As Opposed To

This seems to be like saying "Titanic in even more trouble as First Mate quits".

We're Doomed- Somali Terrorism Edition

I've blogged almost incessantly about the terrorist threat posed by Somalia. Actually I wrote one post 4 years ago predicting that it would be a problem but even so I believe that I was right and the terrorist attacks in Uganda by Somalian Islamists would appear to bear that out.

More serious from our point of view is that, as Ed West points out, if Somalian militias are going to strike outside our borders then we have a problem. You can argue that the solution is to simply stay out of Somalia and therefore not provoke them but with the piracy and harbouring of Al Qaeda suspects that may not be possible.

The most prominent Somali exile in the West, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, has repeatedly stated that the clash between modernity and traditional values keeps that community isolated and that we, the West, have to work to assert the value of our own values and not go in for the multicultural hogwash of pretending that all cultures are equal and need to be conserved. Otherwise the social and economic statistics will continue to tell a dsimal story and will fuel terrorism.

A Surprising Denial

I don't think I've ever heard of Islamist groups denying responsibility for a suicide bombing:

Somalia's hardline Islamist insurgents denied Friday that they carried out a suicide bomb attack in Mogadishu that killed at least 23 people, including three government ministers.

It is the sort of thing they claim responsibiity for even if they had nothing to do with it.

It could be that blowing up a graduation ceremony for doctors is unpopular even among Islamists.

Funny If True.

This sounds as though it could be apocryphal, a story that's too good to fact check:

Residents and pirates in the Somali port of Haradhere told the Associated Press that the boat, which was carrying eight men, overturned in a storm after dozens of pirates left the Sirius Star following a two-month standoff in the Gulf of Aden.

......

Local sources said that the ransom payment held by the eight pirates on their get away boat had been lost at sea.

It would be particularly fitting if it were the weight of all the cash that caused the boat to capsize.

Yo Ho Ho.

Pirates; International menace or misunderstood community activists? It's a tough call so let's look the experts to resolve this age old question:

Another sum is less frequently mentioned: the estimated $300m of fish poached in Somali waters annually by trawlers hailing from nations as far away as Taiwan - or France and Spain, for that matter. Seen from this perspective, it is hardly surprising that some pirate groups see themselves as defenders of Somali fishermen, giving their groups names such as National Volunteer Coast Guard of Somalia, or Somali Marines.

Well shiver my timbers! Piracy is actually a form of fair trade activism. Quite how oil tankers are inpinging upon Somali fish stocks isn't 199% clear to me but I'm not a details person.

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