Professional Documents
Culture Documents
governments and their citizens, all in the “SHIRBRIG” Throughout SHIRBRIG’s formation, the
name of ensuring a fast response time. (In On December 15, 1996, the govern- US government has seemed indifferent to
reality, this is nothing more than the ments of Austria, Canada, Denmark, The it, and many American researchers and
establishment of a UN-based intelli- Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and foreign policy experts have viewed this
gence/spy division.) Sweden signed a “Letter of Intent,” there- attitude as a major stumbling block for
by creating SHIRBRIG – the United UN military empowerment. However,
Other ideas such as alternative funding Nations Stand-by Forces High Readiness many in the international community
for the world body (international taxes) Brigade. Less than a year later, UN believe US support isn’t as crucial as it’s
and granting larger legal authority to the Secretary-General Kofi Annan officially perceived to be. After all, the
United Nations were presented. After all, inaugurated the unit. For the first time in International Criminal Court was
an international force would need global history, the UN would be equipped with achieved without the blessing of the
funding and world law in order to func- a military force under its own authority. United States. So too, SHIRBRIG has
tion without interference from outside Presently there is a SHIRBRIG opera- already become operational without any
governments. tional headquarters just north of tangible US backing.
Needless to say, UN officials were Copenhagen, a standardized training To top it all off, global players have
delighted by the scope and vision of the manual has been written, and the force been positioning themselves to take
Canadian document. Other countries, has been used in Ethiopia and Eritrea. In advantage of any favorable change within
such as Denmark, saw the “advantages” of many ways SHIRBRIG is currently in the US/UN relations. The final Canadian
a UN military brigade and jumped on the embryo stage – a stepping stone of sorts report made it clear that current political
bandwagon. In fact, the Danish govern- to a larger UN military vision. In time, it conditions “are not immutable.” Perhaps
ment started working on the political is hoped that the brigade will become a Michael Oliver, president of the United
will necessary to implement such a force. self-contained unit with 5,000-10,000 Nations Association of Canada, said it best
Other European nations added their voic- “rapid-reaction” personnel under its com- during a 1995 interview regarding UN
es, and, within a very short time, SHIR- mand. military empowerment; “When there’s a
BRIG was born. Will SHIRBRIG ultimately succeed? shift in the US, we’ll be ready.” ❏