Originally posted by Captain Xalane: Nothing new,no government negotiates with terrorists. Terrorists and terrorism don't exist; stop inhaling neo-cons flatulence. It's messing up with your cogntion.

Originally posted by Sophist: We are full of hope that Somalis will unite against corruption, warloridism, clannism and all the other isms that has plighted our nation. That's fine and dandy; yes Somalis should stand up against all you listed. The only problem with that is this government and the leaders comprising it are the epitome of incompetence, corruption, warlordism, clanism, nepotism and all the other isms you detest. Few personafy it more than Warlord/clanist extraordinaire C/Yuusuf. And how is it you and others accuse TFG detractors of being motivated by clanism? The TFG is clanist government, divvying up power and parlimentary seats along clan size. How odd and bizzare that those who oppose the TFG outright or some of it's leaders are accused of clanism when the entire government, it's leaders are there for no reason other than to represent a particular clan. Strange indeed.

Originally posted by Khalaf: I dont know about the SNM or SSDF, but none were like the USC in their abuses against the somali ppl for that these cats many who still are alive should be tried for war crimes! The only difference between the 3 rebel groups is the clans they claimed to represent. Nothing else.

Guns are not the problem, people are. Guns protect us against those that want to impinge on our inalienable rights. Guns allowed us to gain our freedom from years of stultifying oppression under S. Barre. Prior to picking up guns, we Somalis were practically slaves. When our properties were illegally usurped, we watched on powerless to do a damn. When our brothers and sisters were victims of repeated goverment brutality and sadistic violence, we watched on powerless to do a damn. When we peacefully protested and issued complaints, we were gunned down, gagged and exiled. With every avenue to seek redress closed down to us we were left to resort to guns. History shows we were right. Keep arms and forever remain mistrustful of governments that claim to represent your interests. What a malarky! NOt in our lifetime will any goverment be trully trusted. Certainly not this government. Why give up the one thing that gaurantees and protects our hard earned freedom? To keep at bay power hungry egomaniacs, we need our guns. History makes it imperative that we arm every SOmali above the age of 2 with automatic rifle (AK-47). For without your gun you are slave in Somalia. Every Somali's motto should be: From my cold, dead hands! Reality in Somalia shows guns are not impediment to Law and Order. Where there are semblance of Law and Order, like in the North, guns are aplenty. Go to a typical house in Hergeysa and you'll probably see a gun lying around. When justice fails, as it does often, differences are sorted out via the gun. And rightly so. Your gun is the last stand against injustice and evil. It would be the height of folly to get rid of it. Unarguably guns are not the problem. Somalia's perennial thorn in the side is socio-economic challenges, which continue to present formidable obstacles. Given this it seems quite puzzling why a government that still hasn't got it's feet wet would take on a non-existent issue. But then agan, we're dealing with illegitimate government that has neither the wherewithal nor the inclination to tackle serious issues. For the TFG, this all a game of burning the bridge behind them so as no one can come after them.

Originally posted by General Duke: you ignore all the signs, Yeah, that seems to be chronic problem of yours. Here is a quote that encapsulates the gist of this thread's message: Hundreds of soldiers from the northern Somali regional autonomy of Puntland reached the town of Jowhar, 90km northwest of the Somali capital Mogadishu, residents reported.. Now, like it or lump it, in the clan colored politics of Somalia this will be seen in clanish terms. In truth, there might not be any clanism involved but perception, more often than not, is reality. C/Yuusef's former dogs of war are coming to his rescue. Please address the relevant issue raised here. Why are Puntland soldiers in Jowhar? Who ideated this sophomoric deployment?

TFG army enforcing Law and Order in pictures...

Mohamoud M. Afrah

Originally posted by LayZieGirl: strong woman What an oxymoron. Anyways... To add some much needed perspective, do you know some cultures value ostentatious displays of feminity in men? The Wodabe tribe in Nigeria for example. With this tribe the roles and expectations of the sexes are reversed; it's the men who adorn all the makeup and jewerlly. It's the men who get women's attention by looking beautiful. The criteria Wodabe women use to choose a husbands is beauty; for Wodabe men it's literally the survival of the prettiest. p.s. incidentally the article mentions the practice of polyandry (women having more than 1 husband at a time) among the Wodabe. Los Angeles Times (Associated Press) January 18, 2004 It's Survival of Cutest for Africa's Wodabe Men Young males of the nomadic Sahara tribe preen, invoke magic and dance as women judge beauty contests. The winner gets a bride. By Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press Writer, IN GALL, Niger Sword at his side, compact mirror at the ready, a 6-foot-tall Sahara nomad named Efad Dadi squinted with determination and girded for the ancient trial of his desert people. Milk of a white cow for the complexion. Black kohl liner to bring out his eyes. Powdered bones of a roasted white egret to accent his lips. "I wanted so badly to be chosen. My heart was trembling," the 24-year-old cowherd said — one day after giving his all in a 15-strong chorus line of smiling, swaying young men in ostrich feathers. A world away from Miss World, in a beauty pageant that Bert Parks never could have found the words to sing about: There He Is — Mr. Sahara. Or maybe just Mr. Oasis. Here on the southern edge of the Sahara, it's the young men who do the preening, singing, charming and dancing of beauty contests. It's women — two or three of the comeliest of their community — who do the judging, and the rewarding: usually, their hands in marriage to the winners. Because among the Wodabe, a 125,000-strong tribe wandering from oasis to oasis, brawn and brains don't matter. Beauty is what counts — and male beauty in particular. The pageants are playing out under palm trees across the far reaches of the Sahara at this time of year, after rains bring respite from the year-round search for cattle fodder. Affable and courtly, Wodabe have escaped West Africa's bloody slave raids of centuries past and the Kalashnikov-fed mayhem of the present, thanks to their isolation and insular ways. In a cutthroat world where men often compete for status with the power of their guns or the size of their SUVs, the peaceful Wodabe have decided that looks are all it takes. Passing travelers over the years have reckoned the Wodabe among the happiest people on Earth. Camel-riding cognoscenti estimate them among the most stunning: "To be ugly is to be unforgiven," a Wodabe proverb goes. "It is our heritage. Even our ancestors are handsome. Our women are very beautiful, and the babies they make are the most beautiful," said Derre Chafou, a past pageant winner and son of an even more famously beautiful father. He speaks with the confident ease of a retired champ, leaning back on cushions under a palm tree. "If I am the man who is the prettiest, lots of women come to marry," Chafou said. "If they are corpulent, if they aren't beautiful, the women won't get close." Trailing after longhorns all their lives, Wodabe carry with them little more than shepherd's crooks, sleeping mats and, for the men, pocket mirrors entrusted to them soon after birth. Women of the family coach toddling boys how to use the mirror to check for schmutz on their face, unsightly leftovers in their teeth. Starting from babyhood, mothers and sisters pull the limbs of boys to make arms and legs long and lean. They tweak the noses, trying to mold them to a point. Beauty is so important that a homely man won't mind his wife having a child by another man — as long as it comes out looking good. Wodabe allow men to have several wives. The flip side: Wodabe women can choose two husbands. And at the beauty pageants, it's survival of the cutest. "If they are fat, they don't come to the pageant," said Barka Gorsa, pushing 30 and still aspiring to his first pageant win and a bride. "They go and hide in the country." "The man with the big stomach, he can't win the contest," said Dadi, the cowherd. The judges pick the top three winners with a nod or a tap on the shoulder. Losers slink off into the bush or turn to winning a bride the old-fashioned way — with a gift of cattle. At In Gall, a centuries-old desert crossroads town of camel skeletons and collapsed adobe huts, Gorsa and Dadi came for the most public of the annual pageants. It's the government-sponsored event, drawing in nomads from thousands of miles across the Sahel. When Wodabe dance, Tuareg tribesmen park their camels at the edge of crowds for a hump-high view. Niger soldiers, armed with AK-47s, hold one another's hands as they watch. Veiled young girls stroll under umbrellas against the North African sun, arms draped over their girlfriends' shoulders, whispering. Competitors' families may spend a year on the young men's costumes — lading them with embroidery, dangling earrings, row after row of necklaces. The young men sometimes travel for days to find a mountain with the right clay, the right herb, to make their red-and-yellow face paint. But it's magic that makes the beauty pageants as hard-fought as any in Atlantic City. Men drape themselves with amulets and whisper charms, casting spells to catch the eye and throw off rivals' spells. "Men try for 10 years to get the right magic," said Chafou, the reclining beauty. "Here, all the men are beautiful. It's the power that makes the difference." At night at the pageant, Tuareg electric guitars twang across the desert. Young Wodabe men dream of pageant victory. By day, they give their all, dancing for days — smiling coyly, darting sideways glances to check out the response. And when they disperse into the desert, the winners — and their panel of judges — slip out of sight. Dadi and Gorsa: They lost.

Originally posted by Juje: It is about you guys reporting false, saying that the Somali people have been prohibited from praying in Mosques. Don't lie now. Scrowl up to the first and second posts that your responded to. Neither say people have been prohibited from praying in Mosques. Address the real concern raised not the smoke screens you invent. Melez vowed to fight Islamists, who are anyone of Islamic faith he deems threat to him.

Source please. And who is Sophia Tesfamariam?

Mogadishu: Port & airport in Ethiopian hands.. So Duke, what's next?

Originally posted by Nahja: my presence should be felt. Done. Of course, I disagree with everything you said.

Originally posted by Juje: Islam or Islamic believe was never under threat and it is not either now. Are you Melez's new spokesperson? Melez said he was invading Somalia to defeat Somali and foreign Islamists, who practice virulent form of Islam that threatens his regime.

Democracy is not possible in Somalia so long as clanism holds sway. You can get away with it at the local level but the national level for the river banks will burst. Further, for democracy to work you need majority of people with commons interests that are worthy of preserving and building building something on. Clearly this is not the case in Somalia. The shared interest is clan fealty.

Gheedi was up the creek the day he forewent Orthodontic surgery.

Originally posted by Somali_Friend: Is that too much to ask? Yes! Get out of my land.

Originally posted by Somali_Friend: The dog who is out of control of his owner is a stray dog and will be taken to animal care centers in the town i live. Plainly, you're too dense to get the subtle point behind my analogy. What is true for you is not what's true in reality. Ethiopia can feel threatened by ICU Islamists all it wants but without showing the world (including people like me) the reasons for it's concerns and why it should intervene but without evidence or acceptable reasons for intervention put forth by Ethiopia, we only have evidence for Ethiopia feeling, unreasonably, threatened. We're not re-inventing the wheel here. There's established legal framework governing independent nation's right to self-defense. Ethiopia seems to be acting outside of established conventions.

Originally posted by General Duke: ^^^And they did not today, nor the ones in Bur-Hakabo, Cadaado, Bule Burde and any where else. Are you a parrot? Why are you keep repeating the same line? Its nearly over. Agreed. Geedhi, A. Yuusef and TFG are finished.

Originally posted by Somali_Friend: Secod_badne, This is the justification for our self defence: Justification for your self-defense, not justification for a self-defense. I feel justified in taking self-defensive measures against my neighbour's dog. I'm frightened out of my pajamas everytime I'm an earshot of it. But I failed to make any headway with getting the law to justify me taking defensive measures. I'm repeatedly told my fears are irrational and unjustified. The dog is French Poodle and can not possibly threaten my life despite terribly frightening me everytime I see the damned thing. So being man of civilised disposition, law abiding and reason, I find other ways to alloy my fears. Short of Ethiopia presenting concrete, tangible evidence in support of it's invasion, it's actions are nothing but naked aggression.

Originally posted by General Duke: ^^^And they did not today, nor the ones in Bur-Hakabo, Cadaado, Bule Burde and any where else. Its nearly over. I know they didn't. That's my point. You implied locals not opting to pick up arms against the new boys in town as evidence of their support. I only cited how the same locals did the exact same when the ICU assumed power there. Ditto for all the cities you mentioned above. Establishing the fact people not taking up arms is evidence only for people not taking up arms.

Originally posted by General Duke: Also note the Somali population is not taking up arms in the liberated towns, in Beledweyne people welcomed their governor with open arms, thus the media hubris has been exposed to be nothing than silly propoganda. No propaganda there. People of Beledweyn didn't take up arms against the ICU when they first strolled into the city either.

This AU is the selfsame organisation that allowed marauding Janjaweed to carry out ethnic cleansing of half million black muslims of Darfur. Now, they give carte blanche to another group on a bellicose course. Are they aiming for perfect record or what?

Mujaahid Aweys? That's a joke, right?

^Do you have anything of substance to say? If you take upon yourself to publically make self-evidently absurd claims, you dully earn ALL snide remarks that come your way. Your buddy Goth's article seems to suffer from crisis of significant assertion. A whole montage of them actually. Mr. Goth didn't even deign us with a single hypothesis that we can test. Why is it even worth reading? No hypothesis = speaking out of stinky hole.

Originally posted by Somali_Friend: We also have the inalienable right to defend our selves against imposters and fake "mahdis". According to whom?