dublin to Belfast is pretty nice. It’s about your average sort of train ride, but there are a few neat touches like a map that lights up and shows your route. Greg’s a bigger train geek than I am, so I’ll let him add any additional points in a later entry. Along the way there was one really spectacular view of a huge valley with towns spread all across.
Belfast Central Station seemed bigger and more impressive than Conolly, although that could partly be because Dublin splits its train routes between two stations (we’ll use Heuston later when we go to Cork). Getting a bus to city central was quite easy (walk outside to marked stop, wait, find bus) and having all the buses end up at Donegall Square (right in front of city hall) meant it was always easy to find our way back on later trips.
We checked into the hotel and headed off to climb Cave Hill, which is wonderfully awesome and gets its own entry. It was also exhausting, so after we got back we grabbed a tasty dinner at Deane’s Deli (a bistro practically across the street from the hotel) and headed back to get some rest.
We slept in and then went to try to get an Emerald Rail pass which covers both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It turns out that they are no longer available, but that cheap rail tickets are available online so we probably are ending up saving money even if we do a fair amount of trips in week 2. We then went on to do one of the double decker bus tours. I do wonder why such buses aren’t more common as transit in the U.S. They add capacity and are probably easier to drive than the double length buses. They’re also more fun, though I will admit that standing in the middle section of a double length bus is pretty neat.
After the tour we went on to see Trinity College (where you can’t walk on the grass, boo). That was a neat experience and the Book of Kells exhibit and the long library were both great but unsurprisingly unavailable for photos. I do think many of the scribes rather enjoyed their jobs, if the poems selected for the exhibit were any indication. The long library, which is two levels tall and decked out in attractive wood, had a neat exhibit on Napoleon and accounts of him from his time.
Afterwards we wandered around to the southeast and took in some of the government buildings and other landmarks. We had dinner at Fire restaurant; it was Kate’s choice and quite lovely. I’m considering putting up reviews when I have a bit more time afterwards or am bored on the train after finishing reading material.
We went kinda nuts with the pictures on the tour, so fair warning this day’s slideshow is long. We’ll probably do a condensed version sometime after we get home.
We flew out Monday evening and arrived early in the morning in Dublin. Flight had some kids near us but otherwise wasn’t bad. I did finally get to watch “the Internationale” which was dark but enjoyable.
Our day was largely one of walking around and adjusting. We took the city bus into downtown and only had to walk a couple blocks to our hotel. After dropping off our bags we had an hour to kill until an early check-in and after talking to a couple shopkeepers got the consistent message that Grafton Street was the place to go to get a cell phone SIM card. While getting the occasional Shenmue flashback we followed their instructions and got our phone operational at a Vodefone shop. We then meandered back to the hotel and took an extended nap. (Side note: slideshow below is in reverse order).
We woke up late enough that we weren’t going to get much time at any exhibits. So we instead headed over to Bewley’s, a cafe recommended in our guidebook, and spent the evening wandering around southeastern Dublin. The city is a great one to wander, there’s many pedestrian thoroughfares and a lot of street level commerce. The Temple Bar district also has a notably diverse selection of restaurants. I don’t know if the number of nationalities it draws from is a result of trendiness or is common to the rest of the city.
[Update: Fixed slideshow so it points just to the day one pictures and not my overall photo stream. There’s enough pictures in that set alone.]
So, after a delightful Fourth of July and wedding, I’m leaving for Ireland tomorrow. Currently we’re planning to spend most of our time in Dublin (and at location a day trip away) with a few nights in Cork and in Northern Ireland at Belfast.
So, while internet access and inclination to post may be spotty, I should soon have some good pictures and stories. If you have any recommendations please drop them in email or via comment. Similarly, if you’d like a post card, drop me an email with your address. I can’t imagine being overwhelmed by reader comments, but just to be safe, that offer is limited to the first five respondents.
There’s recently been a coup in Honduras. The specifics are odd and seem mitigating, after the military ousted the President the legislature removed him from office and the Supreme Court had been actively countermanding his orders, mostly notably his firing of the head of the military.
U.S. intervention in Honduras has been no less than it has been in Iran. Indeed, it has been far greater. At least six times in the 20th century beginning in 1907, U.S. forces were deployed in Honduras. For fear that the U.S. might be seen to be replicating the error of 1953, Obama has kept his distance from the Iranian dispute. As ever, Central American nations’ past resentments about frequent U.S. intervention count for little or nothing, and so Obama has dived right in. [Emphasis mine]
I completely agree that U.S. forces should not be used here. The President hasn’t even officially declared it a coup pending OAS negotiations. Such a declaration would cut off U.S. aid. Similarly he hasn’t met with the ousted President who as I said above seems like he should have been ousted, albeit by legal means.
So why the tougher line on what can be accurately described as a more benign coup?
Honduras is part of a region with nigh universal democracy and international organizations that reinforce those norms.
Honduras has a much closer relationship with the U.S. and thus is more open to non-violent influence.
Iran is a great power, Honduras is not. I’m not realist, but yes, that sort of thing does factor in. Ignoring such a factor can tend to get people killed.
I think point #1 is the most important. Note the highlighted text above, we’re not getting out ahead of Central Americans, we’re following a more aggressive Organization of American States (which also consists of South and North Americans, but it’s unanimous so it isn’t as if we’re outvoting them). This is not the President’s first Latin American challenge. The first one was dealing with Cuba and the OAS. Sec. Clinton handled that one well and a move towards full normalization of Cuba into the OAS was thwarted while at the same time the historic barriers based on communism rather than authoritarianism were removed. I do support re-engaging with Cuba diplomatically and economically, but we shouldn’t treat it the same a democratic regimes.
I have no objection to the President being removed from power. I don’t even object if the legislature has to stretch some to do it. I’m now fairly supportive of the impeachment of U.S. President Andrew Johnson (although he wasn’t convicted and removed). He was impeached not so much for crimes as ineptitude. I can live with that. What wouldn’t be okay would be if the military removed him and then Congress impeached him. I expect the ultimate resolution will be essentially a mediated do-over with essentially the same result.
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