Where Would You Invade?

Where would you invade? (Check all that apply.)
a. Iraq
b. Sudan
c. Georgia

Global politics is a funny thing.

It seems like no matter how principled we can seem about invading coutries and starting "conflicts", we really sort of do it on a 'whether I'm in the mood' basis.

I've identified two places that it might be a prinicipled stand to invade, just like we did in Iraq.

After reading "Darfur Withers as Sudan Sells Food" from the NYT on food supplies in Sudan, I was really pretty surprised and troubled? Appalled? Frustrated?

"Take sorghum, a staple of the Sudanese diet, typically eaten in flat, spongy bread. Last year, the United States government, as part of its response to the emergency in Darfur, shipped in 283,000 tons of sorghum, at high cost, from as far away as Houston. Oddly enough, that is about the same amount that Sudan exported, according to United Nations officials."

So it seems like the leaders of Sudan are being cruel to their people. A little bit like how Saddam Hussein was being cruel to his people. (We can have an argument about the greater villany: gassing villages or allowing the survivors of genocide to starve slowly.)

And after reviewing Jason's recommended reading to catch myself up on what's going on in Georgia (NYT: Taunting the Bear) , I wonder if we might not be inserting ourselves there too. The rights of a sovereign nation (Georgia) or the rights of an oppressed people (South Ossettia). We can go in supporting either team. The bonus is that there is an oil pipeline in the mix too.

My real point is not to war monger, it's to say (with my somewhat shallow understanding of the global socio-political situation) that I think maybe we should have stayed home altogether.