The Zong

I guess that taking a couple weeks off to cool my jets wasn’t a very good idea. I hope you like alliteration, because now I’ve got a backlog of bullshit to bitch about.

First on the docket: Cindy Sheehan’s Resignation. The Chronicle will run an article on her that sounds a lot more like an obituary tomorrow, and it serves as a rather meek and peripheral coda to the end of the democrat-controlled congress’ insignificant rebellion. We all heard a lot of blah-blah over the last couple months about the Power of the Purse, and the fact that not a single national poll shows that the American people support additional funding for the war without a timetable for withdrawal or at least a series of verifiable benchmarks, and yet somehow our elected representatives decided to trip over their dicks once again, all they managed to do was to demonstrate an incredible adeptness at wasting time.

Riddle me this, Mr. Congress: What the fuck was the point of passing the funding bill with a timeline in the first place if you were just going to cave in eventually anyhow?

This week one of the anti-war movement’s most recognizable figures said she was “resigning” from the movement. Emotionally exhausted and politically frustrated at Congressional Democrats for continuing to fund the Iraq war, Sheehan said she was leaving public life — albeit temporarily — to figure out her next step.

See what you did, you pussies? You let down Casey’s mom, and now all of her opponents are gonna call her a quitter. God bless you guys.

I don’t think Sheehan was perfect by any means, and many of her actions were roundly criticized as being exploitative of her son’s death. Nevertheless, the publicity she drummed up had a great symbolic and cultural impact, and at least she had the stones to actually go out and try to do something. She didn’t just sit on her hands and say “fuck it” like the rest of our congress just did.

I mean, not until she said “fuck it” this week, that is.

But who wants to talk about boring old Iraq anymore when George W. Bush has finally turned his attention to the Sudan? I guess he must have had a cocktail with George Clooney or something, because here comes the big bad U.S. of A to pour a nice warm cup of Go Fuck Yourself for all the genocidal assholes in Darfur!

By, uh, tightening sanctions.

George W Bush, the US president, has imposed new sanctions on Sudan and sought support for an international arms embargo out of frustration at Sudan’s refusal to end what he called a genocide in Darfur.

Bush announced that 30 companies and three senior Sudanese individuals are now on a list of specifically designated nationals with whom no American can do business with.

Political analysts say the expansion and tightening of sanctions by the Bush administration against the government of Sudan is sending a strong message. The Sudanese will not solve the crisis in Darfur by themselves.

Oh, snap! Suck it, the Sudan.

Wait a minute, though. Before the Sudanese government sucks it, they’ll probably be able to keep on keeping on through their oil revenues, which the New York Times says they do every time the international community waves the sanctions stick at it.

But the sanctions will do little to stem Sudan’s oil exports, which are the main source of the country’s wealth, analysts said. They also noted that existing sanctions against Sudan, which date back to 1997, have been unevenly enforced.

“Sudan has been quite adept at avoiding sanctions for the past decade, and this is not going to have a lot of bite,” said Philippe de Pontet, a political risk analyst at the Eurasia Group in Washington.

Well, shit. I guess we can’t go fucking with the oil supply now, can we? That would evidently strain our relationship with China a bit, and they actually have an air force and a navy and tanks and stuff.

But in aiming at Sudan’s economy, Washington seems to be toeing a sensitive line. It wants to increase the pressure on the Sudanese government without alienating China, a top American trading partner. It is also apparently unwilling to consider outright oil sanctions against Sudan at a time when global energy prices are high.

“The U.S. does not want to alienate China and it doesn’t want to take steps that take oil off the market, especially in the current environment,” said Mr. de Pontet of the Eurasia Group.

Putting aside the fact that something should have been done about this years ago, it’s hard for me to fathom how this is anything more than a small attempt to divert some attention from Iraq on the heels of the funding bill passing. Leave it to this president to use a genocide to run interference for a civil war.

- M.G.