Starting in 1967 when Sudan broke diplomatic ties with the US following the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli war, relations have been strained between the two countries. Long accused of supporting terrorists, Sudan backed Iraq in its invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and reportedly provided sanctuary and assistance to terrorist groups including Carlos the Jackal, Osama bin Laden, and Abu Nidal.
In 1997 President Bill Clinton imposed comprehensive economic, financial, and trade sanctions on Sudan because of the country’s support for international terrorism, efforts to destabilize neighboring governments, and myriad human rights violations including slavery and the denial of religious freedom. In 2005 and 2006 the United Nations issued two resolutions augmenting the international response to Sudan, particularly the Darfur region. The UN called on member states to take measures against those responsible for the continuing conflict and violence against women and civilians.
The US maintains a number of sanctions on Sudan, though the Obama administration expanded diplomatic relations and relaxed some restrictions in 2010. As of July 2011, restrictions were lifted from South Sudan, allowing the US to provide assistance and engage in business and trade. It is believed that current sanctions on Sudan could impact South Sudan, including restrictions on the oil and financial sectors in the North.
Mark Sappenfield
Dear Reader,
About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:
“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”
If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.
But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.
The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.
We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”
If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.
