The real reason we aren't invading the Sudan over Darfur

[jmowreader]

Gum arabic is the sap of the Acacia tree. It has no color, odor or flavor, and it's completely nontoxic. It is important to the food industry (mainly soft drinks and flavorings--it's a very good, very safe viscosity increaser) and absolutely essential to the offset printing industry. There are substitutes in the offset industry for inks, plates, presses, papers, electricity, solvents, vacuum pumps, anti-offset powder, creativity and paying customers, but gum arabic is the only thing that works.

Ninety-five percent of the gum in the world comes from the Sudan, and most of Sudan's gum comes from Darfur. It is, by far, the Sudan's most important export--and, before oil was discovered, it was their ONLY export.

If we go to war against the Sudan, either the Sudanese will shut off their gum exports and we'd capitulate in a month and a half, or Bush will bomb the acacia plantations and cause the end of learned civilization worldwide.

[dave_p]

1. "cause the end of learned civilization worldwide"

Isn't that a reason why he would want to invade? Permanent majority!

[jmowreader]

3. I thought about that for a moment

Then I remembered that Regnery runs on gum arabic, whoever's printing Annthrax Coulter this week runs on gum, Rupert Murdoch's empire runs on gum arabic, all but about 50 big daily newspapers run on gum arabic (there are two processes for newspapers--offset, which requires gum arabic, and flexography, which does not, but there might be fifty flexo presses at newspapers because presses are expensive and most of the ones at modern newspapers were built by Johannes Gutenberg), a lot of small offset printers belong to the all-freeper National Federation of Independent Business, junk mailers are pretty much all printing offset...there is not enough rotogravure and flexo capacity in the United States to absorb all the offset work. Between the people who print insulation and the people who put out junk mail...let's just say there'd be another Brooks Brothers Riot, but the rioters wouldn't be on Shrub's side in this one.

[applegrove]

2. There is genocide in Darfur. What is with the new memes that it is

about something else? The human rights organizations have been demanding some sorta pressure on the government in Khartowm for three years at the very least.

Is this an attempt by the right wingers to paint the Iraq invasion alongside the intervention (piddly as it is) in the Sudan? To give legitimacy to Iraq?

Please stop.

[jmowreader]

7. I didn't get this from a RW site

Very few people would realize the importance of the Sudan to the world. Anyone who doesn't know what's in fountain solution (the dampening mixture on an offset press) wouldn't understand this.

But consider:

* Shrub doesn't like black people, and Darfur is full of them.
* He also doesn't like people who could be classed as savages by the Right, another category in which Darfur excels.
* Most right-wing publishers run offset. They've GOT to have gum arabic, and they certainly don't want it to go up in price.
* Lotsa Shrub donors in the food business, where gum is also an important ingredient. They wouldn't want the price of gum to go up any more than the printers would.

Put 'em together...would Bush allow or encourage genocide for the benefit of his base? We KNOW he would--look at Iraq.

[El Supremo]

4. We invaded Iraq for oil. Why not Sudan for Gum Aabic?

Because Gum Arabic is not nearly as important as oil. And Sudan has very little oil.

Your logic is false. Unless you are trying to be funny.

[originalpckelly]

5. We invaded Iraq to increase the price of oil, not to increase the oil.

That's the thing people keep messing up with.

[El Supremo]

6. You get the DU prize of the day!

You must be right, because none, and I mean NONE, of the other reasons have panned out. Unless you put credence in the Revenge for the Poppy Plot.