Update for Yesterday's Post


I am hopeful that today will provide interface with news on the Sudan:

 https://thelastenglishprince.wordpress.com/2023/11/27/a-journalist-enters-a-pub-xvi/

https://thelastenglishprince.wordpress.com/2015/07/20/economic-affairs-vyshinsky-in-the-sudan/

Between jet lag and the coughing, my friend spent his day sleeping.  We have a twelve year history of friendship; including an invitation to join him on the campaign trail during his second presidential campaign.  That campaign, found him pursued by gunmen in a vehicle as his driver sped along in the desert.

Africa.  Is a dangerous place.  An ultimate cluster f-ck.

Covering Sudan is like tracking Ariadne's thread.  Issues are very complex on the ground.  Russia, China, and Al-Ikhwan are powerful political players; but the playground has a few additional bullies and there are secrets of vital national interest to be kept by the involved parties.

The very recent  massacre of 2,000 over a 48 hour  time span is calculated and with reasons beyond our comprehension. We bet on an aging lion during the last coup. And military power does not equate to (military) prowess in Africa.  We forget that small fact.  And yet... we train... and train... and invest... and conduct joint operations with those who lack prowess.  We envision military flanks that restore "order".  Nah.  They merely soften the blunt edges of the landscape for the emergence of a new controlled chaos.  We really - do not understand Africa.

Problematic is that moving from the 1950's and onward, Sudan has had a unique special arrangement regarding their governance model, public v hidden assets of governance, and the proverbial telling the smaller lies to protect the greater truths of what goes on in the boiler rooms of the halls of government.

Americans worry about the "Deep State".   Sudan has perfected the model.  We lack intuitiveness; deal from the wrong deck of cards; enter the IB (Intellectual Battlespace) lacking understanding of the terrain of the mind within the Muslim African mindset.  Within the brewery of ideas, we choose the wine cooler. They are drinking something much, much more stout.

swoffordwrites@gmail.com


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Charlie Kirk Marcus Aurelius "Meditations" would not exist if he had been assassinated for his thoughts at age thirty-one. I would have never read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago" if he had been assassinated for his political thoughts at thirty-one years of age. Winston Churchill would have never written "Hinge of Fate" (one of my favorite selections) had he been assassinated at thirty-one years of age. Ernest Hemingway was fifty-three years old when "The Old Man and the Sea" was published. Leon Uris was thirty-four years old when his novel "Exodus" was published. The average age of the delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention was forty-two.  Benjamin Franklin was 81 years of age at this time. The famous Persian poet Ferdowsi began writing "Shahnameh" when he was 37 years old and did not complete it until he was about seventy years of age.  This would be a tremendous loss not to have access to his though...
Read more
Image
Mohamed Elhassan He is powerful, made up of imperceptible layers.  He was only in his mid-teens when he first heeded the call to political action traveling to the Republic Palace of President Jafar Nimeiri seeking justice for his family. He is a well-respected Sufi.  In June,  he was awarded a Masters Degree in Islamic Studies from Hamad Bin Khalifa University (Qatar).  A recognized leader of the Kwahla tribe - with 16 million members.   Fast forward to 2010 and 2015 when he ran for President of the Sudan.  In 2015, it was my privilege to serve in a minor advisory role.  In recent years, he has given an enviable one hundred interviews with Al Jazeera Mobasha (life).   His name is Mohamed Elhassan.  I merely call him "friend". Mohamed Elhassan is president of the Sudanese Gathering Accord.  He is a man who knows his business, takes care of his business, and more importantly, takes care of his people. Less than a month ago he tra...
Read more

Charlie Kirk Memorial: Live Blog: The Largest Church Service in Human History

Live Blogging:  Charlie Kirk Memorial Blackfoot is comfortably snoozing in a different time zone.  So I will go ahead and start the post.  Undoubtedly, when I return to the desktop, Blackfoot will have added a few thoughts and I will enter the arena again. Security.  The word floated across my consciousness several times yesterday.  The perimeter of two stadiums and parking lots must be secured for the Charlie Kirk Memorial.  Within full envelope surveillance are tricks of the trade which most of us are unaware of - in blissful manner. Problematic, is not only an estimated crowd of 100,000 souls, but the abbreviated timeline to secure the venue.  We had a friend who worked full-time providing security for the Dallas Cowboys Stadium when it was in Irving, Texas.  When the team hosted the Super Bowl in 2011, several alphabet agencies were involved in securing the space for weeks in advance.  Every can of nacho sauce, toilet paper, and toothpick...
Read more