I haven't posted on the Darfur situation because 1) I don't understand it, 2) I don't think I want to, and 3) I'm guessing it's just more of the same depressing African tribalism (maybe with a touch of jihad thrown in?) that perpetuates suffering in that part of the world and for which multiculturalism has no answer. But, it looks like the UN is getting serious: it wrote a letter!

Some choice clips:

"U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has put his personal diplomatic clout on the line to end the bloodshed in Darfur." I'm impressed. Any man who would put his personal diplomatic clout on the line is a man to be feared.

"Ban has asked the Security Council to hold off on sanctions to give President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir time to respond to an all-out diplomatic drive outlined for the first time in the confidential letter, which was delivered Friday." That sentence is surreal in its many evasions. What exactly is an "all-out diplomatic drive"? And is it really time for one? Surely that's a little harsh--someone might get their feelings hurt.

"The letter is also meant to signal a last chance for Bashir to stop attacks by Arab militias widely believed to be supported by the government." I just knew there was some jihad in there somewhere.

And receiving the prize for long and impossible-to-pronounce names: Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem, Sudan's ambassador to the UN.


All in all, I think this story sums up everything I need to know about Darfur. If the West has any measurable interest in resolving this situation, it should bypass the UN completely and utterly destroy the perpetrators. As it stands, though, this appears to be the typical internecine squabble that has little bearing on the West.

The fact that Darfur is a darling of the Left merely demonstrates the Left's hypocrisy--why are the people being slaughtered in Darfur any more deserving of relief from their dictator than the Iraqis were from Saddam Hussein? Probably, it's simply because the UN, and not America, is running the show. And because it's letters, and not bullets, that are being sent over.