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Don’t Forget Mali!

Can southern Sudan hold without at least the distant intimidation of American military intervention? Can Nigeria? Can Indonesia? ~Joseph Bottum Well, since the rather nasty SPLA in southern Sudan has held out for going on two decades or so mostly without much help, I suspect that they will somehow muddle through without us.  They have […]

Can southern Sudan hold without at least the distant intimidation of American military intervention? Can Nigeria? Can Indonesia? ~Joseph Bottum

Well, since the rather nasty SPLA in southern Sudan has held out for going on two decades or so mostly without much help, I suspect that they will somehow muddle through without us.  They have the support of Ethiopia and Uganda, and these two enjoy fishing in Sudan’s troubled waters, partly to keep Khartoum busy and partly as payback for its meddling in their affairs.  Only to the extent that Ethiopian and Ugandan support is conditional on the continued supply of American weapons to Addis Ababa and Kampala will any U.S. pullback from interventionist foreign policy even be noticed in this miserable part of the world.  Nigeria may well “hold out,” and probably will, but if it doesn’t it won’t be for a sudden U.S. pullback from propping up Lagos’ government against the increased growth of Islamic fundamentalism in the north.  The idea that Indonesia is even under threat is amusing.  Indonesia’s larger concern is disintegration along ethnic lines, not the violence of a tiny fraction of its Muslim population.  Mr. Bottum may as well ask whether China will be able to hang on against the overwhelming power of the East Turkestan Liberation Movement.  I think they’ll manage somehow.  To pose these questions is to reveal oneself as an alarmist and not much of a foreign policy analyst.  Mr. Bottum is Santorumesque in worrying about miniscule threats to larger, more powerful nations.  He might as well ask, “How will Argentina be able to cope with a combined Venezuelan-Bolivian front?”  Yawn.  Call us when you have something that looks like a plausible threat.

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