By Douglas Farah*
The news out of Somalia is again grim. The Islamist groups, capitalizing on the incompetence and inability of the government to do anything and its unwillingness to try to give a broad swath of the population a true stake in the government, are on the rise. The government’s already-weak support is evaporating.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Wow. Robert Mugabe’s out-of-control insanity against his own people in Zimbabwe is “finally pushing [his] African neighbors away from ‘quiet diplomacy’ into tepid protest.” Hold meetings to talk about future meetings? A definite maybe? These nations are hesitant to do anything about Zimbabwe because of — you guessed it — the race card. When might Africa finally graduate from post-colonialism into true self-determination? Life moves on. In its simplemindedness, the extreme Left would have you believe that opposing Mugabe means you support Apartheid. But the West is willing to help this time, not dominate.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
What did Freud call it when criticism hits too close to home, and the neurotic person lashes out? Projection? Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe has a bad case of it. When faced with condemnation of his beating up opposition party members, he responded that Western critics can “go hang.” Very eloquent, and quite consistent with his previous behavior. He’s expropriated the homes of his own people, whom he calls “filth,” and has created quite a paradise in his homeland:
More than 80% of Zimbabweans are living in poverty, with chronic unemployment and inflation running at more than 1,700% - the highest in the world.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has expropriated the homes of his own people, whom he calls “filth,” yet he remains one of those world leaders like Castro, Chavez, and Ahmadinejad, that the fashionably correct like to respect. Today, Mugabe’s goon-squad literally smashed Zimbabwe’s political opposition:
The leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is in a bad state after being beaten by police in custody, says his lawyer.
Morgan Tsvangirai’s head was bandaged and his face swollen, said lawyer Innocent Chagonda, who saw him from a distance of about 10 metres.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Another stupid terrorist was foiled by his own idiocy — this time in Mauritania. This moron without a cause was out-foxed by a smart airliner crew who used language and boiling water to nail the sucka:
The pilot of a hijacked Air Mauritania plane deliberately made a rough landing so passengers and crew could tackle the gunman, Spanish officials say.
He tipped off passengers about the plan after realising the hijacker spoke no French, one official told AP agency. …
But as the pilot approached Gando military base near Las Palmas international airport, he used the plane’s intercom system to tell passengers in French of his plan, said AP quoting a Spanish official.
“The pilot and his colleagues decided to abruptly apply brakes on landing to throw off-balance the hijacker, who was hurled to the floor by the jerk and was quickly overpowered before being handed over to the Spanish police force,” a Mauritanian official told AFP news agency.
One report said flight attendants threw boiling water at him and around 10 people overpowered him.
The pilot, named by Air Mauritania as Ahmedou Mohamed Lemine, had urged crew members and men to sit in the front rows, ready to act, while women and children were warned to move to the rear, AP said.
By Andrew Cochran*
“An American citizen charged with receiving terrorist training at an Al Qaeda camp in Somalia — including classes in how to become a homicide bomber and ‘wage violent jihad’ — was taken into custody by FBI agents and returned to the U.S. Monday night night…” Daniel Joseph Maldanado, 28, a.k.a Daniel Aljughaifi, was charged with receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization and conspiring to use an explosive device outside the United States. The criminal complaint provides the following information about Maldanado:
By Andrew L. Jaffee
What happened to Muammar Gaddafi’s jamahiriya, the socialist “state of the masses?” Reality happened. One by one, the socialist/communist states created during the 20th century have either collapsed or co-opted the free enterprise system because… capitalism is dynamically adaptive, while communism is stolid, glacial, and discourages creativity. “Vietnam has embarked on an extensive reform program which aims at developing a market economy…” China’s economy would make Marx and Engels turn in their graves. So it goes that now Libya is engaging in free market reforms:
The Libyan government is to lay off 400,000 people - more than a third of its workforce - to ease public spending and stimulate the private sector.
Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi told parliament the number of civil servants had become excessive.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
The AP reported 25 minutes ago that, “A senior al-Qaida suspect wanted for bombing American embassies in East Africa was killed in a U.S. airstrike, a Somali official said Wednesday, a report that if confirmed would mean the end of an eight-year hunt for a top target of Washington’s war on terrorism.” We can only hope — and good riddance. For some strange reason, the U.S. is denying that it “carried out further strikes” in Somalia because of “growing international criticism.” To hell with “international criticism.” We’re already in for a penny, in for a pound. Finish off the Islamists.
How the United States has covertly aided Ethiopia’s fight against the Islamic Courts Union.
by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross*
The al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic Courts Union’s (ICU) rapid retreat in the face of Ethiopia’s military campaign in Somalia has puzzled many observers. How could the Ethiopians roll up the jihadists so quickly? Pajamas Media has learned that one significant factor is that U.S. air and ground forces covertly aided the Ethiopian military since its intervention began on Christmas day.
By Andrew L. Jaffee
The U.S. has finally acted against Islamist terrorists who at one point controlled much of Somalia. Its warplanes “carried out at least two air strikes in southern Somalia against Islamist fighters, who the US believes include members of an al-Qaeda cell.” Its about time, and a bit after the fact. The “last stronghold” of Somalia’s Islamist Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) fell last week, only months after the group almost took complete control of the county. Thanks go to Ethiopia for being the only country to help Somalia’s transitional government put a stop Islamist desires to create another Taliban-like Afghanistan on the shores of Africa.
by Thomas von der Osten-Sacken and Thomas Uwer*
Among social activists and feminists, combating female genital mutilation (FGM) is an important policy goal. Sometimes called female circumcision or female genital cutting, FGM is the cutting of the clitoris of girls in order to curb their sexual desire and preserve their sexual honor before marriage. The practice, prevalent in some majority Muslim countries, has a tremendous cost: many girls bleed to death or die of infection. Most are traumatized. Those who survive can suffer adverse health effects during marriage and pregnancy. New information from Iraqi Kurdistan raises the possibility that the problem is more prevalent in the Middle East than previously believed and that FGM is far more tied to religion than many Western academics and activists admit.
by Andrew L. Jaffee
“Ethiopia has a large Christian population,” says the AP today when describing the rout by Somali government and Ethiopian troops of Islamist terrorists in the horn of Africa. Here’s the “context:”
by Andrew L. Jaffee
It seems that the “last stronghold” of Somalia’s Islamist Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) has fallen, only months after the group almost took complete control of the county. Claims that the UIC was a grass-roots movement bringing law and order back to Somalia have disintegrated into falsehoods. Thanks go to Ethiopia for being the only country to put a stop Islamist desires to create another Taliban-like Afghanistan on the shores of Africa.
While some decry Ethiopian interference in the internal affairs of a neighboring state, the AP today revealed that the UIC was not exactly an “indigenous” movement:
By Andrew L. Jaffee
Ethiopia has admitted openly to combating the forces of Islamo-fascism in Somalia. Good for Ethiopia. At least someone cares enough to oppose the spreading of the utterly intolerant, totalitarian virus which has now established a beach-head in the horn of Africa. Where has the West been regarding the Islamist takeover of Somalia — except for a few token diplomatic statements?
by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross*
Al Qaeda’s allies in Somalia are on the verge of seizing the secular government’s last stronghold - opening the possibility of a “new Afghanistan” to shelter America’s enemies.
Somalia is at a critical juncture. In the coming days, the world will learn whether the transitional federal government is strong enough to fend off the terrorists’ assault. If it fails, al-Qaeda will win its first countrywide safe haven since 9/11.
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