Situation terrible, but not as bad as it was

I quote from The Economist:

Thanks in part to the UN’s blue helmets, Africa is at its most peaceful for decades. But the job is not yet over—and can be done even better.

We read about the Russians and Chinese blocking international action to get rid of the government of Syria and tend to assume that the U.N. is not useful. This story suggests that while it could surely deploy better trained, more effective troops, those that it is deploying have helped to defuse conflict in a number of African countries.

Ask the people in the countries restored to some kind of peace how much better their lives are as a result, how much they appreciate what the international community has done to help!