From China to East Africa: the Global Spread of Jihad

NEWS from China, if it is to be believed, provides further evidence of the truly global threat posed by militant Islam as its venomous tentacles slither silently (or not so silently...) across a border and into yet another country.
Meanwhile, as yet unverified reports have surfaced suggesting a number of wounded individuals carrying British passports have been captured by Ethiopian troops in southern Somalia. Apparently they were members of an 'international brigade' of jihadists, which also comprised extremists from Canada, Yemen, Pakistan and the Sudan, fighting to save the crumbling Islamic Courts Union, which had established control over much of the country since June 2006. As well as infantry it is also thought that British Somalis have donated some £600,000 in preceding months to support the beleaguered ICU.

Critics of the Ethiopian-US-TFG alliance argue that the toppled Islamist government brought relative stability to the stricken country with its ruthless implementation of Sharia. However, there remained the distinct likelihood that, despite the protestations of ICU's Imams to the contrary, if left to its own devices Somalia would have quickly degenerated into Afghanistan #2, providing a safehaven and staging point for militant Islamic groups. The instability such a transformation would bring to the region understandably compelled neighbouring Ethiopia, a relatively stable Christian country, to act decisively with the aid of Somali dissidents and, latterly, the US. Back in the UK the Islamists of Hizb ut-Tahrir are using the American air strikes in a cynical ploy to attract Somalis to their demented cause.