October 2006

The following is in the order it occured.

First is the warning:

Egypt said on Friday it had warned Andrew Natsios, the new U.S. special envoy to Sudan, against the dangers of seeking confrontation with Khartoum over the Darfur crisis as he began his first visit to the African country.

Instead, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told Natsios in a telephone conversation on Thursday that Washington should seek common ground with Sudan over a U.N. Security Council resolution that authorises the deployment of 20,000 U.N. troops in war-torn Darfur, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Second is the symbolic finger:

Sudan snubbed newly appointed US presidential envoy Andrew Natsios on his arrival in Khartoum Friday for his first visit since taking up his post, security officials said.

No foreign ministry representative turned up at the airport to welcome Natsios as normally demanded by protocol, the officials who blocked an AFP correspondent from reaching the airport terminal said.

The snub was intended as “reciprocal treatment” for Washington’s attitude towards the Khartoum authorities, the officials said without elaborating.

The US administration, which had already complained of restrictions imposed on its diplomats travelling outside the Sudanese capital, had expressed concern about Khartoum’s willingess to cooperate with its new envoy.

And third is the “warm” welcome:

The Sudanese government expressed welcome to American envoy Andrew Natsios’ arrival, affirming that doors remain open for dialogues with Washington on disputed issues, Sudan’s local daily al-Hayat reported on Saturday.

Spokesman of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry Ali Sadig was quoted as saying that the arrival of the U.S. envoy in Khartoum was “a good gesture” of the United States.

It’s lovely isn’t it?

I know this is old news but what the hell I might as well just add my opinion. Now, I’m not really sure what his comments were exactly but if they were targeted at the Niqab  specifically ie. Burka then I would support him. A woman with a Niqab reveals nothing except her eyes. You can’t see the face and hence you can’t know the identity. I have a right to know who I’m talking to if they come and visit me.

Think about it. Even Saudi Arabia banned women to take their ID pics with their Niqab on. I repeat that’s Saudi Arabia we’re talking about. The ID is for identification purposes and therefore the face must be revealed. If the super conservative and at many times extremist Saudis banned it, why can’t Jack Straw have his damn right to know who the hell he’s talking to?? Why?

BY now I’m sure most of you have heard about the plane crash that occured in Manhattan. There was no involvement of terrorists or anything and the crash was already confirmed as an accident. I’m finding the reaction quite odd though. Shouldn’t people be asking questions? If after the horrific acts of 9/11, a plane can still crash into a Manhattan building then there must be something wrong. Yes…? No…? I have a feeling Democrats might also use this one besides the Foley scandal against Republicans in the coming elections. They’ll declare “New York’s skies are still unsafe. This shouldn’t have happened.” I don’t know but it’s probably just a stupid prediction.

Jay McGinley is a friend of Darfur. He like many others are doing all they can to stop the suffering of poor innocent people being mercilessly killed in Darfur. He has a blog called DARFUR Dying For Heroes and Stand With Darfur - White House II. People like him truly touch my heart. They really do.

That’s him getting arrested during a hunger strike infront of the White House. Jay, I hope you’re reading this dude. To you and others like you I give my sincere thanks. You’re certainly a lot better than many Sudanese who couldn’t be that much bothered about what’s happening.

Robert Spencer fails miserably to distinguish between true Muslims and extremist Muslims. He fails to distinguish between extremist interpretations of Islam and true moderate interpretations of Islam. Whether he does it on purpose or not is a matter I will leave for you to decide. The man is biased and very shallow. I pitty him. The way he interprets the Quran to try and justify his weak ops I meant “solid” arguments is the same way terrorists interpret it to justify their violence. The following is from his blog Jihad Watch. Please read it very carefully.

“Q: Do you hate Muslims?
RS: Of course not. Islam is not a monolith, and never have I said or written anything that characterizes all Muslims as terrorist or given to violence. I am only calling attention to the roots and goals of jihad violence. Any Muslim who renounces violent jihad and dhimmitude is welcome to join in our anti-jihadist efforts. Any hate in my books comes from Muslim sources I quote, not from me. Cries of “hatred” and “bigotry” are effectively used by American Muslim advocacy groups to try to stifle the debate about the terrorist threat. But there is no substance to them.”

We Muslims are followers of Islam and Muhammad (pbuh) is our holy Prophet. We love him and respect him. Insulting him is deemed an insult to Islam which is in turn deemed an insult to us the followers of Islam. I don’t mind someone questioning the actions of our Prophet but what I do mind is people painting him and Islam in a very negative and biased way. I don’t consider such things constructive. On the contrary, I consider them to be very unconstructive.

Robert Spencer’s latest book is entitled “The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion”. To me it seems like he’s already made up his mind that Islam is an intolerant religion. As much as Robert Spencer’s intentions might, I repeat might be sincere (*cough *cough I’m sure they are), the title of his book is not welcoming at all to a person like me. By characterizing Muhmmad (pbuh) as an evil intolerant person, he automatically characterizes Islam as an evil intolerant religion and us Muslims, the followers of Islam as evil intolerant people too. For a person trying to invite Muslims to fight along his side against extremist loony terrorists, Islamophobe Robert Spencer does a very “lovely” and truly “wonderful” job!

Is the Sudanese Anthem! Read what Black Kush has to say. I hear ya gurl! I wanna be the one to make the new anthem. I’ll put some scratching and lay down a nice guitar solo too.

Lovely isn’t it? Okay so let us get this straight. The latest opposers to UN troops in Darfur besides al-Qaeda, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudanese Islamists, al-Qaeda, Darfurian tribal leaders and some of the Darfurians themselves ARE (drum roll)… Chadian Rebels! Yaaay the list is growing. Here’s what they had to say:

Chadian rebels oppose the idea of a United Nations peacekeeping force on the Sudan-Chad border because this would obstruct their fight to overthrow President Idriss Deby, a rebel spokesman said on Thursday.

…Allazan complained that by focussing on Darfur, the world was ignoring the conflict in Chad.

“The international community has completely forgotten us, in favour of Darfur. That’s unfair,” he said.

Hmmm. Interesting.

It’s only a matter of time before Kim Jong II is declared the new Nasrallah! Okay that’s too much. I’m just playing but still, he’s defintely bound to get popular in the Muslim world. The latest developments are worrying me.

“If the U.S. keeps pestering us and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures,” the North’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The statement didn’t specify what those measures could be.

…About 29,500 U.S. troops are deployed in the South, a remnant of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a cease-fire that has never been replaced by a peace treaty.

29,500 US troops ey? Hmmm. I’m defintely worried. Nuclear Holocaust anyone? Eh… Meanwhile some guy who’s quite representative of a considerable portion in the Sudanese street has started a thread in Sudan.Net’s forum entitled “North korea having the nuke is good for Muslims”. Yaaay! Kim, pleeeease pass one nuke to Iran, just one pleeease!!

UPDATE: Here are the ranges of the North Korean missiles. Taepo Dong 2 can quite easily reach LA. Sigh! Goodbye Hollywood.

655,000 Iraqis??!! Okay you seriously have got to be kidding me! I really doubt those figures and I hope Mohammad or Omar at Iraq The Model, can provide a few words on this matter.

In the new study, researchers attempt to calculate how many more Iraqis have died since March 2003 than one would expect without the war. Their conclusion, based on interviews of households and not a body count, is that about 600,000 died from violence, mostly gunfire. They also found a small increase in deaths from other causes like heart disease and cancer.

“Deaths are occurring in Iraq now at a rate more than three times that from before the invasion of March 2003,” Dr. Gilbert Burnham, lead author of the study, said in a statement.

Here’s the hotly debated question that requires a decisive answer: Who’s responsible, the United States or the terrorists in Iraq? If you ask me, I say it’s a combination of both. Am I pissed off at Bush? YES, I am. Why? He invaded a country and executed a poorly planned strategy that hasn’t produced much positive results until now. Am I pissed off at the filthy terrorists in Iraq? Hell yeah. Why? They’re mercilessly killing and terrorizing innocent people on a daily basis. Who am I pissed off at more? The filthy terrorists. Why? FACT: If those damn butchers stopped killing their country mates, Iraqis would be enjoying a democratic Iraq free of Mr. Saddam Hussein Lucifer and his damn Ba’athist party! For me… it’s as simple as that.

UPDATE: Omar @ Iraq The Model posts his thoughts.

I couldn’t help it. I just had to do a little bit of blogging today.

1. Lil’ Jon & the Eastside Boyz feat Usher & Ludacris – Lovers & Friends
2. The Fray – Over My Head
3. Imogen Heap – Hide & Seek
4. Telepopmusic – Breathe
5. No Doubt – Sunday Morning
6. John Mayer – Waiting on the World to Change
7. Planet Funk – Chase the Sun
8. Tiesto – Traffic
9. The Roots – Seed 2.0
10. Gavin DeGraw – Meaning
11. Cold Play – Fix You
12. Metallica – Fuel
13. Bobby Valentino – Slow Down
14. Switchfoot - Erosion
15. Tyrese – Signs of Love Making
16. Steve Vai – Tender Surrender
17. Guns N Roses – Sweet Child Oh Mine
18. Rage Against the Machine – Sleep Now in the Fire
19. Katie Melua – Crawling Up a Hill
20. Jimi Hendrix – Fire
21. Bob Marely – Africa Unite
22. Maxwell – Get to Know Ya
23. The Go! Team – Huddle Formation
24. Afroman – Crazy Rap
25. Damien Rice – Canon Ball

What are you listening to?

Myspace is organizing 20 concerts as part of a campaign to raise awareness and money for humanitarian relief in Sudan.

Also check out this blog. DARFUR Dying For Heroes.

It will be ages before this kind of activism makes its way into our culture. Let’s all anticipate the day Iran gets the bomb or the day Israel burns in hell instead. I’m sure it’s more important than our brothers and sisters dying in Darfur. Who cares about them. They’ll go to heaven after they die and live happily ever after there. Let’s not bother. This is God’s will. Our efforts won’t matter.

Plus, I’m sure all those Americans are working very hard for the evil piggy apes Jewish Zionist organizations planning to colonize Sudan right? Geee, whatever.

UPDATE: Sorry for the lack of updates. My exams are coming up quite soon and I’ve got a few projects to submit. Whenever you don’t find any new updates here I suggest you check out Sudan Tribune or Sudan Watch to know the latest developments. Laterz.

“America is going down! It’s the start of the collapse of American imperialism! Russia is going back to its communist roots. China will soon be the biggest economy in the world! Russia and China will slowly form a strong alliance. North Korea is great man! Iran will soon be a giant too! Yaaay!”. These are the type of reactions I’m hearing all around me nowadays. I don’t argue much with them and I just let them slide. Many of those people are just following the “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” rule. What I certainly don’t understand however is when people start praising Kim Jong II and call him “a great man”. Gee, what the hell is so great about him? Fine, he defied “filthy evil Zionst” America and went ahead with the nuclear test but still, what the hell makes him a great man? People who say this kind of retarded crap ought to go and live under his “lovely” rule.

Bashir: Sudan Celebrates its Diplomatic Victory Against America… The man probably thinks he’s the new Nasrallah of Sudan. Oh mighty Bashir has dared to stand up against evil Zionist America. He made the UN ignore America’s suggestions and threats over Sudan and Darfur. Mighty Bashir is victorious. Victorious my foot!

Today I got reminded of a very hurtfull fact while reading the news. During the 1970’s Sudan was called the bread basket of the Arab world. Our economy was super strong and it wasn’t oil-based. Hell, Saudi Arabian families used to come to east Sudan and to Khartoum seeking better jobs and a better life. So did tons of Egyptians too. Thanks to Bashir and his gang, Sudan now is in the list of the top 20 countries in bad need of food aid!! Our economy is ruined. Many oil transactions are carried out in the underground economy. The country has been announced as the most corrupted country in the Arab world this year. As we pump more oil, prices keep increasing instead of decreasing. The life of the average Sudanese still hasn’t improved. Private education institutions are springing up everywhere to cater for the rich returning Sudanese diaspora while those who can’t afford still have to attend many of the horrible public institutions. About half of us off course are still illitarate! Public healthcare is a disaster. If you’re sick and poor, too bad. Have a happy time dying. Just make sure you’re good in this world so that you can go to heaven in the afterlife. In a country where someone who earns about 400 US dollars a month is considered very lucky, traffic violations can land you a fine of up to 400 US dollars too!! Zakah (a compulsory Islamic charity for financially-able Muslims) is supposed to go to the poor. It hardly does. A poor Muslim man in need of medicine once went to a Zakah office in Khartoum, got laughed at and turned away. A Chrisitian Southern women saw him and felt for him. She took him to a nearby Church where he got all the money he needed! It’s a famous story many Sudanese people know. God bless the Southern woman and the priests who helped the poor needy man. We’re surely being ruled by very pious God-fearing “Muslims”.

The day every Sudanese regardless of color or religion has an opportunity to live in peace, get a decent education, a decent healthcare, is well-fed, has access to clean drinking water, has a decent shelter and last but most certainly not least has self-worth is the day I shall proudly stand up and declare victory. For a country with huge amounts of natural resources and with a population of only about 30 million, it’s easily achievable. All we desperately need is responsible leadership and a change of the “blame it all on the Joooz” attitude. I hope the progressive recovery takes place in my lifetime because I sincerely wish to be a part of it.

Read all about it at KABOBfest, although I do doubt the bad guys will be named Kay Fir, CrUSAder or InfiDOG.