Inappropriate news

So, I think we're done with posting for class, but I intend on continuing to blog about the news (in my free time...). It's nice to have a more serious blog, compared to my silly/personal LJ. Anyway, departing from seriousness, and completely unrelated to IHL, here's an article my best friend sent me, which made the mean part of me laugh.

I found this article about peace-keepers in the DRC, on BBC News. The UN troops are mandated to support the Congolese military, but there are allegations about abuses by the military. The UN peacekeepers are criticized for not speaking out about these abuses, and are also criticized by civilians for getting in their way in strikes against rebel groups.



This is an interesting reminder that UN peacekeepers are not always viewed favorably by the civilian populations they are intended to protect. In addition, what should the UN do when the civilians they are protecting don't want their protection?

Moral psychology

So, I was writing a paper for my immigration class, and was up late, and very exhausted. To keep myself awake, I actually started answering some of the IMs I received (because I am really very hermitish, and also completely uninteresting and have nothing to say of any importance, so I have no idea WHY people actually talk to me, I usually don't talk online. Or on the phone. Or to other people in general). My best friend in Miami IMed me, and I mentioned my RoW psychology question, which is "Has anyone ever done any research to explain the occasional extraordinary human being who actually risks his/her life to save someone or to do something right in times of war?" History is replete with that one person who stood for something right when everyone around them went mad. Oskar Schindler, Hugh Thompson Jr. (that guy at My Lai that confronted marauding U.S. troops), etc. Why? When all the psychological research we've seen indicates that people are inherently vicious and prone to "othering", or at least have a tendency to blindly follow orders, why do these people refuse to participate? My best friend is getting her MA in psychology, so she seemed the person to talk to. I mentioned I've never heard of research explaining the heroic side of humanity, and she sent me the title of a book called The Hand of Compassion: Portraits of Moral Choice during the Holocaust. I'm not sure it answers the genuine psychological question, but it seems like a decent start for an answer to my question. Mindola, as I call my friend, also suggested checking Psycinfo. Mayhaps that's more effort than I'm willing to put forth at this *exact* moment. Since it's Saturday night, and all. Anyway, I thought that book sounded really interesting, and like some light beach reading. Because we all have nothing *else* to do. :)

Interesting article about a hybrid tribunal

This article is about a commission in Guatemala that was established to investigate organized crime. While not technically about war crimes, the violence stems from Guatemala's civil war in the 1970s. I thought it was relevant to what we talked about last week because it is a sort of hybrid, or third generation, tribunal. One major problem it suffers from is its inability to protect witnesses, which is a problem we've seen with the ICTR (a second generation tribunal). In addition, the head of CICIG (the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala) lacks the ability to subpoena or indict anyone, which is rather the opposite of what we see in the ICC. Anyway, have a read. It's an interesting article.