Finally got round to watching Hotel Rwanda

[Benito]

I'd always wanted to watch this movie but at the same time was somewhat reluctant.

Finally watched it yesterday and am glad I did.

This really looks like a conflict we and other countries could have easily intervened in. And saved some of the 500,000 to 1,000,000 lives.

The wikipedia article is here for those interested:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide

 

[Dyusik]

There was profit in it for the "we".

 

[DoubleWasp]

Tje largest hypocrisy of certain sectors of our government has been the dogged will to depose Middle Eastern dictators, and a sluggish or nonexistent will to do the same in Africa.

If you want to see another amazing film, but about a man who did decide to intervene in Africa, see Machine Gun Preacher. It's the true story of a violent white drug trafficker who finds Jesus through his stripper girlfriend and then decides to go to Africa to help the refugee children being slaughtered by warlord Joseph Kony's "army". Once there, he uses his skills he learned as a gun toting street thug to "protect his flock". No kidding. You can't make this up.

 

[WANG]

Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
Tje largest hypocrisy of certain sectors of our government has been the dogged will to depose Middle Eastern dictators, and a sluggish or nonexistent will to do the same in Africa.

If you want to see another amazing film, but about a man who did decide to intervene in Africa, see Machine Gun Preacher. It's the true story of a violent white drug trafficker who finds Jesus through his stripper girlfriend and then decides to go to Africa to help the refugee children being slaughtered by warlord Joseph Kony's "army". Once there, he uses his skills he learned as a gun toting street thug to "protect his flock". No kidding. You can't make this up.


Yup. Really great story. Somewhat related, The Last King of Scotland is pretty awesome, too.

 

[ronbo]

We got involved in Africa in Somalia, see Blackhawk Down documentary. They loved us for our humanitarian help BUT hated us when we got involved in their local politics.

It was the job of the UN to get involved in Rwanda NOT the USA.

I'm sick of the USA getting involved in endless wars from Vietnam until today.

 

[Benito]

Rwanda was a very different situation to most other conflicts we've decided to get involved in.

If you look at how it was resolved, the exiled leaders of the Tutsi minority that was being persecuted, took over the country in 3 months. It is thought that while the Hutus were focusing on genocide, the Tutsi rebels were more disciplined and focused on the tactics to secure the country.

You are talking about a much much smaller population overcoming the majority.

In that scenario, western support would have been very low risk with high returns in terms of saved lives. So very different to the decisions and motives in other conflicts.

Sure, if anyone should have gotten involved it should have been the Belgians and perhaps other Europeans.

But we didn't push for any involvement, through the UN or otherwise.