Nostalgic! Mahadsanid Abwaan. Hola lele lele helee lee! Filsan iga fog baan Faarax-dheegoow arkaa!

All these outbursts and projections because I suggested Somaliland will be challenged if it doesn't find inclusive intangible narratives of nationhood? Burahaadeer, your concern about the ONLF and Azania is valid but it is in the wrong thread. And I do not have to repeat myself and restate my positions on these issues everytime a fretful scessionist feels the heat and tries to paint everyone else with the same myopic clan brush. How Ayoub, a man who takes his name from a clan, a man who champions a clan secession agenda, accuses a bonafide unionist as clanist is beyond me. It is richly sardonic. But then I know why I cannot fight back hard for now. It is a phone call from Ayoub to JB to eliminate me and my little cyber threat and it is a risk I cannot take! :D

You are reading a different page. No one is trying to mend anything here, for commenting on an issue does not mean trying to fix it! And one is entiltled to a commentary, even a wrong one! An intelligent person would have examined his baises, dogmas and beliefs, but you display a level of certainity that borders fanticism in your SL mania. It is not normal.

To the sick mind, inclusivity is clanisim, fairness is abuse. Anyway, Ayoub, you have not only failed to present a plausible counter narrative to my commentary- except the blatant lie that the SNM history is not thought in schools, you are relying on labelling and insults to make your weak points. Unless you want to play the ostrich and sand stuff, it is sadly the truth that our politics is a politics of clans, and our nationhoods are a nationhood of clans. A positive discussion of somali politics cannot happen without divulging this clan dimension. It is why both ONLF and references to Caanabodhe are not about milk and nutrition or a potshot against a given ideology. They are references to clan, the same evil you are disparaging! Jacaylbaro, now that is what I can take as a fitting response to this post. What you are saying is that we, somalilanders, will surmount the challenging intangibles, having succeeded in taming bigger threats. May you succeed again, but no one should pretend there are no challenges.

,,,Anything more sensisble than this caanaboodhe hogwash, dear Ayoub?

The gentleman with the red shirt and matching tie! He is the one closest to the most beautiful girl in the pictures you posted. Logic dictates Abtigiis gets next to these things, so if I were you, I would have started from there!!!

Why is the ONLF an issue here, dear Burahadeer? When can we move away from this fixation with the narrator's alleged identity and move to a more abystemious issues-based debate? Or is this yet another case of a poor fel*low who could not handle the demise of his verities, seek*ing pur*gation through a rheum directed at the messanger of the bad news? How Galeano-ean! "ONLF", "hater", "fa.qa.sh" are convinient shorthands and labels pasted on the foreheads of those who question the sanity of desperate tribalists plying despertate, ireedeemable causes. Such insults can not be wisecracks, maxims or disinfected and compacted thoughts that suggest a reflective people, meditative discourse. Their fatigue, sheer platitudinous ring and clumsiness as a means of expression is telling of the emaciated ideas these shorthands are desigend to convey!

Because nations are not merely about the tangibles - people, trees, seas and rocks, but also about the intangibles such as flags, myths, heroes, legends, martyrs, monuments, triumphs, failures, memorials, Somaliland must have all of these to stake its claim of statehood and to nourish its sense of nationhood without interruption. The Northern region of Somalia is doing a stellar job of moulding this sense of identity. Indeed, throughout the world, nations which do not have heroes must invent heroes and heroism to create the necessary myth for nationhood. In President Silaanyo, Somaliland has a real hero, a worthy leader who stands out above all calumnies through sheer inner worth, not through stilts. He fought wars, he won. He liberated lands and communities in distress. They do not have to invent heroes. That much, we cannot begrudge them! But Somaliland is gradually finding itself stalked by the exclusivity of the myths that it relied on to nurture the distinctive identity and history it craved for a long time. If the heroes of the nation have to be the heroes for the entire nation, they need to be representative of all of the regions of Somaliland. But this is an impossible task. SSC and Awdal clans fought the SNM like any other Siyadists. The children of SSC are told a different history of the Daraawish and the Sayid than the SNM-ites teach in schools, and most of Awdal remain loyal to the blue flag of Somalia. To state this is not to hate Somaliland or to wish them bad luck. It is to state the simple, overbearing truth. Some of us would like to waive these truths because of bigoted loyalties, but that won’t change the fact that they remain the truth. In fact, some of us have long legitimized the hateful word 'haters' as a fitting label for those who doubt our outooks. Its deplyment is whimsical,flexible. You cock it and that is it. I expect this from some in SOL, and certianly from Oodweyne! The Somaliland intangible narratives of nationhood are in need of serious repackaging and renovation to cater to the needs of the constituent regions. That even Xaabsade is questioning the curriculum of SL schools and demanding for a more inclusive history to be thought is telling. And teaching an inclusive history means telling both versions about what happened in 1960 and the union with the South. It may even extend to what happened in 1980s. Or even what is happening in Buuhoodle and LasAnod! If instead the one-clan nationhood myth continues, Somaliland will remain a weird birth, a being of brawn, and not of brains, designed to last through patent bullying. It will remain carving little triumphs of sorts, invented victories culled from comparisons with a cadaver South, culled from fine dissimilarities and crafty rationalisations. It will remain relying on superfluously trumpeting media to make measly progresses read and sound mammoth. It will remain celebrating miasmic electioneering and elections as an actual victories. It will continue straining for succor from uninterested suitors, scrapping for some small comfort. Like the ageing spinster who could not bear the tension and anxiety as her suitors occupy their stools at her family’s home and rushes to the next parapet to get the news as it breaks, Somaliland will keep on leaping in joy every time a South Sudan thing happens in the continent! Every time a white rabble-rouser speaks in the British Parliament. Quite clearly, Somaliland cannot coexist with citizens who hail Siyad Barre or Sayid Mohamed as heroes. Yet, the people in the southern part of Somaliland, the now Khatumo states, may see both men as heroes. They may see Silaanyo as the Savimbi of the Somali peninsula. Quite clearly, Somaliland has done well in carving the necessary myth for a nation but it may need to reshuffle some of its founding myths, its heroes and its history. The problem is such renovation portends the demise of Somaliland’s alleged distinctiveness and by extension its nationhood.

Nudawn;848396 wrote: Obviously you're over analyzing and putting words in my mouth. Obviously you are over-generalizing and sensationalizing a mild matter! But then let us leave this you are doing this or doing that thing! I welcome you to the forum and you sound very intelligent. Given that you don't touch our meal (mine and Ngonge's) - which is fetid clan discussions, we look forward for your other healthy topics so that we can engage you and hopefully learn from one another. Soo dhawoow walaal!

The-freeman;848393 wrote: Do as any man in your situation would do: date the girl, buy a stylish convertible, dye your hair jet black (unless bald of course) and top it off with one of those new age goatees. This is the only way through it! Good luck and post pictures :D waa talo macquul ah! loooll @ the goatie!. Except that dating a younger girl is not the issue here, really!

welcome brother Nudawn, and your stand on clanish matters is commendable. But unless you pick a topic which we can debate you on, this Good guy Vs Bad guys skit is unlikely to generate funny or/and fruitful discussions! But implying all other members of SOL tolerate clannish garbage and only you - the bright and upcoming visionary young thinker, mind this clannishness, shows that you suffer from a profound "messianic complex" when you are still ripe. it is symptomatic of all that is wrong with our youth. They open their shirt-front and preach ideas and slogans that they hardly grasp and think an older mind always thinks of old things. Clearly there is no such correlation. Ahmed Godane is much younger than Ismail Bubba but I am sure Bubba is more progressive than the young terrorist. Therefore there is no evidence to show that just because you are younger and consequently more idealistic, you are a better somali or you have a better idea to solve what is wrong with our community!

This is when I get upset by Juxa's simplistic view of some grave matters. Everyone passing through my age knows I am in mid-life crisis! ...I am even dressing like teenages and that is not a secret! The real issue is here is why such "healing" centers do not have scope of work and Terms of Reference! I mean I went there just to prove that they are nonsense and they prove that by pretending that there is a solution for carnal disorders whose cause they do not and cannot know about! It shows you they are not treating anyone. They are just exploiting gullible little people.

Actually, I checked in just out of curiosity. I was passing by going to the Mansoor side and saw this big writting on top of a very modern building and saw it was the "xarunta....". I immeditaly asked the driver to take me in, and he was like "war miyaad waalan tahay?". I am his boss so he didn't say it but I can see the disbelief in his eyes! :D Later, he would tell me there are more advanced "Centres" to the one I visited! I think the "Sheikh" who was talking to me was puzzled. He may even have suspected I was joking but as long as I paid the fee, he should serve me and he did!

Three weeks after a teenage girl said she loves me; me, a man of early fifties with very little to offer in aesthetic terms, I checked in the “Xarunta isku-daaweeynta Quran’ka, Sunada Nabiga iyo Dhirta” in Hargeisa, just opposite Sheikh Is-haaq Pharmacy. The problem was not that I cannot handle the childish phone calls of an otherwise decent teenager who may have misread my kind gestures for sensual invitation. The problem was that I needed a lasting antidote which will relieve me of this fascination with the rump of seasoned house-wives, whose frenzied carnal cat-walking instills an embarrassing erotic desire in me. And I wanted to see if the “xarunta” has a potent cure beyond the usual green goats, elephant milk and aromatic dung-beetle they prescribe. The sheikh I met did not give me a satisfactory answer, although I liked his joke about how he tells the Diaspora from the resident. He said all it takes him to identify who is what is to go to Hadhwanaag restaurant and observe the behavior of the cats that flood the compound during meal hours. If the cats jump on the table and try to eat leftover food, the men surrounding the table are from the Diaspora. If instead, the cats meow from distance and run for cover when one of the men around the table walks to wash hands, it is clear the men are locals. I did not get the logic of the story, but could only think it has something to do with locals being hungrier and therefore less considerate of the cat’s hunger; or it could be that the diasporas are more accommodative of pets because of their exposure to cultures that treat animals more humanely. What the Sheikh said was that I should read more Quran, avoid fish and apple which I told him I eat, and join one Tabliiq mission for 40 full days. The Tabliq option will not work, because I know Diiriye who is soon to go to Bangladesh with a Jamaaca was salivating to sleep with “beautiful and cheap Bengali” girls. That is what he said. So there is no guarantee I will be reformed either. It is hard to see why reading more Quran helps, particularly when the trend is that Sheikh’s actually get more women the more they become more versed with the 114 suras. Unless he mistook fish and apple for Viagra, it is also difficult to see why stopping these will lead to less furtive love on my part. All in all, I was disappointed with the visit to the “center”. But the Sheikh treated me pschologically. He narrated a curious litany of strange medical cases he treated. He also assured me that my situation is not chronic, because he has treated four other men who were in a worse fleshly predicament. They would not date but a pregnant women, the sheikh said. And because mine is just a fixation with married women but with no distended stomachs, I have hope. He is the one who knows our state. I must be normal then.

He is too young and too sensitive to grasp the real issues! Like a teaser bull, he raises lots of dust and dung only to coil the tail and duck for cover when the bulls with hard horns appear! He knows he will be gored badly. Regardles, we do not bedgruge the young man of his moment. And if it is going to help him, we are happy to call him the alter-ego of Timcadde when it comes to Somalinimo, while calling myself and Ngonge unrepentant faq.ash and sectarian SNM respectively. Tallabo - Thanks for the kind words.

I think Nudawn needs to pay some attention to these lines. Surely, bringing down all that is wrong with somalis to clan and clanishness is way too simplistic and myopic! Is the proposition that clan, clannishness and clannish elites are the main impediments to the reconstruction of the State in Somalia a false proposition? The compelling answer to this question of the moment which some may find outlandish is a resounding yes. This dominant story which has been impetuously ingested and regurgitated by Somali intellectuals needs to be unpacked, examined and subjected to logical and empirical interrogation to assess its validity. And this has to be done now and urgently. For there is nothing more damaging to Somalia and Somalis’ effort to reconstruct their failed State than thoughts, ideas, assumptions, and models unscrutinised, untested, but touted with the ease of presumed impeccability. Wrong diagnosis of Somalia’s chronic ailment led to fatal policy prescriptions in the past and will underwrite failure of ongoing and future efforts to bring back the Somali State. Somali intellectuals recognize the distinction between clan and clannishness. They see clannishness, not clan, as the problem. They embark from this premise and argue that clannishness of Somali intellectuals is the key obstacle to the restoration of the Somali State. In this article, I will argue that inter and intra clan harmony is not a necessary condition for the re‐building of the State in Somalia and that clannishness is not the main factor why Somalia did not have a functioning government for two decades. I will further posit that a democratic Somalia can co‐exist with maddening tribalism by giving examples. I will also briefly highlight the internal and external impediments to the formation of a functioning State in Somalia. Later, I will adapt some political economy models and theories to explain the inaction of many Somali Intellectuals, the ‘no technical solution’ nature of clan equity formula’s in the context of Somali politics, and the futility of ‘borrowed wisdom’, which refers to the thoughtless use of doctrines which are generally true, but could become deceptive dogmas when used for contexts and environments for which their relevance is not ascertained.

We just happen to look at things from the same angle most of the time. It is why we click whenever we talk. Oday, is that unusual? Surely, you know we are not from the same clan by now?

NGONGE;847344 wrote: I will not talk of this, I will not talk of that and I will not discuss this or discuss that. Adeer waa yeelkadaa dee; it's not a job interview. But, you know what, I am finally glad to welcome someone new on this site (someone that wet behind the ears can't be anything but new). We haven't had one for years. Welcome warya. From the sheer weepy introductory post he made, Nudawn is obviously a young person. Welcome to the forum bro, but if your argument is that clan is the problem in Somalia, it is an argument for which no supporting evidence is presented for. Few countries in the world, if any at all, do not have race, clan and ethnic factors that divide their citizens. Yet, there is only one failed state in the world right now - Somalia. One of the deepest clanish sentiment and identity in the Somali peninsula is exhibited in Somaliland, yet Somaliland is the only properly functioning regional state in what used to be Somalia. The amount of hate, mutual suspicion and animosity between the Amhara and the Oromos, or the Amahara and the Tigres, or the Sidama and the Woleita is not milder than the SL-PL, or PL- Galmudug rivalries. The political bad-blood between the Kikuyus and the Luo in Kenya cannot be less poisonous than the internal clan feud between HAG sub-clans!! The bottomline is that clan or clannishness is not why Somalia failed and why it is failing. It is lack of education and visionary leadership. A vibrant Somalia can prevail even if the diseased clannish mentality continues as long as there is a political leadership (a handful of them) that could steer the country forward economically and politically. The allies of Sheikh Sharif today do not come from one single clan. Politics in Somalia is now starting to resemble politics elsewhere in that it is interest - mainly vapid materialism- that drives the belief and actions of politicians. It is why a showdown is inevitable between Faroole and Abdiweli if one or the other finds that the other is an obstacle to his ambitions. Yet all this does not mean clannishness is defensible. It is not. But you should listen to Khadra Dahir's "cudurka kaa gala fardaha, hadii laga gubo dameer" to get the jist of my post! Also, frothily mouthing one's partiotism and cleanliness does not always make one clean, because most of the somali politicians actually say good things about somalinimo in the media. A man I met in Hargeisa recently, clad in all white Tabliqii dress, told mee that he partticipated in the big Tabliiq gathering and that he is added to the list of the Jamaaca that will travel to Bangladesh! Nothing wrong with this, except that he is the same man who was singing "Leyla, oo Laylaa" from the Indian movie "Qurbani" just a month ago to cheering young ladies in summertime! And except that after I reminded him about that epsiode of "Leyla" and jokinly asked if he is truely reformed, he smiled and said " waar dee meesha Bengaladish naago eesh calaa ah baa la gu sheegay" implying that the Tabliiqi Jamaaca are paying his travel expenses so that he has a hot sexual romping in the rice country. So, let us not get too emotional about the nice things we say in this forum. Much more than political correctedness in this forum is to make sure that we actually contribute to the eradication of clanisim by living the life we preach! The posts Xaji Xundjuf and Dr. Osman exchange are the most hilarious, but I am sure they are not any more clanish than the average faarax in this forum.

In truth, waan u xil qarinaye, ngonge was saying England will do wonders, but that is because he lives there!!

Let us give it to the man. Ngonge‘s analysis of the Euro2012 has been ace. He rightly took Italy as serious contenders when some of us thought their form against Spain would desert them; He agreed with me on the quality of Portugal, who nearly won against the Spanish. He also agreed that Germany was not as strong as it appeared in the first few games. Anyone who knows the defensive vulnerabilities of Badstubar and Boateng could have seen that! And, the poor finishing of Mario Gomez to boot. Gomez’s conversion rate is very poor, but he still scored goals only because he gets too many clear-cut chances. Arguably, if Germany would have played the 11 that played against Greece, there could have been a different outcome. SOL is a democratic forum where anyone, even certifiable fools and knaves, can freely express their opinions. So it is fine if Norf is allowed to comment on football as well. If at all, he adds some flavor to the discussion with his bad and harebrained commentary. Yes, we all do not get our predictions right, and that is the rule in the game of football, but anyone who could imagine England winning anything (just because of media hype) is an out and out dabbler. On the final, I think Italy will play well but I fear the Spanish might be too much for them. I do not expect a repeat of their first game. Clearly, Spain thought Italy will defend for their lives in the first game and was surprised to find Italy attacking. On Sunday, Spain can win if they play Pedro and Navas. The Italian defense can be breached with quick one-twos. I want Italy to win, if only because that will validate that positive football is the way forward, but I cannot bet against Spain. They looked solid against a magnificent Portugal.

Like a man who suffers from chronic priapism ( a painful erection that has nothing to do with a desire for pleasure) but consistently brags about his virility to cope with the stigma and the inner agony, Oodweyne is putting up a brave face to survive a debilitating humiliation, as all that dream he invested so much energy and vitriol on, nears total collapse!! He is a man nimbly walking on eggs and deserves our sympathy more than anything!

Camanje did not get a riposte for those lines and fired another jewel of a poem for more provocation, clearly bragging no one could match him on poetic duel: Gabay haw yidhaadoo ku dhaca, Cadan hagaageeda Oo hammug yidhaa oo Isa.aq, daartii *wada heensha Oo halaha kii raaci jiray, kaga hayaay siiya Oo kii hudheellada lahaa, ka handaraafsiiya Oo kii hargaha iibsan jiray, haaro ugu yeela Oo kii hablaha dooni jiray, horay usii tuura Oo hilibka kii qaadi jiray, kaga habaaseeya Oo dhariga kii heemin jiray, heenka kaga daadsha… Haabhaaban maayee anuu, hilinka ii yaalo... Hadduu aar hal dilo oo dhurwaa, hilib usoo doonto Hungurina ka geyn waa kalyana, kuma hagaajaane Huuhdooda unbaan maqliye lay, hor iman maayo

Aadanoow, i admire the ingenuity of Camanje when some xaaji xundjuf cousins insisted in uu u dhaarto in hal ka soo luntay iyaga uuna arag! Displeased by the offensive insiuation that he stole it or perhaps not quite willing to put his hand on the Quran to deny the allegation, he retorted with these diversionary lines!! Nimanyahow hashiinii ma arag, waana la hubaaye Waa taan hudheelaha galaa, hogoga Iido.ore Waa taan hariirsade gubaa, dhuxuli hoos taale Waa taan makhaayado hurshaa, halow i leefaaye

I was one penalty away from getting it right! But then I think football is unpredictable and even the pundits I watch on TV before the games start, always get it wrong. It is not like you are asked who will win between Man U and Stoke at Old Trafford. When the two playing teams are close, like Italy and Germany, it is going to be 50-50 and predictions hardly work.

Portugal showed how to stop Spain's Tiki-Tak football, but they managed to do that only because they have technically good players. England can copy the strategy but they cannot do it because their players cannot keep the ball! I now fancy Italy to win the cup! I am confident they will beat Germany, but against Spain (after spain's moral boost last night), it is hard to think Italy will contain them! People were booing the Spainsh (mostly) when they try to keep the ball with their usual 5 meter passes, but I think that is unfair. Spain cannot rush the ball if 9 men are parked in front of their goal! Those also should be booed! I felt Spain managed to play with a bit of pace because Portugal did not park before their goal! people should give the spanish a break, and start booing chelsea and England type of football!