Late World News Weekly: Nonspecific Holiday Edition
January 2nd, 2007 by Justin
In an uncertain world of turmoil and strife, whom can we turn to for a summery of happenings from this, our global village? The answer is Shaun Barnes, his column begins now…
It’s war! Ethiopia’s Christmas gift to its neighbor Somalia was a generous one this year, including fighter-bombers, mortars and an 8,000 man invasion force. It seems they were a little unsettled about having an avowedly Islamist government (the Council of Islamic Courts) next door. While it may not be saying much that Ethiopia has the best equipped army in the Horn of Africa, even an old tank is more than a match for a Toyota pick-up truck with five street urchins in the back. Thus, the Ethiopian juggernaut has already rolled into the capital of Mogadishu where its men were, of course, greeted as “liberators”. What makes this particular conflict interesting is that unlike most of the (many) others raging throughout Africa, this one has a US connection. Washington gave its tacit blessing to the Ethiopian intervention after its first bid to stabilize Somalia using CIA-backed warlords failed. Who knew that patching together a coalition of thugs, handing them piles of guns and money, and then calling it a government would fail? In any case, neither the US nor Ethiopia cares to repeat the Afghan debacle of the 1990s and see another lawless state sponsor of terrorism spring up, so the gauntlet was thrown down. Apparently they don’t get CNN in Ethiopia though, otherwise someone there might have recognized that conquest is the easy part, occupation is where one tends to encounter trouble. It should be interesting to follow this story as it develops.
Or some shit.
News and Notes
• Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is forced to find new ways to maintain his image a raucous bad-boy in the international arena.
• Eta bombs Barajas airport in Spain. Could this mean a comeback for the stylish Euro-terrorism of the 1970s or is it just a mini-retread like the handlebar ’stache?
• Russia’s state oil company Gazprom gets into the holiday spirit by blackmailing Belarus over energy prices. Just in time for Russian Orthodox Christmas.
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Critical Acclaim:
— Tom Scocca, New York Observer
— J. Michael Robertson, Media Studies Department, University of San Francisco
— Shelly Smith, Comedienne of The Brothel
— Will Leitch, Deadspin.com
— mute_everything, MBF Commenter
