Environmentalists are openly using the project as a proxy for their general opposition to oil sands development.

FORBES: If U.S. Says No To Canadian Oil Sands Pipeline, China Will Say Yes

Oil and drug companies, among others, use it as a proxy through which to pursue their less popular causes anonymously, avoiding the pillorying they might incur if they spoke up directly.

ECONOMIST: Corporate lobbying

Usually allies of the government in Khartoum, and sometimes its proxy fighters, they say they have been betrayed for a few dry oil wells.

ECONOMIST: A ruling from The Hague pleases the north and vexes the south