Ugandan Warlord Joseph Kony Video

[Necron2.0]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

I saw this, this morning. It's interesting, assuming it is sincere. You may have already seen or heard about it. It is about an effort to arrest the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony. Of course, there has been a backlash against it - talking heads claiming it's naive, interventionist, warmongering, not in the best interests of the state, blah, blah, blah.

Well ... maybe.

For me, to all those that gainsay it, my response is quite simple. Are children still being abducted and forced to kill and/or become sex slaves? If the answer is no, then the gainsayers are right. If the answer is yes, then the talking heads need to seriously learn to sit down and shut the @#$% up.

[Psychosplodge]

scam (http://news.yahoo.com/kony-2012-viral-campaign-scam-094450230.html)

[Necron2.0]

I'm sorry, most ... no, I take that back ... ALL charities are scams. Their first order of business is always to keep the BUSINESS going. That's why I never contribute monetarily to any of them. I only ever give my time, my sweat or my blood - things that are of no material value to anyone other than the recipient.

But like I said, if it's sincere, it is interesting. I'd be more interested to know if their efforts actually had the impact that was claimed in the video. It does not matter where the money goes, so long as they accomplish their stated goal. If they do not, and it is clearly due to a lack of financial commitment on the organizations part, then yes they should be brutally and viciously prosecuted.

I'd say trust the movement, but track their movements.

[DarkLink]

Even the people calling it a scam aren't debating the accuracy of the claims, just the accounting. Kony and the LRA leadership is wanted by international courts for war crimes, and the USA has deployed Special Forces to aid local governments in combating the LRA.

[Psychosplodge]

But why this particular one? It's hardly uncommon for child soldiers, rape dismemberment etc in all the civil wars/rebellions/ethnic clensings in the african countries, it happened in Rwanda in the 90's, and it will carry on happening because you've essentially got tribal societies armed with ak47's.
So why single this one out now?

[Necron2.0]

First, I want to say, I have no overwhelming sense of emotion on this. I saw the video and thought, "Hey, if this is legitimate, it might be something worth sharing." As we all know the joy of the internet is you can never gauge how someone will read what you've written - what emotions may be ascribed to it. For me, right now, this is just an intellectual nut to chew on.


But why this particular one? It's hardly uncommon for child soldiers, rape dismemberment etc in all the civil wars/rebellions/ethnic clensings in the african countries, it happened in Rwanda in the 90's, and it will carry on happening because you've essentially got tribal societies armed with ak47's.
So why single this one out now?

Why not? I don't want to sound crass, but when is it ever too inconvenient to take out someone who preys on children? Right now the US is spending billions of dollars on personnel and equipment to kill suspected terrorists in countries that hate us for what those terrorists might do. Why wouldn't we be willing to spend a few million to capture/kill a known criminal for what he has done and is doing to hundreds of thousands of people, especially when we're being invited in to do it (assuming that we are)?

Of course, that's a rhetorical question, really. Killing suspected terrorists is politically sexy. Doing the workaday chore of taking out the trash doesn't get the Big O the votes.

[DarkLink]

It's about Kony in particular, because he's basically the Bin Laden equivalent for Africa in terms of notoriety. He's number 9 on Forbe's World's Most Wanted list, alongside various crime lords and terrorist leaders.

[wittdooley]

Well, there are a few major problems with the campaign as a whole. It's almost Michael-Moorian in it's ability to mislead.

1. Kony hasn't been active in Uganda in over 5 years. And it's not like they haven't tried to take him out before. We have. And we've failed. Guess what happened as a result? More rape. More tortue. More killing. Why did we fail? Because we're unwilling (and rightly so) to kill his child bodyguards. But in retaliation, he killed more kids anyway. There's no good, clean solution to this. Is he a piece of shyte. Absolutely. If there was a easy solution to this, don't you think we'd have already have accomplished it?

2. President Yoweri Museveni. He came into power committing the exact same genocide that Kony has, and he's being ignored. Further, his most recent election has been heavily criticized for being crooked (surprise right). Basically, it's pretty damned disingenuous to support the Kony movement while refusing to acknowledge that Museveni, the man you want to depose him, is the exact same kind to filth. He's just US Supported filth. Thanks Ugandan Oil!

3. The dudes running the show beind Invisible Children are a bunch of hipster poseurs that don't believe what their peddling, as instanced HERE (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-PnDZmngAhM/Sa_KBGNySiI/AAAAAAAAAJY/uBOfiAysghs/s1600-h/IMG_2941.JPG).

4. White. People. Everywhere. I mean, McDonald's is better at providing diversity in their commercials than these guys are. It ends up looking like another instance of White Man's Burden, and apparently appropriately so, as their target donator for their "charity" is the Facebook crowd.

[Necron2.0]

3. The dudes running the show beind Invisible Children are a bunch of hipster poseurs that don't believe what their peddling, as instanced HERE (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-PnDZmngAhM/Sa_KBGNySiI/AAAAAAAAAJY/uBOfiAysghs/s1600-h/IMG_2941.JPG).

LOL! Ok, I'll admit, that is one seriously ridiculous image right there. I had to stifle the urge to shout out "WOLVERINES!!!" :)

In general though, yeah ... Africa is one seriously @#$%ed-up place. I'm reminded of the situation in Sierra Leone not too long ago. The government of Sierra Leone hired Executive Outcomes (a bunch of former South African special forces turned mercenaries) to deal with a particularly brutal warlord that was destroying the country. EO nearly wiped out the Revolutionary United Front, but the UN got jealous of their success and forced Sierra Leone to cancel EO's contract - this lead to the RUF rebuilding their strength and later sacking the capital of Sierra Leone while the UN "peace keeping" forces stood around with their thumbs up their butts.