Daylife/AP Photo by William S. Stevens
|
| MV Sirus Star anchored off Somalia coast after hijacking |
As dawn breaks over the Indian Ocean each morning, elders in Somali pirate bases sip strong coffee and clutch mobile phones to their ears, eager to hear the latest from the gunmen out at sea.
Have any more ships been hijacked or ransom talks concluded? Any news of the Western warships hunting them?
Last weekend’s spectacular capture of a Saudi Arabian supertanker loaded with oil worth $100 million has jacked up the stakes in what is probably the only growth industry in the failed Horn of Africa state.
Massive ransoms have brought rapid development to former fishing villages that now thrive with business and boast new beachside hotels, patronized by cash-rich buccaneers who have become local celebrities virtually overnight…
Just three years ago, maritime security experts estimated there were just five Somali pirate groups and fewer than 100 gunmen in total. Now they think there are more than 1,200…
The biggest lure now, of course, is the vast ransoms being paid for captured ships. Kenya says it thinks the pirates have received more than $150 million this year alone.
Next, they’ll be joining country clubs, invited to meetings in Davos.
I saw a special about this a few years ago. I also found it interesting that the ship owners were dead set against arming the ships.
I would think that a TOW anti-tank missile in the hands of the crew would ruin most pirates day since they mostly stick with AK-47’s and unguided RPG’s.
I understand the theory that these owners are operating under, that by arming the crew it would make matters worse, but the fact is right now the pirates see a huge unarmed target that they can pretty much take with ease. If that doesn’t change in some way, this will only get worse.
International shipping demonstrates one of the basic rules of law enforcement. In this case, a ship captain expects protection from the country of the flag he flies.
Many ships fly a Panama flag – its cheapest to register and they have very lax shipping rules. But you don’t get much protection from the Panama navy.
If you fly a US flag, you can (and will) get protection from the US navy. It may come too late, but they will go after the people eventually. But it’s expensive to register as a US-flagged ship, and there are lots of rules.
For example, if you have a US flag, then you are agreeing to allow inspections and be boarded by US coast guard or navy – at any time. If you’re shipping scud missiles to Iran, you probably don’t want to allow this.
Same for ships which fly British or French flags.
And if your ship is in international waters (and has a non-US flag) then you can’t expect any protection from the US navy. And the US navy won’t give you any.
In effect, you pay protection money to one country. The Somali pirates are not going after US flagged ships. They know they don’t want to fight the US navy. The oil tanker is Saudi-owned. I don’t know what country flag it is registered with.
If the Saudis pay off the pirates, and presumably agree to an ongoing payment (in exchange for not be attacked any more) that is like getting a “Somali pirate” flag for the ship. It shows that you’ve paid the protection fee, and so they won’t touch you. (You hope.)
The problem is, there are lots of pirates, and then aren’t very good at keeping agreements. So the Saudis (and others) could hire Blackwater (privateteers) and get their protection that way.
The US navy (or the Russians) could also bomb the pirate port out of existence. However, that would be an act of war against Somalia. And probably not too effective, since other pirates could just start operating from somewhere else.
The pirates that have the ship do not seem to be too greedy. They are only asking for $25 million for a ship with cargo estimated at $100 million.
It’s as if the governments of the world have practised redistribution for so long they’ve forgotten how to prevent it.
Hey! Obama would approve. They are letting the ship owners “share the wealth”, and giving a hand to the less fortunate nations of the world. See? Marxism at work. The ends justify the means. Besides, the leftists are all going to be driving the Chevy Volt after they shovel tons of cash down GM’s gaping maw, so who the hell needs that nasty, global-warming oil?
# 2 chuck said, “If you fly a US flag, you can (and will) get protection from the US navy. It may come too late, but they will go after the people eventually.”
The pirates leave US flagged ships alone. Pretty smart.
Did anyone mention – by the way – that perhaps one of the reasons the Somalis turned to piracy is that their waters have been overfished and killed by illegal fishing? I doubt if any one thinks it important – except the Somalis. No, it is not an excuse for piracy, but i think the scenario for some would have been if you can’t get fish, you might as well take up piracy. There sure ain’t no fishing boats out there now.
lets see..
Oil worth $100 million on a ship HOLDING how much oil?
180k – 500k TONS..
36,000K-100,000k lbs
11.1 million gallons of OIL BEFORE processing to FUEL/oil/diesel/tar/pesticides/..
And we cant enter into a Sovereign countries waters, without permission..
#5 – Digby
It’s idiots like you that made giving Dumbya and the neocons the bums’ rush so easy.
Keep up the good work.
#2 – Chuck
>>The oil tanker is Saudi-owned. I don’t know
>>what country flag it is registered with.
Liberia.
#11 – thanks.
Ok, so the Liberian navy can respond.
And now should be the time for our Saudi buddies to start re-flagging their ships with US flags.
This is ridicules. Do you have any idea what a 5 inch naval round can do to a speed boat? They know where this crowd operates out of, deliver some payback pay back in the form of an air strike. There’s enough going on in the world, this crap can be stopped overnight.
Mr Mus-tard…
Don’t you mean;
Mr RE-tard?
I wonder if these pirates have an unkown benefactor country.
It sounds like a great business to be into, I wonder if they have a web site?
Interesting article with a bit of the pirates take on the whole thing:
http://tinyurl.com/5fb2dd
Thanks for the bit about Pirates 1.0.
Have a look at Pirates 2.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65Vkqcrfh9A
#18 – S&B
>>Have a look at Pirates 2.0
I liked Gene Hunter’s better. Kookie Alex Jones lost with with his nonsense about how the Federal Reserve is “fully private” and “for-profit”.
Kinda surprised to see you pimping for a guy that most people consider a whach job, but Russia Today calls “an investigative journalist”. I guess the Rooskies like what he has to say.
#17 – Gene Hunter
Asad Booyah” Abdulahi says “For example, if we get $1.8m, we would send $380,000 to the investment man who gives us cash to fund the missions, and then divide the rest between us.“.
I wonder if that “investment man” would be Jim Cramer. Skee-daddy!!
Somalia has untapped oil reserves. No shit….
How many sheep swallow the load our propaganda machine feeds them…. more than 51% apparently.
Doesn’t Call of Duty 4 have this exact scenario at the beginning?
Kidding aside, I am sure a SEAL team in the dead of night would make short work of this Pirates, just a lot to consider big picture wise…
Sounds like the Indian Navy had the right idea. Blow the mother ship out of the water.
Maybe I watch too much TV but couldn’t a well-trained and armed SWAT team pretty easily re-take the ship without blowing it up are killing too many non-pirates?
#19 – Mister Mustard
Everything Alex said, like it or not, is fact.
Perhaps you missed this interview with Greenspan where he admits The FEDERAL RESERVE Is Above The Law & Answers To No One.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol3mEe8TH7w
If The FEDERAL RESERVE was part of the GOVERNMENT do you believe he would make such a statement?
Fast forward to 7:40 to hear the comment.
For a mere 100 Billion I will guarantee the pirates go away.
#23
“Sounds like the Indian Navy had the right idea. Blow the mother ship out of the water.”
Heard the pirates got some Indian sailors and vessels. Serves ’em right. I would love to see a video of that act!! A 5-inch naval shell traveling up the backsides of the pirate mother-shippers!
The problem with arming the ships is that soldiers are are expensive, much more expensive than your Pakistani deck hand.
It is all fun and games until someone gets a little drunk and decides that the pilot ship is really a raider. Also, if you arm the sailors, who are you going hire to keep them in line and stop them from killing the officers who represent the company that mistreats them?
Of course the answer really is that hijack insurance was cheaper than paying to arm the ships because no one really went after the big boys.
Due to the destruction of the Somali government, coastal regulation disappeared and foreign fishing raiders came in and destroyed the habitat. The pirates came out of the resulting irregular coast guard that were scaring off/shaking down fishing raiders.
What will happen now is that the house of Saud will, through several intermediaries, bring in the jackals that will probably just kill everyone that lives in a coastal fishing village. I am sure the Ukraine or Russia has some coastal bombardment capable ships they are willing to part with.
#25 – Stars & Bars
>>Is Above The Law & Answers To No One.
>>If The FEDERAL RESERVE was part of the
>>GOVERNMENT do you believe he would make such
>>a statement
Sure. After all, Dumbya and President Cheney/Rove made just that statement. Why do you think they broke the law with impunity, and then ignored subpoenas? Or are you saying that only private enterprises, like the war-profiteering mercenaries of Blackhawk, are really “above the law & answer to no one”?
As to the Fed, it was created in 1913 by the Congressional passage of the Federal Reserve Act, the Board of Governors and its Chairman are appointed by the president, and the regional Federal Reserve banks act as fiscal agents for the US Treasury department.
The fact that there are some “private” components to the Fed is the result of the Gummint partially caving in to the ultra-rich banking industry and Wall Street, which wanted to keep America’s central bank in their own grubby little hands.
We’ve seen how well that worked out!
You can get a bullhorn and bellow “FOR PROFIT ENTERPRISE! PRIVATE ENTERPRISE!” all you like, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a government