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We could stop the genocide in Darfur easily without going to war against Sudan. The only thing needed is Starvid's [Neocon Moment Alert] Plan.

There are four stages of escalation in it.

1. Have the French smuggle arms to the Darfur militias.

Pros: very cheap, ak47's, RPG's and technicals will do, and should have great effect. The Fur people might still lose the war and be wiped of the face of the earth, but then they will at least die like men, fighting, instead of being slaughtered like cattle. A great improvement, ceteris paribus.

Cons: they might become too succesful and start counter-genociding, but then, those janjaweed people really had it coming and no one will shed any tears for them. Also PC do-gooders might whine about arms smuggling, but the French always get away with anything.

If this isn't enough, escalate to the next step.

2. Send in Blackwater.

Pros: Blackwater advisors will lend great increases in the fighting power of the militias, considering that they are all bad asses and have lots of gear. Will still be relatively cheap, and can't be tracked to any state. Well, at least there is deniability. If anyone asks about how they're payed, they'll say they've gotten oil concessions to exploit when the war's won. It might even be true.

Cons: the PC do-gooders really don't like Blackwater and would rather see 100.000 Fur people be raped and chopped to pieces than see 1000 Rhodesians, South Africans, Brits, Russians and Americans go in there and kill people. For profit.

If more firepower is needed, see step three.

3. Have Blackwater call in CAS from the French Airforce. Well, the Blackwater Airforce crewed by a curious number of Francophone "volunteers".

Pros: Will annihilate anything the Sudanese sends forth.

Cons: Hugely increased political liability, but since we're talking about both the French and Central Africa, there's a good chance no one will really notice. The French have after all bombed the janjaweed during the laste few years, and you hadn't heard of that, have you?

If this still don't work, we launch a "police action". See step four.

4. The French (or someone else) level the Khartoum governmental district to the ground.

Pros: show's we're very pissed off, and strikes directly at the Sudanese elite.

Cons: impossible to do it under the media radar, even for the French.

:: ::

Of course, none of these rather simple things will be done because no one really cares about black people.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid on Tue Mar 10th, 2009 at 12:33:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
[Neocon Moment Alert] I like your style.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Mar 10th, 2009 at 12:39:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Of course, none of these rather simple things will be done because no one really cares about black people.

We could always do it as the token action to prove we don't just care about white people, and then quote it endlessly as proof for the next 50 years. but they probably have too much oil or other natural resources for that claim to seem realistic.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Mar 10th, 2009 at 01:06:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
AFAIK, the main resources are dust and scorpions.

The oil might just be there, or not. And even if it is there, it might not be there in enough quantities for exploitation to make commercial sense. Or it might be to far away from a market to make sense. Or there might be lots of other problems.

But since when have journaslists cared about such nuance? If we say Blackwater is payed with oil concessions, they'll swallow it hook, line and sinker, because it just the kind of cliche which would fit perfectly into Journalist Worldview 1.0.

And further, the place is an utter Hellhole, no nice hotels at all, so no journalist would go there except Robert Fisk, whom no one listens to because he is an antisemite(tm).

Also, the security situation will be so bad no journalist can operate unless embedded with the troops, which Fisk refuses to be.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid on Tue Mar 10th, 2009 at 01:21:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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