Surging in Somalia
There's a saying somewhere about history not repeating itself, but that it rhymes. The situation in Somalia has rhymes in multiple contexts.
The Somali capital Mogadishu is being wracked by the worst fighting in 15 years, with dozens killed and thousands fleeing the violence, aid agencies say.
Fighting resumed on Saturday for the third day, since Somali and Ethiopian troops launched an offensive against Islamist insurgents.
Apparently the US advisors to the Ethiopians are advising the same sort of "surge" approach the US is using in Baghdad, probably with similar results. And there are other echoes, including the dragging of a couple of Ethiopian soldiers through the streets by crowds of Somalis and this incident from yesterday.
Witnesses described how two Ethiopian helicopters fired on a rebel stronghold on Friday, before one of them was hit by an anti-aircraft missile.
"Smoke billowed from the cabin and it turned towards the ocean," Swiss journalist Eugen Sorg told Reuters.
"It crashed at the south end of the airport runway."
I wonder how long and how bad this is going to get.
