The legal experts are debating definitions. They are analyzing the violence in Haiti to see if it meets the threshold of armed conflict. This is a useless exercise in semantics. The reality is that the state has ceased to function.

The gangs control the streets. They control the resources. The analysis from Lieber Institute West Point is just a way to categorize the carnage. The blood is already on the ground.

These are the features of the decay.

• State sovereignty is a memory.
• Criminal gangs are the new authority.
• International law is used to document the death of a nation.
• The violence is no longer an accident.