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July 17, 2006

For the past three years the Government of Sudan has supported its proxy, the Janjaweed Arab militia, to perform a brutal genocidal operation closely backed by Sudanese forces. Darfur Africans cannot farm for fear of attack. No harvests mean that more than three million are dependent on international food aid. In the absence of the African Union and with no certainty that the UN will protect them, a few million hungry people will predictably turn to the only forces showing an interest in their survival — one of several rebel factions.

The Government of Sudan has probably calculated that, by playing for time, the rebel groups will attempt to provide protection for their own people. An escalation of fighting will prevent access for aid agencies and the media, and Khartoum will have the excuse it needs for a resumption of air attacks on Darfuris.

The Janjaweed leaders have had time to reflect that they have not achieved their mission to rid Darfur of black Africans. The onslaught by the mounted militia three years ago led to thousands of villages being burnt. Their aim of destroying the Darfuris will be easier now that two million people are congregated into refugee camps because they will argue that, as the camps are recruitment grounds for rebels, they are legitimate targets.

Neutralisation of the Janjaweed is a key rebel demand — indeed the Government of Sudan has been responsible for disarming them for two years. But Khartoum’s broken promises leave a legacy of mistrust. By giving the Janjaweed free rein, the Government goads the rebels into not taking peace seriously. Furthermore, many rebels are not satisfied that the peace agreement reverses the underlying problems in Darfur.

Jeff Weintraub has more thoughts.

IT’S STILL BLOG SWEEPS MONTH over at Rick Lee’s place.

DANIEL GLOVER WRITES on the courtship of conservative bloggers by the Republican establishment. His warnings are apt, I think.

I wasn’t invited, which I guess demonstrates that the Republican establishment has figured out that I’m not a conservative. Could I be a Liberty Owl? Hmm.

UPDATE: Mary Katharine Ham has it all figured out. Even though she didn’t like my “I had an abortion” t-shirt photo. Blame Allah!

Are America’s kids too fat? Yes! And what can — and should — we be doing about it? We talk to Dr. Michael Zemel of the University of Tennessee Nutrition Institute, and the UT Medical School, and author of The Calcium Key : The Revolutionary Diet Discovery That Will Help You Lose Weight Faster. about this issue. Are the food police coming?

Zemel also has more information on overweight kids at www.americaonthemove.org.

But first, beer! We visited a microbrewery and talked with Master Brewer Al Kruzen and his apprentice brewer Joey Barbarito about the way the brewing industry has changed, how — in a fashion discussed elsewhere — homebrewers changed the industry and are now finding employment in its ranks, and what a brewery and pub can do for a downtown neighborhood. Plus, advice on how to get a job in microbrewing! The interviews were all recorded on location using this Edirol recorder. You can judge the quality for yourself; I think it turned out pretty well given the degree of background noise, etc.

You can subscribe via iTunes by clicking here. If you’d rather, you can download the file directly here, or get a lo-fi version for dialup here. And don’t miss our archive of previous podcasts at GlennandHelenShow.com.

Music is by The Opposable Thumbs.

And, as always, my lovely and talented cohost is taking comments and suggestions.

HERE’S MORE ON THE STEM CELL BATTLE from the Wall Street Journal. (Free link.) The Bush Administration looks likely to lose on this, which is okay by me.

PETER INGEMI NOTES history being made. As usual, most of those involved in the making would rather have taken a pass, I imagine.

A CRIMINAL JUSTICE ROUNDUP from Radley Balko. Some of it’s good news — note in particular the Goose Creek settlement.

DUELING OVER diversity. And losing discrimination lawsuits.

MICKEY KAUS MAKES THE CASE FOR WAR, and does it better than the Bush Administration.

You’d think it would be a bit late in the day to be engaging in these arguments — we already went to war, after all — but apparently not.

ROGER SIMON has a podcast interview with Israeli ambassador Daniel Ayalon about events in the Middle East, at the new (beta) Pajamas Media Politics Central site.

STEM CELL UPDATE:

Congress embarks this week on the weightiest of debates on morality and the march of science, deciding whether to use public money for embryonic stem cell research and, in turn, setting up President Bush’s first veto.

Neither the House nor Senate has demonstrated enough support for the bill to override a veto, though the House probably will try, just to give Bush a definitive victory in the showdown.

Supporters of the research hold out faint hope that Bush, presented with new data and pressured by election-year politics, might reverse course and sign the bill.

This looks like a base-pleasing effort all around, part of the political Kabuki that I’ve come to expect on this sort of issue, but I have to say that I can think of quite a few bills I’d rather have seen Bush veto.

OFF TO A CONFERENCE where I’ll present a paper on libel and the blogosphere. Blogging (and response to email) will be light this week, I expect, though I’ll be online from time to time.

N.Z. BEAR is mapping mideast blogs. He’s also asking for help.

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