The travels of Justin

Only 3 days into classes and I’m leaving for Vancouver. UBC Model UN Club is hosting a conference from Jan 13-16^th in Vancouver. I joined the MUN Club to learn more about how the UN works, and although I’m enjoying things, I’m feeling a bit down about the UN in general. I’ve been reading The Diplomad lately — a blog written by an American diplomat in South Asia — and his comments, combined with published news, have me feeling very unhappy with the UN. A political cartoon in yesterday’s Globe and Mail illustrated a related issue on my mind: the oupouring of financial support for the tsunami relief effort has been wonderful, yet meanwhile conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan has been met with apathy around the globe.

At least for the next few days I’ll have a chance to engage in some friendly debate, and we can role-play without the responsiblity of being held accountable to anyone.

Today, Arjun brought up this piece from Passion of the Present about the ongoing ’situation’ in Darfur Sudan:

“The Sudanese government signed an agreement for peace on Tuesday, with great fanfair that stimulated hopeful reports in the world press. As has been the pattern, within days the government made clear that it did not intend to abide by it.

“The first key element of the agreement was that humanitarian aid workers be allowed unfettered access in Darfur. Yet humanitarian access remains so limited that on Thursday it was announced that the UN is pulling out humanitarian staff in protest.”

Perhaps I don’t understand, but how will pulling out humanitarian staff be an effective protest??

CNN explains that the Sudanese government has placed restrictions on UN aid workers and, as a concequence, are forced to sit idle until these restrictions are removed.

Is the aid agency really just re-allocating its resources, as the article suggests, and moving workers to places where aid can be delivered to those in need? Someone please explain the “protest” part of this?

How can Amazon.ca have reader-submitted reviews for a book that will not debut until October 12^th?

My discovery began when I learned that the TRU President’s Lecture Series is presenting Lt.-Gen. (Ret.) Roméo Dallaire on October 14^th. Mr. Dallaire is the author of a new book, Shake Hands With the Devil: the Failure of Humanity in Rwanda and I thought I’d learn more about the book, and possibly read it, before his presentation.

Amazon.ca provides this exerpt from the book:

“My story is not a strictly military account nor a clinical, academic study of the breakdown of Rwanda. It is not a simplistic indictment of the many failures of the UN as a force for peace in the world. It is not a story of heroes and villains, although such a work could easily be written. This book is a cri de coeur for the slaughtered thousands, a tribute to the souls hacked apart by machetes because of their supposed difference from those who sought to hang on to power. . . . This book is the account of a few humans who were entrusted with the role of helping others taste the fruits of peace. Instead, we watched as the devil took control of paradise on earth and fed on the blood of the people we were supposed to protect.”

Obviously I won’t be able to read it ahead of time, but how have these supposedly reader-submitted reviews appeared on the book’s page at Amazon if the book is not yet for sale? Have these individuals received advanced copies? Are they professional reviewers posing as consumers?

Considering the current situation in Darfur, Sudan and what is being done about it, I’m really looking forward to seeing Mr. Dallaire has to say.