[Newsbot]

<strong>Filibuster Cartoon</strong>
<strong>Title: </strong> <a href="http://www.filibustercartoons.com/archive.php?id=20061226" target="_blank">Blood in the water</a> (click to view)
<strong>Date: </strong> December 26, 2006

The Islamist thug group that currently rules most of Somalia recently declared holy-war against their neighbor, the largely Christian-ruled Ethiopia. In response, the Ethiopian air force has begun bombing Somalia. <br> <br>The two countries have been enemies for a long time. Somalia currently hopes to expand its borders and liberate the Muslim population of Ethiopia into an ambitious \"greater Somalia\" nation. <br> <br>Because of the jihad element, the war has attracted Muslim fighters from outside of the region, including many from the Middle East. Some are worried this could become \"the new Afghanistan,\" in reference to the Afghani jihad against the Soviet Union in the 1980\'s, which similarly attracted lots of foreign fighters to the Muslim cause.

[Psudo]

I guess they're all healed up from the starvation years and lookin' for a fight.

When was the last time there was good news from Africa? The end of the white oligarchy in South Africa, I suppose. I haven't heard much.

[Hatter]

Well, it isn't as if Ethiopia won't be getting aide from its western allies from the much grander "war on terror" funded either publicly or secretly. It would have been appropriate in my eyes to add some NATO helicopters in the sky. Then again, as of writing, I don't think they announced any plan of attack yet.

[ridenrain]

Didn't you check out the Strategypage thread on this:

Quote:

December 26, 2006: As expected, Ethiopian troops drove Islamic Courts fighters from several towns around Baidoa. The Islamic Courts can harass the Ethiopians, but they cannot stop them. The Islamic Courts don't have an army, but rather a collection of warlord and tribal militias. They also ahve several hundred foreign Islamic radicals. Some of these guys have military training, and they are much more motivated. Actually, many Somalis are motivated to resist Ethiopian invasions, but in a straight up fight, the Somalis are at a disadvantage. The Ethiopians are better trained, armed and led. While the Somalis have a reputation for being fierce warriors, the Ethiopians are that too, and for several thousand years they fought off all comers and got organized as well. But in the last half century, the Ethiopians have learned military discipline. The Ethiopians have defeated the Somalis before, and the province bordering Somalia, known as the Ogaden, is largely populated by ethnic Somalis. While the Ethiopians can be pretty brutal to unruly subjects, they have never wanted to control all of Somalia. That's because the Somalis are a really tough bunch to rule. The Somalis can't even rule themselves, and except for a few decades in the late 20th century, never have. For thousands of years, "Somalia" was a region occupied by Somali tribes (called "clans" today) that constantly fought each other, and any outsiders who wandered by.

The Ethiopians are apparently going to beat on the Islamic Courts militias (a few thousand fighters, reinforced by a few thousand more patriotic volunteers), and give the anti-Islamic Courts militias (the UN recognized "Transitional Government") a chance to regain control of more of Somalia. However, the problem remains that the Islamic Courts gained control of most of Somalia because they brought law (Islamic law) and order (of a rather rough sort) to a country overrun by bandits and lawlessness since the early 1990s. The Ethiopians also have some serious logistical problems. They apparently have some 15,000 troops in the area, and supplying them is expensive. It's going to be tempting for the U.S. to try and help out the Ethiopians with cash, or other forms of aid.

Ethiopia isn't quite as helpless and the Jihadists are more like lampreys than sharks. .. maybe a hagfish, or a sickly rock cod..

[Arctic_Menace]

Quick question(I remember hearing this awhile ago on here)...


But are Ethiopians Caucasian?


Someone busted out a map, and it showed Ethiopians being Caucasion...

[JJ]

Uh, no, they are quite black.

[CanadianJeff]

Ridenrain is quite right. I've read numerous articles all saying that Ethiopia is very capable of defending itself.

That's the problem with terrorists they tend to blow themselves up before you can ever catch them.

Best to simply be more friendly with Muslim run countries and team up to fight the more extreme Jihadists in my honest opinion.

Remember Christianity had it's crusades and they were quite radical due to religion as well the JIhadists are just a Muslim branch of religious extremists . It's not like most Muslims support a holy war.

[Clogeroo]

Quote:

But are Ethiopians Caucasian? Confused

Someone busted out a map, and it showed Ethiopians being Caucasion...

Most Caucasians live here.

[DrCaleb]

Arctic_Menace wrote:

Quick question(I remember hearing this awhile ago on here)...


But are Ethiopians Caucasian?


Someone busted out a map, and it showed Ethiopians being Caucasion...

Yes. Many Mongols, Malaysians, Persians and Ethiopeans are 'Caucasian'. 'Caucasian' is usually thought of as 'white', but that is incorrect.

[Arctic_Menace]

so then what defines a Caucasian?

[DrCaleb]

Arctic_Menace wrote:

so then what defines a Caucasian?

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=caucasian

Loosely, it's someone decended from peoples of the Caucasus mountains, in Eastern Europe. Many people, although they are 'black' (Ethiopeans) or 'Arab' (Persians, but don't ever call a Persian 'Arab' ) are decended so, because Muslims in the early part of the 1st milennium took caucasians as slaves.

'Caucasian' has come to mean 'white' due to modern culture, just as 'Semetic' has come to mean 'Jewish'. (Which is equally wrong, Muslim Arabs are 'Semetic' too.)

[Arctic_Menace]

Cool. Aren't also a fiar number of Persians(Iranians) white? I've seen many pictures that denote this...

[DrCaleb]

Arctic_Menace wrote:

Cool. Aren't also a fiar number of Persians(Iranians) white? I've seen many pictures that denote this...

Ahhh young grasshopper, yes. Persians are considered 'white', but Persians also can come from Turkey. There are Arab Iranians, and Persian Iranians, and even Indo-Iranians.

Anyone who says 'People from country X look like Y', it's best to humour them, nod and walk away. It's just not true in today's world.

[Psudo]

Is there any relevance in classifying people by ethnicity in today's world? No racial generality applies sufficiently anyway, so what's the point?