INFORMING THE BLUE HELMETS

While they are not panaceas, many of their failures lie not in the concept of UN peace operations per se, but in their uneven practice, in the reluctance of the belligerents to strive for peace, and in the inadequate support from the member states of the United Nations. [...] The growing crises there, the collapse of artificial states, the rise of unbridled ethnic and tribal hatreds, the return of genocide as an acceptable and unpunished tool of vengeance, famine, demographic surges, diseases like AIDS and the Ebola virus, and even regionwide mental illnesses resemble the coming of the “four horsemen of the apocalypse”19 and will all demand interna- tional attention. [...] The Role of the United States in Future UNPOs Of all the UN member states, the United States has in the past and will in the foreseeable future make or break a peace operation, regardless of whether it de- ploys its formidable combat forces. [...] The most obvious reaction from Washington has been the reduction of the American financial share of the UN peacekeeping budget to 25 percent and the end of free airlift, sealift, and other military goods and services to UN peace forces.6 Constraints on US Role in UNPOs The cry of “No more Somalias” has affected not only how much money the United States will contribute to UNPOs, but whether and und. [...] A good example of this current “low-tech” approach to information/intelligence would be the Finnish UN Training Centre, where students are taught the main features of the armies and the equipment needed in the areas where they will deploy, the English vocabulary related to the equipment, and the reporting procedures.38 If this trend continues, it will mark a major sea change in the concept of inte.