Top US General Urges Countries to Bolster UN Peacekeeping - Reuters
The United Nations needs rapid response forces, equipment and training to bolster peacekeeping, the United States' top general said on Tuesday ahead of President Barack Obama's planned summit of world leaders in September to win new commitments.
Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power met with dozens U.N. ambassadors and military advisors in New York at the 69th Regiment Armory.
"The U.N. requires commitments from member nations to provide rapid response forces for emerging crises," he said…
Comments
This meeting must have been very surreal, a US general calling for 'member nations to provide rapid response forces for emerging crises'.
Why surreal? The USA currently has eighty staff deployed with the UN on peacekeeping missions. Yes, it does provide 28.38% of the UN peacekeeping budget (Japan 10.8 & France 7.2). The latest figures show France has 926 and the UK 268 staff on UN duties.
Or was this speech a diplomatic way of saying the USA will fund yet more 'Third World' troop and police contributions?
Note in Somalia, an AU mission (ANISOM) is almost totally funded IIRC by the USA and EU.
For UN details see: http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/resources/statistics/contributors.sht…