The sad truth is, all over the world, whether it is Rwanda or Kosovo, or Sudan, the UN was supposedly the world's last best hope against genocide.
There is some truth to the contention that the americans should not be the world's policemen, there are limits to what the americans can do in terms of resources and willpower. Preventing these heinous crimes against humanity is a global responsibility, these are unfair burdens to place on the shoulders of the Americans and UK alone. If humility alone is a trait required of Americans to make the world a better place, I would push for Americans to be more humble. Alas, it is not so simple.
As Rwanda in 94 and Sudan today has shown, the UN and France and Germany did not step up to carry the burden of stopping genocide where it is needed most.
A student of history will realize that Sudan (as was Vietnam) was previously a French colony. Rwanda was a belgian colony, and Belgium historically has been a country that is culturally vassal to Germans and the French.
Given that Belgium is also a small country with limited resources, and they still sent a contingent of UN peacekeepers in Rwanda to no avail, I feel anger and sadness when I read of the Belgian peacekeepers who had ten of their members tricked to laying down their arms, mutilated and then tortured to death. These men who knew what happened to their comrades then received orders to pull out of Rwanda. The Belgian peacekeepers shred their blue UN helmets from the shame of that act of sheer cowardice.
The Belgian peacekeepers' withdrawal were followed by the slaughter of the hundreds of rwanda civilians who were under their protection.
Suffice to say, from a historical perspective and from a resource capability, France and Germany should bear a big part of the burden of stopping what happened in Rwanda and what is happening in Sudan today. Germany had the excuse of having no true military capability of their own, but the French Foreign Legion has been a force of mythical capabilities.
Yet, in the acid test for France (and the UN), all we heard are empty words and meaningless speeches. Meanwhile, thousands die in Sudan every week without a peep from the MSM.
Yet, we now hear that John F Kerry is saying that the same France that has not lifted a finger to stop the genocide in Rwanda and Sudan will somehow magically commit troops to Iraq.
One only has to look at what France did in Rwanda in 1994 to understand their intentions then. And one only has to look at what France is doing today to stop the genocide in Darfur to understand their will today.
They did nothing and will continue to do nothing. On this subject of asking France to commit their forces in Iraq, John Kerry is either naive or dishonest or both. |
