The birth of a nation

The lack of coverage on the Sudan/South Sudan split seems to echo the typical freshman-level philosophy teaser about whether a tree falling in a forest produces any sound if there is nobody around!

Of course, "who cares about South Sudan" is to be expected in the rather narcissistic and navel-gazing American daily life.

Even when a mid-sea disaster off the Sudanese coast  killed almost 200 African migrants trying to get to Saudi Arabia, it registered lower decibels compared to to the story on a boat capsizing in Mexico--because it had American tourists.

Such a skewed view of the world is no surprise.  Yet, I am shocked, shocked, as Captain Renault put it so well in Casablanca.

There is, thankfully, the BBC and Al Jazeera.

On July 9th, South Sudan will officially become the latest country on this planet.

It does not mean that life will be peaceful from the 9th on, after decades of atrocious violence.  I worry that things will get even worse.  The Sudanese split will not be a Czechoslovakian story.  Perhaps I am projecting here an understanding of the history of the sibling rivalry ever since the partition of India, where I was born, and Pakistan.