But tell me Jake, how are the numerous (not to say systematic) atrocities committed by US forces over the past 50 years more humane or simply different than those committed by the barbaric Serbs?

Which I implied where, again?

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

In fact, all of the atrocities I mention can not be on par with Srebrenica. They were much much worse in terms of the scale and scope of destruction of innocent human life.

I'd argue that they are on a par, and no matter the number, or scale they should be delt with with an equal lack of tolerance. Politicians and soldiers of all stripes and colours should face similar justice for any similar actions. If a single civilian is shot intentionally, not accidentally there should be similaroutcome.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

You seem to be busy projecting your expectations of what people are going to say onto what they're saying.

There are few here that will argue that the US, or France, or the UK or whatever don't do some pretty evil stuff. Most of us would like to see the people responsible locked up. Unfortunately, we're somewhat short of divisions.

In fact, I rather agree with something you wrote awhile back:

The theory put forth often by international experts is that US administrations seem to unintentionally (albeit systematically) mismanage international diplomacy, which then leads to accidental chaos. Simply put, this is unfathomable. If the United States government, with its nuclear arsenal and awesome military armada which annually spends $600 billion, or the equivalent of 50%-60% of the world's total spending on arms, can "unintentionally mismanage" international relations to the point of causing war then we all have grave cause for concern.

It's one reason I've chosen to focus on foreign policy, US foreign policy in particular, as a topic. It's also the reason I've chosen to blog primarily here at ET rather than dkos, even though my target audience is American. Though I may start paying more attention to Congress Matters.

For all our wealth, Americans (I've held this view for a long time) are on the whole a provincial people. Not cosmopolitan at all. One can hardly expect enlightened policy of remote cultures from such people. I include myself in this, but, in typical American fashion, I'm working on it. That being said, my operating premise is that the core group of Americans, diplomats, academics, whatever...that is in fact culturally sensitive, whether due to innate character, or simply because so many are late arrivals from other nations, are those whose voices need to rise above the sabre-rattling jingos America churns out by the truckload.

What can I say? I'm giving it my best shot. And I feel that so much of what goes on these days, like R2P, is the diplomatic community feeling the forward, not certain what will work, unsure of what tools humanity needs in the kit. Nobody has the answer to genocide or mass atrocity. Rwanda, Kosovo, and Sudan. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd say this is a global experiment in determining which approach yields the best results: non-interference of any kind, military intervention, or a purely diplomatic approach.

The fact of the matter it, nobody has a good answer.

"It Can't Be Just About Us"
--Frank Schnittger, ETian Extraordinaire