Darfur

Things are about to get worse there. Possibly, much, much worse.

"But," you might ask, "didn't they sign a peace deal recently?" Yes, but the UN does not appear willing to hold up its end of the agreement.

This seems to be a pattern in international politics. A cause du jour springs up, like Darfur, or the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, or Iranian uranium enrichment, and all the world rushes to make paper agreements that they have no intention of carrying out. Much noise and attention are directed toward the creation, arguing, and signing of such agreements, and then the issue falls from public view. Without the force of action behind the agreements, and with a long line of preferring to renegotiate breaches in agreements instead of taking punitive action - such agreements are not only not worth the paper they are written on, but are a bad thing - substituting hollow words for real action, blinding a people eager to be blinded to the harsh reality before them.

The UN promising to provide troops to protect the people of Darfur from government-sanctioned murder and rape does not prevent that tragedy from befalling a single person. Words, like faith, are dead without action. That we love the former but are unwilling to pursue the later only allows those cunning enough to see the difference to exploit our cowardice.