Abwaan, xageey kaa martay sheekadu. Gabadha anagaa tolkeed hoose ah, wax isqabqabsana majiraan. Hadaad adigu aniga iyo zack noo qabsan waa gaar!

True, apophis. Thanks for the wise words.

gabadha dad anigaa ugu xiga and i am not crying for her, so Juxa and the rest can save their alien tears. It is easy to pontificate about civility when one is not feeling the pain of oppression.

Nimco, our daughter, is attacked by fanatic UWSLF thugs who said her show is a fusuq!! kkkkkk loooool@ at my atttempt at playing Gobbles. But seriously, even the most sane members of the community do not feel sorry for her. Of course no one condones an attack on someone simply because that person has a different political view. Although in the case of Nimco, she has been rubbing at the noses of people lately! Anyway, we wish her speedy recovery and instant departure from Nairobi so that i doesn't get worse. Some really want to lynch her. I can't blame them. What she is doing is treason and even in established states, treason is punishable by death. We don't yet have statutory courts which mean Kangaroo ones may be used.

Dear Xinn, A_Khadar and asxaabta SOL, Baryaan kala maqneeynoo, Waan idiin basaasee Bulshoyahay ma nabadbaa?? :D Xinn, hedde adigu nin exile ah oo long-foot ah xidhiidhkiisa wax ku falimaayo tidhiyee, miyaadan ka yaabayn in aan waa dhow dawlad kugu noqdo. Seriously though, baryahan Alpha ayaa warkayka hayaa. Soow a menopause Hargeysaawi ah ma meherin oo qalee badan la igama jarayo? :D ngonge, salaan sare saaxiib meeshaad joogtidba. Che mooye intiina kale salaan diiran iga gudooma. Midda kale there is no way I will accept Abdiweli as a Somali president. I prefer Sharif if it comes to that. We have no appetite for the continuation of the old futile H Vs D petty politics. And Abdiweli lives for that cause. He is petty and I have seen too many things to know Sharif is a better Somali.

The day cruel conscience suppressed compassionate impulse Art has a fascinating way of simplifying complex political ambiences, anxieties and idiosyncrasies. And an event as significant as the death of Meles Zenawi on 21 August, after 21 years of ruling Ethiopia, was sure to create the necessary artistic atmospherics. On Aigaforum, a pro-TPLF website, an enigmatically poignant new Tigrigna song mournfully wails “Ye may mootoow moote” (the one that shouldn’t die, died). It is a distraught elegy for Zenawi – an intelligent but divisive ruler, who successfully punched through adversities, punched above his tribes’ numerical value to rule Ethiopia for over two decades. On other Ethiopian websites, a gleeful Amharic poem “Ye Geddelen Simot” (When the one who killed us died) is getting viral. The poem is an imaginary soliloquy of a Zenawi victim, who is suppressing a nagging humane impulse of grieving for the dead because, as he says, “his own conscience and the bones of the dead victims of Meles will resurrect and strangle him if he sheds a drop of tear for the dead dictator”. The poet, Dawit Kebede, emotionlessly croons in charming Amharic: “If it was not for my refractory conscience, I would have spanked my chest, I would have shed tears But for who? For what? How can I cry when the one who killed me dies?” Regardless, anguish and anger must not infuse immorality into our soul. It is not normal to rejoice the inexorable demise of a human life. And therefore I say “rest in peace” to Meles-the-person, although I know he denied rest and peace to millions. I take issue with Meles-the-politician and his politics. After all, beating the dead is an occupational hazard for political commentators. Multiple identities in Politics The divergent messages expressed in the exalting song and scathing poem above reflect the conflicting views of the beneficiaries and victims of Zenawi’s 21 year-old autocratic reign. It is also a vivid reminder of the omnipresence of multiple identities in politics. A hero can be a villain; a villain can be a hero. It is all a matter of perspective. Someone’s freedom-fighter is the other’s terrorist, the old cliché goes. That is the beauty of politics’ multiple identities, is it not? But such multiplicity of political identity need not lead to moral nihilism or conceptual solipsism. Perspectives aside, there are commonly agreed principles that define heroism. Or the obverse: there are moral benchmarks that delineate who cannot be a hero. Ghandi is an Indian hero, possibly a villain for the British at some historical point too. But Ghandi is a universal hero because he did not espouse the transferring of tyranny to others (including his erstwhile enemies) once he freed his people. Mandela is another case in point. Crucially, the rule is a ruler who inflicts pain and misery on his subjects can never be a hero. The story of Meles Zenawi is an odious exception to the cases mentioned here. Gramsci disobeyed Zenawi is a Tigrayan hero, and a villain to the majority of Ethiopians. Having done everything in his power to build and sustain Tigrayan hegemony, he can have little gripe if he remains an enclave hero. A sectarian celebrity! He cannot stake a claim to the mantle of a national hero, for he had not worked for a national agenda. “Heroism” derived from petty ambition of pursuing personal grandeur, tribal supremacy, and vindictive conquest can never sire an inclusive national idol. Zenawi disobeyed Antonio Gramsci’s counsel that a leader not only needs to be ambitious, but also needs to differentiate between “lofty” ambition and “petty” ambition. The first locates itself in the lifting of entire social stratum, the latter grabbing power by all means including “scorching everything around” - the burnt villages of ******, Oromia and Gambella included. Zenawi did not embrace a lofty ambition of ethnic neutrality, national harmony, and compassionate political ideals. Whatever heroism Zenawi may have done to free the Tirayan people from Derg oppression is undone by his oppression of the Oromo, the Amhara, the ****** Somalis, the Sidama and other nationalities who challenged his autocracy. Fighting tyranny against “your own” to impose tyranny on others defiles the sanctity of the initial struggle. He, therefore, is neither an Ethiopian nor an African hero. Domestically, he oppressed, killed and arrested his own people. In the neighborhood, he destroyed Somalia, a fellow African country, through meddlesome scheming, for the sole purpose of selling himself as an indispensable ally of the West. Victimized Ethiopians will not glorify Zenawi because the BBC and Susan Rice flattered a loyal despot. There lies the futility of sewing big national and global heroic robe for a small enclave hero! Nigerian promoter of black orientalism, Chinweizu, in “What the Nobel is not” accuses the “The Nobel Prize” of “conning its way into acceptance as the world prize for intellectual excellence”. He laments “but it is neither a world prize nor a reward for excellence; it is a western European reward for those who render specific kinds of service to Western power and Western global hegemony”. Need we write a book on “What Western tributes Are Not About” in repudiation of the alien homages to a callous abuser of human rights?! It is tempting. Read More on http://nazret.com/blog/index.php/2012/08/23/ethiopia-zenawi-s-death-the-futility-of-enlarging-an-enclave-hero?blog=15

Maaddeey's terrorist world crumpling. Good news for somalia.

Macallinka;856589 wrote: Laakiin waxaa marna dhacayn in Farmaajo laga taageero Puntland lol Xaqiiq! Signed.

They did what they came to do in the first place. Since going to international competitions have become the new way of helping your relatives to go abroad, the Somali Olympic Comittee must send people from my Tolkay to the next competition in accordance with the 4.5 arrangement. Qudhun iyo qabiil kama baxno, and that is why the country is shamed because of these false athletes. Dad quman oo orda lama waayeen ee naas-nuujin baa loo soo diray. I have never been impressed with the whole thing from the start. The rest I agree with Raamsade 100%. Kuwan diaspora ah ee ka hadlaya why is she staying are hypocrats. Why shouldn't she? Idinku maad patriotic noqotaan ood ku noqotaan dalkiinii, if at all you have better skills to survive there than the two false athletes.

He is my neighbour, we live in the same compound.

I and few friends found it funny. Of course it is entirely expected others may not. Juxa, kuwaad aragtay ma Ethiopian bay ahaayeen.

Apophis, you do not see the funny side of the distinction? It is alright. Carafaat, speaking of Alpha, did you read my book titled "Unwelcome Blessing: Chronicles of Alpha's struggles in the month of Ramadan". it is a tale of a young man who thought he found his love after so many moons of searching,and was to meet his new-found lover in the last weeks of July. Unbeknown to him was that the month of Ramadan would start in the same week he hoped he will impress his lover with his good looks. Not used to hunger and thirst, his youthful body born and raised in the cold island of Albion soon started to give in to the harsh sun, nagging wind and dust of his homeland. Unable to postpone the first meeting with the lover, which is so crucial for both of them, after years of epistolary flirting, he vows not to damage her expectations of him. He still recalls the message he found on his twitter account the day the lover broke the news she is coming down to see him in person. "Can't wait to see your smooth ebony skin and soft face". It worries him that the false appearance of a hagard and dry face that is the result of unrelenting fasting could give the impression that he lied about his appearance. He does not wish to start this promising relationship with suspicions and wrong first impressions. But there is no escape. He could have angered his creator whom he knows he forgive him. He can fast some other time, and it is perfectly fine with the creator so long as the ledger in the sky shows that he has covered the 30 days he was expected to fast. That much he knows. But breaking fast in Hargeisa can put him in collusion with the law. The last thing he wants is his diaspora-frame draged by the neck in the sandy shrubs of Dooxa hargeisa by insensitive security personnel who enforce virtue and hunt mobile restuarants that offer food to those who find Ramadan harsh. At any rate, Alpha knows he will have to make a decision and soon. He will be in trouble with the law or with his lover. It is a stark choice. It is a pulsating tale of love, mandatory privation, and defiance. The 236 page book will be released late August at 'Final' Qat Saloon near 'Togdheer Diffidence' tea room.

*Blessed;855518 wrote: once you repatriated to your home country for good? Apparently NOT! It is becoming a title for life, like "Ambassadoer" or "Major General" which once acquired, you die with it unless revoked by law. :D Qurbajooge Abdi Olol,,,for instance. It will be a formal title soon.

A real hilarious few days in Hargeisa. Our driver suddently shouted and asked me to look at a middle-aged man driving a Toyota pick-up which was parked next to where I was going for Iftaar. “Caraaloow, look at that guy, the fat one with the big hair”, he shouted , at the same time touching my shoulders to ensure I see what he wanted me to see. “Haa, I see him. What?” The Ramadan effect meant I have to be brief with my words. “War waa mid riwaayad ah, oo Turufatoore weyn ah (the guy is a joke and a cheat). Isagoo Qurbajoog ah ayuu iska dhigaa inuu yahay Diaspora.” The driver said and let out a sarcastic laughter. I have to admit, that woke me up and I was a bit confused. “So, what is the difference between a ‘qurba-joo’ and a ‘diaspora’?” I asked, stressing the self-same nature of the two words. “Ma aha. They are not the same. Qurbajoogtu are those who lived here and went abroad at some point in their life. Diaspora are those who are born across the oceans.” He said firmly. The sheer ingenuity of the driver would only hit me after few days and I have digested why he came up with the wrong but clearly not-dumb catagorisation. It is one of these things you initially dismiss as foolish but on closer reflection; you sense it actually makes sense. See, the guy has a point. Clearly Qurbajog means Diaspora. But there is a need for semantics when it comes to separating the 30 year old who went to Canada 6 years ago and returned to his home, and the Somali boy who was born in London, Dubai or Singapore and never lived in Somalia. You may say that word exists. The latter group are “A British of Somali extraction, or a Canadian of Somali origin” or whatever. But then, the other guy who went there 6 years ago shares this definition so long as he is a citizen of those countries. So, we need a much more precise categorization to satisfy my drivers quest for a clear demarcation between those he perceives as genuine diaspora and those who see as fake ones. It bothers him and we should find a word. Actually, I found the whole thought process on this matter funny and relevant. It seems the Qurba-joog Vs Qol-Qol-Joog clash of civillisations would soon be augmented by an Intra-Diaspora feud.

Tonight, women's 3000 steeplechase, watch out for Sofia Assefa. She has got the eyes and legs of a champion. looooooooool@burhaadeer's creative son!

Lander, I don't mix politics with art, or sport. I know you can't do that, but that doesn't mean others shouldn't. I support talent whoever possess it. It is primitive not to cheer-lead Tiki Galana when she wins the Marathon for instance. Of course, my first preference is for a somali to win, naturally. But political beliefs do not come in sports or art for me. I can applaud an Israeli if I think he is good in the sport he is involved in and if I like his style and talent. Are we clear?

No, no, I wasn't dear sister. I was expressing my views on what I think will happen, and as it turned out i was wrong. You can't say my predictions were wide off the mark. It is hard to bet against the Ethios in middle distance running. In truth, I want the brother to succeed and win but that doesn't mean I cannot say my predictions freely. I still think MO will lose the 5000k. Does that means I don't want him to win? No. At mid night last night, an old Ethiopian friend (last saw him 8 years back) called me minutes after the race finished. And the first word I spoke was "so, what do you say now? to be beaten like that by a Somali?" I know how much joke they make of Somalis in sports and hence this was a very welcome development. I don't like Britian and MO running for Britian is a bit of pain, but I share his glory as a somali.

Blessed, don't delude yourself sister. You are not a Briton, can never be. By virtue of your skin, your ancestry. And let the Somali people for once own Mo as theirs. In the world where the Mohamed's and ZamZam's shame us with their lukeworm performance, we have the right to refuse to share Mo with Britian, who has many white faces to be proud of.

walaahi Mo inuu guuleeysto waan jeclahay, but I have to admit I am a bit not convinced of his mettle because, let us be honest, this is his best achievement so far. He hasn't really beaten many East Africans in all the titles you itemized. Laakin, I agree he is on the brink of greatness, and a double in this olympic will seal that! Good luck to him. The ethiopian contingent in the 5000 include Kenenisa but all the other guys have clocked better time than him this year. It tells you they are tough. But then MO maybe a better runner in the 5000 than the 10,0000 and that will even things out!

Abwaan, thanks for posting the BBC interview. I am liking this guy even more. Wish he gets the double.

I think Mo will find it hard against in-form and fit Ethiopians. That doesn't mean I want to spoil his party. He did very well in the 10,000 and if he repeats that, I think he will do fine. I watched few of the Ethios in the 5000 and they look solid.

Lool@ lander. Isn't that too soon? I am very proud of MO's performance. But it is not goin to shroud my objectivity in sports. Mo beat a fading Kenenisa, and Tariku and Gabremariam were never known for having the sprint kick that is so crucial to win. I will lay down my arms onto the ground and put MO in the league of Sae'd Ouaita and Haile Gabresellasie if he repeats this performance at the 5000K. There, it is a different ball game. There are young and hungry Ethiopian athlets (Alamerow, Hagos and Gabremedhin). I think Mo will find it a bit tougher but I will pleased if he beats them. Despite what you may all think, I have been calling every Axmaar I know of in the last 10 hours to brag about the Somalis win over Ethiopians. But please let us put things in the proper context. Kipchoge once flew past Kenenisa only to disappear at all. Mo and the American friend will be gettin much stiffer competition from Kenyans and Ethiopians and only after they prove themsleves a bit more regularly can we talk of greatnesss.

Bald New Somali, Having a bidaar cannot hinder you from marrying a pretty girl; but it will surely stop you from staging a pompous wedding party!! You do not need the scrutiny of her friends in the glare of cameras which pronounce your baldness even mor, do you?

Respect MO, he made the Somali race proud. Do I still think he will win the 5000k, no. And it is not hating on him to analyze things the way you see it. Most Ethiopians doubted Kenenisa is in his old form, but still expected a win because they did not know about MO. How many of you know Kenenisa qualified for the 10,000 team of ethiopia as a reserve only?

I respect Mo now. Until now, he was too average for me.