Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Alas, Poor Yorick

Sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or to cry. The post of UN Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide will be upgraded to a full-time position, Secretary General Ban said in a message marking the 13th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.


The UN Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention will also be boosted, the Secretary-General said, adding that Africa has taken its own steps as well, such as the proposed Pact on Security, Stability and Development for the Great Lakes Region, which contains measures on genocide prevention and punishment.

“Preventing genocide is a collective and individual responsibility,” Mr. Ban said. “Everyone has a role to play: governments, the media, civil society organizations, religious groups, and each and every one of us.

The dark secret of Peacekeeping is that it only works after a war is over. As its proponents have often said, there can be no peacekeeping until there is a peace to keep. Or else, God forbid, intervention would have to take the form of affecting the outcome of war; by the United Nations becoming an actual belligerent on one side or another. That will never do, so the UN waits, and waits and waits. Until "peace" comes and they can trot out their relief packages.

This is the fundamental reason why the ongoing genocide in Darfur will never be stopped by UN collective action. Peace hasn't arrived yet because a few of the victims are still resisting their deaths. Just wait until they have all assumed desert temperature and then the way will be clear for peacekeeping. Once the last black animist or Christian has been driven away or killed, then the UN will deploy its serried ranks with a maximum of publicity and a minimum of fuss to shed its tears over a landscape of bones.

Mr. Ban gave a signed copy of his message this afternoon to Joseph Nsengimana, Rwanda’s Permanent Representative to the UN.

Mr. Nsengimana thanked the Secretary-General and pledged the support of his Government to the UN as it worked to strengthen its anti-genocide mechanisms.

“We take this opportunity to once again appeal to the international community, including the United Nations system, to provide assistance and support to survivors of the genocide,” he said.

Too late, Mr. Nsengimana. Rwanda is no longer the flavor of the month. Try soliciting contributions for Global Warming instead.

7 Comments:

Blogger David M said...

Trackbacked by The Thunder Run - Web Reconnaissance for 04/11/2007
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.

4/11/2007 07:37:00 AM  
Blogger Alexis said...

The essential problem with the modern United Nations is that it seeks to exercise sovereignty without seeking legitimacy first. At best, the United Nations is a confederation of existing states, and as such, must necessarily represent the interests of those states and not necessarily the people ruled by those states.

Another way of saying this is, "Mr. Ban, you and what army?" The United Nations has no military of its own, and it has no means to fund it even if it had one. Even if it had the funds, it would be hard to imagine how a soldier's morale wouldn't plummet once he dons a blue helmet.

Nation states have memorials, cemeteries, statues, songs, and long winded speeches dedicated to soldiers who fall in the line of duty. The United Nations has bureacratic bungling, red tape, and political infighting of a nation state, but no desire whatsoever to memorialize those who fall while wearing a blue helmet. Is there a memorial or a statue honoring the ten Belgian peacekeepers murdered in Rwanda, whose murder sent a signal that the genocide could go on with impunity? I am not aware of any.

Imagine if the League of Nations were controlled by the Axis powers...

4/11/2007 09:03:00 AM  
Blogger Elmondohummus said...

"The post of UN Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide will be upgraded to a full-time position..."

Two observations:

1. It was only part time to begin with? That explains a lot.
2. What do they expect out of a full time position when the part-time one didn't accomplish squat?

4/11/2007 10:37:00 AM  
Blogger Elmondohummus said...

Off topic, as an aside: Wretchard, did you change something with the signing in mechanism of this blog recently? The last two posts I've done, Blogger kept on either asking for a password, or giving me the Word Verification over and over again. And yes, I've cleared cookies, cache, etc.(I work in computing support). I thought about writing Blogger's help, but I have no problem signing into other *.blogspot.com sites. Just wondering if you've done anything odd before I *do* write Blogger and ask what the h*** is going on.

That's all. Thanks, man!

4/11/2007 10:41:00 AM  
Blogger wretchardthecat said...

No, I haven't changed anything in the registration mechanism and more to the point, I can't. It's entirely controlled by Blogger.

4/11/2007 11:36:00 AM  
Blogger Elmondohummus said...

Okay. I just wondered if maybe something was done. I didn't know what controls you had, if any, not until you said that you had none. So, my apologies for bugging you about it. I'll bug blogger instead. It has to be something on their end.

BTW, just so you all can indulge in some schadenfreude at my expense: This is the 7th attempt at posting this comment.

4/11/2007 01:04:00 PM  
Blogger קונשטוק said...

nitpicking

the animist and christians are in southern sudan
in darfur it is arabs vs blacks
but both are muslims

4/13/2007 04:35:00 AM  

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