Iran learns to talk shit; the UN is put to the test.

Iran recently said at the UN that it would inflict "harm and pain" upon the US if we work to impose sanctions via the Security Council. An Iranian diplomat was quoted as saying, "So if the United States wishes to choose that path, let the ball roll." That really sounds like something you'd hear just before a bar fight breaks out, not something you'd hear a nation say at the UN general assembly.

And at a bar, when a little guy goes and picks a fight with a really really big guy, you find yourself wondering what is worse: that the little guy is starting a fight, or that he is so stupid as to start a fight with someone who will obviously beat the crap out of him. And the Iranians wonder why the world doesn't want them to have nukes.

A great piece on the situation in northern Sudan can be found here. The UN is planning on sending a peacekeeping force of around 20,000 men to Sudan. Basically, those in the north are threatening the UN, telling them not to send those forces, as they will be attacked. These are the same people that have committed (or indirectly sanctioned) the rape, genocide, and other crime that has gone on in Sudan for a couple years now.

A group of poorly armed thugs are moving to thwart the UN peacekeeping effort. The question is, will the UN stand strong and true to its charter? I'm not going to hold my breath. Here is a situation where nation building is absolutely warranted. When a government shows itself to be either supporting of, indifferent to, or incapable of stopping genocidal activity, it no longer has a right to govern. The UN should assemble a coalition, invade Sudan, overthrow the government, and establish order. Obviously, the UN has not the military capacity, nor the political will, to make this happen.

However, private armies under UN sanction would have the military capability of such action. And such action would have no political fallout for UN member nations.