Originally posted by Pi: They should free the pathetic old man. What makes the man "pathetic"?

Originally posted by Mujaahid: Red Sea: p.s,I don't speak Arabic. Mujaahid Al-Baxrul-Axmar, tacalam keyfa tatakalam al-lughatul-Carabiya.

Originally posted by Castro: None of the top three suspected terrorists in Somalia were killed in a U.S. airstrike this week, but Somalis with close ties to al Qaeda were slain, a senior U.S. official in the region said Thursday. The "but" in the statement is to cover up failure and justify the killings. The same senior U.S. official was sure the U.S. airstrike killed "the top three suspected terrorists"; how can he now be so sure the airstrike killed "Somalis with close ties to al Qaeda"? Did the airstrike kill innocents? Yes. Will the US admit that? The US has a perfect track record of denying and even covering up the killing of innocents.

Originally posted by femme_fatale: ???????????????? Adigu weligaa beer gaal ma cuntay?

Originally posted by Jacaylbaro: It is somebody's money and has the right to buy whateva they want no matter how much ,,,, Is it OK to buy a product from a company owned by or whose major investors include neocons and Israelis? Are you saying it's OK to buy products whose profits go to killing your own Somali or Muslim brothers and sisters?

Originally posted by Devilangle: whats the matter taliban.. All I am saying is, one could invest $500-$700 (contract-contractless) on a worthwhile cause like helping needy Somali brothers/sisters, instead of spending it on a worthless device that can cause you to contract cancer.

Originally posted by Che-Guevara: There are so many dialects within Somali May May. That's confusing and baffling. I can understand dialects within a language, but dialects within a dialect? :confused: Dialect: 1. Linguistics. a variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by features of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and by its use by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially. 2. a provincial, rural, or socially distinct variety of a language that differs from the standard language, esp. when considered as substandard. 3. a special variety of a language: The literary dialect is usually taken as the standard language. 4. a language considered as one of a group that have a common ancestor: Persian, Latin, and English are Indo-European dialects. 5. jargon or cant. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dialect

Originally posted by Puja: The New Must Have Gatget What would a new gadget add to the benefit of someone? Would it increase intelligence, happiness, serenity, tranquilness, physical fitnesses, iwm to someone? The most important question; do I need an iPhone? No. Am I enthusiastic about it? No. It might amount to enthusiasm before and a few weeks after it's released. After that, it will not differ from the other boring gadgets such as the nano iPod, PS3, Wii, iwm.

Arab nationalism's last gasp Saddam Hussein's execution likely means the end of the foolish secular Arab nationalism movement JUST AS THE demise of Slobodan Milosevic in Yugoslavia closed the lid on national communist parties in Eastern Europe, the demise of Saddam Hussein in Iraq appears likely to do the same for secular Arab nationalism across the Middle East. And just as communism exited the European stage exposed for what it always truly was — fascism without fascism's ability to make the trains run on time — secular Arab nationalism will exit the stage revealed for what it always was: a despotic perversion of the western nation-state that lasted as long as it did mainly because of secret-police techniques imported from the former Soviet Union. Arab nationalism's roots go back to the revolt against European colonialism in the early decades of the 20th century. But as it developed, it faced a serious problem: Because it was organized around the artificial national borders that these same colonialists had drawn — which generally ignored ethnic and sectarian lines — the result, in too many cases, was multiethnic rivalry and the subjugation of one part of the population by another. In Iraq, for instance, the national borders created a state in which the majority Shiites were subjugated by the minority Sunnis (as we all now know). In Syria, the majority Sunnis came to be subjugated by the minority Alawites, who constitute a branch of Shiism (and who had been favored in the armed forces by the French). In Lebanon, it was the Shiites who ended up subjugated by both Christians and Sunnis. No sooner were these independent new states created than the ties of faith and tribe were undermining them. A fragile unity of sorts could only be achieved by recourse to secular nationalism, which, on paper at least, aimed to transcend those bitter rivalries. Indeed, the more artificial the state, the more extreme the secular ideology had to be to hold it together. To secure unwieldy tribal assemblages, for instance, an austere state socialism was required in Algeria, and a form of "Dear Leader Absolutism" in Libya. Because Syria and Iraq were also artificial constructs, these two states resorted to Baathism — another b.astardized form of state socialism. Contrast all this with places such as Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt, which were age-old civilization clusters whose identities, rather than artificial, harked back to antiquity. It should be no surprise that these places produced more benign forms of secular government. The two extremes in the Arab world became Tunisia and Iraq. Tunisia, a small country of Sunni Arabs with no internal divisions, which traced its borders back to ancient Carthage, produced Habib Bourguiba, the Arab version of the enlightened Turkish modernizer Kemal Ataturk. Iraq, a Frankenstein monster of a country assembled from warring ethnic and sectarian groups by the British, produced Saddam Hussein, the Arab Stalin. The defining fact of the Cold War years in the Middle East was competition among these insecure new states for the right to inherit the mantle of the deceased Ottoman Turkish empire, which had held sway over most of their territories for centuries. Because Israel served as a symbolic replacement for European colonialism, each new state tried to outdo the other to prove its anti-Zionist bona fides. Egypt, the Arab world's demographic hub, had the advantage, especially as its leader, Gamal Abdel Nassar, psychologically mobilized the Arab masses by standing up to an invasion by Britain, France and Israel in October 1956, leading to a withdrawal of these "colonial" powers from the Suez Canal. Thus began the high-water mark of secular Arabism, which lasted until Nasser's humiliation by the Israelis in the 1967 war. The Palestine Liberation Organization emerged in the waning years of Nasserism. It was modeled after the other secular nationalist movements — so much so that its foundational text, the 1938 book "The Arab Awakening," was written not by a Muslim but by a Greek Orthodox Christian, George Antonius. Another Christian, George Habash, became one of the PLO's most radical guiding lights. The defining organizational attribute of secular Arab nationalism was the military emergency regime — witness Egypt, Syria and Iraq — that justified its existence by the continued state of war with Israel. Also working against liberal change in the Middle East was the influence of the Soviet Union. With Soviet military and economic aid for the secular nationalists came the techniques of East Bloc security services. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the two Baathist countries, Syria and Iraq. The result of made-in-Moscow surveillance techniques was the emergence in the early 1970s of a new class of dictator — Hafez Assad in Syria and Saddam Hussein in Iraq — who, unlike their predecessors, were not overthrown by yet another general or colonel after a short time in office. These new men stayed in power for decades because anyone who opposed them, no matter how furtively, was soon identified and destroyed. Thus it was that the Nasserites, the Baathists from Syria and Iraq and the austere pseudo-Marxists from Algeria vied with each other for influence. The PLO, as the supreme symbol of the anti-Zionist struggle, was the beneficiary of the competition. But when the Berlin Wall collapsed and aid from the East Bloc began to dry up, Palestine had still not been liberated, even as creaky, authoritarian bureaucracies across the Arab world were decaying. Beneath the carapace of secularism, a disturbing brew of religious and sectarian tensions had always simmered. Islamism emerged from an upwardly mobile peasantry that had drifted into Arab cities from the countryside. In the countryside, Islam was an integral part of a traditional existence and generally nonpolitical, but in these pseudo-Westernized cities, filled with the worst sorts of temptations, religion required a severity and ideological component in order to keep families together and teenage boys from slipping into crime. Alas, what really killed secular Arab nationalism — much more so than the dark influence of the Soviet police state or the mobilizing distraction of the Zionist threat — was the combination of a bad form of urbanization and what Middle East expert Michael Hudson in the 1970s labeled the "primordial identifications" of tribe and sect and religion. As the secularized Arab state withered, these sub-state loyalties reemerged full bore, making even further mockery of the borders of the Arab world — because tribe- and faith-based communities have little use for national borders. Those who proclaim today that the only real solution to the Arab dilemma is political freedom are correct. The problem is that they are describing a process that could encompass several bloody decades. After all, it took centuries for stable democracy as we know it to evolve in Europe. In this Darwinian shaking-out process, the new forms of political legitimacy may more closely resemble militarized social welfare organizations such as Hezbollah and the Al Mahdi army than the ramshackle contrivances of the European model that we saw in the post-colonial era. Right before the trap door was opened, Hussein's executioners chanted "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada," referring to Shiite militia leader Muqtada Sadr — because what was supposed to have been retribution for crimes against humanity had, despite all of our efforts, turned into another sectarian killing. Such is the abyss that follows secular Arab nationalism. L A Times

Originally posted by Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar: gaal [camel] I am sorry, but "gaal" doesn't mean camel in af-Soomaali; it means Christian or non-Muslim.

Originally posted by Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar: Luuq [Luug, an Afmaay word and used by Southerners as well, not jiiro of Afmaxaa] Please correct me; are you saying "Luuq" (of Afmaay) has the same meaning of "jiiro" (of Afmaxaa)? In short, are you saying "Luuq"="jiiro"?

Originally posted by Che-Guevara: I can't believe people in here are actually saying Af-May May is not Somali. Amazing. Somalia had two official languages (Af-Maay & af-Soomaali) until 1972, when then Barre government determined that af-Soomaali would be the official written (Latin-based script) language in Somalia. Could Af-Maay and af-Soomaali be the same language and at the same time be two distinct official languages? At this time, there are some (limited) similarities between Af-Maay and af-Soomaali, and it's due to the fact af-Maay has been isolated and relegated to a second status since 1972, while forced "Somalizing" has taken a toll on it.

Originally posted by mystic: Military wise we don’t stand a chance With insurgency and patience, we stand a chance to beat the US in the long term.

Actually, Arabic is easy to learn. It's English and other Western languages that are difficult to learn.

Originally posted by Castro: "I think it's important to talk to the Islamic courts, or whoever are the moderates within the group," Frazer said. "They did bring a certain degree of order to Mogadishu. They have experience. Where is Captain Xalane, the one who absurdly claimed "no government negotiates with terrorists"? There the US, represented by Frazer, trying to negotiate with "terrorists."

Originally posted by Castro: His wife said he was not killed for clan reasons, but that he was "targeted" for his religious beliefs and his support for then-ruling Islamist forces. May her husband rest in peace, and may Allah protect the other religious men. Aamiin.

Originally posted by Captain Xalane: Nothing new,no government negotiates with terrorists. Grossly inaccurate statement. Governments do negotiate with "terrorists." The US has negotiated with Iraqi (insurgency) and Afghani (Taliban) "terrorists." The US earnestly is seeking to negotiate with a rogue state that sponsors "terrorism"; Iran. Iran rebuffed to negotiate with the US. How does the TFG compare to the US, the only superpower that negotiates with "terrorists"? You claim that nonsense, because you perceive the TFG is in a position of power. Far from it. The TFG is in a position of hubris, and the future (coming weeks, months) will prove that.

Originally posted by Castro: The editor of Newsweek, Arnaud de Borchgrave, revealed in the Sept. 26, 1977, issue of that magazine that the Somali president had received a secret message from President Jimmy Carter encouraging him to seize Ethiopian territory. Hmmm. Is this declassified info? Jimmy Carter was the architect of Ethio-Somalia war in 1977? Interesting.

Originally posted by Jacaylbaro: So u saying he was one of the refugees ????? You didn't get it; that's not what I am saying. All I am saying is, what you have personally witnessed or seen isn't (necessarily, as accurately as) what you have personally witnessed or seen. For instance, you could get acquainted to a "beautiful" woman who works at an aid organization in your country. You could be tempted to like or even love the "beautiful" woman, because you perceive her to be beautiful. However, would you still like or love the woman if a month prior you have met her the woman looked differently in most of her life? Check how the woman looked before and after: http://www.funmansion.com/cool_pictures/extreme_makeover_7.jpg

Originally posted by Sheikh Fiqqikhayre: so do what you want You have incited and even suggested to someone to carry out a "terrorist" operation or mission. It will not factor if it was a joke.

Originally posted by Jacaylbaro: The Iraq-style war started last night in Mogadishu ,,, Good news. Jihad all the way to the liberation of Somalia. Allahu Akbar.

Originally posted by Jacaylbaro: i was there If you were there, it doesn't mean how you witnessed the event or how it appeared to you is complete or correct. For instance, if you see from a distance an apple falling from a tree, that's what you saw. However, someone close to the tree might have seen the apple squashing an insect. Therefore, your presence and what you witnessed isn't all you have witnessed, seen or how it appeared to you.

JABAD MA LA DEGTAY, JIDIIN MA WADA CUNTEEN, JID MA WADA MARTEEN, JIHAADSE MA WADA GASHEEN. Allahu Akbar.

Originally posted by Sheikh Fiqqikhayre: Please Taliban fulfill your potential and don't die prematurely for no reason. You want to get arrested? I challenge you to say yes, even as a joke.

Originally posted by Sheikh Fiqqikhayre: Why can't we negotiate and talk brother, you tell me whats wrong and I will listen! You will listen because you have the upper hand?