Rhetoric SELLS. Who's Buying?

Darfur is more than just being ignored. Darfur is more than just where genocide is occuring right NOW. Darfur is more than just a word used to gain political points. Never again?

Darfur and much of Sudan are part of the "new money" in the world oil game. They may not have the etiquette. They may not know which fork to use during the third course of their twelve course dinner. They may speak different. They may look different. They may not know how to tie an ascot, but President Omar Hasan al-Bashir knows that when oil talks, people listen.

While Bush has used words such as "genocide" and "sanctions," Sudan's GDP has grown by 8% in 2005 and is expected to rise by 12% this year. 400,000 people murdered? 2.5 million people displaced? Countless women raped? Here's the number that matters: Sudan now has the capability of producing 400,000 barrels of oil/day. YOU do the math: 400,000 people killed - 400,000 barrels oil/day = 0 feelings of guilt.

"Khartoum is hot - in all ways," said Hashim Wahir, chairman of Petronas Sudan, a branch of the Malaysian national oil company. Luckily, the stench emanating from the oil derrick's mask the smell of death and rape. According to the USA sanctions on Sudan:

Except for information or informational materials and donated articles intended to relieve human suffering, such as food, clothing and medicine, and the licensed export of agricultural commodities, medicine and medical devices, no goods, technology, or services may be exported from the United States to Sudan, either directly or through third countries, without a license.

Somehow, Coke can still sell its corn syrup to Sudan. Somehow, corn syrup for soda is deemed "intended to relieve human suffering." Somehow, people are STILL DYING. Loopholes are beautiful. Coke's Sudanese representative, Osama Daoud Abdellatif, puts it best: "Everything has been going so well, but Darfur could spoil the party." Don't you hate when GENOCIDE comes by and crashes your house party? Damn. And he always brings his friends Rape, Homelessness, and Despair.

Despite the sanctions rhetoric, foreign investment in Sudan has gone up nearly 20 times since 2000. Sudan doesn't need our money. Sudan needs our rhetoric. There's no such thing as bad publicity. Rhetorical threats work HERE. If 400,000 people die and no one does anything, did they even exist? If 400,000 barrels of oil are sold for a profit, does those people even matter?

JUNIOR REID: One Blood