It's an old story. The Sudanese regime continues its brutal campaign in Darfur and tells the UN to take a hike. Actually, Khartoum tells those nations who care about stopping the killing to get lost. The regime pays no price for its defiance. Why? No, it’s not because George Bush invaded Iraq. For years, Moscow and Beijing have refused to support UN Security Council-imposed sanctions on Khartoum. They are heavy investors in Sudan’s energy industry, and the Chinese are also busy selling weapons to the butchers of Darfur. From Reuters:

Sudan snubbed an invitation to send high-level officials to a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York on Monday to discuss a U.S. and British sponsored draft resolution to deploy around 20,000 troops and police to Darfur….

"Eyewitnesses in el-Fasher in North Darfur are telling us that Sudanese government military flights are flying in troops and arms on a daily basis," said Kate Gilmore, Amnesty International's executive deputy secretary general….

Khartoum submitted a plan to the Security Council which would send 10,500 more government troops to Darfur to stop the violence instead of a U.N. force.

"Displaced people in Darfur are absolutely terrified that the same soldiers that expelled them from their homes and villages may now be sent supposedly to protect them," Gilmore said….

Around 7,000 African Union troops are struggling to monitor a shaky truce in Darfur, but short of cash and capabilities they have been unable to stem the violence which has only increased since an AU-brokered peace deal signed by the government and one rebel faction in May….

In an ominous development Sudanese Islamist leaders have said they will take up arms to expel any U.N. forces in Darfur and even turn against the government if it accepts international troops.

Those statements echo comments by Osama bin Laden, hosted by Sudan in the 1990s, who has said al Qaeda would fight in Darfur if U.N. troops were deployed….

And we’re expecting the Russians and the Chinese to get tough with Iran at some point. Don’t hold your breath.