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Originally Posted by Malkavian
Hindsight is always 20/20...
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Groan
Mal. This is me. I mean, you & a couple others who went to FB lengths to get me over here weren't pining for my music video posts, were you?
Yes, Mal. I know, Mal. Kick Mal.
Hindsight - applicable in some cases: total cop out in others. Those who now admit 'the coalition of the willing' had no way to anticipate the resulting shitstorm tell those of us who saw it coming say we're running on hindsight.
Come on now. Some things are hard to size up, sure, and Sudan may be one example. Other situations aren't that difficult.
You've access to my FB page. When you've got a moment, go to that page, check out the books, write something on my wall so I know you've been there, then I'll be (ecstatic to) recommend the best of those titles. It's like pieces of a puzzle falling in place. I dunno, getting a grasp on these things is a big deal to me (no life, no life). If you don't have time, OK.
...But when I talk with you about Rwanda, I'm not going out on the limb I would be if Sudan as a focus, and you don't have to take my word for it: there are people who know more, write well, and a few (not many) books later, at the very least, you'd see what I'm on about -- even if you still disagree with some principles viz-a-viz (an overhauled) UN.
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There There may have been a momentum there but UN did not understand... And that's the main point. They didn't know local politics enough to make informed decisions, and the odds of outsiders having expert opinion and making correct decisions on the fly has been rather low historically.
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Look. The UN had all the info it needed to make those informed decisions: that information was set aside. Hardly unique, really, organizations - and individual people - do it all the time.
If I can think of a way to sum it up better without wandering all the hell over the playing field, I'll write it in another post.
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How do you get the info about combat readiness of the militia units? (Aside from reading books and reports e written after the events  )
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Wtf. I dunno, is it really such massive leap of logic when one nation's in there two? three? weeks after its government decided to act (RE Rwanda - France). Standing armies make a difference? +/- whatever ammendities (supplies, training) those troops may or may not enjoy depending on the nation?
'Reading books and reports written after events' - oh boy. Read a few of them before writing them off.
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If you are a militia, are you willing to share that information willingly?
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If not, should UN rely on spy networks that would gather needed info on timely basis? To cover conflicts around the world, how big will this network have to be? Do you want UN going through your garbage? (only if they take it out
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[/quote]**shakes head**
Like... You really think such a thing would be necessary. (shaking head again)
Lack of info/data - whatever - isn't usually the problem eh. Minimizing its relevence is. 9/11's a pretty good example, Nazi Germany's another.
(leaving us into another brutal question, but there's this Caesar IV game I want to try - fuckin thing's in French, goddamnit)
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Well, local dictators are local problem.
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Well yeah, & all our countries have gone through long periods of absolutism. I already used that deep thought haven't I (game is calling me).
Just one question: don't we enable some at our convenience, for 'the wrong reasons' mentioned in another post? (this doesn't mean: invade)
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That's what revolutions are for... it's their problem to solve, not ours.
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80% agreement with you, only... seems like revolution now would be a harder fight than it was a century ago, and usually, things get worse (Kagame's an exception).
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Western firepower can tilt the battlefield unfairly however, hence my distaste for weapons sales.
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Do you mean arming people without going in? I have a lot of problems with this idea.
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Lol... i guess you could say that. How should i put it? In my experience, there are two types of "foreign aid"... One is done by people who really mean well, but have no clue what's going on and thus their impact is marginally beneficial at best, and often has negative unintended consequences. And another is done by people who actually took time to study and put together a business plan, but they do it to benefit themselves first and foremost, wreaking havoc purposefully in the process. People who mean well AND can put together a half decent plan are exceedingly rare in the business.
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Aha I knew it. Must be my emoting. Here I agree, actually. Could be those business people aren't so rare, but at this time, they seem that way, esp after decades? centuries?-long arrangements where gov't & business interests become one.
...Not that I think all aid should be severed, but there isn't a lot of intelligence with much of it, unless Goma's relief camps were an exception to the rule.
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Yes. A simple scenario - you are a UN peace keeper guarding a village. A US warplane shows up and heads to bomb it. Do you open fire?
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fuckmegentlywithachainsawwhataquestion
You call that
a simple scenario.
Can I have a day to think this over please. If your plane was Russian or Chinese or American, it's an omfg situation.
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Yeah, this is an example of logic that bothers me. Somehow, i don't find it very reassuring.
I wish i had your optimism... Centuries of tribal and social feuding reversed by a few brave soldiers...
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Not really... (try 'conflicted').
A lot of solutions are more like untried theories, which may or may not 'work', take time, and require first-world countries set aside a few of our own interests. Some of those would hurt. Some are really strange -- sorry, Africa again: IE - how do you redraw a continent's borders and on whose say so?
This was a great documentary, not depressing, not fluffy happy:
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
In a way, off topic. Or maybe not, just goes back to a point you were making yourself about education.
PS: Apologies to those disgusted with my verbiage - angry Canadians swear a lot