"How are the Ethiopians doing it?"

They're probably receiving aid/support from the U.S.

If they aren't, they should be.

"Anyone have an alternative interpretation?" -- Cliff May

Yes, actually. It's likely that the Islamists are not as competent a military force as the press would lead you to believe. They are a rag-tag force, likely with little training or cohesiveness. When struck by an even somewhat well-trained and led force, they fold. This is probably not over, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the Ethiopians take Mogadishu. Whether they can keep it over time is another thing. But I wish them luck. In this case, they are probably fighting the "good fight."

And I wouldn't be surprised that the US may be providing a little "help" along the way.

So someone gets a third-hand interpretation of unconfirmed activity, posts it on a blog, openly speculates about whether it's true, and if so what it might indicate. And then you take this speculation and report it as fact.

Tell me again why we should distrust the MSM?

Well, for starters, Brian, we usually admit when it's open speculation and theory. That saves us the annoying little step of finding out we were utterly wrong and then deciding whether to own up to it or, as is far more common, either stand by the BS or try to bury the whole thing.

J.

Do you think he understood that, Jay?

When a superior force meets a cowardly force the SUPERIUOR force will WIN (and QUICKLY)...unless the superior force is hamstrung by a hostile press!!

If, however, the superior force doesn't GIVE A SHIT...then they will win anyway!

I sure hope the U.S. military is paying attention!!

I wonder if Ethiopia has Lefty Ethiopians openly hindering their war effort. I guess it's easier to fight a war when you don't have your own MSM openly helping the enemy.

No condemnation of Ethiopia from Lee, Brian, et al,? How can they support this unilateral cowboy action?

Did Ethiopia get U.N. approval?

If our forces adopt this approach, the Iraq war is won. Our second-guessers in the bureaucracies, and the Press/Demo party, are the only thing holding us back at the moment.

I hope the Ethiopians score an overwhelming victory, so we don't have to fight the Islamic radicals over here.

Mitchel, Left Wing Trolls,

I see this "blame the press" mentality a lot on both Right wing and Left wing blogs.

You righties are usually complaining something to the effect "if only the press wouldn't report the reality of war, we could just kill everyone and get it over with" and the lefties claim something to this effect "the corporate owned media whores need war so they can stick their snouts into the public money bucket. Because, you know, all MSM is corporate owned and therefore by default must be evil.

SO which one is it guys?

Do the Generals in the field just ignore their commands from the Commander in Chief because they listen to newspapers and news shows instead?

Is it also as foolish to asume that it is in the MSMs best interst to kill off a large number of its viewing and reading public by perpetuating a needles war?

The media is nothing more than a mirror held up to society for all to see. Sometimes you like what you see but mostly you don't, it doesn't matter if your right or left, life's harsh realities suck.

Yes there are many different media mirrors with many shades of colors and some are bent in very obvious directions, but when you boil it down to its base element, the media still shows us who we are.

So could we please get past this "blame the press" mentality and find solutions. It's getting to the point where we all know what you're against but nobody knows what you're for.

When the media is a distorted lens rather than a flat mirror, it can cause all sorts of havoc that a flat mirror does not. Tinting is not the problem decried here, it is wholesale lies.

Live@9:

One problem. We don't live in a funhouse. We just want mirrors that are accurate.

J.

"Mitchell, Left Wing Trolls,"

Now that made me laugh.

I do indeed hope we're helping the Ethiopians at least tactically. Those are tax dollars spent I won't complain about. The US has spent a great deal of time training Ethiopian troops in the recent past, but we presumably don't have anyone there right now directly involved in the fighting. I would very much like to see them take this win as all their own.

"Do the Generals in the field just ignore their commands from the Commander in Chief because they listen to newspapers and news shows instead?"

No, but the general public often does. They in turn influence their representatives who have real power in influencing the prosecution of the war.

If you think a steady stream of news coverage, biased for or against, does not influence how politicians act; then you are deluding yourself.

Still waiting for the usual anti-U.S.-war-effort trolls to condemn the Ethiopian action.

Jay, do you think dead@10 understood what you said like brain-less?

The Ethiopian Infidel Crusaders are no doubt using force that it nor proportional. I expect the UN to protest in 3, 2, 1........

Sorry about the typos. This is what I meant....
The Ethiopian Infidel Crusaders are no doubt using force that is not proportional. I expect the UN to protest in 3, 2, 1........

Well, for starters, Brian, we usually admit when it's open speculation and theory.

Huh? Except that you didn't here. That was the point of my comment.

The Corner did. It described its second-hand information, and then posited some speculation. But that's not what I was talking about; I have no problem with that.

My comment was directed at this post by Kim, who declaratively stated, without indicating it's speculation or theory, that "Ethiopian Troops are Defeating Islamic Forces" and that "They are willing to do what's required to defeat their enemies, and they don't care what other countries or the media think."

You, yourself, Jay, have posted about certain situations and speculated about why they might be. But you don't link to someone else's speculation and frame it as fact.

Do you think jhow66 understood that?

So here's a link to an Assyrian International News Agency story (http://www.aina.org/news/20061227130743.htm)listed in Google News, headlined "Jihad Against Christianity Openly Declared in Somalia."

Note that the story says nothing about Christianity.

Weird, but not inexplicable...

Brian,
So you need someone to reprint the entire source article, rather than link to it? You can't click and read? Or do you expect others to think AND read for you?

nope

This can't be right.

This post is passing into the internet-night, and not one of the usual Lefty trolls is going to condemn the unilateral war-mongering Ethiopian criminal war? (pssst..It's all those icky black people, isn't it? I guess they don't matter to you.)

Gosh, I hope those mean Ethiopians don't put a pair of panties on some Jihadist's head; that would be an international atrocity! The Lefties here would erupt in anger...or would they?

Ethiopia- doing the jobs American(politicians) won't do.

Live@9 said, The media is nothing more than a mirror held up to society for all to see. Sometimes you like what you see but mostly you don't, it doesn't matter if your right or left, life's harsh realities suck.

Really? How about this one:

After weeks of restraint, Israel said Wednesday that it will renew attacks on rocket-launching militants in the Gaza Strip, threatening to derail an already shaky, month-old truce.

So there is a "truce" going on where one side is allowed to fire rockets. But if the other side responds to such attacks, they're the ones breaking the "truce".

Is this the "mirror" you speak of that details "life's harsh realities"?

Where is the reality there Live@9?

Note that this type of anti-Israeli bias happens every day from the supposedly "neutral" Associated Press, among many other sources. If this story was about America, it would be no different.

You say that some media "are bent in very obvious directions". Well, no kidding. You could say that the majority of media are bent in one direction or another. Have you happened to notice which way it consistently bends, by chance?

I'm not sure why you would just close your eyes and deny the biased media problem while ironically insisting on "finding solutions". It's as if you believe that your hand-waving makes the problem disappear.

It's getting to the point where we all know what you're against but nobody knows what you're for.

You're just not paying too much attention Live@9, probably because you're doing so much hand-waving.

So you need someone to reprint the entire source article, rather than link to it?

The issue is the framing of the link. It was framed as a link to fact, not speculation. If I posted "Bush has dementia!" and a link to a site where someone speculates that Bush has dementia, you would make the same comment I did. Though likely using even stronger language.