Silent Night

War on Christmas? Somalia, show us how it's done!

A directive released on Tuesday by the Ministry of Justice and Religious Affairs stated that no Christian festivities could be held in Somalia….

“We alert fellow Muslims in Somalia that some festivities to mark Christian Days will take place around the world in this week,” said [the Director of the Religious Matters] during [a] press conference [to announce the ban], adding: “It is prohibited to celebrate those days in this country.”

[The Director General of the Ministry of Justice and Religious Affairs], on his part, stated that all security and law enforcement agencies had been instructed to counter any such celebrations….

The officials did not say anything on whether non-Muslim foreign workers or residents could celebrate or not.

It is the first time that a Somali government bans the celebrations since the last central government collapsed in 1991.

Navy Destroyer Rescues Iranian Fishermen from Pirates

Chalk up another victory for the big deep* blue:

A Navy destroyer rescued 13 Iranian fishermen held hostage by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea only days after Tehran warned the United States to keep its ships out of the nearby Persian Gulf.

Sailors from the guided-missile destroyer Kidd boarded the Iranian dhow Thursday and detained 15 Somalis after one of the fishermen was able to reveal in a radio communication that his vessel's crew was being held captive.
[...]

Faller said the decision to go to the aid of the Iranians was standard practice for the Navy when alerted that another ship needed aid. "We saw a need and moved in to help people at sea who were in distress," he said.

It is not unusual for Navy vessels to assist Iranian ships, Faller said, adding that his task force had helped an Iranian vessel last year.

Iran had been making noises about American naval presence in the area, but had only praise for the successful rescue operation.

Still, you have to wonder which will be the first GOP presidential candidate to say we should have let them die.

* I guess there is more sky than water, but water goes deeper.

The Peaceful Place

This NYT article, about a man who went from Somalia to Minnesota back to Somalia to basically become governor of a local tribal area, is absolutely fascinating. Hurray for technocracy (and Minnesota's reputation as a "peaceful place")!

Hold Those Fireworks

The WaPo on the end to the Somali pirate standoff:

Three deft sniper shots ended a drama that appeared initially as another example of a muscle-bound U.S. military unable to adapt to today's unpredictable security threats. In the end, U.S. Special Operations Forces easily defeated lightly armed, untrained men in a battle that U.S. officials say will not end piracy.

I'm not sure I've ever seen more pessimism crammed into a paragraph nominally about a positive happenstance.

Wow, Jews are Stingy!

I really had to flag a post (not a direct link -- not sending traffic their way), which comes from the feverishly anti-Semitic ... right? Left? I can't tell at this angle. It all blends together. Anyway.

... It doesn't take many grey cells to see that the US and Israel are up to some of their usual mischief in creating this pseudo-crisis about Somali pirates. When the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) held sway over Somalia, piracy had been virtually eradicated.
[...]
Add in the fact that Israel's ZIM Integrated Shipping Services is one of the world's largest maritime operators..... What's that? You don't know who ZIM is?

ZIM is one of the Israeli owned companies that hot footed it out of the WTC one week before the attacks, even agreeing to give up their $50,000 dollar deposit on their lease....

Can we say it more like Dr. Evil? $50,000. Now remember, we're talking about what is likely a billion dollar company. And we're expected to take the loss of $50,000 as a giant, billowing red flag. Hell, I bet these guys would have taken the failure of Jewish WTC employees to loot the take-a-penny-leave-a-penny tray as proof they were implicated in the attacks.

It'd be amusing if I didn't have to look over my shoulder in case these brownshirts ever rise to power.

Balloon Truth

On that Somali pirate rescue, Balloon Juice speaks the truth here:

Maybe I am alone, but I hardly view this as a test of the President. Unless I am mistaken, all he had to do was sign off on rules of engagement and stay out of the way, and I don’t mean that to denigrate Obama, but because that really is all any President could do. We have a massive Navy with several hundred ships, highly trained professionals in the SEALS, highly trained professionals in the FBI and in the crews of the naval vessels tailing (and in one case towing) the raft, and you just need to let them do their job. This didn’t happen because heroic efforts by Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod in consultation with Obama produced a dashing plan a la the The West Wing. This happened because our very entrenched military and national security apparatus can handle little things like this without flinching.

And here:

Anyone who thinks that several most likely illiterate Somali thugs, armed with AK’s and probably geeked to high heaven on khat, decided to attack a flagged American container ship as a test because there is a perception that Obama is weak, is just a full-fledged idiot and should be institutionalized.