Neck of the woods

“Omar al-Bashir emerged on Sudanese television shortly after his second surgical procedure in four months on Thursday to issue a series of threats to Israel and assurances to the Sudanese people.“I am in good health and our reaction to Israel will be painful,” he said. “Israel is our enemy, our number one enemy, and we will continue calling Israel our enemy,” he added. Various Sudanese government officials have already vociferously blamed Israel for the explosion which shook the heart of capital shortly last month, but this is the first time the president has spoken about the event.The 68 year-old leader told Sudan there are two possible reactions to Israel’s alleged military transgression. The first would be to normalise relations with the Jewish State, a move he said he would never make.“The second choice is to have a technology that allows us to do an identical attack against Israel. I cannot say this is impossible. We are trying to have this technology,”…………….”

Which means Al-Bashir will have to do two things: go democratic and go nuclear. First he can go democratic: once he goes democratic, after 25 years of dictatorship, then he can defeat anyone. He could even have kept the South Sudan. I submit that even the Syrian regime could defeat Israel and regain the Golan if it goes completely democratic and allows the freedom of expression. So could the Jordanians and the Saudis (they might even defeat the Huthis of Yemen) and all the rest of the Arab potentates.