Western arms embargo in Bosnia effectively armed the Serb radicals

Evidence

Yet some who had used the “what about Somalia” argument against stopping genocide in Bosnia protested the loudest when U.S. troops were sent to Somalia. The intervention saved an estimated 500,000 people from starvation before the operation became politicized and fell apart. In both Somalia and Bosnia, the Western governments were complicit in the original problem, in Bosnia through the arms embargo that in effect armed Serb radicals, in Somalia through massive weapons sales. — Michael A. Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 684

Categorization

• XREF: The pattern of Western complicity masking as humanitarian concern echoes the book’s larger thesis about Western responsibility for the genocide, and connects to the ‘What about Somalia’ deflection the chapter addresses.

Related

• The UN arms embargo materially enabled the Bosnian genocide. (similarity 0.85)
• Embargo-breaking by Iran was labeled fundamentalism only when it aided Muslims (similarity 0.78)