Beirut Spring

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Is Lebanon Showing The Limitations Of European Power?

September 18, 2007 · Mustapha Hamoui

In “Fear Factor: Lebanon and the European Way of Peacekeeping”, The Brussels Journal discusses Lebanon’s UNIFIL and argues that effective peacekeeping and appeasement don’t go hand in hand:

UNIFIL’s rules of engagement were deliberately muddled by politics to prevent the force from actively looking for Hezbollah’s weapons. The lack of a clear commitment to disarm Hezbollah is a shortcoming that Iran and Syria have been quick to exploit: They have rebuilt Hezbollah’s arsenal while Europeans have stood by and watched.

Read the entire thing and tell me what you think: Are the Europeans really not cut out to be peace keepers?