It's Time To Act.

After all we are only pretending.

Today the UK backed by the US has gathered representatives from some 140 nations - but mainly Angelina Jolie - at the Excel Centre in London to discuss the issue of rape in conflict. The fact that the Excel Centre is also home to DSEI - the world's largest arms fair - should be something of a clue that this summit has no intention of ending conflict. It also has absolutely no intention of achieving its stated aim of ending rape as a weapon of war. After all the predominately African conflicts that it is focused on are far from conventional wars fought by organised armies. Instead they tend to be little more then gang fights fought between heavily armed children fuelled by crack cocaine. As such the summit has instead set itself the rather twee objective of drawing up a standardised, rules based system of investigating rapes long after they have occurred.

In fact I would go so far as to say that the true objective of this summit is to disrupt the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) June meeting which concludes on Sunday (15/6/14). As I think I've mentioned one of the main points of tension in this process is the issue of climate finance between developed nations and developing nations. So far at this June meeting great efforts have been made to focus on the way that financial support from developed nations to developing nations has taken the form of funding to groups which primarily focus on either a feminist or gay rights agenda with the objective of sowing paranoia that such groups are being used to undermine and destabilise developing nations - particularly ones in Africa. By focusing on the issue of rape this London summit goes straight for the jugular of women's rights and the wider issue of sexual politics which along with religion rarely makes for calm and rational discussion.

The London summit also forces us to ask very serious questions about what is going on in nations such as Nigeria, Mali, the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As the first of these is oil rich while the last two contain many of the minerals we need to build things like car batteries that we hope will help us move beyond an oil based economy this pitches us into a very nasty discussion about what British values really are.

So sadly the nicest thing I can say about the London summit is that it really highlights how much Rihanna will have to raise her game if she wants to go and play in that charity sector. After all Angelina Jolie is far more accomplished and works far harder on these issues. However based on this performance I only feel able to cast her in the role of a celebrity deck chair attendant.

It also gives me the opportunity to recommend a 2008 film called "Johnny Mad Dog" which is set during Liberia's 2008 civil war. Although people who have read the International Criminal Court's (ICC) verdict on Charles Taylor will find moments of amusement it is far from a comedy but does help explain why I feel I can use the phrase "Well it is his will" as an insult towards either Chris Brown or Drake.

(Originally Posted) 19:50 on 10/6/14 (UK date).