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Visible from space, Sudan's bloodied sands expose a massacre of thousands

telegraph.co.uk

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Re: Visible from space, Sudan's bloodied sands expose a massacre of thousands

#41

Post by JumpCrisscross »

ch4s3 wrote: post #28
alephnerd wrote: post #11

Sadly, yet another bloody chapter of the Abu Dhabi (al Nahyan) - Doha (al Thani) feud that has been going on since the 2011 coup attempt [0], which itself is part of a longer multi-generational blood feud going on between the royal families [4]. The Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and Balkans are all burning because of this saga [1]. The UAE backs the RSF [2] (formerly known as the Janjaweed of the Darfur Ge…

The bargain the US has made with Qatar continues to prove itself as conceptually flawed and generally terrible. While the UAE deserves plenty of blame here, the Qataris are as usual up to their elbows in other people’s blood.

> bargain the US has made with Qatar continues to prove itself as conceptually flawed and generally terrible

They buy our weapons and financial assets. We get base. I’m not sure we’ve ever particularly cared about what anyone is up to in Africa. Yemen became of interest because it was fucking with the Red Sea.

Re: Visible from space, Sudan's bloodied sands expose a massacre of thousands

#42

Post by JumpCrisscross »

bonsai_spool wrote: post #27
random9749832 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realise that the whole world has suffered through tons of atrocities right? Should we go through the history of India, China, Cambodia...

I mean, each of the countries you cited (India, China, Cambodia - formerly part of ‘Indochine’) had very well known colonial mistreatment… not sure if you were aware

That is their point. They grew past it.

The UK can’t blame Brexit on the Romans.

Re: Visible from space, Sudan's bloodied sands expose a massacre of thousands

#43

Post by JumpCrisscross »

jmyeet wrote: post #30

As always, conflicts are much easier to understand when viewed through the lens of materialism. Factors such as ethnicity or religion are never the reason for these conflicts. Those are simply the excuse. It’s what’s used to fuel the fire. The heart of this conflict is Sudan’s gold that’s laundered via Dubai then Switzerland. The culpability of Western powers including the US cannot be ignored either. The RSF is supp…

> Factors such as ethnicity or religion are never the reason for these conflicts

Economics motivates. But these divisions dominate in determining magnitude. You don’t need genocide to control mines, farms and oil fields. (You need labour.)

The dial turns from enslavement to extermination when there is deep-rooted fury. That sort of fury can really only be channeled on divisions of race and religion. (You need a way for poorly-trained, uneducated troops to mostly reliably identify the enemy.)

> heart of this conflict is Sudan’s gold

Why not oil, too?

> Just like in Gaza the US could stop this at any time with a phone call

This hubris fuels our forever wars, both in trade and militarily.

We don’t have that influence. If we tried restricting both Qatar and the UAE in Africa, we’d put serious economic and military interests at stake. Interests American voters care about enough that our leaders have even less free rein than our geopolitical limits circumscribe.

Re: Visible from space, Sudan's bloodied sands expose a massacre of thousands

#44

Post by JumpCrisscross »

shmageggy wrote: post #4

> ...the United Arab Emirates (UAE) accused of backing the RSF with supplies and mercenaries... And also helping to launder Hemedti's gold via Dubai. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/conflict-resources/ex...

China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, (EDIT: the UK, indirectly) and Egypt have each also supplied weapons into this conflict [1]. Presumably due to Sudan’s position on the Red Sea. (China and the UAE seem to be alone in supplying the RSF, though.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_civil_war_(2023%E2%80...

Re: Visible from space, Sudan's bloodied sands expose a massacre of thousands

#45

Post by nradov »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #39
shmageggy wrote: post #4

> ...the United Arab Emirates (UAE) accused of backing the RSF with supplies and mercenaries... And also helping to launder Hemedti's gold via Dubai. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/conflict-resources/ex...

How come dubai hasn’t experienced any sanctions yet? They’ve been laundering everything for ages, esp Russian oil. How are they so immune to this?

The UAE is pretty good at playing both sides so they always come out ahead. They act as a key diplomatic intermediary and host a major US military base which is essential to projecting power in the region.

Re: Visible from space, Sudan's bloodied sands expose a massacre of thousands

#46

Post by ch4s3 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #41
ch4s3 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bargain the US has made with Qatar continues to prove itself as conceptually flawed and generally terrible. While the UAE deserves plenty of blame here, the Qataris are as usual up to their elbows in other people’s blood.

> bargain the US has made with Qatar continues to prove itself as conceptually flawed and generally terrible They buy our weapons and financial assets. We get base. I’m not sure we’ve ever particularly cared about what anyone is up to in Africa. Yemen became of interest because it was fucking with the Red Sea.

Destabilizing the region, working with Hamas, facilitating terror financing, working with Iran, and a bunch of other stuff should concern us. There’s plenty of flat sand to park aircraft on without doing business with those filthy slavers.

Re: Visible from space, Sudan's bloodied sands expose a massacre of thousands

#47

Post by kbelder »

jmyeet wrote: post #30

As always, conflicts are much easier to understand when viewed through the lens of materialism. Factors such as ethnicity or religion are never the reason for these conflicts. Those are simply the excuse. It’s what’s used to fuel the fire. The heart of this conflict is Sudan’s gold that’s laundered via Dubai then Switzerland. The culpability of Western powers including the US cannot be ignored either. The RSF is supp…

>As always, conflicts are much easier to understand when viewed through the lens of materialism.

That no doubt does make understanding things seem easier.

Re: Visible from space, Sudan's bloodied sands expose a massacre of thousands

#48

Post by JumpCrisscross »

ch4s3 wrote: post #46
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> bargain the US has made with Qatar continues to prove itself as conceptually flawed and generally terrible They buy our weapons and financial assets. We get base. I’m not sure we’ve ever particularly cared about what anyone is up to in Africa. Yemen became of interest because it was fucking with the Red Sea.

Destabilizing the region, working with Hamas, facilitating terror financing, working with Iran, and a bunch of other stuff should concern us. There’s plenty of flat sand to park aircraft on without doing business with those filthy slavers.

> plenty of flat sand to park aircraft on

Then someone else parks there. Barring a Saudi takeover of Qatar, we’re stuck there to keep the Russians and Chinese out.

Re: Visible from space, Sudan's bloodied sands expose a massacre of thousands

#49

Post by nixass »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #40
dzhiurgis wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How come dubai hasn’t experienced any sanctions yet? They’ve been laundering everything for ages, esp Russian oil. How are they so immune to this?

> How come dubai hasn’t experienced any sanctions yet? The UAE has crafted itself as a new Switzerland. (Qatar is trying to copy, but clumsily.) They buy American weapons and financial assets, making them influential. They’ve also established themselves as a logistics hub in an important logistics channel to the West and Asia. (They also pitch their balancing effect on Saudi Arabia skillfully.)

> The UAE has crafted itself as a new Switzerland

And whenever someone is talking fondly about UAE that's all you need to know about that person

Re: Visible from space, Sudan's bloodied sands expose a massacre of thousands

#50

Post by JumpCrisscross »

nixass wrote: post #49
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How come dubai hasn’t experienced any sanctions yet? The UAE has crafted itself as a new Switzerland. (Qatar is trying to copy, but clumsily.) They buy American weapons and financial assets, making them influential. They’ve also established themselves as a logistics hub in an important logistics channel to the West and Asia. (They also pitch their balancing effect on Saudi Arabia skillfully.)

> The UAE has crafted itself as a new Switzerland And whenever someone is talking fondly about UAE that's all you need to know about that person

> whenever someone is talking fondly about UAE that's all you need to know about that person

I’ve heard that line about Qatar, Uruguay, Singapore, Malta, Cyprus, the Maldives, and countless other small states.

I grew up in Switzerland. Folks like to compare themselves to us, mostly due to complete ignorance of our actual history and culture.

It’s true in part and misses the point in others. Geopolitically, however, the observation is sound. Small states need a powerful protector far away or to balance their position between nearby large states. The latter only works in mountainous hellholes and on peninsulas (provided your larger neighbor(s) can’t blockade you; if they can, you need a foreign guarantor with a blue-water navy, of which historically there have only been one or two at a time).

(You know Switzerland is a weapons exporter, right? To the U.S. But also to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Hungary. One could almost say that folks who conclude intent from a place of ignorance communicate “all you need to know about” themselves.)

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