Georgia vs. Darfur

So, as most of you have seen, read, or heard...Russia has invaded Georgia. The conflict started when Georgia attempted to reclaim South Osstetia's full independence from Russia after 16 years of a less than autonomous relationship. Russia quickly sent tanks into Georgia to retaliate.

My concern with this situation is the effect which it has had on the international community. In a conflict in which the death toll is, as the LA Times reports, approximately 1,500, it has received a serious amount of press and international involvement. I would honestly be flabbergasted if this conflict lasted more than 3 months.

Then you have the conflict/genocide in Darfur. A conflict in which the death toll is, as reported by cnn.com, upwards of 300,000; the number of people displaced is in the millions. This is a disaster which, as of late, has received, what I would consider, very little American media coverage. Sure, the situation is mention in passing on network news stations, but nothing substantial is really done. So, why is it that there is an uproar when a small country is invaded by a larger one under circumstances which are...arguably legitimate; and when mass killings take place in an obscure corner of Africa all we hear is rhetoric and see no action.

I will tell you why...Georgia is a major intersection of oil (Caspian Oil Pipeline) and has a democratic government. The Bush administration has proven that it cares for three things...government affiliation, natural resources, and trade relations...sometimes one trumps the other. It is not that these are bad things to be concerned about, I would just simply argue that a country's foreign policy should also be concerned (actually concerned) with human rights.

I am not trying to say that what is happening in Georgia is not a travesty...I am simply saying that a more serious human rights situation has been happening for years with little intervention from the US government, and even less of an uproar from us, US citizens (or maybe better termed...global citizens.) The government is an extremity of the people and as long as the people are willing to speak up, the government must bend to their will (assuming the government remains a democracy.) So, speak up....write a letter....start a blog, but whatever you do, make sure you do it quickly before the Darfur genocide is ended by someone else....the Sudanese government.