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Losing The War On Piracy?

Started by Newsman, November 19, 2008, 01:30:39 PM

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Newsman

   I've had a bit of interest in modern-day piracy for the last year or two.. here's an update showing the current state of the pirates (who should, when caught, be summarily executed and their corpses left to rot in their rattrap boats,) and the difficulty in stopping them.


John
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Indian navy destroys pirate boat, more ships taken
By Abdi Sheikh Abdi Sheikh
1 hr 57 mins ago

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – An Indian warship destroyed a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and gunmen from Somalia seized two more vessels despite a large international naval presence off their lawless country.

The buccaneers have taken a Thai fishing boat, a Greek bulk carrier and a Hong Kong-flagged ship heading to Iran since Saturday's spectacular capture of a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million of oil, the biggest ship hijacked in history.

The explosion of piracy off Somalia this year has driven up insurance costs, made some shipping companies divert around South Africa and prompted an unprecedented military response from NATO, the European Union and others.

"The pirates are sending out a message to the world that 'we can do what we want, we can think the unthinkable, do the unexpected'," Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, told Reuters in Mombasa.

The International Maritime Bureau said pirates from the Horn of Africa nation had hijacked a Thai fishing boat with 16 crew. That followed the capture of a Hong Kong-flagged ship carrying grain bound for Iran.

Mwangura's group said a Greek bulk carrier had also been seized, but an official at Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry told Reuters in Athens that no such incident had been recorded.

The sharp increase in attacks at sea this year off the poor and chaotic country has been fueled by a growing Islamist insurgency onshore -- gun battles broke out again in Mogadishu on Wednesday -- and the lure of multi-million-dollar ransoms.

No ransom has been demanded so far for the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star, which the pirates seized after dodging international naval patrols in their boldest strike yet.

A spokesman for the owners, Saudi Aramco, said the company hoped to hear from the hijackers later on Wednesday. One Somali website said the attackers were demanding $250 million.

The Sirius Star was seized 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, far beyond the gangs' usual area of operations. It was believed to be anchored near Eyl, a former Somali fishing village that is now a well-defended pirate base.

TANKER SPOTTED

"Eyl residents told me they could see the lights of a big ship far out at sea that seems to be the tanker," Aweys Ali, chairman of Somalia's Galkayo region, told Reuters by telephone.

Local officials said it had been sighted further south on Tuesday near Haradheere, in Mudug central region.

The Sirius held as much as 2 million barrels of oil, more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily exports, and had been heading for the United States via the Cape of Good Hope.

More of the world's big shipping firms are diverting their fleets via the Cape, experts say. But there is little evidence that big oil tanker firms carrying most of the world's crude are avoiding the Suez Canal, although many are expressing deep disquiet about Somali pirate activity.

Somali gunmen are believed to be holding about a dozen ships in the Eyl area and more than 200 hostages. Among those vessels is a Ukrainian ship loaded with 33 tanks and other weapons that was captured in another high-profile strike earlier this year.

The Sirius Star was seized despite an international naval effort, including by NATO, to guard one of the world's busiest shipping routes. Warships from the United States, France, Russia and India are stationed off Somalia.

Given that the pirates are well armed with grenades, heavy machineguns and rocket-launchers, most foreign navies have steered clear of direct confrontation once ships have been hijacked, for fear of putting hostages at risk. In most cases, the owners of hijacked ships are trying to negotiate ransoms.

British Royal Navy Commodore Keith Winstanley, deputy commander of the Combined Maritime Forces in the Middle East, said coalition forces could not be everywhere.

"The pirates will go somewhere we are not," he told shipping weekly Fairplay, part of Jane's Information Group. "If we patrol the Gulf of Aden then they will go to Mogadishu. If we go to Mogadishu, they will go to the Gulf of Aden."

In a show of resolve, Kenyan police paraded eight suspected pirates in a Mombasa court on Wednesday. The Royal Navy captured them, and killed two others, in the Gulf of Aden last week.


Tsalagi

You guys don't actually believe this has anything to do with the pirates, do ya?

Why do you think this has been in the "news" so much lately?

They're just the excuse, Bush was talking about Africa being next a while back, didn't hear too much more about it after he said it, but that's what this is:

Media hype to prepare "thuh pipple" for an extended US, err Israeli - (excuse me, UN) presence in Africa.

:sing: "This is the war that never ends..."


BenJammin

"Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys." ~Anonymous~

"Courage is not the absence of fear; rather the understanding that something else is more important than fear" ~Ambrose Redmoon~

Tsalagi

Eh?

Oh yez.

Well, we'll see.

Exactly how many times can you roll your eyes?

When what I say comes true, how many times does it take before it stops qualifying as luck?

Watch.  Within ten years, the US (or what is left of it) will be in ground ops (akin to Afghanistan and Iraq) in Africa.

Write it down.

Sis

QuoteWrite it down.

Do we need to archive this thread?  :couch:


BenJammin

#5
 :roll:

Maybe we do, Sis...maybe we do...

Tsalagi,  since Bush is leaving office in a couple of months and we'll have a whole new peace-loving administration on our hands, who will we have to blame for the "invasion" of Africa?

You think Obama would risk all his political goodwill and the remaking of America's standing in the world to invade Africa?

I've always thought you were a pretty coherent fellow...but now ???
"Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys." ~Anonymous~

"Courage is not the absence of fear; rather the understanding that something else is more important than fear" ~Ambrose Redmoon~

Tsalagi

#6
QuoteYou think Obama would risk all his political goodwill and the remaking of America's standing in the world to invade Africa?

Yes.

Quotewhole new peace-loving administration

He has already lost the 'goodwill' of the Muslims, by stating his intention to stamp out the terrorists.  He would not hesitate to attempt legacy building in being the man who brought 'peace' to Africa.

Sis

Besides that, He won't be there in ten years. Who knows what he will do IF he gets it for a second term. He may just go back on everything he promised when he gets into office anyway. Who knows besides ................... him?


Tsalagi

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8658009.stm

US starts anti-al-Qaeda military exercise in Sahara


A major joint military exercise with countries around the volatile Sahara desert region is beginning as part of a US programme of counter-terrorism.

The three-week Operation Flintlock aims to improve the ability of the region's armed forces to work together to bring security to the area.

It serves as a base for the group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and has seen increased terror attacks.

Drug smuggling is also growing, moving cocaine from South America to Europe.

Flintlock 10 mainly involves Mauritania, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and Chad.

Other countries in the region are taking part, but in a more limited way.

Algeria sidelined

The operation is part of the United States' Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Partnership, and European nations such as the UK, Germany, France and Spain are also involved.

About 1,200 people will take part in the exercise with about 300 of these based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where a temporary command centre has been set up.

The next three weeks will see the military personnel assembled in Ouagadougou looking at how they can better work together to counter the security threats in the Sahel and Sahara, says the BBC's Martin Vogl in Bamako, Mali.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has been responsible for attacks on Western targets in Mauritania and also hostage takings.

The group is currently hold two Spanish hostages and is suspected of being behind the kidnapping of a Frenchman in Niger last month.

Just last month, Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger launched a joint military command headquarters in the south of Algeria to co-ordinate their efforts.

Critics point out that these initiatives have led to little action as yet and that one of Flintlock's major limitations is that it only involves Algeria, the regional military heavyweight, in a limited way, our correspondent adds.

Melody

wow.  our missionaries to Oug. Burkina Faso just finished their deputation and will be  shipping out this month.

Tsalagi

#10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-building-secret-drone-bases-in-africa-arabian-peninsula-officials-say/2011/09/20/gIQAJ8rOjK_print.html

Pasting body of text here so that when the hyperlink matures and disappears...you can still read it.

***

U.S. building secret drone bases in Africa, Arabian Peninsula, officials say
By Craig Whitlock and Greg Miller, Tuesday, September 20, 6:14 PM

The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases for counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as part of a newly aggressive campaign to attack al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, U.S. officials said.

One of the installations is being established in Ethi­o­pia, a U.S. ally in the fight against al-Shabab, the Somali militant group that controls much of the country. Another base is in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, where a small fleet of "hunter killer" drones resumed operations this month after an experimental mission demonstrated that the unmanned aircraft could effectively patrol Somali territory from there.

The U.S. military also has flown drones over Somalia and Yemen from bases in Djibouti, a tiny African nation at the junction of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In addition, the CIA is building a secret airstrip in the Arabian Peninsula so it can deploy armed drones over Yemen.

The rapid expansion of the undeclared drone wars is a reflection of the growing alarm with which U.S. officials view the activities of al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, even as al-Qaeda's core leadership in Pakistan has been weakened by U.S. counterterrorism operations.

The U.S. government is known to have used drones to carry out lethal attacks in at least six countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. The negotiations that preceded the establishment of the base in the Republic of the Seychelles illustrate the efforts the United States is making to broaden the range of its drone weapons.

The island nation of 85,000 people has hosted a small fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones operated by the U.S. Navy and Air Force since September 2009. U.S. and Seychellois officials have previously acknowledged the drones' presence but have stated their primary mission was to track pirates in regional waters. But classified U.S. diplomatic cables show that the unmanned aircraft have also conducted counterterrorism missions over Somalia, about 800 miles to the northwest.

The cables, obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, reveal that U.S. officials asked leaders in the Seychelles to keep the counterterrorism missions a secret. The Reapers are described by the military as "hunter-killer" drones because they can be equipped with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs.

To allay concerns among islanders, U.S. officials said they had no plans to arm the Reapers when the mission was announced two years ago. The cables show, however, that U.S. officials were actively thinking about weaponizing the drones.

During a meeting with Seychelles President James Michel on Sept. 18, 2009, American diplomats said the U.S. government "would seek discrete [sic], specific discussions . . . to gain approval" to arm the Reapers "should the desire to do so ever arise," according to a cable summarizing the meeting. Michel concurred, but asked U.S. officials to approach him exclusively for permission "and not anyone else" in his government, the cable reported.

Michel's chief deputy told a U.S. diplomat on a separate occasion that the Seychelles president "was not philosophically against" arming the drones, according to another cable. But the deputy urged the Americans "to be extremely careful in raising the issue with anyone in the Government outside of the President. Such a request would be 'politically extremely sensitive' and would have to be handled with 'the utmost discreet care.'"

A U.S. military spokesman declined to say whether the Reapers in the Seychelles have ever been armed.

"Because of operational security concerns, I can't get into specifics," said Lt. Cmdr. James D. Stockman, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Africa Command, which oversees the drone base in the Seychelles. He noted, however, that the MQ-9 Reapers "can be configured for both surveillance and strike."

A spokeswoman for Michel said the president was unavailable for comment.

Jean-Paul Adam, who was Michel's chief deputy in 2009 and now serves as minister of foreign affairs, said U.S. officials had not asked for permission to equip the drones with missiles or bombs.

"The operation of the drones in Seychelles for the purposes of counter-piracy surveillance and other related activities has always been unarmed, and the U.S. government has never asked us for them to be armed," Adam said in an e-mail. "This was agreed between the two governments at the first deployment and the situation has not changed."

The State Department cables show that U.S. officials were sensitive to perceptions that the drones might be armed, noting that they "do have equipment that could appear to the public as being weapons."

To dispel potential concerns, they held a "media day" for about 30 journalists and Seychellois officials at the small, one-runway airport in Victoria, the capital, in November 2009. One of the Reapers was parked on the tarmac.

"The Government of Seychelles invited us here to fight against piracy and that is its mission," Craig White, a U.S. diplomat, said during the event. "However, these aircraft have a great deal of capabilities and could be used for other missions."

In fact, U.S. officials had already outlined other purposes for the drones in a classified mission review with Michel and Adam. Saying that the U.S. government "desires to be completely transparent," the U.S. diplomats informed the Seychellois leaders that the Reapers would also fly over Somalia "to support ongoing counter-terrorism efforts," though not "direct attacks," according to a cable summarizing the meeting.

U.S. officials "stressed the sensitive nature of this counter-terrorism mission and that this not be released outside of the highest . . . channels," the cable stated. "The President wholeheartedly concurred with that request, noting that such issues could be politically sensitive for him as well."

The Seychelles drone operation has a relatively small footprint. Based in a hangar located about a quarter-mile from the main passenger terminal at the airport, it includes between three and four Reapers and about 100 U.S. military personnel and contractors, according to the cables.

The military operated the flights on a continuous basis until April, when it paused the operations. They resumed this month, said Stockman, the Africa Command spokesman.

The U.S. aim of constructing a constellation of bases in the Horn of Africa and Arabian Peninsula is to create overlapping circles of surveillance in a region where al-Qaeda offshoots could emerge for years to come, U.S. officials said.

The locations "are based on potential target sets," said a senior U.S. military official. "If you look at it geographically it makes sense — you get out a ruler and draw the distances [drones] can fly and where they take off from."

One U.S. official said that there had been discussions about putting a drone base in Ethiopia for as long as four years, but that plan was delayed because "the Ethiopians were not all that jazzed." Other officials said that Ethiopia has become a valued counterterrorism partner because of threats posed by al-Shabab.

"We have a lot of interesting cooperation and arrangements with the Ethiopians when it comes to intelligence collection and linguistic capabilities," said a former senior U.S. military official familiar with special operations missions in the region.

The former official said that the United States relies on Ethiopian linguists to translate signals intercepts gathered by U.S. agencies monitoring calls and e-mails of al-Shabab members. The CIA and other agencies also employ Ethiopian informants who gather information from across the border.

Overall, officials said the cluster of bases reflects an effort to have wider geographic coverage, greater leverage with countries in the region and backup facilities if individual airstrips are forced to close.

"It's a conscious recognition that those are the hot spots developing right now," said the former senior U.S. military official.

© The Washington Post Company

Melody

I can't help but wonder if these will come into play with "Palestinians" requesting statehood in the next few wks?

Tsalagi

Speaking of Palestinians requesting statehood, this is an interesting video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7ByJb7QQ9U

They also have a nice one on "global warming" in their uploaded vids section.