Exhausting All Nonmilitary Angles

Yes I'm describing the Bush Administration. In Darfur. And it took several years for them to get up the gumption to even do this.

President Bush ordered new U.S. economic sanctions Tuesday to pressure Sudan's government to halt the bloodshed in Darfur that the administration has condemned as genocide.

"I promise this to the people of Darfur: the United States will not avert our eyes from a crisis that challenges the conscience of the world," the president said.

The sanctions target government-run companies involved in Sudan's oil industry, and three individuals, including a rebel leader suspected of being involved in the violence in Darfur.

"For too long the people of Darfur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder and rape of innocent civilians," the president said. "My administration has called these actions by their rightful name: genocide.

"The world has a responsibility to put an end to it," Bush said.

Of course, it's positive that the White House is learning from a Clinton-era mistake and calling the situation genocide. But everyone knows who is really keeping Sudan afloat, despite this and other sanctions. China is heavily invested in the country's oil reserves, and in return they have provided a substantial amount of arms for over a decade. If you want to really stop the janjaweed killing you must pressure China to divest themselves of these deals which prop up the Sudanese government. That's the only way you can put some teeth into any sanctions.

The other takeaway from this for me is that the United States is perfectly willing to adopt a go-slow approach as it relates to Sudan, probably because it doesn't want to disrupt or anger China, and yet we have no problem going into countries in the Middle East and establishing permanent bases and then wondering "why they hate us."