WASHINGTON - The State Department signaled support Tuesday for Ethiopian military operations against Somalia, noting that Ethiopia has had “genuine security concerns” stemming from the rise of Islamist forces in its eastern neighbor.

Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos also noted that the Ethiopian military acted at the request of Somalia’s internationally-backed secular government, which has been resisting with little success the spreading influence of the more powerful Islamist forces.

Gallegos had no information on whether the United States has been bolstering the Ethiopian military through delivery of supplies. He noted that Ethiopia has said that its action is intended to prevent further aggression by the Islamic Courts militias.

The Bush administration has been increasingly alarmed by the growing strength of the militias and the welcome they reportedly have given to al-Qaida militants. (more…)

Keeping Africans in chains while herding Westerners into the same prison cell

Bono’s latest efforts to dodge taxes and invest in the very capitalist franchises he supposedly rallies against prove that he is one of the leading characters in a puppet show that, far from helping emaciated kids in Ethiopia, serves only to keep the third world in chains while herding Westerners into the same debtor slavery prison.

It’s commonly acknowledged that of the estimated $500 billion that has been poured into Africa over the last 40 years, the majority has gone no further than ruling dictators who keep the money and use it to bankroll their opulent lifestyles while their disease ridden subjects starve to death and are infected with AIDS from poisoned vaccines generously donated to them by billionaire philanthropists who advocate mass population reduction and genocide.

The only way to truly elevate third world is to give them the tools to build the infrastructure necessary for modernization.

But the World Bank/IMF/Globalist doctrine is not about improving the status of third world countries, its about bleeding westerners dry in the name of fighting poverty and AIDS and then siphoning off the profits to their own dirty cronies. Bono is a figurehead for this policy and was even in contention for the World Bank crown before losing out to arch Neo-Fascist Wolfowitz. (more…)

Ethiopia declared war on the Islamists in neighboring Somalia who want to rule according to the Koran, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Sunday.

“Our defense force has been forced to enter a war to defend (against) the attacks from extremists and anti-Ethiopian forces and to protect the sovereignty of the land,” Meles said in a television address just hours after his country launched fighter jets and artillery against Islamic militants.

Ethiopia backs Somalia’s fragile government, which has been losing ground to the Islamists for months.

Source: AP

The question made the Malian army officer laugh out loud.

After four years of counter-terrorism training from the U.S. military to tackle what Washington sees as a militant Islamist threat, did this West African nation feel part of the global war on terror?

“No, not at all,” came back the reply.

So what about the U.S. argument that al Qaeda or its offshoots could find sanctuaries in countries like Mali, just as Osama bin Laden took refuge in Sudan and Afghanistan in the 1990s?

“No, no, I don’t believe this, no.” (more…)

Sri Lanka just killed scores of its own civilians in the name of ‘national security.’

What is it with these psychos? I can barely keep up with this madness.

From Afghanistan, to Iraq, to Pakistan, to Gaza and Sri Lanka - state run militaries kill more civilians in a few months than any band of terrorists can dream of killing in a dozen years! (more…)

A series of massacres in the south of Sudan over the past two weeks has left at least 58 civilians dead, exposing the impotence of the region’s United Nations peacekeeping mandate.

Families have been attacked in their homes and commuters burnt alive in their vehicles, some close to the main UN base in the city of Juba. In one incident a bus packed with villagers, including women and children, was set alight. No one is sure who is behind the upsurge in violence. They could have been carried out by any one of countless proxy militias formed in the south of the country during 20 years of civil war. Although the war ended two years ago, many militias remain armed.

The mountains and forests make it difficult to track armed groups and the south is awash with guns.

The United Nations meanwhile does nothing, as usual. (more…)

ISMAILIA, Egypt — Egypt moved 5,000 more security forces near the
Gaza Strip border on Saturday after an Israeli report said
Israel may bomb tunnels used for smuggling weapons into Palestinian territories, an Egyptian official said.

“They requested reinforcements after the Israeli report and also citing fears of Palestinian militants breaching the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt,” the official told Reuters in Cairo. (more…)

The government of Niger has ordered around 150,000 Arabs who live in the east of the country to leave.

Most of the Arabs, known as Mahamid, are nomads who have fled conflict in Chad. A BBC correspondent says many have lived in Niger for decades.

The governor of Diffa State, where most of the Mahamid live, told them it was “high time” to pack and return to Chad. (more…)

The genocide in Darfur has killed at least 255,000 people — the equivalent of nearly two times the number of U.S. forces now in Iraq.

Yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a major speech on the issue to the Africa Society. Rice announced no new commitments or policy proposals to end the violence. Instead, she bragged that the Bush officials are “bend[ing] every fiber of our being to ease the suffering of people of Darfur.” (more…)

Egypt is to relaunch its civil nuclear energy program after a 20-year freeze, with plans for a nuclear power station on the Mediterranean coast, officials said Sunday.

This gives further credibility to Iran’s claim that it has strictly a civil nuclear program, yet the western media deems the notion inconceivable, Iran is run by a ‘madman’ and so on… (more…)

GENEVA - U.N. human rights monitors on Friday accused Sudan’s army of bombing villages in North Darfur, killing and injuring civilians, and forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes. (more…)

The United States government was quick to respond the Somali transitional government’s appeal to find international help over probing the double car bombings that engulfed the lives of at least 11 and injured dozens. The blasts took place in Baidoa town that, temporarily houses government buildings. (more…)

The United States is moving closer to setting up an Africa Command to secure the rear flank of its global “war on terrorism”, with eyes trained on vital oil reserves and lawless areas where terrorists have sought safe haven to regroup and strike against its interests.

Translation: We want your oil! (more…)