Is Lebanon Showing The Limitations Of European Power?

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In “Fear Factor: Lebanon and the European Way of Peacekeeping“, The Brussels Journal discusses Lebanon’s UNIFIL and argues that effective peacekeeping and appeasement don’t go hand in hand:

UNIFIL’s rules of engagement were deliberately muddled by politics to prevent the force from actively looking for Hezbollah’s weapons. The lack of a clear commitment to disarm Hezbollah is a shortcoming that Iran and Syria have been quick to exploit: They have rebuilt Hezbollah’s arsenal while Europeans have stood by and watched.

Read the entire thing and tell me what you think: Are the Europeans really not cut out to be peace keepers?

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Discussion

Comments are disallowed for this post.

Are they really cut for it? You ask as if we had many choices and we selected them because they want to be in Lebanon so bad. US and France were begging other countries to send troops in after the war. They don’t want to be in Lebanon. Their only concern is not to get killed by a fanatic, and for a cause that doesn’t concern them.
PS: UN forces have tiny tiny authority to engage

Posted by Lebanese | September 18, 2007, 3:25 pm
ya haram ya mustapha, hoowi w el-sahayni za3laneen 3ala nafs el-shi. boo hoo boo hooo hooooo

Posted by jorgenson ford | September 18, 2007, 3:38 pm
Mustapha, first good day.

You are using the words ‘Peacekeeping’, are you insinuating that ‘peacekeeping’ involves the fact of ripping Hezbollah off its arms? (that were being launched into Israel last year while they were bombarding us? and in turn was a real nuisance to Israel as the Winograd report proves).

I am not defending Hezbollah, I’m defending UNIFIL or better said FINUL. They have gone out of their way, and somewhat damaged their relations with the US (last summer) to get deeply, I repeat, Deeply involved in Lebanon.

I don’t think the US wanted the EU to get ’so’ involved.

Posted by Jester | September 18, 2007, 4:30 pm
Dear commentators,

Please remember that this is article does not necessarily reflect the position of The Beirut Spring.

It would be ideal if you direct your comments to the article itself, not to the blog author’s perceived position.

Posted by beirutspring | September 18, 2007, 5:35 pm
is beirut spring a concept or a person?

Posted by lafontaine honda | September 18, 2007, 6:02 pm
hahahahahahahaha lafontaine honda, good one

Posted by Masrou3 | September 18, 2007, 6:49 pm
just leave the UNIFIL forces alone, they come over and die for OUR stupid neverending problems that have nothing to do with any of them. We should be grateful and just shut up.

Posted by Lalebanessa | September 18, 2007, 8:37 pm
It’s ludicruous to assume that UNIFIL or any other external force would be able to disarm Hezbollah, and that’s why the mandate given to UN troops in resolution 1701 is what it is: to [i]assist[/i] the Lebanese army. The final decision to disarm needs to be a Lebanese choice and not imposed from outside. UNIFIL can help by providing troops to stand around and teach yoga, but it cannot take the initiative.

Posted by Jay | September 18, 2007, 9:33 pm
It is important to remember that the “Brussels Journal” is a Pan-European outlet that is exercising self-criticism.

Arguments like “we should shut up and be thankful” are perhaps correct, but they are out of context.

Posted by beirutspring | September 18, 2007, 10:28 pm
How many peacekeeping forces have we had? Not the solution, and the last cease fire and UN resolution were a mistake.

Lalebanessa, I am grateful for the individual soldiers who are there but I despise their gvmnts and the UN, they are part of the problem.

Hezbo and Syria would be not be as reckless if they did not count on UN cease fires to bail them out.

Finally re Europe etc, the EU is a project faltering in front of our eyes. Brussels may be the capital of the alraedy dying EU but its own country, Belgium, is about to break up (no govrmt for 3 months and as divided as the Lebanese).

Posted by JoseyWales | September 18, 2007, 10:29 pm
Or Course they are – they are protecting Hez’b'allah from Israeli Aggression

Just an FYI to my Arab freinds…

Israels Nukes arent just meant to protect her from you all – they are also meant protect her from Europe

They can become a hydra in an instant

Posted by The Zionist | September 19, 2007, 1:40 pm
Madness! Again, Antoine Ghanem, MP, is probably killed! fuck Hezballa, fuck Syria, fuck Bashar and his sister Bushra the hooker, fuck Iran… fuck Nassrallah, fuck Khoumeini and Khamenei, gang of pedophiles.
Jews are 10 times better than these brutal Shiaa-Alawite terrorist assassins.
Mustapha, if you have damn gots you keep my post.

Posted by Sam | September 19, 2007, 3:12 pm
‘Peace for our time’

Vote Neville Chamberlain for UN Secretary General!

Posted by Petro | September 19, 2007, 3:29 pm
d-oh

another lebanese politician killed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7003191.stm

I can understand why you hate syria so much

hmm –

maybe Lebanon, Israel and the Kurds can gang tackle Syria and split her in three

Considering our three peoples can do alot more with the space… in technology, civiliity, creativity and so much more…

I dont think anyone would mind

May not be such a bad Idea ;-)

so lebanon….do you want to stay small forever ?

Posted by The Zionist | September 19, 2007, 4:30 pm
OUR people?? ha ha ha ha ha

go back to germany

Posted by point dodge | September 20, 2007, 7:09 pm

Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.