Darfur Revisited

Today's Washington Post informs us that, despite Colin Powell's high profile visit, the situation in Darfur has not improved. Meanwhile London's Guardian reports that "Tony Blair has asked Downing Street and Foreign Office officials to draw up plans for possible military intervention in Sudan, where more than a million refugees are at risk from famine and disease."

As it is patent that both the U.S. and Britain hope to resolve the situation in Darfur through diplomatic means, and as governments frequently draw up military plans for conflicts they have no intention of actually fighting, we will have to wait and see if Blair's move is an effort to put a bit more muscle behind his diplomatic arm-wrestling, or if he will actually deploy troops if the situation does not improve.