Blog Roundup #15

A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary

CHRENKOFF: “Efforts to improve Iraqi health continue. “With funding from USAID, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is implementing a comprehensive package of activities designed to help Iraq meet Millennium Development Goals in public health.”

DANIEL STARR: “In the Congo today, UN peacekeepers are simply called heroes…. UN troops are being sent against bad guys in the low-intensity wars that are too dull, too dangerous or just too prolonged for America and Europe to commit their own troops. They’re not up to American or German standards, but the UN contingents are skilled and equipped enough to overwhelm thugs with guns, and “thugs with guns” is exactly who fights a lot of these nasty drawn-out wars. UN troops are shaping up to be a useful part of the “arsenal of peace” we’d like to have to keep another terrorist-haven Afghanistan from taking shape. They’re getting better. And yes, we may even see UN troops in certain roles in Iraq.”

OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY: “The Blue Helmets are seldom called in for “pure” peacekeeping mission in which, as the name implies, there is a peace to keep. Instead, UN forces are inserted between still-hostile factions in an attempt to create peace. That’s a war fighting mission and forces must be trained, equipped, and led with that understanding.”

SCRUTINY HOOLIGANS
: “Remember George Galloway? The U.S. Senate website doesn’t.”