Darfur

[Dexter Morgan]

Does anybody really give a fuck about this place, or is it another trendy thing to care about?

[Calandale]

I'd rather imagine that the people
living there do.

[The_P]

I have sentimental reasons, yes, but the majority view this place to be a generic message board.

[maldoror]

Considering the kinds of things Americans bitch about on a regular basis, it's about time they got around to Darfur.

[morthaur]

I have sentimental reasons, yes, but the majority view this place to be a generic message board.

The question was about the Darfur region of Sudan, a massive country in Africa, not about Intensity².

As for most people, I don't really know.  I hope that some of the attention it's getting is genuine, and not some fad, as I have found the lack of attention disgraceful.  I reminds me too much of the Western abandonment of Rwanda during the Hutu-Tutsi genocide, which was absolutely shameful and a betrayal of the values we often profess.  When crimes like this are preventable, and they are even more so in Darfur than in many regions, an unwillingness to respond says a lot about the kind of people we are.

But again, I have no idea how people in general feel about this.  Considering the fact that most Americans know nothing at all about Africa, and routinely describe it as a country instead of a continent of fantastic diversity, I rather suspect that most folks just don't give a shit. 

[duncvis]

Shame Darfur didn't have oil, otherwise it might not have taken years for anyone other than the human rights watchdogs to notice what was going on. you can bet Georgie would have gone steaming in if Darfur was in the gulf. 

[Parts]

Shame Darfur didn't have oil, otherwise it might not have taken years for anyone other than the human rights watchdogs to notice what was going on. you can bet Georgie would have gone steaming in if Darfur was in the gulf. 

Or if was in a strategic position but they have neither so so they are out of luck

[Calandale]

Shame Darfur didn't have oil, otherwise it might not have taken years for anyone other than the human rights watchdogs to notice what was going on. you can bet Georgie would have gone steaming in if Darfur was in the gulf. 

Or if was in a strategic position but they have neither so so they are out of luck

If what we're doing in Iraq can be termed lucky,
I'll pass on such.

[Dexter Morgan]

When have we ever helped people as a country when it has not helped us?

[Scrapheap]

When have we ever helped people as a country when it has not helped us?

What would the point of that be??

[morthaur]

When have we ever helped people as a country when it has not helped us?

What would the point of that be??

Probably no different than the rationale we have for helping anyone: potential reciprocal altruism.  One helps others and hopes for the same in turn.  You know, something like 130 countries offered assistance to the United States after the Katrina disaster.  People reach out to help others, if they are truly wise, because such aid is likely to endear you to those others and earn you a friend.   

And when it doesn't work, and the friend betrays, you can always cut the bitches off! 

Besides which, sometimes it's important to make friends with others by helping third parties; i.e., if we provide aid to Darfur, the Europeans may try to forget what assholes we've been these past few years... 

[Parts]

Africa isn't a country   Yeah I've heard that one many times.  I think that the only thing to get many countries involved because of their lack of resources is if they started shooting missiles at shipping in the Red Sea.  Otherwise most people wouldn't care.  Helping your fellow man is one thing when you can see them but different when they are far away and in Africa at that  

[Peter]

You know, something like 130 countries offered assistance to the United States after the Katrina disaster. 

And the stupid shits told them to piss off and burned or otherwise disposed of a lot of what did get sent:

Up In Flames: Tons of British Aid Donated to Help Hurricane Katrina Victims to be Burned by Americans
by Ryan Parry, US Correspondent in New York
 
Hundreds of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned

US red tape is stopping it from reaching hungry evacuees.


There will be a cloud of smoke above Little Rock soon - of burned food, of anger and of shame that the world's richest nation couldn't organise a p**s up in a brewery and lets Americans starve while they arrogantly observe petty regulations.

Instead tons of the badly needed NATO ration packs, the same as those eaten by British troops in Iraq, has been condemned as unfit for human consumption.

And unless the bureaucratic mess is cleared up soon it could be sent for incineration.

One British aid worker last night called the move "sickening senselessness" and said furious colleagues were "spitting blood".

The food, which cost British taxpayers millions, is sitting idle in a huge warehouse after the Food and Drug Agency recalled it when it had already left to be distributed.

Scores of lorries headed back to a warehouse in Little Rock, Arkansas, to dump it at an FDA incineration plant.

The Ministry of Defence in London said last night that 400,000 operational ration packs had been shipped to the US.

But officials blamed the US Department of Agriculture, which impounded the shipment under regulations relating to the import and export of meat.

The aid worker, who would not be named, said: "This is the most appalling act of sickening senselessness while people starve.

"The FDA has recalled aid from Britain because it has been condemned as unfit for human consumption, despite the fact that these are NATO approved rations of exactly the same type fed to British soldiers in Iraq.

"Under NATO, American soldiers are also entitled to eat such rations, yet the starving of the American South will see them go up in smoke because of FDA red tape madness."

The worker added: "There will be a cloud of smoke above Little Rock soon - of burned food, of anger and of shame that the world's richest nation couldn't organise a p**s up in a brewery and lets Americans starve while they arrogantly observe petty regulations.

"Everyone is revolted by the chaotic shambles the US is making of this crisis. Guys from UNICEF are walking around spitting blood.

"This is utter madness. People have worked their socks off to get food into the region.

"It is perfectly good NATO approved food of the type British servicemen have. Yet the FDA are saying that because there is a meat content and it has come from Britain it must be destroyed.

"If they are trying to argue there is a BSE reason then that is ludicrously out of date. There is more BSE in the States than there ever was in Britain and UK meat has been safe for years."

The Ministry of Defence said: "We understand there was a glitch and these packs have been impounded by the US Department of Agriculture under regulations relating to the import and export of meat.

"The situation is changing all the time and at our last meeting on Friday we were told progress was being made in relation to the release of these packs. The Americans certainly haven't indicated to us that there are any more problems and they haven't asked us to take them back."

Food from Spain and Italy is also being held because it fails to meet US standards and has been judged unfit for human consumption.

And Israeli relief agencies are furious that thousands of gallons of pear juice are to be destroyed because it has been judged unfit.

The FDA said: "We did inspect some MREs (meals ready to eat) on September 13. They are the only MREs we looked at. There were 70 huge pallets of vegetarian MREs.

"They were from a foreign nation. We inspected them and then released them for distribution."

[Teejay]

The only way the genocide in Darfur is going to be stopped is for the USA to invade Sudan and overthrow the Islamist regime ruling there. The regime did hosted Al Qaeda back in the 90's until the USA launched some strikes on the country.

[Lucifer]

The only way the genocide in Darfur is going to be stopped is for the USA to invade Sudan and overthrow the Islamist regime ruling there. The regime did hosted Al Qaeda back in the 90's until the USA launched some strikes on the country.

oh, absolutely.  i mean, that strategy worked so well in iraq, after all. 

military intervention (i.e. unsolicited war, in euphemistic terms) is always the best way, isn't it?  just what thousands of starving, homeless people need.