War = meh

If you've tuned into the news lately, you probably know that Sudan and South Sudan are back at it, with military incursions into disputed territory (South) and cross-border bombings (North). More is sure to come, with increased intensity. South Sudan is already referring to it as a "limited war". One wonders if the new government fully appreciates that following independence, what was once an internal, civil conflict is now an Inter-State Conflict, that rare and hyper-political breed that draws intense international scrutiny. The South Sudanese are no longer oppressed freedom fighters. They are a country behaving rashly, with all the international condemnation that incurs. The fallout of this latest round of conflict will go well beyond the lives lost and infrastructure destroyed. The goodwill of the West towards a country badly in need of aid is disintegrating, and so far they don't seem to realize it.

Even if the elites seem clueless, you'd think a return to war would be a big deal to the population. But though it's all over the papers, so far people seem to be... bored. Yesterday, in the hotel restaurant, my colleague and I paid rapt attention to the coverage on Al Jazeera. The rest of the bar, all locals, seemed totally disinterested.

Part of me finds it hard to imagine treating war as commonplace, even dull. Another part of me thinks of the War on Terror, and realizes that it's actually really easy to become inured to insanity.