The M/V Maran Centaurus, a 300,000-ton tanker, was commandeered about 600 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles, on its way to New Orleans, Louisiana from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by Somalian Pirates
Attacks in the region have significantly increased this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which monitors shipping crimes. But successful attacks have gone down as a result of a strong presence of international monitors. From January 1 through September 30, pirates worldwide mounted 306 attacks, compared with 293 in all of 2008, it said. More than half of this year's attacks were carried out by suspected Somali pirates off the east coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, a major shipping route between Yemen and Somalia.
Though there seems to be more international monitors, the attacks have increased. I think the Somalian government should crack down on their piracy problems because over half these crimes were carried out by Somali pirates.
Tuesday Late Night Open Thread
6 hours ago
4 comments:
First off the Somalian Gov't has been practically MIA since Ethiopia withdrew its troops in 2009. Second off, what most Americans do not know about is the exploitive history of UN countries, private fishing and biomedical companies, and of course the general corporatocracy.
Somalians have been treaded on since at least 2006. Fishing companies have illegally and unethically overfished the Somalian people's waters to the point where the Somalian fishers are unable to catch anything while large private fishing boats have been coming in tax free during this unstable political time.
Third off, the recent Tsunami washed up countless toxic waste containers that have been dumped illegally- that can be traced back to European Hospitals and Biomedical companies. The affects have been disturbing. Somalians not only lost a huge industry and biodiverse ecological marine system but are now suffering the ill affects of toxic and radioactive waste that the "first-world" leaders have dumped on what they must think is a wasteland.
What would you do in a time of desperation? Fight for survival of you and your family or let the world leaders take advantage of you and your people in a time of instability?
I agree with Sarah that the situation is a lot more complicated than what we see on T.V. If European countries were dumping toxic waste in my water I'd be pretty pissed off too. I probably wouldn't start kidnapping people, but still. It's amazing how one-sided our news coverage is. They never show the poverty, desperation and political chaos in Somalia. All I've seen is images of pirates with machine guns.
This is a link to an interview where a Somali-Canadian Hip Hop artist shares his perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
UTxJLlQCe4U&feature=player_embedded
Something really troubling is that Somali fishermen in the coastal lands complained again in again about Europeans fishing in their waters and ships dumping nuclear waste. When their complaints got to the United Nations security council, they were ignored and thrown out. That's B.S. and obvious favoritism towards the more powerful European countries.
A few months after that, seeing that the UN wouldn't provide protection, the first fishermen became "pirates" in order to hijack suspicious FISHING boats and stop them stealing their livelihood and dumping poison in their water.
Since then the pirates have evolved into something darker, but the fact is that they started because of the actions of western countries. If piracy is to be stopped, world leaders need to stop the cause. The money being spent on military efforts should be used to relieve poverty in Somalia and protect her waters. Kidnapping innocent people is horrible, but these people have been pushed to it.
Toxic waste is still being dumped, and world leaders are sending ships to punish the pirates.
Toxic waste is not the reason piracy is so rampant along the Somali coast. The real root causes of piracy in Somalia is anarchy and poverty.
From Wikipedia, "Precise data on the current economic situation in Somalia is scarce but with an estimated per capita GDP of $600 per year, it remains one of the world's poorest countries.[17] Millions of Somalis depend on food aid and in 2008, according to the World Bank, as much as 73% of the population lived on a daily income below $2.[18][19] These factors and the lucrative success of many hijacking operations have drawn a number of young men toward gangs of pirates, whose wealth and strength often make them part of the local social and economic elite. Abdi Farah Juha who lives in Garoowe (100 miles from the sea) told the BBC, "They have money; they have power and they are getting stronger by the day. [...] They wed the most beautiful girls; they are building big houses; they have new cars; new guns."[20]"
So you can see that these pirates are not just victims who have been tread on by multi-national corporations. Lets be clear, the toxic waste dumping and overfishing in Somali waters is unnaceptable and needs to be dealt with by the U.N., but that alone would not solve the problem. There needs to be a real effort to fight piracy, either from the Somali's, or the U.N. Security Council.
Considering the amount of Somalian pirate posts.. I think it's worthwhile to share this article..
http://www.reuters.com/article/wtUSInvestingNews/idUSTRE5B01Z920091201?sp=true
Ahaha.. ahaha.. I laugh at the irony...
Post a Comment