Waryee KT were you there? Great project indeed!

lol@Xoogsade Saaxiib shineemo aanan gelin Xamar ma ku taalo aan u malaynaa. Just kidding. But i went most of the old movie thieatres in Xamar in my early years ( 4thG-6thG). Shineemo Nasri was my first, I dont even remember how old i was but i was very young. Then Misyoon, Xamar, Soomaali, and the one afar irdood ka danbeysay (i cant recal its name now ). Of course cinemadii Hodan (I heard that area is now called Permuda) ku tiil where they had a lot of what we used called Jabbaan movies was where i mostly went and #4 too. then came 8th G and I begun to see less movies! I tell you Illahay uun baa iga weyn adeer. I grew up aroung suuqii miijiskii in early Eighties. By the time Me iyo Che ay digfeer ku dhalanayyaan i was making money on my rigoore and tiris wins (if you know what that meant in Xamar)! I dont even think Bishaaro inay gaartay cajjiin shiidid when i was in Bakaara market (the original one )!

So you retracted your admission of our division? Or is it telling it, as you put it, that you deemed it rationalization of the Ethiopia’s current aggression? MMA waxaa rabtid aqri , far keliya fool ma dhaqdo! We cant fight Ethiopia on the cheap. Soomaali waa soomaali meelay joogtaba waana inay heshiiyyaan isku tanaasulaan. Once we realize that unity then we can talk about strategies to challenge Ethiopia’s influence. I believe her occupation will end soon in Xamar. But it will continue in the north and in the east. There will also still be Ethiopian presence in the border areas. You must remember Ethiopia itself is a very fragile nation. If we remove the source of her dominance then we can eventually deal with her. But if our divisions continue and some of us would just be happy when it leaves particular area only to entrench her self in other parts, then we lose. We must deal Ethiopia in comprehensive way. The formula for dealing with her is simple in concept but requires courage and vision. I am hopeful some understanding between Somalis will be arrived soon. Adi soo ducee, in muwaafaqa anaggga dhexdeenna Allaah dhigo saaxiib!

Originally posted by Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar: Soomaali mistrust wey ka dhaxeysaa, nothing new in this reality. However, you are now rationalizing Xabashi occupation, Xiinoow. Taas ha gaarin, if you do, doodda inay sii soconeyso ma moodi. Soomaali mistrust haddee ka dhaxeyso, and wey ka dhaxeysaa oo qabyaalad u horseed ah, iyagaa ka heshiinaayo. Xabashi has to go. Is that too much? Uncle Sam iyo Mareykan ayaa dabada ka taagan cabsi daradeeda yaanan la isku sheegin. Rationalizing Ethiopian occupation? How so yaa Miskiin? By calling for unconditional reconciliation? I am not stubborn and if you are reasonable man you can persuade me to drop this call. Go right ahead and show me how my position amounts to such a rationalization! Midda kale, if you agree that Somalis are deeply divided people, and agree their mistrust caused their enemy’s triumph, what makes you think few segments of them can defeat Ethiopia?

Simplistic! Yours is a half-truth for if that were the case alshabaab would’ve won long time ago. Tigreey is riding on the mistrust between Somali clans, and you know it. From Boosaaso to Ras kimboni, their influence is felt not because that they are the army of a great empire but rather their political influence and military rise is directly proportional to the level of division between us.

I remember abu-ras bus whose buliyeeti we used to use as a movie ticket. My time in Xamar was the best time!

^^Who said the idea of reconciliation between Somalis is going nowhere? Adeer there is a reason why the Asmara team is in Cairo. As Mr. Pain said many moons ago, time has more converts than reason and we shall see how you react when the relevant folks rise to this historic juncture of Somali history, and accept some of the very ideas we’ve been discussing on these boards. MMA, adeer Mashruuca Xamar amxaaro ka weyn, and it’s an American one. And regardless whose project it is one thing is certain; Somalis need to bridge their differences before they embark on challenging America, Ethiopia and their cohorts in their country. To be sure this post was not meant to be accusatory. But reading your post there I can’t help but notice the analogy between you and Bukur moaners! Why did they kill Bukur?

^^ Waad heysaa Bishaaroy! The two stories are different in a fundamental way. The first suggests that courage and clear rationale for peace must override the powerful appeal of emotions. No matter how many times one invokes Bukur’s unjust murder. Fact is that Bukur died and belongs to the ages. Not only that, but many perished during the reprisal wars that ensued after his death. Waa in laga tashadaa Bukur oo nabad la qaataa--- if not for anything else to save what’s left of his clansmen. The latter story depicts a scenario where reconciliation is nowise possible and the good Snake aptly summed it up. You see as long the Man and his family is united against the killer Snake, their struggle and fight will succeed. And they are justified on that stance for Reconciliation between a prey and its predator remains in the realm of rarity and is indeed a futile exercise. The first story applies to the conflict between Somalis. The latter is analogous to the existential threat Ethiopia poses to Somalia. But it requires common understanding or as the Man calls, tallo, to face such a challenge!

Another reconciliation metaphor... Waxaa la yiri nin baa dhul carra-san ah oo uu soo sahansaday u guuray. Markuu geedigii furay oo reerka aqalkii loo yag-leelay buu wuxuu bilaabay inuu xoolaha xerada u ootto. Goor uu ooddi jarayyo baa mas dilaa ha oo afka ku abruniyyaa kusoo baxay. Gudintii uu oodda ku jarayyey buu kula dhaqaaqay. Maskii baa inta gadaal u joogsaday ninkii ku yiri: waryaa aan is nabad gelinee xerada ha degin. Ninkiibaa inta gudintii u baaciyey, yiri: xerada adiga kaaga guuri mayye yaadan dhimmane naftaada bad-baadi. maskii baa inta iska dhaqaaqay yiri: war hoy xerada ha degin ee meelkale raadso. Ninkii xeradiisii buu oottay. Intuu xoolihiisa soo xareeyey oo caano ka dhergay buu dug yiri. Habbenkii baa maskii wiilkii curadka ahaa ee ninku dhalay qaniinyo goostay. Ninkii wiilkii buu subaxdii aasay. asagoo carro bestii la ah oo cill faruuryaha qaniinayya buu maskii oo dhereg la jiifa kusoo baxay. Gudintiisa buu isla soo maqiiqay. Maskii buu madaxa kala beegsaday oo ku dhufo is yiri. Hase yeeshee inta la waayey buu laantii uu masku barkanaa kala gooyey. Maskii baa xagga u booday. Markuu arkay inuusan dili karin buu yiri waryaa aan heshiinno. Maskii baa yiri war ma heshiinkarnee xerada isaga guur waryaa! Oo maxaanan u heshiin karin buu ninkii su'aalay. Wuxuu maskii ku jawaabay: intaa wiilkaagii curadka ahaa qabrigiisu kuu muuqdo, anna laantii aad gudintaad ii wadday ku goysay ii muuqatto, ma heshiin karnee xerada isaga guur. Ninkii waxaa laga sheegay inuu yiri waan tashan!

Ayyan Allaha soo hanuuniyo! Seems like her liberal dalliance is coming to a halt!

The Apostate Sheriff How Bush Begat McCain By Charles Krauthammer Friday, February 8, 2008; A19 On Super Tuesday, John McCain secured the Republican nomination. How did that happen? Simple. In the absence of a compelling conservative, the Republican electorate turned to the apostate sheriff. In the beginning, there were two. There was America's mayor, Rudy Giuliani, determined to "go on offense." And there was America's maverick, John McCain, scourge of Iraq wobblies. Both aroused deep suspicions among conservatives. Giuliani's major apostasy is being pro-choice on abortion. McCain's apostasies are too numerous to count. He's held the line on abortion, but on just about everything else he could find -- tax cuts, immigration, campaign finance reform, Guantanamo -- he not only opposed the conservative consensus but also insisted on doing so with ostentatious self-righteousness. The story of this campaign is how many Republicans felt that national security trumps social heresy. The problem for Giuliani and McCain, however, was that they were splitting that constituency. Then came Giuliani's humiliation in Florida. After he withdrew from the race, he threw his support to McCain -- and took his followers with him. Look at the numbers. Before Florida, the national polls had McCain hovering around 30 and Giuliani in the mid-teens. After Florida, McCain's numbers jumped to the mid-40s, swallowing the Giuliani constituency whole. On Super Tuesday, the Giuliani effect showed up in the big Northeastern states -- New York, New Jersey, Connecticut -- and California. McCain won the first three with absolute majorities of 51 percent or more. And in California, McCain-Giuliani (plus Schwarzenegger, for good measure) moderate Republicanism captured 42 percent of the vote. Elsewhere, where Giuliani was not a factor, McCain got no comparable boost. In Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, he could never break through even 37 percent. The vote was divided roughly evenly among McCain, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney (trailing). But these splits were not enough to make up for the winner-take-all big ones, all of which McCain won. The other half of the story behind McCain's victory is this: There would have been a far smaller Republican constituency for the apostate sheriff had there been a compelling conservative to challenge him. But there never was. The first messianic sighting was Fred Thompson, who soared in the early polls, then faded because he was too diffident and/or normal to embrace with any enthusiasm the indignities of the modern campaign. Then, for that brief and shining Iowa moment, there was Huckabee -- until conservatives actually looked at his record (on taxes, for example) as governor of Arkansas and listened to the music of his often unconservative populism. That left Romney, the final stop in the search for the compelling conservative. I found him to be a fine candidate who would have made a fine president. But until very recently, he was shunned by most conservatives for ideological inauthenticity. Then, as the post-Florida McCain panic grew, conservatives tried to embrace Romney, but the gesture was both too late and as improvised and convenient-looking as Romney's own many conversions. So late and so improvised that it could not succeed. Yesterday, Romney withdrew from the race. Conservatives are on the eternal search for a new Reagan. They refuse to accept that a movement leader who is also a gifted politician is a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. But there's an even more profound reason why no Reagan showed up this election cycle and why the apostate sheriff is going to win the nomination. The reason is George W. Bush. He redefined conservatism with a "compassionate" variant that is a distinct departure from classic Reaganism. Bush muddied the ideological waters of conservatism. It was Bush who teamed with Teddy Kennedy to pass No Child Left Behind, a federal venture into education that would have been anathema to (the early) Reagan. It was Bush who signed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform. It was Bush who strongly supported the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill. It was Bush who on his own created a vast new entitlement program, the Medicare drug benefit. And it was Bush who conducted a foreign policy so expansive and, at times, redemptive as to send paleoconservatives such as Pat Buchanan and traditional conservatives such as George F. Will into apoplexy and despair (respectively). Who in the end prepared the ground for the McCain ascendancy? Not Feingold. Not Kennedy. Not even Giuliani. It was George W. Bush. Bush begat McCain. Bush remains popular in his party. Even conservatives are inclined to forgive him his various heresies because they are trumped by his singular achievement: He's kept us safe. He's the original apostate sheriff.

^^Waryee Abwaan didn't you see this news article has been posted several times in this section!

The good thing is even Mr. Krauthammer thinks Obama will win the presidency---it’s his foreign policy that worries him.

The Audacity of Selling Hope By Charles Krauthammer Friday, February 15, 2008; A21 There's no better path to success than getting people to buy a free commodity. Like the genius who figured out how to get people to pay for water: bottle it (Aquafina was revealed to be nothing more than reprocessed tap water) and charge more than they pay for gasoline. Or consider how Google found a way to sell dictionary nouns-- boat, shoe, clock -- by charging advertisers zillions to be listed whenever the word is searched. And now, in the most amazing trick of all, a silver-tongued freshman senator has found a way to sell hope. To get it, you need only give him your vote. Barack Obama is getting millions. This kind of sale is hardly new. Organized religion has been offering a similar commodity -- salvation -- for millennia. Which is why the Obama campaign has the feel of a religious revival with, as writer James Wolcott observed, a "salvational fervor" and "idealistic zeal divorced from any particular policy or cause and chariot-driven by pure euphoria." "We are the hope of the future," sayeth Obama. We can "remake this world as it should be." Believe in me and I shall redeem not just you but your country -- nay, we can become "a hymn that will heal this nation, repair this world, and make this time different than all the rest." And believe they do. After eight straight victories -- and two more (Hawaii and Wisconsin) almost certain to follow -- Obama is near to rendering moot all the post-Super Tuesday fretting about a deadlocked convention with unelected superdelegates deciding the nominee. Unless Hillary Clinton can somehow do in Ohio and Texas on March 4 what Rudy Giuliani proved is almost impossible to do -- maintain a big-state firewall after an unrelenting string of smaller defeats -- the superdelegates will flock to Obama. Hope will have carried the day. Interestingly, Obama has been able to win these electoral victories and dazzle crowds in one new jurisdiction after another, even as his mesmeric power has begun to arouse skepticism and misgivings among the mainstream media. ABC's Jake Tapper notes the "Helter-Skelter cult-ish qualities" of "Obama worshipers," what Joel Stein of the Los Angeles Times calls "the Cult of Obama." Obama's Super Tuesday victory speech was a classic of the genre. Its effect was electric, eliciting a rhythmic fervor in the audience -- to such rhetorical nonsense as "We are the ones we've been waiting for. (Cheers, applause.) We are the change that we seek." That was too much for Time's Joe Klein. "There was something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messianism," he wrote. "The message is becoming dangerously self-referential. The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is." You might dismiss as hyperbole the complaint by the New York Times's Paul Krugman that "the Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality." Until you hear Chris Matthews, who no longer has the excuse of youth, react to Obama's Potomac primary victory speech with "My, I felt this thrill going up my leg." When his MSNBC co-hosts tried to bail him out, he refused to recant. Not surprising for an acolyte who said that Obama "comes along, and he seems to have the answers. This is the New Testament." I've seen only one similar national swoon. As a teenager growing up in Canada, I witnessed a charismatic law professor go from obscurity to justice minister to prime minister, carried on a wave of what was called Trudeaumania. But even there the object of his countrymen's unrestrained affections was no blank slate. Pierre Trudeau was already a serious intellectual who had written and thought and lectured long about the nature and future of his country. Obama has an astonishingly empty paper trail. He's going around issuing promissory notes on the future that he can't possibly redeem. Promises to heal the world with negotiations with the likes of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Promises to transcend the conundrums of entitlement reform that require real and painful trade-offs and that have eluded solution for a generation. Promises to fund his other promises by a rapid withdrawal from an unpopular war -- with the hope, I suppose, that the (presumed) resulting increase in American prestige would compensate for the chaos to follow. Democrats are worried that the Obama spell will break between the time of his nomination and the time of the election, and deny them the White House. My guess is that he can maintain the spell just past Inauguration Day. After which will come the awakening. It will be rude. N Y Times

Bukur: reconciliation metaphor. Anytime I engage with my fellow brothers and debate about the need of reconciliation to save Somalia I encounter with admittedly powerful reference of what Ethiopians and their cohorts did in and around Xamar last year and half. Look the atrocities. Look at the forced exodus. There are thousands of youths maimed. Thousands of children orphaned. Thousands of wives widowed. Many have been abducted and are still missing. Add the visible destruction of infrastructure and loss of belongings that resulted from sacking Xamar, and you get a feeling of the inescapable and the enormous damage that has been exacted on that city. That’s what I encounter all the time. I am not talking about debate with clannish folks, I am talking about ones with religious brother. And thinking about this, I recalled right after the shabaabs vs. Yey conflict in Puntland, one of the most revered scholars of that region embarked on a peace mission to persuade the elders of that region to forget and forgive that conflict and start a new page in living peace. In early nineties, the scholar visited us in Kenya. There was a grand majlis where significant elders and waxgarads of that region were present. The shiekh talked at length about inevitable mistakes sahwah leaders may commit and asserted the large benefits this sahwah brought to the region far outweigh whatever faults might occur. The shiekh would present his arguments along those lines and anytime you thought he made headways, this articulate elder would take his turn to undo whatever appeal sheikhs talk had on the audience. He, the elder is, would talk about how the leaders of that region trusted these wadaads, how they gave the keys of their harbors and airports. He would eloquently cite how the entire region’s revenue collection management was in the hands of these al itihaad leaders. And then he would conclude how they abused it and turned those revenues a resource to arm themselves and bring about a coup to forcefully rule over those who gave them the authority to begin with. How could we ever again reconcile with such a untrustworthy entity, he would query the audience. That scholar was very patient with these angry elders. Any time such an elder does what I described above the sheikh would try at his best to undo it and lecture about shortcomings that bound humans. This continued back and forth until one elder, an intellectual in many ways, took the turn of the talk and to put down what he thought was unnecessary appeal of emotion in the face of great moment of courage to embrace peace, he cited the story of Bukur. And here it’s yaa Jamacah! There were two neighboring Somali clans. They lived in peace in many years. They intermarried. They never fought each other. But that changed when Bukur was killed unjustly. Bukur’s clan could not swallow how Bukur a great man was killed. Bukur’s death will not be a sheep’s death, they determined. They armed themselves for the great fight to avenge Bukur. Hundreds perished in the wars that ensued. After years of fighting and killings, wise men from both clans started to realize that this fight was going to weaken both clans and will continue take innocent lives. They arranged peace talks, after some hesitation they got acceptance from both sides. In the peace gathering, any time a resolution nears, Bukur’s clan would pose an emotional question: Horta aan heshiinnee Bukur muxuu ku dhintay? ! No one would have a satisfactory answer to such a deeply emotional question, and hence the peace talks would end abruptly. Fights would resume afresh. Lives would continue to be lost. And again another peace initiative would get momentum. But again the very question would be posed---and you get sense of where this would go. Then one day when a elder from Bukur’s clan posed the same question, a wise man from the very same clan retorted: Bukur wuxuu ku dhintayba dhimayyaye, inteenna nooli aan tashanno. Tashasho they did and that’s how they ended that war. That story left elders who articulately opposed sheikh’s peace drive quite soundless with insignificant grumble. The silent intellectual bullet in this story is: decide for a better future, and don’t get stuck in the past grievance Ps—war ha la isaxo ciddii si fiican sheekaadda Bukur u garanaysaa…

There is a world of difference between calling reconciliation between Somalis and blaming al shabaabs for the violence that engulfed Xamar. The first is a principled stance that has solid rationale. I challenged many brothers on these boards to articulate their reasons behind opposing an unconditional peace talks between warring parties to arrive some sort of understanding, at the minimum, on the big issues. So far no one met that challenge. And the argument remains unscathed! The latter is a grossly misplaced blame on folks who took a historic stance against invading enemy. Before the Ethiopian invasion, these youths were doing the police work and serving justice where needed most. After Ethiopia invaded, they defended themselves with whatever capacity they had. One can critique their strategy and end goals if one so wishes but blaming them for the death and destruction that befell on Xamar is just unmerited. And such desperate argument deserves no rebuttal methinks!

^^Mayyee waxaan isiri raggii aad Hargeysa ka ururisay ee amxaarka u dhiibtay baad guushooda ka xuntahay! ps-- gabaygu waa ka qaldanyahaye'e iga saxo intaan noolahay!

Ethiopia baa Puntland eedaysay oo weliba kuu eedaysay inay kaalmeeyaan ONLF waa ammaan yaa Jac! Tell that Qarannews boys...

This is not farfetched. The timing of it is interesting though. May be it has something to do with a realization from both Yey’s and Ethiopians’ part that their control over Puntland is slowly slipping from them in part because of the collapse of Puntland’s political framework. Cadde has always been a negligible player---pressuring him would amount to an overkill of sort. The connection between the O region and PL in terms of people to people is unbreakable, and Ethiopia knows it. Many merchants from that reigion have well-established business in Boosaaso. And unless Berbera port’s commercial role returns, Boosaaso will remain the destination market for O region business folks. There is nothing Yey or Ethiopia can do about that fact. But check this: there’s a mini conference going on in Hawd region. The agenda is how to cut support lines ONLF enjoys in there. All this shows how effective ONLF’s gorilla war has been.

Oodweyne, hadba dhagax yar baad igu soo tuuraysaa... Look at the big picture yaa Oodka! The forces the likes of Kashafa and me supported and the political framework they erected around the southern part of our country are gone. They are unlikely to come back in their original form enjoying the popular support they once had precisely because the consequence of their departure is such that the Somali divide had widened even larger. Perhaps the Somalia I have in mind is quite different than the one you speak to in your cyber commentary here, and I understand that. But reality remains that Somalis are divided and have no common goals to which to strive for achieving it. We have two choices here: continue fighting as some of us are doing in Xamar against all that oppose our stances including other Somalis. Or acknowledge that our divisions would not go away even if those fighting in Xamar come out victorious, and the chances are that this perpetual war between Somalis would continue and consequently the possibility of Somali state getting revived would greatly diminish. It’s in that solemn realization that reconciliation and dialog between all Somali parties is the only way forward. Nitpicking the comments of your political nemesis is jus meaningless adeer. Nur Cadde is no Court supporter. He is tfg-er. But he’s ready to resolve this Somali conflict through peaceful means. My goal is to revive Somalia. You can shout all you want about reconciliation not being possible. But I am confident with extra courage and compromise we will realize what our enemy wanted to deny us: peace and security. The current fight in the Bakara market though laudable when measured by its intent represents a mere apostrophe in the greater Somali context and the sacrifices that are required to bring about a lasting peace. The wise ones are willing to lose isolated skirmishes here and there to win the bigger fight against Ethiopia and to arrive the price of denying Ethiopian dominance on our affairs. The latter cannot be achieved by sole bravery or sheer principled stances of some segments of our people. It could rather be realized by having a vision that’s greater then dueling with ailing warlords…there are, and must be, other ways to win this fight… It goes without saying that you really dont give much thought to the cost of continuing this fight in the midst of divided populace, and considering your historical yardstick, you seem to be quite ignorant about the humanatratian ramifications such a fight entails for a war weary people of Benadir...

This one needs no spin Kashafka! Simple facts should suffice. Cadde and Courts have fundamentally different positions on the Ethiopian occupation of Somalia. He leads the entity that invited Ethiopia to invade. Courts represent the view that holds Ethiopia invaded not to help Somalia but to weaken it and set it back. So there is no harmony between the two on that question. But what Cadde represents is a departure of the old political attitude of this entity. His is a new approach in solving this stalemate. He sees no winners in Somali conflict. Somalis lost. He is ready to talk to, and sit down with those who oppose the entity he leads while it enjoys this token of legitimacy from international and regional players. And that’s what’s good about his approach. The alternative is: ha la isdilo waxaan dagaal ahayn daawa lagu waaye’e. It’s what Somalis tried before and lost big.

[/img] This is classic. Noteworthy is Yey’s happy face unaware of the ominous perils of his policy. The closeness of the dangerous cliff is another symbolic depiction of this man’s fate. But the prompt, some may say courageous, intervention by Cadde is a sign of hope, and good Camir captures that sentiment. Well done yaa Caamir.

I don’t know why brother NGONGE is hoping for Obama’s loss. But the old man has a point; don’t count Hillary out yet. The Clintons are clever politicians and know how to play this game. Although Obama has surpassed Clinton in the won delegates the thing is none of the democratic contestants can win this year’s nomination by pledged delegates only. The supper delegates are what’s going to decide the outcome of this election. And Clinton has an edge there---all the reason to stay put and fight even harder to win this thing. Still Ina Xuseyn has the momentum and the stamina over Clintons and may he win for us. And the good thing is he does not has to win any of the coming races to stay competative with Clinton. It's hers to lose. He only needs to get good margins in the proportional votes. And that's the strength of his campiagn...

^^You are wise beyond your years adeer.

He didn’t rule it out though. He just said he is not going there in this trip. What matters is his attitude towards settling Somali conflict. Buttom line: kooxda Asmara dalka waxbay ku leeyiihiin sidaa darteedna xal aysan qayb ka ahayn miro dhal ma noqonayyo. Meesha lagu shirayyo macno badan kuma fadhido runtii.