Erik Prince, the founder of the infamous Blackwater (now Xe) mercenary firm, who according to a former employee “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe.”, is now reportedly involved in a program financed by some Arab nations to train Somali recruits to “fight piracy” in Somalia.
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abunoor
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thabet
Somalia, the worst place to go to school:
It came bottom of a table of the world’s 60 poorest countries, just behind Eritrea, Haiti, Comoros, Ethiopia, Chad and Burkina Faso.
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Dan
Any Islamists on here that want to argue how good al-Shabaab are for the betterment of a Muslim nation? After all, these guys don’t have any problem turning Somalia even worse than it already is, yet naive Western Muslims think they are brave. Laughable.
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thabet
According to this translation by the Islam in Europe Blog, several people have told a newspaper in Denmark that a Danish-Somali man was one of the suicide bombers who recently attacked Mogidishu airport.
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thabet
Suicide bomber attacks Somali hotel, killing 32:
Witnesses described a horrific scene of dead bodies throughout the Muna Hotel and guests scrambling to safety by escaping out of windows.
The multi-pronged assault came less than 24 hours after the country’s most dangerous militant group — al-Shabab, a group allied with al-Qaida — threatened a “massive” war against what it labeled as invaders, a reference to the 6,000 African Union troops in Mogadishu.
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thabet
Islamist rebels ‘vow jihad on Somalia’s Puntland’:
Sheikh Mohamed Saiid Atom, who says his fighters are allied to the al Qaeda-inspired al Shabaab insurgents behind this month’s coordinated bomb attack on Uganda’s capital Kampala, urged local residents and businessmen to take up arms.
“We shall never stop fighting Puntland. We are part and parcel of al Shabaab, we are brothers united by Islamic sharia (law),” Sheikh Atom told reporters in the town of Galkayo.
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thabet
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques show its utmost compassion and mercy to their less fortunate ‘brothers’:
Neighboring countries should offer legal residence to Somali workers and asylum-seekers until it is safe to return to Mogadishu, where civilians are often targeted in the fighting between Somali forces and Islamist al Shabaab rebels, it said.
“Given the deadly violence in Mogadishu, UNHCR is urging the Saudi authorities to refrain from future deportations on humanitarian grounds,” Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing.
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thabet
Somali militant group claims responsibility for Uganda blasts:
The twin bombings in Kampala, within minutes of one another, were the first known attacks the group known as Al Shabab, or “The Youth,” has mounted outside Somali borders.
The attacks that tore through a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant as fans watched Spain play the Netherlands were designed to punish Uganda for its part in a United Nations-backed peacekeeping force in Somalia to protect the country’s weak transitional government, a spokesman for the group said.
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Lawrence of Arabia
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Lawrence of Arabia
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Lawrence of Arabia
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Lawrence of Arabia
And a smooth transition of power also seems to be underway. Not surprisingly, the new president plans to focus on gaining international recognition.
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thabet
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thabet
Rageh Ommar (Somali origin) writes about the ‘success of Somaliland’s’ election.
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Lawrence of Arabia
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Wang Daiyu
Meanwhile the soccer worldcup is banned in Somalia. And that is not all:
Al Shabab, Somalia’s most powerful Islamist insurgent group, outlawed school bells in a southern town in April after deciding that they were reminiscent of church bells. Similarly, Hizbul Islam recently warned radio stations to stop playing music or face “serious consequences,” forcing them to introduce their daily programs with an odd assortment of sounds: the roar of an engine, a car horn, animal noises and the sound of water flowing.
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Lawrence of Arabia
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Dan
Doubt any conservative Muslims will speak out against them. After all, they fit their image of what a “just” Islamic government should be.
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thabet
Sometimes, these stories seem like they’re too ‘good’ to be true (i.e. propaganda):
Gangs of Islamists are reported to be patrolling the areas they control looking for people watching games.
Dedicated fans are watching matches in secret, or in the few areas controlled by government forces.
On Saturday militants killed two people as they attacked a house where people were watching a game.
Militant group Hizbul-Islam also arrested 10 others at the house north-east of the capital Mogadishu where fans were watching the game between Argentina and Nigeria.
Then again, let’s not pretend these kind of people do not exist.
thabet is discussing. 
Dan is discussing. 
thabet 2:16 am on January 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Also…
(Via @jeremyscahill.)