US loses again in the UN Security Council, weakens resolution

The US government has once again lost in the UN Security Council in the debate on Sudan, and the US is weakening its already largely symbolic resolution to remove "sanctions" from the text. Tomorrow the US may "force" a vote on the weakened resolution, but the action will be largely meaningless. China, Russia and Pakistan have essentially succeeded in hamstringing the US, the UK, and Germans--all of whom sought stronger action.

Meanwhile, one of us at Passion of the Present received a letter from Bill Schultz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA that the Board of Directors just passed a resolution declaring the situation in Sudan a genocide. This resolution has been officially sent to the Amnesty International International Secretariat in London, which will make a final determination on behalf of Amnesty International groups worldwide.

This is good news--because it puts Amnesty more firmly behind the campaign to expose the criminal nature of what is happening in Sudan. On the other hand it is obviously bad news that this determination was necessary, and that conditions in Darfur are still very bad--with no protective force yet on the horizon.