OH, I forgot to add I have never seen any where in the world where a national tv will Procrustes 3 hours of talk. waxay muujinaysaa shaqo la'aan iyo in aysan shaqo u oolin. waa ini sheekaysanaya. fadhi ku dirir.

Al-shabaab has no purpose other than mayhem and destruction. The Kenyan President is probably right. You can't go over hundred mile deep inside Lamu county, with over fifty fighters, kill as many as forty destroy property, burn stations and disappear to the next forest, then, come back a day later and repeat the same thing. That is impossible. There are more unknown things going their. Shabab , the enemy of Somalia don't want to miss any thing that puts Somalis a bad light.

No, the meagre resources can't sustain federal structure. What we need to do eliminate this top heavy bureaucracy and Socialism style ministries. let the regions collect taxes, elect their governors and provide the services in their towns and villages. What would a ministry of public works do if they do not build ant thing. How about Wasaarada xidhiidhka golayaasha, warshadaha, qorshaynta, beeraha, dalxiiska and so mon. They all have huge buildings in Hargeisa with million dollar budget. concentrate water, electricity, food production, health care, education and infrastructure. The rest is tribal patronage.

I think it is good speech, but as Dr, Kenny said walking the walk and flowing these moves could give him credibility. . It could signal a change in terms of enforcement and rejection of tribal loyalty. start with Aways and company.

We all know after all these years "qabyaalad" is been nurtured in Hargeisa. Here you have a former cabinet minister in the middle of tribal tirade. "khamiisyo cadcadna way soo xidheen, Salaadi jimcahana way soo tukadeen Qabyaaladna makarafoonka ayey u qaateen". When I was in Hargeisa few years ago , I heard somebody say " sharcigu waa waxaan ka soo dagaalnay". The bigger issue is that certain groups or communities assumed they own the Kulmiye party and the government in general. yes, they have voted for the party, but that doesn't mean they own it. If you look back during Rayaale administration the west Hargeisa guys were 75% of government ministry directors , independent agencies, civil servants and the mi;itaey. one year before the election , they switched loyalty to Kulmiye. When Siilaanyo became the president, he gave them the most important ministries, like Finance, foreign , industry, education, and planing. If there is a job opening, people from Burco, Borama and Sanaag, can't spend months in Hargeisa to wait for an opening, so, these guys like HAG in Mogadishu, usually gets the government jobs. Through the system, they became the richest. Yet they complaining for more. Even if the leader tries to be just, those who became rich through patronage, will not allow him. When the world bank gave money for local private projects last year 70% of those who got the programs were them, because they were the managers. With all these perks , they still want more. I believe these ministries must be dispersed throughout the country. Take the livestock to Togdheer, agriculture and education to Awdal, fisheries to Berbera and so on. Otherwise , Hargeisa will became like mogadishu, a vacuum that sucks life from the other parts of Somaliland. Another issue in Somaliland is people do not understand the concept of policing and law enforcement. In order to keep Hargeisa for becoming another battle ground of the terrorists, doors must broken at night and suspects must be interrogated. Every where, anti terror raids are done either at down or art night to keep the elements of the surprise. They should know when it comes to rule of law no one is above the law whether your uncle is Ina Biixi or someone else. THey are complaining about the special anti terror unit RRU. these are their boys trying to keep them save, yet they keep talking about " guri nloo dhacay". I do not think President Siilaanyo has the backbone or toughness to enforce the law and tell these guys not tread a dangerous path. Peace. Nabad iyo caano. They crossed the line by attaching private citizen and his business. The good news is, I heard some members of that community denounced this latest action by Ina Xaashi and "Gadhcadayaasha".

If you judge the western cultures by their weaknesses or the influence of the external forces, like hollywood or the pop culture, definitely , you will witness the moral decay and other undesirable aspects. but if you look their institutions, rule of law, openness, transparency and creativity definitely they could be among the top. Imagine if Germans and Japanese were Muslims. They could have been the perfect societies. were Muslims. Their strong work ethics, compassion and ingenuity, combined with moral foundations of Islam , they could have been the best society. Asians are human robots without emotions, and many people will tell you they do not like charity or giving back to society especially here in north America. Turks are showing their tradition and goodness. Great people and cultures always rise up. Look at Japan and Germany , after the destruction of the second world war. they are the top economies, and these things do not come with short cut or weak traditions. remember, things are working okay here because most of the people are playing by the rules, honest and hard working, otherwise it would have collapsed. I am one of those who believe the Anglo-saxon order and rule of law are the top cultures if the moral issues were supplemented with faith.

There is another scenario that same people are throwing around. With overthrow of Saddam america made Iran the undisputed regional power now some American policy makers are trying to reverse that. The biggest mistake was done by Rumsfeld and others by disbanding 400,000 Iraqi national army, and destroying all governmental authorities by trying to eliminate the Baathist section of the regime. Remember most Sunni jihadists are connected to the Saudi kingdom, and there was always strong bond between the Saudis and the American government. Both of them orchestrated the Afghan Mujahideen war of eighties to drive the Soviets from Afghanistan. They both supported the overthrow of Gaddafi and Assad, now these duo may want to teach a lesson to the hardline shiite prime minister Maliki who is supporting Assad and Hezbollah. The Kurds do not mind this new divide, they were only nominally part of Iraq recently, and now is the time for them to curve out their land and declare independent. Americans , sometimes work in a mysterious way. They may even believe this new developments may hasten the downfall of Asad. I believe the gulf countries are on board I do not think the Americans will lift a finger to help the shiite leadership in Iraq. Their main public relations issue is to find a way for a new leadership for this Sunni coalition that is acceptable to world other than the extremist ISIS. THe idea of Shiite majority in Iraq is exaggerated. of course they are the majority among the Arabs, but if you put the Sunnis and other Ethnic minorities, it is hard to tell. if you combine The Arab sunnis, Kurds, christians, Turkmens of the north who number about 3 million others, the shiite are not a majority. THeir population also concentrates on the south side of the country and east of Baghdad. Maliki's hold on power is the main cause. few years ago the parliament deadlocked over six months to form a government. They are the first shia to rule an arab country, so they won't give up anything. Since their are no plural democracy that can make people of different background to co-exist as citizens, Expect this artificial country to disintegrate along sectarian lines.

Ciidan, one thing you are correct about is there is someone behind these mass power. Even in Libya there were radicals and the west supported. maybe USA and Saudi are backing these sunni power. If they become moderates and deal with world in a logical manner maybe they will rule.

Ciidan, of course they provide food and other things for children when they have the upper hand. Al-shabaab used to care too. They distributed food and agricultural aid in the river area, liberated farms occupied by militias and people used to say, " meelaha Shabaabku Joogo waa nabad". When they start losing grounds, people , whether they are women or children, are collateral damage for them. When you researching these kind of groups, do not go far. JUst check their flags and methods. It is identical. Now you want them to burn Karbala and Najaf. That is genocide. Further more, they do not have legitimate leaders, counsel or any credible figure to deal with. Their leaders are just like Ahmed Godane and the crazy Boko haram leader. The shiite , on the other hand have imams and leaders whom people listen to both in times of peace and war. AS Dr. Kenney said , these are artificial countries that can't sustain or endure any longer. Ali binu abi dalib,( ridiyalaahu canhu), said " Iraq is the land of the Fitnah and tribulations".

The Sunnis are disgruntled by the way the ruling Shiite treated them in Iraq, and wanted a change in Syria. This group is mainly riding the popular sunni wave. The main problem is this black flag carrying extremists share both ideology and method with likes of Al-shabaab and Boka Haram. They will not bring Islam or peace, but will destroy whatever they touch. In the video and other material they are calling not only Assad's army Kuffar, but they are willing to kill every Shiite they encounter. During the war between Iraq and Iran, these kind of groups and their literature was every where. They are trying to set up a Wahabi doctrine state by force. Islam is a religion of consensus and consultation. Alah Subhaanahu wataaala says " La Ikraha Fi deen ". Faith can't be forced to people. The major significant outcome of these advance is, this group eliminated the colonial borders set by Britain and France almost a century ago.

Ah, the age of innocence. even as early as 1981, you couldn't tell that the city belonged to one group or another. It was a great mix of Somalis. a Metropolis. The guy from Cadale and Dhuusamareeb igama xigo Mogadishu.

Looks like you're Liverpool guy and suarez fan

My first world cup was 1982. I was in Djibouti for a vocation at the time and, for the first in my life I watched a live football game from a television. In that year , some of best players in the world who left behind a great legacy in the history of the game were present. Diego Maradona of Argentina, Zico, falcao and socrates of Brazil; the Italian team was dominated players from Juventus who were half of the team . Among the noted Italians were Paolo Rossi, Bruno conti, cabrini and Gentile ( the guy who made so many fouls against Maradona). The French were led by Michel Platini and two black players Tigana and Trezor. The Germans were led by Rommeninge and Lothar matthaus. For the first time African teams performed well against the big teams like Germany and Italy. The first and my only world cup game that I watched in the stands was the 1990 world cup in Italy. As I was sipping a caffe latte at the Rome's train station with some of my friends, a big bus with colors of Cameron parked outside the bus stands. A couple of guys from the Cameroonian embassy came and asked us if we were interested in watching the quarter final game between England and Cameroon and support the African team We said of course and boarded the bus all the way to Napoli were the game was played. As soon as we reached the stadium, there were police and Italian Carabinieri every where. The infamous English soccer hooligans were roaming around the stadium. Because of their violent nature and drunken stupors, security was high. We proceeded to one of the gates where the Cameroonian officials were distributing passes to enter the stadium. As it turned out the number of passes and those in the bus were insufficient. people moved , pushed and shoved one another to get the tickets. After all is said and done, some how , we the Somalis, Eritreans and Ethiopians were the ones without tickets. It was the first time I witnessed the African racism . Those from the horn of Africa were left behind. Some of us fought with the Cameroonians and the police intervened. We explained our plight to the Italians , and how far we came all the way from Rome and ended up here at the gate without a ticket. THey told us to wait. After the game started , or about ten minutes in the first half, the good Italians let us in. We entered San Paolo stadium and ended up seating beside those awful Africans. At that moment , my support for Cameroon evaporated, so I just became a neutral soccer fan watching a world cup match. Some of my friends even applauded for England. The biggest memory of that game apart from the ticket issue was the last few minutes of the game. It was 84th minute and Cameroon was leading 2 to 1. Almost everybody was anticipating the history in the making of an African team reaching for the Semi final of the world cup for the first time. The opening game of the world cup 1990 was between Cameroon and defending champion Argentina, and the indomitable lions defeated Maradona. Not only were they beating teams, they were playing an entertaining open football, which eventually cost them. In that game they dominated until the end. they could have scored more than three or four. When you are winning your biggest game of your life time , and few minutes are left to the finish, you must change your strategy. First you pull out a forward and bring in a defenceman, second you delay the game as much as possible, third make light smart fouls to frustrate the forwards and those who are attaching, without making huge costly fouls. Last but not the least, throw the ball to the stands. The Cameroonians gave up a penalty just six minutes before the end and after that lost all their concentration and calmness. Rather lick their wounds and wait for the end of regulation to regroup and win the game they deserved to win, they all went for attack like a desperate team trying to equalize for the final minute. I could see the English forward Gary lineker at the middle half line separating the teams, beside the last man of the defence, the full back. everyone else went ahead to score goal and play on the English side of the pitch. When the ball was passed no one was close, so some body have to stop and the last guy to foul him was the goalkeeper. They gave England the penalty and the game was over. 3 to 2, they lost the game and every thing crushed. when we entered the bus everyone was quite. Since we fought some of them before we entered the game , a Cameroonian Embassy lady , threatened to do something about us before our destination. They could have done serious damage to us, but since this was Italy not Cameroon, , so we reached Rome safely. During my stay in Italy I took some coaching lessons although not licensed. so , when I watch games, I do not pay attention to the flashy forward or those scoring goals, but the midfield where games are lost or won. They will allow your defence to come forward and push, rather than overwhelmed by forwards. Finally, to win the cup you need more than talented players or good goal scoring forwards. History, culture, attitude, and style of play are all factors that influence the victory. More than anything else, a united team or a team who play for the bigger goal, like Germans will always win. Dysfunctional teams, like a dysfunctional families my survive the first rounds, but will not win the big price. Countries, like Mexico, Nigeria, Egypt, or Russia will never win the cup. The United States has more chance than those to win. The Dutch and the French, who have shown constant quarrel among the couches and the players will not win the cup. Deschamp, the French couch, even left Samir Nasri of the Premier league champions Manchester City from the French national team. In the final stage , it is all about controlling your emotions and punishing the other team on their mistakes. There will be always drama and unforeseen surprises, especially , on high pressure games. Remember, David Beckem getting red card or Zinedine Zidane, head butting Italian midfielder Mattrazzi at the final of 2006, world cup. Some said he called him " figlio di buttana", or something else, the bottom line was, that action by Zidane cost his team a very important player and the inability to kick the final penalties of the game. Also teams who are organized and follow the field tactic not the technical aspect of the game will go a long way. African players of today are flashy with egos or they may not play 100%. They try to avoid injuries in order to play for their main club teams. They could be a cinderella story or a dark horse, but do not bet on them on the big price. Serious nation win the cup. For example, the Italian team is couched by sixty million Italians. Everyone expected them to win or reach the last four. Every move the couches make are scrutinized. Ant way , this could be a big challenge between Ronaldo, the UEFA champion against Messi, the genies who have never won anything with Argentina national team. This time it could be Argentina.

Jarmalka, if they are behind two goals or are leading by two , they play the same way until to the end. They are not always the team with high technical ability but they are united team. They play like an army.

Guys we don't need clan wars in Shabeelaha Hoose. Let the two brotherly communities reconcile and share this huge land. The Water Maal were wronged by the Italian colonial rule, the civil government of nineteen sixties and the Kacaan. They never allowed to rule Shabeelaha. Remember the land is huge. In The siyaad regime every corrupt politician bought a land in Shabeelaha Hoose not Hiiraan or Shabeelaha Dhexe. IN Jawhar and Balacad, the government mostly used the commercial farms set up to feed the big industrial factories that produced clothes, alcohol, rice and many other things. Almost every cronie of that era bought land in Shabeelaha Hoose. even the those who are brought from the Togdheer and Sool during the drought of 1974, were settled in Sablaale and Kunitiwaarey. Now for the first time , the water Maal are the mayor of Marka and the Governor of Shabeelaha Hoose. Which is fair and good. I believe there are two issues here. 1- the marauding militia of H.G should stop burning villages and pushing civilians from their land. I am talking about Illegal Mooryaan that are just armed and want to subjugate people. 2- THe Water Maal must not unilaterally decide that every H.G is a foreigner and should be forced to leave. If a Somali citizen have a farm, land or property in that region , he should have the right to be part of that community. I keep hearing politicians and others saying H.G must leave Shabeelaha Hoose. THat is wrong. Not every H.G is a Mooryaan, there are legitimate civilians who have land and property. The Water maal should deal with those who live with them and build bridges. They are already the governor of the region and must work with other communities. THe region is big and can accommodate a lot of people. Reduce the rhetoric and the tension , sit down and resolve the dispute. I do not think SomaliLanders or Puntland's will help to resolve this. OOdi Ab ka dhow. those who leave close by must find common ground.

Alpha, apology accepted. Yoniz, I have to approve you. Any way good luck.

Brazil may dance their Samba, but they are a weak. Look at their forwards, Neymar or Oscar of chelsea and compare to the big horses like Balotelli, Ronaldo or Muller of Germany. They can't shoot from outside and the age of dribbling around strong defences is over. THe Dutch have been always good and could give a challenge to anybody. But can't close the game at the end. I say the last four could be Germany, Italy, Argentina and Portugal( Brazil). If messi can't win this cup , he will never be one of the greats. the final could be Argentina Vs Germany, or Argentina Vs Portugal. I say Forza Italia.

I think the Arab states of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon will not last any longer. Sectarian lines are forming. Maliki aligned himself with the Iranians and Asad regime, and also he decimated the Sunni Iraqis. Now the Sunnis with help of every extremist in the land are trying to curve their own territory free from Shiite rule. From Anbar province in the west to Tikrit and Mosul will be a Sunni republic of Iraq. I think the Saudis and others are backing this idea. Even Syria could be divided along sectarian line, with the shiite Zones along the Bekaa valley joint Hizbullah's lebanon and forming their own state. Hizbullah fighters are very active in the Syrian war and they believe they are fighting for the survival of shiite in the region. It is a mess. About ten or so years ago I heard some analysts predicting that the Arab states may revert to their original tribal ways and rules just like Somalis.

Safferz, Have you been the old town of Harar. I heard they have some one thousand year old " Qur'aan Kitaabs" with an old calligraphy. Friend of mine told me they are designated as International heritage site. By the way do not talk politics with local people and even in SOL. You are Canadian, but it could take months sometimes to free people from Ethiopia. JUst little concern. good luck.

I do not know where the feminists has entered in this discussion. THere is " hadith which says something in the line of " if you see good things, take it belongs to Islam or lost from it" maybe Khayr will correct me. Apophis , I thought you were the most western of all Sol guys since you adopted the most extreme version. In last thread, I have purposely encouraged discrimination of your ilk, which I thought is acceptable in terms of marriage. Buuraha, I apologise, I used our political feud personally and used for my thread. I am happy for your family and children. Khayr I agree, some good able men can take a second wife, without leaving behind the first. Last week it was Hawdian insulting and Jumping up for from a small cartoon by Amin Amir, now itis Alpha insulting a whole tribe to retaliate for small matter. , go to Hiiraan and most of the insults are coming from Somalilanders. Is this insecurity or just bad behavior. I thought after these many years Landers were self confident who can take a heat. It is strange, those who are loudest among Somalis in terms of debate and discussion , are also the first to agitate in any infraction. Finally, mr. Administration, I have never seen any moment where you demanded anyone an apology or retraction.

Xaaji we have two airports and not much aviation to manage . what will this huge office building can contribute. I would have put all ministries in a single building. For me it is a waste of money. I would have used that money for clinics or water wells.

Tallaabo, you did not answer yet. so which way?

Barwaaqo, Ina adeer waad mahadsan tahay. gabadh ku amaanay ma wax loo dhiga ayaa jira. That Hadraawi song, really sums up the value of the Somali mother. I will do my best, although some young punks may want to expel me from the SOL.

Dr. Kenny what are you waiting?. Are you in school? if not , then why are dragging your feet. Take a charge.

Miyir, Just a guess. one down 28 to go.