Comments on: Political Culture: Can Obama Do Anything About Darfur?

By: Obama appoints “Swahili-Speaking” Retired General as Special Envoy to Sudan « citizen.africa

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:04:33 +0000

[...] Political Culture: Can Obama Do Anything About Darfur? (popdose.com) [...]

By: autodidact

autodidact — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:37:50 +0000

Didn't Hillary Clinton basically telegraph an attitude of US complacency on human rights issues in her recent Asian trip? It's all about the money. Obama needs it. China's got it. End of that story, I think. Really, at this point we just cross our fingers and hope they don't give up and *sell* our bonds. But definitely we're in no position to push them on anything.

Troops? None to be had. Obama's generals advised an infusion of 60,000 troops into Afghanistan (That's the good war President Messiah did not oppose, right?), and he said they could have 17,000. Oh well.

Clearly the sure-fire winner here is to open up negotiations with moderate Janjaweed. Peace will naturally break out if we but come off our high horses and just talk to them. No one can resist hopey change.

By: autodidact

autodidact — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:37:50 +0000

By: Ted

Ted — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:48:26 +0000

The tension between self interest and human rights in international relations (and how to effectively address it) is indeed a challenge for the Obama administration — and any other country that's interested in addressing this crisis. As you note, the economies of the world are in the toilet, and that fact alone makes it tough to cobble together an alliance that effectively addresses what's going on in Darfur. Sure the UN could send troops in, but you see how well that prospect flies in this country where the UN is seen both as The Keystone Cops and The Borg (you know, the old “One World” government).

Obama and Clinton (if they are moved to action) have to convince our “partners” that their buy in will ultimately benefit their country in a self interested way — 'cause no matter how bad the suffering is in Darfur (and you have indicated that it's going to get mighty bad), the “What's in it for me” attitude from governments is often the first question that needs to be answered.