Fears are growing that this lawless area, bordering Kenya and Ethiopia, could become a stronghold for terrorists with possible links to al-Qaeda.
Somalia's weak official government, the 14th in the last 17 years, depends entirely on the presence of Ethiopian troops, who are deployed in and around the capital, Mogadishu.
They invaded in December 2006, mounting an American-supported operation which overthrew an earlier Islamist regime, styling itself the Islamic Courts Union.
But Ethiopia has pledged to withdraw its troops at the end of December. When they leave, the official government is likely to fall - or be forced to evacuate Mogadishu.
An armed group styling itself Al-Shebab is likely to take over. Already, its fighters are believed to control more than 80 per cent of southern Somalia. These radical Islamists believe in imposing Sharia law and they recently approved the stoning of a 13-year-old girl.
Al Shebab, the fanatical armed wing which broke from the Islamic Courts Union which ran Somalia for the second half of 2006, now holds more than 80 per cent of the country -- more territory than the Courts controlled during their reign.
Rashid Abdi, Somalia analyst for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said: "They may be forced to moderate their radical line once they take over just to stay in power.
"But there are those who predict al Shebab turning into some kind of Frankenstein's monster taken over by, or at least sympathetic to, foreign elements who have ambitions outside Somalia, to spread radical Islam or mount terror attacks, in northeastern Kenya or eastern Ethiopia."
The group, listed as a terrorist organisation by Washington, has been accused of sheltering the al-Qaeda cell which bombed the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 and blew up an Israeli-owned hotel on the Kenyan coast in 2002.
Last month, the US embassy in Nairobi warned that it continues to receive indications of potential terrorist threats aimed at American, Western, and Kenyan interests in Kenya including threats of "suicide operations, bombings, kidnappings, attacks on civil aviation, and attacks on maritime vessels".
There are fears that al Shebab, whose stronghold is the Somali port of Kismayo just north of the border with Kenya, could launch an attack on coastal resorts popular with Western tourists over the Christmas holidays.
The United Nations office in Nairobi has warned staff of a "heightened level of alert along the coast".
Al Shebab's chief military commander, Muktar Robow, said earlier this year that he was ready "to take orders from Sheikh Osama bin Laden".
His forces were swelled by foreign fighters who answered a call to jihad when the Ethiopians invaded, in December 2006, to crush the Islamic Courts Union.
That intervention, heavily encouraged by Washington, is widely seen to have prompted the radicalisation of Somalia's Islamist movement and to have launched its Iraq-style insurgency which has killed thousands of civilians and forced 1.1 million people into desperate squatter camps. Two-thirds of the population of Mogadishu, the capital, have fled.
This has created a humanitarian disaster where 3.2 million people, half the population, now needs handouts, but where international aid staff cannot work and food shipments must be shepherded by warships to ward off pirates.
"I think it is finally starting to sink-in in Washington, two years too late, that sending in the Ethiopians as a proxy force to deal with the Islamists was just madness," said Andrew McGregor, terrorism editor at the Jamestown Foundation, a right-wing think tank in Washington.
There is some hope that once the Islamists seize control -- and few doubt that they will -- they will curb their insurgency, which largely targets the Ethiopians, and that Somalia might enjoy a level of stability as was seen under the Islamic Courts Union.
But there are concerns whether al Shebab, whose name means "the youth" and whose forces are largely illiterate and disaffected young men, can peacefully consolidate their power once they are in charge.
"Unless they can reach out and form some new alliances, which is not an easy thing to do among Somalia's clans, they will fail and we will see the start of yet another civil war," said Mr Abdi.
"I'm not optimistic. The future looks bleak and is likely to be bloody."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2008 01:35 ||
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It appears that both the official government and the Islamic Courts are splitting into factions. With luck the locals will be too busy killing each other to kill outsiders.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/27/2008 12:10 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Not quite, Newc. The story is saying that the courts should not grant civil divorces to Moslem couples until after they receive a religious divorce. According to Sharia "law", a man may be married to more than one woman at a time, so there's no bar to his getting a civil divorce from his first wife and marrying a second. The first wife would be unable to marry in Moslem society afterwards. The intent here is to bar the faithless husband from marrying again, which we should all approve.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
12/27/2008 7:42 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Eric, newc is correct. Any accomodation of Shariah in the common law is one more step to doom.
Your take is correct from a legalistic standpoint but that still makes accomodation of the Muzzies.
What happens if the Female wants out? If she has to wait till the Koranimals let her she cedes half her property off the top.
#4
Civil should be strictly separated from religious. If a woman is unable to attain a civil divorce without a sharia divorce then she is at the mercy of the sharia courts, even if she doesn't want to get married again.
Further, keep in mind that requiring the sharia divorce prior to the civil gives priority to sharia rules as to property distribution and custody.
If the consequence is that a woman then cannot get married in the muslim faith that's her choice, but at least she had the choice.
#5
I agree that if someone wants to be bound by their religions demands, that is their choice, as long as it is within the civil law. However, it is not the job of the civil authorities to accommodate those who want the advantages of both systems. If accommodation happens, it must be at the expense of religious law.
#3
As long as they don't treat 'em like they did David Hicks ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2008 13:43 Comments ||
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#4
Lets see, they will NOT give that German doc a citizenship pass because his son has downs syndrome, but they'll put out the carpet for Gitmo's worst?
Via Jihad Watch
Thirteen years after a war in which 100,000 people were killed, a majority of them Muslims, Bosnia is undergoing an Islamic revival.
More than half a dozen new madrasas, or religious high schools, have been built in recent years, while dozens of mosques have sprouted, including the King Fahd, a sprawling $28 million complex with a sports and cultural center.
Before the war, fully covered women and men with long beards were almost unheard of. Today, they are common.
Many here welcome the Muslim revival as a healthy assertion of identity in a multiethnic country where Muslims make up close to half the population. But others warn of a growing culture clash between conservative Islam and Bosnia's avowed secularism in an already fragile state.
This is a place where Saoodi-financed Wahabiist revival has to stop, and we need to lean on the Bosnians to make it stop. The EUnicks have no influence since they didn't stop the Serbs, but we did and we do. Get the Bosnian government to start cutting off, in various quiet and careful ways, Saoodi influence.
Posted by: ed ||
12/27/2008 14:22 ||
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Serious legal problems would be involved in resettling terror suspects released from Guantanamo Bay in Spain, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Friday, adding to European unease about the idea.
You mean we can't just release them? Who knew?
Zapatero was speaking at a press conference after the daily Periodico de Catalunya reported that he favored taking in Guantanamo inmates following US President-elect Barack Obama's pledge to shut down the notorious military detention center at a US Navy base in Cuba.
"While I am anticipating [an eventual request from Washington], it poses serious legal problems," Zapatero said, while adding that no such request had yet been made.
Just let them go inside Spain. How hard can that be?
The European Union is divided over the question, with some countries seeking a concerted European approach and others already opposed to the idea.
The Netherlands has gone furthest, ruling out accepting any newly freed inmates. "If they are not to be tried but cannot return to their own countries, it is first and foremost the responsibility of the country which arrested and imprisoned them, the United States," a Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman said Wednesday. "The Netherlands will not take in Guantanamo inmates."
So they don't want the tar-baby ...
Portugal and Germany previously signaled they might accept detainees, but France was cautious, welcoming the camp's imminent closure, but calling for a common European position. "We think consultation between Europeans should continue because we think it is natural that our response should be discussed and coordinated between Europeans," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier told AFP.
Germany had previously made a similar announcement. "In our view Guantanamo must be closed on legal and humanitarian grounds, in terms of international law and human rights, and for moral reasons," German government spokes-man Thomas Steg said Monday. "If we begin to review such closure plans and take a stance, then it can only be in a European context based on a discussion with all member states."
Translation: having been (inadvertently) called on their position, the Euros, as usual, will do nothing but talk. A lot ...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2008 01:36 ||
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#1
Wasn't Zapatero one of the main complainers about Guantanamo?
We should free all Spanish citizen held in Guantanamo and then parachute them into Andalucia.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/27/2008 12:15 Comments ||
Top||
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday that dialogue was the only way to solve the problems confronting the region, amid heightened tensions with India in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.
"We do not talk of war or vengeance, the whole region will suffer in case of war," Zardari told ministers and lawmakers at the family home in Nau Dero of his dead wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated one year ago in a gun and bomb attack.
Pakistan is not a failed state, the president said. "We're determined to rid the country of terrorism," he said, accusing "non-state actors" of forcing their agenda upon the country. He described extremism as a 'cancer'. Zardari told the gathering that included senior ministers and legislators that Pakistan would act to rein in extremists "because we want to do it", and not because "you want it".
He was apparently referring to countries putting pressure on Pakistan to take action in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.
"We'll do it at an opportune time, right time," he said. "We'll choose our time. We'll cure it, we'll solve it, we'll correct it. We'll be accountable to ourselves. We'll fight our own wars."
"Can't be today, though. We're busy today. Ask us tomorrow."
Zardari said he hoped dialogue would soon begin in an effort to overcome regional threats, but did not elaborate. "Dialogue is our biggest arsenal... the solution to the problem of the region... is politics, is dialogue and is democracy in Pakistan, because democracy is part of the cure and not part of the problem," he said in a speech carried live on state television.
He mentioned the large markets that China and India have for Pakistani goods. More trade with both countries, he suggested, would be in Pakistan's interest.
Speaking at the same venue, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also sounded a note of conciliation. "We don't want to have aggression with our neighbours," he said. "We want to have friendly relations with our neighbours. I assure you once again that we'll not act. We'll only react."
The Pakistani leaders' comments came a day after the US, and Pakistan's close allies China and Saudi Arabia, asked Islamabad to take steps to defuse tension with India and bring to justice those behind the Mumbai terror attacks.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/27/2008 15:28 ||
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#1
Think of Predators as a language you can understand, Asif Ali.
Federal minister for production Sardar Abdul Qayyum Jatoi said that if India thrusts war on Pakistan then half of Indian and 120 million of Pakistani population would be wiped off.
Speaking at a press conference in Dharki, he said that every thing is used in war and we would not sit idle if India attacks our country.
He said that India have to bear more loss in the war.
Sardar Abdul Qayyum Jatoi said that both countries are high alert. We do not want war but if it thrusts then situation will become worse.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/27/2008 11:11 ||
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#1
that still leaves about 600 million Indians or more don't it
#3
I don't really think Pakistan can deliver those bombs. And given that Pakistan can't even keep drones out of their country, I think India can even without resorting to missiles.
I'll be that the problem is that the terrorist elements of the government are so whipped up with nationalist fervor they don't understand that as much as they should.
#4
I'm going to guess here, but I suspect the Pak Air Force has some decent elements. They fly F-16s and they do train their pilots. They aren't a match for the USAF in any way but they might stand up to the IAF for a couple days. They'll lose for the usual reasons -- while their pilots are brave, their logistics, support and mechanics suck. So after a day or two of combat ops with insha-allan maintenance, the Pak AF will be grounded.
So if I ran the IAF, I'd work real hard to pressure the Pak AF into an ops tempo that they just can't maintain, swatting Pak aircraft every way I can, luring the Pak AF into carefully-planned traps (using both aircraft and AA), and wait for the Paks to collapse.
And then I'd bring the heavy lumber through.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2008 14:58 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Re: Indian air force - if I recall correctly the IAF pilots beat the USAF in mock combat dogfights not too long ago.
#6
Yes and no on the Indian pilots versas US pilots : US pilots were flying under rules of engagement which effectively nullified their electronic warfare advantages.
"We do not consider Jihad as terrorism in the parameters of Shariah."
KARACHI: Mufti Azam Pakistan, Maulana Muhammad Rafi Usmani Saturday said enemies of Pakistan are hatching conspiracies to destroy its atomic assets. During a Friday sermon, he said the situation at country's borders has become serious. Armed forces are ready, now the people are needed to be prepared practically, he said. "We do not consider Jihad as terrorism in the parameters of Shariah."
Posted by: john frum ||
12/27/2008 10:55 ||
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#1
put a GPS lock on this asshole
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2008 11:19 Comments ||
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#2
Actually, the Grand Mufti of Pakistan is correct... we DO wish to destroy Pak atomic assets...
Posted by: john frum ||
12/27/2008 11:32 Comments ||
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#3
That's acceptable, both Pak asses and atomic assets.
#6
perhaps there will be a usable port in Afghanistan in the next century, though
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2008 17:54 Comments ||
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#7
Speaking of which... Pakiwakiland is real open to major earthquakes ... a few final tests on some carefully chosen fault lines could be worth their weight in Plutonium...
Just sayin..
The Education Ministry has sought details of schools operating under the banned Jamaatud Dawa charity, to hand over control of such institutions to provincial educational departments. Following the recent government ban on the charity, schools run by Dawa in the Tribal Areas and other parts of the country were also closed. Initially, heads of institutions previously operating under the charity will be changed, and new headmasters will be appointed on recommendations by provincial educational departments. Sources said there was also a possibility that these schools might be converted into seminaries and their control handed over to non-government organisations.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2008 01:35 ||
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these self-hating p*ssies should be obliged to serve in Gaza as human shields. I'm sure Hamas would welcome them with open arms
While Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called for the unity of the citizens of Israel and their support for the operation in Gaza, hundreds of left-wing activists gathered on the Defense Ministry's lawn to protest the deaths of over 200 Palestinians.
Five of the protestors were arrested for rioting after they damaged the security fence and clashed with police forces on the scene. Cracking heads is good to alleviate frustration
Around 300 activists took part in the protest, in order to condemn what they called Israel's "genocide and war crimes". The demonstrators marched through the streets of Tel Aviv until they reached the ministry's headquarters.
Many cried slogans such as "No to war yes to peace", and carried signs saying "Israel's government is committing war crimes", "Negotiation instead of slaughter", and "Lift the siege from Gaza". great slogans. Did you spend time on an unprotected street in Sderot to shout them?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2008 16:25 ||
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#9
Danke Frank. I still wish somebody would round them up. Take them to Sderot. Chain them outside bomb shelters (where Sderot's citizens are spending the night).
#11
I'd suggest they hie themselves over to Gaza to serve as human shields for the paleos, but wouldn't that require that they be humans instead of suicidal pond scum?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/27/2008 18:42 Comments ||
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#12
I traded stamps for a while with one of these idiots. He was supposedly killed by one of the Hezbollah missiles. I don't miss him.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/27/2008 18:47 Comments ||
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#13
Move them to the other side of the fence. What is that I hear? Amalek?
If only it were so, Poison Reverse. Unfortunately, these are Jewish Israeli idiots. Being Jewish does not guarantee being intelligent, although one prefers to think that most of that sort have emigrated.
#18
#1 is right, Im guessing. The nominal leader of the israeli center left is LEADING this op. The mainstream zionist left, Meretz, was apparently informed in advance - i havent heard their reaction, I dont think these 300 represent them. Tiny group.
But they have the right to protest, a tribute to Israeli democracy.
The specter of a military invasion on Friday hung over Hamas-run Gaza Strip, where two children were killed as Palestinian militants fired more rockets despite Israeli threats of harsh retaliation.
Two girls, one aged five and the other 12, were killed when their house in northern Gaza was hit by a rocket which witnesses said was apparently fired by Palestinian militants targeting southern Israel. Four other family members were wounded.
The casualties came amid mounting speculation that the Israeli military would soon launch an operation in the Gaza Strip, which most media said would probably be limited in scope and not a full-scale invasion.
"Army preparing for combined ground, air operation in Gaza," declared the front-page headline in Israel's Haaretz.
Violence in and around the Palestinian enclave has flared since a six-month cease-fire ended on December 19, and escalated dramatically on Wednesday when militants fired more than 80 rockets and mortar rounds after Israel launched deadly air strikes over the coastal strip. On Friday, 13 rockets and mortar shells hit southern Israel, causing no casualties but damaging a house that was unoccupied at the time.
Israel had responded to earlier retaliatory rocket attacks by tightening the blockade it has imposed since the Islamist Hamas won democratic elections in 2006 and then seized power in Gaza in June 2007.
But officials said dozens of truckloads of supplies were delivered to Gaza on Friday after Israel decided to temporarily allow humanitarian aid into the impoverished territory. At the same time, the Israeli government issued dire warnings to Gaza militants, saying it would strike back hard if attacks continue.
"I will not hesitate to use Israel's strength to strike at Hamas and Islamic Jihad," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television on Thursday, adding ominously that "tens of thousands of children and innocents" would be at risk "as a result of Hamas' actions."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2008 01:35 ||
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#1
Gaza braces for invasion as Barak threatens children
Palestinian militants fired 22 mortar shells from the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday and early morning Friday, as the Israel Defense Forces continued its preparations for military action in Gaza.
The mortars struck the Western Negev, damaging one building. No one was hurt in any of the incidents.
Reportedly, a "limited operation" will begin within days that will combine an air attack with some ground operations against Hamas and other Gaza terror groups.
The cabinet has given the go-ahead for an operation of a few days' duration with clearly defined goals.
Meanwhile, Israel renewed its transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza
Strip on Friday.
The IDF said the first of approximately 90 trucks had started to deliver medicine, fuel, cooking gas and other vital goods into Gaza. The shipment includes a large donation of goods from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's wife.
On Sunday, the prime minister will hold a series of consultations ahead of a possible military action in the Strip. No major move will apparently be made until these discussions have concluded.
In statements Thursday, senior security officials were unwavering. "Anyone who harms Israeli citizens and soldiers will pay the price," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.
IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, speaking at the graduation of a pilots' training course at Hazerim Air Force Base, said, "We will have to use all of our might against the terror infrastructure and create a different security reality around the Gaza Strip."
Israel is planning a relatively short operation that will cause maximum damage to Hamas "assets." The defense establishment says the operation would not necessarily limit itself to stopping rocket launches and that during the operation, daily massive rocket launches can be expected. Hamas might fire rockets with a range beyond the 20 kilometers it has used so far.
By evening Thursday, seven rockets and nine mortars had been fired from the Gaza Strip, as opposed to 70 mortars and rockets shot the day before. One Grad rocket landed south of Ashkelon. There were no injuries or damage.
Despite the rockets, Barak opened the crossings this morning for the passage of food and medicine. Although Hamas operatives are behind most of the rocket launches, Palestinian sources in the Strip said Thursday that the Islamist group still wants to renew the cease-fire.
The sources said Hamas is under pressure by Gaza residents and other factions to significantly improve the terms of the cease-fire, particularly regarding the opening of the crossings in light of the increased distress of the civilian population.
The sources warned that an Israeli ground operation would result in many civilian casualties in Gaza, especially in the refugee camps.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Thursday called on Gazans to overthrow Hamas.
"We do not want to fight the Palestinian people, but we will not allow Hamas to hurt our children," Olmert said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television. He added Israel had great power but does not wish to use it.
Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip Thursday there were long lines at bakeries, and sales were limited to NIS 3 worth of bread, less than a large family needs per day. Electrical power and water was cut several times Thursday. Cooking is difficult due to a gas shortage.
"It is impossible to live like this," a Gaza man told Haaretz. We have to come to some resolution - either a full cease-fire or full-scale fighting with Israel."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2008 01:35 ||
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They threaten Hamas and open the borders. That doesn't make a bit of sense.
GAZA/Tel Aviv - Israel on Friday gave Hamas and other Palestinian militant factions in the Gaza Strip 48 hours to reduce ongoing rocket and mortar attacks from the salient or risk an Israeli military operation into the strip.
For the first time in 10 days, Israel opened its border crossings with the Gaza Strip Friday morning to allow in essential humanitarian supplies.
If Hamas, the radical Islamist movement ruling the Gaza Strip, responds by reducing rocket and mortar attacks from the strip, Israel will put off a military operation, officials said.
Speaking on an Arabic television station popular in the Gaza Strip, Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued what he said was a last-minute call to stop the rocket attacks and avoid bloodshed.
Egypt, meanwhile, was making efforts to curb the escalation in Gaza, a day after Tzipi Livni traveled to Cairo Thursday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman spoke on the telephone with Hamas de-facto foreign minister in Gaza, Mahmoud al-Zahar, Israel Radio reported Friday. The broadcaster added that Egypt had also beefed up its forces along its border with the Gaza Strip, fearing Palestinians may try to breach the border should Israel attack. A spokesman in Cairo would not confirm.
Livni told Mubarak Thursday that enough is enough and that Hamas was mistaken if it thought that its rocket and mortar attacks would improve the conditions of a six-month, Egyptian-mediated truce, which expired one week ago.
Hamas has said it is interested in a new truce, but wants improved terms. In particular, it opposes conditioning the opening of Israels border crossings with the complete cessation of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
Attacks from the salient continued Friday, with militants launching at least 10 mortar shells and two rockets into southern Israel by the afternoon, a military spokesman said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
There are no "civilian" targets in Gaza. Line up the 155s wheel-hub to wheel-hub, and start firing. When there's nothing left higher than a 3-foot pile of rubble, stop. Wait to see if anyone crawls out of the rubble, and ask them if they are willing to live in peace with Israel as a neighbor. If they say yes, then start working to help them recover. If they say no, go back to step one and begin all over. Sooner or later, there will either be no one to talk to, or the survivors will sue for peace under any terms, including accepting the right of Israel to exist. If the "world" protests, tell them to blow it out their nether ports.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/27/2008 16:18 Comments ||
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#2
isn't the idea of a siege to deny supplies to the enemy so they lose the will to fight?
Israel is doing it backwards... they are teaching the enemy that they can do without, and giving them supplies often enough that they never give up
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
12/27/2008 16:23 Comments ||
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#3
electricity off, blow the sewage dam, let Egypt deal with them
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2008 16:30 Comments ||
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One of the reasons I had to come back here, was cause I knew there'd be something negative about opening the border, and I figured it would still be up after the op had started. Of course I wouldnt have guessed myself what it meant, and its perfectly understandable after 2006 to doubt israels ability to pull off a deception like this (and of course this op isnt over yet) but at this point Barak is looking smart.
The Syrian flag flew over Damascus' first-ever embassy in Beirut on Friday, as final preparations were made for its official opening after warming ties ended years of tensions between the two neighbors.
The work took a comic turn on Friday when an impostor showed up at the building in the Hamra business district, briefly causing a stir by claiming to be the new ambassador.
Witnesses told AFP the flag was raised overnight as work continued to prepare the building for the opening before the end of the year.
Two brass plaques bearing the inscription "Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic" in Arabic and English were also put up outside the building, where the mission will operate on the first three floors.
An official date for the inauguration has not yet been announced, but the leftist As-Safir Lebanese daily on Monday quoted Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem as saying this would happen "immediately after Christmas."
On Monday, three diplomats from Damascus began working at the embassy in advance of the opening. Syria has yet to name an ambassador, and the highest-ranking diplomat is currently a first secretary.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2008 01:36 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
