Darfur is not a Crisis. It's a Genocide.

Standing ovation for Ashley Rindsberg at the Huffington Post:

"What is happening in the world's finance markets is a crisis. What happens when gunmen hold hostages at a bank is a crisis. What is happening in Darfur is genocide. Militias connected to the Arab government in Khartoum have been targeting non-Arab black Sudanese in a campaign of murder, rape, and starvation. The effort is total. The targets are black tribes of the Darfur region, particularly the Fur tribe from which Darfur takes its name. Given that before the "crisis" began the area was impoverished and troubled, the years of violence have made the survival of Darfur tribes a near impossibility -- unless something drastic is done.

"To its shame, the UN refused to declare Darfur a case of genocide. It's hard to see how this could be justified -- though the UN investigatory team that made the judgment used 177 pieces of paper to make the justification. Unfortunately, a UN report, no matter how long it is, doesn't change the facts on the ground, which is why Congress, President Bush, and the International Criminal Court have accused Khartoum of genocide."

She goes on to draw an alarming connection between Sudan and Iran, and the impact that ending the genocide in Darfur could have on crippling the two nations mutual support of international terrorism. It's the ripple effect--genocide does not occur in a silo.

(I'm not familiar with the Sudan/Iran/Hezbollah connection, and am interested to hear more feedback on the matter.)