Citizens (born here) under the age of 50+/- haven't any reference points when it comes to the topic of war. They only know the 'language' they've been taught, and that ain't bullets and bodies.
We nearly collectively crapped our panties when the War Measures Act was invoked; do you recall the hand wringing over the roundup and detention of suspected FLQ members? We're a defeated Wuss nation.
Coincidently this popped up today:[External Link]
Posted at 2007-07-20 02:20:18 [PermaLink]"He said Canadians may be pining for the days before 9/11 and are "nostalgic for the blue helmets" of the UN missions of the past"
And why not. Canadians could spend little on the armed forces, few soldiers would get hurt and Canadians could pat themselves on the back. The fact the world has changed or that such missions accomplished little was another matter that could be swept under the rug. Being slapped in the face by reality is a bitch.
I just need to have someone explain the difference between "peace keeping" and "enforcing the peace". How do you keep the peace without enforcing it, and vice versa?
Posted at 2007-07-20 08:36:55 [PermaLink]At the end of the day, I think Canadians - read denizens of Toronttawa, mainly - just want our soldiers to strike poses with their binoculars on UN missions, and retreat as soon as actual, you know, soldiering activity might be required. Self-righteous warm 'n' fuzzies before effectiveness, anyday.
Posted at 2007-07-20 08:55:57 [PermaLink]Annoying Old Guy: "Traditional peackeeping", as with UNEF in the Sinai, involved simply interposing a force between two enemies that had already agreed to cease fighting. The point was to reassure the combattants that there was something between them whose simple presence would inhibit a sudden resumption of hostilities--and thus "keep the peace". Such forces had no mandate to enforce anything. UNEF was withdrawn in 1967 at the demand of Egypt, buffer was gone, and then came the Six Day War.
Cyprus is another example where the UN force simply patrolled between two sides that had agreed to stop fighting (slight problem with the Turkish invasion in 1974).
Traditional peacekeeping started to go really wrong in the former Yugo when there was no serious peace agreed to by the adversaries and where the UN forces had no mandate to use force to enforce anything.
Mark
Ottawa
And as a result, the peace was not kept. Still not seeing the difference, except "peace keeping" seems to have failure built in.
Posted at 2007-08-01 08:39:20 [PermaLink]