Mike Baker

The goal is ensuring national economies can survive without it.

The strait may soon be fully operational again.

Tankers will return and markets will stabilize and life will gradually return to something resembling normal.

But the war exposed a vulnerability that Gulf leaders can no longer ignore nor treat as an unlikely possibility.

All right, I want to turn now to a story that is not getting enough coverage, Haiti, where for years, the country's been trapped in a cycle of gang violence and repeated failed attempts to restore order.

Now, the focus shifts to a new UN-backed security force amid hopes that it can reverse the gang's grip over much of the capital.

If you've followed our coverage of Haiti at all over the past couple of years, you've probably heard some version of the same story.

The gangs get stronger, the government gets weaker, and it leads to another security initiative being announced.

Yet, the violence continues.

In fact, the situation has become so severe that at least two dozen heavily armed gangs now control as much as 90% of Port-au-Prince and its surrounding areas.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, these are not street gangs in the traditional sense.

Many operate as very heavily armed militias, financing themselves through kidnappings, extortion, and smuggling.

Most neighborhoods have fallen under their control, and commerce has been disrupted across the capital.

The latest initiative, or the latest effort, to deal with the violence is what's being called the Gang Suppression Force, or GSF.

Unlike previous international efforts that primarily focused on supporting Haitian police, the GSF has been given a much more direct mission The objective isn't simply to manage the violence or keep it from getting worse The objective is to start rolling it back And one reason this effort may be different is the level of attention that it's already receiving

This week, U.N.

Secretary General Antonio Guterres traveled to Haiti and personally toured the headquarters of the new force.

Following the visit, Guterres described the deployment as, quote, a real opportunity to restore state authority and curb the violence that's consumed much of the country.

His message was blunt, saying, quote, we have no right to waste this opportunity.

Now, to be sure, the challenge facing the GSF remains enormous.