Just got back from Budapest last night. I’ve got a ton more pix to post. I hope to write up the last day or so on Sunday and post everything then.
Meanwhile, here’s an article in The Scotsman about Darfur. While I’m glad that the world’s finally paying attention to what’s going on there, the UN resolution handing the government of Sudan another month to implement its (relatively) slow-motion genocide is just another sign that the UN is a useless institution that oughtta be scuttled. Back for 12 hours and I’m griping already . . .
There is a school of thought that argues that by the time the United Nations Security Council applies its attention to a crisis anywhere in the world, that crisis will already be out of hand, or the moment to intervene effectively will have passed. That is an argument that is particularly apposite in relation to what is going on in Darfur. The same school of thought also contends that when the UN does finally accept that something must be done, it will do the wrong thing, and do it so slowly that it merely compounds an already hopeless situation. And here we have Darfur again. Given the opportunity to act firmly and decisively, for once to present a united front to face down an aggressor and to protect those who cannot defend themselves, the UN has chosen the path of least resistance. It has shied away from using its power for good in favour of mealy-mouthed attitudes and toothless threats of some future, ill-defined, approbation.
So it is no to sanctions, and yes to yet more empty gestures, lest it offends those nations who have much to gain economically by cosying up to the Khartoum regime, and who gain pleasure by thwarting the aspirations of those who backed the war in Iraq, however well intentioned those aspirations may be.