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Monday, November 26, 2012

A Zaire By Any Other Name

Strategypage explains the latest bad news in the ongoing bad news that is the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

They thought they could make us forget the disaster that the region is by changing the name from Zaire.

So what will the next name be?

UPDATE: Apparently, we need to care more. This is priceless:

In April, more than 300 Congolese and international civil organizations published a detailed report on the urgency of establishing competent, professional military and law enforcement institutions. This report made specific recommendations and received high-level attention from the policymaking establishment in New York and Washington, but there has been little follow-up.

A "detailed report." Well, then, let's get on with it, eh?

Of freaking course competent, professional military and law enforcement institutions are needed. Good God. But how do you get that from a society without any national cohesion and with rampant corruption and tribalism? Even if the institutions could be built, they couldn't survive for long in that environment.

I don't care how detailed the report is, you can't get there from here. The only hope of having competent and professional military and law enforcement institutions is to impose them from the outside. Who's up for that? Does caring count for anything if you don't support that? After all, the world has been watching this area for a long time without caring to do much to resolve the problems that have caused such a high body count the last several decades.