Гай Бъртън: Ако ЕС иска да влияе върху политическия преход в Судан, главните му конкуренти ще бъдат Рияд и Абу Даби
BULGARIAN NATIONAL RADIO
[English Title: Guy Burton: If the EU wants to influence the political transition in Sudan, its main competitors will be Riyadh and Abu Dhabi]
…The United States is a global power, but its problem is the lack of a strategy for Sudan, said Guy Burton of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
"In this part of the world - the Middle East - Americans have historically tended to hold on to those who happen to be in power. And because the people in question have authoritarian, dictatorial leanings, Americans tend to support that kind of player. "
"On the other hand, in America itself - in its political caste - there is a thread of idealism. They see themselves as something extraordinary, as an example of a unique and ongoing democratic experiment. But this idealistic thread in American foreign policy is often broken in reality in the places where it has been applied, and especially in the Middle East since 2011. "
…" Americans have long been the leading factor in Sudan. Under President Omar al-Bashir, the country lived under US sanctions. American companies did not do business in Sudan. So now it's very difficult for the United States to influence the political transition - Americans don't have business projects in the country that they can use as a lever of influence, "said Guy Burton.
Where the United States is weak, China is strong - because of the investment it made in the Sudanese economy in the 1920s under US sanctions, but:
"Since 2011, Sudan has been divided into two. South Sudan was created, which took most of the oil reserves. So nowadays, Sudan's economic importance to China is much less. Probably this circumstance should explain China's public position - that it does not want to interfere in Sudan's domestic policy. "
