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Kupandamingi
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 19, 2008 - 12:17am PT
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Somali pirates strike again.......this after seizing a Ukranian ship with some 33 tanks and 'large amounts' of artillery in late September. The current booty consists of $100 million in oil in the tanker, plus the $150 million value of the ship and is expected to fetch a ransom upwards of $20 million
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1860404,00.html
Topic is climbing related as it apparently involved throwing grappling hooks some 100 feet up the side of the tanker and then ascending them to take control of the crew and ship.
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rockermike
Mountain climber
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Nov 19, 2008 - 12:24am PT
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I know there is some big back story behind all this piracy. Just hasn't come out yet and I for one can't even guess what's going on.
But I hear the US Navy was in the neighborhood when the tanker with $100 million in oil was taken and they didn't do anything. Its parked in open daylight just off the coast of Somalia now. Not like its hard to track 1000 foot long tankers in this day and age. Somethings going on behind the scenes I tell you and its not just because a bunch of Somalian punks that decided to pick some low hanging fruit ...
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Kupandamingi
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 19, 2008 - 12:29am PT
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back story is that this huge increase in the instances and scope of piracy is directly linked to the U.S.-backed ethiopian invasion in late 2006 and the extent to which it has sent Somalia back to the chaos of the early 1990s.
Another fun read - a BBC article on life in a pirate town:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7623329.stm
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Chaz
Trad climber
So. Cal.
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Nov 19, 2008 - 12:31am PT
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Dumbf#cks had to wait until oil dropped to $50/barrel.
Where were they earlier this year when oil was like $135?
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MisterE
Trad climber
My Inner Nut
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Nov 19, 2008 - 12:34am PT
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I like the part where they use rope ladders to scale the larger vessels!
Yarrrr!
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Nov 19, 2008 - 02:34am PT
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I keep scratching my head about this as well. Where are all these militarists who refuse to "negotiate with terrorists?" I guess these somali pirates regularly get a million buck ransom per ship and get away with it! They build big mansions in a town everybody know about in one of the poorest countries in the world?
And the worlds militaries are all over the region and can't put a dent in these guys?
Give me a break. It does smell fishy somehow. Doesn't seem like it should be much of a challenge for some international player to deliver enough whuup-ass to some two bit pirates operating in broad daylight.
Peace
karl
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AbeFrohman
Trad climber
new york, NY
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Nov 19, 2008 - 07:35am PT
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they should have blown the first few out of the water. that would have learned 'em.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Nov 19, 2008 - 10:54am PT
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It's nice to see some of you peaceniks getting pissed off about this. The Indian Navy still has some balls, so that's nice to see.
The U.S. is operating under a NATO mandate with additional UN regulations that state they cannot board a ship or fire upon it once the pirates get on board.
This piracy will continue until we start sending commando teams aboard hijacked ships and blowing pirate ships out of the water.
The pirates have no incentive to stop.
Did somebody say that this piracy that's gone on for decades is the U.S.'s fault?
"From the halls of Montezuma to the SHORES OF TRIPOLI..."
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Nov 19, 2008 - 11:14am PT
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what a trip!
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Hoots
climber
Tacoma, Toyota
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Nov 19, 2008 - 11:17am PT
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Cool report about this on NPR last night. Seems like most of the tanker companies build the cost into the operations of their vessels. Ends up being about $1 million per sailing.
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TradIsGood
Chalkless climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Nov 19, 2008 - 11:45am PT
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Yah!
You'd think with our satellite photo technology we could just keep an eye on over 1 MILLION square MILES of ocean and pick out all the ships flying a Jolly Roger.
According to Chatham House, most ransoms have been about $1 million, so the the million dollar cost per voyage quoted above seems more than a mite off.
Anybody want to buy some submarines and contract out a private convoy protection service?
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TradIsGood
Chalkless climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Nov 19, 2008 - 11:53am PT
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But they supposedly always charge very high prices.
So there should be some room for competition....
:-)
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Chaz
Trad climber
So. Cal.
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Nov 19, 2008 - 11:54am PT
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The H.A.'s might do it for fifty cases of beer.
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WBraun
climber
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Nov 19, 2008 - 12:03pm PT
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submarines?
Do I get to look thru the periscope?
And we get to shoot assh'ole pirates.
Oh boy, sign me up, when do we leave.
I'm ready .....
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Kupandamingi
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 19, 2008 - 12:34pm PT
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For those interested on a more in-depth background and willing to endure some long windedness, here is my perspective having lived and worked in Somalia off and on since the late 1990s:
Piracy has existed in Somalia since the collapse of the state (e.g. 1991). However, its dramatic rise in the last 20 months or so IS directly linked to U.S. involvement in Somalia and the extent to which its backing of the Ethiopian invasion in late 2006 (followed by US airstrikes in Somalia) ousted the only true hope Somalia has had in the last 17 years of (re)building the Somali state (see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26kristof.html for some background).
Somalis are incredibly resilient and - in the absence of a centralized government - have developed a telecoms industry that now boasts more lines (mobile and fixed) per capita than Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and other neighboring states. Telecoms and other legitimate businesses encouraged peace and stability and created broader opportunities for development 'without state' (e.g. coca cola production facility in Mogadishu in 2004, tuna canning, bottled water and tin roofing production facilities, etc. etc.). This 'development' began in the late 1990s, but took off in earnest between 2000-2005
In the south, these businesses relied upon (and supported) localized Islamic courts to enforce contracts and resolve disputes (they relied on clan institutions in the north) .....eventually leading these courts to exert their political autonomy as an Islamic state building movement in 2005 known as the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). The U.S. responded by backing a hastily assembled group of warlords (who had been pushed aside by the ICU and business interests) under the thin veil of the Association for the Restoration of Peace and Counter Terrorism (see http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/world/africa/08intel.html);.
The ICU defeated them and brought a degree of stability and peace to Mogadishu that hadnt been see since the collapse of the state. This and the US-backing of warlords against them only served to bolster public support. However, the ICU's promise was extremely short-lived as the U.S backed Ethiopia in invading the country in late 2006 - uprooting the ICU, the development gains of the preceding 5-7 years, as well as the peace and stability 'without state' that had enabled it (and been enabled by it).
As with Iraq, the move blurred the line between prevention and provocation - radicalizing and strengthening the ICU. As a result, Somalia was sent reeling back into civil war, creating (once again) the conditions for the emergence of a conflict economy predicated on sustaining instability as a means of profiting from it (not unlike the dynamics that fuel conflict economies in places like the Congo, but replace diamonds with other types of resources that can be plundered in a conflict-enabled environment).
The recent and dramatic rise in piracy in the last 20 months is merely a barometer of this. It should also be recognized that this isn't some rag-tag group of guys in a dingy, but a highly coordinated (sat phones, GPS, insiders at ports in Europe and the Middle east) and sophisticated effort. That they have avoided US (and other) warships is a testament to this and, no doubt, a reflection of the fact that Somali pirates are more aware of where they are than vice versa (in addition to pirates, the somali waters are littered with small fishing vessels both foreign and domestic - making it exceedingly difficult to tell who the pirates are until its too late). The idea that the US or anyone else could send a crack comando team into El Maan and recapture the 12 ships (and over 100 crew members) currently being held is pretty far fetched without significant risk of collateral damage (people, goods and vessels).
As I said at the outset, I've lived and worked in Somalia off and on since the late 1990s and felt reasonably comfortable in terms of security - having been to most corners of the country (including el Maan) except Mogadishu as, prior to the ICU, it remained too insecure. My last trip there was in mid-2007 as part of my ongoing research on Somalia's telecoms industry. Things had changed and become far more insecure and unpredictable. So much so that I've promised my wife I'd never go back.
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WBraun
climber
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Nov 19, 2008 - 12:44pm PT
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Thanks Kupandamingi
But I still want to sign up for that submarine tour .....
Test
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Moof
Big Wall climber
A cube at my soul sucking job in Oregon
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Nov 19, 2008 - 12:53pm PT
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I don't see why you could't just stick a couple decent snipers on some bait boats. Take out the engine at a couple hundred yards, then start shooting fish in a barrel.
Word would get out quick after a bunch of the speedboats failed to come back.
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