Good to see people not afraid to talk.

^LooooooooL...I was gonna say why is he going to ATL but I see you edited. He's fool if he continues with this tour of disaster. He's confusing with tour of horror back home where he goes from town to town to terrorize civilians. I understand they have pictures of him bleeding.I don't think we won't see them before tomorrow. On sad note-they have escalated the violence against people in Qabridahar, Dagahbuur, and other areas. Jabouti started deporting people including longtime residents of Somaligalbeed origins.

^N they are being hunted down. His supporters want as far as Atlanta to find people to attend his events. They were offerings free tickets and paid hotel expenses plus complementary aka baqshiish to come the events. In Atlanta, they were little or no takers. Names of the organizers with phone numbers and regions of origin were listed on Cakaara News, those people will soon have explaining to do as to why they were welcoming a killer. Congressmen, Senators, and the mayor were all contacted-none have sent their staff to the event. Now why did the State Department give this man a visa is the next question?

Universal TV met him at the airport (in other choreographed manner)and there are pictures of him on Cakaara News with bunch of people. They also had little event for him at hotel where not many people came to see him but this is where things got out of control. Pictures and reports will be coming out soon IA. In D.C, not single soul from the city met him there, people that meet him at the airport were shipped from Minnesota.

Ina Iley has failed in his tour of propaganda and reports are coming though not confirmed he's been rushed to the hospital as proud Somali punched his last lights out during today's event in MNPLS. This was an all Somali effort and everyone except dh@b@dh!l!f came to shame this criminal. Another thing-Boycott Universal TV.

He's at will employee once his contract was over.

Somali politics is cocky land but don't worry boys Garowe is not going the way of Hargeysa.

Ayoub....You are weaving all over the place. There's difference between coexisting peacefully (which we all can agree saved the north from the miseries of the South) and taking the monumental POLITICAL decision to dismember a country. Th elders should be commended to agreeing to peace and saving their people but can they take the political decision to partition Somalia. And for sake of clarity, in the conference that took place, who introduced the motion of separation into the agenda? Jb...You are funny man, so the Garaads can be politicians and dismember Somalia but those very Garaads are not to flirt with politics now?

Faroole wuu fududaadey. Couple of screws came loose.

Ayoub....You can throw words around but to ignore the clan nature of the Somali politics is disingenuous. The very idea of Somaliland is born out of SNM's struggle and grievances real or perceived by one tribe. And as far as I know SNM represented the aspirations of a particular group just like SSDF and USC, the only difference is you want to partition the country. Your entire history and sense of nationhood (formation of this new identity or concept of Somaliland citizenship) has roots in SNM's struggle and the aspirations of the tribe that they formed and bankrolled it. The war against the Barre regime wasn't to restore the defunct Somaliland British Protective with the consent and the contribution of all northern tribes. As for sitting with the TFG and warlords, you get me there honestly and I wouldn't sit with them either, at the moment it seems it's working to your advantage but it doesn't change my view that negotiated settlement is best way forward for all Somalis including the ones in the Greater Horn. Somalia and Somali are synonymous but I wouldn't call anyone called Somalidiid if they don't part of unified Somalia.

Ayoub....What does qabyaalad and AS have to do with I said? You are being tad emotional. In any case, the countries you mentioned had still with their respective governments and reach a comprehensive deal that deals with issues of debt, citizenship, borders, etc.

Ayoub...Eritrea and Southern Sudan might have shed blood and tears but in the end, they had to sit down with their adversaries and worked out a deal. They did not unilaterally declared independence. Your mistake was thinking you only have to secure Burco, Harg iyo Ber and yell independence, and the world will accept it. Your "Mujahids" should have marched to Xamar and forced independence but I guess that ship has sailed. Wiil Cusub...Ethiopia doesn't want any Somali Government even in the form of independent Somaliland.

Che -Guevara;688543 wrote: Somaliland Minister Says to Push for Recognition After Sudan Referendum “We will be using the South Sudan case to take a more aggressive policy to the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.” . Jb...What's new is the opportunity presented by the referendum in Southern Sudan and how Somaliland can capitalize on this referendum success as the Foreign Minister suggested and hopes to do. The Ethiopian Foriegn Minister essentially kicked Somaliland in teeth by saying Somaliland is no South Sudan and independence lies with the Somali people aka Mogadishu in political terms.

Jb everyone knows what Somaliland wants and this has been clear for 20 years now, and everyone is aware of your arguments for secession or 'withdrawal from union'. The article is not about that, it's about how your closest ally Ethiopia threw under the bus in no uncertain terms!

Somaliland Minister Says to Push for Recognition After Sudan Referendum Bloomberg Tuesday, January 18, 2011 Somaliland plans to step up efforts for international recognition on expectations that a referendum on independence in Southern Sudan will aid its campaign for statehood, Foreign Minister Mohamed A Omar said. The referendum will have a “positive knock-on effect,” Omar said by phone today from the capital, Hargeisa. “We will be using the South Sudan case to take a more aggressive policy to the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.” Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 when a coup sparked civil war. It has never been recognized abroad because the Organization of African Unity ruled in 1964 that post-colonial borders in Africa were inviolable. The break-up of Sudan, Africa’s largest country by area, would be a rare exception to that rule. Somaliland enhanced its democratic credentials with elections leading to a peaceful transition of power to President Ahmed Mahmoud Silanyo in June. The vote met international standards, according to observers Progressio, a London-based development agency. Moreover, Somaliland was recognized as an independent state for five days in 1960 before uniting with Somalia, while South Sudan has never been a separate country, Omar said. “Our case is not a secession, it’s a withdrawal from a union,” he said. Cool Response Neighboring Ethiopia said events in South Sudan wouldn’t lead it to recognize Somaliland. The situation is different to Sudan, as the north agreed to the south’s referendum, Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said in an interview in the capital, Addis Ababa, on Jan. 15. Independence is “up to the people of Somalia to decide,” Hailemariam said. “The decision cannot come from outside, it can only come from within.” That is unlikely to happen in Somalia because there is no “representative legitimate government in Mogadishu,” Omar said. “This does not give us an opportunity to sit down in a similar situation to the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement,” he said. To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Indeed fantastic job and puts things in perspective! Jb...Not so much really if Arabs care about Somalia or not, just the need to understand everything is interest-based.

WikiLeaked Cable Confirms U.S.’ Secret Somalia Op It was an off-hand compliment during a January 2007 dinner meeting between Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, plus staff, and then-U.S. Central Commander boss General John Abizaid. But Al Nayhan’s jocular praise, as reported in WikiLeaks’ trove of leaked diplomatic cables, is a rare admission that the United States played a central role in the disastrous December 2006 Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, a move that ultimately emboldened the very Islamic extremists the U.S. and Ethiopia had hoped to squash. “The Somalia job was fantastic,” Al Nahyan interjected between discussions of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the prince’s desire to buy Reaper drones for his air force. At the time of Al Nahyan’s comment, the dust was just settling from Ethiopia’s Blitzkrieg-style assault toward Mogadishu. Some 50,000 Ethiopian troops, supported by T-55 tanks, Hind helicopters and Su-27 jet fighters, had cut a bloody swath through the lightly-armed forces of the Islamic Courts Union, an alliance of mostly nationalist Islamic fighters that prior to the invasion had controlled much of Somalia. The Somali attack had surprised outside observers. Ethiopia and Somalia had been rivals a long time, but no one had expected such brutal fighting, and so suddenly. It was fairly obvious that Ethiopia had received significant help — even urging — for its invasion. For one, Ethiopia’s air force did not appear capable of coordinated air strikes in support of on-the-move ground troops; it seemed likely that the Su-27s were piloted by Russian or Ukrainian mercenaries — a time-honored tradition in Africa. What’s more, Ethiopia’s army didn’t possess the intelligence or logistical skill for long-range operations. Those, not coincidentally, are particular American strengths. Washington certainly had a motive to get involved in Somalia. There was growing concern in the White House and the Pentagon that Somalia’s Islamists might ally themselves with Al Qaeda and turn to international terrorism. Already with two escalating wars on its own plate, the U.S. was in no position to openly lead its own large-scale attack on Somalia. It’d have been far simpler to simply sponsor somebody else to do the dirty work. Enter Ethiopia. In early January following the invasion, USA Today’s Barbara Slavin reported on Washington’s extensive behind-the-scenes support for Ethiopian troops. “The ties include intelligence sharing, arms aid and training,” Slavin noted. A couple days later, The Washington Post’s Pauline Jelinek, citing anonymous sources, described U.S. Special Forces accompanying Ethiopian troops. CBS news revealed that U.S. Air Force gunships were active over southern Somalia during the Ethiopian blitz. Through all the reporting, U.S. officials remained vague or silent on the subject of Washington’s involvement. All the same, evidence was mounting that the U.S. had played a leading role in the Ethiopian invasion. Journalists only strongly suspected it, but Abu Dhabi prince Al Nayhan apparently knew it for certain, if his praise of “the Somalia job” was any indication. Three years later, it’s clear the Ethiopian invasion was a bad idea. The attack rallied Somalis of all stripes and politics against the invaders, ultimately boosting support for fringe Islamic groups that now had a clear enemy in the Ethiopians and their suspected American puppet-masters. Violence mounted as the Ethiopians settled in for a bloody, two-year occupation. When the Ethiopians withdrew in 2009, the Islamists rushed to fill the vacuum. A year later, the Al Shabab Islamic group, successor to the Islamic Courts, conducted its first international terror attack. Last month, a Somali-born American teen plotted to explode a bomb in Portland. Today, U.S. Special Forces continue to target terrorists in Somalia. There are arguably more of them than ever, thanks in part to the botched Ethiopian invasion. “We’ve made a lot of mistakes and Ethiopia’s entry in 2006 was not a really good idea,” U.S. diplomat Donald Yamamoto said in March. Fantastic job, indeed.

It was an off-hand compliment during a January 2007 dinner meeting between Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, plus staff, and then-U.S. Central Commander boss General John Abizaid. But Al Nayhan’s jocular praise, as reported in WikiLeaks’ trove of leaked diplomatic cables, is a rare admission that the United States played a central role in the disastrous December 2006 Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, a move that ultimately emboldened the very Islamic extremists the U.S. and Ethiopia had hoped to squash. “The Somalia job was fantastic,” Al Nahyan interjected between discussions of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the prince’s desire to buy Reaper drones for his air force. At the time of Al Nahyan’s comment, the dust was just settling from Ethiopia’s Blitzkrieg-style assault toward Mogadishu. Some 50,000 Ethiopian troops, supported by T-55 tanks, Hind helicopters and Su-27 jet fighters, had cut a bloody swath through the lightly-armed forces of the Islamic Courts Union, an alliance of mostly nationalist Islamic fighters that prior to the invasion had controlled much of Somalia. The Somali attack had surprised outside observers. Ethiopia and Somalia had been rivals a long time, but no one had expected such brutal fighting, and so suddenly. It was fairly obvious that Ethiopia had received significant help — even urging — for its invasion. For one, Ethiopia’s air force did not appear capable of coordinated air strikes in support of on-the-move ground troops; it seemed likely that the Su-27s were piloted by Russian or Ukrainian mercenaries — a time-honored tradition in Africa. What’s more, Ethiopia’s army didn’t possess the intelligence or logistical skill for long-range operations. Those, not coincidentally, are particular American strengths. Washington certainly had a motive to get involved in Somalia. There was growing concern in the White House and the Pentagon that Somalia’s Islamists might ally themselves with Al Qaeda and turn to international terrorism. Already with two escalating wars on its own plate, the U.S. was in no position to openly lead its own large-scale attack on Somalia. It’d have been far simpler to simply sponsor somebody else to do the dirty work. Enter Ethiopia. In early January following the invasion, USA Today’s Barbara Slavin reported on Washington’s extensive behind-the-scenes support for Ethiopian troops. “The ties include intelligence sharing, arms aid and training,” Slavin noted. A couple days later, The Washington Post’s Pauline Jelinek, citing anonymous sources, described U.S. Special Forces accompanying Ethiopian troops. CBS news revealed that U.S. Air Force gunships were active over southern Somalia during the Ethiopian blitz. Through all the reporting, U.S. officials remained vague or silent on the subject of Washington’s involvement. All the same, evidence was mounting that the U.S. had played a leading role in the Ethiopian invasion. Journalists only strongly suspected it, but Abu Dhabi prince Al Nayhan apparently knew it for certain, if his praise of “the Somalia job” was any indication. Three years later, it’s clear the Ethiopian invasion was a bad idea. The attack rallied Somalis of all stripes and politics against the invaders, ultimately boosting support for fringe Islamic groups that now had a clear enemy in the Ethiopians and their suspected American puppet-masters. Violence mounted as the Ethiopians settled in for a bloody, two-year occupation. When the Ethiopians withdrew in 2009, the Islamists rushed to fill the vacuum. A year later, the Al Shabab Islamic group, successor to the Islamic Courts, conducted its first international terror attack. Last month, a Somali-born American teen plotted to explode a bomb in Portland. Today, U.S. Special Forces continue to target terrorists in Somalia. There are arguably more of them than ever, thanks in part to the botched Ethiopian invasion. “We’ve made a lot of mistakes and Ethiopia’s entry in 2006 was not a really good idea,” U.S. diplomat Donald Yamamoto said in March. Fantastic job, indeed. Source

^That would be nice.Would have saved me two hours

^I haven't seen the ad. Your Western European dominance is waning down. 12 stadia to build. 10 to be relocated to Africa and Asia after the world cup Come again?

Norf-David Cameron that's.He and Clinton were spearheading the final push to get the nomination for their respective countries. The Yanks were hoping to host 2022. Duke..It could be about politics since the former Eastern bloc and Arab world never hosted the WC-in any case smart move.

Nothing like clean house!

Yipee I guess you don't have worry England being humiliated in their own country Cl. Russians need this to get out of the dark ages they live in with its rampant xenophobia and mafia style rule-best of luck to them. Norf..Unbelievable indeed, Qatar getting 2022 does surprise me but this could be good for the region and the game will go truly global with the exception of Aussies and Kiwis. The efforts of Cameron and Clinton didn't pay off

^You always get to host the ashes if you don't win this bid. I hope Russia wins.