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And Now For Something Completely Different

By dcmediagirl on November 18, 2008 at 9:00 PM in Current Affairs

I don’t know about all of you, but I could go for a change of subject right about now. Maybe you all can help me get to the bottom of something that’s had me perplexed for a few weeks now.

Topic: Somali pirates.

As I understand it, this is how the Long John Silvers of the 21st century operate:

1. Pile a ragtag crew into a small rowboat. Lock and load weapons.
2. Float around for a while until target is spotted.
3. With relative ease, board an enormous ship.
4. Hold the crew for ransom. This could go on for weeks.
5. Get millions of dollars.
6. After delivery of the cash, gather motley crew together and reboard rowboat.
7. Row away.
8. Repeat as necessary.

Now, a few questions about the logistics of such a caper:

How the hell do a handful of guys take over a ship?
How do they board the ship? Does the ship’s crew help out by lowering a ladder?
If the ransom, is, say, $10 million, do they only take cash money? If so, how do they transport all that cash in the rowboat with the other pirates? Doesn’t all that money weigh a lot?
Do they accept money wired into an account, or is that too high tech?
Why do so few of these pirates get arrested or killed? Wouldn’t it make sense to blow them up as they’re rowing away with the cash?
Given the piracy threat in the Gulf of Aden and, oh, anywhere in the vicinity of AFRICA, wouldn’t you think that the crews on these freighters would be armed by now?
Am I imagining things, or does all this sound way too easy? And what do the guys do with the money? Who gets a cut? Who’s backing these “pirates”?

Discuss.

http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

The prates have found an easy way to extort money. By focusing on high level products such as oil instead of human cargo makes it easier for shipping companies to pay ransom
tampagurl

I have been wondering the same thing. My husband and I were talking about this tonight. I was wondering why war ships aren’t on patrol somewhere near Somalia so they could be contacted and maybe escorted through the area.

Me thinks something stinks!!!!
http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

DC..How the hell do a handful of guys take over a ship?
How do they board the ship? Does the ship’s crew help out by lowering a ladder?

The pirates have found a weak link in the supply chain.
The same as terrorist’s taking over a plane with box cutters. The Somali pirates take over a ship that is unarmed with merchant marine who are untrained in counter terrorism.
The pirates use grappling hooks and rope ladders and have high powered weapons being used in military fashion.
The only way to stop this is to change the structure of ships with guns and armed military or add escorts which will add to the cost of shipping.

Another sign of the coming resources wars world wide.
http://none maq

Notice that Somalia shares their southern border with KENYA.

It is Obama and cousin Odingas’ problem.

Then again maybe this is the start of the African War Obama is gonna get into.
Doc99

ARRRRGGGHHH!!!
http://www.wewillnotbesilenced2008.com OBAMA IS A FRAUD

This is the exact problem with Fraudbama and his loyalties. He is Kenyan. What’s he going to do to these kind of pirates? Send them champagne? Slap their wrists? Ughhh…Get ready for some really wacked out geopolitics.
AF catfish

LATimes has a good piece on this http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pirates31-2008oct31,0,649768.story

When one young thug complains that a $5,000 deduction for disobeying an order is “illegal,” the old man snaps back: “Even the $15,000 you are getting is illegal! It’s all stolen!”

Rampant piracy is the latest, strangest and by far the most lucrative survival technique employed by Somalia’s desperate populace, which has struggled without a functioning government since 1991. Seizing boats on the high seas along this lawless Horn of Africa nation is turning once-quiet fishing villages such as Haradhere into Mafia-style dens of greed and vice.
tampagurl

I heard something briefly a few weeks ago when the media managed to talk about something other than how wonderful Obama is. Those pirates seized a ship with sensitive material on board and the Brits and U.S. were working together to get the stuff back.

Something is wrong folks. Why are these pirates allowed to do this? Who is protecting them? Why don’t we hear more about this? Could it be for the same reason Obama was sheltered by the media?
pumaforever

Great topic–great questions. Can’t the US military just pull a submarine right up along side them as they attempt their getaway and blow them out of the water? The money will sink but we can print more (it’s the answer to all our problems, after all).
LisaB

Well, I also understand that these ships typically are huge but have limited crew. They don’t require a lot of people to run and those people may be spread out in a ship the size of some aircraft carriers. Without weapons. If you know how they operate and distribute the crew, it might be very doable to overwhelm that crew and take the ship.

For now, it seems as if the targeted companies are considering the pirates a cost of doing business.
pumaforever

(We then get a little discount on the oil!)
sevan

Looks like sharing the wealth. Obama wants to do piracy with “big oil” what is the difference?
goldengrahme

Upon a quick read of the lead-in to this post,
I thought the author was referring to corporate pirates–robbery most foul pulled off with impunity. It was, I mused, a rather interesting approach.

Now, getting down to cases; are the pirates in
question Muslim? If so, it would certainly
address the why–why they can rob a merchant
ship at will without fear of reprisal or international uproar.

It is more than a little curious how Islam is
beginning to infiltrate and upend Western societies from Denmark to the U.S. I don’t want to get classified as a bigot but I am alarmed. I have
listened to many expats from extreme Islam, now reveling in the freedom democracy enhances.
They seem to validate my concern.

I speak in particular of Wafa Sultan–Syrian-
American psychiatrist–who rages against the
misogyny and violence of a religion she says cannot be moderated. Its very foundations are rooted in
fundamentalist theology. And the theology is rooted in politics–no separation of church and state.

Is it not politically correct to address this
explosive issue, just as we are not allowed to
express concerns about Obama on grounds of
his race? I don’t think any topic is out of
bounds; how do we settle dilemmas if we are
thrasing around blindfolded? I accept anyone
who comes in peace. Can’t I draw the line at
piracy?
barry bums a ciggie

90 hijackings of cargo ships this year alone (mostly Somali pirates). Today, the story off of the Danish newspaper is that the cargo ship fought off the pirates with water hose and foam spray. $10M in ransom, that’s some serious pay out if one can get it. Make you wonder if there aren’t some fat cats in that country organizing these gangs of pirates.
La Compania Volante

The laws of many of the nations where these ships home port or call in prohibit them from carrying any weapons, much less military weapons.

The Somali pirates are groups selected from blooded fighters/warriors, even though one really couldn’t call them soldiers. They’re armed with military grade weapons and ordinance.

The number of warship—ours, Russian, European–patrolling the area–big spread of water, that–is small.

Check out “Thomas Jefferson,” “Theodore Roosevelt,” “the Barbary Pirates,” and the U.S. Marine Corps anthem. This kind of piracy has been going on in that area, in one form or another, for a long time.
JJC

Yo-Ho-Ho!

Paying ransom only increased the troubles. Anyone with an 8th grade education can look into history and quickly conclude that rewarding lawless behavior can only encourage more of the same.

How did Jefferson handle the matter?
http://www.wewillnotbesilenced2008.com OBAMA IS A FRAUD

OVomit is a MUSLIM with his only loyalties being to Islam. Let’s get it out in the open. We ALL know it and HE ADMITTED IT. So, now what? Yup. It’s everything we all thought it was. Y’all better learn to speak Arabic and build some bunkers. It’s time.
http://www.wewillnotbesilenced2008.com OBAMA IS A FRAUD

By the time OVomit is done with oil and global politics we will be feeding his FRIENDS Chavez, etc. everything we own to get a drop of oil. Big tip. He likes THEM better than he likes US.
yttik

That’s a great question Dcmediagirl. I enjoyed reading your post.

Pirates are pretty sneaky. I don’t think it’s too odd that they have managed to pull this off. Things are different on the water. If you aren’t on alert, you could be fooled easily.

I have no idea how they row off with the money, LOL. I’m not even sure what a million dollars weighs, but that’s a good point.
TeakWoodKite

DC, the CBS radio report heard this afternoon stated that these pirates were 500 miles out to sea. Who is it that sails in what you describe as rowboats and over takes a 10 knot boat of that size?

Out in the Long Island Sound when I was kid, sailing in a 25 footer, ya could not dream of even getting close to those tankers. So what ever they have has room for stores, to BE out that far and a sea worthy motor. I have this image of larger support ships, rust buckets, running supply lines out to these “fast boats”. It is a basic picket line with radio coms.

I don’t get it myself. It was also reported that Admiral Mullen was “shocked”, for the life of me repelling borders is an ancient art, it seems, long forgotten.
MJ

There is always a loop hole, more crime happens than we probably even know about…
I think that we are lucky that our society is sort of brainwashed that you can’t do these things without getting caught..
There are still lawless areas in the world, I guess.

Now here is a thought…If we are suppose to believe that we can keep bombs out of the country, how do all the drugs get in here?