On Politics Again

I want to take a minute to talk about politics before I start writing about vacation.

I don't understand what is wrong with the USA. I can't tell if it's the government that keeps causing problems or if it's the people who don't understand the problems who keep causing problems in a truly viscious self-perpetuating cycle.

I have been thinking a lot about Darfur in particular. Today I read about it again in an article from the Boston Globe that must be a few weeks old now (thanks Papa):

"A particularly contentious cause centers on China's support of Sudan as fighting continues in that African nation's devastated Darfur region. Sudan's biggest ally is China, which buys some two-thirds of Sudan's oil. U.S. speed skater Joey Cheek is recruiting athletes to use the 2008 olympics to pressure China to take more action to end the fighting in Darfur."

The way I see it, there are three problems here. One is that there are terrible things going on in Darfur. Two is that the countries with the ability to intervene, China and US in particular, choose to do nothing about it. Three is that a speed skater is taking it on himself to decide who is at fault and how to handle the situation. I have nothing against speed skaters, and Mr. Cheek might be a very intelligent man, but I don't think that a group of athletes will be taken very seriously when they "rally" against China.

I don't feel that I can talk about the actual situation in Sudan because I'm not too sure about it. What worries me most is the reactions of China and America. This situation looks a lot like the Haulocaust. For years, the allies were completely aware of Hitler's plans to execute Jews, but every country tried to wait out the atrocities so that they could avoid getting involved in a war.

Okay, so I can understand not wanting to get involved in a war. I mean, it would be a pretty bad idea for anyone to send soldiers someplace where they might get killed over something that has nothing to do with their own country...

Oh, wait. We're already doing that in the Middle East. Huh, I almost forgot. The only thing is that in the Mid-East we're not worried about what China thinks because they're not getting involved. After all, they can get their oil from Sudan so they don't need Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. American soldiers can freely kill and be killed over there because there's less threat of a real war with a powerful enemy that could have some impact on the prestige that the US holds internationally. Interesting.

So if you pay attention to the situation, it really makes no sense for an American ice skater to point out China as the enemy. In fact, China is not doing anything worse in this situation than the US. Sure, China buys oil from Sudan, but that's not really any different from the US buying oil from nations that have better relations with Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq than they do with the US. We fuel our own war. If these athlete-activists want to make a statement, then they shouldn't target China--a country that is not really interested in fighting anyone at the moment--they should target the US and Sudan itself.

I'm all in favor of activism, but to be effective, activists need to choose the right targets. You can hold up a sign in front of millions of people, but if none of them are listening, then you've wasted your time and effort, ink and paper.

I want to see something change in Darfur. Ideally, I would like America and China to agree to try to put an end to the senseless violence there. Hopefully, someone other than the US will lead the charge because I don't want another endless engagement like the Mid-East situation. Mainly though, I don't want textbooks in fifty years to say that tens of millions of people were killed and everyone sat by and watched. Especially not if those same textbooks (probably published in Texas) also say how heroic the US army was when it finally landed at Normandy...

But mainly my complaint is against activists who don't choose their battle fields well. The Beijing Olympics is not the place to protest a war in Africa. Even the idiots ranting about "Free Tibet" are closer to the mark in this case (at least they have proven that they know Tibet belongs to China). I hope China will do something to end the Darfur problems, but I hope that the entire international community will do something about that. China should not be held accountable for a problem that many nations have the capacity to involve themselves in.