Trojan1981 -
The leaders of western nations will only intervene in a conflict if it suits their economic interests
Never was a truer word spoken
however I think failure to act yet again would actually play against them politically, with or without there being any tangible economic return. Repeated failure to act over any of the myriad tragadies that together make Africa what it is does, I suspect, have a cumulative effect on the populace of, say, the UK. That can then be used as a political weapon by the opposition etc with which to beat the Government. I rather cynically agree that no Government will ever go out of it's way to do anything on a purely humanitarian/philanthropic basis; there is always at least one eye on the polls (obviously) and perhaps another on their own, personal standing and job security. With that in mind, perhaps the fear that doing nothing may harm the standing of the Government in the eyes of the electorate may prompt them into action. Who knows.
I think my original grumbling was directed at those on here, supposedly in the military, who seemed unable to see past the end of their own noses. Perhaps not everyone in the military shares my view that there's to more military life than just "blowin' **** up" and that we, as a force, have more to offer than just our gridsquare redecoration and landscaping services.
2port -
it will take a lot more than 17000 peacekeepers and a herc load of rat packs to sort out the mess
You're not wrong fella
but how much do the various factions involved in all the lunacy there count on us thinking it all too hard? They're not the 3rd Shock Army and could be fairly easily disabused of their militaristic notions with a few well placed PGMs and a demonstration of political and military willpower that
this time we weren't going to simply be the ones sweeping up the dance floor after the party was over.
PN - this isn't about wading into the DRC as a whole as it is indeed an enormous place. The "troubles" (rubbish word) causing the current issues relate to a relatively small area around Goma, bordering Rwanda. Indeed the problems of today can be traced directly back to the fallout of the 1994 Rwandan genocide & subsequent routing of the Hutu army and their Interahamwe chums. I'm no strategist but, as stated above, a
demonstration of intent backed perhaps limited military action against the belligerents might make them think twice. I suspect those with the most to gain there are relying on the West to vacillate as they have done in the past, leaving them to get on with their plans.
The UN cannot be seen to getting involved with the internal politics of countries unless mandated to. They won't get mandated to unless in very specific cases, one of which is genocide. This was how the US in particular wormed their way out of allowing the UN mandate in Rwanda to be expanded beyond treaty monitoring. The first few minutes of
this clip show the infamous State Department press conference where they squirmed out of using the word "genocide" to avoid having to get involved. If the west are prepared to go to that degree of semantic sleight of hand to avoid involvement then the UN will never get anywhere. That said, don't get me started on the UN...
It's all very well for the UN to want to see black faces manning their African ops rather than white ones but concerns for the sensibilities of the locals shouldn't outweight operational need and/or expediency. This isn't to denigrate the African Forces, indeed the Sierra Leonean forces, for example, in UNAMIR in 94 were regarded as being very capable, reliable troops. They just didn't have the kit. We in the west can easily force multiply existing DRC MONUC forces with a just a little rotary/airlift/CAS if white faces are the ground are just too bitter a pill to swallow.
It's all academic isn't it! Nice to read the views of those in the frame but, as always, they will do as they are told.
Yup, it certainly is just all academic! As is pretty much everything posted on the pages of Pprune. The military will indeed just crack on and do what it's told.
That doesn't mean though that a few of us aren't to allowed to think that some of what we're asked to do is bollocks and that some of what we're
not asked to do isn't
