@@gunterthekaiser6190no disagreement there. Its why i much prefer The Exobomist to Time magazine. The latter is, imo, too focused on America and the West. They rarely cover South America, Africa, Oceania, or SE Asia.
To be fair, even the Ukrainian war is missing from the headlines since the Hamas-Israel conflict. People just move on and forget what doesn't affect them.
there's also a fininte amount of attention to grab. Most people only have so much time to devote each week towards the news and things like empathy have limits, and the news agencies know that so they tend to focus on 1 thing at a time rather than trying to keep people interested in 5 stories at once. The world is also just kind of crazy right now with China threatening to invade Taiwan every 15 minutes, the war in Ukraine, and the recent Israel-Hamas deal. Plenty of people even missed the fact that the prime minister of Japan got assassinated recently.
Also there is nothing wrong with white people preferring other white people over other races. That is natural and a good thing, You have to look out for your own kind first.
A big problem is the corruption too. A friend of mine (at my workplace) who is Sudanese, managed to get his wife and 2 children out of Sudan into our country after 1 year, a lot "payments" to government and embassies (around 15‘000) and a lot of other headaches. I’m glad he managed to get his family into safety.
Am Sudanese and I basically witnessed all the important events this century in my country and I think it is an obscure conflict because it is so complex and confusing to outsiders. You need decades worth of context to know how we got to this point. I was in school when the war broke out and our principal started crying because it was an enormous responsibility to be in a war zone with an entire school on your shoulders. I still have very close relatives there and what they say is that the war is mostly in the capital while the outer cities are MOSTLY unaffected (Edit : well I will be damned, the RSF invaded the second most populous city without resistance from the army) +the Sudanese army is basically doing Jack shit because the RSF are too many. Me and my entire family's homes got robbed to the ground or used as mass graves
God bless you, your family, and your country. There are too many unknown conflicts going on around the globe... and too many rumors of such things. May the Lord watch over all of your people and mete out justice among all evildoers!
❤ As a Sudanese who just lost my uncle to this war. My cousin is been kidnapped and we have no idea where he is, I can't put into words how much I appreciate you covering this conflict. Every single member of my family has been displaced
I) It’s an African conflict II) It’s quite complicated with a bit of history III) It just doesn’t have a good vs evil, no matter which side and way you slice it. Edit: For III I’m not saying that conflicts that receive a lot of attention always have an obvious good vs evil. I’m saying that conflicts where a person’s personal believes allows them to intimately align with one of the sides of the conflict will encapsulate their interests a lot more than those that don’t. Sudan doesn’t have that. That’s all I’m saying.
As an American, I think we tend to just lump all of Africa into a single area that just always seems to have war going on so most people aren't that taken back by it. It's good that people like Simon and others bring more awareness to it. It's really just so unfortunate what human beings are capable of doing to each other and that we seem to be incapable of forgiveness and empathy for the other people
Not attacking you personally, but you know that's at least as ridiculous as lumping Nicaragua together with the USA and thinking of them (and all the other countries on that landmass) as being basically the same thing right?
@@CyanOgilvie No more ridiculous that people who refer to the "collective west." You know because North Dakota, USA is basically the same as the French Riviera.
When I was in an online group therapy a Sudanese woman was in our group. She talked about how she had to close her bakery because of the fighting. She didn't know how she was going to get her mother out of dodge. Eventually our meetings heard bombs exploding consistently over her audio. She dropped out and we haven't heard from her since.
I think the proliferation of communication tech has helped out countries like Ukraine and Israel immensely. Obviously people in Sudan have smartphones and access to the internet, but according to the most recent list I found smartphone penetration in Israel is almost 80%, Ukraine is basically 50%, but Sudan is about 20%. The ability to create images, videos, memes, etc, and distribute them around the world is vital for gaining global recognition. And, as Ukraine has shown, it's also a major part of modern warfighting (maybe that's another video for this channel). The Russian convoy, the stand on Snake Island, Ukrainian tractors stealing Russian tanks, and more all entered the public consciousness in a way that nothing in the Sudan conflict has.
Agreed. The art of the meme is a very important part of the information war. Memes go as far back as long as humanity as existed. Your last 2 points deserve a video on this channel.
Absolutely correct on all counts. Simply put, people are tired of hearing about conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, don’t care about the parties involved or the outcomes of said conflicts, and are increasingly unwilling to support spending more money trying to prop up these seemingly failed or failing states, especially in recent times with inflation, gas prices, and general domestic tensions in the United States.
Is like Haiti. First they won the fight against slavery and the french and US took revenge by putting them in a blockade so they couldn't trade. They had to pay all the money back to the french. Then they got colonized for a period by the US and the little gold reserve they had was taken. So most conflict are being created by western powers. Study the banana wars.
This, and I think another contributing factor is that these regions are also not exactly western friendly, due to our involvement with them in the past. One thing is spending money on projects that keep failing, another thing is spending money on people who are more likely than not to spit in our faces afterwards. To be fair, I don't think it is completely unjustified that they are against us, but I have certainly seen more bitter historical rivalries put to rest which have been nothing but positive
I think one factor that may be relevant for general lack of interest is that this conflict doesn't seem like it could escalate into a much bigger conflict. If Belarus and the EU get involved in Ukraine in a major way, I think it's perceived that it could lead to WW3. It's a large proxy war between super powers. Similarly, the Gaza conflict could pull in Hezbolah and many Arab states making it a much larger conflict. The Taiwan/China situation also captures our attention for the same reason I think. This conflict could fracture Sudan and cause big problems in the future but they are less easy to realise, especially in how it could affect the West. You've done a good job explaining that here but most people don't really see any meaningful consequences to this conflict. Just more bloodshed a long way away. Thanks for making this video.
Ehm what about the refugees, you do realise that most migrants came from place that are unstable such as sudan?so in some ways it will affect the west which is already exasperated by the migration situation
@@wrestlinganime4life288 I do realise that, and this video highlighted that point too, but my comment was not about us watching the video. It was about the fact that most people don't draw those connections or see those as immediate or direct threats. They can see that as a problem for later, something to fix with immigration policy etc. The media reporting is focused on things that will cause strong reactions in the average person as that's what's considered "important" and gets ratings. Refugee crisis does get attention in the news but not constantly, and the countries the people are fleeing from get even less coverage. Refugees fleeing Africa has sadly become seen as the status quo.
Exactly. People equating people's over interest or disinterest to just "RaCiST" is some corny ass claim b.c they want it to be racism and couldn't care anymore than just pressing that to argue, rather than solve anything. The people who have direct unchallenged influence in that country are it's neighbors. Btw the refugees immigrants situation is a non issue unless we bring them here. I've seen only Sudanese/west africans trying to cross in the U.S. it's mostly the privileged that could make it. It's actually west Africans like Senegalese and Mauritians that are close enough in wealth and geographically to make that trip. Atleast for them to get to south America and have cartles finance/loan for them to be trafficked. So most are going to be military age serving men. Then there are Indians. Half being punjabi but atleast half of them are with their families/kids.
This conflict very much has the potential to destabilize major swaths of Africa (it’s already been spilling into many borders). Additionally, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been investing quite a bit in the conflict as a sort of proxy war. When you say it won’t get much bigger, you really mean it won’t affect people in the west. It is getting bigger - but not in a way that westerners feel is relevant to them. I hate that the scale of a conflict is weighed according to how likely it’ll effect westerners
Why people outside of Africa pay more attention to Israel and Ukraine conflicts? The war in Ukraine could lead to ww3 if NATO and Russia end fighting directly and the conflict in Gaza could also escalate greatly if parties like Iran get involved and US responds. So both these conflicts have more potential to actually effect most of the planet whereas a civil war in Africa is a regular thing unlikely to spread to ww3.
Agreed. Those conflicts have the more pressing concerns around them. Am not the best educated in things but... My sterotype of africa is civil conflicts and war breaking out in wee pockets around the land at diffrent levels.
@@derekrotondo8315That logic would make sense. If the West was actually staying out of Africa. I remember vaguely neither one of the different to leave their country and they didn't do it. You should delete your comment cause it makes no sense.
@@derekrotondo8315Arrogance, you act as if the west is actually out of Africa, but they aren’t. You also act as if you’re right. Only a fool would leave Africas potential, China knows this which is also the reason former imperialist countries are cozying up to Africa. Future Superpowers will be in Africa, Latin America, and some Asian Countries. Not a single Empire has stayed on top for decades.
It’s similar to the issue with Myanmar, no journalists and good luck getting a camera in. Journalists were getting kidnapped and arrested for reporting in Sudan BEFORE the war.
also doesnt help that this war has been bubbling away pretty steadily for 20 years now. The place is also so under developed that there's not much social media or home made video being shot so without international journalists not much information is going to get out of the area except what the Sudanese government announces.
Just met a Sudanese engineer the other week. He's in Jerusalem helping build the railway, but as that's on hold for obvious reasons, he spent a Friday volunteering to pick lemons in one of the near-Gaza kibbutzim (apparently the lemon trees in Sudan are very different). First Sudanese I've met who wasn't a refugee that needed our help with their legal status in Israel. Honestly, the only reason I know things have gotten worse in Sudan are smug "why aren't you demonstrating against *this* massacre" twitter takes. Still, I conveyed my well wishes to him, his family and friends, for whatever those are worth.
I call BS! Sudan has had no public schools in 30 years. So a random guy you met from Sudan was educated were? The person you met was probably British from Sudanese linage
@@mtarek2005 Sudan has public education because a few westerners mostly catholic are dedicated, brave beyond belief and donated time, their life to helping. We are talking about basic education not engineering school! I'm Irish decent never been to Ireland and would never introduce myself as Irish. The man the commentor met was almost certainly 100% raised in England and is from Sudanese decent. He his English
don't be ignorant we have schools and colleges, my father finished he's collge year's in north kourdfan (which is not even the best in sudan) and managed to work in qatar, saudi and Ireland
I think there's another aspect that you failed to mention, that it's a civil war, as such, both sides are part of the same country, making it harder to "choose a side", especially without a lot of background that takes a lot of time to catch up with. Syria's civil war was also covered less than other conflicts at the same time. In Ukraine, we have the largest country in the world, invading a neighboring country, and with Isreal and Gaza, it's a country invading an autonomous area (which is not part of Israel) with reporting of the numbers of dead on each side to the media, it's much easier to quantify the harm by each side, which makes it simpler to "choose a side" with much less context. In addition, the type of help needed is clearer, like, in Ukraine, they need weapons and some humanitarian aid. In Sudan, what can the world do to help? Intervene directly? How and who should? Is it even fair to meddle in an internal war with outside forces? Wouldn't that make things even worse?
Technically in Ukraine it was a civil war untill the Russians intervened, but the fact people ignore that adds to your point, people don't care about civil wars.
my worry is if we intervene in some way can it come back to hurt us. with ever government takes over might find it easy to blame everything on the big bad imperialist u.s.. should we help people who are so cultural different from us that we forget about nations like Israel and eastern Europe . people who like us, want to fight for their freedom and want a government that is democratic. it seems that conflicts in this part of the world are a part of life. We should take the lessons from the other middle eastern countries we tried to help and apply them here. i say its not worth it.
modern conflict in Africa seems like the Sengoku Period in Japan or the Warring States Period in China... it isn't that the world isn't watching, it is just happening with such frequency that people aren't reactive when it happens
@@nathanaeld.striker7191it's called Sympathy Fatigue. People stop caring when it's the same BS every time they turn around. It doesn't matter what the West does to try and help, tribalism always ends up ruining everything. Until Africans learn to drop the tribal hostilities and work together, this will keep happening. Westerners don't care anymore because it's been the same shit for generations. The general consensus is "why even bother?"
Very true. I just assume it's all tribalism over there, and there's always some kind of coup or war happening. Furthermore, I think outside powers pretty much recognize it as a problem we can't solve so they choose not to pay attention to it. Makes sense. There really is no solution. The only people who actually found a solution was SA during apartheid, but that wasn't very popular to say the least lol
That and this current fight has been raging for a long time. The War in Darfur was major news when it first started... in 2003... but 20 years later its still dragging on so its simply not news anymore. Even if you ignored the many other wars that have kicked off across the region the world just doesnt react as much when conflicts drag on for decades with little major change. Many people dont even realize that the Afghan Civil War that the Soviets started in the 70s didnt end when they pulled out and it didnt end when the Taliban took over most of the country in the 90s and it was the same war the US was fighting until recently and its still dragging on today as a low intensity insurgency. You need either major changes to the status quo or some climatic battle to grab peoples attention in long drawn out wars, people dont really pay attention to small skirmishes.
1:25 - hey, small detail here BUT the map you’re using there still includes South Sudan. Completely different country with its own issues, still felt worth mentioning!
I think he said “at one point” when showing the map or maybe I’m mistaken. If not then he should have been more attentive to that because mistakes that involve borders can seriously piss some people off.
Parts of the world focus on the conflicts which are the most relevant to them and their culture. What about the Myanmar civil war,? The Armenian refugees? The Ethiopian tensions? And on and on and on. You can't be shocked and appalled 24/7.
@@JonnyCobra Yeah, and it doesnt help that low intensity conflicts tend to be very slow, very complex, and long term and this conflict has going on for most of the 21st century. The current conflict relates to the war in Darfur which started in 2003 and had its roots in ethnic conflict between Arabs and non-Arabs that was going on since at least 1991. I remember hearing a lot about the war when it first flared up in Darfur, that was a popular target for intentional aid and was mentioned a lot by celebrities campaigning for human right, but when a war drags on for a decade or more it stops being news since it stops being the exception and starts being the norm.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It seems like so many others have become so weary from hearing about conflict. I guess that's always been true every since the radio and television.
I think a major part of why Gaza and Ukraine get more attention in the west is that those conflicts have the potential of expanding into much larger world conflicts. While the video makes a good point that Sudan becoming a failed state could make it a hotbed of terrorism, Gaza or Ukraine could easily escalate into a world war.
That, and also with Israel-Palestine it serves as a sort of proxy conflict for many of the divisions in modern society at large- With regards to ethnicity, 2 of the world’s biggest religions, colonialism, etc That’s why so many people around the world feel the need to take sides regarding this conflict on such a tiny sliver of land, while ignoring conflicts in Africa and SE Asia covering much larger territory
@@Cross_network That too, and our tax dollars are in Ukraine and Israel because America is committing to providing military aid to countries with which it has alliances
No it's because the people of Gaza and Ukraine are white and get favored coverage. Meanwhile Arabs in Sudan are targeting ethnic Africans and getting rid of them in the most barbaric way and media refuses to cover it.
Judaism isn't one of the world's largest religions... There are less than 20 million jews around the world today. And that includes non-religious ethnic jews.@@coyotelong4349
I tried to remain up to date on Sudan but the visual media didn’t progress for months. The same videos and pictures were being used 6 months after. Great observation about the media blackout.
A shame VICE didn't cover that conflict too much since they're probably one of the only news channel in yt that don't mind getting age restricted by showing casualties of war. The work they did in Syria was fantastic since the cameramen and jounalist literally risked their lives to get good shots. Don't know why they keep doing USA leftist shit when their foreign shit is clearly more popular and more neutral.
As someone that lived in Khartoum for 2 years (2007-09) and was completely unaware of the current conflict thank you so much for the coverage Simon and Co
Thank you for helping bring this to the forefront. If my country can waste time fawning over Taylor and Travis then they can devote some quality time towards understanding this conflict and discussing how we can bring real peace and stability to that tragically war ravaged area.
Funny thing is I was just talking about the civil war in Sudan like ten minutes ago, but obviously I'm in the minority. Anyway, here's an edgy joke: Guy A: "I'm really excited for my vacation this summer, I'm going to Sudan!" Guy B: "Oh really? So are you going to Sudan proper or South Sudan?" Guy A: "The stable one of course!" Guy B: "So, your not going to Sudan then?"
😂. Yep...as an East African...when something or someplace was chaotic, I use to say "that place is like Mogadishu" now its going to chang " nah...that place is crazy like Khartoum '"
The media coverage disparity between Ukraine, Israel, and Sudan can be argued as stemming from geopolitical interests. Ukraine, at the crossroads of Europe and Russia, is a focal point in the power dynamics between the West (NATO and EU) and Russia. Its strategic importance, especially in the context of Russian aggression, elevates its significance in the global political arena, attracting more media attention. Similarly, Israel's unique position as a democratic nation in a region dominated by non-democratic, predominantly Muslim countries, makes it a key ally and point of interest for Western powers, especially the U.S. and Europe. These countries, therefore, receive heightened media attention due to their pivotal roles in their respective regions and the significant investment of Western countries in their stability and politics. Conversely, Sudan, despite its humanitarian crises, lacks such geopolitical significance to the West, leading to comparatively less media coverage. This reflects a media bias where the value of news is often gauged by its relevance to the strategic interests of powerful nations, rather than the scale of human suffering or need for aid.
@@Chris_Garman NATO, as a collective of sovereign nations, operates under international law and principles of collective security. Its actions are responses from member states, subject to legal scrutiny. Contrastingly, Hamas is widely recognized as a terrorist organization, not bound by such laws and often engaging in terrorism. Defending against Hamas is seen as a counter-terrorism act. The key here is the distinct legal and operational frameworks of state actors like NATO and non-state actors like Hamas. This isn't hypocrisy, but a reflection of different international laws and standards applied to state and non-state entities.
But also,the Ukrainian War is shocking because it is the first international conflict (in Europe)of its kind since WW2. A land grab,the world's largest country(Russia). Also,Russia was expected to take over in a few days,but instead Ukraine ended up taking BACK land. These are two major factors. The next thing to note basically is Myanmar is a civil not international war,it is not unusual,not a land grab,basically etc. Israel Palestine is also something people can have strong opinions about.
Sudan's geopolitical position is the source of its conflict; it is documented that the gold in The west of the country is fueling the war in Russia; it is also undisclosed but has strong ties with Israel. There is uranium in the west. But some events are used as distractions for other heinous purposes. But I agree that the leaders of the West don't care about black people or other people struggling, but about whites and Israelis.
It being a civil war is probably a big factor. Would have to have very good reasons if another country wants to get involved. Especially as neither side in the civil war are particularly "good guys".
I remember learning about the Darfur conflict when I was in middle school and was so heartbroken by it. I had nightmares of being attacked by the Janjaweed for weeks after. I’m now in my 30s with 3 kids and it’s still ongoing and getting worse…
It is a little weird, Africa as a continent wants to be seen as modern and moving away from needing help from the ex-colonial powers but still, some ask why isn't the West helping when maybe they should be asking why isn't African political groups helping, the African Union for example or even Eygpt its powerful neighbor.
it is a bit of a catch 22. West Africa is largely sick of French and European influence in their countries but also often solicit French help fighting terrorism and separatist groups, and they court as much European investment as possible. I get a bit sick of that as an American too as when a war kicks off everyone asks "So what's America going to do?" and if we pick a side we get accused of interfering in foreign affairs, and if we intervene we get accused of imperialism, but if we dont pick sides and dont intervene we get accused of "ignoring the issue" or get accused of being callus to the plight of other countries. Even if the US just sends humanitarian aid we often get accused of using aid as an imperialist tool, people blame the collapse of some African textile industries on the export of donated clothes from the US and there's been a few times food aid was either destroyed because people thought the US was trying to poison them with GMO crops or the food was stolen by some dictator to be sold at a profit. I think the only good solution would be some intervention or aid sent by the African Union. If the African Union cant do it on their own maybe they can lead the effort with outside support from Europe/west or the UN.
Because the AU was structurally set up to be an organization dependent on Western cooperation and organization. The majority of the AU is funded by the EU, not because that is the desire of Africans (save their corrupt heads of state who get paid off by international backers to keep the AU stagnant), but because a developed Africa would mean a sharp decline in standard of living in Europea, Asia, and North America. You ask why isn't the West helping? Because there is very little benefit in a stable and secure Africa whereas instability is a perfect condition for resource extraction and t also disallows for development. Africa also isn't asking the West to do anything but stop interfering. The West likes to place itself at the center of everything, so it is hard for them to imagine that Africans aren't running to them when problems arise. This perverse Western psyche all but demands that problems are manufactured so that not only does the aforementioned occur (previous paragraph), but also Westerners can still be "seen" as the arbiter, thereby re-affirming (I should say, self-affirming) their position as the leaders of the species' global order. As far as the Arabs up north and in the Middle East are concerned---one forgets that these are the first colonizers. The push to control more and more of Africa did not die when European flooded onto African shores and committed their centuries long vandalism of the continent. Though, we could ask the same of Libya. Egypt is their neighbor and has the 2nd or 3rd most powerful military on the continent (behind Nigeria and South Africa---although Senegal may say pound for pound they are stronger), yet Egypt never did much to try to pacify Libya. I think it is important to remember that just because they are neighbor states, it doesn't mean they are obligated to do anything.
Africa consists of 54 countries. Why do so many people think that Africans should all be looking out for each other when they are extremely different entities, each made up very different tribes who are as genetically different from each other as they are culturally different?
@@teeldd I do agree that the West and Middle East benefits greatly from an unstable African region. That is why Egypt got involved in Sudan to create instability in the region in the same manner that the US has frequently done in Latin America and across the globe.
@@Tyiion same reason why NATO, NAFTA, and the EU all exist. People who share borders and share a geographic region have a common goal and can have a mutually beneficial relationship since even though Mexico and the US have different languages, cultures, religion, and ethnicity if Mexico suddenly implodes into a civil war the US is unlikely to be totally unaffected and if the US suddenly launches Civil War 2.0 Revenge of Lee Canada may have a vested interest in not being invaded by the Empire of Lincoln
“Ignored conflicts” So just acknowledge them and thats it? Joining is frowned upon, ignoring is frowned upon. What the fuck do we do? Perhaps these regions should be in conflict for their own growth.
It was honestly war fatigue for me. This in no way is meant to down play the horrors taking place. After South Africans were evacuated I gradually lost interest. The Sudan is almost always at war. This is also why I never bought into the whole "Racism & Africa" narrative. If a war broke out in Botswana (an African country) the whole world would take interest because Botswane is quiet peacefull and constantly ranks as one of the safest countries on the continent.
It's true. Sudan has been fighting for decades and if people know anything about the country, it probably has to do with how unstable it is. It's not right but after years of war, conflict becomes the norm and renewed fighting has no emotional impact.
This is different tho , most of the fighting you’re talking about was happening at remote regions in Sudan, all major cities have always been safe, this time it’s the capital there’s no government it’s just pure war
@@osamataha336 You are probably right, it is different. To the rest of the world though all we see is "war - Sudan". Like I said, I am not down playing the blood shed but reality is people wont even bother to look at it in greater detail because of the history.
@@osamataha336 while this is certainly not the case for people on the ground, for all us a continent away, that is unfortunately a detail in the grand scheme of things
It's simple: Sudan is a minor power that has almost no impact on western countries' economy/agriculture or western politician wallets. Unless the conflict disrupts trade in the red sea, it's doubtful anything will develop
This is how I see it as well. We heard tons on Niger and Burkina Faso because their actions were affecting western nations, even if only in a economic way. Sudan doesn't have such western interests or "trade deals" in it, so the west doesn't care. We will come back to people complaining about not getting Sudan stable when it becomes a hotbed for terrorists and they strike out at westerners. Til then, just gotta wait for it to happen.
Internal conflicts always get less coverage as it's, by definition, an internal issue. Country on country conflicts get more attention as it has bigger impacts outside of the conflict area.
I do always get annoyed when people act like it's a surprising fact that people actively pay more attention to groups of a closer relation to them. It's a rather obvious thing that people don't have equal attention every single individual on this earth. It is a hurdle to get over that most people who can't point to Sudan on a map, instead of trying to shame people about that fact, accept it as a fact of the matter and put your effort into thinking about how to get around it instead of wasting energy on shaming people. I don't even know the faces or names of people who live like 3 blocks from me.
I wasn't so much ignoring it so much as I had no idea it was occurring. Watching the news severely worsens my depression to the point that even my medical team recommended avoiding it wherever possible. It feels like nothing good will ever happen again.
Same, I don’t want to ignore things and focus on positivity completely, but also can’t watch people be murdered everyday and not let the self-harm thoughts in again. The only way I managed to stop it was to lessen my exposure to maybe an hour or so every other day. And do a lot of personal improvement and occasional donation on the side. When I have money
@michaeldimare3786 Best to focus on things you can actually help. Your local community and making it better. Really, if everyone did that instead of being plugged into the whole world and screaming into the void about things they have 0 influence over, the world would be a much better place.
Reading news instead of watching helps me, and I dont go down the rabbit hole, 1 hour a day, no more. I skip the political fighting within my country and stick to actual news. No political pundits allowed
Personally I care more about the Russia-Ukraine because of my proximity to it, if an all-out war begins in Europe my country will defiantly be involved. So yes I know that the situation in Sudan could cause long term issues but right now I'm more worried about the current threat looming over Europe.
I think there are a number of factors but the primary ones are that Africa is perceived, rightfully, as being in a constant state of war and most westerners don’t do much differentiating between the countries in the continent. So Simon is absolutely correct with the “par for the course” bit. A second major reason is that there isn’t a side for people to take. Ukraine and Israel-Palestine are conflicts in which people are fixated on rooting for the “good side”, whichever they perceive it to be. Sudan and many African conflicts are between unsavory figures on both sides.
Also it doesnt help that there isnt much for media in the region. In places like Ukraine there are civilian and military drones all over and everyone's got a smartphones and posting everything on social media to such a degree analysts were able to do things like track specific Russian units from their normal bases in Russia across the country and to the specific part of Ukraine they're meant to be fighting in all based off social media posts from people living near the rail lines. Sudan meanwhile is one of the least developed parts of the world. Also doesnt help that Sudan doesnt have many major cultural or economic ties to major powers like the US (and often when people claim that "the world" isnt paying attention they just mean the US who dominates global media).
Africans hate white people (the colonizers) but then cry that we don't care enough about them. I care about them as much as they care about me. My family was Jewish up until a few generations ago and they migrated here from Poland, Ukraine's neighbor so I'm far more invested in those conflicts
Ya just an old school warlord slugfest, I honestly think they probably could have captured a narrative about the oppression enslavement and massacre of black Africans by Arabs, but even then it wouldn’t have worked because the people oppressing black people in Sudan are Afro Arabs rather than white.
Idi amin killed around 500.000 people and yes he is a monster. King Leopold from Belgium killed around 20 million Africans. Hitler, stalin killed millions more on their own continent. The problem is the west doesnt really cares about Africans then only humiliations and racial slurs. They overthrow strong governments that try to take control over their own recources...think about patrice lumumba who was murdered by belgium...how can a normal african country do fair business in such a situation?
Africa is not perceived as always being at war, except by racist trolls. Most countries are at peace and many have enjoyed peace for decades - which something of a rarity, but a rarity for any continent, not just Africa. (For pedants: Antarctica excepted.)
This was very informative and interesting thank you for sharing. I would like to mention there is also an awful civil was in Yemen that is also being heavily ignored! Edit: Just finished the video and you did mention Yemen, thank you!
This reminds me of the repeated violent flare ups in the Kivu Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A conflict involving dozens of vicious militias and countless massacres of civilians which has now been dragging on for decades with no end in sight. And which commands very little news coverage and public interest.
Thank you for talking about my country... really, thank you for not ignoring this crucial question about this sad conflict that caused us to suffer at home and abroad.
Please level out your vocals (using a compression filter) when you make a video. Sometimes your voice dips down at too low of a volume to understand you. This has been the case for several of your videos I have watched. I have to turn on captions just to know what's being said during the low points.
I'll be brutally honest: because no one cares. At least no one where I am in the world. I live in Japan, I'm non-Japanese, and no one over here knows or cares about the Sudanese civil war because it's so far separated by geography, race and culture. If Sudan was a major trading partner or something, they might care, but it's not, and so they don't. I imagine the same goes for western countries: they have enough on their mind, so a civil war in a distant continent that always seems to be juggling several civil wars at the same time and whom aren't a big trading partner or culturally/ethnically related or of strategic interest, it's not a big concern. We'd hope that people don't' die, obviously, and things are resolved peaceably with minimal deaths. But tl:dr we've got our own problems.
yet, they care so much for israel, so much so, they had a peaceful protest. another nation that is far away and are no where near East Asian. this is a lack luster explanation and a bunch of word junk. no one cares about african affairs in general.
The west did care to a point early on. There was a fair amount of talk about it in media in the US when the "Darfur War" kicked off in the early 2000s, I can remember hearing stories of celebrities raising charity drives and visiting refugees inbetween stories of the war on terror, but after awhile war fatigue set in and without any major changes the west quit caring. This war has dragged on for 20 years now and has its roots in older ethnic conflicts that stretch back to the Cold War and the colonial era. Doesnt help the region is extremely isolated, the government doesnt want many outsiders going in, and there's little to no domestic news in the region making it so that most of the limited info getting out is either info spread by word of mouth or released by the Sudanese government.
As someone who lives in the West, it's not talked about as much. It only came up when Wanger group was in the country, and tried to kick us out. After Progizih's "death" it dropped and everything went back to normal. The Videos of the MiGs doing bombing runs was the last thing I saw.
I think most media and people ignore these conflicts, because some parts of Africa are always in civil war or having a coup, or hostile force trying to take over.
I travelled for six weeks through Sudan in 1986. The people were peaceful, calm and helpful. Never encountered any aggression or impatience anywhere. I formed an extremely positive view of the people. It's tragic war has come to their country.
I remember the day this happened when I saw this on my feed. I’m from the United States and I was glad that people were talking about it and I saw it a couple of times on the tv but then it unfortunately faded away never to be talked about again
In relation to the lack of coverage, speaking to those I know who have travelled through African continent they voiced the collective opinion that it is assumed there is always fighting in the continent so this conflict is nothing out of the ordinary.
I think the larger reason for apathy is the lack of change in the overall outlook and quality of life. How much money was poured in and for what? I know Africa is very large and many different reasons are for the current situations, but the help doesn't seem to have made a difference
I get it too as an African, my country🇰🇪is safer and we give alot to wartorn countries but however many refugees we accommodate, however much donations we give nothing changes, all that donor aid goes straight into the pockets of war lords and connected individuals, they then send their children to study abroad and buy up properties in Nairobi and Johannesburg.
Great video Simon. Shouldn't other AFRICAN countries try and help de-escalate the conflict in Sudan? Europe and US are somewhat busy with Ukraine and China respectively.
@@--enyo-- on their own few do, but a joint African Union mission could work. They had some limited success in Somalia. Africa does need to solve more of its own problems domestically since the only alternatives are 1. Ignore the problems and continue business as usual, which can mean doing trade with dictators and trading in conflict goods, or 2. allow the west to intervene which most African countries dont want.
@@arthas640 You need to get your facts right. Nigeria and West African countries intervened, ending the conflict in Liberia and S Leone. Uganda and Burundi subdued the terrorists in Somalia. In Mozambique, Rwanda was responsible for defeating the Islamic terrorists. In the case of Sudan, the country wants to be part of the Arab League and prefer support from the Arab nation such as Egypt, UAE and S Arabia. African nations have done more than Europe that can barely assist Ukraine with the help of Uncle Tom, just like in 1942 when the Americans had to bail out Europe from its brutal World War 1 and 2.
I hardly write comments, but I would really like a 4 hour video about the history. The video about Israel and Palestine has really confirmed my view that most conflicts in the world are way to complicated to say side a is good and side b is evil. So please expand on that. And yes Simon, I know you dislike long videos, but please let it happen.
I think one of the major reasons it doesn't get the same coverage in the west is who the perceived enemy/aggressor is. Much more of the world probably considers Russia to be more of an adversary, so it is a country everyone is much more familiar with. With that mindset, the outcome of the conflict is believed to have a greater effect on the world in the future.
The suddanese student hit the nail on the head. Even though we feel for the innocent people it's hard to care when when that part of the world is always in conflict.
Great that you have covered this! One other factor is tge lack of a good guy/bad guy narrative. It doesnt sound like any faction has the people's benefit at heart.
Is it just me, or did we not all that long ago took a more global view of word events, and of what the UN endeavours to do in response? It is quite telling (and frightening) to realise how much is actually going on out there. Thank you for keeping us in the loop
The UN relies very heavily on the French to actually provide the troops on the ground to calm down most of the Sudan region ethnic violence. The French are sick of sending their boys to be killed there only to be told their help isn't wanted. Most of the money involved in the fighting comes from warlords backed by various Arabic sects. IF you want to resolve the problems you cut off the flow of terrorist oil money. But that isn't something any of the main middle eastern players want to do, because they all think they're cleverer than each other.
In civil war it is much more difficult to understand which side you should support. I think this is one reason why Russia tried to portray war against Ukraine (from 2014 to 2022) as civil conflict inside Ukraine.
As a german, the war on ukraine had very real impact on my life. Gas shortage made it very expensive to stay warm in the winter. Also, a lot of wheat for our bread and pasta used to come from Ukraine, prices doubled. Taking an active role in delivering weapons had to be discussed in the german public. The debates also showed us how bad our own military infrastructure is. So there were many reasons for us to pay close attention to what happens in Ukraine. To be completely honest, I hadn't even heard of the sudanese conflict. Before this video, I couldn't find Sudan on a map. After watching this video, I won't be able to do so, either. I'm sorry, but have to admit I still don't care. This sounds awful, I know. But the world is such a crazy place, I have limited resources to care for people around the world. I'm already, constantly, in a state of war/crisis fatigue. There just never seems to be an end to the suffering. I'm sorry, but if I don't put my blinds on every now and then, if I don't go deaf on some cries, I'll go insane. Sorry
I respect your honesty. However, I challenge you to believe that your heart is big enough to care about all of humanity beyond what affects you directly. Send a good word or prayer to those suffering and that is enough. We can’t all make a big difference but we can care. Best wishes to you.
I reckon one of the main reasons why America / NATO are focusing more their attention on supporting and funding Ukraine is because they are directly up against Russia and this gives them an A Reason and an excuse to test their modern equipments against Russia's modern equipment as a way to gauge the effectiveness of American equipment and America / NATO in general if they were to attack or be attacked by Russia and also China as China and Russia have been sharing and selling equipment to each other for years
1:21 Was not expecting this channel to not recognize South Sudan. Hoping the rest of this video isn't this shoddy? Or were you trying to avoid drawing lines around Abyei? It feels especially weird when, right now, South Sudan is not involved in the conflict, but some people are worried it could become involved if the fighting spreads to Abyei. Edit: Good video -- still a pretty wild oversight for a show that's all about graphics imo
I love when warographics gets serious about today issues, use your platform to try and bring some light into the darkness that most people are happy to live within. To me, in this day and age, ignorance is chosen, so whenever someone use their voice to try and cast some light into some most neglected issue is a net positive, no matter the size or bias, if you get more people talking about something, chances are more people will star caring about that thing. Thank you.
I think a big part of it right now, specifically after October, there was 2 major conflicts going on. People can only keep up with a limited number of things
sudan falling into civil war has next to zero chance of escalating to WWIII israel/palestine and Ukraine/Russia can very easily, and quickly escalate very *VERY* quickly.
I think part of the reason the conflict is ignored because there's no clear perceived "good guy". You have a lying military coup dictator vs a lying military coup potential dictator. Also consider that media likes to very much biasedly pick a side to cover. Also agreed that war fatigue is a big part of it, with Africa as a whole and the middle east being frequent hot spots of rapidly escalating and deescalating conflicts.
Civil wars might be awful, but they don't imply the same threat as international wars like Ukraine that they could get much bigger. Gaza isn't exactly an international war, but it's in the vicinity and could blow up into a wider war. Sudan is a war that so far doesn't look like it blow up into an international war. It's nothing particular to Sudan, just the lack of interest when there's the lack of threat outside the conflict zone. Probably doesn't apply to Sudan's neighbors, but the video didn't discuss their media.
Funny thing is though, Sudan is already becoming a proxy war of sorts. Before the civil war began, the Wagner Group gave a lot of support (and apparently weaponry) to the RSF, and Ukraine actually took a moment away from their war with Russia to directly attack the RSF infrastructure obtained from Wagner with drones on behalf of the SAF (Sudan's military government). Egypt reportedly has also meddled in a couple of aspects. It may not be in any immediate danger of setting off World War III, but Sudan is FAR from an isolated internal conflict. It definitely should be getting more attention.
The wars been mostly just contained to the region (which is helped by the fact that Sudan is fuckin _huuuuge_ and relatively isolated) and if that fact hasnt changed much since the conflict started in 2003 its unlikely to really blow up in the near future.
Heartless as this is going to sound, horrible as the fighting in Sudan is, it's basically their problem. Horrible for those living in Sudan, but it doesn't have much impact on the wider world, similar to similar devastating conflicts in Ethiopia or Yemen. If it doesn't impact our lives, we aren't likely to pay much attention, save for a distant sympathy. The fact Sudan's been at war for over 40 years doesn't help much, either.
It's literally a "you made your bed, so lay in it" situation. Westerners don't care anymore because it's the same shit every day. Why should we care when they're still going to be fighting in another 40 years?
@@EVILJAMARRit's no more dehumanizing than ages old tribalism preventing folks from living in peace. Why the hell should the West care about a region that has been fighting for 40 years, and shows no desire to change? Sudan made this mess, so let them deal with their own BS. The West isn't obligated to concern themselves with this, since the West didn't cause it. Take your bleeding heart to Sudan and see if you can fix it. I'm 40 years old, and can't remember a time when Sudan wasn't a dumpster fire. I'm tired of hearing about it. There are nations who contribute far more to the global community, who are currently fighting wars they didn't start, to whom we have an actual obligation.
@@artnull13perhaps because it was caused by the West and continues to be fueled by the major powers in the West who have hidden agendas. Self-interests are at the heart of it. And that is affecting everyone living in the US, Uk and Europe, whether you agree with it or not. Judging by the outpouring of sympathy and support for the Palestinian people, it seems clear that the majority of people do not support their governments’ stance.
If there’s “War Fatigue” in the media, concerning the atrocities happening in Sudan, I think the same could be said about any conflict in the Middle East. Particularly what’s going on now between Israel and the Palestinians. It’s all wrong, but the interests of America and our media, and other powerful countries, is in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Not Africa, plain and simple. That’s really sad, and it dehumanizes the people of Africa and desensitizes many people to their sufferings.
It's not as important as everything else, it's the chance of two world wars from pretty powerful people. The war in Sudan wouldn't expand that far nor that dangerous to US interest at least, maybe if Russia and China are more involved then we will jump in and cover what's going on.
Thank you for your telling of this conflict. It is unfortunate, that any conflict that has no large East or West national backers, and a country with little recourses with a history of mentally unstable governments, where it is difficult to comprehend any good guys, will always be placed under the radar.. Many would say, there are some conflicts that have no reason or end in sight, and that they would rather put their efforts into less complicated, less ethnic and more profitable conflicts, than being drawn into pointless, continuous wars. One of the reasons for the divide and attention in the Middle East, is that Israel back the West and the other nation states deal with the East, not forgetting of course all that oil... Arabia, as it was known during WW1, was considered a pointless waste land, with some gems on the side. When the Principalities and countries were formed, they had no idea of the wealth residing under the earth. Getting back on subject, Sudan has small quantities of petroleum, iron, copper, chromium, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver and gold. Not exactly what the bigger nations are looking for, to fill their pockets. The loss of life is horrendous, the way people are dying is barbaric and evil.... A solution must be found... But if you ask the typical European, Yank, Russian or Chinaman, to point at Sudan on a map, most will not be able too and will only give a shrug of the shoulders.
Because it’s literally just between two warlords, who want power for themselves there’s no noble cause.there’s no righteousness there’s nothing it’s just pure human greed and megalomania. What’s there to talk about?
@@blackwatertv7018 I mean, regional interests, some supposed foreign influences, the migration pressures and Egypt being at risk of the consequences. Like Myanmar, there's potential for regional fallout and the possibility for powers to influence the outcome (Wagner, China in the latter instance), but it doesn't immediately involve Western concerns like Ukraine/Russia Israel/Palestine. I do still find it rather annoying how often people just seem to repeat things they see on social media when they can tell me all about one conflict from whatever biased info they're getting but are clueless/unaware about other things taking place.
@@Iridescent_AstraeaSudan has been a dumpster fire for 40 years. This is a tribal conflict, not some nuanced battle between legitimate governments. Get a clue, clown. Sudan created this shit heap, so it's theirs to fix. The West doesn't care because it's been the same BS for 40 years. Sudan won't change, and they've made it clear. Why the fuck should Westerners care about a conflict that doesn't involve or affect them? Do you think Sudan gives a fuck about Ukraine? Do you think Sudan gives a shit about Taiwan? NO!!! They're tied up in trabalistic nonsense and stuck in the past. Just let them fight it out and solve it themselves. They'll figure it out or weaken themselves to the point that a neighboring nation can invade and occupy with almost zero resistance. There won't be fighting in Sudan anymore, of there isn't a Sudan to fight over.
SPLM-N is worth mentioning. Of the rebel groups, they control substantial and increasing ground (Nuba Mountains, chunks of Blue Nile, etc.), and have been consistently resisting the basic paradigm of buying loyalty by the centre through the past decades.
What’s even crazier is what’s happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I just found about what’s happening in the Congo and I advise my fellow American to read up on it because it is absolutely ridiculous that no one is speaking about it.
Yeah, also see Myanmar internal civil war, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Armenia-Azerbaijan tension, Ethiopia's issues with Egypt and Eritrea for the Nile dam/Red Sea access, etc, Yemen, etc, etc..........
@@zhcultivator for real, as a young yank I grew up on videos of Afghanistan. in those videos, the people in them always said "If this if that, then we can finally win and go home." I see videos from before I am even born of people in Arabic garb planting IEDs in the roads that my parents paid for with their taxes. It never seemed to end after a while it all sort of blended together to the point where I'm just like "Fuck this place, everyone here hates us and we hate them so fuck it leave them to kill each other as long as they don't come over here I don't care." at this point, I can't even be like oh their humans too because it seems like they hate us. so why in gods name would I give even the time of day to them let alone send my hard-earned cash to them. I believe in the Ukraine war because they have shown us that they have the will and just need the weapons. TL:DR you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. africa is the horse that doesn't want to drink while Ukraine is slurping up every drop.
It's not ridiculous it's happened 1000× over, internal conflict in African countries is nothing out of the ordinary since they're heavily destabilized and corrupt such as with middle eastern conflicts
my 2 cents: a) The Ukraine War is for us Europeans a war in our own backyard, it naturally consumes more media attention and concern because its something that affects us in our day to day lives. b) For the same reason its something that affects people we know and care about, here in Scandinavia we think of Ukrainians as our cousins due to the historic links between our regions. c) Ukraine has a story which it has been able to tell, a story of a country seeking to throw off its post soviet past to embrace western ways of thinking, in Sudan its a war between two characters of dubious morals fighting a petty power struggle with widespread war crimes committed on both sides. d) Ukraine also happened to have a President at the time war broke out who was a gifted communicator and who was able to use the power of symbolism to appeal to the West, if Poroshenko had still been President I'm not sure that the result would have been the same.
I think it's a lot simpler than anything you said. Ukraine always complain about lack of funds from others and like any well written story there is a clear underdog good guy vs a bad guy (extreme oversimplification). Israel is a little more complicated but in this particular instance Hamas attacked Israel and is now getting obliterated for it (lots more to it but we are taking about average people in other countries and that what they see). People understand these stories. Sudan is a war between two Sudanese armies in a country that's always at war, how is the average person not involved supposed to understand? Who is the 'good guy' and 'bad guy'? If you can understand and don't know how you want it to end how are you supposed to sympathise and that's where aid comes from. It might sound petty to compare reality to fiction like that but that doesn't stop it from being true.
People unironically treat wars like ball games where they bet on one side to win and will only want to hear good news about that side and not the bad ones. Obviously, you also got the media at play making sure the population supports what the country's government is supporting so you got cases like the Russian Invasion of Ukraine where for example, both pro-Ukrainians and pro-Russian medias will try to spin one footage of a Soviet tank exploding to their favour by claiming it was the enemy's. India's Hindustan Times are clearly pro-Russian as India is pro-Russian while the Telegraph is pro-Ukraine as the United Kingdom is pro-Ukraine.
Thank you for covering lesser known conflicts like Myanmar, Sudan, Ethiopia, etc. These conflicts deserve far more attention.
There was a breakthrough in the Myanmar war, im wondering if that will be covered
Hate to say it, but I'm pretty sure that unless a conflict occurs in certain parts of the world, the Western media just doesn't care.
@vic5015 Western media's tend to focus on things that affect the West. Whether that's good or bad, I guess it depends.
@@gunterthekaiser6190no disagreement there. Its why i much prefer The Exobomist to Time magazine. The latter is, imo, too focused on America and the West. They rarely cover South America, Africa, Oceania, or SE Asia.
@@vic5015 They can't be everywhere
To be fair, even the Ukrainian war is missing from the headlines since the Hamas-Israel conflict. People just move on and forget what doesn't affect them.
there's also a fininte amount of attention to grab. Most people only have so much time to devote each week towards the news and things like empathy have limits, and the news agencies know that so they tend to focus on 1 thing at a time rather than trying to keep people interested in 5 stories at once. The world is also just kind of crazy right now with China threatening to invade Taiwan every 15 minutes, the war in Ukraine, and the recent Israel-Hamas deal. Plenty of people even missed the fact that the prime minister of Japan got assassinated recently.
IKr
Exactly, there's just too much bad stuff happening everywhere sigh....
Also there is nothing wrong with white people preferring other white people over other races. That is natural and a good thing, You have to look out for your own kind first.
Ukraine is about to fold so the west wants to keep it out of the news so it happens more quietly.
A big problem is the corruption too. A friend of mine (at my workplace) who is Sudanese, managed to get his wife and 2 children out of Sudan into our country after 1 year, a lot "payments" to government and embassies (around 15‘000) and a lot of other headaches. I’m glad he managed to get his family into safety.
corruption is a symptom, the true problem that causes it is bureaucracy
May b Sudanese r nive that's y they r choosing a wrong leader
@@Poornima.jJayram-qg1rm r u stupid? no Sudanese person had any choice in any of the country's current and previous leaders
@@Poornima.jJayram-qg1rm’choosing’??? 😂 that’s one of the things the ppl of Sudan AREN’T allowed to do🤡
@@Poornima.jJayram-qg1rmyou should probably master basic English before posting.
Am Sudanese and I basically witnessed all the important events this century in my country and I think it is an obscure conflict because it is so complex and confusing to outsiders. You need decades worth of context to know how we got to this point.
I was in school when the war broke out and our principal started crying because it was an enormous responsibility to be in a war zone with an entire school on your shoulders.
I still have very close relatives there and what they say is that the war is mostly in the capital while the outer cities are MOSTLY unaffected (Edit : well I will be damned, the RSF invaded the second most populous city without resistance from the army)
+the Sudanese army is basically doing Jack shit because the RSF are too many. Me and my entire family's homes got robbed to the ground or used as mass graves
Sorry to hear that.
Wish there was more that could be done. But things have gotten almost impossible to give aid to other countries.
God bless you, your family, and your country. There are too many unknown conflicts going on around the globe... and too many rumors of such things. May the Lord watch over all of your people and mete out justice among all evildoers!
@@brycemedvin8765 thx i appreciate you praying for us
Drive the Arabs out.
They are the problem everywhere.
❤ As a Sudanese who just lost my uncle to this war. My cousin is been kidnapped and we have no idea where he is, I can't put into words how much I appreciate you covering this conflict.
Every single member of my family has been displaced
I'm so sorry.
Sorry to hear that
I am sorry I hope you got your cousin back.
I) It’s an African conflict
II) It’s quite complicated with a bit of history
III) It just doesn’t have a good vs evil, no matter which side and way you slice it.
Edit: For III I’m not saying that conflicts that receive a lot of attention always have an obvious good vs evil. I’m saying that conflicts where a person’s personal believes allows them to intimately align with one of the sides of the conflict will encapsulate their interests a lot more than those that don’t. Sudan doesn’t have that. That’s all I’m saying.
The first on the list being the primary reason.
IIII) i have already been traumatized by previous wars
2/3 of those also apply to the Israel-Hamas War today
@@DodZz666wow you don't know Roman numerals? wtf dude
1 true
2 its like 90% off all comflicts
3 same could be said about israel vs palestine
As an American, I think we tend to just lump all of Africa into a single area that just always seems to have war going on so most people aren't that taken back by it. It's good that people like Simon and others bring more awareness to it. It's really just so unfortunate what human beings are capable of doing to each other and that we seem to be incapable of forgiveness and empathy for the other people
Not attacking you personally, but you know that's at least as ridiculous as lumping Nicaragua together with the USA and thinking of them (and all the other countries on that landmass) as being basically the same thing right?
Also worth noting, most Americans don't realize how big the African continent is. The entire United States could fit inside Africa more than 3 times.
@@CyanOgilvieno it’s not lol even black people lump Africa as one area. Man the surprise on their face when you show them North Africa
@@heraclitus6100and yet got conquered by every European country
@@CyanOgilvie No more ridiculous that people who refer to the "collective west." You know because North Dakota, USA is basically the same as the French Riviera.
When I was in an online group therapy a Sudanese woman was in our group. She talked about how she had to close her bakery because of the fighting. She didn't know how she was going to get her mother out of dodge. Eventually our meetings heard bombs exploding consistently over her audio. She dropped out and we haven't heard from her since.
I think the proliferation of communication tech has helped out countries like Ukraine and Israel immensely. Obviously people in Sudan have smartphones and access to the internet, but according to the most recent list I found smartphone penetration in Israel is almost 80%, Ukraine is basically 50%, but Sudan is about 20%.
The ability to create images, videos, memes, etc, and distribute them around the world is vital for gaining global recognition. And, as Ukraine has shown, it's also a major part of modern warfighting (maybe that's another video for this channel).
The Russian convoy, the stand on Snake Island, Ukrainian tractors stealing Russian tanks, and more all entered the public consciousness in a way that nothing in the Sudan conflict has.
Hamas had plenty of cell phone footage as well.
@@Xander77Ru According to the same article, Palestine's cell phone proliferation is about 50%. So lower than Israel but basically the same as Ukraine.
Agreed. The art of the meme is a very important part of the information war. Memes go as far back as long as humanity as existed. Your last 2 points deserve a video on this channel.
I think more like Sudan is irrelevant to the greater world and the narrative of two war lords fighting each other is boring.
why does israel need help ?
Absolutely correct on all counts. Simply put, people are tired of hearing about conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, don’t care about the parties involved or the outcomes of said conflicts, and are increasingly unwilling to support spending more money trying to prop up these seemingly failed or failing states, especially in recent times with inflation, gas prices, and general domestic tensions in the United States.
Is like Haiti. First they won the fight against slavery and the french and US took revenge by putting them in a blockade so they couldn't trade. They had to pay all the money back to the french. Then they got colonized for a period by the US and the little gold reserve they had was taken. So most conflict are being created by western powers. Study the banana wars.
This, and I think another contributing factor is that these regions are also not exactly western friendly, due to our involvement with them in the past.
One thing is spending money on projects that keep failing, another thing is spending money on people who are more likely than not to spit in our faces afterwards.
To be fair, I don't think it is completely unjustified that they are against us, but I have certainly seen more bitter historical rivalries put to rest which have been nothing but positive
And for good reasons.
@@BrotherHood-xh9sgThese reasons being?
When has the world ever cared about Africa? China is the only country genuinely making progress in humanitarian and infrastructure developments. 😢
I think one factor that may be relevant for general lack of interest is that this conflict doesn't seem like it could escalate into a much bigger conflict. If Belarus and the EU get involved in Ukraine in a major way, I think it's perceived that it could lead to WW3. It's a large proxy war between super powers. Similarly, the Gaza conflict could pull in Hezbolah and many Arab states making it a much larger conflict. The Taiwan/China situation also captures our attention for the same reason I think.
This conflict could fracture Sudan and cause big problems in the future but they are less easy to realise, especially in how it could affect the West. You've done a good job explaining that here but most people don't really see any meaningful consequences to this conflict. Just more bloodshed a long way away. Thanks for making this video.
Those are some good points.
Ehm what about the refugees, you do realise that most migrants came from place that are unstable such as sudan?so in some ways it will affect the west which is already exasperated by the migration situation
@@wrestlinganime4life288 I do realise that, and this video highlighted that point too, but my comment was not about us watching the video. It was about the fact that most people don't draw those connections or see those as immediate or direct threats. They can see that as a problem for later, something to fix with immigration policy etc. The media reporting is focused on things that will cause strong reactions in the average person as that's what's considered "important" and gets ratings. Refugee crisis does get attention in the news but not constantly, and the countries the people are fleeing from get even less coverage. Refugees fleeing Africa has sadly become seen as the status quo.
Exactly. People equating people's over interest or disinterest to just "RaCiST" is some corny ass claim b.c they want it to be racism and couldn't care anymore than just pressing that to argue, rather than solve anything. The people who have direct unchallenged influence in that country are it's neighbors. Btw the refugees immigrants situation is a non issue unless we bring them here. I've seen only Sudanese/west africans trying to cross in the U.S. it's mostly the privileged that could make it. It's actually west Africans like Senegalese and Mauritians that are close enough in wealth and geographically to make that trip. Atleast for them to get to south America and have cartles finance/loan for them to be trafficked. So most are going to be military age serving men. Then there are Indians. Half being punjabi but atleast half of them are with their families/kids.
This conflict very much has the potential to destabilize major swaths of Africa (it’s already been spilling into many borders). Additionally, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been investing quite a bit in the conflict as a sort of proxy war. When you say it won’t get much bigger, you really mean it won’t affect people in the west. It is getting bigger - but not in a way that westerners feel is relevant to them. I hate that the scale of a conflict is weighed according to how likely it’ll effect westerners
Why people outside of Africa pay more attention to Israel and Ukraine conflicts? The war in Ukraine could lead to ww3 if NATO and Russia end fighting directly and the conflict in Gaza could also escalate greatly if parties like Iran get involved and US responds. So both these conflicts have more potential to actually effect most of the planet whereas a civil war in Africa is a regular thing unlikely to spread to ww3.
nailed it.
Agreed. Those conflicts have the more pressing concerns around them. Am not the best educated in things but... My sterotype of africa is civil conflicts and war breaking out in wee pockets around the land at diffrent levels.
Besides, aren't we in the West supposed to leave Africa alone? What happened to that whole colonialism thing? Can't have it both ways
@@derekrotondo8315That logic would make sense. If the West was actually staying out of Africa. I remember vaguely neither one of the different to leave their country and they didn't do it. You should delete your comment cause it makes no sense.
@@derekrotondo8315Arrogance, you act as if the west is actually out of Africa, but they aren’t. You also act as if you’re right. Only a fool would leave Africas potential, China knows this which is also the reason former imperialist countries are cozying up to Africa. Future Superpowers will be in Africa, Latin America, and some Asian Countries. Not a single Empire has stayed on top for decades.
It’s similar to the issue with Myanmar, no journalists and good luck getting a camera in. Journalists were getting kidnapped and arrested for reporting in Sudan BEFORE the war.
also doesnt help that this war has been bubbling away pretty steadily for 20 years now. The place is also so under developed that there's not much social media or home made video being shot so without international journalists not much information is going to get out of the area except what the Sudanese government announces.
@@arthas640 What???? This war hasn't been going on for 20 years, this is misinformation
Just met a Sudanese engineer the other week. He's in Jerusalem helping build the railway, but as that's on hold for obvious reasons, he spent a Friday volunteering to pick lemons in one of the near-Gaza kibbutzim (apparently the lemon trees in Sudan are very different). First Sudanese I've met who wasn't a refugee that needed our help with their legal status in Israel.
Honestly, the only reason I know things have gotten worse in Sudan are smug "why aren't you demonstrating against *this* massacre" twitter takes. Still, I conveyed my well wishes to him, his family and friends, for whatever those are worth.
I call BS! Sudan has had no public schools in 30 years. So a random guy you met from Sudan was educated were? The person you met was probably British from Sudanese linage
@@mike-sk2li I mean, he was there with a British fellow and spoke excellent English. He introduced himself as Sudanese though.
@@mike-sk2liSudan does have schools, even if not publicly funded
@@mtarek2005 Sudan has public education because a few westerners mostly catholic are dedicated, brave beyond belief and donated time, their life to helping. We are talking about basic education not engineering school! I'm Irish decent never been to Ireland and would never introduce myself as Irish. The man the commentor met was almost certainly 100% raised in England and is from Sudanese decent. He his English
don't be ignorant we have schools and colleges, my father finished he's collge year's in north kourdfan (which is not even the best in sudan) and managed to work in qatar, saudi and Ireland
It’s so hard to keep up with every atrocity. You seem to be doing it well, thank you.
I think there's another aspect that you failed to mention, that it's a civil war, as such, both sides are part of the same country, making it harder to "choose a side", especially without a lot of background that takes a lot of time to catch up with.
Syria's civil war was also covered less than other conflicts at the same time.
In Ukraine, we have the largest country in the world, invading a neighboring country, and with Isreal and Gaza, it's a country invading an autonomous area (which is not part of Israel) with reporting of the numbers of dead on each side to the media, it's much easier to quantify the harm by each side, which makes it simpler to "choose a side" with much less context.
In addition, the type of help needed is clearer, like, in Ukraine, they need weapons and some humanitarian aid.
In Sudan, what can the world do to help? Intervene directly? How and who should? Is it even fair to meddle in an internal war with outside forces? Wouldn't that make things even worse?
lol the fact that the obvious answers to those questions are "UN peace keepers" really makes you think how useless UN is in actually keeping peace.
Technically in Ukraine it was a civil war untill the Russians intervened, but the fact people ignore that adds to your point, people don't care about civil wars.
It is easy to choose a side when you realize the RSF is full of war criminals...
my worry is if we intervene in some way can it come back to hurt us. with ever government takes over might find it easy to blame everything on the big bad imperialist u.s.. should we help people who are so cultural different from us that we forget about nations like Israel and eastern Europe . people who like us, want to fight for their freedom and want a government that is democratic. it seems that conflicts in this part of the world are a part of life. We should take the lessons from the other middle eastern countries we tried to help and apply them here. i say its not worth it.
@@matthiuskoenig3378There was no civil war in Ukraine. It was always Russia. Stop peddling this nonsense.
modern conflict in Africa seems like the Sengoku Period in Japan or the Warring States Period in China... it isn't that the world isn't watching, it is just happening with such frequency that people aren't reactive when it happens
Aye, desensitization at work unfortunately.
@@nathanaeld.striker7191it's called Sympathy Fatigue. People stop caring when it's the same BS every time they turn around. It doesn't matter what the West does to try and help, tribalism always ends up ruining everything. Until Africans learn to drop the tribal hostilities and work together, this will keep happening. Westerners don't care anymore because it's been the same shit for generations. The general consensus is "why even bother?"
Very true. I just assume it's all tribalism over there, and there's always some kind of coup or war happening. Furthermore, I think outside powers pretty much recognize it as a problem we can't solve so they choose not to pay attention to it. Makes sense. There really is no solution. The only people who actually found a solution was SA during apartheid, but that wasn't very popular to say the least lol
To quote a man "I once overthrew an African dictatorship in a week. I mean it was replaced with another in two but I still got paid"
That and this current fight has been raging for a long time. The War in Darfur was major news when it first started... in 2003... but 20 years later its still dragging on so its simply not news anymore. Even if you ignored the many other wars that have kicked off across the region the world just doesnt react as much when conflicts drag on for decades with little major change. Many people dont even realize that the Afghan Civil War that the Soviets started in the 70s didnt end when they pulled out and it didnt end when the Taliban took over most of the country in the 90s and it was the same war the US was fighting until recently and its still dragging on today as a low intensity insurgency. You need either major changes to the status quo or some climatic battle to grab peoples attention in long drawn out wars, people dont really pay attention to small skirmishes.
Its crazy that this was in the wider news at one point but I never saw it.
1:25 - hey, small detail here BUT the map you’re using there still includes South Sudan. Completely different country with its own issues, still felt worth mentioning!
Was looking for someone else to notice and mention this^
I think he said “at one point” when showing the map or maybe I’m mistaken. If not then he should have been more attentive to that because mistakes that involve borders can seriously piss some people off.
Parts of the world focus on the conflicts which are the most relevant to them and their culture.
What about the Myanmar civil war,? The Armenian refugees? The Ethiopian tensions? And on and on and on.
You can't be shocked and appalled 24/7.
I think of it as empathy exhaustion. Many will confuse Sudan for Somalia as well. And when nothing ever changes, it is not news.
@@JonnyCobra Yeah, and it doesnt help that low intensity conflicts tend to be very slow, very complex, and long term and this conflict has going on for most of the 21st century. The current conflict relates to the war in Darfur which started in 2003 and had its roots in ethnic conflict between Arabs and non-Arabs that was going on since at least 1991. I remember hearing a lot about the war when it first flared up in Darfur, that was a popular target for intentional aid and was mentioned a lot by celebrities campaigning for human right, but when a war drags on for a decade or more it stops being news since it stops being the exception and starts being the norm.
What about Rhodesia?
@@szymon5486 The country which hasn't existed for decades, what about it?
@@hurrdurrmurrgurr
It’s ok to call it that , most people still call Ho Chi Minh City Saigon.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It seems like so many others have become so weary from hearing about conflict. I guess that's always been true every since the radio and television.
I think a major part of why Gaza and Ukraine get more attention in the west is that those conflicts have the potential of expanding into much larger world conflicts. While the video makes a good point that Sudan becoming a failed state could make it a hotbed of terrorism, Gaza or Ukraine could easily escalate into a world war.
No Gaza and Ukraine are talked about more because our Tax Dollars are there.
That, and also with Israel-Palestine it serves as a sort of proxy conflict for many of the divisions in modern society at large- With regards to ethnicity, 2 of the world’s biggest religions, colonialism, etc
That’s why so many people around the world feel the need to take sides regarding this conflict on such a tiny sliver of land, while ignoring conflicts in Africa and SE Asia covering much larger territory
@@Cross_network
That too, and our tax dollars are in Ukraine and Israel because America is committing to providing military aid to countries with which it has alliances
No it's because the people of Gaza and Ukraine are white and get favored coverage. Meanwhile Arabs in Sudan are targeting ethnic Africans and getting rid of them in the most barbaric way and media refuses to cover it.
Judaism isn't one of the world's largest religions... There are less than 20 million jews around the world today. And that includes non-religious ethnic jews.@@coyotelong4349
I tried to remain up to date on Sudan but the visual media didn’t progress for months. The same videos and pictures were being used 6 months after. Great observation about the media blackout.
A shame VICE didn't cover that conflict too much since they're probably one of the only news channel in yt that don't mind getting age restricted by showing casualties of war. The work they did in Syria was fantastic since the cameramen and jounalist literally risked their lives to get good shots. Don't know why they keep doing USA leftist shit when their foreign shit is clearly more popular and more neutral.
"Why is the world ignoring the Sudan Civil War"
Honestly, I don't know I wasn't even informed about it
As someone that lived in Khartoum for 2 years (2007-09) and was completely unaware of the current conflict thank you so much for the coverage Simon and Co
Another excellent topic.
This channel needs its own app.
I’d pay $7 USD a month for that app! No ads!!!!
@@iVETAnsolini Agreed. Facts Boy Media.
Thank you for helping bring this to the forefront. If my country can waste time fawning over Taylor and Travis then they can devote some quality time towards understanding this conflict and discussing how we can bring real peace and stability to that tragically war ravaged area.
Funny thing is I was just talking about the civil war in Sudan like ten minutes ago, but obviously I'm in the minority. Anyway, here's an edgy joke:
Guy A: "I'm really excited for my vacation this summer, I'm going to Sudan!"
Guy B: "Oh really? So are you going to Sudan proper or South Sudan?"
Guy A: "The stable one of course!"
Guy B: "So, your not going to Sudan then?"
😂. Yep...as an East African...when something or someplace was chaotic, I use to say "that place is like Mogadishu" now its going to chang " nah...that place is crazy like Khartoum '"
Ohh so edgy 😂. Give it 5 years and these scum leaders will be on Oprah or Ellen
The media coverage disparity between Ukraine, Israel, and Sudan can be argued as stemming from geopolitical interests. Ukraine, at the crossroads of Europe and Russia, is a focal point in the power dynamics between the West (NATO and EU) and Russia. Its strategic importance, especially in the context of Russian aggression, elevates its significance in the global political arena, attracting more media attention. Similarly, Israel's unique position as a democratic nation in a region dominated by non-democratic, predominantly Muslim countries, makes it a key ally and point of interest for Western powers, especially the U.S. and Europe. These countries, therefore, receive heightened media attention due to their pivotal roles in their respective regions and the significant investment of Western countries in their stability and politics. Conversely, Sudan, despite its humanitarian crises, lacks such geopolitical significance to the West, leading to comparatively less media coverage. This reflects a media bias where the value of news is often gauged by its relevance to the strategic interests of powerful nations, rather than the scale of human suffering or need for aid.
Defending one's self from NATO is aggression but defending one's self from Hamas isn't? Smells of hipocritical ignorance.
@@Chris_Garman NATO, as a collective of sovereign nations, operates under international law and principles of collective security. Its actions are responses from member states, subject to legal scrutiny. Contrastingly, Hamas is widely recognized as a terrorist organization, not bound by such laws and often engaging in terrorism. Defending against Hamas is seen as a counter-terrorism act. The key here is the distinct legal and operational frameworks of state actors like NATO and non-state actors like Hamas. This isn't hypocrisy, but a reflection of different international laws and standards applied to state and non-state entities.
Thank you ChatGPT
But also,the Ukrainian War is shocking because it is the first international conflict (in Europe)of its kind since WW2. A land grab,the world's largest country(Russia). Also,Russia was expected to take over in a few days,but instead Ukraine ended up taking BACK land. These are two major factors.
The next thing to note basically is Myanmar is a civil not international war,it is not unusual,not a land grab,basically etc. Israel Palestine is also something people can have strong opinions about.
Sudan's geopolitical position is the source of its conflict; it is documented that the gold in The west of the country is fueling the war in Russia; it is also undisclosed but has strong ties with Israel. There is uranium in the west. But some events are used as distractions for other heinous purposes. But I agree that the leaders of the West don't care about black people or other people struggling, but about whites and Israelis.
There is a massive difference in a foreign invasion/occupation or a foreign terrorist attack on civilians than a civil war
It being a civil war is probably a big factor. Would have to have very good reasons if another country wants to get involved. Especially as neither side in the civil war are particularly "good guys".
I remember learning about the Darfur conflict when I was in middle school and was so heartbroken by it. I had nightmares of being attacked by the Janjaweed for weeks after. I’m now in my 30s with 3 kids and it’s still ongoing and getting worse…
Well done. I really appreciate this
It is a little weird, Africa as a continent wants to be seen as modern and moving away from needing help from the ex-colonial powers but still, some ask why isn't the West helping when maybe they should be asking why isn't African political groups helping, the African Union for example or even Eygpt its powerful neighbor.
it is a bit of a catch 22. West Africa is largely sick of French and European influence in their countries but also often solicit French help fighting terrorism and separatist groups, and they court as much European investment as possible. I get a bit sick of that as an American too as when a war kicks off everyone asks "So what's America going to do?" and if we pick a side we get accused of interfering in foreign affairs, and if we intervene we get accused of imperialism, but if we dont pick sides and dont intervene we get accused of "ignoring the issue" or get accused of being callus to the plight of other countries. Even if the US just sends humanitarian aid we often get accused of using aid as an imperialist tool, people blame the collapse of some African textile industries on the export of donated clothes from the US and there's been a few times food aid was either destroyed because people thought the US was trying to poison them with GMO crops or the food was stolen by some dictator to be sold at a profit.
I think the only good solution would be some intervention or aid sent by the African Union. If the African Union cant do it on their own maybe they can lead the effort with outside support from Europe/west or the UN.
Because the AU was structurally set up to be an organization dependent on Western cooperation and organization. The majority of the AU is funded by the EU, not because that is the desire of Africans (save their corrupt heads of state who get paid off by international backers to keep the AU stagnant), but because a developed Africa would mean a sharp decline in standard of living in Europea, Asia, and North America.
You ask why isn't the West helping? Because there is very little benefit in a stable and secure Africa whereas instability is a perfect condition for resource extraction and t also disallows for development.
Africa also isn't asking the West to do anything but stop interfering. The West likes to place itself at the center of everything, so it is hard for them to imagine that Africans aren't running to them when problems arise. This perverse Western psyche all but demands that problems are manufactured so that not only does the aforementioned occur (previous paragraph), but also Westerners can still be "seen" as the arbiter, thereby re-affirming (I should say, self-affirming) their position as the leaders of the species' global order.
As far as the Arabs up north and in the Middle East are concerned---one forgets that these are the first colonizers. The push to control more and more of Africa did not die when European flooded onto African shores and committed their centuries long vandalism of the continent. Though, we could ask the same of Libya. Egypt is their neighbor and has the 2nd or 3rd most powerful military on the continent (behind Nigeria and South Africa---although Senegal may say pound for pound they are stronger), yet Egypt never did much to try to pacify Libya.
I think it is important to remember that just because they are neighbor states, it doesn't mean they are obligated to do anything.
Africa consists of 54 countries. Why do so many people think that Africans should all be looking out for each other when they are extremely different entities, each made up very different tribes who are as genetically different from each other as they are culturally different?
@@teeldd I do agree that the West and Middle East benefits greatly from an unstable African region. That is why Egypt got involved in Sudan to create instability in the region in the same manner that the US has frequently done in Latin America and across the globe.
@@Tyiion same reason why NATO, NAFTA, and the EU all exist. People who share borders and share a geographic region have a common goal and can have a mutually beneficial relationship since even though Mexico and the US have different languages, cultures, religion, and ethnicity if Mexico suddenly implodes into a civil war the US is unlikely to be totally unaffected and if the US suddenly launches Civil War 2.0 Revenge of Lee Canada may have a vested interest in not being invaded by the Empire of Lincoln
Thank you Warographics for keeping an eye out on those ignored conflicts to keep us informed.
Too many wars going on these days
“Ignored conflicts”
So just acknowledge them and thats it? Joining is frowned upon, ignoring is frowned upon. What the fuck do we do? Perhaps these regions should be in conflict for their own growth.
I’m glad Simon and others are covering this horrible war. I just wish Sudan and other places find peace.
It was honestly war fatigue for me. This in no way is meant to down play the horrors taking place. After South Africans were evacuated I gradually lost interest. The Sudan is almost always at war. This is also why I never bought into the whole "Racism & Africa" narrative.
If a war broke out in Botswana (an African country) the whole world would take interest because Botswane is quiet peacefull and constantly ranks as one of the safest countries on the continent.
yeah this war is just another phase in a war that started in 2003.
It's true. Sudan has been fighting for decades and if people know anything about the country, it probably has to do with how unstable it is.
It's not right but after years of war, conflict becomes the norm and renewed fighting has no emotional impact.
This is different tho , most of the fighting you’re talking about was happening at remote regions in Sudan, all major cities have always been safe, this time it’s the capital there’s no government it’s just pure war
@@osamataha336 You are probably right, it is different. To the rest of the world though all we see is "war - Sudan". Like I said, I am not down playing the blood shed but reality is people wont even bother to look at it in greater detail because of the history.
@@osamataha336 while this is certainly not the case for people on the ground, for all us a continent away, that is unfortunately a detail in the grand scheme of things
Thank you for using your platform to highlight the crisis in Sudan 🇸🇩!
It's simple: Sudan is a minor power that has almost no impact on western countries' economy/agriculture or western politician wallets. Unless the conflict disrupts trade in the red sea, it's doubtful anything will develop
This is how I see it as well. We heard tons on Niger and Burkina Faso because their actions were affecting western nations, even if only in a economic way. Sudan doesn't have such western interests or "trade deals" in it, so the west doesn't care. We will come back to people complaining about not getting Sudan stable when it becomes a hotbed for terrorists and they strike out at westerners. Til then, just gotta wait for it to happen.
Internal conflicts always get less coverage as it's, by definition, an internal issue. Country on country conflicts get more attention as it has bigger impacts outside of the conflict area.
I do always get annoyed when people act like it's a surprising fact that people actively pay more attention to groups of a closer relation to them. It's a rather obvious thing that people don't have equal attention every single individual on this earth. It is a hurdle to get over that most people who can't point to Sudan on a map, instead of trying to shame people about that fact, accept it as a fact of the matter and put your effort into thinking about how to get around it instead of wasting energy on shaming people.
I don't even know the faces or names of people who live like 3 blocks from me.
I wasn't so much ignoring it so much as I had no idea it was occurring. Watching the news severely worsens my depression to the point that even my medical team recommended avoiding it wherever possible. It feels like nothing good will ever happen again.
Same, I don’t want to ignore things and focus on positivity completely, but also can’t watch people be murdered everyday and not let the self-harm thoughts in again. The only way I managed to stop it was to lessen my exposure to maybe an hour or so every other day. And do a lot of personal improvement and occasional donation on the side. When I have money
mood
@michaeldimare3786 Best to focus on things you can actually help. Your local community and making it better. Really, if everyone did that instead of being plugged into the whole world and screaming into the void about things they have 0 influence over, the world would be a much better place.
Reading news instead of watching helps me, and I dont go down the rabbit hole, 1 hour a day, no more.
I skip the political fighting within my country and stick to actual news.
No political pundits allowed
props to you for covering everything, must be hard, keep going
it’s insane how many wars are going on in the world right now
Personally I care more about the Russia-Ukraine because of my proximity to it, if an all-out war begins in Europe my country will defiantly be involved. So yes I know that the situation in Sudan could cause long term issues but right now I'm more worried about the current threat looming over Europe.
I think there are a number of factors but the primary ones are that Africa is perceived, rightfully, as being in a constant state of war and most westerners don’t do much differentiating between the countries in the continent. So Simon is absolutely correct with the “par for the course” bit.
A second major reason is that there isn’t a side for people to take. Ukraine and Israel-Palestine are conflicts in which people are fixated on rooting for the “good side”, whichever they perceive it to be. Sudan and many African conflicts are between unsavory figures on both sides.
Also it doesnt help that there isnt much for media in the region. In places like Ukraine there are civilian and military drones all over and everyone's got a smartphones and posting everything on social media to such a degree analysts were able to do things like track specific Russian units from their normal bases in Russia across the country and to the specific part of Ukraine they're meant to be fighting in all based off social media posts from people living near the rail lines. Sudan meanwhile is one of the least developed parts of the world. Also doesnt help that Sudan doesnt have many major cultural or economic ties to major powers like the US (and often when people claim that "the world" isnt paying attention they just mean the US who dominates global media).
Africans hate white people (the colonizers) but then cry that we don't care enough about them. I care about them as much as they care about me. My family was Jewish up until a few generations ago and they migrated here from Poland, Ukraine's neighbor so I'm far more invested in those conflicts
Ya just an old school warlord slugfest, I honestly think they probably could have captured a narrative about the oppression enslavement and massacre of black Africans by Arabs, but even then it wouldn’t have worked because the people oppressing black people in Sudan are Afro Arabs rather than white.
Idi amin killed around 500.000 people and yes he is a monster. King Leopold from Belgium killed around 20 million Africans. Hitler, stalin killed millions more on their own continent. The problem is the west doesnt really cares about Africans then only humiliations and racial slurs. They overthrow strong governments that try to take control over their own recources...think about patrice lumumba who was murdered by belgium...how can a normal african country do fair business in such a situation?
Africa is not perceived as always being at war, except by racist trolls. Most countries are at peace and many have enjoyed peace for decades - which something of a rarity, but a rarity for any continent, not just Africa.
(For pedants: Antarctica excepted.)
This was very informative and interesting thank you for sharing. I would like to mention there is also an awful civil was in Yemen that is also being heavily ignored!
Edit: Just finished the video and you did mention Yemen, thank you!
This reminds me of the repeated violent flare ups in the Kivu Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A conflict involving dozens of vicious militias and countless massacres of civilians which has now been dragging on for decades with no end in sight. And which commands very little news coverage and public interest.
Thank you for talking about my country... really, thank you for not ignoring this crucial question about this sad conflict that caused us to suffer at home and abroad.
Please level out your vocals (using a compression filter) when you make a video. Sometimes your voice dips down at too low of a volume to understand you. This has been the case for several of your videos I have watched. I have to turn on captions just to know what's being said during the low points.
I'll be brutally honest: because no one cares. At least no one where I am in the world. I live in Japan, I'm non-Japanese, and no one over here knows or cares about the Sudanese civil war because it's so far separated by geography, race and culture. If Sudan was a major trading partner or something, they might care, but it's not, and so they don't.
I imagine the same goes for western countries: they have enough on their mind, so a civil war in a distant continent that always seems to be juggling several civil wars at the same time and whom aren't a big trading partner or culturally/ethnically related or of strategic interest, it's not a big concern.
We'd hope that people don't' die, obviously, and things are resolved peaceably with minimal deaths. But tl:dr we've got our own problems.
yet, they care so much for israel, so much so, they had a peaceful protest. another nation that is far away and are no where near East Asian. this is a lack luster explanation and a bunch of word junk. no one cares about african affairs in general.
The west did care to a point early on. There was a fair amount of talk about it in media in the US when the "Darfur War" kicked off in the early 2000s, I can remember hearing stories of celebrities raising charity drives and visiting refugees inbetween stories of the war on terror, but after awhile war fatigue set in and without any major changes the west quit caring. This war has dragged on for 20 years now and has its roots in older ethnic conflicts that stretch back to the Cold War and the colonial era. Doesnt help the region is extremely isolated, the government doesnt want many outsiders going in, and there's little to no domestic news in the region making it so that most of the limited info getting out is either info spread by word of mouth or released by the Sudanese government.
I'm African, and I truly appreciate the honesty.
As someone who lives in the West, it's not talked about as much. It only came up when Wanger group was in the country, and tried to kick us out. After Progizih's "death" it dropped and everything went back to normal.
The Videos of the MiGs doing bombing runs was the last thing I saw.
Very well said and true.
Too many crises in the world to deal with it. Have to prioritize and it has less potential to do massive geopolitical damage.
True tbh
As a person who is currently in Khartoum I thank you very much for your video.
I think most media and people ignore these conflicts, because some parts of Africa are always in civil war or having a coup, or hostile force trying to take over.
All I've ever heard was something going on there, for decades
Sahel coup belt moment
unfortunately, that is the sahel coup belt for you......
Your western countries fund those proxy wars
As Sudanese, we deal with this on a day to day basis so I thank you for shedding light on the issue.
I travelled for six weeks through Sudan in 1986. The people were peaceful, calm and helpful. Never encountered any aggression or impatience anywhere. I formed an extremely positive view of the people. It's tragic war has come to their country.
This had been on my mind almost as much as the Roman empire.
This is a joke right?
😂😅😂😂👍
People also ignore really big waves on the Australian coast. Why? _Because that is the status quo there._
I remember the day this happened when I saw this on my feed. I’m from the United States and I was glad that people were talking about it and I saw it a couple of times on the tv but then it unfortunately faded away never to be talked about again
In relation to the lack of coverage, speaking to those I know who have travelled through African continent they voiced the collective opinion that it is assumed there is always fighting in the continent so this conflict is nothing out of the ordinary.
I think the larger reason for apathy is the lack of change in the overall outlook and quality of life. How much money was poured in and for what? I know Africa is very large and many different reasons are for the current situations, but the help doesn't seem to have made a difference
Let Nature take care of Africa. It's clear our Aid created an Artificially large Population
I get it too as an African, my country🇰🇪is safer and we give alot to wartorn countries but however many refugees we accommodate, however much donations we give nothing changes, all that donor aid goes straight into the pockets of war lords and connected individuals, they then send their children to study abroad and buy up properties in Nairobi and Johannesburg.
It's great to see good coverage of the war in Sudan but the first map that you showed is old.
Great video Simon. Shouldn't other AFRICAN countries try and help de-escalate the conflict in Sudan? Europe and US are somewhat busy with Ukraine and China respectively.
Some are trying
Which ones do you believe have the resources, stability, and regional power to be able to do this?
@@--enyo-- on their own few do, but a joint African Union mission could work. They had some limited success in Somalia. Africa does need to solve more of its own problems domestically since the only alternatives are 1. Ignore the problems and continue business as usual, which can mean doing trade with dictators and trading in conflict goods, or 2. allow the west to intervene which most African countries dont want.
@@arthas640 You need to get your facts right. Nigeria and West African countries intervened, ending the conflict in Liberia and S Leone. Uganda and Burundi subdued the terrorists in Somalia. In Mozambique, Rwanda was responsible for defeating the Islamic terrorists. In the case of Sudan, the country wants to be part of the Arab League and prefer support from the Arab nation such as Egypt, UAE and S Arabia. African nations have done more than Europe that can barely assist Ukraine with the help of Uncle Tom, just like in 1942 when the Americans had to bail out Europe from its brutal World War 1 and 2.
the African population is huge im sure they can get together and do something like some Europeans did for Ukraine@@--enyo--
I hardly write comments, but I would really like a 4 hour video about the history. The video about Israel and Palestine has really confirmed my view that most conflicts in the world are way to complicated to say side a is good and side b is evil. So please expand on that. And yes Simon, I know you dislike long videos, but please let it happen.
Another reason I get my current events from you
I think one of the major reasons it doesn't get the same coverage in the west is who the perceived enemy/aggressor is. Much more of the world probably considers Russia to be more of an adversary, so it is a country everyone is much more familiar with. With that mindset, the outcome of the conflict is believed to have a greater effect on the world in the future.
White people care more about our own race, which is good. We should care about our own people first before we care about Africans.
The suddanese student hit the nail on the head. Even though we feel for the innocent people it's hard to care when when that part of the world is always in conflict.
Am sudanese myself and I find myself not really caring about it either so yeah VERYY understanding lol
The map at 1:24 shows Sudan before Siuth Sudan's secession.
I love this channel. You cover things that many of the world tend to forget about but is actually very important
The media doesn't have an angle to promote one of its favorite narratives with this one.
💯👍
Great that you have covered this! One other factor is tge lack of a good guy/bad guy narrative. It doesnt sound like any faction has the people's benefit at heart.
Is it just me, or did we not all that long ago took a more global view of word events, and of what the UN endeavours to do in response? It is quite telling (and frightening) to realise how much is actually going on out there. Thank you for keeping us in the loop
The UN relies very heavily on the French to actually provide the troops on the ground to calm down most of the Sudan region ethnic violence. The French are sick of sending their boys to be killed there only to be told their help isn't wanted.
Most of the money involved in the fighting comes from warlords backed by various Arabic sects. IF you want to resolve the problems you cut off the flow of terrorist oil money. But that isn't something any of the main middle eastern players want to do, because they all think they're cleverer than each other.
In civil war it is much more difficult to understand which side you should support. I think this is one reason why Russia tried to portray war against Ukraine (from 2014 to 2022) as civil conflict inside Ukraine.
Spent many years in Africa and lived in many countries. The greatest welcome I had was in Sudan - so sorry for the innocent people caught up in this.
As a german, the war on ukraine had very real impact on my life. Gas shortage made it very expensive to stay warm in the winter. Also, a lot of wheat for our bread and pasta used to come from Ukraine, prices doubled. Taking an active role in delivering weapons had to be discussed in the german public. The debates also showed us how bad our own military infrastructure is. So there were many reasons for us to pay close attention to what happens in Ukraine.
To be completely honest, I hadn't even heard of the sudanese conflict. Before this video, I couldn't find Sudan on a map. After watching this video, I won't be able to do so, either. I'm sorry, but have to admit I still don't care. This sounds awful, I know. But the world is such a crazy place, I have limited resources to care for people around the world. I'm already, constantly, in a state of war/crisis fatigue. There just never seems to be an end to the suffering. I'm sorry, but if I don't put my blinds on every now and then, if I don't go deaf on some cries, I'll go insane. Sorry
I respect your honesty. However, I challenge you to believe that your heart is big enough to care about all of humanity beyond what affects you directly. Send a good word or prayer to those suffering and that is enough. We can’t all make a big difference but we can care. Best wishes to you.
I reckon one of the main reasons why America / NATO are focusing more their attention on supporting and funding Ukraine is because they are directly up against Russia and this gives them an A Reason and an excuse to test their modern equipments against Russia's modern equipment as a way to gauge the effectiveness of American equipment and America / NATO in general if they were to attack or be attacked by Russia and also China as China and Russia have been sharing and selling equipment to each other for years
Amazing work!! You guys are doing here.
1:21 Was not expecting this channel to not recognize South Sudan. Hoping the rest of this video isn't this shoddy? Or were you trying to avoid drawing lines around Abyei? It feels especially weird when, right now, South Sudan is not involved in the conflict, but some people are worried it could become involved if the fighting spreads to Abyei.
Edit: Good video -- still a pretty wild oversight for a show that's all about graphics imo
I love when warographics gets serious about today issues, use your platform to try and bring some light into the darkness that most people are happy to live within. To me, in this day and age, ignorance is chosen, so whenever someone use their voice to try and cast some light into some most neglected issue is a net positive, no matter the size or bias, if you get more people talking about something, chances are more people will star caring about that thing. Thank you.
I think a big part of it right now, specifically after October, there was 2 major conflicts going on. People can only keep up with a limited number of things
sudan falling into civil war has next to zero chance of escalating to WWIII israel/palestine and Ukraine/Russia can very easily, and quickly escalate very *VERY* quickly.
I think part of the reason the conflict is ignored because there's no clear perceived "good guy". You have a lying military coup dictator vs a lying military coup potential dictator. Also consider that media likes to very much biasedly pick a side to cover.
Also agreed that war fatigue is a big part of it, with Africa as a whole and the middle east being frequent hot spots of rapidly escalating and deescalating conflicts.
Thank you for the information
Civil wars might be awful, but they don't imply the same threat as international wars like Ukraine that they could get much bigger. Gaza isn't exactly an international war, but it's in the vicinity and could blow up into a wider war. Sudan is a war that so far doesn't look like it blow up into an international war. It's nothing particular to Sudan, just the lack of interest when there's the lack of threat outside the conflict zone. Probably doesn't apply to Sudan's neighbors, but the video didn't discuss their media.
Funny thing is though, Sudan is already becoming a proxy war of sorts. Before the civil war began, the Wagner Group gave a lot of support (and apparently weaponry) to the RSF, and Ukraine actually took a moment away from their war with Russia to directly attack the RSF infrastructure obtained from Wagner with drones on behalf of the SAF (Sudan's military government). Egypt reportedly has also meddled in a couple of aspects. It may not be in any immediate danger of setting off World War III, but Sudan is FAR from an isolated internal conflict. It definitely should be getting more attention.
The wars been mostly just contained to the region (which is helped by the fact that Sudan is fuckin _huuuuge_ and relatively isolated) and if that fact hasnt changed much since the conflict started in 2003 its unlikely to really blow up in the near future.
Heartless as this is going to sound, horrible as the fighting in Sudan is, it's basically their problem. Horrible for those living in Sudan, but it doesn't have much impact on the wider world, similar to similar devastating conflicts in Ethiopia or Yemen. If it doesn't impact our lives, we aren't likely to pay much attention, save for a distant sympathy. The fact Sudan's been at war for over 40 years doesn't help much, either.
You’re right, this is a truly dehumanizing and disgusting take.
It's literally a "you made your bed, so lay in it" situation. Westerners don't care anymore because it's the same shit every day. Why should we care when they're still going to be fighting in another 40 years?
@@EVILJAMARRit's no more dehumanizing than ages old tribalism preventing folks from living in peace. Why the hell should the West care about a region that has been fighting for 40 years, and shows no desire to change? Sudan made this mess, so let them deal with their own BS. The West isn't obligated to concern themselves with this, since the West didn't cause it. Take your bleeding heart to Sudan and see if you can fix it. I'm 40 years old, and can't remember a time when Sudan wasn't a dumpster fire. I'm tired of hearing about it. There are nations who contribute far more to the global community, who are currently fighting wars they didn't start, to whom we have an actual obligation.
How does Israel-Palestine affect the daily life of the average westerner?
@@artnull13perhaps because it was caused by the West and continues to be fueled by the major powers in the West who have hidden agendas. Self-interests are at the heart of it. And that is affecting everyone living in the US, Uk and Europe, whether you agree with it or not. Judging by the outpouring of sympathy and support for the Palestinian people, it seems clear that the majority of people do not support their governments’ stance.
Excellent video
If there’s “War Fatigue” in the media, concerning the atrocities happening in Sudan, I think the same could be said about any conflict in the Middle East. Particularly what’s going on now between Israel and the Palestinians. It’s all wrong, but the interests of America and our media, and other powerful countries, is in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Not Africa, plain and simple. That’s really sad, and it dehumanizes the people of Africa and desensitizes many people to their sufferings.
It's not as important as everything else, it's the chance of two world wars from pretty powerful people. The war in Sudan wouldn't expand that far nor that dangerous to US interest at least, maybe if Russia and China are more involved then we will jump in and cover what's going on.
@@lu544 the US got involved in the Yemeni Civil War, so do the Sudanese not need help as well?
Thank you for your telling of this conflict. It is unfortunate, that any conflict that has no large East or West national backers, and a country with little recourses with a history of mentally unstable governments, where it is difficult to comprehend any good guys, will always be placed under the radar.. Many would say, there are some conflicts that have no reason or end in sight, and that they would rather put their efforts into less complicated, less ethnic and more profitable conflicts, than being drawn into pointless, continuous wars. One of the reasons for the divide and attention in the Middle East, is that Israel back the West and the other nation states deal with the East, not forgetting of course all that oil... Arabia, as it was known during WW1, was considered a pointless waste land, with some gems on the side. When the Principalities and countries were formed, they had no idea of the wealth residing under the earth. Getting back on subject, Sudan has small quantities of petroleum, iron, copper, chromium, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver and gold. Not exactly what the bigger nations are looking for, to fill their pockets. The loss of life is horrendous, the way people are dying is barbaric and evil.... A solution must be found... But if you ask the typical European, Yank, Russian or Chinaman, to point at Sudan on a map, most will not be able too and will only give a shrug of the shoulders.
Well said Simon! Shared.
There's no political clout to be gained from covering Sudan's war. And that is why.
Because it’s literally just between two warlords, who want power for themselves there’s no noble cause.there’s no righteousness there’s nothing it’s just pure human greed and megalomania.
What’s there to talk about?
@@blackwatertv7018 I mean, regional interests, some supposed foreign influences, the migration pressures and Egypt being at risk of the consequences. Like Myanmar, there's potential for regional fallout and the possibility for powers to influence the outcome (Wagner, China in the latter instance), but it doesn't immediately involve Western concerns like Ukraine/Russia Israel/Palestine. I do still find it rather annoying how often people just seem to repeat things they see on social media when they can tell me all about one conflict from whatever biased info they're getting but are clueless/unaware about other things taking place.
@@Iridescent_AstraeaSudan has been a dumpster fire for 40 years. This is a tribal conflict, not some nuanced battle between legitimate governments. Get a clue, clown. Sudan created this shit heap, so it's theirs to fix. The West doesn't care because it's been the same BS for 40 years. Sudan won't change, and they've made it clear. Why the fuck should Westerners care about a conflict that doesn't involve or affect them? Do you think Sudan gives a fuck about Ukraine? Do you think Sudan gives a shit about Taiwan? NO!!! They're tied up in trabalistic nonsense and stuck in the past. Just let them fight it out and solve it themselves. They'll figure it out or weaken themselves to the point that a neighboring nation can invade and occupy with almost zero resistance. There won't be fighting in Sudan anymore, of there isn't a Sudan to fight over.
Isn't Sudan the type of car?
Thank you for covering my country's war
You mean the same wars they have been fighting over there since 1800's.
Since after colonisation
As a Sudanese myself I lost track of situation because of the media and hope my family is safe.
SPLM-N is worth mentioning. Of the rebel groups, they control substantial and increasing ground (Nuba Mountains, chunks of Blue Nile, etc.), and have been consistently resisting the basic paradigm of buying loyalty by the centre through the past decades.
What’s even crazier is what’s happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I just found about what’s happening in the Congo and I advise my fellow American to read up on it because it is absolutely ridiculous that no one is speaking about it.
Yeah, also see Myanmar internal civil war, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Armenia-Azerbaijan tension, Ethiopia's issues with Egypt and Eritrea for the Nile dam/Red Sea access, etc, Yemen, etc, etc..........
@@zhcultivator for real, as a young yank I grew up on videos of Afghanistan. in those videos, the people in them always said "If this if that, then we can finally win and go home." I see videos from before I am even born of people in Arabic garb planting IEDs in the roads that my parents paid for with their taxes. It never seemed to end after a while it all sort of blended together to the point where I'm just like "Fuck this place, everyone here hates us and we hate them so fuck it leave them to kill each other as long as they don't come over here I don't care." at this point, I can't even be like oh their humans too because it seems like they hate us. so why in gods name would I give even the time of day to them let alone send my hard-earned cash to them. I believe in the Ukraine war because they have shown us that they have the will and just need the weapons.
TL:DR you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. africa is the horse that doesn't want to drink while Ukraine is slurping up every drop.
It's not ridiculous it's happened 1000× over, internal conflict in African countries is nothing out of the ordinary since they're heavily destabilized and corrupt such as with middle eastern conflicts
my 2 cents:
a) The Ukraine War is for us Europeans a war in our own backyard, it naturally consumes more media attention and concern because its something that affects us in our day to day lives.
b) For the same reason its something that affects people we know and care about, here in Scandinavia we think of Ukrainians as our cousins due to the historic links between our regions.
c) Ukraine has a story which it has been able to tell, a story of a country seeking to throw off its post soviet past to embrace western ways of thinking, in Sudan its a war between two characters of dubious morals fighting a petty power struggle with widespread war crimes committed on both sides.
d) Ukraine also happened to have a President at the time war broke out who was a gifted communicator and who was able to use the power of symbolism to appeal to the West, if Poroshenko had still been President I'm not sure that the result would have been the same.
It’s because you lost your colonies lmao
I appreciate these updates as not enough coverage seems to be available beyond “there is a conflict in east Africa. In other news…”
I think it's a lot simpler than anything you said. Ukraine always complain about lack of funds from others and like any well written story there is a clear underdog good guy vs a bad guy (extreme oversimplification). Israel is a little more complicated but in this particular instance Hamas attacked Israel and is now getting obliterated for it (lots more to it but we are taking about average people in other countries and that what they see). People understand these stories. Sudan is a war between two Sudanese armies in a country that's always at war, how is the average person not involved supposed to understand? Who is the 'good guy' and 'bad guy'? If you can understand and don't know how you want it to end how are you supposed to sympathise and that's where aid comes from. It might sound petty to compare reality to fiction like that but that doesn't stop it from being true.
People unironically treat wars like ball games where they bet on one side to win and will only want to hear good news about that side and not the bad ones. Obviously, you also got the media at play making sure the population supports what the country's government is supporting so you got cases like the Russian Invasion of Ukraine where for example, both pro-Ukrainians and pro-Russian medias will try to spin one footage of a Soviet tank exploding to their favour by claiming it was the enemy's. India's Hindustan Times are clearly pro-Russian as India is pro-Russian while the Telegraph is pro-Ukraine as the United Kingdom is pro-Ukraine.
Suggestion: the expedition of the thousand 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹