Ethiopia Bombs Mogadishu:

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by GePap
Any poster here who thinks sanding weapons to Ethipopia will in the end help finish off the anarchy is either deluded or simply does not care that thousands more will die

I dunno, maybe if we sand them, their weapons will malfunction

[Ecthy]

It is possible that supporting one side to become the strongest will end the conflict faster. But why should it be Ethiopia of all? They have lost nothing in Somalia. Also, why do I get the feeling Ethiopia will not be the only country to receive arm sales offers from western countries? France?

[GePap]

Originally posted by notyoueither


Aren't the good guys a UN supported government?

The UN recognized government unfortunately couldn't get control of the country, could not get control of the warlords. That is why the Islamists won and were basically about to route them. Just arming their Ethiopian allies won't do much to make that bunch of folks any more capable.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Ecthy
It is possible that supporting one side to become the strongest will end the conflict faster. But why should it be Ethiopia of all? They have lost nothing in Somalia. Also, why do I get the feeling Ethiopia will not be the only country to receive arm sales offers from western countries? France?

Ethiopia has gone to war with Somalia a couple of times - there are lots of ethnic somalians in Ethiopia and the Islamist were urging Somalis in Ethiopia to rise up, in order to form some greater Somalia, so its pretty obvious to see why Ethiopia is getting involved.

[Odin]

Who's willing to bet Eretria is going to join in this war soon...

[Chemical Ollie]

Didn't Ethiopia just recently fight a WW1-style war against Eritrea, with a million dead?

[Barnabas]

Like 5 years ago

[Heresson]

Originally posted by aneeshm


Then it is our dharmic duty to aid Ethiopia!

Onward, noble Kshatriya armies! To the Dharmayuddha!

That's the spirit!

AETHIOPIA!!!!

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by LordShiva
It's "naan"

And the settlers will be South Indian, and we don't eat naan.

This was

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Didn't Ethiopia just recently fight a WW1-style war against Eritrea, with a million dead?

Yep, WWI style. Which is relatively advanced, most of the rest of Africa except South African Republic and Egypt can only wage war in European Thirty Years war fashion. At least that's my understanding from reading the War Nerd. Speaking of whom, he's probably going to be pretty excited over this as he has a thing for Horn of Africa.

Personally I'm an admirer of Eritrea, so I'll be keeping an eye on this conflict too.

[VetLegion]

Anyone got any figures? I know what Ethiopia has with regards to manpower and tech, but what do these islamic courts have?

[GePap]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Anyone got any figures? I know what Ethiopia has with regards to manpower and tech, but what do these islamic courts have?

Religious and nationalist zeal. That is about all. Ethiopia has a real army, the Islamists have a militia. Though it would probably be hard for them to capture Mogadishu without significant losses.

And supposedly Eritrea has already been arming and helping the Islamists as Ethiopian involvement had gone up.

[TCO]

Ethiopia has little to fear from Somalia and no reason not to bomb them. The Somalis have a miserable organized offensive force, are already fomenting problems by proxy (not openly), plus the Ethiopian attack was a strike with no ground troops.

[GePap]

Originally posted by TCO
Ethiopia has little to fear from Somalia and no reason not to bomb them. The Somalis have a miserable organized offensive force, are already fomenting problems by proxy (not openly), plus the Ethiopian attack was a strike with no ground troops.

Ethiopia has thousands of troops in Somalia already, helping the interim government at the front. This was just one attack against Mogadishu, but the main fighting is to the west and northwest of Mogadishu.

[TCO]

ok. But the bombing does not put them in more jeapordy.