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

telegraph.co.uk

71–80 of 211 posts

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

#71
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Qatar already deals with Iran and Russia by proxy. Qatar’s largest trading partner now is China and Qatar supports the one China policy.

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

#72
post #49

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

The comment merely said UAE has become strategically influential in finance, transport (cargo shipping (#5 in world), world's busiest international passenger airport), tourism. Nothing about being fond.

5% GDP growth in non-oil. More diversified than Saudi. #2 globally for being "easy to do business in and with". Top-10 in Global Soft Power Index since 2023 [0], rose from #18 in 2020. Dubai has become a global influencer capital.

Looks like the US is backing UAE as Saudi wanes, and as a regional counterweight.

If we're talking about Switzerland, yes it's a federal republic with semi-direct democracy, but it also happily supplied mercenaries to mainland Europe for several centuries.

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

#73
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot US and UK.

Got evidence that they supplied weapons? GP’s Wikipedia article does not seem to say that they did (apart from an unclear reference to US military aid, which I don’t think refers to US military aid to Sudan specifically).

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/oct/28/u...

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

#74
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got evidence that they supplied weapons? GP’s Wikipedia article does not seem to say that they did (apart from an unclear reference to US military aid, which I don’t think refers to US military aid to Sudan specifically).

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/oct/28/u...

says it was not supplied by US/UK but rather UAE.

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

#75
post #66

Sudan is the 3rd largest producer of gold in Africa but it remains the poorest country in Africa because the companies that exploit those resources are never Sudanese. The RSF got their weapons by acting as mercenaries for the UAE to fight against the Houthis in Yemen. Fighting as a mercenary is pretty much the only reliable source of income for many people in the country.

From wikipedia :

On examination of photos and videos of weapons used in the conflict that were posted on social media, the rights group identified that companies registered in China, Iran, Russia, Serbia, and the UAE were associated with the weapons provided to RSF.[96] Human Rights Watch reviewed images of show crates with markings indicating they were manufactured in 2020 and initially acquired by the UAE Armed Forces in through a contract with Adasi, a subsidiary of UAE-based weapons manufacturer Edge Group. A January 2024 report by the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan deemed the UAE's alleged support to the RSF as "credible"

According to Business Insider, "The two generals helped Russian President Vladimir Putin exploit Sudan's gold resources to help buttress Russian finances against Western sanctions and fund his war in Ukraine."[108]

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

#76

> When we go to see the Emirates, what number on our to-do list do you think Sudan is? It is not on our to-do list. What we have to do is keep the Emirates onside with Israel and onside against Iran. https://www.patreon.com/posts/radio-war-nerd-131258413

> What we have to do is keep the Emirates onside with Israel and onside against Iran This is so incredibly dumb. The UAE is a spigot of oil and money. (Secondarily, a massive buyer of American goods, services, weapons and financial assets.) Sudan isn’t on our to-do list because it doesn’t directly affect American voters. Oil prices and capital do.

I don't understand what you find dumb. Can you explain what you're disagreeing with? Do you think the money that the UAE offer precludes all other incentives to ignore mass slaughter? Surely by this metric we would be more allied with Venezuela than Israel. Or, perhaps, you have not fully articulated yourself.

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

#77

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 Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and Balkans are all burning because of this saga

Balkans, you say?

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

#78
post #69

[flagged]

It's worth noting there are islamists on both side. Anyone who characterizes this as purely religious or ethnic has a bridge to sell. This conflict would have died years ago if it weren't for foreign actors putting their hands up Sudan's ass

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

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is their point. They grew past it. The UK can’t blame Brexit on the Romans.

> The UK can’t blame Brexit on the Romans. You're reaching thousands of years ago and missing the much more significant event of the Norman conquest. And I would say that the Normans actually did influence Brexit to the extent that there's a confusion about continental vs. English identity that's only expanded over time. 1,000 years is no time at all, in the age of writing.

> I would say that the Normans actually did influence Brexit

Influenced, yes. Can be blamed for, no, much less their descendants today (who aren’t British).

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

#80
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The silence from the west on what's going on in Sudan is deafening. It's a completely fair question to ask why, when people are so vocal for Palestine? Why not Sudan? Throwing out "whataboutism" every time someone dares ask a question like this is a fallacy in itself, intending to distract from the question of why genocide in places like Sudan are so thoroughly and utterly ignored and even buried.

> It's a completely fair question to ask why, when people are so vocal for Palestine? Why not Sudan? The simple truth is a lot of, if not most, such vocalised outrage in any country is nine parts vanity. Remember #StopKony? About as effective for the people being harmed as students at Columbia barricading themselves into a building. I’m not sure I condemn moral vanity. It is a genuine intellectual exercise. But it’s…

People tend to care a lot more about wars their country is funding.
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