Pirates...

Hi,

Fish, We had just come to the Caribbean through Panama and were enroute to Antigua when that Hurricane that caused the landslide and all that damage to the Nth Coast of Venezuela came out from near Jamaica. We spent a few days slowly steaming up and down east of Martinique then ended up going to the Saints for a couple of days before going to a battered Antigua. I still clearly remember the huge amount of rain that came down day after day.

There has been another ship seized by Somali Pirates: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_af/somalia_piracy;_ylt=ApJsrs7Fmw.Aob2mB7on3zT9xg8F

Hi,

Now it's 2 seized yesterday in the same area east of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Somali_pirates_seize_two_ships/articleshow/3499362.cms

A happy ending for this French couple:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4765041.ece

Hi,

Good, It is about time someone had the guts to stand up to this high seas terror.

I wish them a successful mission and voyage.

"To our Kenyan comrades:

Thanks again for your order of 33-each T-72 tanks. They have been duly shipped, and you will be pleased to know that we finally did locate some 125mm Smoothbore shells on FleaBay. These tanks have been rigorously tested (some are the original 1973 vintage versions!) and are now undergoing an additional inspection by a neutral third-party African agency for an indeterminate period of time.
We will of course advise as to final delivery. Please remit funds to the Swiss Bank on our stationery; our Lehman Brothers Account is experiencing some difficulties.

--Krazy Mikhail's Ukranian TV Repair & Arms Sales"

I read that 30+ ships are currently being held ransom and over 90 people are missing. The story (below) brings the total to 61 vessels that have been attacked or taken in 2008.


Pirates seize Ukraine ship, 21 crew off Somalia
09/26/2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Pirates have seized a Ukrainian cargo vessel with 21 crew members off eastern Somalia, the latest in a string of hijackings in waters near the troubled African country, an international anti-piracy watchdog said Friday.

The hijacking brings the number of attacks off Somalia to 61 this year, and pirates are now holding 14 ships and more than 300 crew members, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center based in Malaysia.

Choong said pirates attacked the Ukrainian vessel Thursday. He declined to reveal the crew's nationalities or the ship's cargo and destination, citing policy.
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/123201/Pirates-seize-Ukraine-ship-21-crew-off-Somalia

Krazy Mikhail really is crazy, and the only one in the business that ships anything without the cash up front.
TAB Rules are in effect.
(That's Africa Baby)

If I happened to be in Eyl right now I'd be strapping on my fake Nikes and running away very quickly. I think the pirates have just ticked off exactly the wrong people.

Hi,

The upcoming intervention by the Russian Navy is a many faceted gesture, whilst it needs someone to step up to the plate and show the Pirates that the whole world is not a nanny state.

The demonstration that Russia is responding to an attack on a Ukranian flagged vessel is just another way of saying "hey guys look here if you join NATO you won't get this kind of protection and support when you need it" .

It is also a good way to thumb their noses at the West where there seems to be plenty of gas exchange about what needs to be done and little or no action.

No one will really kick up too much of a fuss if the Pirates haven shortly becomes a large smoking crater, a few ships get sunk and not everyone onboard dies in the process of rubbing this blight of the seaways away.

Russia will also demonstrate that it too like the other "Worlds Policemen" can act far away from home when required by whatever agenda drives the occasion.

Per Lars' post from Interfax:

"...Ukraine's vessel Faina under Belize's flag en route to Kenya..." (my italics)

Interesting ramifications...will the Russian Federation protect all Belize-flagged carriers? Wonder what Belize makes of all this.

Is there an Admiralty Attorney in the house?

Indeed. I wonder what the British Ministry of Defence makes of this as Beliize has been, for many years, the training ground for our elite forces.

Hi,

As the British Navy seems to have no ability to do anything themselves for fear of violating the civil rights of the Pirates or allowing them to claim asylum in the UK if they capture them alive and take them aboard a UK Naval Vessel, I would say there is not much they can say.

The Empire no longer exists as it once did and the UK's ability to display naval power has diminished so far that it is now a largely symbolic force and nought more.

My last paragraph above does not in anyway try to belittle or criticize the brave men and women who go to making up what is left of the Royal Navy.

Gimme dat rocket launcher! No I wandit, no give it here, it's mine BANG! Ok, you take it.

http://news.aol.com/article/3-pirat...t/192184?icid=100214839x1210393064x1200607250

Some More info

Apples/Oranges

Too funny (reality is often like that).
Indeed, what a load of krap - both the cargo:
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=142883
And the "Lone Ranger":
Неустрашимый
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neustrashimy_class_frigate
BOTTOMLINE:
"It could potentially get pretty messy,"
- Some semi-important (pre-escient) Russian Admiral.
Who remembers the Russo-Jap War of 1905:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War
PSS: BOttomline?
Kenya politics - sheesh!
Russian tanks - EXACTLY what is required.
PSSS- Got Anthrax?
http://www.funhouserock.com/funhouse/blab/showthread.php?p=270612

One of the other problems in the Med is not Pirates.
You are more likely to run down people traffickers in small boats coming from the North Africa coast (Cueta) heading towards Spains souther tip.

Nevertheless care needed when transiting those straits in the dark!!

Here's the latest dope on the "Faina" incident complete with all the intrigue and skullduggery (or as W. C. Fields was wont to say, "Ah yessss, it appears that there's an Ethiopian in the fuel supply".) that just cannot be made up. Enough detail here to make your eyes water:
[scroll down a bit to get to the heart of it]

http://www.cargolaw.com/2008nightmare_mv.faina.html

If you have an interest in the Darfur situation, you need to read this in depth.