Boards
A question regarding to Burma situation, Zimbabwe and Iraq
I'm assuming most DiSers were opposed to the war in Iraq.
I was too but one thing that disconcerted me was that some anti-war people seemed to either gloss over Saddam Hussein's human rights abuses or hold an opinion that it was none of our business and we shouldn't get involved with this.
The latter argument is the one China & Russia have made about the situation in Burma where a military dictatorship is oppressing the people and peaceful protesters seem to have started being killed. China & Russia see this as an "internal matter" unlike the US, for example, who want to press for further sanctions.
Obviously Zimbabwe is having similar problems at the moment, as indeed a great number of countries do where there is a dictatorship and oppression/violence towards supporters of democracy.
My question is this:
To what extent should the UN, US, UK & the West in general get involved with the "internal affairs" of other countries. On the one hand no-one really wants to see wars & invasions but on the other hand is it really a morally acceptable stance to stand by and do nothing whilst a country systematically murders & tortures its citizens?