[Peace-discuss] US plans for Sudan

Wed Jan 31 14:05:03 CST 2007

Although I have no trouble granting that the US government is morally 
misguided, US threats against Serbia and Somalia turned out to be 
neither meaningless nor empty.

The Bush administration obviously has no intention of sacrificing its 
strategic interests for the people of Darfur.  But it may very well use 
civil war in Darfur as an excuse to achieve part of its overall 
strategic interest, viz., control of the countries within CentCom -- 
just as it has now used civil war in Somalia to achieve part of that 
same strategic interest; and just as the Clinton administration used 
civil war in Kosovo as an excuse to reduce a recalcitrant state in SE 
Europe in 1999.

The USG's overriding strategic interest is control of ME oil -- not just 
access to it -- as a means of controlling its economic rivals, the EU 
and NE Asia.  The article you cite expresses the position of the neocons 
in the US foreign policy establishment -- that the real enemy in Africa 
is China, that the USG is doing far too little to counter Chinese 
influence there, and that Sudan is an important theatre of that 
conflict. (But are you quite happy with the article's reference to "the 
painfully naïve and irresponsibly ill-informed Save Darfur Coalition"?)

The article's demands for a military force to oppose Sudanese and 
Chinese machinations seem as off-base as its predicton that Sudan will 
become head of the AU [it didn't], when it finally concedes that "There 
can be no gainsaying [gainsaying?] the claim that ultimately security in 
Darfur must derive from a peace agreement."

The article's concluding suggestion, that China should be embarrassed 
for its support of Khartoum at the 2008 Olympics, is reminiscent of 
Jimmy Carter's boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow as a 
protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: we recall that 
Carter was also at the same time covertly recruiting Osama bin Laden and 
friends to carry out US foreign policy in arms.  --CGE

Scott Edwards wrote:
> Plan B is a farce, and a meaningless empty threat by a morally misguided 
> US government. The notion that the USG is willing to sacrifice strategic 
> interests for the people of Darfur is laughable. ha. if anyone is 
> interested in any actual analysis on Darfur, and especially the role of 
> oil in the intl community's response, see Eric's most recent report out 
> at the end of this message.
> 
> and by the way, since apparently all American-Jewish organizations are 
> perceived by some misguided souls on this list as Israeli organizations, 
> I should also note that the Save Darfur Coalition also counts among its 
> ranks:
> 
> The American Society for Muslim Advancement
> The American Islamic Conference
> The Islamic Forum for Democracy
> The Arab American Institute
> The Council on American-Islamic relations
> The Islamic Circle of North America
> The Islamic Society of North America
> The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation
> The Muslim Public Affairs Council
> Project Islamic H.O.P.E
> 
> among others.
> 
> eric's article:
> http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article19956
> 
> scott
> 
> 
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 23:05:57 -0600
>> From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
>> Subject: [Peace-discuss] US plans for Sudan
>> To: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>> Message-ID: <45C023B5.7060402 at uiuc.edu>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
>>
>> [To frenzied applause for its Israeli client, the USG determines to
>> treat Sudan as it did Serbia and Afghanistan. In the US military
>> division of the world, Sudan is part of the Central Command, which
>> includes Iraq and Iran. --CGE]
>>
>>     Natsios warns Sudan of `Plan B’
>>
>> A top U.S. envoy warned Sudan that the United States has an “extremely
>> aggressive” backup plan if Sudan continues stonewalling on Darfur.
>>
>> Andrew Natsios, top U.S. envoy to the conflict-ridden region of Sudan,
>> briefed leaders of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs on his recent
>> negotiations in the area in a conference call Monday.
>>
>> Natsios said he stressed U.S. frustration with Sudanese foot-dragging on
>> ending the carnage, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of civilian
>> lives and which the United States describes as a genocide.
>>
>> The United States prefers negotiations, Natsios said he told his
>> Sudanese counterparts, but “the other option is some extremely
>> aggressive measures against your government.”
>>
>> He said “Plan B” was still classified, but that it had been developed by
>> the U.S. government’s national security agencies.
>>
>> The JCPA, the umbrella body for Jewish community relations councils, has
>> taken a lead in the Save Darfur movement.
>>
>>     ###
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
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>>
>> End of Peace-discuss Digest, Vol 36, Issue 71
>> *********************************************
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