Driving Forces in Darfur

Sun Tzu list the elements important to a strategic position in their order of priority: 1) philosophy, 2) climate, 3) ground, 4) leadership, and 5) methods. When it comes to conflict, philosophical battles trump climate/ground battles and climate/ground battles trump leadership/methods battles. For example, while I would love to share the optimism regarding in this recent article regarding recent discoveries of water eliminating the the genocide in Sudan, the conflict between Arabs and blacks in the region is probably more philosopjhical than climate/ground based. Change in climate/ground may have triggered it, but they will not end it.