The world is grappling this week with the way it should invoke a far-reaching principle - R2P.

[pampango]

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/powerplay/archive/2011/02/25/libya-as-global-bad-boy.aspx

The world is grappling this week with the way it should invoke a far-reaching principle that the United Nations embraced back in 2005: the responsibilty to protect (R2P). This norm, which was first initiated by Canada, holds that individual countries themselves have the first responsibility to protect their citizens from atrocities and if they cannot or will not, other nations must then take on that responsibility -- to be coordinated by the UN.

Atrocities is meant to refer to genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. Western nations in particular are busy today trying to determine what measures they should take to try to protect Libyans from their maniacal leader Moammar Gadhafi.

To be sure, global governance is a tricky and complicated affair. No better evidence of this can be found than the fact that Libya just a few years ago -- in 2008-2009 -- was picked to sit on the UN Security Council as a non permanent member. And in May 2010 it was elected its first three-year seat on the UN's Human Rights Council. This doesn't say much for the world's exsting global governance mechanisms.

The truth is that, increasingly, the world is interconnected and growing a lot smaller. It is going to need a vastly improved system of global governance. The eruptions now going on in the Middle East are just a reminder of that daunting reality.

[rfranklin]

1. And where were they when Bush and Cheney were committing war crimes?

The hypocrisy is staggering.

[DCKit]

4. +1 We have no moral authority. nt

[FreakinDJ]

2. How will this play out in Iraq - they started protest too

[KG]

3. lidicrous for the US to be outraged at what's happening in Libya as it conducts brutal and

repressive occupations in iraq and afghanistan.