SITREP 17   04 FEB 05

GENERAL SITUATION:

Everyone is trying to figure out what is going to happen next. As we are dependent upon some action from that supremely
 inefficient aggregation of professional thieves, do nothings, and masters of process as opposed to accomplishment ( the U.N.),
 nobody knows what, when or if anything will happen. A series of meetings for the district leadership is planned for the next few weeks,
 to be followed by meetings with the local leaders and citizenry. At these meetings we will explain the provisions of the CPA and
 apprise them of what we know so far about timings.

One problem that has revealed itself in the local meetings that we have had already is that the local people are generally
under the misapprehension that they will be able to vote in the National Referendum to be held in 2011to decide whether or not the
South will be able to secede from the Republic of Sudan and form a separate nation. The Nuba Mountain area has been declared part
of the GOS under the provisions of the CPA, so they will have no option as to which entity will be their nation no matter how the vote goes.
 This will not cause any elation to be sure, but as Macchiavelli pointed out it’s always best to do deal with the unpleasant aspects early on.

Of more concern is the projected assignment of Egyptian peace keepers to the Nuba. I cannot conceive of a more poorly considered
 decision than this. The reaction of the locals, both Christian and Muslim, to bringing in their former colonizers and exploiters will definitely
 not be favorable. There is no ethnic segment of the Nuba population who will want Egyptians in control of their destiny. Everyone has
heard the adage about those who do not learn from history being condemned to repeat it. Nobody seems to have studied the success of the JMM/C to find out why and how it worked (and it has worked extremely well for three years), and so the JMM/C success may well be
 destroyed by poor planning by the UN.

SECTOR 3 OPERATIONS:

Never a dull moment. We continue to carry out Military Inspections on a regular basis. In addition, we are expanding the village
interface program, and complaint investigation and resolution continue to be part of our workload.

Our present site will be closed down sometime in the next few months. Our esteemed colleague and friend Lorenzo is unfortunately
being reassigned to another sector, and will be leaving us within the next couple of weeks. His skill, good humor and outstanding work
ethic will be missed. Sector 5’s gain will definitely be Sector 3’s loss, and we all wish him only the best in his future work in JMC, and in
 his career in the Mountain Artillery Regiment of the Italian Army.

Our stellar and affable medic, Paul Hughes, anticipated a quiet evening in Um Serdiba last night. But once again his skills were needed
 to bring another local child suffering from Falciparum Malaria back from death’s door, a feat he has accomplished numerous times since
his arrival her. Unfortunately, Paul will also be leaving us in the near future when his contract expires

It is a real privilege to serve with such fine men. This is not to suggest that the performance of everyone else in the sector is not
outstanding; these two just happened to stand out this week.

SITREP 18  11 FEB 05

GENERAL SITUATION:

There is nothing new of any significance to report. The people continue to want the peace process to work. If it fails, as I have
said before, it will be due to the bad faith of the leadership of both sides in the dispute; not to the attitude or behavior any
of the average citizens with whom I have dealt. So let us hope and pray for the best (and, as always, plan for the worst).

Perhaps a few words about the United Nations are in order. First, the very name is misleading. There is precious little unity
 demonstrated, absent the continual carping about the United States which founded the organization and which makes its continued
 existence possible. While its concept may have had some validity in the immediate aftermath of World War 2, to the extent that any
huge and wealthy bureaucracy can ever hold any real solutions for the varied problems of the poor people of the world, it has strayed
 too far from its original goals to hope to accomplish them. Also, the world situation has changed so radically that the UN as originally
envisioned has become a victim of the changing world and its own inertia and inadaptability. It is only slightly more useful and viable
in today’s world than a subsidized buggy whip factory would be. The few accomplishments it can occasionally claim are due to the efforts
of dedicated field workers who sometimes manage to do some good despite, rather than because of, the parent organization. It cannot
presume to guarantee the peace when it has neither inherent enforcement power nor (in view of recent scandals) significant credibility.

The problems of the poor peoples of the world are from local and specific causes. There are frequently common problems; i.e.,
the usual diseases; lack of water, or too much water; inadequate education, etc. The causes and solutions, however, are almost
always local. Tip O’Neill was right when he opined that all politics are local, but that is because most problems are generated and
finally solved locally. In the United States we see the failures that occur when we attempt to solve local problems by applying top down
solutions generated by distant federal bureaucracies such as the Department of Education. Their “one size fits all” answers to the
vastly different problems of local schools in rural America and the troubles in the inner cities, for instance, have failed dismally.
West Overshoe, Idaho is not Southeast Washington, DC. The results of the problems may be the same, but the origins of the problems
themselves are not. The attempts to take the problem solving process away the locale of the problem, and replace it with some panacea
sent by those who cannot even really know the situation or the problem has never, and will never, work effectively. The potential for
failure grows dramatically when we extrapolate from the relatively homogeneous and developed nations into a world in which the focus
is normally strictly local, and without much sense or appreciation for what may have worked elsewhere. Does “We don’t give a damn
how you did it up north” resonate at all?

Do not expect the delegates to the UN from the poor nations of the world, their governments at home, nor the bureaucrats at any level
 within the UN itself to do anything to reform the organization itself or to address the real problems. Such actions might derail the
Gravy Train. As long as the money keeps flowing to the powers that be in these countries, and to the bureaucrats in New York, Paris,
Geneva and the Hague, the common people in the poor nations will continue to suffer. If they stopped suffering, the money that is
supposed to help them (but most of which seldom ever makes it that far) would stop coming. And where would that leave those living the
good life on this money? We cannot reasonably expect the welfare workers in America to do much to end the spate of out of wedlock births
that provide them with their livelihoods. Nor can we reasonably expect either the UN or the governments that profit from Western largesse
to do much to modify the status quo of their own volition.

I do not mean to imply that nobody in the UN ever does anything worthwhile. UNICEF drills wells, helps with local schools, and
carries out other functions that provide the locals with the means to better themselves. But trying to find UN personnel engaged in
meaningful long term beneficial operations is akin to pawing through a barrel of rotten apples to try to find one good one. If after
sixty years this organization can produce no better than that which it has shown to date, it should be scrapped and replaced based on lessons learned from the current failure.

If nothing else, the headquarters elements need to be moved from the brutally expensive sites they currently occupy in the shopping
capitals of the world to some isolated, undeveloped and impoverished Third World country such as one of the nations in Central Saharan
 or Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia or Latin America. Severe limits on spending for accommodation should be in place, and the
reconstituted organization should only be large enough to deal with the few and limited areas in which they have been able to show
some success in the past. This would drastically reduce operating costs, benefit the host countries with much needed foreign exchange,
and perhaps even provide a more dedicated sort of individual as an employee.

I am sure that some would point to peacekeeping as a justification for the UN’s continued unaltered existence, but time and
 space in this SITREP will not allow an adequate response to this suggestion. Suffice to say that the UN has never stopped anyone
who really wanted a war. It has never ended a war prior to the combatants deciding to cease hostilities on their own, or without the
 intervention of some major powers or alliances such as NATO. It has never maintained a ceasefire that the parties decided to abrogate.
The list of UN failures in this area goes on and on and on. If someone wants a good example of what I am talking about, he or she need
look no further than the Rwanda debacle and the massacre of almost one million Tutsis while the UN forces were required to stand by and
 do nothing beyond rescue some Whites who needed assistance in escaping. For an in depth expression of my true feelings on this matter
you will just have to wait for the book!

SECTOR 3 OPERATIONS:

Unfortunately, the really interesting stuff concerning a murder/cattle rustling incident which we are trying to keep from sprouting political
 wings will have to wait until the Cross Faction Police Conference on Sunday. If enough interesting items come out of this meeting, I may
even send a supplemental SITREP to update everyone.

In addition to the CFPC meeting, we have two other major meetings scheduled in which we will try to disseminate as much information
as possible concerning the provisions of the CPA and the timetable (to the extent that we have one) for the JMC turnover to the UN.

We unfortunately expect to lose International Monitor MAJ Lorenzo Guani and Superstar Medic Paul Hughes to other duties next week.

MICHAEL’S WORLD:

So far, so good. I don’t really have much of anything new to report in the personal front. So take care until next week.