Opinion

We Were Pirates Once, and Young: An American Way to Understand Somali Pirates

OCT 22, 2011

When Somali pirates started making international news, journalists and politicians said, in so many words, “Forget the romance of eye patches and pa...

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Don’t Force Statehood On Somalia

OCT 21, 2011

The model for Somalia is Switzerland. Don’t laugh! Political power in Switzerland lies in the cantons – the 26 proud self-governing communities. T...

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The need to talk to al-Shabab

OCT 21, 2011

The recent heinous attack in Mogadishu that claimed more than 70 innocent lives, mostly students queuing up for scholarship to Turkey demonstrates two...

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The New Somalia Roadmap: Perpetual conflict in the making

OCT 18, 2011

Notwithstanding, the devastating famine that has so far killed thousands of Somalis and put Somalia on the news recently, there was a political consul...

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Panthom Pirates in Puntland (Review Essay)

OCT 17, 2011

The scourge of piracy in the Somali littoral, and clan-anchored breakaway region of Puntland in particular, represents what Markus Rediker has demonst...

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Could Turkey Succeed in Somalia Where the Rest Have Failed?

OCT 17, 2011

In an article this week in the American Foreign Policy magazine, the Turkish Prime Minister urged the world to follow Turkey’s example in ending the...

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Where is Israel's compassion toward refugees?

OCT 17, 2011

The plight of 28-year-old Somali Abbas Said Omar that was reported yesterday in Haaretz by Dana Weiler-Polak casts an embarrassing light on the Interi...

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The Tears of Somalia

OCT 12, 2011

Somalia is suffering from the most severe drought and famine in the last 60 years, which has already resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of pe...

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We are getting it wrong on piracy

OCT 10, 2011

While state failure in Somalia provides pirates with an opportunity to operate relatively freely, the lack of effective security at sea gives them the...

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This is Minnesota, not Somalia, so stand up and be grateful

OCT 09, 2011

In the middle of last week, Amina Farah Ali decided to stand in court when she heard the words "all rise.'' It was the third day of her trial in Minne...

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