the UN Goes In
Author:
Linda
Polman
Paperback:
256
pages
Publisher:
Viking Adult (Penguin Books), 29 May
2003
ISBN:
067091424X
Florence on vacation – I had finished the two I’d brought, was reading a couple
of the short books we purchased, and knew I needed something for the flight home
(it was between this and a book on the
Medicis).
And this is a good one. The
author begins by describing and R&R trip by some of the Somalia “blue
helmets” (the UN troops all wear blue helmets). She then proceeds to describe
the “peace keeping” efforts she observed. The UN operates in a very strange way
- the member states set the rules for what can and can’t be done. Typically,
this means that the country being impacted has a big say in the range of options
available to the UN troops. This means that the UN can’t keep peace, it can
barely keep its solders safe. Its also a wake up call for the United States,
which keeps invading countries only to ask the UN to come in and clean up the
mess, which it can’t, and then blame the UN for the
mess!
Also interesting – the author is
a Dutch journalist, and amazon.com doesn’t carry the book, so perhaps I was
lucky to find it!
