Month: August 2013
The Stunt Document of Jubba

The obvious contradictions in the rushed agreement between Jubbaland and Federal Government of Somalia show that the talks have actually collapsed, and heads of the international community there and Ethiopian Leaders could not face the failure for their own sake. The stakes were even higher for them than the negotiating parties. They had to bring a lot of pressure to bear on the parties to save face by producing a signed paper and a photo opportunity for the occasion.The result is a confusing document which creates more problems and itself a source of future conflicts and everlasting tension in the region for all concerned. One thing is sure. Jubaland constitution and the conference that produced it were not acknowledged, consistent with FGS earlier position, but they had to swallow the fact that they won’t have their way unless they face the reality on the ground in Jubba and negotiate with Ahmed Madobe as the de facto Head of the three regions. That is the only plausible outcome of Addis Talks. It is one step forward and two steps back, in my opinion.http://allafrica.com/stories/201308290096.html
allAfrica.com: Somalia: Jubaland Gains Recognition After Intense Bilateral Talks in Ethiopia
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UN team investigating possible chemical attack in Syria comes under sniper fire
Four blogs on language and linguistics
Today I want to briefly mention* four language/linguistics blogs that deserve your attention and might not have broached your radar.
Actually I linked to Glossologics lately, but there’s lots of new posts since. Its emphasis is on etymology – origins of words and phrases – but there’s plenty of other stuff too: on foreign grammar, writing systems, language learning and more. Writer Alex Tigers updates it regularly with tasty linguistic morsels – and apparently she makes the best chocolate cake, though regrettably I can’t confirm this.
Word Jazz is “a celebration of linguistic creativity” from Matt Davis, a linguistics postgrad in London who is fascinated by all things language. The blog debuted at the start of this year and so far has looked at several aspects of linguistic creativity, such as vowels in pop music, lexical combinations, and the colourful life of adverbs (“the garden glittered greenly in…
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Your Identity Is Worth $5 on the Black Market
U.S. spied on United Nations by hacking into video conferencing system at New York headquarters: report
U.N.: Chemical weapons use must be punished
Quick and Easy Customization: Get the Most Out of Widgets
Widgets, the handy features built right into your WordPress.com dashboard, allow you to add cool features to your site so you can make it your online home. Have you poked around in Appearance → Widgets, recently? We want to make sure you know how quick and simple it is to activate — and customize — widgets. If you haven’t enabled them already, try these:
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