Quote:
Originally Posted by unkated
Sorry not buying.
The point had nothing to do with AKs or communists.
It had everything to do with kidnapping and forced conscription of 12-15 year-old boys, and forcing them to become soldiers in an absolutest army (obey or die) in a series of particularly ugly wars which made little difference between combatant and noncombatant.
Note, we aren't talking about cases of national survival; in most cases, these were 'civil' conflicts (though many of the dividing lines had ethnic or religious fault lines.
They were armed with AKs because those were the cheapest, most available arms. Some of the children were conscripted by communists, some in Mozambique (for example) were conscripted by anti-communists.
I don't know about you, but to me, kidnapping children to turn them into slave soldiers is wrong whoever does it or whatever they are armed with.
Uncle Ted
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I understand your point very well but I don't actually believe that child soldiers is the reason.
The Western media doesn't really give two shits about what happens in Africa or Asia unless it can get them ratings and child soldiers is not news worthy as far as they're concerned and in a sense, they are (tragically & unfortunately) right - because the majority of the Western public doesn't want to hear about kids in Africa, they want to hear about things that directly affect them.
Fact of the matter is, most Westerners wouldn't even know what child soldiers in Africa are armed with because they simply do not care.