| I love sophistry. It makes me feel so... sophisticated. Unfortunately, this doesn't even rise to the level of sophistry. |
Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi, kbatarfi@al-madina.com.sa
An American friend asked me what I meant when I claimed in a previous article (Double Talk, Double Standards) that Evangelists collect billions to support Christian revolts in the Muslim world. I gave him three examples: East Timor, South Sudan and Darfur. He seemed to recognize the first two but not the last. I had to explain:
| Pray do so. And trace the money that funded the revolts, please. |
In many wild parts of the globe there have been continuous struggles among various groups for racial, economic and religious reasons. Darfur is a huge countryside, the size of France. It has all kinds of tough terrains: Jungles, deserts and mountains. Most of its inhabitants, if not all, are Muslims. They come from Arab and African origins. The Arabs are mostly nomads and Africans farmers. In dry seasons, nomads move to farming areas to feed their camels and sheep. They fight over rights. This is an ancient, global phenomenon.
| "So why should we change it now? It's not like any government has a responsibility to act as referee or something..." |
It was worse when central governments were weaker, like before the present government took over. In recent years the nomads got stronger because they joined the state in fighting the southern revolt. After the peace accords, they returned home veterans and well-armed. In their absence, some Africans revolted with foreign help.
| Sounds like a Dark Conspiracy™ to me. Maybe even a Deep Laid Plot™... |
Support comes from the same sources that sustained the southerners — Evangelical organizations, neighboring countries and Israel.
| Ahah! Zionists, is it? Working hand in glove with Baptists! |
The goal is to cut off the Arab Muslim Sudan from the rest of Africa. The state called on the Arab nomads again, this time against their old rivals. Another war ensued. Like in the southern war, the Western world took notice only when the government forces seemed to be winning.
| Actually, we've been following it from the beginning. The mainstream press noticed when the corpse count started getting astronomical... |
No one is denying that the situation is bad. Five thousand people were killed or died from both sides, more from the insurgents.
| That's a tenth of the numbers reported elsewhere. And if you were to bump off even just 2500 Americans we'd want to flatten you. But I guess Africans are cheaper, huh? |
Both rivals committed atrocities.
| "They do it, too! So we should be allowed to! It ain't our fault we're more methodical than they are!" |
The government should stop supporting the nomads, and the foreign powers must cut off arms to the separatists.
| Good idea. You go first this time. |
Terrible as is, the situation has not reached the level of genocide, and the government cannot alone improve the situation.
| And now we'll quickly change the subject. You, the reader, aren't going to notice... |
| "Look! Over there! It's William Shatner!" |
More than 2,500 Iraqis were killed in a month, half the number of people killed in Darfur in 18 months.
| The 2500 Iraqis were mostly killed by eye-rolling nutball Islamists. The reported figures for Darfur, as I've mentioned, are ten times higher... |
Close to a million (and counting) of Hutus and Tutsis were killed lately in similar conflicts in Rwanda and Burundi.
| Another argument in favor of disbanding the UN, but irrelevant to Darfur except as a warning not to leave the area to the mercies of the United Nations... |
The situation is worsening there, as well as in Iraq, Afghanistan, the occupied Palestinian territories, Chechnya, Kashmir, Muslim parts of China and Philippines.
| Now we're literally all over the map... |
No one is calling this genocide or charging the US and the concerned governments of responsibility.
| The U.S. is calling it genocide and demanding the UN act. The UN is refusing to call it genocide to avoid having to act. |
Why only Sudan is the focus of all attention and actions?
| Start with the piles of corpses. Then move on to systematic rape. Then add in slavery, which has been virtually wiped out in the civilized world. |
Is it because in most other cases Muslims are the victims?
| In this case the victims are as Muslim as the perpetrators... |
Or is it because all the right ingredients are present here: Oil, Islam, Arab, Israel and the Bush-Blair crusade?! You tell me, my American friend!
| The truth is out there. This isn't it. |
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