October 2006

Oh yes if there’s anything then it’s defintely this.

People, sign the petition.

Many Muslims will declare me a traitor for supporting such a war. How could I support infidels in waging a war against another Muslim nation? You see, the thing is that I don’t view such issues as an “us against them” sort of situation and I don’t necessarily view it as “oh the evil dirty kuffar are invading our Muslim lands”. Butcher and “pious”, “God-fearing” Muslim Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait, BAD. “Dirty filthy” American infidels liberating Kuwait, GOOD! Just ask the Kuwaitis

Before I begin I must state something. The fact that innocent Afghani civilians were hurt or killed accidentally by American bombs or NATO is a very regrettable and painful one. I hate it and by supporting this war, I’m in no way trying to lessen those peoples’ deaths or legitimize them. I believe in diplomacy and solving conflicts in the least violent possible means. War for me is the last option but it’s still an option. Accidents and innocent deaths are unfortunately unavoidable in war and I wish that wasn’t the case.

The case of the Afghanistan war is very different from that of Iraq. First of all the link between al-Qaeda and the Taliban was a very clear “in your face” one. I don’t believe it’s up for debate unless you’re one of those conspiracy theory nut heads thinking 9/11 was carried out by the American government or Israelis and that al-Qaeda is a myth which doesn’t exist. If you are, then I guess the US Embassy bombings in east Africa were also carried out by the US government too huh? On the other hand, WMDs weren’t found in Iraq and the link between Saddam and al-Qaeda is rather unclear. The issue is very debatable. Again, this isn’t the case with Afghanistan.

Secondly, the management of the war in Afghanistan has been much better than the huge mess that is now Iraq. Yes, the Taliban are making a come back. Yes they’re giving NATO and US troops a headache but overall I believe the war brought about a positive result as I expected it to. Aid for construction and development isn’t enough at the moment but I’m confident that in due time things will improve. The filthy Taliban are gone (even though not yet fully). Kabul is moving out of the Stone Age the Taliban put it in. Music can be heard playing in many places. Women aren’t forced into wearing burkas anymore, they don’t get stoned for being victims of rape (ah the irony) and they’re finally able to get an education just like men. Al-Qaeda training camps have been destroyed and the terrorist organization doesn’t have a strong hold like it used to before.

Did the war wipe out the terrorist threat? No of course not, but it improved the life of Afghanis and dealt a huge blow to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. I think that is tax money put into good use. Plus, it’s not like you infidels are out there to suck our oil or steal our natural resources right?

This just made me sick! SICK! You know what’s absolutely disgusting though? You know what? I mean I can’t even comprehend it. When people protest peacefully PEACEFULLY, the police beats the shit out of them and breaks up their protest but when innocent women get attacked and sexually harrassed the police does NOTHING!! What kind of utter bullshit is this?! They’re disgusting animals that should be castrated and then stoned to death! Ya7leelik ya Masr. Akalooki o kharribooki. Matistahleesh abadan walahi!

Hehehehe. See Leilouta’s blog.

I got this article via al-Jazeera which in turn got it from The Independent. The article claims that British scientists tested soil samples from places that got bombed in Lebanon and discovered a high level of radiation indicating the use of uranium. Now I’m no scientist but if this is true, I repeat if this is true, then the IDF is bloody screwed, murderous and no different from suicide bombers targeting innocent people and children in Israel. Let me guess, it must be justified right? I mean hey the Palestinians are are a terrorists supporting people so must the Lebanese be too. Yaaay! Screw them all. Let’s bomb those Hezbollah loving Lebanese with some weapons containing uranium so that their future generations get born all mutated and deformed. Who cares, Hezbollah or innocent civilians, they’re all the same.

Sorry people but it looks like I’m going to be super cramped this month. By the 1st of December I’m going to be a free man. My holidays will start then followed by my half-year internship. By mid December I will start posting all the things I’ve been promising to post about including my long delayed podcast. I’ll also set up a MySpace page and upload some of my music there for you all to hear. The blog might experience a make over too. I won’t be staying on campus and I’ll be chilling at home for 6 months. Skype, MSN and Yahoo messenger won’t be blocked anymore so you can catch me online if you want to. The best part is that I’ll finally have a lot of time to write long analytical posts. I can also share with you my thoughts on things I haven’t discussed in details until now like Zionism, suicide bombings against Israelis, racism in Sudan, Islam and culture etc. Until then ya’ll take care and thanks for always sticking around. This humble blog is worth nothing without you guys and gurls. Blogging to resume every 2 or 3 days. Peace!

…and welcomed with wide open arms by Sudanese Islamist organizations. These are the kind of Sudanese who scare me. If I even dare to mention that I believe in a 2 state solution or that I think suicide bombings against innocent Israeli civilians are wrong, I’ll probably at a minimum end up with a black eye or at a maximum maybe even without a head. Their opinion is absolute and is not up for discussion. “No to recognizing Israel!”

Watch the clip on MEMRI. Click search and select Sudan under the “country selection” option. After that click on the search button at the bottom of the page. The clip is #1044. Sorry, I didn’t know how to link to the video directly.

It shows Hamas in Sudan making promises to a Sudanese audience that victory shall be theirs. The function was held to rally support. It happened after Hamas won the elections so it’s quite old dating back to 14/2/2006. Hey cool, that’s Valentine’s Day! It’s quite appropriate given the fact that all the people present there love Hamas to death.

Previously I thought that Bashir’s rants about the Israeli support for Darfur’s rebels and the UN resolution being a Zionist plan to recolonize Sudan were just pure propaganda and a way for him to rally public support against any UN troops trying to make their way into Darfur under chapter 7. After watching this clip on MEMRI, I got a strong impression that Omar al-Bashir does to some certain extent believe his own rants. To watch the clip click search and select Sudan under the “country selection” option. After that click on the search button at the bottom of the page. The clip is #569. Sorry, I didn’t know how to link to the video directly.

Keep in mind 2 things. The first is that he considers America’s refusal to lift sactions from Sudan as an act of betrayal especialy after the NCP has provided so much intel about Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. The second is that Omar al-Bashir fought with the Egyptian army in the 1973 war against Israel. I suspect that has left a profound effect on him.

I just saw this on the BBC

it appears agreement was reached with the Sudanese for Mr Pronk to return briefly to Khartoum to wind up his affairs and hand over to his deputy, says our correspondent.

So he’ll return, clear up some things, hand over his duty to his deputy and then leave again. The spineless UN rules! Long live the Chinese and Russians! The NCP is not afraid of the Security Council. Yaaay!

UPDATE: UN demands temporary visa to expelled envoy to Sudan

The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ali Al-Sadik, said that the request of the UN Secretary General is under study.

The spokesman pointed out that he regards the request and the manner it was presented as a recognition and respect of Sudan’s decision terminating the services of Pronk.

Sorry about the lack of updates. I’ll be posting something long soon. Maybe 2moro. Anyways meanwhile be sure to give a quick scan of the news at Sudan Watch. Ingrid is doing a great job collecting all sorts of news about Sudan. Be sure to check out this post of hers. Watch the video and don’t forget to enlarge the screen and click “high” for high quality. I’ll review the video for you guys by 2moro hopefully.

Peace

First, I want to say thank you to Bec and Cooper for bringing this short CBS video to my attention. Cooper made the following comment:

Bush can’t act he is barely holding his presidency together here, we certainly have no troops to send, he sent them all to Iraq and now Afghanistan is falling apart. He also need help from the world and The Sudan of course will not cooperate. I see the points for not sending in UN troops but to see the death the dying the kids withouth parents is making us sick.

Bec also asked the following question:

They [CBS] claimed that Bashir has been feeding little snippets of info about Bin Laden to the US and that’s why Bush has been hesitant to act in Darfur. Do you think this is credible at all?

I answered with this long comment:

Yes, it’s quite possible and it will certainly explain many things. I’ve always been quite amazed at the NCP’s sarcastic attitude when it brushes off threats and demands by the US and UK. You saw yourself how the right Sudanese UN rep was laughing.

Let me be clear and honest though. Is Bashir’s regime providing information about al-Qaeda to the US? Yes I can confirm that to you a 100%. Does Sudan continue to provide this information. Yes it still does BUT… There are sources that indicate the information being provided by the NCP to the US is still very valuable and there are other sources that indicate the value of the information has been decreasing significantly and that at the moment the NCP doesn’t really have much valuable information to offer like it did in the past anymore. So basically there’s a contradiction there. However the fact remains that the NCP is STILL providing information and intelligence to America. Whether this info and intel is very valuable or not, I can’t really say or confirm to you.

Another thing I would like to add is many believe that ties to al-Qaeda are still maintained. The NCP doesn’t provide material support or anything to terrorism anymore but I think it’s very logical when people say, some ties do remain between NCP and al-Qaeda. These are people who shared the ideology of Bin Laden openly and still continue to but “under the carpet” now. I doubt they’ll completely cut their ties to Osama’s people. It’s just my humble guess.

Bin Laden was in Sudan for 5 years and the NCP (formerly known as NIF ie. National Islamic Front when Turabi was in it) was working very closely with Bin Laden. Bin Laden was in Sudan together with many Taliban Afghanis who worked with him and who were also his bodyguards. Hell when I was a kid, I would go out with my uncle and we’ll drive past this huge house at the edge of his upper class neighbourhood in Khartoum called Riyadh. This big house always stood out from the rest. Why? 5-10 Afghanis stood outside it during most times. When I asked my uncle about it, he answered me in a sarcastic tone since I was a little kid at the time and he didn’t take me seriously. He replied “that’s the house of Turabi’s new best friend. His name is Osama bin Laden. They both plan on making Sudan another version of Saudi Arabia. It will be wonderfull”. My uncle is very sarcastic just like me. I guess it runs in the family

The CBS documentary is cool but it fails like many other articles to describe the root causes of the conflict correctly. They’ve oversimplified it as a racist genocidal war by Arabs against Africans. While racism is definitely an element and the war has taken a genocidal nature, other important points are ignored and some are just plain wrong. They say that Sudan’s government is an Arab dictatorship which made ethnic Africans in Darfur live for years under harsh discrimination and that after they rebeled in 2003 the Arab government moved in to exterminate them. The CBS clip makes it seem as if the whole thing errupted because of racial issues. That’s wrong. Just look at the eastern conflict. The tribes in the east are either Afro-Arabs or pure Arabs who crossed the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia and Yemen to Sudan. They’ve suffered discrimination and oppression too and it had nothing to do with the color of their skin. The dictatorship in Khartoum is corrupt and hasn’t been providing any decent money for developing basic necessities to the people of the east and west. They like money, they like power and they like keeping them all to themselves. For about a decade the eastern rebels fought for their fair share of power and wealth. The same is with the south and west except in the case of the west there’s water shortage, there’s ethnic tension amongst the tribes fighting over water and there’s hatred rising to the surface again because of a history in the region of tribes attacking each other and enslaving members. In the case of the south, religion and implementation of Sharia were the additional factors not present in all the other conflicts. Also the racism element in the war with the south was very strong and obvious. It didn’t have a tribal basis but was more of an Arab/Afro-Arab VS Africans kind of racism like the old racism that generally existed against Africans and people of color in America. Darfur is different, it’s what you could call “tribal racism”. This same racism also exists in the south amongst pure African southern tribes. For example the SPLM is mainly controled by the major Dinka tribe and other minor pure African tribes in the south have always had problems with the Dinka and complained about racism and discrimination. So you see it’s more complex than the simple Darfur is a genocide that needs to be stopped. People must know the root causes ie. water shortage, tribalism and huge corruption by the dictatorial NCP. Damn I’ve ranted way too much. I hope I didn’t give you all a headache. Grrrrr, welcome to the disease called tribalism that Sudan suffers from. Sigh! Jan Pronk will be missed. Sigh!

UPDATE: My dad and his political junkie well informed friends were having an Eid chilling session just now. Coincidentally they were discussing the same thing. Now note that these guys are not your usual anti-American, Britain hating kind of folks but rational ones. Their conclusion: No, Bush isn’t hesitant to act in Sudan because he receives info and intel about Bin Laden from the NCP. He can’t really act because he’s already got enough to deal with. Furthermore, the NCP doesn’t have much valuable intelligence to provide to the CIA like it used to anymore. I agree!

Eid Mubarak ya chix o shabab. Have a good one and don’t eat too much on the first day

It’s true! The loony NCP at the moment is under a lot of pressure. If it crumbles, there is a lot to be lost. Many high officials could be arrested and tried in the International Criminal Court for their sick war crimes. Hence, the NCP is doing this to send out a strong message that it won’t tolerate any action against it. That’s my humble guess.

You know what amazes me? That a group like these people are happily pushing around major countries like Britain & the US. I honestly think the NCP is so clearly sticking its finger up in the air for all to see. If Bush and Blair can’t even make pressure on Sudan work to ease the Darfur situation, how the hell do they both want to fix Iraq? Sometimes I tend to think that the NCP is confident UK and US can’t do crap since they’ve already got enough to deal with on their hands namely Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran’s nuclear program.

The Southerners are rightly pissed off about this. People call the current Sudanese government, the National Unity Government. Ya, sure thing! As if the SPLM gets any say in things like this. Whenever the SPLM tries to say or do something that is against the wishes of the NCP, it gets threatened. National Unity Government or whatever crap people wish to call it, the show is clearly being run by “democratically elected” Bashir’s NCP. Sigh!

A replacement for Jan Pronk will take quite a while. Some say he can only be replaced until next year when the new UN Secretary General takes over. What’s his name again? Sim Ban Koon or something (crap I better get used to his name).

Grrrr. This is wonderful news I tell ya. You wana know something else that’s even sweeeeeter? The NCP is massing up troops to deal a blow to the rebels. Great! Let’s all praise mighty Bashir and support his “jihad” against the darker “blackies” in Darfur being supported by the piggy apes Zionists! This is exactly what the people of Darfur need. Bombs raining over their villages on the day of Eid. Wait, that’s if they have any villages left. Picture bombs raining on your house during Christmas!

You know over and over and over again I always think about something. What’s the point of peace deals with the south, west and east when they’re being signed with the “honest, caring, great and super sincere” National Congress Party of Sudan’s supreme leader Ayotallah Omar Hassan al-Bashir??! I’ve said this previously and I’ll say it again. The problems in Darfur and other places in Sudan are mainly symptoms of something bigger. They’re the symptoms of the real disease Sudan is suffering from. This disease is our “beloved” NCP! I hope I’m wrong or that us Sudanese will be able to cure this disease with the least violent means. Meanwhile, I also hope that the peace talks with the Darfur rebels produce positive results and that the AU troops gets strengthened. I still believe UN troops coming in without consent will only make the situation worse.

UPDATE: I was thinking. If the NCP is willing to kick out Jan Pronk over one tiny post in his blog, what the hell will they do to me if they find out about this blog?! Lord have mercy on me. Sigh!