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This topic is about the book I am currently reading. The book is called The Key to My Neighbors House and it is about genocide that happens in todays world. This book discusses what happened in Rwanda a number of years ago as well as the genocide which happened in Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia.
This book is split up into chapters which follow the different genocides which have occurred. They follow actual peoples stories and events which occur. The things that happen are horriffic. Two examples are A man is required to bite off another mans testicle during an interrogation, and a African girl is forced to drink insecticide. This book is very graphic, it talks about rape and murder camps which were set up in both Rwanda and Bosnia. This book is not pro or anti American. It is not Democrat or Republican biased it is just a good book that is very well written.
I started this topic because after reading this it really made me realize the ineffectiveness of appeasement and international indecision. It talks about U.N. peacekeepers and how in Bosnia they were not allowed to stop Croations from killing Serbs, and Serbs from killing Bosnians. The U.N. They were only allowed to use force if they were personally attacked, so what happened was is they stood by as men were killed and women were raped.
This book is also very good in the way that it shows what is happening in the U.N. when these atrocities are being committed. This book really made me realize that the United States needs to get more involved in world affairs. The United States needs to act when they see such horrible human rights violations. We have resources to help, we need to use those resources to help others. Either that or we need a more effective international governing body than the U.N. Or the U.N. needs to be restructured. When one country can veto the actions of the U.N. then what good is it? Every country is going to look out for their self interests which is not what we need in an international committee created to stop genocide. Indecision and appeasement is what allowed these horrible things to continue.
Read the book, it is incredible, I think it changed my life.
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The problem in the former Yugoslavia is that it's still boiling and roiling. Now that the ethnic Albanians are back where they should be (and in the Majority now) they are now attacking the Serb minorities. It's as if they didn't learn anything...
You're a Christian, You're a Muslim, you both are EQUAL.
Posts: 1533 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Thanks for the recommendation. I have a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousins who came to live with us in Canada over a period of 3 years because of the war in Yugoslavia. My family on my mother's side is Bosnian, and a few of them are practicing Muslims, while the others are sort of like me: non-religious believers in God. I see that my library has the book, and I'll be checking it out.
Posts: 1855 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:The United States needs to act when they see such horrible human rights violations. We have resources to help, we need to use those resources to help others. Either that or we need a more effective international governing body than the U.N.
Are human rights violations reason enough to get involved in world affairs? I know the current adminsitration is using human rights as justification for the war, but do we really have the resources to police the world? America already has a bad rap. If we ditch the UN and go on moral crusades, I forsee even more trouble then we have now. How do we determine what justifies America's involvement?
I think we could save a lot of headache if the UN would justify the use of force. If the UN peacekeepers had a big enough stick to enforce peace, then I could see a more effective multinational effort.
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I do not think it matters if the U.S. gets a bad rap, we should do something which is more than we are doing. Because as long as we are trying as much as possible then we can say to ourselves and the world that we tried.
quote: Are human rights violations reason enough to get involved in world affairs?
I say what reason would be better than human rights violations? I believe we need to police the world more than we are already doing, police it until an actual governing body which is willing to use force is created. As I see it right now, the U.N. seems to be an organization of special interest groups parading as countries. In reality they are just looking out for what is best for their country not for whats best for the world. And do not get me wrong, I am labeling the U.S. just as much as any other country.
I think when the U.N. does not follow through with its own rules we have an obligation to act. I do not think that the U.N. can be effective when any one country on the security council can veto anything it wants. The world is to big, there will always be one country which has oil ties, or some form of substantial monetary investment in a place of unrest. The U.N. was created to stop things like genocide, yet genocide has happened a number of times since the U.N. was created. It twiddles its thumbs unless one of the major countries is in trouble.
Posts: 473 | Registered: Sep 2001
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