Dear Readers,

This was the week that saw the kindergarten antics of belligerents as well as invaders and hired cops morph into officially sanctioned activities.Kenya married the TFG and officially became AMISOM soldiers for hire, magically shifting Kenya's drum banging blitzkrieg entry into Somalia into a mild mannered, long term "peacekeeping" mission. Those with basic Google skills will note that almost two months in, the invasion ofKismayo, destruction of al-Shabaab,and rescue of any hostages has yet to actually occur.

Whileclearing out schoolsandrushing press ganged conscriptsintoMogadishu, al-Shabaabapparently grabbed a little "me" timeand took along hard look at itself in the mirror.Not only did they agree that they felt a little silly calling themselves "youth" they decided to enter the twitter fray to feel a little hipper.Al-Shabaab er, sorry, the Islamic Emirate of Somalia, has a habit of parading around andtalking into unconnected media microphones, anarcissistic activity that led mostly the them getting bombed by surprisingly well coordinated air strikes. That must have knocked some of the pretentiousness out of them because as of today they tweeted to say that they shall forever remain young at heart and go by the moniker "al Shabaab."

The recentkilling of 50 and wounding of 25 jihadisappears to be in line with their desire to die. Much like murder/suiciders, we wish the "boys" and theirforeignfanboyswould seek death first rather thanabuse the populationlater. To make sure al-Shabaabretains its position, they proudly announced that will besending 60 women to their deathsand have stepped up their murder of civiliansusing IEDs.

Ethiopia may have felt a little snubbed by not getting an invitation to join AMISOM but their proxy force insists (for the umpteenth time)they areready to dislodgeal-Shabaabfrom the center of the country.

In an effort to show how stable and peaceful Mogadishu is, the VIP arrival area at Mogadishu's airport has beencrowded with paparazzi quality visitors includingUN Secretary Ban Ki-moon who was the latest celebrityto pose patting the TFG on the head.

Note takers will remember that it was actually al-Shabaabwhich evacuated Mogadishu, allowing AMISOM to pour into the gap. The TFG's role hasbeen less that stellar in filling the security gapor evenrestraining from thievery. At least the higher ups admit (privately) that the temporary Somali government is"uncoordinated"in their efforts to eliminate insurgents.

To ensure that we never assume the TFG has even achieved the concept of unity,a group of cranky Somali politicians slammed Mahigafor purportedly supportingbreak away region ofSomaliland - something thatMahigadidn't actually do but that didn't stop the Somali media from "reporting" on it and the government from responding angrily to it.

As the list of players gets more complex its also reassuring to seeaAdaljoint the fray as abreakaway nation breaking away from a breakaway stateby voting for a new president....froma hotel in London.

Piracy

Piracy has become a footnote in Somalia news.Anunpleasant new tactic is to release a ship for bucks buthold back some of the crewhoping to swap the hostages for their pirate firends being held in foreign jails. Such tactics make local officials more motived to get tough on pirates,as Puntland has been doing.

Small squeaking noises came from tinyGalmudugas theypromised to fight piratesbutadmitted they had no way to actually do it.The diminutive president was recently ousted by his own government but paid little attention to those noiseseither. The TFG's peripateticSpeaker of the House was also oustedbut few people paid attention, Sheik Hassan among them.

A major fire in Bosasso's marketwas overlooked by most of the press and a similar fire in Somaliland andIED attacks inMogadishu'smain marketcaused some serious hardship.

And finally please get ready to welcomeJay Bahadur, our new disturbingly tall (6'5"), savvy and sanguine Managing Editor who will be in place in Nairobi by December 16. You can contact him [email protected] warn him to reconsider the adventure that awaits him.

Until then have a wonderful holiday season and pleaseremember thoseless fortunate in Somalia.

By Robert Young Pelton