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2008-11-17 Africa Horn

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Posted by Fred 2008-11-17 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 At over a million bucks ransom per ship this has to be the number one economic activity in Somalia.

Posted by Glenmore 2008-11-17 07:43|| 2008-11-17 07:43|| Front Page Top

#2 One would feel rather stupid trying to grow corn there, eh ...

Posted by Steve White 2008-11-17 09:11|| 2008-11-17 09:11|| Front Page Top

#3 Looks like they've "kicked it up a notch." FOXnoise reported this morning that the pirates had captured an oil tanker.

Posted by Besoeker 2008-11-17 09:39|| 2008-11-17 09:39|| Front Page Top

#4 Time to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear (circa 1700 - 1900) and treat pirates to a dose of the yard arm.

This idea that the genteel, PC manners we use with each other work with everyone is absurd.

Merchant ships should be armed and / or private protection companies should be chartered to end this sh**. Don't warn them, blow them out of the water at the first sign of trouble. And videotape everything.

Posted by AlanC 2008-11-17 09:47|| 2008-11-17 09:47|| Front Page Top

#5 At over a million bucks ransom per ship this has to be the number one economic activity in Somalia.

Perhaps. I suspect only a small portion of the money stays there.

Posted by Pappy 2008-11-17 11:45|| 2008-11-17 11:45|| Front Page Top

#6 Pappy,So what are your speculations on where that money does go? Kickbacks to 'negotiators'? 'Tithe' to Religion of Pieces?

Posted by Glenmore 2008-11-17 12:53|| 2008-11-17 12:53|| Front Page Top

#7 So what are your speculations on where that money does go? Kickbacks to 'negotiators'? 'Tithe' to Religion of Pieces?

WAG? Islamic organized crime syndicate. Money to the places you mentioned, plus other 'pockets'.

Posted by Pappy 2008-11-17 14:33|| 2008-11-17 14:33|| Front Page Top

#8 It is far past time for a good glassing of the Somali coast.

Posted by DarthVader 2008-11-17 15:15|| 2008-11-17 15:15|| Front Page Top

#9 Any indication they know what they are pirating? Not all cargo is equally valuable nor is it all insured. Ransoms may be profitable but what happens when they get really dangerous stuff, like the Russian weapons and Iranian WMD's? With 63 incidents total in the Gulf of Aden this year, considering the high traffic in this sealane, the odds don't seem to be entirely coincidental to me.

Posted by Thealing Borgia 122 2008-11-17 15:23|| 2008-11-17 15:23|| Front Page Top

#10 Dispatch the Ninjas!

Posted by mojo">mojo 2008-11-17 16:07|| 2008-11-17 16:07|| Front Page Top

#11 With 63 incidents total in the Gulf of Aden this year, considering the high traffic in this sealane, the odds don't seem to be entirely coincidental to me.

Suez Canal is a chokepoint; so is the opening of the Gulf of Aden. Wouldn't take much to station someone at both ends, or to bribe a canal employee, someone in a shipping and/or government office anywhere from Europe, down to Kenya.

Posted by Pappy 2008-11-17 16:14|| 2008-11-17 16:14|| Front Page Top

#12 I am surprised that a combo of private/naval muscle hasn't been assembled to smash these idiots. Shouldn't be too hard.

I recall way back in the mid-70s the Philippines OK'd a Malaysian air strike on a pirate nest in their territory after an ambitious bunch had seized Lahad Datu in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo for a day (the bullet holes were still over the bank door when I was there in '93). Seems like pirate-plinking (both naval and land assets) would be mighty good (and fun!) practice for US and other forces (other forces will exist, don't they? or has the RN been tied up for lack of funds, and the NATO toy navies run down their AAA batteries?)

Posted by Verlaine 2008-11-17 23:21|| 2008-11-17 23:21|| Front Page Top

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