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Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years

economist.com

341–350 of 415 posts

Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years

#341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess that in part because only a small minority of the Ethiopia citizens own phones.

~60% of Ethiopia's population have a cell phone contract. Given how among the poorer parts of society, only one person in a family has one, that's near 100% penetration.

Correct. I should have expressed myself better. They have phones but don't use it to post on internet. 80% of the population don't have internet, and of those that have it, only 5,5% use social media. This is the people that could be recording videos and sending it to the world.

https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-ethiopia

Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years

#342
post #105

That's not anarchy, obviously

Thank you. I assumed the nuance there would be nitpicked (as the thread proves) which is why I didn’t post this but I’m glad you did. This famine is the expected result of 20 years of post-colonialist civil war, which the article goes on to explain lightly. The economist is a capitalist magazine, so they of course are going to choose terms which resonate with capitalists. The majority in this thread look at this situ…

> This famine is the expected result of 20 years of post-colonialist civil war

There are other actors playing here: See the Grain from Ukraine program

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_From_Ukraine_program

"The blockade of Ukrainian ports by the Black Sea Fleet in the first weeks of the invasion interrupted grain exports, rapidly increasing global food prices and fueling food crises, greatly increasing the risk of famine in the poorest countries"

"the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme, has estimated that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has pushed around 70 million people to the brink of starvation worldwide"

The scope of the program includes Sudan

Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years

#343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anarchy is when two factions try to govern instead of one? It is an interesting take. I can't say it makes sense.

Yes, if nobody currently governs then it is an anarchy. That some people try to establish order doesn't change that currently there is none.

Neither the article author, nor you, have shown that the situation here is caused by a lack of government. In fact the article explicitly states that an important agricultural region is governed by one of the warring factions.

Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years

#345
post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’d personally hazard a guess nothing short of military intervention can stop something like this Please don't guess, then? The famine started because of a military intervention gone south. The reality is that the Sudanese are a victim of circumstance. A war between some Arab rulers over who controls the Sudan.

You make it sound as if it is not a civil war waged by the Sudanese on the Sudanese.

I don't know anything about it but I would be surprised if each side of the war manufactured their own guns. Foreign powers love to throw a fight.

Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years

#346

Still cannot get the images of the Ethiopian famine out of my head - truly horrific stuff. I’ll let people smarter and more powerful than me debate what could/should be done - I’d personally hazard a guess nothing short of military intervention can stop something like this but that has its whole slew of unintended side effects. It seems like there are enough resources in the world to prevent things like this, at leas…

Ethiopian famine was linked with previous massive deforestation projects. No trees = no water and no water = no food. War was a logical consequence of that. After several decades they finally grasp the idea, and are trying to bring the trees again with the "green legacy" project.

That project is really amazing I have seen it in a documentary I just can't remember the name of it.

Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years

#347
post #235

Still cannot get the images of the Ethiopian famine out of my head - truly horrific stuff. I’ll let people smarter and more powerful than me debate what could/should be done - I’d personally hazard a guess nothing short of military intervention can stop something like this but that has its whole slew of unintended side effects. It seems like there are enough resources in the world to prevent things like this, at leas…

> I’d personally hazard a guess nothing short of military intervention can stop something like this Please don't guess, then? The famine started because of a military intervention gone south. The reality is that the Sudanese are a victim of circumstance. A war between some Arab rulers over who controls the Sudan.

At it's heart it's a Christianity vs Islam thing and should be a lesson in the failings of Multiculturalism and a vision of Europe's future.

Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years

#348

It's odd how many people pay attention to a few big crises -- Ukraine, Gaza, etc -- when there are many other crises which are, by most measures, more important. For instance, current major crises are ongoing in (per Wikipedia) the DRC, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Yemen, Sudan (of course), the Sahel, Somalia, Syria, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Haiti, and South Sudan -- but most of those are rarel…

> why would Gaza get more attention than, say, Yemen, Afghanistan, or Syria? All are somewhat Middle Eastern, after all, so it would be hard for racism to be as much of a factor, if at all. The Palestinian crisis has always gotten more attention in the US because of Israel's close political relationship with the US and Jews having a strong cultural influence in the US especially since WW2. It's similar to the reason…

I don't know who we is but an enormous amount of aid makes it from US to Africa so I don't know how you get by saying we don't care, it's merely not news.

Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years

#349
post #22

I am very sad to watch this situation. I spent 3 weeks driving my 4x4 through Sudan in early 2019 [1], just a month before they finally got rid of Al-Bashir, and it was incredible. The people of Sudan were some of the kindest and friendliest I have ever encountered on the planet. When I asked for directions to buy bread and it turned out to be complicated, the following morning locals brought a bag of fresh-baked bre…

I don't think I've heard of a single group that was not described as the 'kindest and friendliest'.

Seattleites.

Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years

#350

It's odd how many people pay attention to a few big crises -- Ukraine, Gaza, etc -- when there are many other crises which are, by most measures, more important. For instance, current major crises are ongoing in (per Wikipedia) the DRC, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Yemen, Sudan (of course), the Sahel, Somalia, Syria, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Haiti, and South Sudan -- but most of those are rarel…

I think it's because the Russia vs Ukraine is more consequential for the country you live in as the outcome could cause a switch to multi polar world.

As for Gaza, well it's good old fashioned anti semitism. People love to hate the Jews. It's shown in the double standards, e.g. the insane levels to which Israel has gone to reduce collateral damage that no other country has ever tried to do vs an enemy that deliberately seeks to increase collateral damage in both targeting Israeli citizens and using it's own citizens in ways that ensure their deaths.

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