The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The Sudden #SouthSudan Crisis

Posted on | December 23, 2013 | 20 Comments

What is stunning about the situation in South Sudan is how rapidly it has spun completely out of control:

Eight days after a mutiny in South Sudan’s capital signaled the start of “unrest” (as reporters euphemistically phrase it), it was reported Monday that additional U.S. troops would be sent to Africa in preparation for possible further action. Four U.S. troops were wounded Saturday when rebels fired on an evacuation flight to the key South Sudanese town of Bor, about 125 miles north of the capital, Juba.
“Defense officials say the U.S. is moving additional Marines and aircraft from Spain to the Horn of Africa to provide embassy security and help with evacuations from violence-wracked South Sudan,” the Associated Press reported. “A defense official says the extra forces moving to Djibouti will bring the total U.S. troops there to 150, with 10 aircraft, including Osprey helicopters and C-130 transport planes.”
Djibouti is on the east coast of Africa next to Ethiopia, nearly 2,000 miles by road from Juba, and it was not clear how many of the U.S. troops would actually be sent to South Sudan. A Pentagon spokesman said the commander of U.S. Africa Command is “repositioning his forces in the region to ensure that we’ve got capabilities necessary to respond to any request from the State Department.” . . .

Read the whole thing at The American Spectator.

 

Category: Sudan

Comments

20 Responses to “The Sudden #SouthSudan Crisis”

  1. screwtape1a12
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 4:39 pm

    RT @rsmccain: “What is stunning about the situation in #SouthSudan is how rapidly it has spun completely out of control …” http://t.co/AE…

  2. Joe Dokes
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 4:49 pm

    “South Sudan could become another Rwanda, without a massive and immediate peacekeeping effort.”

    The UN was in Rwanda.

  3. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 5:07 pm

    Didn’t do anything though. Neither did Bill Clinton.

    Obama just wants cocoa… And maybe a hug. He has had a bad year.

  4. JoyKeller1
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 5:13 pm

    The Sudden #SouthSudan Crisis http://t.co/I4HqEpDBFb

  5. Joe Dokes
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 5:35 pm

    “Didn’t do anything though. Neither did Bill Clinton.”

    Yep, that was my point.

  6. Hemihead73
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 6:15 pm

    RT @WrayPressley: The Sudden #SouthSudan Crisis http://t.co/5YytwdJQJL

  7. Eric D. Mertz
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 6:45 pm

    You can thank France for that, they were the ones blocking the UNSC. China and the US have vested interests in keeping it stable – oil mainly – and France, UK, and Russia have no good reason to stop action. So the UNSC will likely approve an intervention, and Blue-Helmets from around the world will pour in and get shot and killed unless the ROE changes. Gothic Serpent went to hell in a hand basket and failed because of UN ROE, it will likely be the same in South Sudan.

  8. cmdr358
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 7:07 pm

    Our own ROE don’t tend to be much better, something along the lines of :

    “Don’t shoot until you see the whites (or in this case jaundiced look) of their eyes and they are emptying an AK-47 magazine at you.”

    We need to just get our people out and let Africa feed on itself. These people are still in the dark ages and have no desire for civilization.

  9. Josh_Painter
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 7:31 pm

    RT @AmPowerBlog: MT @rsmccain “What’s stunning about …. #SouthSudan is how rapidly it has spun completely out of control …” http://t.co…

  10. Eric D. Mertz
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 7:32 pm

    Not necessarily. Kenya is moving in the right direction, and Ethiopia is rather civilized. Continuing to support both of them will provide an incentive to other African nations to do the same. Also, any time we can do something to stop Genocide, I support it – though that may latent anger over what Hitler did to my family for being A: Bavarian Nationalists and B: Anti-Hitler.

  11. gastorgrab
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 8:13 pm

    As quickly as this happened, I cant help but wonder if American Progressives had a hand in this disaster.

    Is it possible that the Obama administration tried to fix some “social injustice” there and sparked off the conflict?

  12. ThomasD
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 8:45 pm

    South Sudan, as an independent nation is less than three years old.

    It’s veneer of political stability was always razor thin.

    And African politics being what they are, a horror show seems all but inevitable.

  13. ThomasD
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 8:45 pm

    South Sudan, as an independent nation is less than three years old.

    It’s veneer of political stability was always razor thin.

    And African politics being what they are, a horror show seems all but inevitable.

  14. cmdr358
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 9:04 pm

    I do not disagree with you and I know that my statement was overly simplistic, but having had some experience as a “peace keeper” myself, I feel confident in saying that it never works and only provides an extra target for at least one side of the combatants.

  15. Eric D. Mertz
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 9:13 pm

    As the shooting up of our Tilts proved when trying to evac people from Bors sadly showed. I wish there was a way to stop this with diplomacy, but I can’t see how to do it. And as much as I would rather not see American Blood and Treasure being spent to stop the Genocide, I especially don’t want to see the Chicoms doing so. Their leadership needs to bleed off several dozen million excess males in order to remain stable, and they are not above tossing them into a grinder to do so if it means getting oil as well.

  16. cmdr358
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 9:52 pm

    I think that you and I would agree that the ChiComs likely approach to a peace keeping mission would be to just kill everyone who was breaking the peace, install a new leadership that would also rule with an iron fist, and reap the rewards that the subject nation was now only too happy to share with their new found friends.

  17. Eric D. Mertz
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 10:11 pm

    Normally, yes. But the demographic crisis is becoming apparent to them, and that means they will be looking to bleed off young men fast. Between a heavily male male to female ration among the generation coming of age soon, an economic crisis which is about to hit in the form of an almost $7 Trillion dollar credit bubble looking to burst, and a rapidly aging population which traditional Chinese cultural values demands they take care of, there are about to be a LOT of unhappy young men. I would not put it past the ChiCom leadership to toss them into a meat-grinder with an economic justification and then throw the elderly who are not useful into the laogai for slave labor.

    Playing the long game, Chinese involvement in Africa is bad for the Africans and the Chinese and the United States. It is in our best interest for China to collapse and a free government to take its place.

  18. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    December 23rd, 2013 @ 10:21 pm

    I know that was your point. The UN is as worthless at tits on a boar hog.

  19. The Sudden #SouthSudan Crisis : The Other McCain | Dead Citizen's Rights Society
    December 24th, 2013 @ 7:32 am

    […] The Sudden #SouthSudan Crisis : The Other McCain […]

  20. FMJRA 2.0: 2013 Finale : The Other McCain
    December 29th, 2013 @ 7:05 am

    […] The Sudden #SouthSudan Crisis […]