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H.G. Wells on Africa, 1918. Some things have changed -- the League of Nations for which Wells was consulting has become the UN, for instance; shockingly much has stayed the same. As he writes:
...A practical consequence of this disarmament idea must be an effective control of the importation of arms into...Africa. That rat at the dykes of civilization, that ultimate expression of political scoundrelism, the gun runner, has to be kept under and stamped out in Africa as everywhere. A disarmament commission that has no forces available to prevent the arms trade will be just another Hague convention, just another vague, well intentioned, futile gesture.
Cynicism about the effectiveness of Hague conventions banning arms trafficking dating back to 1918....
I love this TNR series.