"I'll Be Back"
STRATEGY PAGE
December 4, 2008: Ethiopian troops have left Baidoa, and Islamic radical gunmen have begun closing in on the town as a result. Baidoa is where the Transitional National Government, or TNG, is based. While some factions of the Islamic radicals are willing to work with the TNG, the more radical factions (particularly the Shabab) are pushing for the establishment of a religious dictatorship and an alliance with similar radical groups like al Qaeda.
The international community is desperately hoping that some kind of miracle will occur in Somalia, and that a new government will magically appear, enforce law and order, and put the pirates out of business. More realistically, everyone expects the piracy to go on until the U.S., or someone else capable of the job, can be convinced to go ashore in Somalia and shut down the pirate bases. That's the only way to stop pirates, by going to where they live and capturing, killing or intimidating them. This is an unpopular fact, and world governments and media have been playing it down because, in the case of Somalia, the implications are so very unpleasant.
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