Beeb autocorrects; kind of. (as do I)

Some readers might know of my more than passing interest in East Africa. For a long time this has caused me to take the threat of Islamism there quite seriously. In the battle of wills it's the one with most ambition, the most active one, which wins. Whatever you think of the half-baked analyses of radical Islam, there's no doubt about their own belief in the importance of their activities.

I recently noted the advance of Islamists in Somalia- a consolidation of their power really, since Islamists have been active there from the 90's. Now the more Islamic warlords have beaten off the less Islamic ones. And how has this been achieved? Well, in a recent news article on the subject, the Beeb wanted us to accept that

(UPDATE .... whoops- sorry to those who visited- looks like a draft slipped through by accident; I was looking for the link to support my memory of the Beeb's inadequacy, but I couldn't find it- the BBC's new search system is considerably less logical and friendly to critical enquirers. Still, I'll finish the point I began...)

They wanted us to accept that the Somali Islamic courts movement was founded on the support of "local businessmen". Yeah right I thought, and proceeded to post about Eritrea and the Horn of Africa. Now lo, but the BBC "finds out" (after the horse has bolted) that the Islamic courts seems to have support out of Saudi Arabia and, yes, Eritrea. The point is made here and here- in the kind of articles one goes to for reference rather than to form one's immediate judgement.

This situation brings me to another speculation. I remember thinking how odd the wars between Ethiopia and Eritrea have been. I have never seen a good reason for them. It might make a lot more sense when you consider that Ethiopia is the historic barrier to Islamist designs on East Africa. To find Islamists nibbling away at it to create an eastern Islamic corridor would not be at all surprising...