Humanitarian Wars?: Lies and Brainwashing

In the eyes of Rony Brauman of Medecins Sans Frontieres, wars are always triggered in the name of morality. Today’s ‘humanitarian’ interventions are little more than new moral crusades-and their justifications are based on lies. There are plenty of examples of hawkish propaganda in recent years: Saddam Hussein’s mythical weapons of mass destruction; dubious predictions of genocide in Kosovo; doctored figures of famine in Somalia; and a fake massacre of protesters in Libya.

Without being militantly non-interventionist, Brauman is extremely suspicious of the thirst for war displayed by many of today’s world leaders, the consequences of which are devastating. He is critical of international peacekeeping bodies and tribunals: for him, the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court represent the interests of the powerful above all else.

Basing his argument on the criteria for a ‘just war’, Brauman criticises the Western obsession with imposing democratic values by force. In this sober and convincing book, he thoroughly dismantles the notion of the justness of ‘humanitarian wars’.