Forget Sudan and the DR Congo, lets all cry a river that Becks won't be playing in the first ever World Cup in Africa. Massive, massive tragedy.

I don't know what to say about your comment, but thank you for coming here to keep me company. It was kind of lonely...

David Beckham's achilles tendon tear during a Italian Serie A game keeps him out of the first ever World Cup in Africa. That's what happened. David Beckham is from England, plays for the LA Galaxy and A.C. Milan. Huge, international icon. Bigger story than the Sudan and the Congo in the newspapers.

Nation state soldiers serving on UN missions isn't "mercenary". The UN doesn't have a standing army and requires member states to send soldiers to provide manpower for UN missions. It's a great way for countries to keep their own armies paid for, but it's also good for getting a country's military some experience. Pakistan is well known for doing this.

Quoting Lyle: Nation state soldiers serving on UN missions isn't "mercenary". The UN doesn't have a standing army and requires member states to send soldiers to provide manpower for UN missions. It's a great way for countries to keep their own armies paid for, but it's also good for getting a country's military some experience.

Yes, I know that much. As a matter of fact I knew a physician who went to the Sinai Peninsula as part of the Uruguayan military that was sent there by the UN peace keeping mission. He died by accidentally stepping on an unexploded grenade. I mentioned mercenary because it seems that sending troops is voluntary, and Mark's statement implied that it would be "profitable". But I may have misunderstood the statement. That's why I was surprised to hear it. Thank you, Lyle.

It's both voluntary and potentially profitable. If they're getting paid more than what it cost them to send their soldiers wherever, then they make a profit. That's just how it works. Maybe it's not as profitable as Mark thinks though, and perhaps that's a reason why the smaller countries don't do it more often.

Quoting Lyle: It's both voluntary and potentially profitable. If they're getting paid more than what it cost them to send their soldiers wherever, then they make a profit. That's just how it works.

Maybe it's not as profitable as Mark thinks though, and perhaps that's a reason why the smaller countries don't do it more often.

I tend to think that there may be more noble reasons as well. Erin somewhat referred to them, but she only mentioned developed, richer countries instead. She talked about countries being more likely to send the military following some humanitarian goal. She mentioned Haiti and Palestine. Lyle, you have to give some credit to Humanity's noble deeds.

Oh, I do... like helping rid the world of Saddam Hussein and feed Somalia children. Go world, go! ... but if the poor countries won't do it for the money, why aren't they doing it for the noble purpose, hmm?

Darfur: every celeb’s favourite African war Rob Crilly... I think he's talking about you man.

Of course, complexity does not always go down well with newspapers eager for attention-grabbing headlines (Crilly wrote for The Times and the Daily Mail, among others). ‘Hmm, it’s a bit “Inside Baseball” isn’t it?’ was the response of editors who thought his attempts to present a more nuanced picture were too laden with esoteric detail. Sometimes they would even insert terms such as ‘black’ and ‘African’ into his articles in order to make them conform to the clear but misleading narrative that dominated news coverage. ‘t was only after a couple of years covering the conflict that I began to object,’ he recalls, ‘pointing out that everyone in Darfur was black and African.’ While candid about his own mistakes, Crilly is highly critical of Western media coverage of Darfur – especially the simple-minded moralism of crusading journalists such as Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times.

The main focus of criticism, though, is the celebrity campaigners and human rights activists of the Save Darfur lobby – the target of the book’s ironic title. He pokes fun at some of their media-friendly