Adieu: Humanitarian Intervention

There's talk that the era of humanitarian intervention is well and truly over before it ever gained full lift-off. The concept was championed in the late 90s and the early parts of this decade by the likes of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. But Madeleine Albright (who was Clinton's Secretary of State) has written an obituary of sorts in an OpEd in today's New York Times.

Simon Jenkins writing in the Sunday Times echoed the demise of this concept with a caption that said it all: "You’re safe, Mr Mugabe; we will not act".

So why is the case that in 3 of the 'low hanging fruit' scenarios for humanitarian intervention, Zimbabwe, Burma & Sudan, the champions of yesterday have been merely content with issuing statements and making all the usual noises today?

FP Passport sees the reason for this as being the China Factor. Hear them:
"Guess who is not too enthusiastic about humanitarian intervention in places like Burma, Sudan, and Zimbabwe, and guess who's vastly more powerful than in the 90s?"