Over on Democracy Arsenal, Max Bergmann takes on a subject near and dear to our hearts. He hits all the highlights: Justin Rood's excellent piece on how the president's new budget request shortchanges African peacekeeping; the 2005 RAND Corporation Study finding that UN peacekeeping is more effective and cheaper than comparable US efforts; and most critically, the burden sharing theme.

Sayeth Bergmann:

"Because our military is bogged down in Iraq and stretched to its limits in Afghanistan we face so many challenges around the world, our reliance on the United Nations to address trouble spots and to prevent them from worsening has only increased. Shorting the UN on peacekeeping funding is therefore akin to shooting ourselves in the foot."

Amen to that.