The headline here at MSNBC is "‘Somalia for Yemen is ... like what Pakistan is for Afghanistan’ " because nothing says thoughtful like an asinine analogy.
So what do they mean by this?
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Are they made up of a single tribe of people cut in half by an arbitrary colonial border? No.
Did they used to be one governance unit (first by Persia, then by the UK) artificially cut later? No.
Are they at least neighbors? No.
Are they at least the same race? No.
Do weapons get shipped to Somalia for their use internally and show up in Yemen? No.
Does America depend on Somalian to help our fight in Yemen? No.
Is Somalia a precarious yet tenuous Democracy while Yemen is at War? No.
Is Somalia an American partner & friend helping in our war in Yemen? No.
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In fact, MSNBC Brainiacs, Somalia is a completely failed state with no pretense of a National Government - no allies and unable to define it's territory - as it is made up of multiple tribes, colonial backgrounds, ethnicities and people. Which - is not the case in Pakistan.
As for Yemen, it is a single coherent ethnic country and has been since the Biblical Birth of Jesus (home of Myr). Unlike Afghanistan - it doesn't have a recent history of invasion by superpowers, it is not dependent on illegal drug trade for it's income and it's oppression of women is non-existent in comparison to Afghani practices.
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Are we creating boggie men out of them because they are both Muslim? Oh right - that's it.
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Deep thought and journalistic integrity or a 'scary' picture for the front page of MSNBC. You decide.