The countries that the Lebanese most trust for peacekeeping in Southern Lebanon are Canada, Brazil and Japan.
No matter how this crisis ends, there will be without doubt some kind of peacekeeping force that will assist the Lebanese army in the south of Lebanon. Here are my ten cents on why they should be Canadian, Brazilian and Japanese.
We won’t trust the neighboring countries to send their soldiers because they might never leave. This discounts Syria and Jordan. Turkey brings ugly colonial memories, so they are out too (sorry, I know you want the job, but we’re not comfortable with it). The Arab countries and Iran are too involved and partial. Sub-Saharan Africans won’t scare anybody (with my deepest respect to Ghanaian peacekeepers in the UNIFIL).
The force should have unanimous support from the Lebanese people; this immediately discounts Israel, the US and the UK. France is admired by some Lebanese (The Maronites and the Sunnis), but to others (like President Emile Lahhoud and the Shiaas) it represents a colonial past and is an unwelcome influence. Spain and Italy are too Catholic, Germany still needs time before it could send soldiers abroad, the Scandinavians and the Swiss are too pacifist, Eastern Europe is too pro-American.
The Russians are too eager to spite the Americans and the Chinese are too willing to bargain for oil. Besides, both are too heavy-handed. Pakistan is too Muslim and India is too anti-Muslim. Australia is too pro-American and New Zealand is too far. Argentina has a history with Hezbollah and Venezuela is too anti-American. Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile are too poor.
Which brings us to the most trusted, most independent countries in Lebanese eyes: Brazil, Canada and Japan.
Aside from the Soccer fans who raised Brazilian flags all over the country during the world-cup, Brazil has the right mixture of independence, thirld-worldism and clout. It also helps that Brazil has more Lebanese descendents than Lebanon itself.
Canada is the most respected and neutral country in Lebanese eyes. I remember once going to the south, in a Hezbollah controlled area. There was a hotel that wanted to portray an international image; so it raised the Canadian flag next to the Iranian, Saudi and Syrian flags. Canada has been very sympathetic to Lebanese Immigrants and Canadian Universities are having special measures to help Lebanese students follow their studies there. There are no Lebanese who consider Canadians their enemies.
Japan is associated here with nothing but hi-tech, robots and gizmos. A peacekeeping force will definitely need assistance with their computers and laser-guided missiles. The sushi (which we’re beginning to terribly miss here) will be a plus.
Hello, my name is Mustapha and I've been blogging about Lebanese society and politics since February 2005. 
FFL, obviously, with Turks filling the gaps, under a non-French NATO command structure.
FFL is incredibly expendable, and the French don’t tolerate attacks on their troops. Ask the folks in the Ivory Coast.
No, the Lebanese aren’t going to like folks who will actually engage and kill Hezbollah when the Hezbollards refuse to disarm, but, hey, that’s kind of the idea.
I certainly understand your thought process, but I think you are missing a major point. A peacekeeping force in Lebanon will have to be more complicated than simply handing boxes of food to mothers and candy to babies. For Israel to be willing to accept a peacekeeping force, that force must be willing to kill HA by any means necessary. Having the people of Lebanon respect the peacekeeping force has very little importance.
In order to be able to effectively destroy HA, the peacekeeping force must be able to intimidate Syria and Iran. To put it quite simply, a force under the UN banner can’t do that. Very few countries can. NATO, the US, Russia, and China can intimidate Syrian and Iran. But that’s it. There is nobody else. NATO means the US; and Russia and China have no reason to want to help, nor would they want to intimidate Syria or Iran. And it should be obvious that the US is unwilling to help with a peacekeeping force.
The solution? There is none. Whatever peacekeeping force will be a temporary fix. Lebanon is not strong enough to fight both Syria and Iran so HA will continue to gain strength. Unless HA attacks the US, Russia, or China in a major way (or a NATO ally), HA will continue to have power in Lebanon. That is, unless the US attacks Syria or Iran.
Please don’t let Lebanon go on a nit picking we are fussy about who we would “like” to end our misery. I am pleased that you don’t want Australia. We are very stretched. Not just Iraq and Afghanistan, but we are kept very busy in the South Pacific and East Timor, even though we are pulling out of there. And we are quite happy to be considered a good friend of the US.
As to the UN is under funded, who do the Lebanese think pay for these UN forces. Certainly not Brazil. Or Russia or China etc. The US, and Japan contributes huge sums for the bankrolling of UN forces. So Japan’s money wouldn’t be on the nose, but their well trained professional troops would.
As far as I know the US has not changed its policy of not putting their troops under UN command. So I doubt they want to. To start with they would be mad to allow the UN access to their military intelligence. They have even been burned by NATO traitors. But anyway for the Lebanese US troops won’t be acceptable. The experience and firepower they have to save you from Hizbollah doesn’t matter. Or the reality is once again there is no desire to confront Hizbollah
That certain troops are considered not nice by Lebanese isn’t enough. Whoever they are they have to be able to do the job, and not be corrupt and abusers of the locals. Like stay well away from African troops, they about 2 months ago attacked and killed women and children in the Congo, and are notorious for the sex abuse of women and children. Kofi was not outraged. And there are a number of ME troops you wouldn’t want either.
Time for a reality check.
And of course they will have to go in under a chapter 7. This stand and watch as the Dutch did in Srebrenica, well actually they forced the Muslim men and boys onto the buses of death, or the Belgians in Rwanda, who just hopped in their vehicles and drove away, exemplifies the appalling moral vacuum that is the UN.
One solution is to have a lot of female troops, how would that go down with Hizbollah.
And if Lebanon requires for Hizbollah anything less than a chapter 7 then they will end up on their own permanently.
As a Canadian I can say there would be little support for our troops getting shot at by Hizbollah terrorists in Lebanon. Even the previous Liberal government classified them as terrorists. Getting in the way (again) of errant Israeli bombs is also pretty low on our priority list. There is little support in Canada for our troops being in Afganistan, let alone Lebanon also. We just don’t particulary care enough about the troubles in a very minor country with little connection to to Canada to allow our troops to be shot at on a regular basis. If all you want us to do is watch and count people getting killed (as long as they are not Canadian peackeepers) that would OK, but pointless.
As for the person who mentioned “Trudeau’s flipping the birdy to Tories” I am not sure where he learnt his Canadian history, but he must have failed. Trudeau gave the finger to protesters in Salmon Arm BC, who were not necessarily Tories as NDPers didn’t like him much at the time either. The Trudeau salute, and the National debt, is what his legacy is.
Mustapha, how about Mongolia? Mongolian troops have become more and more involved in peacekeeping missions in recent years (higher international profile and warm feelings translate into international support for resisting Chinese and Russian influence). They’re in Sierra Leone right now guarding the Special Court.
You people got yourselves into this by not standing up to Hezbollah so you can get yourselves out of it. I am Canadian and I can assure you that most of us want nothing to do with “peacekeeping” in Lebanon. A post above notes that the Canadian government considers Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization – which it is. Thankfully, we now have a Prime Minister who is willing to stand up and declare that Canada is truly a part of the West (and, yes, with America) instead of some adjunct to corrupt, weak and opportunistic EU lead by the likes of France. Perhaps “Claude” above takes pride in the fact that we are not actively helping the Israelis but from his name, I’m assuming he is from Quebec and Quebec is NOT Canada and does NOT speak for Canada.
I like the proposal by Moron99. Then maybe Israel wouldn’t have enough money left to continue to buy votes in the American Congress. If only someone had bankrolled Lebanon to the same extent before this latest mess. The aquisition of Shebaa Farms, the release of prisoners, and the whole raison d’etre for the Hizbollah would have been eliminated. But now?
Don’t count on Canada…yet. But with only 30% support now the Harper government won’t last long.
canada has a leader now that might be willing to send more troops abroad, if we had more troops to send abroad. im all for our missions in afganistan and elsewhere and i think we should be more involved but i honestly don’t think we have the numbers for any kind of significant force in lebanon, the canadian forces only have about 50,000 members i believe. thankfully harper is on better terms with bush, so if we do send more troops overseas the americans can defend our already poorly defended frontiers(not that they don’t already).
Liam:
I am from Atlantic Canada although I agree on most issues the statement of Quebec is not part of Canada I disagree. Claude is entitled to his own opinion. Remember freedom of speech.
Don’t forget we are trying to sell our way of life to the middle east. Slandering a fellow canadian not setting a good example.
Lets face it, international peacekeeping in a role like this is not about ‘warm and fuzzy’ feelings towards the peacekeepers as this topic seems to suggest.
Its about who is competent to do the job.
Do you seriously think the countries you proposed are competent to do the hardest peacekeeping task so far? No offence, Canada, but you really have lost the plot recently. And Brazil? Give me a break! Japan won’t go anywhere except to build hospitals and drainage ditches. None of the countries you mentioned have any real experience in recent warfighting, except at most as a support role.
There are precious few countries able to do this job. The Israelis have suggested Britain, France, Italy and Turkey. I doubt that Turkey can do it, but they are Muslim and so they are less likely to be attacked. Frankly, Britain and France are probably the only two non-US armed forces competent to keep the peace in a war zone.
Finally, who the Hell wants to help Lebanon anyway? The majority of the people support Hezbollah, a terrorist organisation. That means the whole country will be against any peacekeepers that volunteer.
I say let the Israeli’s sort ‘em out.
It’s an honour just to be nominated…As a Canadian and knowing a fair bit about the Canadian Forces I can assure you that Canada is not coming to Lebanon. We simply do not have the troops. Which is a shame but there it is.
I would also note that if Canada did come it would be with the express mission of disarming Hezbollah and bringing actual peace to the area. I hope that this would be a position which the Lebonese would support. But if it was not the fact would remain that the Canadians would use those rules of engagement.
And, by the way, the new CCPC government in Canada, despite what its partisan foes might be saying, is simply re-aligning our foreign policy with our traditional allies in the Anglosphere and our friends in Israel. The BS “honest broker” approach is toast. So be careful what you wish for.
And if there was a problem in Briasil, Canada, or Japan, how many peacekeepers would Lebanon have supplied?
Don’t you think the countries that are providing funds and lives should have some interest in the wellbeing of Lebanon?
Canada couldn’t even get their rapid response force to the tsunami.
Hysterical post, man. I agree completely.
But Chile isn’t poor. It’s just too unrecognizable in Lebanon.
What about South Africa? Too many ties to Israel during the apartheid era?
I know that the Shia, Druze, and Christians in Ibl Saqi would love it if the Norwegians came back. The Norwegian troops were loved, and they loved Lebanon. Many of them married Lebanese.
mustapha,
it’s your neighbor speaking…haven’t you learnt anything from life, from history? get your ass out of the hamam and start fighting for your homes, fields and cities. no poutside peacekeeping choclate soldier will shed one drop of sweat for your own good and interest, not to mention a drop of blood. your laziness is shown by the way you choose your favorite countries, like a spoiled girl choosing her cloths. that’s why leabanon looks like it looks today, and in the last 35 years – you’re waiting for outside deus ex machina solution. you’re daydreaming mustapha, wake up!
Liam, last time I checked, Quebec was indeed part of Canada. Quebec represents 24% of the Canadian population. Even if we discount half of them as ‘non-Canadian’, (as you would say) because they support sovereignty, that still leaves almost 4 million people. More than Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and of course all the Atlantic Provinces. But for some reason, you are discounting the entire province???
And by the way, no I’m not from Quebec. I was born and raised in Ottawa, and spent 7 years in the Canadian Armed Forces. How’s that for being Canadian. Judging someone purely by their name is truly an asinine thing to do. ‘Liam’ is of Irish origin. Does that mean you’re the son of a poor immigrant leech who got tired of potatoes and now lives in a hick town somewhere in the Prairies? Of course not.
So now please remind us again why YOU somehow speak for ALL Canadians?
Hmmm.
Canda? Brazil? Japan?
Why not select Tongo as well. All three of those countries have militaries with significant issues when deploying infantry, which would be required. Canada, under the Liberals, has spent the past 30 years elminating it’s military effectiveness. Brazil doesn’t have a highly trained army capable of actual ground combat operations in southern Lebanon. And Japan hasn’t committed ground troops to combat operations since WWII. Even in Iraq the Japanese troops require Coalition forces to guard them.
There is no way that Israel would accept this.
Unfortunately, our current PM, Stephen Harper, has moved Canada from our position of neutrality to one of supporting fully the American and Israeli position (I’m not unsympathetic with the concerns of Israeli civilians, but the response has been… out of proportion to the crime committed). That said, Harper’s approval rating has fallen substantially as a result of his government’s position; his is not the policy of Canadians as a people.
There is a country that has a reasonably large army that should be able to act as a peacekeeping/peacemaking force in southern Lebanon.
That country is… Lebanon! It has an army of 70,000 men. It has a duty to maintain the territorial integrety of its nation, meaning a duty to not allow a non-state militia to be running around and effectively co-opting Lebanese foreign policy.
All of the “reasons” I’ve heard until now as to why the Lebanese army “could not occupy southern Lebanon and control Hizbollah fighthers” have been excuses.
Israel had to do something very similiar to this within two months of it birth, when in June 1948, the provisional gov’t made the painful decision to take military action against the Irgun rather than allow it to continue as a distinct military force, apart from the IDG. After this point, taken during the dark days of Israel’s fight for its very existance, there were no separate Jewish militias running around – all military units became under the command of the Israeli government.
Of course, the Lebanese Army may need help in terms of logistics, air support, communications, etc. So *that* should be the role of any outside militaries – but not to interpose these outside groups in southern Lebanon – that will just insure a repetition of the 28-year failure of UNIFIL.
Claude:
Good Christ, you are so literal. When I said that Quebec was not part of Canada, I was referring to mentality not geography. I’m sure this Mustapha couldn’t care less about Canada’s internal politics but, since it touches on the “root cause” of the troubles in his own country, here goes. This mentality is certainly not exclusive to Quebec but it finds its spiritual home there. It has nothing to do with sovereignist/federalist or even English/French and you are apparently living proof it can exist outside of Quebec. It is a closed, elitist – one could say “tribal” mindset – that pre-determines the reaction to every event regardless of the facts on the ground. Every reaction is a knee-jerk response not a well-reasoned conclusion. In this worldview, the Americans and anyone who is allied with them are eternally evil. Coming from Ottawa which, geographically (and in other ways), is in the pocket of Quebec, you should recognize this way of thinking. It is the mindset that prides itself on not sticking up for the Israelis who are part of our Western world and defends the UN no matter how often it is revealed to be ineffectual and corrupt. It seems to me that Lebanon is similarly affected. Hence why I commented that Lebanon got itself into this mess by itself. At the end of the day, they would rather be anti-Israeli than pro-Lebanon. Until they rid themselves of this tribal mentality, all the “peace keepers” in the world won’t help their situation in the least. And, yes, for the record I am the descendant of “poor immigrant leeches” who got tired of living in the miserable bog of Catholic Ireland and yearned to live in the modern and open Western world. I, and I truly believe when push comes to shove, most other Canadians, proudly support those defending that way of life against the medieval mindset of the Islamists.
I’m an American. Let me first say that I love aussies (hat tip to Ros) because they and perhaps the Poles seem to be the only other countries with the balls to stand against the overwhelming anti-American propaganda that the candy-assed left in Europe spews out and which is readily ingested by their former colonies. Bottom line: What has America done but shed our own peoples blood to preside over the longest period of peace and properity in history? Hm? It makes me laugh to hear a Canadian or any other beneficiary of the “courageous nations” (read: gb, aust. japan, poland, usa, iraq, denmark) complain as they slice more and more away from their defense budget. I love the lebanese people i’ve met and it sucks what’s going on there but shit happens. It did on 9/11 here in America and after having a good cry, we and some courageous friends got off our ass and did something about it. If lebanon had the balls, they would have shut hizbollah down w/ having to rely on the israelies to do it for them. Freedom has a price – a price that must be paid every day with blood, sweat and alas tears.
The American who posted at 8:11.
I appriciate what you said about Poles, we have guts… we always had. And you should do something about that visa thing for Poles coming to visit your country.
But your though about Lebanon is completly wrong. They had only 2 years to get rid of Hezbollah (Syria ocupation) and Hezbollah is one of most dangerus military groups in Middle East. Lebanon didn’t won’t civil war, thats all, they tried to decrese Hezbollah power by diplomacy, but this is slow way. U must know that diplomacy and democracy is good way to resolve things, Lebanon tried that way but Israel losed petiance. Things like that happens. I hope UN force will move soon and help both countries… to get rid of damn Hezbollah and their supporters.
Whatever their nationality, it is essential that they have clear rules of engagement that makes it their duty to engage the Israelis and stop from savaging Lebanon. Maybe then there would be real peace and we would see some long due forceful response to the endless sovereignty violations we have been witnessing from the southern side of the border.
Whatever peace keeping force comes is going to be tasked with disarming Hezb’allah. They will be operating under permissive rules of engagement. This means the peace keeping force will be taking fire from Hezb’allah. It is more than likely that they will use Israeli medical facilities and rely on the Israeli air force in emergencies. They aren’t going to be neutral.
Historical triva questions:
What airforce that saved Jordan’s government by overflying Syrians tank columns in the 1980 when Yasser Arafat tried to take over Jordan?
Canada is no longer the country that it has been historically. Our former government did not support the Iraq war but the New Conservative government that came into power in January 2006 led by Stephen Harper would have. At the time he was very angry at our government’s stand against the Iraq war. Furthermore, the New Conservative party’s foreign policies are almost identical to the United States. Harper publicly supports Israel in the Israel/Palestinian conflict and also in the new conflict with Lebanon. Our media and, in particular, our newspapers are largely under Zionist control and censorship. In other words our citizens are becoming brainwashed. We are no longer deserving of our reputation as peacekeepers. I wish we could help, but our country can no longer be trusted.
In response to Liam:
Israel, part of “our Western world”? Are you kidding me?
When I brought up the UN, I was not making a comment about its effectiveness or non-effectiveness. In fact, I agree with you that the UN has become quite ineffectual over the years. Rather, I brought the voting record of its members. And it is this voting record which we can use as a coarse gauge for Israeli support throughout the world for its actions. It is pretty non-existent.
Yes, I am proud that Canada hasn’t actively supported the Israelis, and that makes me part of the VAST majority of the world that doesn’t condone Israeli actions over the past decades. The regional parties affected by this ongoing conflict (and in fact the entire world) know that international opinion is overwhelmingly against Israel. And were it not for American support (political, military, and economic), Israel would have had no choice but to ease back due to international pressure. Not only in this current situation, but in countless others in the past.
Again, don’t make assumptions. I have never met anyone who actually believes that “Americans […] are eternally evil” and I certainly don’t think that. I mean, come on! I DO see the US as being the “shining beacon on the hill”, and the rightful leader of the free world. Having said that however, they are not perfect, and I believe their handling of (and interfering in) Israeli-Palestinian politics has been atrocious, and has made things worse rather than better.
And damn! “I […] proudly support those defending that way of life against the medieval mindset of the Islamists.” Wow. You’ve shown your racist streak, loud and clear. Yes, some Islamists have a medieval mindset (every religion has its fundamentalists and its freaks), but you certainly can’t lump all Muslims together like that.
Claude:
So, you’ve never met anyone who feels that Americans are “eternally evil”? And you come from where …???? I travel to Ottawa frequently and I can assure you I’ve encounterd that attitude many times – and from educated people who should know better. So either you’re being disingenuous or you don’t get out much. I hate to burst your bubble but that attitude is very prevalent in our oh so tolerant Canada.
And while we’re on the subject of tolerance, that would appear to be a one-way street for you. You accuse me of showing a “racist streak”. Geez – and you claim I make assumptions! I did not “lump all Muslims together”. Go back and read my post. I specifically referred to an “Islamist” mindset. In current political discourse, that term refers to Islamic terrorists not all Muslims. Of course, accusing people of racism is a time-honoured Leftie Canadian way of shutting down debate. However, I note you begin your post by derisively dismissing the fact that Israel belongs to the family of Western nations.
No, dude, I’m not kidding you. When you have a modern, open, forward-thinking democratic society, you are, by definition, part of the West. You would only dispute that definition if you’re one of those types that believes Zionism equals racism but can always be counted on to provide an alibi for anti-semitism.
So you see, my dear Mustapha, whoever you are, we Canadians are in no position to fix your house as our own is in such moral disarray.
Liam, ‘dude’.
No matter what we each say, we will continue trying to punch wholes in each other’s arguments. The bottom line is we both have very different opinions on many things, and as much as I respect your views, I think we’ll have to agree to disagree, or else this could go on forever. And frankly, I’ve spent too much time on this already, and I have better things to do. I’m sure you do as well.
All the best.