The Somalis have elected a new President, the guy who lead the Islamic Courts Union government. Ethiopia, with US backing, did their best to kill him and his forces and drive them out. Maybe the U.S. won't do that again. The ICU is not entirely compatible with custom Somali laws, which don't, for example, include cutting off of hands. However, they are anti-pirate, and I understand that when the ICU was in power before, things were somewhat more stable (lack of stability is the status quo in Somalia since 1991, the last time the country was unified under one government.)

     2054 is the 1000th anniversary of the official Catholic-Orthodox split in Christianity. It was a language issue, in any event not a debate about whether the Holy Spirit comes from the father, or the father and the son. The Russians have a new Patriarch today, and he has no plans to heal the rift.

     Gaddafi has been elected Chair of the African Union, a body which has been making some really bone-headed moves in the last year (e.g. initial reactions to Guinean and Mauritanian coups). His idea? To create a United States of Africa. Another, imho, bone-headed move. I'm much more inclined to have a United States of Arabia (Morocco to Syria to Saudi Arabia) and a state over all Bantu African states. However, since governments usually trump people, it might make even _more_ sense to have two great blocks, of Francophone and Anglophone Africa. That would be a bummer, but, there isn't a Standart Bantu language.

     Shoe hurled at Prime Minister of China during speech. Do any shoes come with pie attachments?