Thursday, August 2 07

"Largest ever" peacekeeping operation is tasked under the UN Charter's Chapter 7, but nevertheless involves a new, hybridized military intervention. Here is it's operational framework (1), initial announcement by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (2), plus an expanding U.N. news source (3). Allan Gregg ruminates about the links between national identity and peacekeeping in Canada. Just as UNHCR Arbour praises Rwanda's abolition of capital punishment, an expatriate accused of participating in 1994 genocide requests Canadian war crimes prosecutions, citing the potential for human rights abuses in Rwanda. U.N. Sec. Gen. Ban Ki-moon endorses troika cooperation to settle Kosovo tensions.

Tuesday, July 31 07

U.N. Security Council votes to send peacekeepers into The Sudan: but troops will be deployed next year, political momentum is uncertain, and the operation will strictly continue the hybrid model. John Gray strikes a chord announcing the death of "liberal interventionism". U.S. command ignores many lessons with a return to high-altitude strategy in Iraq. Decades-old crimes against humanity by Khmer Rouge prosecuted by U.N. in Cambodia.

Monday, July 30 07

The bottom line "after the Americans leave": local military powers will carve up what's left of the former Iraqi state. The offer by Pakistan's ex-PM Bhutto to "re-balance power" sends the central government toward its tipping point, but signals are increasing that shortsighted strategy of stability by repression will continue. In Afghanistan, NATO increases efforts to protect civilians by contemplating a reduction in weapon loads. The U.N. Security Council shows commitment, extends UNMEE operation Ethiopia/Eritrea. Part of the "failed state phenomena": prosecutions of former regime officials, like recent D.R. Congo trials, prolong the conflict but become the cornerstone of rebuilding.