Ethiopia Enters Somalia Conflct
John Hinderaker

The situation in Somalia is very dire, with Islamic militants controlling Mogadishu and much of the country. Ehiopia has now joined the fighting:

Fighting escalated in Somalia Sunday as Ethiopian planes and helicopter gun ships attacked Islamist targets in several central provinces. One area that came under heavy attack was the town of Baledweyn, 220 miles south of the capital Mogadishu...

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's information minister said his country had launched "self-defensive measures" against the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia, known as the UIC. On Saturday, the UIC issued a worldwide call for Islamist fighters to join the jihad, or holy war, in Somalia.

Ethiopian ground forces supporting the government also reportedly engaged Islamist fighters near Baidoa and Bandiradley in central Somalia, Shabelle Media said.

My instinct would be to view this as a positive development, but ...

Pre-Emption, Ethiopia-Style
Ed Morrissey

Ethiopia decided to join the war on radical Islamist terror by launching a series of airstrikes on jihadi-held sectors of Somalia this morning. The new front will complicate the Islamists' attempt to consolidate the power they seized a few months ago in Mogadishu:

[...]

The situation in the Horn of Africa has been unstable for years, and the Islamist triumphs this year ensured that it would get worse. The Ethiopians decided to take the bull by the horns rather than wait for the Islamists to infiltrate their own country and topple it from within. They see the grand strategy planned by the leading Islamists to gradually take over all of the ancient Islamic empire, and they have no desire to wait for overwhelming provocation to keep from becoming their next victim. ...

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On a related note, don't miss by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross's excellent piece on the Somalia situation here.

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Allahpundit has more here.