I’ve been busy like hell during this past week. Work has been mad but extremely interesting. I’m getting hammered but in the process I’m learning so much. I’m really lucky this is not one of those typical boring internships were you get all the crappy repetitive tasks which you learn nothing from. My mom also came back from her long holiday in Sudan recently. She told me all sorts of stories… some happy, most just pure depressing. My elder brother is still there. He’ll be arriving here this Saturday or Sunday and he’ll stay with us for about 2 months. After that he’ll be going back to Chicago. In between, all the work and family related issues, I’ve also been busy with music and entrepreneural related stuff. Thank God for last night. It was a night desperately needed. I went to Akon’s Live convert here. It was gooooood but of course Akon who’s interestingly a Muslim preached sinfull things in his songs (Smack That) 
… Anyways meanwhile, check out this excellent discussion on Eric Reeve’s article about Darfur. (hat tip: Sudan Watch) While I don’t doubt the guy’s intentions, I find his opinions twisted and somehow deceptive. I’m no Eric Reeves fan for sure. Just notice how keeps refering to the Khartoum government as the National Islamic Front when in fact the NIF seized to exist a while ago. The NIF was headed by al-Bashir and al-Turabi but it split up after al-Bashir started having problems with al-Turabi and put him on house arrest. The product of the NIF split up are the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) headed by al-Bashir and the Popular Congress Party (PCP) headed by al-Turabi. So basically using the term NIF is just wrong. Moreover he’s a staunch pro-interventionist and as many of you who’ve been reading The Sudanese Thinker for quite a long time know that I’m anti-intervention… Oh well gotta run now but before I do, I would like to extend my condolences to Big Pharaoh. May she rest in peace bro 
… More laters.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Glad to hear things are going well with you and your job!
:^)
Akon is Muslim
now theres a shock.. nywayz, Thanks for the explanation on the NIF,, I was checking about it from other websites and asking people around to correct the info i had on my post.. I really have lotsa histroy homework to catch up with Politics in Sudan..
About Reeve’s article i read it on Sudan tribune, but half way through I just couldnt go on, it was filled with wrong ideas and thoughts on Darfur..
Why are you are anti-intervention? You can’t believe that UN forces are “colonizing forces that are part of a conspiracy”. Why can’t we just strengthen AU forces, what arguments are there for not doing that? Something needs to be done. What are the root causes of the conflict, other than a thirst for power and racial hatred, and how can they be resolved? This seems to be a situation that can only be stabilized with force. If the AU is willing I sure wouldn’t want the UN to have anything to do with it, especially if that means the US, which it often does.
Drima - sweet! about your job! Learning stuff is fun
You gonna share them stories your mom tells?
Rancher - AU intervention seems to be kind of working, meaning it doesn’t incite a general Jihad. I think the main reason for this is their ineffectiveness. Strengthening the AU might work, but then you can bet that assorted nice people with beards are going to go nuts with conspiracy theories…. which will eventually lead to Jihad and plunge Sudan into yet another major civil war. Only this time, it’s going to be bloodier and probably drag all of the region into it as well.
OK, Racoon, you seem to be saying let them kill as they now are or it will get worse? Don’t try to stop the ethnic cleansing because that will piss off the Mullahs and cause Jihad? I have trouble accepting that.
Rancher -
Well, in a perfect world, I’d say fuck the Jihad, do the right thing.
But the West ain’t got the balls to do the right thing. Yes, the way the things are at the moment, I’d say Darfur is buggered for a long time to come. There is no alliance of the sane against the various evil forces operating in and on Sudan; there is no way to check these forces (China, Russia, Al-Qaeda, Iran, etc).
And this is not Somalia. You can’t just bring in the Ethiopian troops and kick some major Islamonazi butt if their petty self-destructive Jihad threatens others - the vested interest in Sudan will make sure you’ll have whining and bitching from Beijing to New York to Paris to Moscow, and I am not mentioning Teheran, Cairo, Riyadh etc.
The way things are right now, no matter how you intervene, you’re making things worse. Unless you can somehow convince the remains of the sane societies on Earth to girdle their loins, stop bitching and start doing what they should be doing.
But you can’t do that, can you?
“You can’t believe that UN forces are “colonizing forces that are part of a conspiracy”. ”
Ah come on Rancher. Of course not.
“Why can’t we just strengthen AU forces, what arguments are there for not doing that?”
And that’s exactly what I prefer because I believe UN troops will become part of the problem and not the solution. They’ll become a target for “jihad”. Strengthening AU troops and sending UN troops to CAR’s and Chad’s borders with Sudan are the best options for now.
Click the Darfur banner on the right side bar to know more. I wrote all the contents of the pages there. This conflict is quite complex and the root causes are about more than just the simplistic notion of “a thirst for power and racial hatred”.
Even if a UN force does come into Sudan, will the countries that send it have enough balls to really fight? I’m afraid not. Remember what happened to US troops in Somalia? The risks are too high. I would defintely not want some force to come in, fight and then leave half way when things get too nasty… Darfur could become another Iraq. It’s already bad enough with the numerous rebel factions and all the tribal rivalries in it.
Raccoon, yup I’ll share the stories she told soon.
@ work… sigh
Drima - what I wonder about is whether augmented and UN (or, Eris forbid, US) -funded and -aided AU will not also incite Jihad. I am just guessing here, but I would presume that AQ would REALLY love more instability and some nice Jihading in Somalia - loads of cannon fodder, the possibility of taking over the resources and setting up a Chinese umbrella in exchange for uninterrupted supply - the possibilities are vast. Sudan would be phat lewt for AQ.
So… how does AU avoid the “Evil Zionist-Crusader-Imperialist” label?
Oh… and work is good, man! You’ve got to learn if you’re to become the Benevolent Dictator of United Africa - so stop bitchin’ and get back to it!
“Ah come on Rancher. Of course not.”
Like I said, you can’t be. I knew this. “Those who oppose the UN troops view them as colonizing forces that are part of a conspiracy.” A bit of generalization I’m sure you will agree? And I also recognize that the UN forces can be a force for evil, rape and child abuse etc. So the UN is out. Fine. Don’t much like the UN anyway. The AU? If we can fund them and they can be effective great. But as Racoon asked what will be the reaction? Would an effective AU be seen as a threat that would also trigger Jihad?
“Unless you can somehow convince the remains of the sane societies on Earth to girdle their loins, stop bitching and start doing what they should be doing.
But you can’t do that, can you?”
No. I still don’t have to like it.
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