It's interesting to watch China, because I think they're now making the same mistakes that the US made in the Cold War, except without the excuse of needing to win. They've created profitable ties to a great many governments that end up keeping their people in a state of instability. If you think about it, China probably stands to gain a great deal from a stable, prosperous Burma, but their refusal to censure the Burmese junta has not contributed to this outcome. I wonder if either of us will learn from our mistakes.
I was throwing out a more general question: When is humanitarian intervention allowed? Is it solely a function of the UN's decision, or do neighboring nations have a moral duty to stop abuses? We all say that genocide should be stopped, but nobody seems to be really clear on who's job it is to stop it, or who should be sent out to deal with the problem whenever it occurs. We seem content with not confronting this particular issue, and paying only lip service to the old theories of rescuing another nation's people. On the other hand, there's a very thin line between intervention and invasion, and it moves from time to time.
If the world is going to grow closer together in this new economic model we've stumbled into, this question is going to crop up more and more. I normally agree with the Uncle Ben School of Morality: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, but there's now an important question: how much responsibility? Do we have a responsibility to do more than shake our heads disapprovingly? And if so, when and where?
There needs to be an agreement on this soon, before things get even messier.
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I was throwing out a more general question: When is humanitarian intervention allowed? Is it solely a function of the UN's decision, or do neighboring nations have a moral duty to stop abuses? We all say that genocide should be stopped, but nobody seems to be really clear on who's job it is to stop it, or who should be sent out to deal with the problem whenever it occurs. We seem content with not confronting this particular issue, and paying only lip service to the old theories of rescuing another nation's people. On the other hand, there's a very thin line between intervention and invasion, and it moves from time to time.
If the world is going to grow closer together in this new economic model we've stumbled into, this question is going to crop up more and more. I normally agree with the Uncle Ben School of Morality: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, but there's now an important question: how much responsibility? Do we have a responsibility to do more than shake our heads disapprovingly? And if so, when and where?
There needs to be an agreement on this soon, before things get even messier.