Keeping The Peace, Shunning Wars

A newly published survey by the Rideau Institute has listed Canada in 63rd place in the contribution of troops to missions run by the United Nations. Right down there with Cambodia. Canadians' love affair with the notion of Canada involved militarily with none but peace missions cast a nice warm glow over the country. We collectively eschewed engaging in war situations, but grasped at the opportunity to forge a new identification for ourselves; peace-makers.

From the country's grand old tradition as stout warriors during times past of international turmoil when tyrants and dictators sought to implement their plans at conquering peaceful countries to elevate their positions to an oppressive presence, to a new tradition of presenting as arbiters of peace and goodwill between adversarial countries. There are currently fifteen UN peacekeeping missions around the world. And Canada is no longer deeply involved.

Perhaps it might be useful to quantify peacekeeping and what those missions seek to accomplish. Basically, keeping sworn enemies from each others' throats. Imposing peace through moral persuasion and practical necessity. The UN peacekeepers do not engage in actual combat; their presence is meant to convey the impression that all who see them will respect their mission, and desist from pursuing violence.

In the 1990s, Canada was fully engaged with UN peacekeeping missions, with over three thousand Canadian troops assigned to various incendiary-prone geographical locations. Didn't we feel morally superior? The report's author claims that senior Canadian military personnel along with the defence lobby have managed to persuade Canadians that "peacekeeping is dead".

However, he added, "Canadians take pride in peacekeeping and want to get back to it." It is rather nice and tidy to be sure, to persuade oneself that there is no need to become engaged in battle, no compelling reason to become involved in wars fought elsewhere than on our soil. And the fact is, most people feel that keeping the peace is superior than making war, who wouldn't in fact?

However, as a long-time member of NATO, when both NATO and the United Nations determine that there are times when it is necessary for nations to engage in war for defensive reasons, or to right obvious heinous wrongs perpetrated on a nation or a population, it is incumbent on Canada to respond if for no other reason than in recognition of an obligation to advance human rights.

Precisely what gets accomplished when UN troops garnered from countries volunteering their military in peacekeeping missions? Canada's General Romeo Dallaire, for example, was stationed in Rwanda, and through sheer ineptitude on the part of the UN unwilling to intervene and give permission to General Dallaire to receive needed materiel and men, the world witnessed a horrendous ethnic cleansing.

In Democratic Republic of Congo the UN's peacekeeping mission has proven incapable of even pretending to protect women and children from incessant and widely-practised rape as an instrument of that particularly terrifying war. Nor did the UN usefully intervene as peacekeepers in Zimbabwe to ensure a cessation to the institutionalized rape of women there.

In 2006, world opinion called upon Israel to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, battling the terror group Hezbollah. One of the conditions of withdrawal was that UN peacekeeping troops would ensure that Hezbollah not be permitted to continue amassing weapons, and despite this the stockpiling of weapons has continued unconstrained by any energy expended by UN peacekeeping troops to honour their commitment.

Countries like Italy and Germany, reluctant to have their soldiers actively engaged other than boots on the ground as part of the NATO mission in Afghanistan deliberately choose to boost their numbers with the UN peacekeepers. Aside from which an increasing number of missions have been staffed by soldiers from developing nations and their professionalism has been remiss.

To the point where accusations of quite dreadful malfeasance inclusive of rape have been charged against some of these troops. As countries like Canada, once 10th in order of magnitude of troop contributions stand down, the quality of UN peacekeeping troops has declined, and that truly is a pity.

In an ideal world there would be no wars to be fought, people and their nations would behave civilly and respectfully toward one another. In a less than ideal world an international body tasked with intervening when countries appear incapable of comporting themselves properly would simply appear, and their presence encourage civil behaviour.

In the world in which we live, violent outrages occur constantly, within and without countries incapable or unwilling to represent the best interests of their own populations. And those who look outside their borders with a view to expanding their borders at cost to their neighbours, and to take advantage of rich natural resources not their own.

Add to that the radicalization of segments of a population whose clerics persuade them that their religion imposes an obligation of jihad upon them, and the resulting vitriolic hatred toward any who might wish to impede their march toward fanatical religious, political and social conquest and you have a formula for disaster requiring armed intervention.