bopuc/links

First the upside. The representative from Sudan was present and Japan sided with Canada on the issue.

The downer ... well, sadly, only a few other UN representatives showed up to hear Martin speak (the room appeared empty in television coverage). Also, we all know that reports from Sudan appeared on the web months ago and (probably due to a certain war) have been ignored until now by the mainstream; politicians and media outlets alike (and which media outlets covered this story? CBC, CTV, maybe Global = peanuts).

Martin has won the prize (and a boost in Canadian public opinion no doubt) for being the first to act, and some would say, 'better late than never.' I just hope that in the case of the people in Sudan it is not already too late.

Yeah.. I posted this cause I am no big fan of Martin really. A minister of finance thinks mostly of money, not the people ... lest I go on... But this did impress me, at very least for the initiative and balls, nevermind whatever diplomatic brownie points he may have scored.

Seems the whole Sudan affair got more traction in blogs than in "traditional media":
http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/
Jim et al seem to actually have had some impact!