Why clooney sudan

But unfortunately it also involves a horrifying catastrophe that has resulted in the death of many, many people. Here is what you need to know about Sudan. Sudan is a big country in Africa , below Egypt. It used to be all one country but then some people in Washington and Hollywood, not necessarily in that order, decided it should be two and so South Sudan was created in What happened is that the U.

That made sense because the government of Sudan treated the southerners badly and there is a lot of oil in the south of Sudan and the government didn't use the oil revenue to help the southerners. So, in theory, by voting for independence and creating the new nation of South Sudan all southerners were going to be rich because their new government would have all that oil money and spend it on education, health care, etc.

But this was never going to happen for reasons that will become apparent below. What did happen is that some governments succeeded in creating South Sudan and some celebrities, like George Clooney and Nicholas Kristof, succeeded in making it the world's emotional petting zoo. And it has also become a cash cow for NGOs and international aid workers.

But South Sudan was not a good place to save the world because it is a big mess. Also, the U. It doesn't give a shit about anything else. See, not necessarily in chronological order, Iran, Guatemala, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Iraq and on and on and on.

I don't really have time to go into this here but I loathe Nicholas Kristof. He's such a jerk and it must be so hard carrying the White Man's Burden, it's so heavy. Here's what he wrote —in his "On the Ground" report—when South Sudan became independent: "A warm welcome to the world's newest country, South Sudan, after a tumultuous independence struggle of more than 50 years that cost more than 3 million lives.

South Sudanese deserve the celebration they're enjoying in Juba and around the country. Fast forward a bit. George Clooney, like so many Hollywood stars before him, decided he wanted to save the world too and for whatever reason he decided to save South Sudan. And he also somehow got hooked up with former State Department official John Prendergast , who is apparently handsome and dashing and also rather obviously wanted George Clooney to play him in a movie in which a wonderful dude named John Prendergast creates South Sudan and makes everyone there happy he and Clooney also came up with the brilliant idea, while lying under the stars in Sudan, of creating spy satellites for the country.

Prendergast is a Hollywood big shot in his own right and has appeared in a movie called "Darfur Now. You can read about Clooney and Prendergast's heroic deeds in South Sudan in this sad piece of hagiography in the Daily Beast.

The author of the sad story knows and admires both of them. So South Sudan gained independence in late and the world, and George Clooney, et al, cheered Clooney was, in fact, on site in Juba for the vote. But things immediately turned to shit despite Clooney's presence and the cool satellites because the leaders of South Sudan are a gang of murderous thieves and severely factionalized along tribal and inter-tribal lines.

And also because the key thing is they all wanted first rights to steal oil revenues and anything else of value they could get their hands on that NGOs and international aid workers hadn't gotten to first so there was very obviously going to be a bloody struggle for power. I can't prove it was obvious but I can say that it was more or less foretold that there would be be a bloody struggle for power before it happened.

Also, I've reported from Sudan once and though it was a long time ago I met a lot of senior government officials, including at least one alleged war criminal who has also helped the U. So what inspired America's sexiest man to launch his crusade to bring aid to the war-ravaged people of Sudan?

Clooney, whose father Nick Clooney was a broadcast news anchor, said that growing up around news made him a "big believer in the importance of information. When he first learned of the plight in Sudan back in , Clooney said his first reaction was to call his journalist father. Last week, Clooney made the rounds in Washington, D. Abdalla Hamdok wasn't sure he wanted the job, but six months later there is reason to hope—despite the failed mutiny this week.

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American actor George Clooney takes part in a press conference in central London to present a report on atrocities in South Sudan on Sept. Sign up for Africa Brief From Algeria to Zimbabwe and countries in between, a weekly roundup of essential news and analysis from Africa. January 21, , PM. Profile Justin Lynch , Robbie Gramer. Trending 1. Hezbollah Has No Choice but Escalation. Latest Analysis. The Taliban Are Breaking Bad Meth is even more profitable than heroin—and is turbocharging the insurgency.

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