# Pacific island peacekeepers

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Pacific island peacekeepers," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pacific-island-peacekeepers/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's observation that small Pacific states such as Fiji supply a disproportionate share of the world's peacekeeping forces because the pay makes up a large part of their national budgets, and his argument that this makes them cultural strangers wherever they deploy.*

- **Who:** Fiji, Tahiti and other Pacific island states
- **Why they supply troops:** Peacekeeping is a major source of income and makes up a great part of their budgets
- **Kiriakou''s objection:** 'They''re cultural strangers'
- **The accusation he notes:** Non-Muslim peacekeeping forces have been accused over the years of ignoring local norms, including the treatment of women
- **Why it came up:** As the alternative to a Pakistani force in Gaza

**Pacific island peacekeepers** is an observation [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) offered in October 2025 while weighing [a proposal to send Pakistani troops into Gaza](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pakistani-troops-for-gaza), by asking who the alternative would be.

*"The alternative would have been troops from Tahiti, right? Or from Fiji,"* he said. *"These Pacific islands provide so many peacekeeping forces, and it's a major source of income for them. It makes up a great part of their budget."*[1]

His objection to them is not to their conduct as soldiers but to the distance between them and the populations they are asked to police: *"they're cultural strangers, you know, the people from the South Pacific."*[1]

The comparison he draws is specific about what cultural proximity would supply. Pakistani troops *"at least would understand Islam, would respect, you know, Palestinian women, all the stuff that non-Muslim peacekeeping forces over the years have been accused of ignoring."*[1]

## See also

- [Pakistani troops for Gaza](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pakistani-troops-for-gaza)
- [Famine in Gaza](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/gaza-famine)
- [The ISI-Mossad relationship](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-isi-mossad-relationship)
- [Hamas](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hamas)

## Sources

1. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 15:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=936s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pacific-island-peacekeepers/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt