So why did the West push for South Sudan's independence?

75% of the oil reserve in Sudan, perhaps 6.5 billion barrels, is located in South Sudan (Source).

Since the "second" Sudan war between the North and South started in 1983, an estimated 2 million civilians were killed, and at least 4 million were displaced at least once.

During the war, aid agencies set up one of the largest, most costly and complex humanitarian relief operations ever, "Operation Lifeline Sudan", running a "relief pipeline" from Kenya (and partially Uganda) into the South. An operation which was often criticised as "fueling the conflict".

True or not, I guess "Operation Bulletline Sudan" fueled the conflict much more: While Russia -mostly through proxies- and China -mostly thru "oil-for-bullets" deals- made good business of arms deals with the North, the "West" kept "an extensive arms pipeline" running to the South during the whole conflict.
For years, the world kept their eyes closed, as business was good: selling weapons dearly, and getting cheap oil, I mean, what more can one wish?

This US arms supply to the South continues to run up to this very day, mostly through Kenya, one of the strongest US proxies in the region. Meanwhile, Russia and China continue to supply Khartoum. What will this lead to? An expanded conflict border zone where North and South Sudan dispute oil fields.

Aren't we lucky there is an embargo for selling arms to Sudan?

PS: this map might indicate the oilfields more clearly (Tnx @MFB)

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News: Georgia - a tit-for-tat game between Russia and the US.

The front page of the Russian Tvoi Den ("Your Day") newspaper today makes no secret of what it thinks of the West. "TAK YOU" means "F**K YOU"
The text below the picture reads: "For the first time in many years Russia has clearly shown to the West we are not going to live by its order."

Tensions between Russia and the US has been raising since a while. I wrote about this on The Road a year ago.
It seems after their battle of words on Iraq, Iran, the US missile shield, blabla, the two superpowers are now ready to rattle swords and have picked Georgia as their playing ground.

After the skirmishes between Georgia and its break-away or autonomous (depending who you ask) republics, Russia went in with full military force, knowing the US would take sides.
The US poked Russia by putting the US military in charge of "the humanitarian relief mission in Georgia" (more), and moved US warships with "humanitarian supplies" into the Black Sea.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev deepened the Georgia crisis yesterday by insisting that South Ossetia and Abkhazia should be independent nations, adding: "We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a new Cold War."
Russia's NATO envoy then declared that military aid to Georgia for use against South Ossetia and Abkhazia would be seen as a "declaration of war". (Full)

Phew...

And you know what bugs me? Who will be the victim of this rattle of words or swords? The ordinary people. Some things never change.

Source: International Aid Workers Today
Pictures courtesy This Is London and San Francisco Sentinel

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News: Russia - Elections rigged. Zimbabwe - Elections to be rigged.

From Russia with fraud.
Ahead of last month's presidential election in Russia there was widespread suspicion the poll was fixed in advance. Last week, physicist and computer expert Sergei Shpilkin posted his analysis of the official results, showing some strange anamolies: a disproportionate number of polling stations returned round numbers - numbers ending in a zero or a five - for both voter turnout and Medvedev's percentage share.
His conclusion: local election officials had been told in advance what percentages to "deliver" for Medvedev, Putin's handpicked successor, and for how many people needed to "vote". (Full)


Zimbabwe's Mugabe follows the 2000 Florida example:
"Recount until we get what we want!"
Zimbabwe’s election officials, at the government’s behest, began a partial recount on Saturday of the disputed presidential election results, while a human rights group accused members of the ruling party of running “torture camps” to punish opposition supporters.
Opposition leaders went to court on Friday to try to block the recount, arguing the government had not applied for it within 48 hours of the vote, as prescribed by law. It comes as no surprise they lost their case. (Full
Let's make a prediction, shall we? Hmmmm, we are predicting [wet finger in the air], hmmmm... Mugabe will win after the recount. Wanna bet?

Pictures courtesy AFP/Getty and hiphoprepublican.com

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News: World Economy Slums - Do We Need a New Cold War?

Have you noticed too the slowly but steadily escalating posturing between Russia and the US... ?

I guess it all started with their stand-off on the war in Iraq. They certainly did not agree on Iran, with the US trying to force Iran out of their nuclear ambitions while Moscow supplied fuel for the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant.

Then there was an indirect standoff during the Orange revolution in the Ukraine, taking one more nation away from Putin's area of influence. Add their differences about Kosovo's independence, the recent integration of ex-USSR satellite states into the EU (with the alleged Russian-stoked unrest in Estonia), etcetera etcetera, and you have a recipe for problems.

Even more worrying is the recent escalation of direct posturing. NATO wants to install new radar installations in countries which used to be direct USSR allies. Russia says: "Ahaaa" and tests a new long range missile and re-activates its long range spy plane flights, which alerted the UK to scramble RAF jets to intercept it.

To counter NATO, Russia is now boosting the activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization or SCO (call it "their" equivalent of NATO) with its first massive joint military exercise involving 6,500 troops, including elite troops from China..

And to top it off, the Russian propaganda machine thought it would be useful to continue the posturing by showing Putin in military fatigues doing all kinds of macho stuff during his holiday (see picture courtesy GQ-magazine ).

Why, would one ask? Why? Well, one answer is too many nations are fed up with the US having free hand to do whatever it wants in the world (after the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq) and Russia gladly volunteered. Maybe Putin needs to show a harder image for the upcoming legislative elections. And is there not one or the other kind of election coming up in the US neither?

But I think it runs deeper. I think the US and Russian economy are in that much trouble, they need a new cold war so that defence spending would lead to a new boost for their economy. Call me a pessimist. Call me a sarcast. But that is what I really think.

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