Males that age have no feeling towards Israel one way or another, and we view that as a problem, so we came up with an idea that would be appealing to them.” The Zionist state is getting desperate. Yaaba isgaaray. Here is another article from the BBC: Israel 'worried over world image' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3740682.stm

Women soldiers in their underwear: Israel's image boost · MPs call article in men's magazine pornographic · Maxim photoshoot was suggested by consulate Conal Urquhart in Tel Aviv Thursday June 21, 2007 The Guardian Women MPs in Israel's Knesset have criticised the foreign ministry for resorting to "pornography" to promote Israel abroad after a feature appeared in the men's magazine Maxim featuring four former soldiers photographed in their underwear. The magazine carried the article, The Women of the Israel Defence Force, in its July issue after encouragement from the Israeli consulate in New York as part of its broader campaign to improve Israel's image abroad. Most Israeli women do compulsory military service for two years from the age of 18. While they do not fight in combat units, they undergo basic training and can be seen at checkpoints in the West Bank. Article continues -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the magazine, one of the women, Yarden, describes how she enjoyed firing her M16 rifle before she entered the military intelligence corps, while Nivit says her job in intelligence was so secret that she cannot talk about it. There is nothing military about the photographs, however, which are taken in different locations in Tel Aviv Zahava Gal On, the leader of the Meretz party, said it was inappropriate for western countries to market themselves using half-naked women. "It is unfortunate that the New York consulate thinks that Israel's relevance will be expressed by the use of naked women who are treated as an object, and not as women of substance who exude achievement and success," she said. Colette Avital, of the Labour party, described the article as a "pornographic campaign to encourage tourism". In a statement the magazine said: "Maxim was approached by the Israeli consulate to be a part of reshaping Israel's public image, specifically because of our unmatched mainstream reach to men aged 18 to 35. We are pleased with the result of our work together." It is not the first time that Israel has used sex to sell itself. The Israeli ministry of tourism has an advertising contract with Arsenal FC to promote Israel which features women in swimsuits. Israel is keen to sell itself as a western country with beaches and nightclubs rather than a country full of religious zealots which has been in a permanent state of emergency since its creation. The Israeli government also has a MySpace page to promote its image and tourism. Staff at the consulate said that they decided a photoshoot would be a good way of promoting Israel to young Americans. David Dorfman, an adviser at the consulate in New York, told the Associated Press: "Males that age have no feeling towards Israel one way or another, and we view that as a problem, so we came up with an idea that would be appealing to them."

States of Disorder Somalia, hostage to factional fighting between warlords for more than 15 years, convulsed with violence in 2006, when short-lived stability installed by the Union of Islamic Courts was upended by the invasion of Ethiopian troops in favor of an interim government. Over the years, refugees from the fighting have spilled into Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Kenya, destabilizing a large portion of the Horn of Africa. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3865&page=7

Odaygu ceeb makarto miyaa horta cajiib!!Surwaalka lagasiib wali Meles ayuu hoos fadhiyaa. Goormeen aragnaa Meles oo marti Riyaale ugu ah Hargeisa. Horta reer Hargeisa odayga maweeydiiyaan miyaa iyaguna isma weeydiiyaan miyaa waxa socodkan badan kusoo kordhiyay.

Kashafa: "It-ain't-our-problem kinda thing. That doesn't fly." ^ Can't help but revisit an old classic of, It ain't our prblem kinda thing, this time it comes with a full smile. quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by General Duke: Sightings of Ethiopia seems to be on the increase. Though why that much armour in Gedo? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Responded by HA: This has nothing to do with Gedo and you know it sxb. Gedo is just the entry point.

db

What internal conflict is there within the TFG? Cali Geeddi oo golaha Wasiiradiisa ku amray inay xafiisyada surtaan Sawirka Cabdilahi Yusuf. :confused:

Excerpts from a letter sent to Jeffery Gettleman of The New York Times Dear JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, Greetings! I read your report and video with amazement for the exceptional courage it took you in telling the truth as it is: “In Ethiopia fears and cries of Army Brutality.” As you have observed it is not an isolated incidence but rather a daily criminal act of the regime all over the country. It is my first time to read a true, vivid revelation of the horrendous human rights abuses from a Western journalist who, I feel miraculously escaped the government’s self censure imposed on journalists as a whole on their reporting. Your exposure of the heinous crimes being committed by the one man State of Meles Zenawi is a selfless commitment to promoting freedom, democracy and the right to live. Living in Ethiopia as you have noted for many Ethiopians is an every day road to perdition. It won’t be long before they [Meles and his cronies] start giving you a hard time for telling the truth nor would you get assistance from the US ambassador Yammamoto who is benign treated like a child by Meles Zenawi. We all know what happened to your guy’s for five days recently in ******. They know no domestic or international laws nor do they abide by them. Don’t be disarmed by the oratorical skills, subterfuges and shenanigans of Meles. I can tell you Ethiopia will remember you for the courage you had in telling the truth. And Ethiopia will definitely be free from the jaws of a blood thirsty, rotting despot, whatever he relies on America to commit his crimes against humanity. You are the maverick US journalist I have been waiting to see in telling the truth as it is. But believe me; the regime will accuse you of anything under the sun. And convincing Americans working with Meles is also going to be a though job. In Ethiopia truth is bitter. Be watchful and keep yourself safe! Best regards of the day, Aklilu Demissie A concerned Ethiopian.

Press Release On Jeffery Gettleman and the New York Times 19.6.2007 In May, Jeffery Gettleman, a journalist from the New York Times with two colleagues, was expelled from Ethiopia. The group had specifically asked to visit Ethiopia as tourists, not as journalists, and had requested assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to obtain tourist visas. It was given. Mr. Gettleman also contacted the Ministry for assistance when there was a query over his camera equipment at the airport. Again, it was given. His subsequent behavior then mimicked that of an intelligence officer, or even a secret agent, rather than that of a reporter. He even crossed the international border into Somalia and then returned to Ethiopia clandestinely. Indeed, as his report makes it clear he had an agenda, not the aim of producing the sort of balanced and fair report that readers of the New York Times might expect. Mr. Gettleman is clearly angry that he was arrested and detained by security forces even though he was hardly behaving in a way that New York Times journalists normally behave outside Africa. His writing reflects this. The most offensive, and unacceptable, element in Mr. Gettleman’s reporting is the way in which he embellishes claims of terrorists. Indeed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs finds it intolerable that Mr. Gettleman is prepared to try to make terrorists appear to look like rebels with a cause, to make heroes out of a terrorist group whose latest exploit in April was to slaughter indiscriminately dozens of civilian workers at the Adole oil exploration site. Most of the 65 Ethiopians and 9 Chinese technicians massacred there were killed while they slept. This was a straightforward terrorist atrocity. For the ****** National Liberation Front (ONLF) to justify this with a claim that warnings had been given against oil exploration in the region is simply unacceptable. There can be no justification for the deliberate and indiscriminate killing of civilian workers; the dead included a three year old child. Such comments are particularly outrageous when families of those murdered are still in mourning. The Ethiopian government refers to members of the ONLF as terrorists because that is exactly what they are. Their activity cannot be justified as Mr. Gettleman tries to do, by quoting ONLF claims of government atrocities, real or imagined. The ONLF have, over several years, been responsible for a succession of bombings, assassinations, and the laying of land-mines, frequently aimed at civilians and targeting members of rival clans. Traditional leaders and clan elders critical of the ONLF have been particular targets. This cannot, by any stretch of imagination be identified as a liberation struggle. It is terrorism, pure and simple. Mr. Gettleman’s article makes no effort to provide any understanding of the political situation in the self-administering Somali Regional State of Ethiopia. He totally ignores government’s efforts to talk to the ONLF, and makes no reference to the delegation of ****** clan elders who unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate with the ONLF leadership abroad last year, in the UK, Sweden and Denmark – in fact, the ONLF has never been interested in participating in the political process. Mr. Gettleman fails to comment on the ONLF’s membership of the opposition "Alliance for Freedom and Democracy", set up under the auspices of Eritrea last year. It was then the ONLF leadership removed itself from London to Eritrea. Hundreds of ONLF fighters were trained and armed in Eritrea before being sent to the ****** via the Islamic Courts Union in Mogadishu in October and November last year. Mr. Gettleman shows no interest in Eritrean involvement with, and support for, the ONLF, or in what the Eritrean government is trying to do in its attempts to destabilize Ethiopia. All this is surely relevant to his supposed story. Instead, Mr. Gettleman quotes US Congressman Donald Payne whose recent pronouncements about Ethiopia and Somalia have demonstrated a serious lack of up-to-date information about Ethiopia. Indeed, it is far from clear that facts matter much for Congressman Payne. He knows very well that to describe Ethiopia as a country which has no respect for democracy is completely fallacious. Ethiopia has gradually moved through various stages of democracy in the last 16 years, culminating in the first real competitive multi-party elections in 2005. Despite some controversial elements, including the deeply regretted riots and deaths in June and November 2005, these were largely successful. We now have a functional, indeed, lively, opposition in parliament, and a parliamentary body to which the administration is now answerable. In his continuing efforts to defame Ethiopia, Mr. Gettleman quotes ONLF fighters on the situation of the region through which he was traveling. He repeats their claims there is no education, no development in the Somali Regional State, and talks of “huddles of bubble-shaped huts” passing for towns. We would certainly accept the level of development in the Somali state remains low, but even Mr. Gettleman’s brief visits to Jigjiga and Deghabur, should have given the lie to such nonsense. Towns in the region like Jigjiga, Deghabur, Kebridar, Gode and others are certainly not collections of huts. They have substantially built schools, mosques, health centers, administrative buildings. There is a university in Jigjiga which currently has nearly 1000 students; as of 2005 there were 23 secondary schools in the region, and some 700 primary schools. Ethiopian troops have not been gang-raping women, burning down huts or killing civilians at will. Indeed, given the ONLF’s recent actions at Adole, the latter is a particularly outrageous claim. The Ethiopian army takes very seriously any such claims and investigates any and all accusations that are made against its troops. Mr. Gettleman’s failure even to attempt to produce a balanced picture of recent events in the Somali regional state, and the clandestine nature of his visit, makes clear he remains angry that he was arrested and detained. He should not be. He was not on any legitimate news-gathering assignment. He had requested a visa to visit tourist sites in the north of the country, and gave no indication he wished to travel into the Somali regional state. His sudden appearance in Deghabur, close to the site of the terrorist massacre at Adole a few weeks earlier, was a surprise to local authorities, all the more so as Mr. Gettleman had left Ethiopia, crossing into Somalia, and then re-entered Ethiopia illegally. Given the state of alert following the atrocity at Adole, the arrival of three journalists pretending to be tourists, inevitably led to suspicion. Since Mr. Gettleman and his group were planning to make contact with the terrorists responsible for those killings, it is hardly surprising that the group were arrested. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is always ready to welcome journalists on legitimate news gathering assignments, journalists who are prepared to display the responsibility, integrity and truthfulness we would expect from employees of a newspaper with the reputation of the New York Times, though this has had to admit to a number of serious errors on occasions. Four years ago, one journalist was forced to resign following the discovery that he had committed a whole series of journalistic frauds. Mr. Gettleman’s reporting has seriously tarnished the reputation of himself and of the New York Times. It will certainly make it harder for Ethiopia to believe in the integrity of western news outlets. It leads to suspicion that the New York Times, like others, has double standards with regard to reporting about Africa, and the way their reporters behave in Africa. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Addis Ababa 19 June 2007 http://www.mfa.gov.et/Press_Section//PressRelease.htm

Beloved Abdisalaam Hereri: From BBC to VOA Annigu laftaydu muddo laga joogo shan sanno amaba ka baddan ayaan dhageysigeeda faraha ka qaaday. Abdisalaan Hereri, You deserve better and I will follow you to the VOA. I always liked to listen your programs and I wish you a good luck! Haddaba, Laanta Afka Soomaaliga ee BBC-da ayaa hadda u muuqata meel ay ka sii gurmayaan wariyayaasha aqoonta u lahaa mihnadda saxaafadda, taas oo saamayn ku yeelan doonta tayada barnaamijyada ay baahiso idaacaddu. source Jamhuuriya Lets hope your beloved Hereri will move to VOA and transform it to compete the BBC. I hardly ever listened BBC, and those few times were mainly after main events occured. We are in the same category sxb when it comes to the listening of the BBC.

In general, the new crew is not as skilled as the previous generation of BBC broadcasters. That is just my unadulterated opinion based on taste and my perception of quality. I have to respectfully disagree the above opinion but again it all comes down to ones personal perception and taste. BBC has become largely irrelevant. It certainly has become irrelevant for some people but not all people. Lets face it, there is not a single census taken today that shows the BBC Somali service has become irrelevant or declining among our people. It clearly shows how the BBC/Somali service broadcasters are lacking professionalism when you hear such their names as the ones MMA mentioned which I do like to repeat again. No wonder they losing their listeners. Lets say Mr.Bashka Jugsoodhacay takes the name, Aadan Ilkacase or simly Cadoow, will it increase his professionalism? :confused:

marka game-kii waa lala cayaaray, amxaarkiina xamar soodhaafi waa, TFG-na waxbakama aha Kismaayo, Gedo and the whole jubooyinka. Ninboow Naftaa, Nabiyoow Umadaa miyeey sheekada Soomaalida kabixi weeysay. I heard u, Barre boys can give a good milkshake equal to that of Mbagathi girls or even better.

ceebtiisa inuu iska aamusa u dhaantay.. The word "ceeb" is not in the dictionary of the mafia boss. "Ciidamada Itoobiyaanku waxay gurigeyga ka qaateen lacag Dollar $ 369,000 iyo Diinaar 4000, Mobile-lo Thuraya ah " :dibiga gowrac weyshu haku quusatee: Either you are with us or with the enemey. A clear Message to anti-Ethiopian warlords.

OK maybe not the best Somali but still it is Good Somali. Bad Af-Somali = Bad quality ... because this is Af-Soomaali news service. Goormuu Af-Soomaaligi kala fiicnaaday? The dirty Somali clan politics aside, its a good thing Mr Garaad incorporated men and women with differen accents representing people in different parts of greater Somalia into the BBC Somali service team.

^Maya sxb, I was born there but grew up in Mog-city. However as soon as peace returns to Somalia, Baydhabo is my number uno destination sxb or even I might settle there, you never now.

Very good videos Kashafa. "Wadankaas Ilaaheey biyo qaboow haku shubo"

http://bartamaha.com/baidoa.html Enjoy the scenes of my birth place[baydhabo Janaay] and its beautifull people. Try to ignore the few scenes of the Tigree collaborators[criminals] in this video.

Aden Abdulle Osman First President of Somalia Published: 11 June 2007 Aden Abdulle Osman, politician: born Belet Weyne, Italian Somaliland 1908; President of Somalia 1960-67; married (eight children); died Nairobi 8 June 2007. Aden Abdulle Osman will be remembered not only as Somalia's first president; he was also the first African leader to hand over power to a democratically elected successor. Elected in 1960, when the former British and Italian Somali colonies united to form the Republic of Somalia, Osman lost the 1967 presidential election and, unlike so many African leaders before and since, accepted his defeat graciously and gave up power. Sadly, his successor, Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, did not have the opportunity to do the same. Shermarke was assassinated in 1969 and Mohamed Siad Barre led a coup that ushered in 22 years of military rule. Worse was to follow for Somalia as Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991 and the country fell apart, torn to pieces by warlords and clan militias. In the 16 years that have followed, Somalia has become a byword for anarchy with no functioning central government. Somalia's descent into chaos greatly saddened Osman who had devoted his life to securing his homeland's independence. Born in 1908 in the town of Belet Weyne, near the border with Ethiopia, Osman joined the Somali Youth League (SYL) in 1944, a nationalist party which campaigned for the end of British and Italian rule. He quickly rose up the ranks, becoming secretary of the Belet Weyne branch in 1946, chairman of the national legislative assembly in 1956, and chairman of the SYL itself in 1958. By the time Somalia won its independence, Osman was a popular national figure and was duly elected the new country's first head of state, leading the democratic government from 1960 to 1967. Said Barre's regime, which had been propped up by US aid during the Cold War, began to teeter in 1990. Civil war had broken out, a precursor to the brutal clan wars that would later turn Somalia into a failed state. Along with around 100 other prominent Somali politicians, Osman signed a manifesto condemning the violence and calling for reconciliation. He was duly arrested, and remained imprisoned until the 1991 coup. Following his release Osman moved back to his family farm in Janale in southern Somalia. During the numerous attempts at restoring government to the country, Osman played an increasingly peripheral role as illness and old age limited his involvement. He died in a Kenyan hospital at the age of 99. The current crisis in Somalia, which has seen some of the worst fighting since 1991, had deeply saddened him, his family said. Somalia's fragile interim government, the 14th attempt at central rule since 1991, announced on Saturday that it would rename Mogadishu's international airport after Osman. Steve Bloomfield http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2643065.ece

http://dayniile.com/june/11june4.htm

Joqoro=darbi jiif aka homeless.

^JB, the two dooroos cannot fight when the diiq is in town sxb.

http://www.somaliweyn.com/pages/news/June_07/11June17.html

http://www.hiiraan.com/news2/2007/jun/wararka_maanta11-1360.htm

I thought the ICU will be more friendly than anyone but they prooved the contrary ,,,, they would kill everyone in Somaliland if they get the chance but i'm glad they know now ,,,, Thats a serious charge yaa JB. What is your prove the ICU had the intention of killing "everyone" in Somaliland? Your cheap comments is getting desperate and not funny anymore.