Somali pirates 2 sides to a story

[spookytooth]

http://viewzone.com/pirates.html

[rebel]

White guilt anyone?

Best wishes to the 16 y/o white girl who just set sail, solo around the world. Geez you know what these filthy bastards will be thinking.

[Dave Lobster]

There's always some excuse, isn't there?

[jackie]

That viewzone site looks pretty credible.

I loved the "Body, Mind & Spirit" section, it really revealed my hidden personality.

[spookytooth]

I've spent hours reading shit on viewzone over the years.Some real interesting stuff there
http://www.mondovista.com/mysticise/
and some good pics :)

[Street Gerbil]

It didn't take long. I had a brief look at their front page. My bullshitometer has gone kaboom and I am badly injured in the explosion. Please, somebody call an ambulance!

[Forest]

White guilt anyone?

Best wishes to the 16 y/o white girl who just set sail, solo around the world. Geez you know what these filthy bastards will be thinking.

Given that there's almost 5,000km between Cape Town and Mogadishu, I suspect they'll be thinking "How the hell will we get back to Somala?"

[peasea]

http://viewzone.com/pirates.html

But does this explain why Maoris act the way they do?
http://www.onenzfoundation.co.nz/

[paddy]

http://viewzone.com/pirates.html

All that was missing was the line at the bottom saying "forward this to everyone in your contact list"...

[spookytooth]

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/261147
http://somaliswiss.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/reports-suggest-european-companies-dump-toxic-waste-off-somalia-coast-after-paying-corrupt-somali-ministers-un-envoy-decries-waste-dumping-off-somalia
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=16517

[Jantar]

Somalia.....

Too poor to buy food for its people.
Too poor to buy materials for infrastructure.
Too poor to form even a basis of democracy.

But can have weapons and equipment that costs heaps.

[Swoop]

Somalia.....

But can have weapons and equipment that costs heaps.
Plus they don't want any stinkin' peacekeepers there, unless they need some targets to shoot at...

[Skyryder]

Not too sure if this link will work but essentially the Somali's have had their fishing grounds plunded.

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:L7n8gYwTuvQJ:www.ifrfish.org/Clinton-Piracy.pdf+Somali+fish

I saw a documentary of this some time ago. The Japanese even sent armed ships to protect their vessels.

Most of the so called pirates from Somalia are in fact impoverished fishermen forced by necessity into acts of piracy by the most powerful of motives - starvation! And the reason they are starving is because for years, European, Chinese and Japanese pirates have been illegally plundering the waters off the coast of Somalia. Hundreds of millions of dollars of fish have been looted from Somali water and the world did and does nothing to prevent it.

from

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x184854

Skyryder

[Street Gerbil]

from

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x184854
[/I]
Skyryder

That's some source, dude. A paragon of accuracy and reliability. Not.

[Timber020]

Not off somalia but another case of what happens off the coast of Africa by western companies. BTW look up super injuctions, makes some interesting and alarming reading.

In August 2006, Trafigura dumped a shipload of toxic waste on Africa's Ivory Coast. Some 100,000 Ivorians sought medical help for breathing problems, vomiting and skin eruptions; according to a UN report, 15 people died. Trafigura maintained repeatedly that the material discharged was harmless. A few months later a British lawyer started legal proceedings on behalf of the victims; the oil company paid £100 million to the Ivorian government to pay for removing the waste but continued to deny liability. The legal case dragged on.

Fast forward to 2009, when reporters from the BBC and the Guardian newspaper assembled evidence pointing to a company cover-up. Carter-Ruck launched a libel suit against the BBC, and obtained a super-injunction preventing the Guardian from mentioning an expert report commissioned by Trafigura in September 2006. Now here's the part that was "secret" until yesterday: The report confirmed the "likely" presence of compounds "capable of causing severe health effects," including "headaches, breathing difficulties...unconsciousness and death," in the caustic tank washings dumped around Abidjan. In other words, Trafigura's own scientific consultants had clearly suggested that the "slops" were potentially dangerous--but the company continued to insist that they were not. The document, known as the Minton report, has been available for some time on the internet from the open government and anti-corruption group Wikileaks and on the website of Greenpeace in the Netherlands, which is pursuing legal action against Trafigura for manslaughter and grievous bodily harm. But until yesterday no description of its contents could be published in Britain.

Fortunately the Guardian had another set of documents up its sleeve: a set of internal emails between Trafigura executives written before the dumping, in which they consider how to dispose of the toxic "shit," banned in Europe, left in the ship's hold by a cheap consignment of petrol. On September 16 the paper publicized the emails in a front-page story; the next day Trafigura offered compensation to 31,000 victims, while still denying any liability.

This week, the farce reached a new pitch of absurdity when Carter-Ruck told the Guardian that it could not report a Member of Parliament's question in the House of Commons referring to the super-injunction. Even in Britain, where we have no First Amendment and no constitution, the proceedings of parliament are public and protected both by the Bill of Rights of 1689 and by centuries of hard-won legal precedent. A front-page story duly appeared in the paper announcing the censorship without mentioning its content, as well as the editor's intention to seek an urgent hearing. Since parliamentary questions are publicly listed in advance it was the work of a moment for bloggers to put two and Trafigura together; the twittersphere went wild. Carter-Ruck hastily agreed to vary its injunction to allow the coverage of parliament--and, in one last desperate attempt to keep the information under wraps, went on to warn the Speaker of the House of Commons that MPs could not debate the Minton report or the law firm's behavior because the matter was sub judice.

[The Stranger]

It didn't take long. I had a brief look at their front page. My bullshitometer has gone kaboom and I am badly injured in the explosion. Please, somebody call an ambulance!

You should get that thing repaired by someone competent, cause the last person to calibrate it was useless.
They first seized foreign fishing vessels that were plundering their waters. They had no govt to enforce their territorial waters and the foreign fishermen knew that and plundered the fuck out of their fisheries.
The fishermen were only doing what they had to do to survive. In the same situation, I'd do the same thing - and you would too or would you take it lying down and die?
What option did they have?

[jonbuoy]

Somalia.....

Too poor to buy food for its people.
Too poor to buy materials for infrastructure.
Too poor to form even a basis of democracy.

But can have weapons and equipment that costs heaps.

Mmm its not state of the art, I don't think weapons are that hard to get in Africa - probably cost less than the outboards and the boat. I don't think these pirate warlords give a toss about the environment, making a quick dollar is more like it. Not that you can blame them, can't help but respect the fact that they take those shitty little boats in the open ocean and manage to scramble up some pretty big hulls with no help from onboard. I get the jitters from climbing up pilot ladders and that's when the crew are helping.

[Skyryder]

That's some source, dude. A paragon of accuracy and reliability. Not.


Yep looked a bit dodgy to me too but I see you missed the other link. It sorta confirmed the dodgy one.

I Don't recall the name of the documentary some English investigative journo confirmed that the Somali fishing grounds were pillaged by the a number of large fishing companies. Of course I was not there and it could be all bullshit but on the other hand............................??? True.




Skyryder

[86GSXR]

Totally not surprised to read this. Having spent a small amount of time on the east coast of Africa it's very easy to see how this can happen. It's an entirely different world altogether and the rights of ordinary people really don't rate very highly at all.

[Street Gerbil]

You should get that thing repaired by someone competent, cause the last person to calibrate it was useless.

Nah, dude, sorry to disappoint but my bullshitometer is spot on. I calibrated it on 5 'dancing' 9/11 'mossad agents'. I do not know anything about Somalians. For all I know they might be the the poorest people on Earth and evil oil companies may have shitted into their cooking pots for eternity. I cannot judge the accuracy of the source by that claim. But "Jews did it" article on the front page automatically invalidates the rest of articles from the same source.
You know, it is the same story as with that silly kid that cried "wolves". How could I believe them that this particular conspiracy theory is accurate if the rest of them is pure bullshit. And if, G-d forbid, the story about Somalians is true, this weblog has done them huge disservice, because from now on, when someone tries to make a point about their plight, the most plausible counter argument would be - "and you learned about that from that kooky 'Juice control Amerikkka' website?"

[Mikkel]

If that is indeed true - and it might as well be - then it is a monument to human greed (as if we needed another).

A failed state with no authority to uphold its area of influence would indeed be an easy target for exploitation, such as what is alleged. As a matter of fact, the free market forces, in a way, would actually dictate that it be done - just like there will always be some guy willing to sell you and ounce of coke no matter what the penalty might be.

[The Stranger]

I cannot judge the accuracy of the source by that claim.

Exactly. Thank you. As I said, your bullshit meter is broken.

[Street Gerbil]

Exactly. Thank you. As I said, your bullshit meter is broken.
Taking words out of contex, are we?
As I said, they lie about things I know about. How can I trust them on things I do not know about?

[SARGE]

i think we should help Somalia come into the world through Tourism...




To The Point is excited to offer the ultimate adventure cruise along the pirate-infested coast of Somalia !

We board our luxury cruise ship in Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden near the entrance to the Red Sea, and disembark in Mombassa , Kenya seven adrenaline-charged days later.

Starting at $5,200 per-person (double occupancy, inside room) and $6,900 (veranda complete with bench rest), you'll relax like never before.

That's because you are welcome to bring your own arsenal with you. If you don't have your own weapons, you can rent them from our onboard Master Gunsmith. Enjoy reloading parties every afternoon with skeet and marksmanship competitions every night!

But the best fun of all, of course, is Pirate Target Practice.

For the object of the cruise is to sail up and down the Somali Coast waiting to get hijacked by pirates. The weapons rental costs are as follows.

Rent a full auto M-16 for only $25/day with ammo attractively priced at $16 per 100 rounds of 5.56 armor-piercing:

On a budget? Rent a full-auto scope-mounted AK-47 for only $9/day with 7.62 ball ammo at $12 per 100 rounds:

Hello! Nothing gets a pirate's attention like a Barrett M-107 .50-cal sniper rifle; only $59/day with 25 rounds of armor-piercing ammo affordably priced at only $29.95.

Need a spotter? Our professional crew members can double as spotters for only $30/hour (spotting scope included, but gratuities are not.)

Want to make a real impact? Rent an RPG for only $175/day with three fragmentation rounds included!

Also included: Free complimentary night vision equipment - and throughout the night, coffee, pastries and snacks are always available on the main deck from 7pm until 6am.

Our deluxe package comes complete with gourmet meals and all rooms offer a mini-bar.

But that's not all! Twin mounted miniguns are available for rental at only $450.00 per 30 seconds of sustained fire!

We guarantee that you will experience at least two hijacking attempts by pirates or you'll receive an instant $1,000 refund upon arrival in Mombassa.

How can we make that guarantee? We operate at 5 knots just beyond 12 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia , thus in international waters where pirates have no rights whatever. In fact, we make three passes through the area's most treacherous waters to ensure maximum visibility by Somali "mother ships".

We repeat this for five days, making three complete passes past the entire Somali Coast ... At night, the boat is fully lit and bottle rockets are shot every five minutes with loud disco music directionally beamed shoreside to attract maximum attention.

Testimonials from previous participants in the Somali Cruise:

"Six attacks in 4 days were more than I expected. I bagged three pirates, my wife nailed two, and my 12-year old son sank two boats with the mini-gun. This wonderful cruise was fun for the whole family" -- Fred D., Cincinnati , OH

"Pirates 0, Passengers 32! Well worth the trip! Can't recommend it highly enough!" -- Ben L., Bethesda , MD

"I haven't had this much fun since flying choppers in ' Nam . Don't worry about getting shot by pirates... they never even got close to the ship with the crap they shoot and their lousy aim... reminds me of a drunken juicer door-gunner we picked up from the motor pool in Phu Bai!" -- Dan J. - Denver , CO

Come on board and bag your own clutch of genuine Somali pirates! But cabin space is limited so you need to respond quickly. Reserve your package before May 31st and get a great bonus - 100 rounds of free tracer ammo in the caliber of your choice. So sign up for the Ultimate Somali Coast Adventure Cruise now!

[The Stranger]

Taking words out of contex, are we?
As I said, they lie about things I know about. How can I trust them on things I do not know about?

Not at all. It was the crux of your argument.
Or are you now saying you can tell the truth from the article?
Make your bloody mind up, which one is it?

[jimmy 2006]

Taking words out of contex, are we?
As I said, they lie about things I know about. How can I trust them on things I do not know about?


careful, stranger is the front of all knowledge here. no matter what you say he will take it out of contex.

[Swoop]

A failed state with no authority to uphold its area of influence would indeed be an easy target for exploitation, such as what is alleged.
This is why al qaeda is moving into town...

[Drunken Monkey]

i think we should help Somalia come into the world through Tourism...

Where do I sign up? I logged on to flight centre and holiday shoppe, but they don't have that package??

Ever since I picked up that M14 from SAI I've had an itchy trigger finger.

[Swoop]

22 October, 2009: The Somali pirates are now holding six merchant ships and 146 seamen. There have been 147 attacks by Somali pirates in the first nine months of 2009. But the increasing size and activity of the anti-piracy patrol has restricted pirate activity. There were 43 attacks and 6 ships seized between June to October this year, compared to 57 attacks on ships and 23 hijackings during the same period in 2008.

In Mogadishu, al Shabaab again fired mortar shells on a major market and the airport, causing over a dozen casualties. AU peacekeepers fired artillery back at al Shabaab, causing more casualties.

Al Shabaab is making itself very unpopular (despite having suppressed much criminal behavior) by enforcing lifestyle rules. The latest bans are on bras, which are considered a "deception." Women are forced to jiggle their unrestrained breasts to al Shabaab enforcers, to prove they are not deceiving anyone, or risk a whipping. Al Shabaab has also banned movies, musical ringtones, dancing, TV entertainment (religious instruction allowed) and playing or watching sports. Two radio stations in Baidoa were shut down for not following the strict Islamic lifestyle rules. Al Shabaab also destroys the mosques and cemeteries of Sufi Moslems. This has led to many Sufis organizing and fighting back against Islamic radicals who consider Sufis heretics (an uncommon attitude in Islam, but one supported by the Wahabi strain of Islam that influences groups like al Qaeda and al Shabaab.) The Sufi fighters have often proved to be more than al Shabaab can handle, and the Islamic radicals have been driven out of several central Somali towns. The Sufis militia is not part of the Transitional Government, but another independent, "local defense force."

Al Shabaab is running into the same problems Islamic radicals encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once the lifestyle police start operating, the faithful become increasingly hostile to the radicals, and eventually organize resistance. That is already happening, and some of the clan militias that agreed to ally with al Shabaab, have now switched sides and joined the Transitional Government.

21 October, 2009: Hizbu Islam and Al Shabaab fighters clashed again 90 kilometers west of the key southern port of Kismayo. Over the last two weeks, al Shabaab has driven rival Islamic radical group from Hizbu Islam Kismayo, after both groups argued over how to jointly run the lucrative port.

19 October, 2009: Somali pirates seized a Chinese bulk carrier (full of coal), 1,300 kilometers off the east coast. This is the farthest from the coast a ship has ever been seized. China responded by insisting that it would do whatever necessary to free the ship (implying the use of force, rather than paying ransom.) China is trying to organize a commando operation, for which is needs assistance from the U.S., to maximize chances of success.

15 October, 2009: A Singaporean cargo ship was seized by pirates, 500 kilometers north of the Seychelles islands, as it headed for the Kenyan port of Mombassa. This is alarming for the Kenyans, whose economy is very dependent on sea access to this major East African port. The pirates are now threatening he waters off East Africa.

[chef]

White guilt anyone?

Best wishes to the 16 y/o white girl who just set sail, solo around the world. Geez you know what these filthy bastards will be thinking.

once shes goes black she aint going back

[Swoop]

22 October, 2009: The heavy international anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden is hurting the pirates in many ways. The piracy operations are run by several gangs, all of which, in one way or another, began as smuggling operations. The two big moneymakers for smugglers are drugs (usually hashish, a form of concentrated marijuana, and widely produced in Africa) and people. The drugs are much more valuable, with a ton of hashish costing $100,000 a ton in Kenya or Uganda, but $7 million a ton once sold to users in Europe. Most of the increase in price goes to middlemen, mainly those who transport it across the Gulf of Aden, then north through the Middle East and into various European countries (some of which are more difficult, and thus more expensive, to operate in than others.)

Thus the recent U.S. Navy capture of four tons of hashish in the Gulf of Aden, cost one of the pirate gangs up to half a million dollars. That hurts, The American sailors simply tossed the hash overboard, where it sank to the bottom. No arrests were made, as the employers of the hapless smugglers would take care of punishment. There have been over half a dozen such seizures this year, and the anti-piracy patrol watches carefully to spot the drug smugglers.

Carrying people across the Gulf of Aden is much less lucrative. You're only going to make about $1,500 a ton, and a boatload of people is easier to spot, and harder to handle, than a boatload of hashish. But the hashish hauling jobs are not as numerous as the people transporting ones. Moreover, the people smuggling boats are often towed to Yemen, where the crew are jailed, or worse. They lose their boat, although the boss back in Somalia still has the crossing fees, which are paid in advance.

Much of the pirate activity has now moved to the high seas off the east coast of Somalia, where the pirates spend more time just getting to where the ships are, and then searching for the much less concentrated traffic. But the anti-piracy patrol remains intense in the Gulf of Aden. The only pirates active there now tend to be smuggling something, and the pirate gangs are unhappy with their mounting losses. The maritime nations realize that the only way to get rid of the anti-piracy patrol is to halt the piracy. That's won't happen, because there are too many Somalis willing to keep at it, no matter what. The current crop of pirate gang leaders also control most lot of the smuggling activity, and they are not ready to give it all over to some second or third tier gang. The smuggling losses are just a cost of doing business, and tolerable as long as the multi-million dollar ship ransoms keep coming in.

But the more astute gang leaders know that the nations running the anti-piracy patrol will eventually get tired of the expense and frustration, and send in ground forces to destroy the coastal towns the pirates use as bases, and keep destroying boats and towns the pirates need to keep operating. Won't be the first time that has happened along these coasts. But for now, the pirates have a license to steal, because the Western nations are too politically correct and sensitive to send troops ashore, and risk civilian casualties.