My head really hurts! Something is fishy here and I’m trying hard to make sense of what’s happening with:
1) China’s move which contradicts Hu Jintao’s visit to Sudan.
2) America’s plan B (and its latest coercive efforts against Sudan) which contradict the news of the CIA building its largest center for east Africa in Sudan and also the cooperation between Sudanese intelligence and the CIA (a fact which gets little to no coverage in the US media).
I have managed to make sense of some previous/continuing aspects of it all in this old post of mine entitled “The Agenda Behind Darfur“. Also this post entitled “The Twisted Triangle: America, China & Sudan” does an excellent job at explaining the background. However, I still can’t manage to make sense out of the latest events. I’m confused and my head really hurts. Help!
UPDATE: Okay, I don’t need help anymore. My head doesn’t hurt much either. I talked to some people. Finnpundit’s comment shed some light and the following also helped a lot:
1) China voices oppostion to sanctions on Sudan.
2) This from an interview with al-Bashir:
Curry: I myself have spoken to the people in Darfur — people who have been shot and burned and women who have been raped.
Al-Bashir: Yes, there have been villages burned, but not to the extent you are talking about. People have been killed because there is war. It is not in the Sudanese culture or people of Darfur to rape. It doesn’t exist. We don’t have it.
Al-Bashir also accused the United States of trying to seize Darfur’s oil and gas riches.
“The goal is to put Darfur under their custody,” he said. “Separating the region of Darfur from Sudan.”
President al-Bashir accused the United States of angling to get access to what he says are Darfur’s rich oil reserves. He also addressed how Sudan shared information about Osama bin Laden with the United States before 9/11 and that ***this deep intelligence relationship continues***.
Another point I want to bring up is that as time passes, China and America will get more involved in a tug of war over natural resources in Sudan and African as a whole. More later.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
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I’m not entirely sure either but there sure are a hell of a lot of Chinese oil companies out here.
Also sounds like my country is being a sore loser for things not working out the way they were hoping financially with the CPA and contracts in Sudan. Of course that is speculation and not the official line but usually when you look for the money in a conflict or in politics the answer isn’t far behind.
It’s quite obvious what’s going on. All the players are trying to increase their options, in relation to each other.
Sudan wants to resist Western meddling in Darfur, but it does not want be seen as an enemy of the US. Therefore, it passed over a little carrot to the Americans: we would like to cooperate with you in your hunt for Al Qaeda, on an active basis, in tandem with the CIA. Most likely Sudan understands tha Al Qaeda tends to scare away foreign oil investment, so it realizes it’s time to kiss goodbye to those good old boys.
On the other hand, Sudan continues to resist pressures on how it handles matters in Darfur. The US has of course taken up the offer on the CIA deployment, but intends to see the two issues as separate, and continues to apply pressure on Sudan regarding matters in Darfur.
China is now beginning to understand the image problem they might have in financially backing Sudan without paying attention to Sudanese genocidal practices. Therefore, it also sends seemingly conflicting signals.
The key to keep in mind is that this is all good. It means people are talking, instead of stubbornly cutting off all options for the sake of one, akin to what Ahmadinejad, Saddam, Mugabe, and Hamas like to do. Compromise does tend to water down principles over time, but perhaps principles need to be flexible in a world where the only constant, is change.
Another point I want to bring up is that as time passes, China and America will get more involved in a tug of war over natural resources in Sudan and African as a whole. More later.
I doubt the tug-of-war scenario. That’s like the old communist paradigm, where direct colonial control of resources were seen as necessary for the survival of capitalism.
In a globalized world, such territorial control is unnecessary, because the prices for those resources are determined in an open market, anyway. If the cost of resources from a controlled territory is greater than those from free market sources, then it doesn’t make much sense to control that territory, nor does it matter who controls it.
Indeed, what we saw in the latter half of the Cold War was that the Soviets were quite desperate to be given permission to sell their energy resources to the west, - a complete reversal on the tug-of-war scenario. Access to markets is what matters, not control of resources.
Likewise, Iraqi oil, contrary to the rhetoric of anti-war confusioneers, is mostly exported to India, now. The US is not a major customer, thereby refuting much of the old, communist war-for-oil theory. A colonialist tug-of-war was very much not an issue or motivation for the liberation.
A belated thanks for your link to my post about Darfur back in September (sorry I didn’t respond sooner; I found your comment today at the bottom of an old post I had written about tigers while I was rummaging around my blog). Re the role of oil, I think the Chinese are pretty aware of the potential use of the oil weapon by the US, not in a hot war but as part of a de facto or de jure sanctions regime. Otherwise, they’d simply say, no need to take the economic and political risks, just let ExxonMobil pump the oil and we’ll buy it. By achieving independent access to oil in places like Sudan, China makes it less feasible for the U.S. to threaten a tightening of Chinese oil supplies if things get tense.It’s the other side of the coin of the American campaign slogan, “Energy independence”. Best, China Hand
Hello. I am a senior, college student writing a conference research paper on the Sudanese Diasporain america and in Israel. Is it possible to interview you? If so, I will send you a letter from my school vouching my authenticity and your name will not be disclosed if you do not wish to have it so. Please reply to my email if you are willign to participate or if you know anyone else who might be able to offer information. Thank you.
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