Media Analysis

‘Trump is bullying Sudan into embracing Israel. It won’t turn out well’

In a pre-election maneuver, the Trump administration just pressured Sudan into partially normalizing relations with Israel — but experts warn that the move could backfire, and jeopardize Sudan’s fragile democracy.

Meanwhile, the danger does seem to be receding that Trump will try to bolster his shrinking re-election chances by goading Iran into conflict, but his pliable director of national intelligence did distort a possible Iranian cyber intervention in the U.S. election.

First, Sudan. Trump’s White House announcement about normalization with Israel is exaggerated. The agreement does not include full diplomatic relations and exchange of ambassadors, unlike Israel’s earlier deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. What’s more, Trump applied considerable pressure on Sudan to reach even the limited arrangement in order to boost his own re-election. As the New York Times noted,

A senior Sudanese official said his government had bowed to months of American pressure over Israel, despite fears of domestic backlash. . . Sudanese officials have privately complained of being railroaded into a deal over Israel that was driven by American political interests, at a time when Sudan is struggling to get onto its feet.

Sudan is fragile after emerging from three decades of dictatorship. The country is ruled by a rickety military-political coalition, pending elections scheduled for 2022. An Israeli expert, Yonatan Touval, pointed out in Haaretz that: 

Trump is bullying Sudan into embracing Israel. It won’t turn out well.

Sudan’s civilian leadership is aware that many Sudanese remain sympathetic to the Palestinian cause; protesters burned the Israeli flag in Khartoum. Touval continues: 

. . . the aggressive manner in which the Trump administration is forcing Sudan’s hand risks undermining the country’s delicate process to democratic rule. . . 

To get the deal, the U.S. removed Sudan from an American list of state sponsors of terrorism. It is Sudan’s military that pushed for normalization with Israel, chiefly General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemeti,” — who is widely known (and hated). He commanded the notorious janjaweed forces that committed widespread killings and torture in western Darfur province in the mid 2000s.

Yonatan Touval asks,

If normalization with Israel carries the cost of strengthening players like him, it behooves us to ask whether it is worth the benefits, not least for Sudan, but also for Israel.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, Dan Ratcliffe, tried to blame Iran for cyber interference in the U.S. election — which suggests that the administration has not entirely given up on its plot to provoke conflict with Teheran. In a comprehensive analysis, the respected National Iranian America Council did acknowledge that Iran may have in fact tried to interfere — but on a far smaller scale than Russia, which Ratcliffe was relatively quiet about. In a New York Times report, a senior U.S. intelligence official said privately that the Iranian action was the equivalent to 

playing single A baseball, while the Russians are major leaguers. 

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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/24/sudans-political-parties-reject-israeli-normalisation-deal

Al Jazeera, Oct. 24/20
“‘Ignition of new war:’ Sudan political parties reject Israel deal”
“Sudanese demonstrate in the capital against the deal that several political parties say transitional gov’t is not authorized to sign.”
EXCERPT:

“Sudanese political parties have rejected the government’s decision to normalize relations with Israel, with officials saying they will form an opposition front against the agreement.

“Dozens of Sudanese people demonstrated in the capital Khartoum on Friday following the joint statement from Israel, Sudan and the United States on Friday saying that the two countries agreed to ‘end the state of belligerence between their nations.’

“A statement from Sudan’s Popular Congress Party, the second most prominent component of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) political coalition, said Sudanese people are not obligated to accept the normalization deal.

“’We see that our people, who are being systematically isolated and marginalized from secret deals, are not bound by the normalization agreement,’ the statement said.

“’Our people will abide by their historical positions and work through a broad front to resist normalization and maintain our support for the Palestinian people in order for them to obtain all their legitimate rights.’

“Sudan’s former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi also slammed the announcement, adding that he withdrew from a government-organized religious conference on Saturday in Khartoum in protest.

“’This transitional government hijacked the Sudanese position to satisfy regional and international intelligence agencies,’ he said.

“Protesters in Khartoum took to the streets and chanted ‘no peace, no negotiation, no reconciliation with the occupying entity’ and ‘we will not surrender, we will always stand with Palestine’.

“Muhammad Wadaa, a leader in the Sudanese Baath Party, which is part of the FFC, said the anti-normalization front includes a civil force and influential parties from within and outside the forces of freedom and change.

“Wadaa said there are a number of parties within the FFC that warned the transitional government they will withdraw their support if normalization with Israel was agreed to.

“NORMALISATION WITH ISRAEL IS A MOVE THAT IS REJECTED. THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT AUTHORISED TO TAKE SUCH A DECISION WITH A RACIST STATE THAT PRACTISES RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION,” HE SAID.

if you can stand an article put out by the notoriously radical Brookings Institute:

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/09/24/normalizing-sudan-israel-relations-now-is-a-dangerous-game/

Normalizing Sudan-Israel relations now is a dangerous game…Sudan’s revolution was animated by a widespread aspiration among Sudanese to have a say in their own governance, and the relationship with Israel remains a controversial issue. Burhan’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Uganda in January, for example, sent shockwaves throughout the country—not just among Islamists, but among many of the liberal and secular forces that were on the vanguard of the revolution and are committed to pluralism. A decision on normalization cannot be both historic and inconsequential. For a caretaker government—or a set of individuals within it—to make a unilateral decision would mean the move lacks the legitimacy, and therefore the durability and sustainability, that the legislative assembly or an elected government could give it.

We are known around the world as a nation that bullies, bribes, and threatens. George W. Bush and his neocons bullied other nations into joining their unnecessary wars, and attacking sovereign nations, which has resulted in millions dead, injured, and now refugees.

Trump is doing it for personal gain. Having a record of failures, he is at the last minute bullying nations around Israel to make nice with it, and make dramatic announcements that he is bringing peace to the ME. Yet another effort by the reality show host to impress his base. Everyone knows that Israel and Sudan are not waging wars. Americans do not care one way or the other. Trump is hoping for the Nobel Peace Prize to boost his little ego.

Now if Trump and the Prince of failure, Kushner, ended the occupation, and freed he Palestinians, giving them their rights, we can all bring out the champagne.

“… National Iranian America Council did acknowledge that Iran may have in fact tried to interfere — but on a far smaller scale than Russia, which Ratcliffe was relatively quiet about.”

Are you a man or a mou… — pardon, are you a journalist or a warmongering stenographer?

If we read you at all, it is because there is no journalist left anywhere on the official circuit. That means that the discerning reader expects each of you guys writing here, especially those presenting themselves as professional journalists, to do your journalist’s job: investigate and present the facts. Not to quote murderous bullshit unchallenged.

Trump is a bully. Through his life, he’s been a successful bully. It’s what he knows. It’s all he knows.
And he is a wannabe autocrat, so he thinks the people don’t matter, only the leaders. He thinks if he bullies the leaders into doing what he wants, the people will come along perforce. Once they would have. Today?