France shows her weakness once again

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

There is a fundamental problem with the UN - a body which I've studied - and remain a believer in its potential - especially when it comes to issues of peacekeeping is that the rules of engagement are so unbelieveably weak - since International Law is voluntary and the UN cannot send troops in unilaterally.

- They cannot defend civlians or infrastructure from being attacked -unless they happen to be fired upon first.

- Peacekeeping doesn't reflect what they are actually doing - they usually arrive to stabilize a situation, rather than attempt to maintain it.

The US doesn't have the best reputation for its UN-Peacekeeping roles - primarily because mostly PK missions are multi-national, under a uniform set of rules of engagement - it is US Military policy (check it) that US troops are never to serve under such rules.

France should do much much more than its doing - they are dealing with Cote d'Ivoire - which was their doing also.