Page 11 of 12 FirstFirst ... 9101112 LastLast
Results 201 to 220 of 238

Thread: Somalia: not piracy catch all thread

  1. #201
    Council Member carl's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Denver on occasion
    Posts
    2,460

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by omarali50 View Post
    Exhibit A in "the emperor really is naked"" http://linkis.com/yaleglobal.yale.edu/PfQD

    Marc Grossman was Afpak special rep. And apparently he is totally serious here. Read and weep.
    You're right Omar. This thing is incredible. Statements about setting condtions that weren't preconitions but end conditions or Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) to viewing the release of Baradar as an effort by Pakistan (!?) to catalyze the peace process (boy do I hate the phrase 'peace process') to Taliban & Company's continuing to kill people as having "called into question the Taliban’s commitment to creating a peace process, " made me alternately laugh out loud and crash my face into the table in frustrated incredulity.

    The most telling part of the whole piece though, and the most amazing, was this "...the war in Afghanistan is going to end politically... If there is ever to be peace in Afghanistan, Afghans will need to talk to other Afghans about the future of Afghanistan." That is true but people like Mr. Grossman don't seem to realize that this kind of exchange-"Surrender now or we'll kill you! Ef off!" BANG.-is a political ending that involves talking just as surely as a nicely refined series of talks held in a 5 star hotel.

    We are led by people who can't perceive the real world. This is not good.
    "We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." Gen. Nathanael Greene

  2. #202
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    861

    Default

    my comment about Akbar S. Ahmed may not have been immediately clear, so here is a little clarification I wrote to someone elsewhere:

    Akbar S Ahmed is an ex-civil servant who has made a career in anthropology and academia selling his "first hand experience" of tribal mores. This book is more or less on that theme. The idea that the Jihadis are basically aggrieved tribal people, upholding their mysterious, exotic tribal code against the modern world. Which, I think, is nonsense. The traditional tribal structures have completely collapsed in the face of modern jihadism and have little or nothing to do with this phenomenon, which was imported into tribal areas by the CIA and ISI and is hardly a tribal innovation. Undeveloped administration and tribal loyalties and notions of honor are indeed part of the reason why they have thrived there, but only a part..and the ungoverned part has more to do with it than the tribal part. Akbar is basically selling the line that all would be well if the West leaves the tribals alone to carry on with their tribal ways. Which is not true. I thought that for a major publication (OK, a left-liberal one, but still) to publish such a laudatory review indicates that Westerners are eager to buy this notion and Akbar is there to sell it to them. He knows what he is doing, being well attuned to what his audience wants to hear. But after you push past the fluff, there is no substance there.
    Dr Taqi has a very forgiving review here that may be helpful http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...4-3-2013_pg3_5
    Irfan Husain has some background on Akbar S Ahmed http://dawn.com/news/1023105/the-unflattering-truth

  3. #203
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default Barawe - in the past; where the SEALS were

    Aidan Hartley recalls a visit to this port town in 1998 and what happened next. Barawe was the port that the SEALS visited recently.

    Link:http://www.spectator.co.uk/life/wild...ll-in-somalia/
    davidbfpo

  4. #204
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default Somalia: a building competition

    A lengthy article, for once, although somewhat reliant on official press briefings:http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...ion?CMP=twt_gu
    davidbfpo

  5. #205
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    11,074

    Default State Collapse, Insurgency, and Counterinsurgency: Lessons from Somalia

    State Collapse, Insurgency, and Counterinsurgency: Lessons from Somalia

    Entry Excerpt:



    --------
    Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
    This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

  6. #206
    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Hiding from the Dreaded Burrito Gang
    Posts
    3,096

    Default

    The U.S. military carried out a missile strike in Somalia on Sunday targeting a suspected militant leader with ties to al-Qaeda and al-Shabab, a U.S. military official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    The strike took place in southern Somalia, the official said, without offering further information, including the identity of the suspect or whether the strike was believed to have been successful.
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/u-s-car...ader-1.2511956
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
    A canter down some dark defile
    Two thousand pounds of education
    Drops to a ten-rupee jezail


    http://i.imgur.com/IPT1uLH.jpg

  7. #207
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default It's the charcoal stupid

    A way back I posted a reference to the charcoal export trade from Somalia, via Kismayo (then just re-taken from Al-Shabaab) and the surprising difficulties encountered in shutting down a trade - which could aid Al-Shabaab.

    This is an update, although few will expect much from Interpol:http://moneyjihad.wordpress.com/2014...oal-smuggling/
    davidbfpo

  8. #208
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default Al-Shabaab’s Insurgency in Somalia: a Data-Based Snapshot

    An academic analysis from Georgetown University on the evolution of the insurgency, the authors explanation:
    Here, we analyze what can be discerned about the current shape of al-Shabaab’s insurgency from data about all al-Shabaab-related attacks that have been conducted between the group’s loss of its Kismayo stronghold and the end of February 2014. We draw from a Foundation for Defense of Democracies database that attempts to chronicle every reported al-Shabaab-linked attack carried out since al-Shabaab was encircled in Kismayo and stood on the verge of losing the city; the database draws from both the English-language and also the Somali-language press.
    Link:http://journal.georgetown.edu/2014/0...s-henry-appel/
    davidbfpo

  9. #209
    Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Durban, South Africa
    Posts
    3,902

    Default

    Al-Shabaab publishes alleged photograph of dead French commando

    Al-Qaeda's army in Somalia taunted Francois Hollande's government by publishing photographs of a dead white man they claimed was a French commando killed during a failed hostage rescue mission at the weekend.

  10. #210
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default Catching up

    JMA - this report is dated:
    14 Jan 2013
    Three days later Al-Shabaab announced:
    The Somali Islamist group al-Shabab says it has killed French intelligence agent Denis Allex in retaliation for a failed French operation to free him.
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21056592

    Denis Allex had been captured in July 2009, whilst undercover as a journalist; his colleague managed to escape - no date readily found.
    davidbfpo

  11. #211
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default The Mogadishu you don’t read about

    While the kids play in the street, young adults walk in groups to the city centre to play soccer. They go to a place locally know as Sallax, a centre that hires out fields for various sports, including football and basketball . There are not enough football fields in the city and with everyone at work during the day, Sallax is very popular at night. Games usually last two hours. From my flat, I can often hear the youngsters chatting away past midnight on their way back home.
    Link:http://voicesofafrica.co.za/the-moga...nt-read-about/

    Self-explanatory.

    Yes I did note the attack on the parliament building this week.
    davidbfpo

  12. #212
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default Charred @ Kismayo: KDF lose command

    Ho hum Somali complaints about the Kenyan military @ Kismayo (port city) have finally been heard:
    In an unannounced move by the African Union the AMISOM command in Kismayo has officially been transferred from the Kenyan Defense Forces to Sierra Leonean forces a few weeks ago.
    Link:https://www.kenya-today.com/news/cha...leone-military
    davidbfpo

  13. #213
    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Hiding from the Dreaded Burrito Gang
    Posts
    3,096

    Default

    MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Al-Shabab's top leader was traveling in one of two vehicles hit Monday night in a U.S. military strike, a member of the Somali Islamic extremist group said Tuesday. The spokesman would not say whether al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was among the six militants killed. The two vehicles were heading toward the coastal town of Barawe, al-Shabab's main base, when they were hit, Abu Mohammed told The Associated Press.
    http://news.yahoo.com/us-military-ta...075926067.html
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
    A canter down some dark defile
    Two thousand pounds of education
    Drops to a ten-rupee jezail


    http://i.imgur.com/IPT1uLH.jpg

  14. #214
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default The Leader maybe dead and so

    A commentary by Clint Watts, on FPRI, after the reported US air strike in Somalia 'Potential Implications of U.S. killing al Shabaab’s Leader In Somalia - Ahmed Godane':http://www.fpri.org/geopoliticus/201...a-ahmed-godane
    davidbfpo

  15. #215
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default The rise and decline of Al-Shabaab

    Christopher Anzalone, a Canadian PhD student studying Somalia and Al-Shabaab is an acknowledged SME and has a recent article in a Turkish academic journal, which is reproduced on:https://www.academia.edu/8439439/The..._2014_386-395_

    The format has defeated my cut & paste skills.
    davidbfpo

  16. #216
    Council Member jcustis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    SOCAL
    Posts
    2,152

    Default If you blinked you might have missed it

    Former Special Envoy to Somalia, Ambassador Robert Oakley, passed away at age 83 earlier this month.
    Last edited by jcustis; 01-01-2015 at 08:34 PM.

  17. #217
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default

    A press report from Somalia, by a Somali reporter, on a previosuly unknown website; on a controversial topic in all insurgencies:
    The defection of former al-Shabaab intelligence chief Zaakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi has sparked debate on the Somali government's amnesty offer and the benefits of pardoning al-Shabaab officials who seek to leave the group.
    Link:http://sabahionline.com/en_GB/articl.../02/feature-01
    davidbfpo

  18. #218
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default The Role of Finance in Defeating Al-Shabaab

    The Somali militant group Al-Shabaab has developed an extensive financial infrastructure. Security actors seeking to disrupt and defeat the group must tackle the financial dimension of its activities.

    The Role of Finance in Defeating Al-Shabaab offers detailed analysis of Al-Shabaab’s sources of revenue and recommends ways forward for using financial instruments to target and disrupt the group. As with Islamic State, undermining the financial management of Al-Shabaab and offering those people subject to its control better governance will be at the heart of the group’s ultimate failure and defeat.
    Link:https://www.rusi.org/publications/wh...54A2A05DDC85F/
    davidbfpo

  19. #219
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default The Role of Finance in stability?

    Sometimes ostensibly sensible measures simply go wrong. I am sure the banks involved fear action by the USG if money transfers lead to Al-Shabaab getting money:
    Somali families are panicking and businesses are running short of funds two weeks after the last major U.S. bank stopped transferring money to the fragile Horn of Africa country, development groups said. Somalia has no formal banking system due to decades of war, so Somalis living abroad use money transfer companies to send some $1.3 billion home each year - far more than the country receives in aid, Oxfam and Adeso said in a report on Thursday.

    Link:http://news.yahoo.com/somalis-panic-...--sector.html?
    davidbfpo

  20. #220
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default Fighter says don’t come to Somalia

    Spotted by Clints Watts:
    In recent years, however, al Shabaab has turned on the foreign fighters in its own ranks, waging a brutal campaign to purge the perceived spies from its midst. An intimate account of the Shabaab civil war was provided to The Intercept in a series of interviews conducted with a current member of al Shabaab and a source who has maintained close contacts with the group.

    (Citing the source) I want my voice to be heard. I don’t want others to make the same mistake I did. Especially to the youth who are in the West, I just want to tell them, don’t come to Somalia. This is advice from the bottom of my heart. You will not improve yourself, first of all, and you will not improve the Muslim Ummah in general
    Link:https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2...n-fighter-cia/
    davidbfpo

Similar Threads

  1. More Piracy Near Somalia
    By SWJED in forum Africa
    Replies: 714
    Last Post: 04-23-2017, 07:44 PM
  2. Sudan Watch (to July 2012)
    By SWJED in forum Africa
    Replies: 124
    Last Post: 07-06-2012, 03:18 PM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •