Giggsyking
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- Aug 24, 2013
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US and Europe are ignoring the Iraqi protesters. What a sad time in my home country. My heart is really aching.
Where do you see this going? Feels like something’s got to give soon.US and Europe are ignoring the Iraqi protesters. What a sad time in my home country. My heart is really aching.
Unfortunately, I dont see it going anywhere without any light being shed on the protests from the international community. The government is playing the patience card and are waiting for the protesters to get tired and go home eventually.Where do you see this going? Feels like something’s got to give soon.
It’s the kind of thing that really exposes the limits of the sectarian explanation of Middle Eastern politics.Iranian consultate in Iraq's two most holy Shia cities. You'd expect the anti-Iranian sentiment in the nationalist Sunni heartlands, but the resentment spreading to their traditionally supportive heartlands is troubling news for the Ayatollah.
Dread to imagine how heavy handed the response from the militias will be.
the protesters are not going home until there are constitutional changes, they want a new system because they believe the resignation will change very little, the next PM will get into his position after pledging his loyalty to big corrupted parties in the country. What the people want is that they elect their leader instead of a PM being appointed behind closed doors between corrupted parties and two embassies (USA and Iran).This looks like an impressive achievement for the protest movement, although the other side made them pay a terrible price for it.
What is likely to come next, are there realistic chances of an improvement?
Big protests today, No response from the government.Tweet
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I hope this happens, but I'm not sure it will, as it could bring up some interesting names. Gen. Alburhan was the chief of military intelligence in Darfur at one point and tasked with overseeing the Janjaweed militias, of which Gen. Hemedti was a part of at the time. I don't think they would risk allowing Bashir to be questioned abroad and bring up their names or implicate themTweet
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Thanks, very interesting.https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/12/sudan-government-foreign-policy-sovereign-council-icc-bashir/
https://www.aljazeera.com/programme...al-bashir-face-trial-icc-200212191928666.html
@2cents if you're interested these discuss the issue in a bit more detail.
Very hard to give a concise answer to these, but I'll try.Thanks, very interesting.
Can I ask, what are the views of Sudanese people on the wars with the South and in Darfur? And is the conflict continuing in the Nuba Mountains?
No that’s all very interesting, thanks!Very hard to give a concise answer to these, but I'll try.
The South :
A war that began just prior to independence in 1956, and continued up until 2005. During the war opinion in the North was very pro government and anti rebel. Most of the war was before satellite TV and the internet, so it was easy for the government to control the narrative.
An agreement was signed in 2005 with the SPLA, the rebel forces. Dr John Garang, the charismatic leader of the rebel forces managed to change public perception of himself and the rebels during the short time he was alive after the agreement, founded a political party which attracted a lot of northern Sudanese and announced he would be running for President for a unified Sudan. He died (suspiciously?) in 2005 in plane crash. South seceded in 2011.
Civil war has continued in South Sudan with Sudan allegedly backing the rebels in response to South Sudan allegedly giving support to rebel movements in the North.
Since the revolution hostility between Sudan and South Sudan has eased, with South Sudan hosting and brokering peace talks for the northern factions.
Nuba Mountains :
I'll answer this first, as they were part of the SPLA movement, but were shafted by both parties in the 2005 peace agreement.
There's been a cease fire since the revolution. Peace talks are ongoing, with the rebels demanding, among other things, either a secular Constitution or Independence. For many 'secular' is still considered a dirty word, synonymous with 'anti-religious' so public opinion on the issue depends on how one feels about a secular state.
Darfur:
The war began as a fight against 'Marginalization and oppression' of the non Arabs and Darfur region by 'elite ruling Nile tribes'. Local media at the time portrayed it as a fight against bandits and armed gangs in the Western border regions.
As news of the atrocities began to surface the government claimed it was all exaggeration and anti-islamic propoganda spread by imperialist forces to bring Sudan to its knees and abort its Islamic project, etc. The majority bought it.
Today everyone is unanimous in calling for those guilty of atrocities to be brought to justice, but many from Darfur feel that not enough was done for their cause while they were being killed and displaced, and that their cause is being 'used' by the elitist Nile tribes to settle scores with the previous regime rather than out of genuine motives. One can't really blame them.
As for the peace talks, it's a bit tricky. There are several Darfuri movement forces, each with their own demands and interests. International pressure on all sides is needed to pressure the government and the movements to an agreement.
This is longer than I intended to be. Hope I didn't bore you and that it answers your question.
Their currency went from 900 against the dollar in January to 3k-3.5k from what I see on social media. This is before the actions from the ‘Caesar Act’ go into effect on the 17th, though that consideration might have been anticipated and this is a reaction to what is going on in Lebanon. And Russia started bombing runs again [Reuters ].These protests in the largely Druze city of Suwayda in the Deep South of Syria have been going on for a few days now, and seem to be growing:
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