Faheema, I know. I was just trying to attract our Marcus Ignorance Maximus to the thread. North, The UAE of the 80s was a happening place, saaxib. Have you never seen any of our weddings from those days? The girls used to go wearing one of these:

^^ Beenta jooji. I was clad in a Lacoste Jeans, Lacoste shirt and Lacoste jumper. My shoes were Addidas. I looked a right fool. (I have photos to prove it warya).

^^ Euro trash. ps Stoic, it was not Ibti alone. There are loads of poeple who hate me and want to deny me my freedom of speech. I'm down but never out, saaxib.

I want a second opinion. Yours does not count; you're a Sheikh groupie.

Come on, Xiin. Let us not play this game. You are the one who asserted the man has a substantial fighting force in Somalia. I asked you who they are only to be hit with a question on my knowledge of those fighting in Somalia? As for the Asmara issue were Sh. Aweys and Sh. Ahmed not the faces (and leaders) of the religious wing of that group? When Aweys distances himself from this whole furore, who are we left with? No, it's not a rhetorical question. TELL ME. Major-General-Xabashi-Conquering-Sheikh Indha Cade is fighting the Ethiopians. Most Somali people respect those fighting the Ethiopians. Therefore, Somalis respect Major-General-Xabashi-Conquering-Lion-Of-Somalia-Sheikh Indha Cade. ps My frame of reference is the same as the one I started with when talking to Sophist. It's you that sent yourself in all sorts of knots, saaxib. I say the man is clueless and give you, as evidence, his various conflicting positions in the past. You say he is not and give me NOTHING. pps Guru, the verbosity comment was supposed to be our 'in joke', you paranoid so and so.

Viva Veronica. (I expect only ME would know what I'm talking about).

I listned to that last night. I got bored after ten minutes. (no, it had nothing to do with my Somali).

No. No. No. I don't think the man is selfish, that is undeserved praise. I said it before and I say it again; I think the man is clueless. To earn the respect of the Somali people is nothing much. Indha-bloody-cade is earning the respect of Somali people when yesterday he was a full-blown warlord. Somalis in general are fickle and emotional. It does not take much to earn their respect or turn their heads. You are praising the man as a leader and putting your eggs in his basket. I, whilst admitting that there is no other way to solve this conflict than negotiation, do not think he is the best man for the job. You try to shrug and turn a blind eye to his previous positions but I repeat; this is the only way to judge the man. When you talk about OTHER leaders you conveniently forget the difference between them and the subject of our discussion. The biggest reason for people to support him is that he's a pious and virtuous man. Other leaders change positions, convictions and principles out of necessity and circumstances. Their supporters understand the need to bend one's principles to fit in with changing events. It is a bit difficult to take a pious and virtuous man seriously when he acquires this vice. Most of the Asmara group is with him but his fellow Mullahs (including the biggest fish of all) are not. What do the flip-floppers matter? As for the substantial fighting force he has, who the hell are they? His clan or is it the People's Front of Mogadishu? Naah, those are with Awayes. It must be the Popular Front of Mogadishu! Dee naga daa adeer...

^^ Take your book and brolly and go there anyway. I bet after five minutes in the place you'll even see sharks circling around you.

^^ The minute I think of the word beach lots of words starting with B start flooding into my head. ps Holland has no mountains.

He vowed not to talk to the TFG when the Courts were in power unless the (unconfirmed) Ethiopian troops withdrew out of Somalia. But I guess you are going to say that this was not his idea and he was merely a spokesperson for the ICU. He dressed in full military uniform and vowed to fight then changed his mind and legged it out of Somalia. But I guess you're going to call this pragmatism. He went to Asmara (after being lost in the wilderness for a few months) and joined a plethora of Somali pariahs there. But I bet you will still find a way to explain this. He finally dropped all pretences and came to talk with the TFG in Djibouti! Now his former comrades from the ICU disowned him, leaving him to represent no other than the pariahs I mentioned above. Where does the Sheikh stand? Who does he stand with? If it were true that he left the capital to save lives, why was he cheering the mad efforts of Al Shabaab when the last thing these efforts did was save lives? If he was not prepared to talk to the TFG when Somalia was somewhat peaceful and under control why is he now kowtowing and ready to speak to whoever will listen? If he thought the TFG were the scum of the earth why is he frolicking with them now? Please don't fob me off with the pragmatism nonsense. A pragmatist gains ground by changing his stances and positions whilst the Sheikh has not gained one inch in his flip-flopping madness of the past couple of years. Please note that I have always believed that talking is the only way forward. So it will save us time if you don't bother preaching to the converted here. Just defend the Sheikh's positions and explain his reasoning if you can.

^^ Go mountain climbing in Holland. I hear it is great.

You would be lucky to run into some scousers you racist. They're the salt of the earth, so they are. :mad:

^^ You know what the positions are. I've already outlined them above, saaxib. Don't make me do an MMA and get you the opposing quotes the Sheikh has made in the past two years. That would just be vulgar and pedantic.

Nothing to do with rigidity, saaxib. One can only judge a man by his actions and I have not been impressed with his. It seems that every new turn the Sheikh takes is influenced by conviction. But how could one have two opposing principles all at the same time? Surely he is not being kosher in at least one.

^^ The moon is full of cheese.

^^ Heh. How do you know she has not done it already?

My candle burns at both ends It will not last the night But, aah my foes And ooh my friends It gives a lovely light. The crazy girl went to uni. ps With all these Mexican waves all I'm imagining are fluttering jilbaabs. Xaax!

Edit: (serves me right for typing with my eyes closed). Sophist, I needn't defend my guru on here. He is more than capable of speaking for himself with all his usual and beautiful verbosity. My gripe was with the poster. He, on one hand criticised, and on the other seemed to agree with all that big O was saying. As for the Sheikh's intelligence, I beg to differ. His conduct so far does not point to someone in possession of average intelligence, never mind the genius you seem to attribute to him. Was he not the man that donned the camouflage uniform as the Ethiopian hordes were bursting through the border and promised to fight them to the death? Was he not the man that subsequently legged it out of the capital and claimed he was doing it to save lives? Was he not adamant that he would not sit and talk with the TFG? Is he not now talking to the TFG and losing some of his former friends? I am in full agreement with my guru here. The Sheikh is probably a good man but, in politics, he's nothing but a simpleton who is out of his depth. adiga eyo Xiin wax kala idiin muuqda, methinks.

^^ So you agree with Oodweyne then?

This reminds me of one of my first ever posts on this forum. Heh.

^^ Take three, saaxib. The last bit is not needed at all.

^^ How very rude of you! At least wait until you have ten posts.

For the avoidance of doubt and just so I am not put in the LG camp (what a nauseatingly vulgar though) I do not question Ibti's motives or sincerity, only her choice of battle. In addition, I have never bought a single MacDonald's meal in the UK. The only time I visit that establishment is when I am in Dubai. However, when it comes to M&S, I am in the Jeremy Paxman camp. Despite his criticism they remain the best things on the market. Jeremy Paxman complains to M&S about lack of support in underpants Jeremy Paxman has given Marks & Spencer a dressing down over its underwear. The BBC2 Newsnight star personally contacted store chief Stuart Rose to complain about the ...er... lack of support their underpants provide. Paxman, feared for his Rottweiler-like interview technique, sent an email to Sir Stuart last week - and has since been invited to lunch to discuss his concerns. He said: "Like very large numbers of men in this country I have always bought my socks and pants at Marks & Sparks. I've noticed that something very troubling has happened. There's no other way to put this. Their pants no longer have adequate support. When I've discussed this with friends it has revealed widespread gusset anxiety." Paxo, 57, then went on to criticise M&S socks: "Even among those of us who clip our toenails rigorously they appear to wear out much more quickly on the big toe. "These are matters of great concern to the men of Britain. I just felt it was time that somebody raised this with the only man who can sort it out, Stuart Rose." He said his email was meant to be a private matter but had leaked out somehow. Source

^^ CL, We already guessed your opinion, mere laddhu. Everything male is offensive to you.