somali pirates hijack Americans' yacht

[Duchess]

Am I too mean?

I started a thread once quite awhile ago & it was about who is responsible for the stupid people. Do we owe them? Is it up to us to save them from themselves? WTF.

[Duchess]

There also is a military presence in that area. I don't understand with all of the radar, airplanes and other technology, that no one can seem to catch/kill these motherfuckers.

Then that should tell you something right there. There's your answer.

[Mohammed]

Since it is my neighbourhood, let me try and educate you clearly ignorant infidels about Somalia and its Piracy.

Not even so many years ago Somalia was a wonderful holiday destination for Europe just like Phuket, Bali or Goa. In a matter of a week all of that changed. Since then it is chaos. Chaos sponsored by many of the world powers to be. Why? Because there are large oil fields in Somalia which few people know. So it is handy to keep that chaos going until one of the powers is ready to enter. Which most probably will happen once Iraq is well secured.

Anyway, during this period of chaos some effort went into trying to bring some order as well. Not so much around the Mogadishu area but more so in Somaliland and Puntland, as those are the gateways out of the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean and handle about 30% of all world wide shipping. Mogadishu is down south and does not matter, so who cares if the people down there keep shooting their heads off. Such is not the case with the north due to the money travelling past it right in front of their beaches.

Djibouti is a small dot right next to Somaliland and since many years the headquarters for most of the navies as well as the hottest training ground for the Foreign Legion. In the office of the US Navy is a sign that reads "Welcome to the waiting room to Hell". It is VERY hot!

So once upon a time all those people in charge of those Navies, mainly the Presidents and /or Prime Ministers of America, England, France and Italy decided to start a nice little sort of local Navy in Somalia. A Coast Guard equipped with Fibreglass boats and 60hp outboard engines. Why? Because some of those cheeky little Chinks and Koreans decided that since there is plenty of chaos in that country, they could just come and fish what is there. Without license or any kind of fees going to the country.

From the other side you had those big ships hired by those mean and evil corporate people who decided that since there is plenty of chaos in that country, they could just dump any sort of waste right there onto the beach. No matter if chemical or nuclear, anything that's disgusting and kills you dead, ship it there. So they did.

Somalia has one of the richest fishing grounds in the world plus the largest coast line of Africa. So there was plenty of space for everybody, just not the Somali's. And they got angry. Obviously. You would be pissed off too if you not only feel hungry cos all your coast is empty but do so with a rather suspicious green glow streaming out of you, turning you into one of those sticks the army people brake to give them light at night.

However, now there was suddenly a small fraction that was not only a bunch of local fishermen but actually had received some training in how to approach and board larger vessels with their little fibreglass boats. And that is how it all started.

First they just wanted to run after those evil foreign vessels taking advantage of that wonderful chaos in their country and make them go away, until one bright chap had this brilliant flash of genius while looking at one of those boats and going "But hey, fuck going sho sho, go away ... that thing looks like it's worth some money!!"

And yes indeed, it sure was.

The irony is that just like Bin Laden and good ole Saddam, these people where trained or groomed by the West.

First it was purely the fishermen people who took on this new and highly lucrative profession, and traditionally they took care of their hostages and their health. Of course they did, those are the main inventory after all. Most of the ransom is paid for the people and not the ships, unless it is one of those super tankers of course. So they made sure that their hostages were in good shape, and after a short time you could find restaurants along Puntlands beaches serving Russian, European and Asian food.

However, even so being a very large piece of beach, Somalia's community is rather small, obviously since most have been shot, hence news travelling really fast.

And just like with any good and clean racket, once it becomes public knowledge, every Tom, Dick and Harry tries to get into it and simply spoils the well kept and preserved image. So once the boys from Mogadishu got to know about a few millions to be made by simply jumping out in a slightly larger rowing boat with an RPG strapped to your back, there was no holding them back anymore. The bad elements of hostage taking had arrived and all the honourable Gentlemeness had all but vanished from a once respectable and distinguished profession that could make you very rich in the matter of 3 months. For that was how long it usually took for the ransom to arrive.

Not only that, now you had all those navies suddenly go mad for you too. Of course it makes one nervous. No more relaxing lunches or dinners with the captured crew on board a luxury yacht. No more relaxing hours in a Jaccuzzi with the scrumptious female service team while lazzily cruising thru the ocean. Oh no, now it is all stress and mental strain. You would be pissed of too!

But here is the best. A lot of the security companies making now millions by providing security for all those ships are the same chaps that trained those boys all that time ago in the first place!

Well, just like Bin Laden and Saddam I guess.

[BlueTiki]

Not even so many years ago Somalia was a wonderful holiday destination for Europe just like Phuket, Bali or Goa. In a matter of a week all of that changed. Since then it is chaos. Chaos sponsored by many of the world powers to be. Why? Because there are large oil fields in Somalia which few people know. So it is handy to keep that chaos going until one of the powers is ready to enter.

Cliff Note Version:

The leaders of Somalia sold out their people.

The people blame the the "West" and captialism for their plight . . . not their leaders.

Therefore, they feel justified, condone and are complicit in piracy.

I just wish they would dress like Captain Jack.

Or sport a parrot and a Jolly Roger.

Skinnys with AKs and rubber rafts look gay.

[Lady Cop]

not pirates this time. Jesus, my first thought was Daniel Pearl. :(

CNN
Four journalists for The New York Times are missing in Libya, the newspaper said Wednesday on its website.

The Times said the missing journalists are Anthony Shadid, the paper's Beirut bureau chief and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner; Stephen Farrell, a reporter and videographer who was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2009 and rescued by British commandos; and two photographers, Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario.

"We have talked with officials of the Libyan government in Tripoli, and they tell us they are attempting to ascertain the whereabouts of our journalists," executive editor Bill Keller said. "We are grateful to the Libyan government for their assurance that if our journalists were captured they would be released promptly and unharmed."

The paper identified the journalists as Anthony Shadid, its bureau chief in Beirut, Lebanon, and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for foreign reporting; Stephen Farrell, a reporter and videographer who was kidnapped by the Taliban and rescued by British commandos in 2009; and Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario, photographers who have covered the Middle East and Africa.

"Their families and their colleagues at The Times are anxiously seeking information about their situation, and praying that they are safe," Keller said.

Libyan government forces told CNN Wednesday they have no information about where the journalists may be and said that, if they were picked up by the Libyan military, they would be returned to Tripoli.

Shadid was shot in the shoulder by the Israeli Army in Ramallah in the spring of 2002.

Farrell routinely reports from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Before joining The New York Times in 2007, he worked for the Times of London. In April 2004, he was kidnapped on assignment in Falluja, Iraq.

Hicks, a staffer for the paper, is based in Istanbul and has served as an embed in Afghanistan.

[Cynical Ninja]

Since it is my neighbourhood, let me try and educate you clearly ignorant infidels about Somalia and its Piracy.

Not even so many years ago Somalia was a wonderful holiday destination for Europe just like Phuket, Bali or Goa. In a matter of a week all of that changed. Since then it is chaos. Chaos sponsored by many of the world powers to be. Why? Because there are large oil fields in Somalia which few people know. So it is handy to keep that chaos going until one of the powers is ready to enter. Which most probably will happen once Iraq is well secured.

Anyway, during this period of chaos some effort went into trying to bring some order as well. Not so much around the Mogadishu area but more so in Somaliland and Puntland, as those are the gateways out of the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean and handle about 30% of all world wide shipping. Mogadishu is down south and does not matter, so who cares if the people down there keep shooting their heads off. Such is not the case with the north due to the money travelling past it right in front of their beaches.

Djibouti is a small dot right next to Somaliland and since many years the headquarters for most of the navies as well as the hottest training ground for the Foreign Legion. In the office of the US Navy is a sign that reads "Welcome to the waiting room to Hell". It is VERY hot!

So once upon a time all those people in charge of those Navies, mainly the Presidents and /or Prime Ministers of America, England, France and Italy decided to start a nice little sort of local Navy in Somalia. A Coast Guard equipped with Fibreglass boats and 60hp outboard engines. Why? Because some of those cheeky little Chinks and Koreans decided that since there is plenty of chaos in that country, they could just come and fish what is there. Without license or any kind of fees going to the country.

From the other side you had those big ships hired by those mean and evil corporate people who decided that since there is plenty of chaos in that country, they could just dump any sort of waste right there onto the beach. No matter if chemical or nuclear, anything that's disgusting and kills you dead, ship it there. So they did.

Somalia has one of the richest fishing grounds in the world plus the largest coast line of Africa. So there was plenty of space for everybody, just not the Somali's. And they got angry. Obviously. You would be pissed off too if you not only feel hungry cos all your coast is empty but do so with a rather suspicious green glow streaming out of you, turning you into one of those sticks the army people brake to give them light at night.

However, now there was suddenly a small fraction that was not only a bunch of local fishermen but actually had received some training in how to approach and board larger vessels with their little fibreglass boats. And that is how it all started.

First they just wanted to run after those evil foreign vessels taking advantage of that wonderful chaos in their country and make them go away, until one bright chap had this brilliant flash of genius while looking at one of those boats and going "But hey, fuck going sho sho, go away ... that thing looks like it's worth some money!!"

And yes indeed, it sure was.

The irony is that just like Bin Laden and good ole Saddam, these people where trained or groomed by the West.

First it was purely the fishermen people who took on this new and highly lucrative profession, and traditionally they took care of their hostages and their health. Of course they did, those are the main inventory after all. Most of the ransom is paid for the people and not the ships, unless it is one of those super tankers of course. So they made sure that their hostages were in good shape, and after a short time you could find restaurants along Puntlands beaches serving Russian, European and Asian food.

However, even so being a very large piece of beach, Somalia's community is rather small, obviously since most have been shot, hence news travelling really fast.

And just like with any good and clean racket, once it becomes public knowledge, every Tom, Dick and Harry tries to get into it and simply spoils the well kept and preserved image. So once the boys from Mogadishu got to know about a few millions to be made by simply jumping out in a slightly larger rowing boat with an RPG strapped to your back, there was no holding them back anymore. The bad elements of hostage taking had arrived and all the honourable Gentlemeness had all but vanished from a once respectable and distinguished profession that could make you very rich in the matter of 3 months. For that was how long it usually took for the ransom to arrive.

Not only that, now you had all those navies suddenly go mad for you too. Of course it makes one nervous. No more relaxing lunches or dinners with the captured crew on board a luxury yacht. No more relaxing hours in a Jaccuzzi with the scrumptious female service team while lazzily cruising thru the ocean. Oh no, now it is all stress and mental strain. You would be pissed of too!

But here is the best. A lot of the security companies making now millions by providing security for all those ships are the same chaps that trained those boys all that time ago in the first place!

Well, just like Bin Laden and Saddam I guess.

Please don't spoil this thread with eloquently written historical facts and home truths that some fuckwits find hard to stomach.

Most of the problems in the world if you track their history are the fault of a meddling European country or the US. We go in, fuck the place up then complain when the locals get homicidal on our ass.

Even Al Qaeda is a creation of the CIA, the CIA taught the locals in Afghanistan that the Russian invasion was an attack on their religion as well as their homeland, result = fundamentallist homicidal Islamic fuckholes.

Osama Bin Ladan himself was a CIA asset known as Tim Osman for years.

[shitstorm]

Mohammed, great post!

Quite a few years ago I read about the dumping of dangerous waste off the Somali coast, and I was sympathetic to the original pirates because they said they wanted the ransom money to clean up the coast. Well, looks like that quickly got put on the back burner when the big bucks rolled in and lifestyle took a priority.

I didn't know about the joint govt endeavor in the creation of the "coast guard", nor the French Foreign Legion. I'd like a good read on that history.

All that aside, the seas are considered international. In many ways, for private boaters, they are the last bastion of real freedom. Though I'm not a sailor, I can really relate to their love of ocean travel. Though I'm a small govt, anti-interventionist, some things require war. This and Mexico are the two only legit wars the US should take up. After the American Revolution, this country's first war was against north African (Barbary Coast) pirates! I can't speak for other countries but the US should start bombing every fucking pirate vessel that takes to the water. Shame we're bombing the shit out of places that we have no business being involved in. Defending the right to travel by sea is a justifiable cause.

I agree with everyone that sailing/boating through this region is a life threatening choice. This should not be allowed to continue any more than allowing airline hijackings should be.

[Mohammed]

The area has become a political playground by now. The most amazing and shoking part was how far the pirates suddenly managed to move out. The area is seriously huge and by now they capture ships closer to India than Africa.

We hear many funny stories here, such as foreign vessels actually supplying them with petrol and assistance at sea. And those foreign vessels are Navy!

One of the problems in international waters is that if they capture a Danish vessel for instance, an American Navy ship can follow them but is not allowed to board it. Kind of like a crime is happening in Kopenhagen and the FBI would come to sort it out. Doesn't work like that.

However, by now each side has become way more aggressive. Especially the Asian navies don't mind shooting themselves a few Somali's, and since the American's shot those guys who held that captain captive in that rescue vessel, which I still wonder how on earth they did it, and if you have ever seen one of those fully enclosed rescue capsules you'll know what I mean, also the Somali's have become much more rough.

If you are from one of the fishing communities along the coast, you traditionally grow up with a great sense of respect and hospitality, but if you are from Mogadishu you really don't give the slightest fuck about human life. By now the locals are actually taking action against their own pirate "brothers" because it totally spoils their traditional life style. Now suddenly you have a bunch of 19 - 20 year old "Hey ho Getto Gangsta's" streaming along the coast in their new and shiny Hummer's from Dubai who look like right out of a 50 Cent video, with loads of cash in their pockets and picking up all the chicks they can, thereby very much detroying the traditional culture and rites of the country, which especially the elders don't want to put up with anymore.

The creation of the coast guard was something really funny and it was one of the British security chaps who told me that story here as he was very much part of it. In the early days of the Piracy many times the trainer who now accompanied the ships as a Security Officer knew one or two of the boys in the capturing boats as they where trained by him, which most of the time ended with friendly greetings like long lost friends.

And since then the Pirates provide a good business. Just ask the Security and Insurance companies.

[shitstorm]

Interesting. Gangsta pirates. It seems we have the gangsta problem all over the world. Of course, then we have gangsters who train them and they just happen to be our corrupt governments.

Mohammed, what country are you in?

[Cynical Ninja]

The CIA are one of the biggest drug dealing organisations in the world.

[Cynical Ninja]

I think Mohammed is in the Yemen who are now part of the "axis of evil" because of some lone nut with firecrackers up his ass or something.

[Mohammed]

Yes, I'm in this dreadfully delightful sandbox of strangely tranquil madness called Yemen.

Truly magnificent and breathtakingly dumb at the same time is the only way to describe our somewhat controversial country. At the moment it is slightly simmering but today the shit hit the fan here in the capital called Sana'a and I am curious what the next two weeks will bring. Inshalla I guess.

That lone nut with the firecracker up his ass must be the CIA I believe, for it is amazing that it suddenly happens all over the Arab world. Or at least 70% of it. Of course there is also the story of that poor boy in Tunisia who had a University degree but choose to run a vegetable store as nobody apparently needed any Engineers over there. And once the Police came and destroyed his little collection of Tomatoes and Potatoes he so carryingly set up, there was no holding back this young man with his clearly tremendous passion for vegetables and fruit. Watching his beloved greens go up in flames he very much choose the same path, as seeing no future whatsoever he set fire to himself. Some would call it sympathy pains.

And apparently that was the spark that set fire under the Arabs ass all across the Arab's lands. Yeah right!

Once a wise Minister standing next to me while we where watching young students being butchered below us in another country told me after my remark of "My, my, look at all those strong willed young people trying to get rid of their country leader." since we saw them going on and on for a week, he told me "My friend, do you believe if nobody brings them water or food, they would last a single day in this tropical heat?!"

What he ment was simply that it cost somebody about 500k a day to keep these kids on the road, thereby changing the countries leadership. Puppets.

So why would people suddenly scream for a change in such places like Oman, Bahrain or even Qatar?! For God's sake, Qatar just got the World Cup with an average salary level of 5k per month and Bahrain is supposed to hold a Grand Prix shortly with being the most liberated spot in the sand since ages. Oman? It's doing fabulous and is gorgeous. Apart from it's women so. They are hideous and I could fully understand if the nation would revolt against its women. That yes, but it's Government? Surely not.

[Cynical Ninja]

MI5 (Britains own fucked up interior intelligence agency) predicted Yemen as a possible future hotspot for terrorist activity and lo and behold a lone nut and his vegetable garden show up with some fertilizer and a BB gun or some shit.

Good intelligence?, coincidence? or something more sinister?

[shitstorm]

Something more sinister

[Cynical Ninja]

Something more sinister

Oh I agree.

MI5 and MI6 are just as complicit in as much secret fucked up shit as the CIA.

[BlueTiki]

Yes, I'm in this dreadfully delightful sandbox of strangely tranquil madness called Yemen.

Hey, Mo.

I hate to ask you a personal favor, but . . .

the toner cartridges I ordered over two months ago, haven't arrived.

Any help on your end would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Tiki -

[Mohammed]

The Brit's are actually the most paranoid of all the Embassy staff here. The funny reason is that they are the easiest target really. The Embassy is located in a spot which has a single road leading to it, so any brainless idiots can just stand at the side of it and wait for one of their cars to drive by. Which they did.

Lucky thing was that the RPG arms itself after a certain distance, which it didn't have. So the car was simply rocked by the impact. But even without the explosion, what an impact it was.

A few weeks after we have a Jordanian throwing a grenade under a car in front of one of our Pizza joints with 4 CIA agents inside. A smoke grenade!

This led to the popular jokes of either Al Qaida having a good laugh about the Jordanian they fucked up by supplying him with some sort of new year toy or the owner of the competition Pizza place down the road being behind this evil yet truly dimwitted attack.

Well, if they would shoot at me with RPG's, I'd be slightly paranoid too!

[shitstorm]

Mohammed, are you with the State Dept? I hate the State Dept.

Back around the time that the US sent some drones to (bomb?) Yemen, I cruised Google images to see what it looked like. Dismal. Scary and dirty looking men, and couldn't see a woman's face in any pics. Most bizarre looking architecture I've ever seen. Looked like another planet.

WTF are you doing there?

[Mohammed]

No, I am not working with any kind of government, but I have a lot to do with them. Plus it is actually a very small community here, sort of like a larger village.

Yes, Yemen got for sure its very own kind of architecture, somewhat resembling large Gingerbread houses.





This is the old city of Sana'a. A living museum and currently part of one of the most significant renovations on our planet, as a team from Europe is restoring the old Mosque, which was build when Mohammed was still alive.



Apparently the city was founded by one of Noah's sons, and I fully believe that as it is pretty much the same as one of the survivors of the Japanese Tsunami going ahead and looking for a safe spot to build his next house where not a drop of water can reach him.

Yemen is a very historical place with the earliest sky scrapers, dating back a thousand years, the first large Dam, and got a truly fascinating landscape. The people are great and have a great sense of respect and hospitality.

No, you will not find any local woman on a picture. It is considered very impolite to take any picture of the women here. However, once I start putting up pics you might be surprised just what sort of life style we're living here

[Duchess]

I watched a program once that showed what some of those chicks were wearing under their burkas & they were dressed in high fashion, very expensive fashion & the ones that were profiled were carrying Hermes bags. I never again felt sorry for them having to be so covered up all the time.