Lexington: Preventing genocide

Advice for Barack Obama on grappling with a problem from hell A FEW years ago, Lexington visited a shabby church in Rwanda. Inside was a memorial to a massacre that took place within its walls in 1994. The most upsetting sight was that of small skulls which, unlike the larger ones around them, were mostly incomplete. Babies’ jawbones tend to break off when clubbed. Preventing genocide is what one of Barack Obama’s advisers calls “a problem from hell”. But this week a group called the Genocide Prevention Task Force published some helpful guidelines for the president-elect. It is a serious group, led by Madeleine Albright (a former secretary of state) and William Cohen (a former defence secretary). And its report is steeped in good sense. ... (link)