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Problems in Sudan? Muslims not getting along and basically fighting and killing all the time?

Who'd a thunk it?

Nit,
Nice trivializing of a terrible situation.
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This is really a great move on the part of our State Treasurer. Not that it shows courage, but it does show a depth of thought heretofore not attained by other elected officials.

Agreed, DemonDeacon- this is a horrendous situation- hundreds of thousands dead, millions displaced, roving bands of killers slaughtering women and children, gang rape as a national pastime...

And we ally ourselves with the folks in charge of all this death and suffering, all in the name of fighting terror... kind of ironic, eh?

"This is really a great move by our state treasurer"

I agree. Hopefully others will follow suit.

DD,

Our government is the one that is trivializing this situation. They just don't seem to care.

What makes it worse, I think, is that even if the U.S. doesn't take the lead on this situation, other countries seem unable to.

... the cynic in me loved hearing about how Saddam had to be dealt with immediately because he had at one time taking tens of thousands of lives.

... as this wailing and war mongering was going on, tens of thousands of lives were being taking in Darfur.

Did any of you read the piece on Darfur on the front of the Ideas section last Sunday?

Pretty informative about the backstory here.

I hope Richard Moore will have the Janjaweed on its knees in short order. But I'm not holding my breath. Does anybody know, for example, how many dollars have actually been redirected from such companies? I'm guessing a buck 85.

This letter, by a dear friend, and the comments about it remind me of an old campfire song; "Pass It On." The chorus goes something like this; "it only takes a spark to get a fire going, and soon all those around can warm up to its glowing."

This step by NC is just that; a spark. Who knows if others will follow. Regardless, at least someone has decided to take the moral high ground in government for a change!

Marilyn, thanks for your thoughtful letter.

Shalom

Well, since the state of North Carolina really can't directly affect the situation in Sudan and Chad, a symbolic gesture is better than nothing. I can't imagine anyone in the state speaking against noninvestment in supporters of the genocide in Sudan.

According to my Sudanese student, it's worse there than the media reports say. Now that's terrible.

This is truly a good start on a terrible problem. Godspeed, Richard Moore.

Yes, as Thomas Sowell pointed out in his column today, liberals are fond of symbolic gestures as signs of moral integrity. And I'd like to think that the poor residents of Darfur will be soon be warming up in the glowing of the fire sparked by Mr. Moore. As a conservative--who noted, incidentally, while giving blood the other day, a blissful absence of left wing sorts in the environs of the Red Cross--I think, however, that a battalion of Marines would probably do more good.

If I understand your post, B444, I disagree with your definition of "conservative", 'cause in my book, sending in the Marines should be the last resort - it's a radical-not-conservative thing to do.

It may be fair to say American "leadership" has looked the other way for a number of years. Remember the stir when Powell actually said aloud, "Genecide"?

Yes, not conservative insofar as the policy is concerned. Like the Iraq war, sending troops to Sudan would be a radical exercise in Wilsonian nation-building.

But conservative in recognizing a difference between real solutions and imaginary ones constituted of symbolic gestures, bumper stickers, letters to the editor, UN resolutions (if it weren't for France!), and other professions of sentiment. If we want to stop genocide, then Marines are the way to go. If we don't really care, then symbolic gestures will suffice. Right now, we just don't really care as a nation--Bush administration included--just as we didn't care in Rwanda. But there is a certain amount of hypocrisy and moral preening in pretending to care via plans like Moore's whose effects on the ground will be negligible.

I think a good strong censure from the U.N. is the ticket to bring these war lords in line...

There's little else a guy like Moore can do; 'cept what he did and write LTE's ...

.. and I generally agree with you, B444 .. but also note it takes LEADERSHIP to "force the folks" to consider Darfur type things more than a made-for-TV drama.

.. and if "we the people" really did care - then do the UN sanction thing, and when it becomes a too much - take the realistic approach.

Here's a thought: What we did I Iraq, was generically the right thing, 'cept it was clear in 2002 and 2003 that thousands were not then being slaughtered there - while it was exually it was clear in 2002 and 2003 that thousands were being slaughtered in Darfur.

.. it was equally clear in 2002 and 2003 that the UN was at least tying the hands of Saddam - and if he did have WMD's, it was sucking all his resources to stay ahead of a shell game, and little if any progress could be made.

So we attacked the wrong country.

Now consider where America would be if, after 4 years, Hans and company were still tying up Saddam, floks there were not slaughtering each other, and American Superpower was not only a fantasy reinforced - by shocking and awing the janjuweed into the hills and keeping full concentration Afganistan/

Part Monday Morning Quarterbacking - but when the FBI searches my files, when I go see St. Peter, my consious is clean.

brian444,
You're right. Liberals do like to take symbolic moral stands. Sometimes it doesn't work; I really believe Moore's actions will materially affect the situation in Sudan and Chad. Nonetheless, doing the right thing is still the right thing.

And sometimes, rarely perhaps but not never, these symbolic gestures really do change the world. Look at the end of apartheid in South Africa. Part of the reason that the Afrikaans finally capitulated to the African National Congress is because of private economic sanctions against companies that did business with South African leaders. Their economy crumbled.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is an economically-based solution for Darfur. Sudan, even before the war, was and remains one of the poorest countries on Earth. Batallions of Marines would probably be a reasonable option—if we had any to spare from the sinkhole of Iraq