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By Robert Fisk July 27, 2013 " Information Clearing House - " The Independent " -   Aiman Husseini was lying by the wall. Khaled Abdul Nasser had his name written in black ink on his white shroud just to the left of the door. There were 37 corpses in the room. It was swamped in blood. The doctors had blood on their shirts. It wasn't long before we had blood on our shoes. There were ribbons of it, dark brown, where they brought the stretchers in, even on the walls. The hospital next to the Rabaa mosque was packed with men and women in tears. Many of them talked about God. "These people are in the sun," a doctor said to me. "They are with God. We are just in the shade." Believers all, I suppose. And the dead? Perhaps it requires a medical report to understand this many dead. Shot in the face, most of them, several i

• Olympic double champion in stunning form again • Farah warms up nicely for world championships Owen Gibson at the Olympic Stadium The Observer , Saturday 27 July 2013 19.27 BST    

July 18, 2013 Prof Said Sh. Samatar SOMALI CLANISM is a force in the land to be reckoned with.  Don’t snicker!  By the end of this animated screed, you will be thoroughly persuaded.  Somali clanism is at once earth-shattering and globe-trotting, coming along as a happy camper wherever Somalis set foot, from Siberia to Senegal and from the North to the South Pole.  It traverses all three tropics—Cancer, Equator and Capricorn, spewing out its lethal cocktail of clannish feud and vendetta.  It arouses in the average Somali a primal, obsessive, compulsive onrush of ugly, blind, unthinking primordial urgings. Moreover, it contains within it a deadly load of enslaving properties, having captured the mind of some fifteen million Somalis who cringe and cower before its paralyzing transfixing embrace.  A Somali intellectual once said to the author:  “You know, I was born into this clan thing and I can’t extricate myself from its existential clutch, try hard as I may.  Indeed I

By Aden Hire Friday, July 19, 2013 Federalism is a governance system whereby power of distribution is divided between federal (national) and state (local) governments.   In many countries federalism is a great success story, but in some is not always the best.  The 19th century saw the creation of new federal states.  Switzerland and the United States are the oldest federations.  Today there’re around 193 countries in The United Nations approximately 30 are federal.  To name some they include, Argentina,  Brazil, India, Australia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Canada, Spain, Germany, South Africa, Austria, United Arab Emirates, Comoros, Sudan, Kenya and Mexico. Every federal state that exists today has a very unique federal system that is supposed to solve some specific issues in a country.  Generally it’s true but not always the case that federalism is implemented when a country is too large in terms of its size, has different ethnic groups, religions and langu

By Thierry Meyssan July 18, 2013 " Information Clearing House - The sudden political withdrawal of Qatar from the international scene was followed, a week later, by the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi in Egypt. Although these two events coincided, without cause and effect, their occurrence has radically changed the future of the Arab world. Within two weeks, the Muslim Brotherhood, to which Washington was promising the leadership of the Arab world, have lost two of their main levers of power. Emir Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar was forced to abdicate on June 25th and with him his mentor and Prime Minister, HBJ. On July 3rd, President Mohamed Morsi was toppled by the Egyptian Army, while warrants were soon issued for the arrest of the main figures of the Egyptian movement, including the Supreme Guide of the Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie.It does not appear that, in pu

by Adan H Iman Wednesday, June 12, 2013 Despite pressure from the UN and some western countries, the elected leadership of Somaliland articulated a nuanced approach towards Somalia based on the fact that the two countries have two different political identities but share the same language, religion and culture- no negotiation on issues involving any political arrangement between the two countries but a desire to strengthen bilateral trade and cooperation on other areas of mutual interest such as fighting piracy and terrorism. The question is why Somalilanders are wary of any political arrangement with Somalia? Since Somaliland reclaimed her independence in 1991, a potent national consciousness emerged in the minds of the people which resulted in the erection of a rampart-like barrier that insulated the country from the problems that bedeviled Somalia for the past twenty years. As a result Somaliland escaped the misery, violence, terrorism, and piracy that plagued Somalia. It seems the

Professor Ahmed Samatar gets warm welcome at Borma. Photo: HOL by Bashir Goth Monday, June 24, 2013 Professor Ahmed Samatar represents different things to different people, but one thing that undeniably dominates his character is that he is an eminent scholar seeking to revive common decency and good values in the Somali people. However, the rapturous welcome and adulation that he received during his much awaited homecoming to Somaliland may have raised more questions than they answered. The root cause of such bewilderment is the different expectations that the various sectors of the Somali people have about the outcome of the professor’s country-wide tour and the rationale behind his decision to visit Somaliland despite his well known political position as an ardent advocate of Somali unity. Famous for his unmatched eloquence and brilliant scholarship, Ahmed Samatar has until now skirted the thorny issues and instead concentrated on his long term mission of bringing politic