Its been awhile since my last post and all I can tell you is that I have been trying to figure out how to best utilize my skills and passion for human rights to best help the people of not just Darfur but everywhere.
I don't like the way that this administration is handling the Darfur genocide especially
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If you have any question about how frustrated I am please refer back to previous post. That being said, I do understand the political dilemma they are dealing with. The political situation that Darfur presents to the Obama administration is very troubling and one that leaves them in a risky catch 22. Behind every door of action there seems to be the potential for some pretty scary political fallout.
If they take the aggressive military approach, spitting human rights hell and brimstone, they could further our growing international imagine as Muslim hating bible-thumpers. Lets face it, with troops already in Iraqi and Afghanistan we are projecting a very unsavory international imagine thus making another military move into yet another Muslim country highly unlikely. But what about sanctions?
We could up the sanctions against Sudan and its oil and chemical production industries and this is an option that I have promoted. Since the vast majority of profits from these industries is rifled right back into Sudan's military to fund the militias and their campaign in Darfur it makes sense to target these industries. To impose severe and serious sanctions could pressure their government to rethink their current position but as simple as this sounds it is anything but.
China, a country with its own horrible human rights history, is a heavy player in Sudan. Not only do they provide Sudan with the vast majority of Sudan's crude oil extraction expertise but is their primary buyer of the end product as well. If we are going to impose serious sanction against companies that operate within the target markets of oil and chemical production we will be targeting government owned Chinese companies. So what is the problem you ask? Well as of April of this year, China owns $763.5 billion in good old fashion United States Treasury bonds. Not a little problem, a big one. The truth is we have long been economically tied to China. The largest exporter to the largest importer.
Now one could argue, and I have, that these Treasury bonds ultimately mean nothing. Some people, and rightfully so, project China as the new big dog on the block but they worry that these bonds could be used to crash the value of the dollar if China decided to cash them in but if there is one thing our current recession should have taught us is that if our economy crashes so will others. It is true that we are tied to China but they are equally tied to us. We could sanction those Chinese companies and we may catch heat but it is my belief that that ultimately China would have to chose. This puts China on the spot. This would put them in the spotlight for something not so glorious as the Olympics.
Even still this does come with some potentially harsh political fallout for Obama and company. The AU (African Union), which represents 53 countries in Africa, has rejected the ICC's
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Everywhere they look there are political landmines all across this issue. This is why the previous administration did nothing and that is why this administration is showing signs of continuing that trend. They will search and search for the most effective course of action with the least amount of political fallout and they will always come to the same conclusion. Any action, meaningful action that is, is going to come with a price and the people of Darfur need someone willing to pay.
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