Watch the red ink figures! If you are in debt and haven't swiped the plate clean from undergrad grease plz hold ur horses and pay ur dues first. Otherwise go for it and ace it.

I've seen the show last two years during my tenure in Iceland. Pretty entertaining I must say. I was pulling for Dutch girls -- with drums and African moves. Finland rock band (pretty annoying and noisy music) won the prize. Then last year I was rooting for Turki. Serbia lesbians won -- the melody was there. I won't be able to see it this time though.

Kismayo residents have been spared. Kudos to both sides! No need for another pointless civil war. Why?

Hassan Dahir Uweys is a force to reckon with. He has what it takes to share power with TFG. For Somalia's sake deal with him directly and concede a significant power to him and the council he heads. Politics is no walk in the park awoowe. You take a good measure of your opponent, size him up real good, and deal with him on that basis. The two colonel have been at it for quite sometimes now. Like two dinosours wrestling in the jungle, number of trees and animals vanished under their weights. Col Uways has lost a considerable ground but he is still in the ring and like Sugar Ray he is not going down (knock out is out of question) easily it seems. Bloodied but not bowed is the right description in my book. So what to do: negotiate and try to up your marks in that way.

I don't know what to make of Clintons anymore. The iron lady hangs on -- ahem with her finger nails. It is not over until Clinton camp concede. They have exposed Obama's fatal weakness. However you look at the map, Obama pretty much faces tough fight all around. White voters -- majority in all [with emphasis] all states -- have deep seated reservation about him. Can blacks, educated whites, and youth deliver the goods come to November?

Poor Bush Jr.! Oh man! GOP establishment and their megaphone-weilding pundits have no way of holding the line for Bush when conservative gurus take aim at their GOP cheif. Buchanan, G. Will, et al -- big time Potomac animals -- expose the folly of the Neocons. Pat is right on.

Bush Plays the Hitler Card by Patrick J. Buchanan May 20, 2008 "A little learning is a dangerous thing," wrote Alexander Pope. Daily, our 43rd president testifies to Pope's point. Addressing the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's birth, Bush said those who say we should negotiate with Iran or Hamas are like the fools who said we should negotiate with Adolf Hitler. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared, 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement." Again, Bush has made a hash of history. Appeasement is the name given to what Neville Chamberlain did at Munich in September 1938. Rather than fight Germany in another great war – to keep 3.5 million Germans under a Czech rule they despised – he agreed to their peaceful transfer to German rule. With these Germans went the lands their ancestors had lived upon for centuries, German Bohemia, or the Sudetenland. Chamberlain's negotiated deal with Hitler averted a European war – at the expense of the Czech nation. That was appeasement. German tanks, however, did not roll into Poland until a year later, Sept. 1, 1939. Why did the tanks roll? Because Poland refused to negotiate over Danzig, a Baltic port of 350,000 that was 95 percent German and had been taken from Germany at the Paris peace conference of 1919, in violation of Wilson's 14 Points and his principle of self-determination. Hitler had not wanted war with Poland. He had wanted an alliance with Poland in his anti-Comintern pact against Joseph Stalin. But the Poles refused to negotiate. Why? Because they were a proud, defiant, heroic people and because Neville Chamberlain had insanely given an unsolicited war guarantee to Poland. If Hitler invaded, Chamberlain told the Poles, Britain would declare war on Germany. From March to August 1939, Hitler tried to negotiate Danzig. But the Poles, confident in their British war guarantee, refused. So, Hitler cut his deal with Stalin, and the two invaded and divided Poland. The cost of the war that came of a refusal to negotiate Danzig was millions of Polish dead, the Katyn massacre, Treblinka, Sobibor, Auschwitz, the annihilation of the Home Army in the Warsaw uprising of 1944, and 50 years of Nazi and Stalinist occupation, barbarism, and terror. In that same speech to the Knesset, Bush dismissed the idea we could ever successfully negotiate with Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran: "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them that they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before." But did not Ronald Reagan's negotiations with the Evil Empire, as he rebuilt America's military might, bear fruit in a reversal of Moscow's imperial policy and an end to the Cold War? Richard Nixon went to China and toasted the greatest mass murderer of them all, Mao Zedong, when Maoists were conducting a nationwide purge: the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Yet Nixon ended a quarter century of implacable U.S.-Chinese hostility. Was Nixon's trip to China useless? Three years after Nikita Khrushchev drowned the Hungarian revolution in blood, Ike had him up to Camp David. John Kennedy ended the most dangerous confrontation of the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis, by negotiating with that same Butcher of Budapest. Were Ike, JFK, and Nixon all deluded fools? For the dictators they negotiated with – Khrushchev and Mao – were far greater mass murderers and enemies of America than is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Bush's father negotiated with Syria's Hafez al-Assad, the Butcher of Hama, and made him an American ally in the Gulf War. Was President Bush's father a deluded fool? The president's own diplomats negotiated an end to the nuclear program of Col. Gadhafi, who was responsible for the air massacre of American school kids over Lockerbie. Bush's own diplomats are negotiating with Kim Jong-Il's North Korea, a state sponsor of terror. Ambassador Ryan Crocker is negotiating with Iranians in Baghdad. Egypt is negotiating on behalf of Israel with Hamas to retrieve a captured Israeli soldier. Are they all deluded fools? Bush refused to talk to Yasser Arafat because he was a terrorist. But four Israeli prime ministers negotiated with Arafat. Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin shared a Nobel Prize with him. "Bibi" Netanyahu ceded Hebron to him. Ehud Olmert offered him 95 percent of the West Bank. Were all four Israeli leaders deluded fools? True, the Chamberlain-Hitler summit at Munich proved a disaster, as did the FDR-Churchill-Stalin summits at Tehran and Yalta, and the JFK-Khrushchev summit in Vienna. But JFK's diplomacy in the missile crisis may have averted a nuclear war. And Eisenhower, Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Reagan all met with foreign dictators with blood on their hands, without loss to America, and sometimes with impressive gains. What has Bush's refusal to talk to Hamas, Hezbollah, Damascus, and Tehran done to make either Israel or America more secure? COPYRIGHT CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. Source

Ya know better than taht buddy. The only school in Mogadishu that had a lab, library, gym, and tennis & basketball court. Name any other and I will concede.

Yes NG. He was, is , and continues to be a politician. That's not the point awoowe. The fact that he changed colors is not a revelation to me baba. At issue is how to deal with polity so advanced in every aspect of modern life yet harbours a deep mistrust in everything black. His candidacy, if successful, will go a lonh way to modify, it won't erase it though, that mindset. My kids will see their kind in position of leadership -- that's a paradigm shift in this society. I'm sure for that paradigm shift. This is a game and any1 who wants to change its rules must played first. In the primaries he run left of the field. Now he must go to the center.

^Me too. "Under Pressure" is the operative word here. For instance, right now I get pile of work at home -- yard work and all of that yet when I get off work and reach home I start goofing off like watching playoffs and what not. Back in the days -- my Sakha El Din schooling years -- I remember memorizing a poem that starts with: "Ithaa taraakamat caleykal acmaal..." Xiinoow help. By the way Xiin attended my rival school Jamal Abdul Naasir so he should know since the curriculum were identical. Bottom line: if, when things get edgy, when the moment of truth approaches, when it really matters, you come through then it si all good. You kick behind where the rubber meets the road! That's the spirit.

My boy Obama -- what a man -- set out to expose Potomac Game. It downed on him that won't work so he started to try to play the game like a pro and from what I see (flag pins, Israel praising, pretending to be one of the rednecks) he intends to come out at the top. He is my man. That's how this thing is played. Keep your strongest card close to your chest and be all smiles. He won't be a diff kind of politician. I'm pretty mindfull about that fact, But make no mistake he will break the glass ceiling big time. Go get it boowe.

My lil boy (soon to be 7 yrs old) loves astronomy so much so he forced me to download Google Earth (with Sky) for him. Blve it or not he is better than me in finding all the galaxies and what not. In any event Google dominates that market. Not anymore. Resourceful Microsoft joined Google in providing yet another awesome program called WWTelescope. It is way better in terms of clarity -- Hubble pictures are stunningly beautifull. Check it out: WorldWideTelescope

Same here Pacifist. My Qallanjo was talking to the box -- like Alla may caawiyaan; war wax siiya! I hope the crew that filmed the saga receive some sort of recognition for their lucky but life altering event recording. I'm planning to show the DVD to folks in Kenya; if I make it I'A. I will target folks from Mudug -- old school Camel boys! I expect their reaction to be nothinmg short of classic..

Since you are an unapolgetic supporter for TFG, how much concession are you willing to relinquish for the sake of common good? Are you willing to compromise on leadership? How about room for Sharia-based constitutional framework (to be be developed late on) and implemented by the first admin in the post-conflict Somalia (in the future)? Are you willing to make a security arrangement (with reasonable assurances -- verifiable at that) that will render Tigre protection unnecessary? Will you welcome district-based polity that draws its political fortunes from number of residents within its geographical lines (disputes on the line will be handled by concerned parties until consensus is reached)? Census conducted by balanced reps and monitored by outside experts (drawn from nuetral states) will decide power quotes in leiu 4.5 formula. Will TFG leadership open for such arrangement? How do you settle the secession question short of conflict? Are you open for substantial concessions in order to put out the fire in the secessionists belly? Are you open for South-North political dynamic such compromise will implicitly call for? How do you settle the looted properties that changed hands as well as public owned real estates? How do you handle the disputes that will iventually follow suit after the settlement is agreed in principle? How do you rehabilitate unemployed young militia (over million souls full of energy and versed in taking the law into their own hands when things don't pan out as their envisioned)? The challenges in front of any admin is monumental. You will need technocrats that have what it takes to get it right in the first try. This is no walk in the park.

STOIC, I hope by know you do understand that Somalis are all related. Giddigood waa shan xabo oo is taqaan The issue of secession is a redherring. It won't succeed for number of reasons. You cannot ask a mother in Buuhoodle to show her passport in order to let her through to other side. Her mother lives in Benadir, her brother in Bossasso, and her kids in Hargeisa. It will be the high of ********* to argue for separation for such a close knit family just because once upon time her parents were subjugated by diff European powers in search of world dominance. My noodles are failing me here buddy I jsut can work my way through on this one. Today we are in a mess. Those who survived the mess and constituted adminstrative capacity to govern their tribal domain and recover from the civil war we say more power to them. Keep doing all you can to prosper and maintain peaceful existence. The others that have fallen to the bottom of the pit we wish them all the luck and urge them to sit down and reach a just resolution.

Has it downed on you Mr. Gen X that the civil war gen are calling for peaceful resolution and you on the other hand are advocating for what amounts to clan cleansing in other name -- systematic displacement and all of that? Ironic eh wouldn't you say Mr. clean hearted young one? Continue in exploring ways and means to displace communities awoowe. As you were.

IndhaCadde is a spoiler. He is not a credible figure within Ulama circles. He is very polarizing figure in many localities outside his tribal enclave. Within Asmara Group, there is an open secret that they disagree whether he is a useful tool or polarizing figure. Prof Cadow is the man. The man has the temper, the knowledge, and well-rounded understanding of how the world operates. He understands the game full well. In Khartoum he wanted to bargain from position of strength without driving the other side to the wall. He was willing to compromise the TFG security (point of contention) needs. Ceyroow and IndhaCadde dismissed him as a weakling and moved in for the kill. Despite his rants the talks will go on and if this one fails it won't fail because this loser screamed from his hideout but because TFG refused to compromise -- especially the core issues.

As always another informative article from Caamir. Energy security is the name of the game as the author implied in his lengthy article. Whoever dominates the reserves will be able to call the shots. Energy rich gulf states have security arrangement with big bad gorrila in the block. US intends to deny China the Iraq and Iran reserves. One is already under its domain; the other is in the cross hairs of its arsenal. China and India don't have access to the wells. US has. Russia has energy and Europe learn to live with the reality of energy rich Russia is today. Europe is becoming dependant on Russia natural gas. It is a wild wild world baba. Hobbesian through and through. States with sufficient war chest take what they must, the weaklings turn the other cheek in order to survive. The ones that are ****** enough to not cooperate with the so called "world order", get owned like Iraq.

Amazing tale of lioness adopting a baby oryx (small antelope). This is a true Nin adduunyo joogoow maxaa aragti kuu laabaan moment. This mother lioness starves herself for sixteen days (don't remember exactly the number of days) just to protect this baby antelope -- if she goes out for hunting she knows very well that the lil one will be a toast. A miracle in ay tahay baan uga horay. Awoowe waxan ku macneeyo oo kale waayey. The Heart of Lioness

Isaias is not interested in Somali settlement. In the art of war, the book, exhorts the leading generals to weaken opponents by forming alliances, by diverting attention from the price, and what not. Only Allah knows what Issaias' calculations are at this point but it would not be a farfethced assetion to say that his domain faces a formidable foe -- fed and equiped by super power -- and having its archenemy bogged down the quagmire that is Somalia is a most sensible to do. From where I sit I see two states in the region employing their surrogates in Somalia for what all intent and propose is a proxy war.

^Not interested in a cat fight. Please move on to the next thread. Why continue with your toils in the salt mines, right? At issue is what to do with Ethiopian power. Option #1: Fight them tooth and nail and drive them out of Somali soil. Problem with this option: Ethiopian agression while self-evident, the urgency of the fight required to resist and finally dislodge them is not agreed upon proposition among Somalis. Not only that significant portion of Somali masses are sitting out on the "Resistance" but also some are in collusion with Tigre aggression and argue that the problem is not with the "invited" Tigre merceneries but with some segments of Somali clan collection who are bent to pursue a selfish special interest. Those who took up arms against Tigre are limited to certain localities and communities. Hence the maxim 'House divided against itself cannot stand'. Option #2 Deny Ethiopia the opportunity to exploit deep entrenched tribal animosity that's pervasive in Somalia. There is school of thought that asserts that the very reason that rendered Ethiopia undisputed power boker in Somalia -- king maker if you will -- is because of the civil war.

Originally posted by MARC: Sool and Sanaag are part of Somaliland and the defined map of Somaliland is testament to this fact, yet in recent years these parts of Somaliland have had a tendency to lean towards the corrupt dictatorship of Puntland. These regions are integral to the existence of Somaliland and we should do our utmost to save guard their existence as part of Somaliland. There is even talk of these villages choosing Puntland over our government. So what are we to do in this debacle? There needs to be a demographic transition. We need to take people from the heavily populated parts of Somaliland, i.e. Hargesia and Burco and other urban centres and relocate them to these disputed territories. We need to put in place a policy of displacement and make sure that somalilanders constitute the majority of the populations in these regions. That way there will be no calls for these regions to secede into their own federated governments. We must not compromise the territorial integrity of Somaliland. A video of this topic will be posted soon. Not a bad idea I'm not sure if you had taken part of the legendary 'the mice in council' gathering but just in case you haven't the low down of that story goes like this: mice discussed issues of large importance like the one you are proposing and concluded that the task tabled is a mighty task in terms of difficulty in its implementation. Before you post nonsensical video and showcase that fine shades that swept tomboy Lazy off her feet answer the same question good old mouse asked the council: who will bell the cat?

You would think that you're in Rio De Janeiro' Copacabana when you're at Maputo or Luanda beaches...beautiful weather, beautiful white sandy beaches and beautiful bilcaamo but these days I am Stevie Wonder when it comes to Bilcaamaha...I hear them but I can't see them cagan aa galuu gaatay baba. Gareedii Lawahi.

You are all missing the mark. But then again who said you were sharpshooting. The way to crush the violent trouble makers is to genuinely listen to and address their grievances. Even irreconcilable differences can be minimized to tolerable level that folks can live with. There is no such thing as societal problem that is beyond conflict resolution. Awoowe the gap between the two sides can be bridged -- and bridged reasonable realist on the ground will. Yeah that’s right. As weird as that might seem to some folks, dirrin is where this one will be settled. In one way or another it will be put to rest. They are all tired in reaching out to that invisible golden cup. Remember folks shot, looted, displaced, executed, stabbed, bombed their way to villa Somalia and the golden cup in the villa has gone awol every time, on each one of these factions that reached the top of the hill. Just like the legendary holly grail no one knows where it is anymore. Awoowayaal this Maandeeq -- a lady I used to be in love with -- is flat on its back with both her legs up in the air; wide open. Both sides are getting their fill in abusing her, violating her honor! Damn them all. They take their turn and shift the blame around. One says, gimme liberty or death. In the name of Almighty and in the name of principles they don’t seem to understand, they discount what’s happening to Maandeeq as an acceptable abuse. The other side calls family archenemy and gang rape the petite dhuubo-dhexyar and reasons that the act is just an icebreaker that will set her free from a hostage situation. She keeps on screaming Alla hoogayeey, Alle ba’ayeey; Quman hooyadeeyeeeeeeeeeey Alla hooyo qowsaarka iga qabo. Little she knows even her own mother -- now sleeping with the abusers -- exhorts her to revise the valuse she’s been instilling in her since Allah knows when and replies to her distressed daughter's call Quman Qallanjo-Luuleey annaa qalad sameeyaye, hooyo qoodho lama dilo. The family is wrecked -- dysfunctional and all of that.

Let's not go there Qallanjo. Xaawaleey is no insult. My wifey, daughter, mom, sis are all Xaawaleey to me and FYI I hold them in a high regard. Realist are few and my view of which gender has the lion share of that attribute is backed by academic literature. You are just being paranoid. Easy dhuubo.