Comments on: “A Problem From Hell”

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 12 Apr 2004 23:00:02 +0000

There’s no money to be made from it, i.e., taking responsibility. Taking responsibility also imposes an obligation to be informed. That’s time consuming. There’s great satisfaction in teaching under educated children in the Mississippi delta area how to read and write. But after a while those raised in the pleasure dome lose interest and move on. Nation states have never taken “responsibility” for their actions. Why start now?

By: Caitriona

Caitriona — Sat, 31 Jan 2004 03:57:47 +0000

Every little bit helps Justin. In fact, the most important person in our little office in Tuzla was Andre, our computer expert. He designed a special software to match postmortem data from the bodies we exhumed with ‘antemortem’ or ‘living’ information from the surviving families. His work alone reuinted countless families with their missing loved ones.

By: Justin

Justin — Fri, 30 Jan 2004 15:15:14 +0000

The question I keep asking myself is, is there a way to help human rights without full-scale immersion — that is, without going over there, cutting off links with your family and friends, and dedicating your life to it?

I try to do little bits to help these causes here and there — like developing open source software that’s useful for everyone; I’m ecstatic when I hear of an NGO getting good use from one of those apps. I keep contemplating doing more. But I haven’t — yet — and the idea of breaking away to such a degree is the big problem.

By: Dervala

Dervala — Fri, 30 Jan 2004 13:10:28 +0000

Power’s book is about American policy. (The full title is ‘America and the Age of Genocide’) She’s not arguing, nor am I, that the rest of the world didn’t ignore Rwanda too. She simply focuses on why the US did. Since it is the dominant power now, and has recently shown the UN to be toothless, that seems fair enough; theirs is the foreign policy most worth trying to influence. Her arguments do apply, by extension, to the rest of the first world.

I’m interested in America’s role in particular because the parts of the world I’ve recently visited—in particular, Southeast Asia—were directly messed up by America acting mostly alone. I don’t blame the UN for Kissinger and Nixon’s secret wars in Cambodia and Laos, which had such disastrous consequences.

I’m not anti-American, or I wouldn’t want to live there. I do feel, as do many of my American friends, frequently frustrated by its foreign policy. With great power comes great responsibilty.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 30 Jan 2004 10:07:21 +0000

So, why is the US position unique? During the first half of the previous century this country wasn’t considered the dominant world power. I accept that since 1989 we’ve assumed a greater responsibility, but didn’t the entire UN effectively ignore Rwanda?

By: Dervala

Dervala — Thu, 29 Jan 2004 14:57:59 +0000

And Mary Robinson, their role model. Wish I’d listened to her more.

By: tom_in_Dublin

tom_in_Dublin — Thu, 29 Jan 2004 11:31:20 +0000

Those two women make me feel proud of all I have achieved in a lifetime in accountancy..er..NOT.

Funny, how when most of us Irish are selling out for a mess of pottage and an O4 registered car, there are still a few of us to be proud of.