Friday, October 3, 2008

Pirates!

In geography class - the "Horn" of Africa is that horny protruberance on the East Coast of Africa that boldly protrudes and divides the Gulf of Aden where the Red Sea hangs out and the massive Indian Ocean.

It's also the hood for one of the New Millennium's Failed States.
THE number 1 Failed State in fact.

Somalia. With a pop of less than 10 million and a lit rate of a pififul 37.8% and about 94 K online. Most of Somalia's turf is unarable - like over 98%.

"This year, Somalia claims the unenviable distinction of being the state most at risk of failure. In many ways, Somalia has failed already, as the unpopular transitional government lacks control of the streets of Mogadishu—much less the rest of the country.

The loose coalition of Islamic clerics and militia leaders that captured the capital in 2006 was routed in the early weeks of 2007 with the help of Ethiopian troops, who have since stayed on to battle the remnants of the Islamist insurgency.

The fighting has yet to produce anything resembling a victor;
if anything, the country’s clan chaos continues unabated in the unruly
streets, while pirates stalk the waters offshore. What the fighting has
successfully produced is a refugee nightmare, with some 700,000 people fleeing Mogadishu last year. "

The fighting has also produced a semi society almost entirely free from the consistency of the Rule of Law.

"Following the breakdown of the central government, most regions have
reverted to local forms of conflict resolution, either secular, traditional
Somali customary law, or Shari'a law."

Yay.

Great Britain's Royal Institute of International Affairs @ Chatham House reveals that one biz out of Somalia that is expanding at an exponential rate is actually an ancient biz.

Piracy.

2008 has been like a bang up year for Pirates in Somalia's near abroad.

Brit Cat Roger Middleton unleashed a very interesting dossier for RIIA entitled "Piracy in Somalia: Threatening Global Trade, Feeding Local Wars"
"Pirates have hijacked more than 30 ships off Somalia this year, making the country's 3,300 km (2,060 miles for the metrically challenged) coastline one of the most dangerous in the world and threatening an important shipping lane between Europe and Asia."

"Total ransom payments for 2008 probably lie in the range of $18-30
million. Inflation of ransom demands makes this an ever more lucrative
business"


Somalia pirates are totally jamming up the World Food Fund too, collecting vital booty like foodstuffs the UN has paid for to be sent to ease misery and offer hope in Africa's desperate environs like Somalia.

And Sept 2008 has been a banner month!

* Sept 2 - Pirates seize the Carre D'as IV, a small French yacht with two French citizens aboard, in the Gulf of Aden, and demand a ransom of more than $1.4 million. French commandos free the French couple on September 16, killing and capturing pirates..

* Sept 3 - An Egyptian ship is hijacked.

* Sept 10 - Pirates seize a SoKo cargo ship.

* Sept 17 - Pirates hijack a Greek vessel, the Centauri, with 25 crew aboard.

* Sept 21 - Pirates hijack the Greek MV Capt Stephanos with 20 crew on board.


And then they hit the jackpot.

Ukrania's MV Faina just happened to be toting over 30 upgraded old school Russian T 72 panzers and a mix of weaponry including the ever popular AK 74 Assault rifle (a 1974 upgrade of the ancient AK 47).

Destination for the panzers is still unclear - though intell suspects

"Chartered through a Ukrainian front company, the Faina's a typical
post-Soviet arms smuggler: Its cargo is manifested to the Kenyan military, but the true destination for those T-72 tanks is either Sudan's government, which is under an international arms embargo, or southern-Sudanese rebels chafing under a rickety peace deal.

The Kenyans are just middlemen making a buck. "



The pirates may be using MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) and rocket propelled grenades during their attacks. They also have GPS systems and satellite phones.

Magically, Great Satan's USS Howard (DDG 83) is on hand, buzzing MV Fain with choppers - determined not to let those panzers get into the wrong hands. Concern for hostage safety has ruled out any action for now.

Somalia's semi gov has asked Russia to intervene and fight the pirates.

"We are inviting all countries, all states who have possibility to
support Somalia to fight against ... pirates. We are especially inviting Russia
and giving special status to Russian warships to fight, to help Somalia."

Russia's CWS Fearless (F1154) is en route - making nigh unto 30 knots to the scene.

And Russia's rep for hostages surviving her commando raids (like that theatre in Moscow or that school in Beslan) isn't so good.

The pirates won't like dealing with the Russians who were sent down yonder to cover up Vlad's hanky panky in arming rogue states.

Great Satan should strike first. She needs to know exactly what's on that ship; keep those panzers out of Sudan's hands and enjoy a wonderful opportunity to make an example of cutthroats.
"What if we make a move and the pirates attack their captives? They
might - or they may fear the consequences. Either way, it's better to risk a small amount of bloodshed now than to let these gangs continue terrorizing the Gulf of Aden (the route to the Suez Canal) and sea lanes stretching into the Indian Ocean."

"Piracy must be exterminated."

6 comments:

Skunkfeathers said...

Unleash a US task force on the pirates...'nuff said.

Right Truth said...

Things should get interesting with the new AfriCom, don't you think?

Yankee Doodle said...

No, the US isn't the world's policeman. It's a Ukranian ship with Ukranians and Russians aboard. Let the Russians deal with it. If they ask for help, then we should do what we can. If it really looks like the weapons are in danger of getting into the wrong hands, then we may want to do something. But to just jump in there on the Ukranian ship, nah.

Now, the question of piracy in general is different. It is a generally-recognized mission of national navies to fight piracy on the high seas. This is a particularly critical piece of water to world commerce, too. As far as patrolling these waters and whacking pirates in general, sure, that's not a bad idea.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the Russians get there -- they don't clown around in hostage situations, and I'll bet when they get done, the pirates will think twice before messing with Russian or Ukranian ships again.

Anonymous said...

Meet the new pirates. Just like the old pirates. The scourge of mankind is what they used to be called. Seems that hasn't changed either. However, they are putting Jack Sparrow in a bad light.

I often attend pirate festivals. The ones I attend are wholesome festivals for family fun. And yes it is weird to celebrate the lives of criminals. But, now days pirate life from the golden age of pirates has been romanticized.

Modern pirates are far more brutal than the "classic" version. In fact, there is no record of Blackbeard ever killing anyone. Modern pirates, on the other hand, make their living through bloody murder rather than just intimidation.

With the U.S. Navy monitoring this band of pirates, they won't be unloading their booty anywhere unless it's at the bottom of the sea.

Roger W. Gardner said...

Another terrific article. I just may have to steal it.
rogerbabe

Anonymous said...

.
Being Muslims, they must be peaceful pirates at least. These Somali Buccaneer monkeys are out of control. They go out for weeks in little rickety boats with just weapons and water and eat raw fish they catch and keep hijacking bigger then bigger, then bigger boats.

These terrorist monkeys must be exterminated with extreme prejudice. Sending several drones into their camps when they're fat and happy celebrating their new money should do the trick.

Lots of great Pirate coverage over at Dinah Lord:
Somalian Gov't Charges Pirate Negotiator Andrew Mwangura
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absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
don't exterminate pirates

seizing ships for ransom
everybody gets rich

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absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
let pirates operate

you will get cut of ransom
and maybe some weapons too

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Philosophy of Liberty Cartoon
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Help Halt Terrorism Today!
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:)
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