Somalia

My Father's Account of Auschwitz from August 1943 to June 1944 - Anthropological Quarterly 78:1 Anthropological Quarterly 78.1 (2005) 89-123 Missing the Holocaust: My Father's Account of Auschwitz from August 1943 to June 1944 Philippe Bourgois University of California, San Francisco Abstract Conversations with my father over many years reveal how genocides unfold invisibly in front of ethical witnesses. In August 1943, he was deported as a forced laborer by the French Vichy regime to work in the construction of the IG Farben petrochemical factory at Auschwitz, where he was recruited into a resistance group. His precise recollection of exactly what he knew or did not know, and what resistance acts he and his companions undertook demonstrates how terror can make uncertainty a strategy for survival as well as resistance. My father dissects multiple contradictory interpretations of ethical motivations for everyday acts of kindness and betrayal. He refuses to identify clear heroes or villains, ultimately condemning only those in power, especially Allied leaders who had the knowledge and logistical capacity to intervene, but instead allowed the trains to run on time. Primo Levi's concept of the Grey Zone alerts us to how institutionalized brutality overwhelms the possibility of human solidarity. What genocides and Grey Zones are we missing today?
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/anthropological_quarterly/v078/78.1bourgois.pdf

Somalia: 'Most Lawless War of Our Generation'
by Salim Lone
. . . not just Islamists, which is a codeword for terrorists, but . . . most Somalis will not abide this occupation. . . . So it is not going to be a successful war for the Somali government, for Ethiopia and, of course, for the US, which is the orchestrator of the whole adventure this time.

. . . women are being raped, hospitals are being bombed. This is clearly a huge effort to intimidate and terrorize all those who come from clans who are fighting the government. They want to intimidate the civilians, because most of the death toll is of civilians. So this has been going on, and there has been no call whatsoever for this to stop.

. . . we are seeing the Security Council completely silent while these atrocities are going on. We are seeing Western governments completely silent. Nothing has come out of Washington. Nothing has come out of London. We now see, for the first time on Wednesday, the ambassador of Germany -- and Germany holds the EU presidency now -- the ambassador released a letter, which he had sent to Abdullah Yusuf, the president of the transitional government. It is a very candid and a very strong letter, and that's wonderful. However, where was Germany? Where was the EU for all this period? Their silence has really given the green light for the Ethiopians to do the terrible things they've been doing.

The death toll now in Somalia is greater than it was in Lebanon. And you will recall, of course, that even then, the big powers -- the US, UK, even initially the UN -- did not demand a ceasefire. But the world media was full of that story, and there were condemnations around the world for what the Israelis were doing. But, of course, Somalis and Africans don't count as nearly much, because there has just been no international outcry at all. . . .

http://www.twf.org/News/Y2007/0427-Somalia.html

nearly two- thirds of Somalia's oil fields to be allocated to the US oil

Four giant US oil companies stand to make a killing in Somalia
Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips

Pirates recieve 3 million dollars by airdrop for Saudi owned tanker 1-9-2009
Jan. 9: A parachute dropped by a small aircraft drops over the MV Sirius Star at anchor following an apparent payment via a parachuted container to pirates holding the ship. Jan. 9: The MV Sirius Star is observed at anchor following an apparent payment via a parachuted container to pirates holding the Sirius Star.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali pirates released an oil-laden Saudi supertanker after receiving a $3 million ransom, a negotiator for the bandits said Friday.

The MV Sirius Star, a brand new tanker with a 25-member crew, was seized in the Indian Ocean Nov. 15 in a dramatic escalation of the high seas piracy that has plagued the shipping lanes off Somalia.

Mohamed Said, a negotiator with the pirates that held the Saudi tanker, told The Associated Press by telephone the ship had been released and was traveling to "safe waters."

The ship owner, Vela International Marine Ltd., declined comment on the claim Friday.

But Poland, which has some of its nationals among the tanker's crew, said it had official confirmation from the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Kenya that the Sirius Star had been released by the hijackers.

Click here to view photos.

A Western diplomat based in Nairobi, Kenya, also said the ship was free, citing the International Maritime Organization. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.