QUOTE: “To be a successful soldier you must know history...What you must know is how man reacts. Weapons change but man who uses them changes not at all. To win battles you do not beat weapons, you beat the soul of man, of the enemy man."
HISTORY IN THE NEWS: DEVOTED TO THE DEEP ORIGINS OF CONTEMPORARY EVENTS AROUND THE WORLD.
BULLETIN: In 19th century Sudan, the British Empire acted as moral arbiter much as the UN is attempting to do today.
IN THE NEWS TODAY. At the UN Security Council, China finally agrees to a twenty-thousand-odd peace-keeping force for Darfur. Sudan says it agrees. The UN force will have the right to enter into combat but not the right to disarm or capture combatants.
LOOKING BACK: In the 1870s, Britain's colonial Egyptian administrators were delegated to enforce an end to the slave trade in Sudan and Darfur but turned a blind eye and allowed it to continue- much as Sudan has been accused of doing with the depredations of the Janjaweed militia today. In 1878, General Gordon reasserted British moral control by breaking up slave-hunting operations in Darfur by Sudanese slave traders of the Baggara tribe.
FROM PAST INTO PRESENT:In the 19th century, the British Empire, for better or worse, was the closest thing the world had to a United Nations. And like the UN today, the empire was engaged in Sudan, in the attempt to impose some form of moral order.
FOR PREVIOUS ENTRIES ON SUDAN AND DARFUR SEE:
African Union Embarrassed by Sudan. 3/6/07
SLA may be killers 3/7/7
Darfur: Sudan Agrees to AU Peasekeepers 3/26/07
Sudan Refuses to Send Accused to World Court 5/5/07
Sudan is Discovered Receiving Arms from Russia and China 5/9/07
FOR A COMPLETE CHRONOLOGY OF THE HISTORY OF SUDAN: go to the posting for May 5, 2007.
MAKE A DONATION: History is the thing we most frequently forget when trying to find our way out of the world’s troubles. If this blog was of use to you, a donation would help to provide wider and more frequent coverage. If you choose to send a donation, make a cheque or money order payable to:
Hugh Graham
456 College St., #305,
Toronto M6G 3A4
Ontario, Canada.
Many thanks.
No comments :
Post a Comment