All governments lie. Condemning Russia’s incursion into the Crimea last week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry actually said: “You just don’t, in the 21st century, behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on a completely trumped-up pretext.” I guess he plumb forgot the 2003 American invasion of Iraq on the phony pretext of weapons of mass destruction.
Or take Russia, whose 6,000-plus troops in Crimea have been dispatched, so we are assured, in the name of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine, even though no pro-Russian Ukrainians have been harmed. But even before R2P, the Security Council had an obligation to protect civilians in the midst of conflict. That’s what United Nations peacekeepers and peacemakers try to do. So, for example, had Russia 20 years ago sent 6,000 troops to stop the genocide in Rwanda, they’d have saved the lives of literally hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Tutsi.
But as I reminded a United Nations audience in New York last week, Russia was completely indifferent to the horrors of Rwanda. So was China. As two of the powerful permanent five members of the Security Council, both were completely impassive as the conflict roared on. Yet the behaviour of the other three permanent members – France, the U.S. and the U.K.–– was even worse.
It’s exactly two decades since Rwanda’s 100 days of genocide, one of the most terrible events of the terrible 20th century. The actual anniversary will be marked in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, on April 7, but already commemorations have begun. Last week in New York, the United Nations held its first ceremony together with the Rwandan mission to the UN. The significance of the occasion was reflected in the presence of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who not only spoke but remained on the dais throughout the session while the other participants spoke. That included a Rwandan student reading her spirited rap poem, a survivor movingly explaining how she lost almost all her family, the Rwandan ambassador to the UN, the president of the General Assembly – and me.
Normally speeches made at the UN are prepared in advance, then read word for word. Diplomats see this is a necessary part of their game and learn to live with it. FULL STORY