Professor Helen Epstein on the Bewildering Search for the Islamic State in Congo: Will a Texas hedge fund drag the US into another dangerous quagmire?

The Bridgeway Foundation—the philanthropic arm of Bridgeway Capital Management, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund with investments in oil and pharmaceuticals—has moved beyond documenting atrocities in Central Africa to endeavoring to stop them militarily, writes Epstein in the Nation. “Bridgeway’s unusual approach is in line with ideas advanced by supporters of muscular humanitarianism around the turn of the 21st century who claimed that some atrocities, such as genocide, are so evil that they justify an armed response. . . . In 2005, the United Nations unanimously endorsed this concept, calling it the Responsibility to Protect, or R2P. The problem with R2P is that it doesn’t include a prior obligation to understand the conflicts waded into. What might look from Washington, D.C., or Texas like a simple contest between good and evil will inevitably be a more complicated fight on the ground.”

Post Date: 04-20-2021