@Doc M Their conflict goes waaaay back. When Myanmar gained independence from the Brits, the Rohingya weren't considered citizens. To this day they are refused medical care, education, passports, and all government representation. Every single one of them is stateless. Myanmar says they migrated there from Bangladesh 500 years ago, and therefore aren't one of their people. This has naturally caused problems... Rohingya groups often inspired by the Viet Kong did and have fought the Myanmar government for the last 70 years. Mostly through guerrilla fighting. Bombing or raiding military and police facilities for example. Those groups have always been present in Myanmars recent history, but they've always been small. After a incident blew up, Myanmar military, and buddhists from other regions went and killed people in droves. Slaughtering entire villages and burning them down.
As a US citizen I can tell you that we didn't benefit but the rich bankers and politicians who own stock in weapons manufacturing and other war corporations sure did and I'm sure Israel will have us marching off to fight their next war in Iran soon enough.
I was a soldier and I went to afghanistan. And i can tell you that the west had no benefit from that war, it started because the taliban were housing terrorist and then when we went there all we found was a country full of corrupt officials, poverty to the roof, and extremists
@@ElAnill0 that why you guys killed 1.3 Millon people of afganistan and destroy whole country.if your politician want peace in middle - east just give them education not guns.
It is never humanitarian, it s always "National Interest". Politician use the media and their eloquent tongue to convince the masses it is "humanatarian". When it comes to "National Interest" Morality does not matter.
I agree. The only true humanitarians are the people at the bottom helping each other survive. The second politicians get involved questions need to be asked...
That's just cynical, that's like saying intervention always makes things worse, that's just dishonest, there's no way to confirm that. But go on and live in your binary world.
NaiiFluur That was helpful... Can you tell me that humanitarian aid hasn't paved the way for more military intervention in th epast? I'm not saying It doesn't help in many cases but Its seems like you're the one living in a " binary world".
then why this old folk did not intervene Israel who have been broke 65 UN resolutions.... poor Palestinian... we pray for you... from your Muslim brothers, Malaysia
Very fair point raised, and the short answer is because western powers, particularly the USA, Britain and France are hypocrites who intervene to protect their interests, not for humanitarian reasons as they promulgate.
Mehdi wins every one. I dunno why the guests ever show up to these. The only person who's successful gone against Mehdi is the woman who was talking about feminism in Islam
@@JackAShepherd Because journalists nowadays are a joke ,Mehdi is what a real journalist should be.Most people haven't experienced good journalists nowadays!
Intervention is never a surgeon's knife. It is a blunt object. It should be used sparingly. But in the end, those in power will suffer from an aggressive foreign policy over time.
Mehdi, terrific job on the show. You have restored my faith in journalism. My issue with this debate is that you don't raise specifics about what prerequisites should be met and also the importance for clear impartial evidence. You could probably find a massive group of people in the majority of countries in the world that are unsatisfied with their governments and if given the chance would like to overthrow them. Not clearly defining exactly what and how abuses are happening leads to people like your guest making emotional pleas for war with scant contextualized evidence. TV can be very misleading. We need clear evidence from an unbiased source that can be quantified and easy to see for everybody as a prerequisite. Anecdotal evidence can be misleading. Clear evidence can lead to clear solutions and better dialogue for a diplomatic solution. Imperialist countries that are pursuing geopolitical goals who are intellectually inconsistent and downright hypocritical don't deserve to make emotional pleas. I view this more in the sense as an argument for them because I just don't trust that they are at all sincere in their humanitarian concern. To me they are downright warmongers and war profiteers. They pick and choose where they want regime change based on what suits them. Interesting they aren't concerned with Saudi Arabia. Really the UN should be the only body making the case with a sufficient burden of proof. Keep up the great work.
People who say that the West is to blame for everything that is going on in the Middle East, give the West too much credit. People who say all the problem in the Middle East is solely because of local Arabs, or Muslims or whatever are too narrow minded. The truth of the matter is that the conflicts in the Middle East is an intricate web where the external, regional and non-state actors are all involved. Without us acknowledging this fact and instead play the blame game, there will never be any hope for reconciliation and peace.
This French guy is consistently angry or confused through this whole interview. Terrible attitude, just flailing his authority - his brain is fried from too much wine. Most Arabs have more swag and class than this guy from what I can see. He is not representative of real French people.
He thinks France and by extension the west have the moral high ground on all issues but failed to acknowledge the result of Colonialism,neo colonialism and slavery etc
@@lol-xc5qj you must be smoking pot to think that is a fair exchange for the atrocities Europe did to Africa and continue to do. Why dont France and by extension, the west just leave the continent alone? Oh yeah, because France steals 500 billion dollars from Africa a yeah. And don't forget what the other colonizers are stealing from Africa each year and yet have the nerves to call the continent poor
@@lol-xc5qj You know what?for someone like you who doesn't know anything about the history of your people to lecture me is just unfortunate. France is what it is because of slavery, colonialism and neo colonialism. France is profiting from the atrocities and thievery she committed over a span of 500 years and going. Haiti is where she is because of France, the CFA countries are the reason why France is not a third world country. Trust me, France will drop to 27th place in terms of development had it not been their manipulation of the CFA currency. Look how quick Macron jumped on the ECO to peg it to the Euro and his stupid stooges are quick to embrace this stupid arrangement. Dont get me started on the Sahel and the role of Sarkozy in Lybia
Very good video. It is crazy how Kouchner tries to resist and thereby keeps on denying facts. He (as well as the majority of politicians) shapes his discourse by using normative ethical claims, which are neither justified nor tenable. His apparent stupidity, coupled with his quite strong defense mechanism, not only proves that he is lying most of the time, but also that even 'humanitarian' causes should always be regarded with precaution and care.
I'm a supporter of humanitarian intervention, and I'm disappointed with Mr. Kouchner's responses. Here are some important points he failed to raise: 1) Without NATO intervention, Libya would be far WORSE than it is today, probably worse than Syria. In Libya, there have only been a few thousand casualties in the aftermath of the NATO intervention, and rivaling factions just announced the formation of a national unity government. In Syria, where the United States failed to intervene for three years (until Sept. 2014), around 300,000 people have died, with millions more displaced. Libya isn't perfect, but that wasn't a nation-building project. The question is whether it would have been better if Gaddafi had fulfilled his promise to wipe out Benghazi (600,000 people) and turned Libya into what Syria is today. 2) If the Libyan intervention was as an exercise in Western imperialism or motivated by oil, there would have been an occupying army. There wasn't, because the intervention was merely about saving lives and ensuring that Libya didn't destabilize all of North Africa like Syria has for the Middle East. 3) The Libyan people remain overwhelmingly supportive of NATO's intervention to prevent genocide (75 percent of Libyans supported intervention according to a Gallup survey in 2012: www.gallup.com/poll/156539/opinion-briefing-libyans-eye-new-relations-west.aspx 4) ISIS didn't really have any power in Syria until after Assad killed hundreds of innocent women and children with chemical weapons in 2013 and the international community didn't do anything about it. The West's failure to enforce its "red line" against war crimes and WMDs undermined the legitimacy of the West and motivated radicalized Muslims to join ISIS, which only started taking territory in mid-2014.
+Mr Ezkerrera I don't dispute that Libya is worse today than it was before 2011, but that is a false comparison. That's like a man with cancer saying he used to feel healthier before he started chemotherapy treatment. I'm saying Libya is better today than it WOULD be today if NATO and the Arab League would have just looked the other way and let Gaddafi slaughter 500,000+ people in Benghazi like he promised. In his 2009 Nobel Peace Prize speech, American President Barack Obama said the following: "I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That's why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace." www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-acceptance-nobel-peace-prize The United States and NATO intervened in Libya just in time to prevent a massacre that would been a human rights disaster in its own right and destabilized all of North Africa, including surrounding countries. Unfortunately, after Syrian dictator Basher Assad killed thousands of women and children in Ghouta with chemical weapons in 2013, President Obama got cold feet at the last second and didn't intervene. Here is my question for you: is Syria better off today than Libya?
AboveAllNations 'The United States and NATO intervened in Libya just in time to prevent a massacre...' Is there any evidence of that? 'Unfortunately, after Syrian dictator Basher Assad killed thousands of women and children in Ghouta with chemical weapons in 2013...' That's actually something the United Nations investigation found absolutely no evidence of at all. The United Nations said that there was no evidence that Assad used chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013. And one question: would you agree that Russia or China have the right to bomb or invade Israel because they used white phosphorus in Gaza in 2009?
Mr Ezkerrera Just like the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, Gaddafi was poisoning the airwaves in Libya by characterizing protestors against his regime as "rats" and "cockroaches," and he promised to "cleanse Libya house by house" in rebel-held cities like Benghazi. This was happening as dozens of civilians were already being killed by snipers, helicopters and foreign mercenaries on a daily basis: gothamist.com/2011/02/23/gadhafi_calls_libyan_protesters_coc.php#photo-1 Actually, the United Nations report DID find that chemical weapons were used in Ghouta, landing in rebel-held territory from areas controlled by Assad's forces. There is plenty of evidence on that: www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24130181 And yes, if Israel (or any other country) uses chemical weapons or gratuitously attacks civilians, the international community SHOULD intervene. American abuse of its veto power in the UN Security Council to protect Netanyahu's war crimes against Palestinians is no better than how Russia and China abuse their veto power to protect Assad's crimes in Syria.
+AboveAllNations yeah... pretty much what I thought until I started questioning everything the BBC and other Western media sources have said. Research the other side. All we were told in the UK was that Assad is an evil dictator who wants to kill his own people, as did Gaddafi. Putin invaded Ukraine. There is always another side and we have to explore it. It's also not just about oil. there is banking and finance. The petrodollar and the gold dinar is important. construction contracts to rebuild infrastructure is important. the money made from war by arms manufacturers who influence policy... Humanitarian motives. we can be pretty certain it's not humanitarian. if you actually care about human lives you don't bomb villages/towns/homes. I just don't get it.
Gaddafi did not kill anyone. Not one single civilian. That was warmongering propaganda. There were only two military confrontations between the Libyan army and the mercenaries of Henry Levy: one at the garrison in Tripoli and one in Bengazi. 80 people died. Not 10.000 like it was reported by warmongering MSM
i agree with him but turkey dont kiol or torture kurds , and the reason is because erdogan offered them to live freely but they have to erase the terrorist org PKK , and they refused , i have proofs for what i said , even the majority of kurds are pacifists and dont want problems,the problem is PKK , i have kurdish friends that PKK stabbed his brothers
But again who starts these wars? What about the ones who sell the guns and all the ammunition? Is there any country in Africa per say which sells these guns? Then the question of humanitarian and imperialism comes to play straight away! No humanitarian assistance without a sale of a gun. Period
@Random Person He has accountability but you think dropping guns on an unstable country,solves everything?All these terrorist groups received western help,it is like giving a psychopath a knife,should we be blind and only convict the psychopath?
The basic gist of his argument is we are saviours, our intentions are good (or so he says)...things go bad....too bad...sad day for them! I also can't decide if he is funny or a lunatic!
@1:40 in case anyone didn't hear or understand (CC is so awful), he said Kosovo. :) I never heard Doctors sans Frontiers were OK with war or military action. Ever. ?
People are demanding answers for the question of infinite loop... like chicken or egg. If you are on a train and see a person lying on the track about to be run over and cut to pieces. If you want to save him, you need to derail the train and you and your friends will quite possibly die. At least some of them. So do you clinch your teeth and watch your train slice through this man or derail your train to save him but with risk of your friends dying? What do you do? Can you blame either decisions? ? huh? People are just so passionate about intentions and political interests of Humanitarian intervention. But you all are in the wrong discussion asking wrong questions, discussing wrong topic!!
That is not the case when discussing humanitarian intervention. No intervention is a knee jerk reaction to any crisis. If this was the case, every known crisis would have an intervention. This is about making calculated responses to situations that would be in the political/economic interest of the intervener, who also sometimes creates the crisis which justifies the intervention, calling it “humanitarian”. These interventions many times remove a dictatorship.. sometimes without the will of the people, and leaves the country war torn with no rebuilding or peacekeeping efforts in place, and factions vying for power.
all Muslim country should unite and have/create our own humanitarian society to ACTUALLY help build the oppressed country from those cruel dictator.... a society that have a motive and objective as UN society... but more efficient in helping the oppressed
Create situations in which people become victims (needed for the screens and demonizations - conveniently aided by "humanitarian" fronts), then claim that you go in to protect the same people (a few creative incidents could help here) while changing the situation in your own geopolitical and neo-colonial favor. Chaos and civil war could be the result, but still in your favor, especially when it comes to minerals.
Christopher Hitchens: “There was a time in my life when I did a fair bit of work for the tempestuous Lucretia Stewart, then editor of the American Express travel magazine, Departures. Together, we evolved a harmless satire of the slightly driveling style employed by the journalists of tourism. 'Land of Contrasts' was our shorthand for it. ('Jerusalem: an enthralling blend of old and new.' 'South Africa: a harmony in black and white.' 'Belfast, where ancient meets modern.') It was as you can see, no difficult task. I began to notice a few weeks ago that my enemies in the 'peace' movement had decided to borrow from this tattered style book. The mantra, especially in the letters to this newspaper, was: 'Afghanistan, where the world's richest country rains bombs on the world's poorest country.' Poor fools. They should never have tried to beat me at this game. What about, 'Afghanistan, where the world's most open society confronts the world's most closed one'? 'Where American women pilots kill the men who enslave women.' 'Where the world's most indiscriminate bombers are bombed by the world's most accurate ones.' 'Where the largest number of poor people applaud the bombing of their own regime.' I could go on. (I think number four may need a little work.) But there are some suggested contrasts for the 'doves' to paste into their scrapbook. Incidentally, when they look at their scrapbooks they will be able to re-read themselves saying things like, 'The bombing of Kosovo is driving the Serbs into the arms of Milosevic.”
are there men specific bombs? as far i know bombs kill everyone- from men ,women, kids, slaves, free people- the only true phrase remains indiscriminate murder of innocent, harmless, civilians. Hitch may have been sharp and eloquent, but he was a bigot and massively wrong on so many things- mainly because of his anti islam bigotry and militant atheism-
This is not an interview, it is a debate in which critical questions are asked of only one debater while the other cowers behind the title of "interviewer".
Imperialism in this time period is based on a competition of the material needs of the west that intervention of the south takes the form of destabilization of regimes. Unlike the imperialism at the turn of the 20th century this period is unique in that capitalism is enigmatic and indifferent to the economic relation of material wealth of the world. The reproduction and survival of a specific international class of corporations for the free exploitation of raw material and labor globally defines this period of imperialism.
First time I’ve seen a politician admit fault not that it’s of any use to the victims of these so called humanitarian interventions. Also thought it was odd for the interviewee to only mention the protection of French Jews in answer to Mehdi’s initial question. Surprising it wasn’t called out
Ben Ghazi and the moment someone intervenes, they are seen as illegal invaders and criminals. Everybody knows that the West cannot win, hence no one is wanting to take part of it.
If more people dieing is not a reason to stop intervention then why don't you go and invade north Korea ? Sure many people will because of that but it's not a reason to stop right ?
This interview is set up with a very strong slant from the beginning. Notice that the panelists are sitting with the audience. Notice that the interviewer has a clear position in the debate. This was far from being a balanced or even handed debate. But the big question I wanted to hear is: Next time we have a Rwanda case, or next time the Kurds are being slaughtered, what should we do? Nothing? Just sit back in a comfortable chair and watch the bloodshed on TV? Is that what these people want? Historians have parsed out motivation for intervention like Somalia in 92 and Kosovo in 98, Bosnia 95.... and it was *not* imperialism that drove those interventions. It was *not* simply a matter of wanting to flex military might. It was domestic political pressures, within the United States and Europe to act. Watching bloodshed on TV, seeing images of starving Somalian children, motivated people to push for action from their leadership. In a democracy, during a voting year, that has a great deal of power to change the course of a nation. The political action of people, and media pressure pushed the leaders.
The more I watch of these debates the more I realize Mehdi’s never had a prominent American politician on...gosh I wonder why they wouldn’t submit themselves to an interview where they cannot pre-approve the questions...
WE live in a world where the governing dichotomy between nations is one of subject and subjected or the powerful and the powerless. Still has not changed in ages.
He is 100% correct that if you were the victim of a brutal regime you would welcome the intervention. I know this because my family and I were in that situation. Others are just arm chair quarterbacks and for that I respect the tough situation he was in as no intervention can ever be perfect or causality free but it is wrong (imhop) to necessarily put that on the interventionist as those who caused the conflict are to blame. You just have to make sure you are wise about when it becomes necessary to intervente military and to do it in a way that is effective and to invest in the stabilizing process *after* the intervention.
***** I see none of this "left" you're talking about. The guy is right-wing from the socks to the nose. (And don't even start me on PS because this is NOT left. PS was already just moderately left-wing before 1983, but after that year it's always been a moderate right-wing party, no big secrets here.) (But yes the guy is not only a bigot but an international criminal)
I m really sad to hear a first world leader showing no remorse for d action they are responsible for. in dis age of information we have fact to establish d clear intent of intervention. my only advice is denial makes dem a greater hypocrite dan their act
very few times it works,and majority of times the" intended consequences" comes out. Nowadays you can see western interest in Africa has actually tremendously increased and specially since Chinese showed up in the continent.
This was so incredibly unconstructive and most of it has to do with Kouchner's attitude, but it seems to me like TIME CONSTRAINTS have superseded the chance at getting to a breakthrough via prolonged probing and careful dismantling of his responses. The entire thing was just jumping from one person to the next like a hot potato, and in the end, no one's point was properly discussed, the panel and audience's attempts at getting an actual answer were turned down after Kouchner responded with some foolish diversion, and we simply had to accept that he wouldn't answer the question. In order for this to become a constructive debate, you need to calm down the atmosphere (as you did once during the interview briefly while you were asking your question) and to slowly pick apart his idiotic responses. Because when both of you are heated, all that happens is a hundred ricochets flying around with maybe 2 points landing their target. But, you can only afford to do this if time isn't such an issue. PLEASE AL JAZEERA, do not allow such important topics and debates to impeded by time constraints. You are only favouring Kouchner who, although most of us with a brain can tell is either bullshitting us (in some cases) or too emotionally invested (in others) to give an actual answer, gets to leave the show feeling emboldened and like he held his own. As an audience member I feel like I just wasted 1 hour of my life watching this and having to type this comment. I love what you're doing, and your work and thoughts are extremely valuable, but I just hope you can somehow find a way (I know it's probably not easy at all, and perhaps naïve of me to ask) to let these debates run their due course instead of cutting their legs out from under them.
Those that criticise military intervention as being inspired by colonialism and self interest are precisely the same that condemn non-interventionism in Rwanda etc. Thus it is damned if you do and damned if you don't. Condemnations of intervention are driven by solipsism and self-hatred.
Not at all. It seems that there is a widespread confusion in the discourses that are going on about intervention. In what concerns genuine humanitarian actions, the question that is being asked is the following: 'Should there be intervention?' This question is not only tricky by its nature, since it is a closed question, leading either to an accord or a disaccord, but also stands as a perceived binary opposition. This dualistic view, well anchored in the Western belief systems since Aristotle's Metaphysics, not only limits our capacity to improve ourselves, but also to think creatively about any subject matter. The question to be asked is the following: 'How should interventions be organised and managed?. 'Intervention' can mean very different kinds of actions. What I am trying to say here, is that it s not a problem, as you argue, of having people blaming the existence of interventions themselves, BUT RATHER of the nature and characteristics of the intervention. Please remain aware of this since it is very important. It is not the existence of an intervention that matters, but its nature as well as the ways in which it is proceeded. Thank You.
qwertymd WRT the Iraq question, there were many interventions proposed---full sanctions, limited sanctions, leave Saddam alone, try to arm opponents, international shame, political isolation and military intervention. People do think beyond binary options. Same with all situations. In the case of Rwanda, many options were considered but sometimes the case is pressing and we also have to consider our own interests, including the danger to our own troops. Thank-you.
I understand what you mean, but I cannot agree with you, especially in what concerns Rwanda. Romeo Dallaire, as the force commander of UNAMIR, the peacekeeing mission in Rwanda, himself warned about the genocide well before it started. Kofi Annan knew what was going on, but no action was taken, since the interests of member of the Security Council, such as the US and France, were against an intervention, for different reasons - the US, because of the failure in Somalia several months earlier, and France, because the French government helped financed the weapons that were used for the genocide. This is a very sad story, but I believe that everybody should be aware of the actions and non-actions of governments. Nobody can ignore that more than 800,000 people were killed during the genocide. I could even cite, as an example, Nicolas Sarkozy, who was involved in the funding and distribution of the weapons. He later came on becoming President of France, and blamed an insurance company to cover up the funding. He never apologised. Please do not trust politics and governments; they are the ones to be blamed. Same goes with intergovernmental organisations as well as NGOs. Believe me. I know what I am writing about :)
qwertymd thanks for a very intelligent response. I am not sure what France was thinking during this horrific affair. In general though, every nation who become conscious of an event like Rwanda needs to consider what kind of response to make. It might very well be a "let them figure it out, it's their problem and we are foreigners" type of response. It might be simply an outright invasion to prevent genocide. Most of the time it is a calculated consideration of the logistics and cost analysis, which naturally includes self interest. The difficulty may be that we have poor models to predict the consequences of any action or inaction. Consider the case of Libya vs Syria--one action vs relative inaction. Did the intervention in Libya save lives? Did not intervention in Syria cost lives? Who knows.
***** how is it that Iraq didn't need intervention? This was a regime that gassed it's own people and enslaving them, enduring horrific sanctions. Saddam took them to 2 wars ( prior to the 2 against the West) that killed 1 million people. He made owning a satellite dish a capital crime.
It's a 600AD culture that is out of place in 2019. Any religion that thinks 50% of their population (Women) to be considered 2nd class lifeforms is just messed up badly. They put religion far ahead of education that's why there are no innovative Muslim countries.
Whether (western) humanitarian intervention today is like colonial imperialism was not really discussed. The debate quickly turned into if humanitarian aid is worth the risk if it results in more deaths, but even in that case Kouchner point of view would still fail. Its like the "trolley problem". Kouchner is saying that he would pull the lever to save 5 people if it means killing only one. But when Mehdi asks him... what if there's a 3rd track, you didn't see, with 6 people. But because of some failure in the lever mechanism, instead of the track switching to the one with only 1 person it switched to the 3rd and killed more than you were trying to save... Mehdi puts the blame on the person who pulled the lever, but Kouchner puts the blame on the faulty lever mechanism. A reasonable response from Kouchner if the history of the lever properly working was greater than the times it had misfired, but that's not the case. So do you intervene? Do you do nothing? It's hard to say if you don't check the that all the gears are there and are working correctly
I think the problem with the supporters of the so-called "humanitarian interventions" is that their time frame starts from when the conflict is at it's peak whereas it should rather start from before the conflict is escalated. "Preventive Diplomatic Intervention" prior to all out gun blazing interventions would serve the purpose of the humanitarianism a little better.
in situation of conflict, more often than not we are unprepared and lots of mis-communication and mismanagement occurred and small changes of situation triggers dramatic chain of events, vested interests from too many actors came into play and most people who hold important positions were not as wise as we'd hope they are-law of unintended consequences is bound to happen as SQ don't have mechanism of mitigating it properly. I could understand how Bernard Kouchner believed doing an action to protect innocent civilian is the right course to take, because it really did. I feel sorry for him, and for the victim because his good-will isn't equipped by the right infrastructure and support. the discussion clearly should go more on how could we make the reform to current UN structure especially UNSC.
what about Rohingya in Burma? Isn't there a necessity a "Humanitarian Intervention" ?
They don't have political interests in that part of the world. Hypocrisy at its peak.
They don't have oil
Therefore ignore them
@Doc M Their conflict goes waaaay back. When Myanmar gained independence from the Brits, the Rohingya weren't considered citizens. To this day they are refused medical care, education, passports, and all government representation. Every single one of them is stateless. Myanmar says they migrated there from Bangladesh 500 years ago, and therefore aren't one of their people.
This has naturally caused problems... Rohingya groups often inspired by the Viet Kong did and have fought the Myanmar government for the last 70 years. Mostly through guerrilla fighting. Bombing or raiding military and police facilities for example. Those groups have always been present in Myanmars recent history, but they've always been small.
After a incident blew up, Myanmar military, and buddhists from other regions went and killed people in droves. Slaughtering entire villages and burning them down.
@Doc M all the dead women and children we saw were all terrorist? Common please be human for God's sake
Tariqul Islam Raquib: “All over the 🌎 it’s AmeriKKKa’s WMD’S ‘always’ doing the KILLINGS!!!” 🔥🇺🇸🔥🐍🔥🦇🔥💀🔥🐀🔥🔪🔥🇺🇸
i am from Afghanistan and all my life passed in war. which is only for US and west benefit without any definition .
As a US citizen I can tell you that we didn't benefit but the rich bankers and politicians who own stock in weapons manufacturing and other war corporations sure did and I'm sure Israel will have us marching off to fight their next war in Iran soon enough.
I was a soldier and I went to afghanistan. And i can tell you that the west had no benefit from that war, it started because the taliban were housing terrorist and then when we went there all we found was a country full of corrupt officials, poverty to the roof, and extremists
@@ElAnill0 that why you guys killed 1.3 Millon people of afganistan and destroy whole country.if your politician want peace in middle - east just give them education not guns.
@@ElAnill0 the beginning of the Afghanistan war was that the Taliban housed Terrorists?
@@ishanbhusal0177 they forget. Americans and the west will always forget. But he Afghans the Iraqis the vietnamese will never forget
Haha that moment just before the break- “This is a difficult subject, Mehdi; don’t’ be bapa papa pah” 😂
Typical french non sense
@@m.a.k.8618 haha.. this righteous Frenchy thinks he is Nepolion
Wow, it's insane how good this program is, and I've never heard of it before today. I'm like 6× episodes in and have been on the edge of my seat.
lmao exactly the same here
Over the last week I've been just watching episodes back to back, it's amazing!
Yes i love it. Watching from Tajikistan.
Lie # 1........Imperialism Ended..really? When.?
Lie # 2........Colonialism Ended..really? When.?
Lie # 3........Slavery Ended..........really? When.?
Jelmer
@Kapt'n Pee cause by western
Religion conversion ended? Impossible.
@Kapt'n Pee Yes they exist in Saudi Arabia but question is who is supporting it?
@Kapt'n Pee Ah western people are trying to hide their barbaric instincts by lying again.
The next time I heard about Humanitarian, I have to run for my life.
It is never humanitarian, it s always "National Interest". Politician use the media and their eloquent tongue to convince the masses it is "humanatarian". When it comes to "National Interest" Morality does not matter.
this is the best comment
I agree. The only true humanitarians are the people at the bottom helping each other survive. The second politicians get involved questions need to be asked...
That's just cynical, that's like saying intervention always makes things worse, that's just dishonest, there's no way to confirm that. But go on and live in your binary world.
NaiiFluur That was helpful...
Can you tell me that humanitarian aid hasn't paved the way for more military intervention in th epast?
I'm not saying It doesn't help in many cases but Its seems like you're the one living in a " binary world".
ByChoiceMuslim Well sometimes it is. Often it is not.
They still 144 tons GOLD. From Libya and Oil
SSSSshhhhhhhh don't mention helping the Palestinians or how about an humanitarian intervention into israhell
then why this old folk did not intervene Israel who have been broke 65 UN resolutions.... poor Palestinian... we pray for you... from your Muslim brothers, Malaysia
Very fair point raised, and the short answer is because western powers, particularly the USA, Britain and France are hypocrites who intervene to protect their interests, not for humanitarian reasons as they promulgate.
Under the garb of democracy, the western power intervene in their own interest but no help for Palestinian, pakistan
+Ashutosh Joshi pakistan is terror factory
I think mehdi won that one. Just sayin
Mehdi wins every one. I dunno why the guests ever show up to these. The only person who's successful gone against Mehdi is the woman who was talking about feminism in Islam
@@JackAShepherd Because journalists nowadays are a joke ,Mehdi is what a real journalist should be.Most people haven't experienced good journalists nowadays!
This was utter destruction.
Uk supplied chemical weapons to syria two years ago.
Intervention is never a surgeon's knife. It is a blunt object. It should be used sparingly.
But in the end, those in power will suffer from an aggressive foreign policy over time.
What about yellow vest protesters, did he protect them too?
Mehdi, terrific job on the show. You have restored my faith in journalism.
My issue with this debate is that you don't raise specifics about what prerequisites should be met and also the importance for clear impartial evidence. You could probably find a massive group of people in the majority of countries in the world that are unsatisfied with their governments and if given the chance would like to overthrow them. Not clearly defining exactly what and how abuses are happening leads to people like your guest making emotional pleas for war with scant contextualized evidence. TV can be very misleading.
We need clear evidence from an unbiased source that can be quantified and easy to see for everybody as a prerequisite. Anecdotal evidence can be misleading. Clear evidence can lead to clear solutions and better dialogue for a diplomatic solution. Imperialist countries that are pursuing geopolitical goals who are intellectually inconsistent and downright hypocritical don't deserve to make emotional pleas. I view this more in the sense as an argument for them because I just don't trust that they are at all sincere in their humanitarian concern. To me they are downright warmongers and war profiteers. They pick and choose where they want regime change based on what suits them. Interesting they aren't concerned with Saudi Arabia. Really the UN should be the only body making the case with a sufficient burden of proof. Keep up the great work.
So glad this show is back! Great 1st episode.
MichaelWhiteE17 The hardest to watch for me so far :'-) but Head to Head is great, that's for sure ^^
Kouchener does know the "magnitude of hatred" and these entities know how and strive to escalate it.
I love to here "we were wrong" from a French nationalist like him. Although, "wrong" is a huge understatement.
These vampires have NO conscience
how could there be... they see blacks and brown as monke
I have to admire Kouchner's clarity of purpose.
People who say that the West is to blame for everything that is going on in the Middle East, give the West too much credit. People who say all the problem in the Middle East is solely because of local Arabs, or Muslims or whatever are too narrow minded. The truth of the matter is that the conflicts in the Middle East is an intricate web where the external, regional and non-state actors are all involved. Without us acknowledging this fact and instead play the blame game, there will never be any hope for reconciliation and peace.
The French guy has the emotional maturity of a toddler
He’s just being French. Arrogant and belligerent.
Not really…even tho I am against his policy in every aspect… but very few stand up to interruptions of mehdi..he kinda seems like he always in rush
What about Rwanda? No intervention from anyone on Earth. The world watched.
This French guy is consistently angry or confused through this whole interview. Terrible attitude, just flailing his authority - his brain is fried from too much wine. Most Arabs have more swag and class than this guy from what I can see. He is not representative of real French people.
He thinks France and by extension the west have the moral high ground on all issues but failed to acknowledge the result of Colonialism,neo colonialism and slavery etc
@@lol-xc5qj you must be smoking pot to think that is a fair exchange for the atrocities Europe did to Africa and continue to do. Why dont France and by extension, the west just leave the continent alone?
Oh yeah, because France steals 500 billion dollars from Africa a yeah. And don't forget what the other colonizers are stealing from Africa each year and yet have the nerves to call the continent poor
@@lol-xc5qj You know what?for someone like you who doesn't know anything about the history of your people to lecture me is just unfortunate. France is what it is because of slavery, colonialism and neo colonialism. France is profiting from the atrocities and thievery she committed over a span of 500 years and going. Haiti is where she is because of France, the CFA countries are the reason why France is not a third world country. Trust me, France will drop to 27th place in terms of development had it not been their manipulation of the CFA currency. Look how quick Macron jumped on the ECO to peg it to the Euro and his stupid stooges are quick to embrace this stupid arrangement. Dont get me started on the Sahel and the role of Sarkozy in Lybia
It's brain damage from two centuries of evil colonial arrogance.
Well said .. May Allah bless you .. I am from Bangladesh
With out war no business.
I miss this one of a kind journalist!! Every politician should be challenged like that.
Very good video.
It is crazy how Kouchner tries to resist and thereby keeps on denying facts.
He (as well as the majority of politicians) shapes his discourse by using normative ethical claims, which are neither justified nor tenable. His apparent stupidity, coupled with his quite strong defense mechanism, not only proves that he is lying most of the time, but also that even 'humanitarian' causes should always be regarded with precaution and care.
Kouchner is a Satan morph into human
I like the dialogue.... big up brother because you know very well how to ask questions.
23:18 *when u hv no answer for questions but still think every word s a question* lmoa hahah rofl
This guy was just a lemon, and that’s not quite untrue......🍋🍋🍋
I'm a supporter of humanitarian intervention, and I'm disappointed with Mr. Kouchner's responses. Here are some important points he failed to raise:
1) Without NATO intervention, Libya would be far WORSE than it is today, probably worse than Syria. In Libya, there have only been a few thousand casualties in the aftermath of the NATO intervention, and rivaling factions just announced the formation of a national unity government. In Syria, where the United States failed to intervene for three years (until Sept. 2014), around 300,000 people have died, with millions more displaced. Libya isn't perfect, but that wasn't a nation-building project. The question is whether it would have been better if Gaddafi had fulfilled his promise to wipe out Benghazi (600,000 people) and turned Libya into what Syria is today.
2) If the Libyan intervention was as an exercise in Western imperialism or motivated by oil, there would have been an occupying army. There wasn't, because the intervention was merely about saving lives and ensuring that Libya didn't destabilize all of North Africa like Syria has for the Middle East.
3) The Libyan people remain overwhelmingly supportive of NATO's intervention to prevent genocide (75 percent of Libyans supported intervention according to a Gallup survey in 2012: www.gallup.com/poll/156539/opinion-briefing-libyans-eye-new-relations-west.aspx
4) ISIS didn't really have any power in Syria until after Assad killed hundreds of innocent women and children with chemical weapons in 2013 and the international community didn't do anything about it. The West's failure to enforce its "red line" against war crimes and WMDs undermined the legitimacy of the West and motivated radicalized Muslims to join ISIS, which only started taking territory in mid-2014.
+AboveAllNations You cannot be serious in claiming that Libya is better today than under Gaddafi?
+Mr Ezkerrera I don't dispute that Libya is worse today than it was before 2011, but that is a false comparison. That's like a man with cancer saying he used to feel healthier before he started chemotherapy treatment. I'm saying Libya is better today than it WOULD be today if NATO and the Arab League would have just looked the other way and let Gaddafi slaughter 500,000+ people in Benghazi like he promised.
In his 2009 Nobel Peace Prize speech, American President Barack Obama said the following:
"I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That's why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace."
www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-acceptance-nobel-peace-prize
The United States and NATO intervened in Libya just in time to prevent a massacre that would been a human rights disaster in its own right and destabilized all of North Africa, including surrounding countries. Unfortunately, after Syrian dictator Basher Assad killed thousands of women and children in Ghouta with chemical weapons in 2013, President Obama got cold feet at the last second and didn't intervene. Here is my question for you: is Syria better off today than Libya?
AboveAllNations 'The United States and NATO intervened in Libya just in time to prevent a massacre...' Is there any evidence of that?
'Unfortunately, after Syrian dictator Basher Assad killed thousands of women and children in Ghouta with chemical weapons in 2013...' That's actually something the United Nations investigation found absolutely no evidence of at all. The United Nations said that there was no evidence that Assad used chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013.
And one question: would you agree that Russia or China have the right to bomb or invade Israel because they used white phosphorus in Gaza in 2009?
Mr Ezkerrera Just like the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, Gaddafi was poisoning the airwaves in Libya by characterizing protestors against his regime as "rats" and "cockroaches," and he promised to "cleanse Libya house by house" in rebel-held cities like Benghazi. This was happening as dozens of civilians were already being killed by snipers, helicopters and foreign mercenaries on a daily basis: gothamist.com/2011/02/23/gadhafi_calls_libyan_protesters_coc.php#photo-1
Actually, the United Nations report DID find that chemical weapons were used in Ghouta, landing in rebel-held territory from areas controlled by Assad's forces. There is plenty of evidence on that: www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24130181
And yes, if Israel (or any other country) uses chemical weapons or gratuitously attacks civilians, the international community SHOULD intervene. American abuse of its veto power in the UN Security Council to protect Netanyahu's war crimes against Palestinians is no better than how Russia and China abuse their veto power to protect Assad's crimes in Syria.
+AboveAllNations yeah... pretty much what I thought until I started questioning everything the BBC and other Western media sources have said. Research the other side. All we were told in the UK was that Assad is an evil dictator who wants to kill his own people, as did Gaddafi. Putin invaded Ukraine. There is always another side and we have to explore it. It's also not just about oil. there is banking and finance. The petrodollar and the gold dinar is important. construction contracts to rebuild infrastructure is important. the money made from war by arms manufacturers who influence policy... Humanitarian motives. we can be pretty certain it's not humanitarian. if you actually care about human lives you don't bomb villages/towns/homes. I just don't get it.
Gaddafi did not kill anyone. Not one single civilian. That was warmongering propaganda. There were only two military confrontations between the Libyan army and the mercenaries of Henry Levy: one at the garrison in Tripoli and one in Bengazi. 80 people died. Not 10.000 like it was reported by warmongering MSM
God bless Hamza the Algerian man, for mentioning the Kurds agony
i agree with him but turkey dont kiol or torture kurds , and the reason is because erdogan offered them to live freely but they have to erase the terrorist org PKK , and they refused , i have proofs for what i said , even the majority of kurds are pacifists and dont want problems,the problem is PKK , i have kurdish friends that PKK stabbed his brothers
We in the west like playing omnipotent god. Despite evidence to the contrary.
well, China is on the rise..
for centuries, god looked like white man... now god looks like Chinese...
Head to Head is the most pertinent program!
But again who starts these wars? What about the ones who sell the guns and all the ammunition? Is there any country in Africa per say which sells these guns? Then the question of humanitarian and imperialism comes to play straight away! No humanitarian assistance without a sale of a gun. Period
@Random Person He has accountability but you think dropping guns on an unstable country,solves everything?All these terrorist groups received western help,it is like giving a psychopath a knife,should we be blind and only convict the psychopath?
@Random Person No they alos should be covicted but also the third party,mostly the gun sellers should be convicted.
@Random Person By the ICC
@Random Person It has its bad sides but they did some good jobs.
Mehdi " What's your name?" .. Bernard " I ate burger"
as far as the guests on this show this guy defended himself the best
Barak Seenar's 3 pillars: 1. Capacity of resources
2. Ideals
3. Security interest
What an interesting guest
The basic gist of his argument is we are saviours, our intentions are good (or so he says)...things go bad....too bad...sad day for them! I also can't decide if he is funny or a lunatic!
@1:40 in case anyone didn't hear or understand (CC is so awful), he said Kosovo. :)
I never heard Doctors sans Frontiers were OK with war or military action. Ever. ?
Someone should intervene on behalf of the yellow vests in France under Kouchner's argument.
Good speaker..one of the most bold
People are demanding answers for the question of infinite loop... like chicken or egg.
If you are on a train and see a person lying on the track about to be run over and cut to pieces. If you want to save him, you need to derail the train and you and your friends will quite possibly die. At least some of them. So do you clinch your teeth and watch your train slice through this man or derail your train to save him but with risk of your friends dying? What do you do?
Can you blame either decisions? ? huh?
People are just so passionate about intentions and political interests of Humanitarian intervention. But you all are in the wrong discussion asking wrong questions, discussing wrong topic!!
Peter Park
TRUTH!
That is not the case when discussing humanitarian intervention. No intervention is a knee jerk reaction to any crisis. If this was the case, every known crisis would have an intervention. This is about making calculated responses to situations that would be in the political/economic interest of the intervener, who also sometimes creates the crisis which justifies the intervention, calling it “humanitarian”. These interventions many times remove a dictatorship.. sometimes without the will of the people, and leaves the country war torn with no rebuilding or peacekeeping efforts in place, and factions vying for power.
Please someone tell me the name of the lady at 42:43
@phallus longulus Her full name please.
This guy is obviously racist saying "we considered them as equals" in Kosovo meaning he never considered Libyan and Iraqis as equals...
all Muslim country should unite and have/create our own humanitarian society to ACTUALLY help build the oppressed country from those cruel dictator.... a society that have a motive and objective as UN society... but more efficient in helping the oppressed
Kadir Mokhtar wtf are you talking about . obviously you were incapable of comprehending what they were talking about
fakyuuuuuu
I agree but there will be a fight on who will be the leader of it. Religion cant entirely bring peace or unity to people
@Random Person You idiot there is more then Saudi Arabia.
If France and the rest of the west could be self sufficient then they would not have this dilemma.
No intervention of any kind happens in a country without oil or similarly lucrative resources.
Create situations in which people become victims (needed for the screens and demonizations - conveniently aided by "humanitarian" fronts), then claim that you go in to protect the same people (a few creative incidents could help here) while changing the situation in your own geopolitical and neo-colonial favor. Chaos and civil war could be the result, but still in your favor, especially when it comes to minerals.
this old folk is a jokes...he cant accurately answer most of the question from the audience
What about Saudi and Israeli oppression?
Christopher Hitchens:
“There was a time in my life when I did a fair bit of work for the tempestuous Lucretia Stewart, then editor of the American Express travel magazine, Departures. Together, we evolved a harmless satire of the slightly driveling style employed by the journalists of tourism. 'Land of Contrasts' was our shorthand for it. ('Jerusalem: an enthralling blend of old and new.' 'South Africa: a harmony in black and white.' 'Belfast, where ancient meets modern.') It was as you can see, no difficult task. I began to notice a few weeks ago that my enemies in the 'peace' movement had decided to borrow from this tattered style book. The mantra, especially in the letters to this newspaper, was: 'Afghanistan, where the world's richest country rains bombs on the world's poorest country.'
Poor fools. They should never have tried to beat me at this game. What about, 'Afghanistan, where the world's most open society confronts the world's most closed one'? 'Where American women pilots kill the men who enslave women.' 'Where the world's most indiscriminate bombers are bombed by the world's most accurate ones.' 'Where the largest number of poor people applaud the bombing of their own regime.' I could go on. (I think number four may need a little work.) But there are some suggested contrasts for the 'doves' to paste into their scrapbook. Incidentally, when they look at their scrapbooks they will be able to re-read themselves saying things like, 'The bombing of Kosovo is driving the Serbs into the arms of Milosevic.”
are there men specific bombs? as far i know bombs kill everyone- from men ,women, kids, slaves, free people- the only true phrase remains indiscriminate murder of innocent, harmless, civilians. Hitch may have been sharp and eloquent, but he was a bigot and massively wrong on so many things- mainly because of his anti islam bigotry and militant atheism-
This is not an interview, it is a debate in which critical questions are asked of only one debater while the other cowers behind the title of "interviewer".
exactly
Imperialism in this time period is based on a competition of the material needs of the west that intervention of the south takes the form of destabilization of regimes.
Unlike the imperialism at the turn of the 20th century this period is unique in that capitalism is enigmatic and indifferent to the economic relation of material wealth of the world. The reproduction and survival of a specific international class of corporations for the free exploitation of raw material and labor globally defines this period of imperialism.
Well said, Lindsay German!!!!
First time I’ve seen a politician admit fault not that it’s of any use to the victims of these so called humanitarian interventions. Also thought it was odd for the interviewee to only mention the protection of French Jews in answer to Mehdi’s initial question. Surprising it wasn’t called out
A good debate with equally valid arguments.
one of the interesting head to head encounters! like him
There's a reason why French wants topping Kardaff because Kardaff refused to purchase fight jets from France.
in lybia, 13.000 people died. in syria, its 300.000 and counting.
exactly. Syria is way worse than Libya. Intervention is better than nothing.
Ben Ghazi
and the moment someone intervenes, they are seen as illegal invaders and criminals. Everybody knows that the West cannot win, hence no one is wanting to take part of it.
And in Iraq 1 million. What is your point?
@@benghazi8849 Intervention was there from the beginning.
there is no place for censorship in America.
If more people dieing is not a reason to stop intervention then why don't you go and invade north Korea ?
Sure many people will because of that but it's not a reason to stop right ?
This interview is set up with a very strong slant from the beginning. Notice that the panelists are sitting with the audience. Notice that the interviewer has a clear position in the debate. This was far from being a balanced or even handed debate.
But the big question I wanted to hear is: Next time we have a Rwanda case, or next time the Kurds are being slaughtered, what should we do? Nothing? Just sit back in a comfortable chair and watch the bloodshed on TV? Is that what these people want?
Historians have parsed out motivation for intervention like Somalia in 92 and Kosovo in 98, Bosnia 95.... and it was *not* imperialism that drove those interventions. It was *not* simply a matter of wanting to flex military might. It was domestic political pressures, within the United States and Europe to act. Watching bloodshed on TV, seeing images of starving Somalian children, motivated people to push for action from their leadership. In a democracy, during a voting year, that has a great deal of power to change the course of a nation. The political action of people, and media pressure pushed the leaders.
The more I watch of these debates the more I realize Mehdi’s never had a prominent American politician on...gosh I wonder why they wouldn’t submit themselves to an interview where they cannot pre-approve the questions...
is there ANYBODY who can do it better than Mehdi!
WE live in a world where the governing dichotomy between nations is one of subject and subjected or the powerful and the powerless. Still has not changed in ages.
He is 100% correct that if you were the victim of a brutal regime you would welcome the intervention. I know this because my family and I were in that situation. Others are just arm chair quarterbacks and for that I respect the tough situation he was in as no intervention can ever be perfect or causality free but it is wrong (imhop) to necessarily put that on the interventionist as those who caused the conflict are to blame. You just have to make sure you are wise about when it becomes necessary to intervente military and to do it in a way that is effective and to invest in the stabilizing process *after* the intervention.
how come the host never let attendees finish their sentences...
Because he has an agenda to push
The old man got confused....
Iraq was a criminal war, Kosovo was a legitimate and necessary intervention, Those who cant tell the difference deserve nothing but contempt
White saviour complex goes crazy in this one
EVEN WHERE HE IS WRONG HE IS NEVER WRONG.
Prime example of bigotry.. right there... To the left
***** I see none of this "left" you're talking about. The guy is right-wing from the socks to the nose. (And don't even start me on PS because this is NOT left. PS was already just moderately left-wing before 1983, but after that year it's always been a moderate right-wing party, no big secrets here.) (But yes the guy is not only a bigot but an international criminal)
I think he meant the guy seated to the left of mehdi lol
What a colorful guest.
Intervention the destructive hubris of his ego.
I m really sad to hear a first world leader showing no remorse for d action they are responsible for. in dis age of information we have fact to establish d clear intent of intervention. my only advice is denial makes dem a greater hypocrite dan their act
Damned if you do damned if you don't.
very few times it works,and majority of times the" intended consequences" comes out. Nowadays you can see western interest in Africa has actually tremendously increased and specially since Chinese showed up in the continent.
This was so incredibly unconstructive and most of it has to do with Kouchner's attitude, but it seems to me like TIME CONSTRAINTS have superseded the chance at getting to a breakthrough via prolonged probing and careful dismantling of his responses.
The entire thing was just jumping from one person to the next like a hot potato, and in the end, no one's point was properly discussed, the panel and audience's attempts at getting an actual answer were turned down after Kouchner responded with some foolish diversion, and we simply had to accept that he wouldn't answer the question. In order for this to become a constructive debate, you need to calm down the atmosphere (as you did once during the interview briefly while you were asking your question) and to slowly pick apart his idiotic responses. Because when both of you are heated, all that happens is a hundred ricochets flying around with maybe 2 points landing their target.
But, you can only afford to do this if time isn't such an issue. PLEASE AL JAZEERA, do not allow such important topics and debates to impeded by time constraints. You are only favouring Kouchner who, although most of us with a brain can tell is either bullshitting us (in some cases) or too emotionally invested (in others) to give an actual answer, gets to leave the show feeling emboldened and like he held his own. As an audience member I feel like I just wasted 1 hour of my life watching this and having to type this comment.
I love what you're doing, and your work and thoughts are extremely valuable, but I just hope you can somehow find a way (I know it's probably not easy at all, and perhaps naïve of me to ask) to let these debates run their due course instead of cutting their legs out from under them.
I can see it right in his eyes nothing but demon without no souls
Bernard, as a doctor you should be ashame of yourself.
This man believes in flying horses...
welcome back head to head, Aljazeera, after long time. wahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Why America UK and France are doctor... I also want to be a doctor..
After warfighting, you hear only an excuse from French personality
I wonder can you really claim to be saving and protecting people when you don't even respect them to begin with,
Just too fishy honestly.
The truth will set us free
Those that criticise military intervention as being inspired by colonialism and self interest are precisely the same that condemn non-interventionism in Rwanda etc. Thus it is damned if you do and damned if you don't. Condemnations of intervention are driven by solipsism and self-hatred.
Not at all. It seems that there is a widespread confusion in the discourses that are going on about intervention. In what concerns genuine humanitarian actions, the question that is being asked is the following: 'Should there be intervention?'
This question is not only tricky by its nature, since it is a closed question, leading either to an accord or a disaccord, but also stands as a perceived binary opposition. This dualistic view, well anchored in the Western belief systems since Aristotle's Metaphysics, not only limits our capacity to improve ourselves, but also to think creatively about any subject matter.
The question to be asked is the following: 'How should interventions be organised and managed?. 'Intervention' can mean very different kinds of actions.
What I am trying to say here, is that it s not a problem, as you argue, of having people blaming the existence of interventions themselves, BUT RATHER of the nature and characteristics of the intervention. Please remain aware of this since it is very important.
It is not the existence of an intervention that matters, but its nature as well as the ways in which it is proceeded. Thank You.
qwertymd WRT the Iraq question, there were many interventions proposed---full sanctions, limited sanctions, leave Saddam alone, try to arm opponents, international shame, political isolation and military intervention. People do think beyond binary options. Same with all situations.
In the case of Rwanda, many options were considered but sometimes the case is pressing and we also have to consider our own interests, including the danger to our own troops. Thank-you.
I understand what you mean, but I cannot agree with you, especially in what concerns Rwanda. Romeo Dallaire, as the force commander of UNAMIR, the peacekeeing mission in Rwanda, himself warned about the genocide well before it started. Kofi Annan knew what was going on, but no action was taken, since the interests of member of the Security Council, such as the US and France, were against an intervention, for different reasons - the US, because of the failure in Somalia several months earlier, and France, because the French government helped financed the weapons that were used for the genocide. This is a very sad story, but I believe that everybody should be aware of the actions and non-actions of governments. Nobody can ignore that more than 800,000 people were killed during the genocide. I could even cite, as an example, Nicolas Sarkozy, who was involved in the funding and distribution of the weapons. He later came on becoming President of France, and blamed an insurance company to cover up the funding. He never apologised.
Please do not trust politics and governments; they are the ones to be blamed. Same goes with intergovernmental organisations as well as NGOs. Believe me. I know what I am writing about :)
qwertymd thanks for a very intelligent response. I am not sure what France was thinking during this horrific affair. In general though, every nation who become conscious of an event like Rwanda needs to consider what kind of response to make. It might very well be a "let them figure it out, it's their problem and we are foreigners" type of response. It might be simply an outright invasion to prevent genocide. Most of the time it is a calculated consideration of the logistics and cost analysis, which naturally includes self interest. The difficulty may be that we have poor models to predict the consequences of any action or inaction. Consider the case of Libya vs Syria--one action vs relative inaction. Did the intervention in Libya save lives? Did not intervention in Syria cost lives? Who knows.
***** how is it that Iraq didn't need intervention? This was a regime that gassed it's own people and enslaving them, enduring horrific sanctions. Saddam took them to 2 wars ( prior to the 2 against the West) that killed 1 million people. He made owning a satellite dish a capital crime.
Bernad Koushner is a fantastic person!!!
A new power block in the making Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia is emerging.
It's a 600AD culture that is out of place in 2019. Any religion that thinks 50% of their population (Women) to be considered 2nd class lifeforms is just messed up badly.
They put religion far ahead of education that's why there are no innovative Muslim countries.
Absolutely rattled haha.
Whether (western) humanitarian intervention today is like colonial imperialism was not really discussed. The debate quickly turned into if humanitarian aid is worth the risk if it results in more deaths, but even in that case Kouchner point of view would still fail. Its like the "trolley problem". Kouchner is saying that he would pull the lever to save 5 people if it means killing only one. But when Mehdi asks him... what if there's a 3rd track, you didn't see, with 6 people. But because of some failure in the lever mechanism, instead of the track switching to the one with only 1 person it switched to the 3rd and killed more than you were trying to save... Mehdi puts the blame on the person who pulled the lever, but Kouchner puts the blame on the faulty lever mechanism. A reasonable response from Kouchner if the history of the lever properly working was greater than the times it had misfired, but that's not the case. So do you intervene? Do you do nothing? It's hard to say if you don't check the that all the gears are there and are working correctly
I think the problem with the supporters of the so-called "humanitarian interventions" is that their time frame starts from when the conflict is at it's peak whereas it should rather start from before the conflict is escalated. "Preventive Diplomatic Intervention" prior to all out gun blazing interventions would serve the purpose of the humanitarianism a little better.
No, the problem is that those who interfere, illegally too, are th same one who create the situation in the first place.
how to stop the war , do we have the recipe,,,Yes we do Bernard
My god, he doesn't answer a single question properly!!!
Mehdi ♥️♥️♥️♥️
in situation of conflict, more often than not we are unprepared and lots of mis-communication and mismanagement occurred and small changes of situation triggers dramatic chain of events, vested interests from too many actors came into play and most people who hold important positions were not as wise as we'd hope they are-law of unintended consequences is bound to happen as SQ don't have mechanism of mitigating it properly.
I could understand how Bernard Kouchner believed doing an action to protect innocent civilian is the right course to take, because it really did. I feel sorry for him, and for the victim because his good-will isn't equipped by the right infrastructure and support. the discussion clearly should go more on how could we make the reform to current UN structure especially UNSC.
His "good will" ...ha ha. Stop the clumsy whitewash.