Getting Others to do one's dirty work

GETTING OTHERS TO DO ONE'S DIRTY WORK

The US wants to get Kenya (pop. 54 million) to send troops to Haiti to police the lawless situation there. The US would pay for the Kenyans in Haiti and avoid sending its own troops to that troubled nation. It has designated Kenya as a “major non-NATO ally” and on 5/23/24 Pres. Biden hosted a state dinner (the first for an African leader since 2008) for Pres. Ruto of Kenya at the White House.

There are some similarities here to the US use of Mexico as a holding ground for unwanted migrants appearing at the southern US border. There is not so much a question of a money payment from the US to Mexico, but just the general power of US economic influence in Mexico.

The UK has an analogous program involving Rwanda (pop. 13.8 million), another African country. It plans to pay Rwanda to take unwanted migrants crossing the English Channel, amounting to 685,000 in 2023. The program has been put on hold due to court challenges, but it is a major plank in the Conservative Party’s current electoral platform.

We can expect more such programs in the years to come: rich countries will increasingly want to pay developing countries to shoulder their burdens.

Source: The New York Times, 5/24/24