Theatre of the Absurd: II

Remember a few years ago, when the buzz word was "yellow cake?" The stuff they get from uranium to make bombs? The stuff that African country, Niger, was supposed to be sending to Saddam Hussein so he could nuke us? When George Bush was talking about it in his State of the Union message five years ago, it sounded very sinister.

OK. Well something even more sinister has reared it's ugly head. And you know the Internet. Rumors spread with the speed of light, only faster.
The new buzzword is "gum arabic. " And this time it's the Sudan that is threatening us with something even bigger than nuclear weapons. Something that will cut into the very fiber of our nation, and destroy our way of life. It will affect our homes, our kids, our relationships with friends and neighbors, and our relationship with our dentists!!! The emulsifier gum arabic, is the key ingredient in soda pop. And the Sudan provides 80% of the world supply of gum arabic.

Apparently, the Sudanese Ambassador to the United States is furious. His country has been totally misrepresented by some opportunistic movie stars who are determined to generate publicity for themselves at the expense of innocent public officials. What's even worse, following the pack mentality that Hollywood stars have, so many of them have gotten so much attention about the small matter of Darfur, which is a region of the Sudan, that the President of the United States recently announced sanctions in an attempt to end the violence in the region. Of course, this isn't the first time elected officials have been misinformed and acted on the public pressure created by publicity seeking celebrities.

The Sudanese ambassador, John Ukec Lueth Ukec, was deeply insulted at the way people like George Clooney and Don Cheadle have portrayed his country, effectively shaping public opinion. At a recent news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., he portrayed his beleaguered democracy as engaged in an uphill struggle to change the public perception of the Sudan, and of the problems that are being totally misrepresented in Darfur. He thinks it's

high time another point of view was heard. Because all we know of the Darfur region of the Sudan, we learned from people like George. And according to George, (Clooney. You wouldn't expect George Bush to know this stuff!) the government of the Sudan is supporting a terrorist militia called the Janjaweed, who are engaged in genocide in the Darfur region. The quantifiable human costs so far are nearly one million people dead. Murdered. Many of them hacked to death, including starving children in the relative safety of camps.

There are no safe places in Darfur, or anywhere else, when the government itself is the enemy. In fact, the total breakdown in anything resembling social order, has made it impossible to get supplies of food, water, and humanitarian aid to the people of the Darfur region. For the nearly 2 million who have been fortunate enough to get out, a refugee crisis has been created, that has overburdened neighboring countries totally unprepared to absorb the sudden influx of so many in such desperate need of help.

At least that's what that cunning manipulator, George Clooney and his cohorts would have you believe. According to Ambassador Ukec, there is no genocide, there are no refugees, and there have been no massacres. The Sudanese government he represents are, "...agents of peace." In spite of the millions currently starving in the Darfur region, he described the Sudan, itself, as "...the breadbasket of the world!"

In any event, his country is so incensed at all these misrepresentations, and especially at the new sanctions announced by President Bush, that he more than implied that such acts by the United States could have dire consequences. As one insider put it, "This is hardball! Everything is on the table"... including the consideration of the suspension of shipments of gum arabic. This could not come at a worse time for the U.S. economy. The dollar is falling steadily. The prospect of higher home heating costs loom large for the coming winter. The fact that our chicken, our beef, and our pet foods may be poisonous is upsetting. And now, they want to mess with our Coca Cola. How much more can we take?