"Frankly I'd like to see 'botg' in the Cote d'Ivoire, but is seems skin colour still matters in this world."

There are "botg" in the Ivory Coast - a UN Peacekeeping Force under French "command".

Not being very effective because they are severely constrained by UN rules relating to UN Peacekeeping Forces. Counter to popular misconceptions:

- UN Peacekeeping Forces do not "sort out situations"

- UN Peacekeeping Forces are limited as to what arms they can deploy, they have no tactical air cover, no artillery and no armour. In short they can just about defend themselves.

- UN Peacekeeping Forces do not in fact enforce a peace, they monitor it. The warring factions in any situation must have already stopped fighting before a UN Peacekeeping Force is deployed, i.e. there should already be a truce or ceasefire in place.

- Historically if that truce or ceasefire breaks down the UN Peacekeepers are withdrawn.

The US should stand aside from police actions if only to show its detractors what happens in bad situations where they do not intervene. Rest assured China and Russia will not intervene to save human life and protect civilians, they will wait for the dust to settle then go in and exploit the situation to their advantage. The French will intervene but will be extremely ineffective. When the USA and the UK act in concert things do happen, things do get done usually to the advantage of the people affected and in saying that I do include Iraq and Afghanistan. I believe that there are many people in countries such as Haiti, Somalia, Rwanda, Sudan (Darfur) and The Ivory Coast wish that the US and UK had got more involved.