"An Obama foreign policy win in South Sudan"

[Clio the Leo]

Meanwhile, back in the real world...

An Obama foreign policy win in South Sudan

By Michael Gerson
Friday, December 10, 2010
The Obama administration, elsewhere challenged by Iranian nuclear ambitions and North Korean brinkmanship, is on the verge of a major diplomatic achievement in Sudan. Barring technical failures that delay the vote, or unexpected violence, South Sudan will approve an independence referendum on Jan. 9. Six months later, a new flag will rise, a new anthem will be played. It is a rare, risky, deeply American enterprise: midwifing the birth of a new nation.

Even six years ago, this outcome seemed impossible. The mainly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south were engaged in a two-decade-old civil war that unleashed genocide, produced millions of refugees and took about three times as many lives as the American Civil War. But in 2005, the Bush administration brokered the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which created a government of national unity and promised an independence referendum for the south in 2011.

Even six months ago, implementation of the CPA seemed unlikely. Electoral abuses in local contests had widened bitter, sometimes violent, divisions within the south. And Obama administration policy on Sudan was uncoordinated, ineffective and widely criticized.

But the summer of 2010 was a turning point. The administration was sobered by the prospect of a referendum in less than 200 days for which no one was prepared. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had been pushing to elevate the issue to the presidential level, demanding, according to one official, "one team, one fight." In August, President Obama declared that Denis McDonough, then the chief of staff on the National Security Council, now deputy national security adviser, would coordinate a unified government response. The administration's common approach, dubbed "the road map," publicly promised the regime in Khartoum a series of carrots - reviewing its status on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, beginning the lifting of sanctions and starting discussions on debt relief - in exchange for allowing the south to go quietly. Sen. John Kerry carried messages and applied pressure in both Khartoum and the southern capital of Juba. It was an effective full-court press.

more....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/09/AR2010120904473.html

[Rincewind]

1. There must be some way

that we can spin this as a failure for President Obama. After all, we can't have anybody thinking that he can do anything right.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. OK, is it cynical of me to ask

"where's the oil?"

Does the 'friendly' south have oil reserves? Or the 'unfriendly' north? Or, do we already have a deal, or are we about to invade somebody else?

[hulka38]

7. It's the logical question

not the cynical question.

[nofurylike]

3. K&R thank you for some "real world," Clio the Leo! nt

[GSLevel9]

4. I didn't even know there WAS a South Sudan. nt

[Recursion]

6. There isn't yet; there probably will be soon

Thanks to Secretary Clinton's amazing work in the horn of Africa.

[Phx_Dem]

5. K&R