Pompeo tries to extort cash from struggling Sudan

By Mitchell Plitnick

September 02, 2020 "Information Clearing House" - Mike Pompeo’s Middle East trip during the Republican National Convention has turned into a tour de force of scandal and failure. In that sense, it mirrors well both his tenure as secretary of state, and his boss’s time as president.

Starting in Jerusalem, Pompeo made a mockery of his office by giving a political speech, which might have been a violation of the Hatch Act, and doing so from foreign soil, a breach of diplomatic tradition in the United States.

Pompeo also visited Bahrain, where his attempt to convince the king to join the United Arab Emirates in normalizing relations with Israel was firmly rebuffed, and wound up his trip in Oman. There, Pompeo is reported to have discussed the ongoing blockade of Qatar by fellow Gulf Cooperation Council members Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain. It is notable that Pompeo did not say that he had discussed this issue with Bahrain or the UAE, as one would expect if he were trying to resolve the stalemate. Instead, he discussed it with Oman, which has long been leading efforts to repair relations between the Gulf states.

Pompeo also attempted to convince Oman to increase efforts to normalize relations with Israel. Omani leaders have met with Israeli officials, including a 2018 visit to the country by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But there is no indication that Oman is prepared to move further than it already has in normalizing ties with Israel for the time being, despite some raised hopes in both Jerusalem and Washington.

When he departed Jerusalem, Pompeo made the first-ever direct flight from Israel to Sudan. It was there that the secretary would demonstrate just how degraded the United States’ foreign policy has become under Donald Trump, and with Pompeo at the helm of the State Department.

Pompeo told Sudanese leaders that the United States would consider removing them from the list of state sponsors of terrorism — if Sudan pays us $330 million.

Let’s put this in context. In 1989, Omar al-Bashir led a bloodless coup and took over Sudan. He would rule for the next three decades, with an iron fist. Natural disasters, dictatorship, civil war, massive human rights violations, even genocide marked the history of Bashir’s rule. Sudan’s economy has been devastated many times, and it is one of the poorest countries in the world.

Last year, a popular, non-violent revolution forced Bashir out. The revolt’s leaders made a deal with the remaining military leadership to transition to a civilian and more democratic government. It’s a shaky arrangement, with many elements in the military government reluctant to cede power to civilian rule, and leading activists wary of the military. As University of San Francisco Professor Stephen Zunes described it to me after visiting Sudan in January, it is “a civilian-led government with a majority on the three main governing bodies, albeit with strong military representation.”

The transition has been difficult and uneasy, and it is complicated further by Sudan’s presence, along with only Iran and Syria, on the U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism — or SST — list. Zunes told me, “The U.S. sanctions make it difficult for other countries and international financial institutions to do business with Sudan.”

Although many sanctions on Sudan were lifted in recent years, the country remains isolated from the global monetary system — the International Monetary Fund and World Bank — due to its SST listing. This prevents it from getting the capital it needs to recover from the devastation it suffered during Bashir’s rule, and the economic impact of losing much of its natural resources when South Sudan split off from the rest of country in 2011.

In other words, the Sudanese people desperately need to be removed from the SST list. Currently, about one in four Sudanese faces a shortage of food, and inflation in June was measured around 130 percent, a substantial rise over the African Development Bank’s already grave projection of 61.5 percent.

Sudan’s entire GDP was just $18.9 billion in 2019, and it is expected to drop to just $9.7 billion in 2020. That’s the country we are trying to extort $330 million from, a sum that would represent less than 0.00007 percent of our 2020 budget.

This is cruel and inhumane. It’s made all the more so by the fact that Sudan is being held responsible for crimes committed by Osama bin Laden, who was expelled from Sudan long before the September 11 attacks and, in any case, was only allowed in the country for a few years by Bashir and one of his aides, Hassan al-Turabi. Whether Sudan should be held responsible now that Bashir has been ousted is dubious but given the effects of the SST listing on the Sudanese people, it’s also irrelevant. A stable Sudan might be able to grapple with these issues and, if necessary, the costs. But extorting an impoverished country for what to it is a significant sum, but the U.S. amounts to less than pocket change is intolerable — especially as that country is actively trying to become more free and open.

Pompeo also tried to convince the Sudanese to open normal relations with Israel, something that had been floated this past February, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Sudanese General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the ruling sovereign council, and hastily announced that Sudan and Israel would move to establish normal relations.

The angry response from the Sudanese people made Burhan back off quickly. Sudan’s Information Minister Fasial Saleh reacted similarly this week to Pompeo, stating “The transitional government does not have the mandate… to decide on normalization with Israel. This matter will be decided after the completion of the transitional authority.” In other words, come back to us when we have a permanent government, we can’t handle the disruption now.

In February, it seemed Sudanese leaders were testing the waters on warming relations with Israel, knowing such a move would please Washington and maybe convince it to remove Sudan from the SST list. Whether the Sudanese government transitions to democracy, reverts to a military dictatorship, or lands somewhere in between, its economy desperately needs the international assistance it cannot access while still on the infamous list.

The Trump administration need not have attached a price tag for Sudan’s long-ago dalliance with Osama Bin Laden. There is little to be gained by this maneuver except to extend the suffering of the Sudanese people and make it harder for the civilian, democratic forces in that country to prevail. But this is the nature and character of the Trump administration. If Sudan should finally find its economic and democratic balance, they are not likely to forget how the United States treated thm as they tried to build their country.

Yup 50 cents per post pushing CCP propaganda.

I think after killing his wife he knew it was over for him and life in prison.... So why not take out some black people too.... This is amerikkka afterall.

You guys should research what the
50 cent army is.... . Stay vigilant .....

"into his personal bank account"
Not very smart .

J111333:
Killing Gadhafi has caused more harm than good in Libya.

Gaddafi is not immortal .... It was always going to end like this..... Right now we should just be focused on countering the Eurasian Turkish invasion of an African nation.

JaceBlaze:
By far the best and richest soccer league in Africa - the PSL

S o c c e r
O
C.
C.
E.
R.

Lame

OLAADEGBU:

Obama, the so called first black president who was actually an oreo who didn't do anything for black people but did everything for Latino immigrants and lgbt . He was put in power in order to improve the image of a racist system and to give false hope to people that racism is over

-_-

rationalhuman:
Seems to me now they have realized their power is better to be written on papers only.
BTW yesterday they claimed 10% of entire Bhutan as well. lol

They are claiming western Bhutan because they want to be in a good position to block off East india

Don't worry India .... They'll be back when they think nobody is looking, apparently china is now also claiming Vladivostok too!
The more powerful they get the more outrageous their territorial claims will be

OLAADEGBU:
It's of The Devil! Pastor John MacArthur says Black Lives Matter is an Organisation Designed by Satan

Oh wow. White man enjoying the status quo inherited by a history of white supremacy says that BLM is the devil....
Omg... Who would've seen this coming

I smell 4chan on this poster........
He's here just to try manoeuvre us into supporting right wing white supremacy by proxy.

He attempts to sanitize trump
He attempts to turn us against BLM as if fighting racism offends him.

Anyone who doesn't see this will eventually.

So according to the poster . BLM has nothing to do with systematic racism in u.s institutions especially the police and justice system. It's all about daddy trump apparently �

Article brought to you by the wmd guys.
Reader beware

bolaayenimo:
Biden all the way

How about neither

It may be Corona coz his wife was airlifted to Kenya for Corona treatment....

"cruelest in world history" nah, that title was written by a white guy. We all know white people have committed the worst atttocities in history, idi Amin can't compete.

Biden would throw black people with drugs in prison but ensure that white with drugs get "rehab" . Democrats, the left wing of white supremacy.

Welcome to the fake eco ..... The neo-cfa, if France is happy it means we have taken an L .

kikuyu1:


The KHAZARS are Turkic not Turks from S Russia. The Jewish author who revealed it in the 70s was assassinated.



Fyi, that Haaretz is MSM Impostor media.

THEY ARE IMPOSTORS!? Its no secret.

Is it just me or is Nairaland is being swarmed by 4channers spreading Jew shit all over the place... Remember the enemy has an always will be the colonizer . Don't let em make you believe that one colonizer is more evil than the other. Be they Jew or Anglo they are both white supremacist.

This reads like right wing bullshit, the kind of crap that cambridge analytica would come up with. ...

Please watch this channel.... It will expose this propaganda for what it is at its root... White supremacist propaganda

https://m.youtube.com/user/Vote3rdParty

OK2NVME:


You seem not to understand the reason why miscegenation is being aggressively pushed by the Jew

You sound very much like a 4chan white supremacist attempting to recruit Africans in your white civil war against the Jews

LastNL:

[s]A bridge in Guangdong province has been temporarily closed down after freaking out commuters.

Footage from Tuesday shows the Humen Bridge, which spans the Pearl River connecting Guangzhou to Dongguan, noticeably swaying up and down in the wind while supporting heavy traffic.

Clips after the road was cleared shows the bridge continuing to move like a wave.
[/s]
WATCH VIDEO AND SEE PHOTOS HERE

Shameless..... Fake link , probably fake story

We should be like the Igbo, proud and don't kiss foreign ass....... This is step 1

Well, the Irish were considered "n**rs" by the British and were even starved by them, so we have somewhat of a shared history against colonialism. But the e.u might be using them as a Trojan horse to have an ear and influence in our affairs.....

I appreciate the collaboration but keep a close eye on them.