Why Trump Could Speed Up—and Complicate—Inevitable U.N. Peacekeeping Reforms

Why Trump Could Speed Up—and Complicate—Inevitable U.N. Peacekeeping Reforms
Rwandan peackeepers wait to escort visiting members of the U.N. Security Council, Juba, South Sudan, Sept. 2, 2016 (AP photo by Justin Lynch).

Here are two excerpts from relatively recent remarks by U.S. officials on United Nations peacekeeping. One is from the Obama administration. One is from a Trump appointee. Can you work out which is which?

Exhibit A: “If you look at the peace missions in Africa, it has been devastating to see the sexual exploitation, the fraud, the abuse that’s happening. And we have to acknowledge that some countries are contributing troops because they are making money off that.”

Exhibit B: “Examples abound of peacekeepers not fulfilling their rudimentary responsibilities, such as not responding when citizens only five miles away from their base come under fire and call for help . . . or retreating from a town in which they are based, rather than using force to confront approaching militants.”

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