Darfur

War is always a bad thing, but sometimes its better than the alternatives.

There is an excellent article on the Daily Scorecard, titled Hitchens - Darfur Rwanda in Slow Motion, that addresses the issue in Darfur. Below is a quote within Mike Nargizian's article, attributed to Johann Hari of the London Independent:

"At last, some good news from Darfur: the genocide in western Sudan is nearly over. There's only one problem—it's drawing to an end only because there are no black people left to cleanse or kill."

By some reliable estimates, the Sudanese government or "National Islamic Front" has slain as many as 400,000 of its black co-religionists—known contemptuously as zurga ("niggers")—and expelled perhaps 2 million more.

There are few cases in which I personally believe that the use of force in another country on a large scale--ie, war, or as they like to call it now, "peacekeeping"--is the best thing to do. War is always messy, always dangerous, and always has disasterous consequences. But sometimes its better than the alternatives.

This, I believe, should be the primary role of the UN Bluehats. When a government is unable or unwilling to prevent clear human rights violations that are well documented, the international community should step it. This is genocide, pure and simple, and our unwillingness to address and put a stop to it, by force if necessary, is a black eye for the entire world.

On a similar note, this incident brings up a serious problem with the UN--the veto. Having five nations with veto power, all of whom often have conflicting interests, causes serious issues for the UN in its ability to do anything effectively. It may have been necessary in the post-World War II climate, but since the end of the Cold War the veto has not done anything but silence voices of dissent and reason. When France or China can veto something in our interests, and when we or Britain can veto something in theirs, we're never going to get anything DONE unless it's CLEARLY of benefit to humanity. And if this doesn't qualify, I don't know what would.