So I'm watching BBC and discover that

[malaise]

despite all the harsh sanctions against Sudan, one of the products that was not banned is gum Arabic. So how much did Pepsi and Coke pay to keep gum Arabic flowing?

I learn something new every day. Bushco - what a clusterfuck on behalf of corporations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gum_arabic

Sudan

Although from the 1950s to the early 1990s Sudan accounted for roughly 80 percent of gum arabic production, today that figure is under 50 percent. <6> Hundreds of thousands of poor Sudanese are dependent on gum arabic for their livelihood. However it is still the world's largest single producer, and the production of gum arabic is heavily controlled by the Sudanese government.<7>

The connection between Sudan and Osama bin Laden brought the otherwise innocuous gum to public consciousness in 2001, as an urban legend arose that bin Laden owned a significant fraction of the gum arabic production in Sudan and that therefore one should boycott products using it.<8> As a result, some food producers, such as Snapple, renamed the ingredient to "gum acacia" on their labels.

This story took on somewhat significant proportions, mostly thanks to an article in The Daily Telegraph a few days after the September 11 attacks, which echoed this claim. Eventually, the State Department issued a release stating that while Osama bin Laden had once had considerable holdings in Sudanese gum arabic production, he divested himself of these when he was expelled from Sudan in 1996.<9>

In a press conference held at the Washington Press Club on 30 May 2007, John Ukec Lueth Ukec, Sudan's ambassador to the United States, threatened to stop exportation of gum arabic from his country if sanctions were imposed. The sanctions proposed by the United States were a political response from the United States to the alleged connection between the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed militia group. Ukec made his speech surrounded by Coca-Cola products, although other sodas use gum arabic as an emulsifier as well.<10>

John Ukec Lueth Ukec was quoted at the Washington press conference, "I want you to know that the gum arabic which runs all the soft drinks all over the world, including the United States, mainly 80 percent is imported from my country," which he said after raising a bottle of Coca-Cola. According to the Washington Post, a reporter then asked if Sudan was threatening to "stop the export of gum arabic and bring down the Western world." To which Ukec replied, "I can stop that gum arabic and all of us will have lost this," and gestured to the Coke bottle.<10>
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[On the Road]

1. This is Like the Plot of a Screwball Comedy

"You better not sanction me or NO COKE FOR YOU!"

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. It's pretty unusual for a country to have total sanctions applied against these days

because most people recognise the trade in basic products, like agriculture, tends to hurt the general populace far more than those in charge. So I don't think the non-imposition of gum arabic sanctions can be taken to mean much.