Wheres the DU outrage over the Ivory Coast?

[patrick t. cakes]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g7pH0t4JDVrj2l468eIa_8OFr3TQ?docId=CNG.a807bd69f3debaa7a6b4ca2383f9500b.921

Nigeria lashes at world's focus on Libya while I.Coast burns

ABUJA — Nigeria, which has led a campaign to force out Ivory Coast's strongman, on Monday lashed out at "contradictions" by world powers focusing attention on Libya while the West African nation is burning.

Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia charged the international community with watching while hundreds of people were murdered in Ivory Coast since the disputed November 28 election.

"The contradictions between principle and national interest that seem to be at core of international law and politics -- have enabled the international community to impose a no-fly zone over Libya ostensibly to protect innocent civilians from slaughter, but to watch seemingly helplessly as seven innocent civilian women and hundreds of other men, women and children (were) slaughtered in equally, even if less egregious violence," he said according to a prepared copy of his speech.

"These contradictions are impossible for us to ignore...," he said while commissioning his ministry's new office block in the capital Abuja.

The west African regional powerhouse Nigeria chairs the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which has threatened the use of force if Laurent Gbagbo does not step down in favour of the internationally recognised leader Alassane Ouattara.

Ajumogobia last month said the UN must endorse any use of force to remove Gbagbo, adding that a total blockade was an option if peaceful efforts fail.

His latest comments come just days before a regular ECOWAS summit to take place in Abuja on Wednesday and Thursday where the Ivory Coast crisis is expected to dominate the agenda.

An ECOWAS court on Friday temporarily restrained the bloc from using force in the cocoa producing nation after a lawsuit filed on behalf of Gbagbo.

The United Nations estimates at least 440 people have already died in the violence during the nearly four-month stalemate.

[Rage for Order]

1. The 440 people who have been killed did not ask the UN for help, apparently

Otherwise we'd be there

:eyes:

[DeSwiss]

2. K&R

- NEEDS MOAR OIL!

[patrick t. cakes]

3. ivory just ain't worth what it once was n/t

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. The two DU requirements for a justified intervention....

....have not been met. The country must have no oil, thus proving the bona fides of the intervenors, and Bono has to have visited it, so we know it's important.

[Rage for Order]

7. Or, in lieu of Bono having visited the country...

Madonna or Angelina Jolie has to have adopted a baby from the country.

[malaise]

5. Cocoa is not oil

Moving along!!

[warren pease]

28. They export coffee, too...

about time we went to war for Starbucks rather than exclusively for US oil conglomerates.

wp

[roguevalley]

36. for me, my empathy is for the whole world. I don't know what to do

but feel like shit all the time. sometimes I just have to stop reading or die from the misery of this world. It doesn't mean me or anyone else doesn't care. Its just like, take a number and get in line. :(

[malaise]

40. It's a mess

I feel hopeless

[roguevalley]

45. your screen name is appropo. :) But I know that there are heroes

out there that will show us the way. Tunisia, Wisconsin and Egypt were just the start. The overreachers will end badly whether here or over there. We just have to band together when we can and hang on when we can't. Hugs, Malaise.

[Hugabear]

6. Ivory Coast doesn't have the same ring that Libya does

Libya has an easily identifiable boogeyman, Moammar Gadhaffi.

[patrick t. cakes]

14. Anything below the Sahara is apperantly....

a dictators paradise.

[Hugabear]

19. Nobody gives a shit about sub-Saharan Africa

Except for perhaps South Africa (bunch of white people live there) and Nigeria (oil).

I get the feeling that much of the world, and especially the US, regards the rest of sub-Saharan Africa as just a bunch of jungle brush that has nothing to offer.

[undeterred]

8. DU only has enough outrage for 3 subjects at a time, maximum.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. That don't have a beloved strongman/boogeyman leader

[DeSwiss]

33. And who is also a snappy dresser....

[Night Crawler]

10. Right behind the outrage over Rwanda.

It all depends on who's gore is getting oxed.

[oberliner]

11. Ivory Coast youths rush to enlist with Gbagbo forces

ABIDJAN — Fervent backers of Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo streamed to enlist in his armed forces Monday as the UN faced pressure to do more to protect civilians in soaring post-election bloodshed.

Gbagbo, who refuses to cede power after disputed November polls, is seeking to boost his army and quash efforts by fighters backing internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara to seize the economic capital Abijdan.

Several hundred youths waited in front of the headquarters of the army chief of staff on Monday morning to sign up.

"I want a Kalach (nikov) to defend my country," said Cyprien, a mechanic from Yopougon, a suburb known as a bastion of support for Gbagbo.

Shoemaker Theodore told AFP: "I answered the call of 'General' Ble Goude. I am ready to die for my country and drive out the rebels."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hu-qL33Uo3R14hc2EfexMxZXntXw?docId=CNG.5645d8bc0fdf6586fdb738899e18abd4.221

[akbacchus_BC]

12. I don't think the Ivory Coast has Oil, I may be wrong. Rwanda does

not have oil either, far as I know. The US only intervenes when OIL is involved!

Must be a pattern for the corporations when the US intervenes!

[quinnox]

13. Not to mention North Korea

Do the Libyan righteous war supporters not care about the North Korean citizens or what?

[Rage for Order]

16. That's different; they have nukes and an army

We only act on moral principles when it's not too dangerous for us to do so. That's how you can tell we're sincere.

:patriot:

[quinnox]

21. That is what it looks like

I guess the noble righteous war support is very selective.

[Hugabear]

22. No shit. That's why Russia and China can brutally repress their rebels

For one thing, they have veto power in the UN, and secondly they know that the US can't do anything.

[Rage for Order]

29. Imagine if we had the balls to enact a trade embargo with China

Based on their record of human rights abuses. Zero trade with China until they clean up their act. I would love to see that happen.

[texastoast]

34. You mean, have integrity on dealing with Communist nations?

I mean, why can't we get Cuban cigars here?

[Swede]

15. The Ivory Coast needs a no fly zone?

:shrug:

[LiberalAndProud]

17. Not sexy enough, I guess.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=699404&mesg_id=699404

[patrick t. cakes]

27. Thanks for posting...

Whatever gets people through the night, i guess.

[patrick t. cakes]

30. is twitter not available in the area?...

The revolution won't be tweeted?

[killbotfactory]

18. What actions can we take to help?

What actions have been asked of us, or the UN by victims of the violence?

Have all peaceful options failed?

Has Gbagbo started slaughtering entire cities of people opposed to his rule with foreign mercenaries?

Have the representatives of people opposed to his rule requested intervention to prevent the slaughter of thousands of innocent people?

Would any intervention we could conceivably justify actually accomplish anything positive?

[patrick t. cakes]

20. Have all peaceful options failed?

440 civilians would probably say yes.

[killbotfactory]

25. From the article:

"Ajumogobia last month said the UN must endorse any use of force to remove Gbagbo, adding that a total blockade was an option if peaceful efforts fail."

[ProgressiveProfessor]

23. Outrage fatigue I suspect

either that or the collective give-a-damn is busted

[patrick t. cakes]

24. the planes heve flown...

the bombs have been dropped,
back to jersey shore, Time/Life war collections

or what ever it is
people do.

[elocs]

26. So this proves that DU is imperfectly inconsistent in it's outrage.

I guess this is because that DU is comprised of imperfect human beings.

It may surely be the case that the U.S. has caused the deaths of people because their country had oil, but how would it be just to allow people in Libya to die because their country has oil. In that case they may wish that Libya had no oil, but allowing them to be wiped out in Khadafi's revenge doesn't help the Ivory Coast.

[Rage for Order]

31. Not just DU; the UN and the rest of the world n/t

[Davis_X_Machina]

35. A lot of cake is being had, and eaten....

There's a principled case for non-interventionism from a nationalist, Westphalian position --it's not our fight, internal affair, national sovereignty -- and one from a pacifist, universalist, perspective. The second one deplores the violence the first makes certain.

They're debatable, but they're principled. The problem is, it's really hard to simultaneously and consistently run them both in a principled way.

In the trolley problem there's only one switch.

[MedleyMisty]

32. It's not on TV

Notice how nobody much cared about Libya until it showed up on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, at which point they came here to yell about what was on the TV without knowing the backstory. Not knowing the backstory and assuming things based on shiny TV graphics is the only way I can explain some of the posts I'm seeing around here.

It was brought up IRL today that maybe American state TV is making it look more like Iraq than it really is in an attempt to stir up anti-Obama feelings. I personally don't do personality cults or sports team politics and don't really care one way or another about Obama, except that no doubt he is marginally better than McCain would have been. So I'm not trying to be all omgz how dare people criticize our great leader, you're all letting the side down, rah rah sis boom bah or anything, but it's a thought. Especially considering how the Republicans in Wisconsin said that the union-busting was all part of an anti-Obama plan, so obviously they're thinking in terms of personalities and talking heads and making sure that their team wins.

[joe_sixpack]

44. You've nailed it.

The same way that the floods in Pakistan never got the attention that the earthquakes in Haiti or Japan garnered.

[Vanje]

37. No oil there. nt

[treestar]

38. The media is not creating the drama over it

If they were, it would be DU's top priority.

We let the media yank our chains here at DU. What they focus on is the all important, only issue.

[killbotfactory]

39. Maybe you should start a fund drive to get them twitter and facebook accounts

The DU Libyan revolution thread is on day 33 by the way.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x709976

[Distant Observer]

42. The Libya rebellion was not generated by Facebook activity, but long-running power struggle

[DFW]

41. Libya has oil. Halliburton does not have a chocolate subsidiary.

Au revoir Côte d'Ivoire.

[Johonny]

43. In the upper right you can search DU for ivory coast

Might help you find DU outrage over Ivory Coast. Took me less than 30 seconds to find it.

[Recovered Repug]

46. Not enough people on Twitter and/or Facebook? /nt