UN peacekeeping operations (catch all)

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As UN Peacekeeping Veers Toward Counterterror, US Steps In

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[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to a "lurker" a different aspect of peacekeeping:

Last weekend, a documentary following those women premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Called Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers, the film follows 140 women peacekeepers from on their third deployment to Haiti from June 2013 to July 2014.....The women make two to three times [more] as a peacekeeper compared to what they make as a police officer in Bangladesh, so it’s very appealing for a lot of them.

Link:http://www.refinery29.com/2015/09/93...-peacekeepers?

[120mm]

I've not seen much written on how largely bureaucratic UN "leaders" manage to fail, miserably in their mission, yet continue to persist in their role, or even gain promotion.

As part of a project spanning 2012 - 2015, I encountered a particularly smelly human turd named "Martin Kobler".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Kobler

This "gentleman" has an auspicious history studded with failures, largely attributed to his incompetence and his blatantly anti-military prejudice. He is considered by many I spoke to as contemptuous of military people and disregards his military advisers.

The Wiki page briefly covers the debacle he helped make in Iraq, but it doesn't cover the disaster he oversaw in DRC.

His public statements were telling: When he was criticized for his troops being barracks bound while civilians were being massacred by LRA, he stated "We cannot be everywhere." and that "He would march his forces around the jungle continuously" until he defeated the rebels. Not surprisingly, later that week, his exhausted and frustrated troops, having finally left their barracks to "march around the jungle continuously" machine-gunned a group of cars that were stuck in a traffic jam and blocking their way.

I wish I could post the paper I wrote, here, but it's owned by my former employer.

[davidbfpo]

A short BBC report, topical as the focus is Mali:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-34812600

Why the most dangerous?

Mali (Minusma) - 53 deaths

• Sudan (Unamid, hybrid mission in Darfur with African Union) - 48 deaths
• DR Congo (Monusco) - 18 deaths
• South Sudan (Unmiss) - 17 deaths
• Ivory Coast (Unoci) - 16 deaths

Source: UN figures from 2013 up to 31 October 2015, excluding deaths from illness

[davidbfpo]

A "broad brush" comment on peacekeeping's effect at home, accentuated by the USA and a few others hiring so many soldiers from "developing countries" who return home with quite different ideas:http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/op...ome-home.html?

[davidbfpo]

Excluding the now quite small UK contingent in Cyprus, with UNCYPF, the UK has ten military personnel wearing a blue beret. Although the UK does pay a lot for peacekeeping by others.

The price in blood others paid:

The tragic loss of 456 UK service personnel in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2016 has quite rightly dominated the media in the UK but how many of us are aware that 1,733 UN peacekeepers have also died in the line of duty during the same period?

Link:http://defenceindepth.co/2016/03/02/...-back-in-blue/

[davidbfpo]

A NYT article by Anthony Banbury, an American senior UN official who has resigned after thirty years service. Here is key reason:

But in terms of its overall mission, thanks to colossal mismanagement, the United Nations is failing.

His slim Wiki bio:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Banbury

Some harsh comments on several UN peacekeeping missions: Haiti, Mali and CAR too.
Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/op...ling.html?_r=0