back to article Darfur genocide mapped from space

Google and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum today launched the "Crisis in Darfur" Google Earth initiative which offers users a handy guide to the systematic destruction of the Darfur region of Sudan as a result of an ongoing conflict between local rebel groups and pro-government militias. Crisis in Darfur overlay on Google …

COMMENTS

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  1. Danny

    And Iraq ?

    With more than 655,000 proven dead in Iraq (Lancet), doesn't it qualify for a Genocide-Google map ? Or is it just when US/UK forces aren't involved that we are encouraged to be outraged ?

  2. Ilya

    Oh, Iraq is yet to come

    The way the wind blows, we have seen nothing yet in Iraq.

    American and British troops are yet to withdraw, and THEN the real butchering will start.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    and North Korea?

    Why all the focus on Darfur? It is a relatively new "holocaust" compared to the systematic death and destruction in North Korea. Couldn't Google make maps showing where all the North Korean gulags are? Where are all the human-rights-activist liberals crying out for freedom for North Korea? Where are they on the subject of China forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees? Where is the UN?

    I'll tell you. Forcing an issue in Darfur is easy compared to dealing with North Korea and China. Things might actually get difficult for all of us if we force this issue. Many thousands might be killed. Never mind the fact that people are dying today or sold into slavery because we refuse to face the truth. This stance on Darfur, and Iraq for that matter, speaks volumes about how committed some are to liberalism rather than human rights.

  4. Matt

    you know

    I fail to see why we should care?

    We don't run the country and we don't live on the borders of the country.

    If we got directly involved we'd end up in another quagmire. If they want to butcher each other then let them it's not our problem nor is it our fault.

    Imperial guilt is something people like to hold over the west but but it's junk and just another example of lilly minded left-wingers trying to go "o it's not they're fault, it's our fault"

    "It's the websites fault kids "bully" teachers online and get away with it becouse they can upload videos."

    "It's societies fault kids are abusive and violent becouse we don't give them enough respect."

    "It's the wests fault that African countries are poor and spend a large amount of their time killing each other becouse of the empires and business."

    "It's our fault black kids fail at school becouse of slavery."

    I could go on and on and on. It's not our fault, it's not our problem, we have enough problems of our own to deal with.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Whiter than white

    ""When it comes to responding to genocide, the world's record is terrible." It is probably not in the UN's interest to act in Darfur. As long as the UN remains aloof and concerned, it is praised for its restraint. It retains its air of righteousness. If the UN was to act, it would have to be without the help of the US, in order to avoid accusations that it is the puppet of an evil neo-colonialist Christian empire-builder. And without US help, UN intervention would be disastrous, and would probably lead to a situation whereby the murderous militia are hired to guard the refugee camps. The UN has nothing to gain from acting in Darfur, and nothing to lose from not acting; it might as well choose the easier path.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Darfur Crisis Reported but The Iraq Crisis is Not

    While undoubtedly the Darfur situation is terrible, notably absent from the reporting by Google and most of the the media is the terrible situation in Iraq:

    650,000 have been killed

    http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2006/burnham_iraq_2006.html

    Almost four million made refugees

    http://www.theirc.org/what/iraqi-refugees.html

    Its resources plundered

    http://uruknet.info/?p=m31909&s1=h1

    If it was simply a numbers game, Iraq's crisis is greater than that of Darfur. Perhaps it's time Google had a "Global Awareness" section on the crisis in Iraq.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    agreed on Iraq

    We absolutely must do something with the two groups responsible for those numbers. First, the statisticians at The Lancet must be fired for making a 95% Confidence Interval so wide as to make the number of deaths reported meaningless. In the end, though, did you care when Saddam was filling mass graves and perpetuating an actual, by the definition, genocide? Second, we must take care of the Islamic terrorists who have committed most of the actual deaths.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    darfur does not equal iraq because...

    iraq and darfur are not equal simply because the darfuri[?] are killing eachother out of so-called economic and political motivations rather than religious and political reasons. surely, as enlightened westerners , we can remove our concientious burdens from the crusades and like occurrences long enough to get a grip on the facts here. rant about genocide all you want. this is more "ethnicide" than other. it is intertribal war carried out in modern day times by those who reject not only global society's mutability , but any alteration of a status quo with their tiny minds in charge, the locust steering the lion. and, since we should be comparing apples to apples, may i present: idi amin, your tour guide to the most comparable event in history. for those not familiar with him, google,yahoo,altavista,wikipedia and what-not to your content. there is even a recent american movie about this monster , who recently died in saudi arabia ; in genteel exile...

    "enough, i grow tired of this sport!"

  9. Charlie

    I agree Matt

    Why should we care about anyone else?

    I mean, if you were tortured and had your house burnt down, it wouldn't bother me at all.

  10. Greg

    Re: Matt

    Sweet Monkey Tuesdays, Matt, I hope that comment's a piss-take. Why should we care about 200 000 dead? Gee, let me think... Next time some genocidal nutjob appears in Europe, should we leave him be? Not our problem, after all.

    We shouldn't be doing something about this because we caused it, or they caused it, or it's all x, y and z's fault. We should be doing something about it because we can. And because it's a filthy disgrace that we'll march in and topple governments so we can have some oil, but we won't do the same thing where it's actually needed.

  11. Gary McCabe

    Matt?

    Hi Matt,

    define "we".

    Gary

  12. Connor Garvey

    Matt

    I agree with Matt. Who cares if Katrina kills and displaces thousands. It didn't affect me. What do I care if a tornado destroys my neighbor's house. I'm happy as long as I got mine.

    I'm an American, but I'd still call this typical self-centered self-serving right wing Americanism. Blame it on the left-wingers. It was the right wingers that ran around screaming about Iraq until we started a war there. It'll be the liberals that clean it up. Now, the neo-cons are asking why we should help people in Darfur when their country isn't on our border. It'll likely be the left that pushes to solve that problem too.

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