Swami said:

While this may seem more at place in P&L, ethics cannot be removed from politics.

Just got through watching this excellent movie. For those unfamiliar, it was about the tribal clash and subsequent genocide of Rwanda's Tutsis.

Give your "enemy" a demeaning name. It makes it easier to kill something not quite human. In this case the Tutsis were called cockroaches. In WWII, the Japanese were "The Yellow Peril". In Vietnam, it was the "slopes" and the "gooks".

It is also important to completely separate "us" from "them" even though to an outsider there is no appreciable difference.

I was quite flabbergasted how the UN failed to categorize the slaughter as genocide. If they had done so, their charter MANDATED a much bigger role. One million citizens slaughtered does not "count". Yep, just play with the definitions.

Despite the US's big-hearted claim to caring about the Iraqi people, there was no western intervention IN Rwanda. As there was no wealth or strategic "prize", screw 'em.

As Nick Nolte (who plays the UN Commander of a tiny peace-keeping force) says shamefacedly to Paul (Cheadle, the Hotel Manager) after he discovers no help will be forthcoming, "You are not Belgian (The Hotel was owned by a Belgium firm), you are not western, you are not white; you are black. Hell, you are not even a nigger - YOU ARE AFRICAN!"

1) What is the West's responsibility, if any, in such a conflict?

2) How can whole masses of people abandon a lifelong morality? Friends were killing friends. As an independent thinker, mob rule and mindset is totally incomprehensible to this poster.

---

1) Not enough resources their to keep our interests unfortuanetly.... too bad we're pricks about it, and only resovle conflicst provided they meet or exceed our interests. I wonder if anyone is going to have a conflict with that statement and suggest that we genuinly give a shit... national/international policy reflects everything to the contrary... it's sad that more organizations that aren't part of the government resolve humanitarian issues then programs that are a directly sponsored by the government.

2) Through manipulation and acceptance of propoganda... toss in a touch of the ol' human ignorance and you have your classic recipe for war inspired by the creation of a false indifference... Those in power manipulating people are nothing short of pricks .