Many will be similarly slow to accept that when it comes to the most conscience-shocking classes of violence – genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other mass atrocities – dramatic progress has been made recently. Those gains culminated in the interventions, unthinkable a decade ago, that the United Nations Security Council authorized this year to stop unfolding human-rights catastrophes in Côte d’Ivoire and Libya.
很多人同样不愿承认在制止最令人震惊的暴力活动——种族灭绝、种族清洗和其他大规模暴行上，近年来也取得了重大的进步。这种进步在联合国安理会今年授权阻止科特迪瓦和利比亚人权灾难时达到了高潮，如此规模的干涉行动在十年前是无法想象的。面对这样的进步，永远不再出现另一次大屠杀、另一个柬埔寨、卢旺达或斯雷布雷尼察的期望不再是纯粹的幻想。