A New Wave of Barbarism by BEN SCHREINER The French military intervention into Mali on Friday — France’s second in as many years into a former African colony — was reportedly “seconded” by the United States. This ought to come as no great surprise, given the Pentagon’s deepening penetration into Africa. According to the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), the Pentagon plans on deploying soldiers to 35 different African countries in 2013. As NPR reports, upwards of 4,000 U.S. soldiers will “take part in military exercises and train African troops on everything from logistics and marksmanship to medical care.” (The Malian army officer responsible for the country’s March coup just so happened to have received U.S. military training.) Of course, the U.S. military already has a significant on-the-ground presence in Africa. For instance, the “busiest Predator drone base outside of the Afghan war zone” — with 16 drone flights a day — is located at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. But as the Army Times notes, “the region in many ways remains the Army’s last frontier.” And in order to satiate the U.S. appetite for global “power projection,” no frontiers are to be left unconquered. Thus, as a June report in the Washington Post revealed, the preliminary tentacles of the U.S. military already extend across Africa. As the paper reported, U.S. surveillance planes are currently operating out of clandestine bases in Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya, with plans afoot to open a new base in South Sudan. The Post reported further that, “the Pentagon is spending $8.1 million to upgrade a forward operating base and airstrip in Mauritania, on the western edge of the Sahara. The base is near the border with strife-torn Mali.” And with such assets already in place, the Pentagon was in position to not only “second” France’s intervention into Mali, but, as the New York Times reported, to weigh a “broad range of options to support the French effort, including enhanced intelligence-sharing and logistics support.” Illuminating what such U.S. support may come to eventually look like in Mali, J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center in Washington and a senior strategy advisor to AFRICOM, commented: “Drone strikes or airstrikes will not restore Mali’s territorial integrity or defeat the Islamists, but they may be the least bad option.” A rather ominous sign, given that employing such a “least bad option” has already led to the slaying of hundreds of innocents in the U.S. drone campaign. Of course, much the same as with the drone campaign, the Pentagon’s push into Africa has come neatly packaged as an extension of “war on terror.” As a June Army Times report notes, “Africa, in particular, has emerged as a greater priority for the U.S. government because terrorist groups there have become an increasing threat to U.S. and regional security.” But what intervention hasn’t come to be justified by employing some variant of the ever handy “war on terror” refrain? As French President François Hollande declared on Friday, “The terrorists should know that France will always be there when the rights of a people, those of Mali who want to live freely and in a democracy, are at issue.” “The ideology of our times, at least when it comes to legitimizing war” Jean Bricmont writes in his book Humanitarian Imperialism, “is a certain discourse on human rights and democracy.” And, we might add, a certain cynical discourse on combating terror. Naturally, then, the notion that the West’s renewed interest in Africa is derived from an altruistic desire to help African states combat terrorism and establish democracy is rather absurd. It was the NATO alliance, lest one forgets, that so eagerly aligned with Salifi fighters to topple Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Moreover, it is this very same military alliance that is now simultaneously cheering Salifists in Syria, while bombing them in the AfPak region, Somalia, Yemen, and now Mali. Clearly, only those practicing doublethink stand a chance of comprehending the ever shifting terrain of the Western “war on terror.” Indeed, for once the veils of protecting “democracy” and combating “terror” are lifted, the imperial face is revealed. Thus, the imperative driving the renewed Western interest in Africa, as Conn Hallinan helps explain, is the race to secure the continent’s vast wealth. “The U.S. currently receives about 18 percent of its energy supplies from Africa, a figure that is slated to rise to 25 percent by 2015,” Hallinan writes. “Africa also provides about one-third of China’s energy needs, plus copper, platinum, timber and iron ore.” What’s more, as Maximilian Forte contends in Slouching Towards Sirte, “Chinese interest are seen as competing with the West for access to resources and political influences. AFRICOM and a range of other U.S. government initiatives are meant to count this phenomenon.” And this explains NATO’s 2011 foray into Libya, which removed a stubborn pan-Africanist leader threatening to frustrate AFRICOM’s expansion into the Army’s “last frontier.” And this explains the French-led, U.S. supported intervention into Mali, which serves to forcibly assert Western interests further into Africa. Intervention, we see, breeds intervention. And as Nick Turse warned back in July, “Mali may only be the beginning and there’s no telling how any of it will end.” All that appears certain is a renewed wave of barbarism, as the scramble for Africa accelerates. Ben Schreiner is a freelance writer based in Wisconsin. He may be reached at bnschreiner@gmail.com or via his website. http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/15/a-new-wave-of-barbarism/

War annagaa wax aragnay Awoowe ma kaa dhab baa mise wa hadal jecli! You just confirmed what I said. There are two or more sides, rivals fighting for upper hand, no? That's basically what contest means awoowe. Folks are fighting over resources, land, port and a above all political power. That's the end game. The means is controlling districts, provinces and the like. Fahamtu?

Give United Somalia couple of years. He/She will be tamed by SOL through its diverse views on all things nomad:) He will but heads with clan purist like himslef/herself. He/She will see puritans on his right of the clan spectrum so much so he/she will see himself/herself as reasonable moderate. He/She will see die-hard fiefdom believers, personality worshippers, irrational secessionists, Al-Shabaab supporters and what have you. I don't expect Somalia United to fully appreciate the irony of his forum handle

Between clannish factions. Amazing!!

Nonsense. Kismayo -- and the region it serves -- is a contested city. Today the powerful local faction with the backing of regional entities call the shots. All other interested groups must tow the line now and wait to fight another day. Xaad and other clan mouthpieces have no choice but to look on and use internet xaafado as platform to complain about issues that does not concern them.

Ditto! Another example of Immigrant Advantage that Claudia was laboring to tell gringos the other night. Nomads got their set of cultural advantage. But somehow and for some reason Ciyaalka Xaafada want to highlight their acquired taste in other cultures instead of taking the best of the two cultures -- theirs and their adopted one.

So “civilized” countries do not want to legalize illegal interrogation, waterboarding, sodomy, and other uncivilized conducts this extraordinary rendition program is said to permit!! The dilemma you alluded to is a false one awoowe. The truth is the "civilized" countries judicial process does not allow such abuses under any context -- be it national security, war, criminal and whatnot. If this program is so essential to national security then why don't they pass laws that would legalize it through the legislative branch. If these nomads are suspect of anything let’s hear it and give them their day in the court. Awoowe do not justify or execuse abuse, sodomy, sleep deprivation, waterboarding or other forms of torture. Too often the so called suspects fall under the mistaken identity category. Imagine an innocent human being getting subjected to this extraordinary rendition program by the most powerful military on earth!! This report was no story in the states. NYT didn't report it and I suspect the timing of it as the country was gripped with fiscal cliff political drama. Not to mention it came out on new year's eve. Oh! Djibouti! What a disappointment!

Book by Claudia Kolker What We Can Learn from Newcomers to America about Health, Happiness and Hope Description "Do you have a relative or friend who would gladly wait on you, hand and foot, for a full month after you had a baby? How about someone to deliver a delicious, piping hot home-cooked meal, just like your mother’s, right to your front door after work? Do you know people you’d trust enough to give several hundred dollars a month to, with no receipt, on the simple promise that the accumulated wealth will come back to you a year later? Not many of us can answer “yes” to these questions. But as award-winning journalist Claudia Kolker has discovered, each of these is one of a wide variety of cherished customs brought to the United States by immigrant groups, often adapted to American life by the second generation in a distinctive blending of old and new. Taken together, these extraordinary traditions may well contribute to what’s known as “the immigrant paradox,” the growing evidence that immigrants, even those from poor or violence-wracked countries, tend to be both physically and mentally healthier than most native-born Americans. These customs are unfamiliar to most Americans, but they shouldn’t be. Honed over centuries, they provide ingenious solutions to daily challenges most of us face and provide both social support and comfort. They range from Vietnamese money clubs that help people save and Mexican cuarentenas—a forty-day period of rest for new mothers—to Korean afterschools that offer highly effective tutoring at low cost and Jamaican multigenerational households that help younger family members pay for college and, eventually, their own homes. Fascinated by the success of immigrant friends, Claudia Kolker embarked on a journey to uncover how these customs are being carried on and adapted by the second and third generations, and how they can enrich all of our lives. In a beautifully written narrative, she takes readers into the living rooms, kitchens, and restaurants of immigrant families and neighborhoods all across the country, exploring the sociable street life of Chicago’s “Little Village,” a Mexican enclave with extraordinarily low rates of asthma and heart disease; the focused quiet of Korean afterschool tutoring centers; and the loving, controlled chaos of a Jamaican extended-family home. She chronicles the quests of young Indian Americans to find spouses with the close guidance of their parents, revealing the benefits of “assisted marriage,” an American adaptation of arranged marriage. And she dives with gusto into some of the customs herself, experimenting to see how we might all fit them into our lives. She shows us the joy, and excitement, of savoring Vietnamese “monthly rice” meals delivered to her front door, hiring a tutor for her two young girls, and finding a powerful sense of community in a money-lending club she started with friends. The Immigrant Advantage is an adventurous exploration of little-known traditional wisdom, and how in this nation of immigrants our lives can be enriched by the gifts of our newest arrivals." ++++++++++ The author was on PBS's Newshour this evening. Here is the interview clip: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/01/seven-skills-americans-can-learn-from-immigrants.html

By Craig Whitlock, Published: January 1 The three European men with Somali roots were arrested on a murky pretext in August as they passed through the small African country of Djibouti. But the reason soon became clear when they were visited in their jail cells by a succession of American interrogators. U.S. agents accused the men — two of them Swedes, the other a longtime resident of Britain — of supporting al-Shabab, an Islamist militia in Somalia that Washington considers a terrorist group. Two months after their arrest, the prisoners were secretly indicted by a federal grand jury in New York, then clandestinely taken into custody by the FBI and flown to the United States to face trial. The secret arrests and detentions came to light Dec. 21 when the suspects made a brief appearance in a Brooklyn courtroom. The men are the latest example of how the Obama administration has embraced rendition — the practice of holding and interrogating terrorism suspects in other countries without due process — despite widespread condemnation of the tactic in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Renditions are taking on renewed significance because the administration and Congress have not reached agreement on a consistent legal pathway for apprehending terrorism suspects overseas and bringing them to justice. Congress has thwarted President Obama’s pledge to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and has created barriers against trying al-Qaeda suspects in civilian courts, including new restrictions in a defense authorization bill passed last month. The White House, meanwhile, has resisted lawmakers’ efforts to hold suspects in military custody and try them before military commissions. The impasse and lack of detention options, critics say, have led to a de facto policy under which the administration finds it easier to kill terrorism suspects, a key reason for the surge of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Renditions, though controversial and complex, represent one of the few alternatives. “In a way, rendition has become even more important than before,” said Clara Gutteridge, director of the London-based Equal Justice Forum, a human rights group that investigates national security cases and that opposes the practice. Because of the secrecy involved, it is not known how many renditions have taken place during Obama’s first term. But his administration has not disavowed the practice. In 2009, a White House task force on interrogation and detainee transfers recommended that the government be allowed to continue using renditions, but with greater oversight, so that suspects were not subject to harsh interrogation techniques, as some were during the George W. Bush administration. Scarce details in case The U.S. government has revealed little about the circumstances under which the three alleged al-Shabab supporters were arrested. Most court papers remain under seal. In a statement, the FBI and federal prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York said the defendants were “apprehended in Africa by local authorities while on their way to Yemen” in early August. The statement did not spell out where they were detained or why. The FBI made no mention of any U.S. involvement with the suspects until Oct. 18, when a federal grand jury handed up the sealed indictment. The FBI said its agents took custody of the men on Nov. 14, but the bureau did not specify where or from whom. A spokesman for federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York did not respond to a phone message and e-mail seeking comment. Defense attorneys and others familiar with the case, however, said the men were arrested in Djibouti, a close ally of Washington. The tiny African country hosts a major U.S. military base, Camp Lemonnier, that serves as a combat hub for drone flights and counterterrorism operations. Djibouti also has a decade-long history of cooperating with the United States on renditions. The Swedish Foreign Ministry confirmed that two of the men — Ali Yasin Ahmed, 23, and Mohamed Yusuf, 29 — are Swedish citizens and were detained in Djibouti in August. Anders Jorle, a spokesman for the ministry in Stockholm, said Swedish diplomats were allowed to visit the men in Djibouti and New York to provide consular assistance. “This does not mean that the Swedish government has taken any position on the issue of their guilt or innocence,” Jorle said in a telephone interview. “That is a question for the U.S. judicial system.” Lawyers assigned to represent the defendants in federal court in Brooklyn said the men were interrogated for months in Djibouti even though no charges were pending against them — something that would be prohibited in the United States. “The Djiboutians were only interested in them because the United States of America was interested in them,” said Ephraim Savitt, an attorney for Yusuf. “I don’t have to be Einstein to figure that out.” Harry C. Batchelder Jr., an attorney for the third suspect, Mahdi Hashi, 23, concurred. “Let’s just put it this way: They were sojourning in Djibouti, and all of a sudden, after they met their friendly FBI agents and CIA agents — who didn’t identify themselves — my client found himself stateless and in a U.S. court,” said Batchelder, whose client is a native of Somalia who grew up in Britain. The sequence described by the lawyers matches a pattern from other rendition cases in which U.S. intelligence agents have secretly interrogated suspects for months without legal oversight before handing over the prisoners to the FBI for prosecution. A rendition in Nigeria In December 2011, a federal court hearing for another al- Shabab suspect, an Eritrean citizen named Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed, revealed that he had been questioned in a Ni*ger*ian jail by what a U.S. interrogator described as a “dirty” team of American agents who ignored the suspect’s right to remain silent or have a lawyer, according to court proceedings. Later, the Eritrean was interviewed by a “clean” team of U.S. agents who were careful to notify him of his Miranda rights and obtain confessions for trial. Once that task was completed, he was transported to U.S. federal court in Manhattan to face terrorism charges. His American attorneys sought to toss out his statements on the grounds that they were illegally coerced, but the defendant pleaded guilty before a judge could rule on that question. A diplomatic cable released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks makes clear that Ni*ger*ian authorities were reluctant to detain Ahmed and held him for four months under pressure from U.S. officials. Robin Sanders, the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria at the time, chided high-ranking officials there in a February 2010 meeting for nearly allowing Ahmed to depart on an international flight “because they did not want to hold him any longer,” according to the classified cable summarizing the meeting. He was finally handed over to FBI agents, but only after he was indicted by a U.S. grand jury. In the more recent Djibouti rendition, defense attorneys challenged the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts, saying there is no evidence that the defendants targeted or threatened Americans or U.S. interests. “That is the $64,000 question. I said to the assistant U.S. attorney, ‘Did he blow up an embassy? No,’ ” said Susan G. Kellman, who represents Ali Yasin Ahmed, one of the Swedish defendants. “Why are we holding them? What did they do to insult us?” A deficit of evidence The State Department officially categorized al-Shabab as a terrorist organization in 2008, making it illegal for Americans or non-citizens to support the group. Still, Obama administration officials acknowledge that most al-Shabab fighters are merely participants in Somalia’s long-running civil war and that only a few are involved in international terrorism. Savitt, the attorney for Yusuf, acknowledged that his client fought on behalf of al-Shabab against Somali forces backed by the United States. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “I’m not going to deny that allegation, put it that way.” Read on @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/renditions-continue-under-obama-despite-due-process-concerns/2013/01/01/4e593aa0-5102-11e2-984e-f1de82a7c98a_story.html

Nin akhyaarta waaweyn ka mid ah baa berrigii la soo qaxay (1991) noo yimid annaga oo nin Toronto ka yimid oo sita waraaqo badan oo leh waxan qorayaa qaamuus uu ku idil yihiin erey-bixinta Af-Somaliga iyo English-ka uu gurri adeerkay deganaa (Nairobi) noogu sheekanayo Odaga waa la qaabilay waana la fariisiyey. Cabaar hadduu dhageystay sheekada ayuu sida Silanyo hadda ka sharqamiyey waxuu nooga sheekeeyey sida wasaaradaha iyo wakaaladaha loogu xulay magacyada. Waxuu yirri Tourism baa la damcay in Af-Somali loo beddelo. Waxuu yirri Guddigii hawsha loo igmaday ninba eray buu la soo shir tagay. Muddaa ereyga helidaas lagu howlanaa. Ilaa haweenay reer miyi ay ka tala bixisay. Waxa la weydiiyey eedo maxaad oran jidheen hadaad aragtaan qolo socota ah oo aan marti ahayn, colaadna aan u soo duulin oo kaliya xiiso u qaba degaanka aad joogtaan iyo bilicdiisa. Haweenaydii waxay tirri. Garan mayo dad ceynkaas ah oo iska socda oo xiiso u qaba degaanka aan joogno; laakiin waxan arki jirnay barbaar inta habeenkii cayaar tumata oo ku heesa: Dalxiis iyo daawashaanu nahee, Hablow ma dabaal dageysaan. Bingo! Odaygii waxa uu yirri hadalba kama danbeyn. Wakaalada Dalxiiska oo markii danbe noqotay Wasaarada Dalxiiska sidaa bay ku baxday. Ilaahoow reer miyiga noo daa.

I don't know where to point my finger at -- mental illness or the right to own guns. I am inclined to lay the blame at the feet of mental illness. The event is very tragic and beyond comprehension.

Ma sha Allah! Wow! The writeup above is an objective and clear-eyed assessment of the event. I am moved by the decency of this group. Such a goodhearted folks! Go Zambian Watchdog Go!

Justice for all awoowe. What about thousands of other owners whose plots have been looted by thugs? I would have demanded immediate eviction of hebel iyo hebel But not now Considering real estate prices went up considerably one may be tempted. Restrain is in order.

Not first time. Maybe you mean first in post conflict or first to join exclusive club of fiefdom (recovery zones is preferable) leaders. But definitely not first prominent leader the said community has produced since Inna Abdulla Hassan. Awoowe muraad kalaad leedahay

Governing clannish Somalis is not an easy exercise. We know that much. The good news is this admin actually tried to set up limited executive cabinet. The usual suspects objected that approach and demanded changes or else. The admin resisted for awhile and now they seem to give in. War maad u hambelyeysaan oo hadaad cid caaradeysaan, maad caaradaan kuwa laga fariisan waayey ee dlabay in la kordhiyo koraasta si ay jagooyin u helaan!

War ninyahow meesha issaga carar fadlan. Consider moving to Westland, South C, Hurlingham -- anywhere but Eastleigh is ok. Time to make a wise judgement on this. I hear nothing but trouble in Eastleigh.

Abtigiis;895881 wrote: When we say it, Juxa goes for our neck and says it is ciyaalsuuqnimo. So does Ibtisam. But when New York times or any white man says it, it is research, it is knowledge to be cherished! Awoowe you're right. Juxa and Ibtisaam are wrong. Womenfolk!...if they only had balls... What do they know about being nin xiniinyo gubabayaan! Ahem! the opinion piece published in NYT Sunday Review has now confirmed what we already knew -- passions fade, sexual desires with familiar spouse decline overtime and we often crave for variety in all things pleasure. All true. Now I do have this feeling that you would stretch that tidbit out and milked for all it's worth? Equipped with such "indisputable knowledge" presumably penned by white fella , you now have the green light to chase tails and fool around to your heart's content

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/opinion/sunday/new-love-a-short-shelf-life.html?pagewanted=1&ref=general&src=me

"It doesn’t take a scientist to observe that because the sex in a long-term committed monogamous relationship involves the same partner day after day after day, no one who is truly human (or mammalian) can maintain the same level of lust and ardor that he or she experienced when that love was uncharted and new. ..." Interesting take on the subject. Read on... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/opinion/sunday/new-love-a-short-shelf-life.html?pagewanted=2&ref=general&src=me

Lucky you Che. In my case the office is an skyscraper with about 21 stories and the restrooms are always occupied. The other thing is there is a corporate announcement via email every week emphasizing safety and giving out tips (and low and behold there is pointers for keeping restrooms, water cooler and coffee areas tidy and dry). That's reasonable and the right way to go about these things. The thing is the absence of provision of wadhu has its setbacks. That said, tere is always a way to carry out your duties if you are diligent enough. It just goes without saying these little issues present difficulties with practicing Muslims.

The Sage;894018 wrote: Somaliland’s access to the governing process via free and fair elections has unified its diverse communities in a way that numerous governments in Mogadishu have failed to achieve . Moving forward, Somalia’s new leaders have a lot to learn from their northern neighbor. ^ Ain't that something. Morgan Lorraine Roach is special interest advocate. As such her ignorance about the real goings in that part of Somalia should be forgiven. Sage may not know but the think tank whose blog entry he posted are funded by folks who inhabit on the right fringes of political spectrum. I gotta tell you buddy you do not want to go where the nut wingers at Heritage want you to be. But for now use it as propaganda tool for the "cause"

Great investment.

Xamar Cadeey is on its way to recover from the civil war. It's coming back slowly but surely.

We're really struggling here in Qurbo. I don't remember praying all of five prayers on time since I came back to the states. We don't have space to pray at work and no provision for wadhu. I am in new office and we just had a meeting few weeks back. We were about 18 and as a new guy I asked them to talk to the management in providing a room for prayer. They said they tried that for no avail.

It is something to behold when Far dulbahante, Halimo Cadeey, Hoosingoow, Santaaro all the way Laheloow are declared historical grazing ranges of native folks of Gedo origin No one else in the world could utter such thing except Gabbal and folks inhabiting in his make-belief world of hadaan kooyey Awoowe your taking ku-qabso ku qdi meysid in a whole different level. But it's all good. That said, the region can accommodate millions of nomads of every stripe and color. Come to think of it I intend to open my business there and I am counting on the sizable Qurbo Joog that are coming to settle in the city and its surroundings. Give me one thousand new blood and I'll give you all kind of new small businesses that can employ one up to three folks. Awoowe waan daalay annaga xaafadayada. Nafta na haysa. Waxay naga joogtaa Allow mar yaa salka dhiga oo nabad ku caweeya.