The feeling here is the pirates are comprised of two groups: one is the warlord assets of western intelligence agencies that thus justify world military patrols near a vital shipping route and oil-producing region; the other consists of desperate Somalis who have had it with western powers raiding the fish supply while dumping their toxic wastes of the coast.
You go do your own research on those things during the voyage, readers.
Whadda ya' mean the ship is stuck at the dock?
"Hillary Clinton, military leaders urge passage of high seas pact" by Donna Cassata | Associated Press, May 24, 2012
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the nation’s top military leaders pleaded Wednesday for Senate approval of a long-spurned high seas treaty, arguing that the pact will boost national security and American jobs.
In a joint appearance before Congress, Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Martin Dempsey, made the case for the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which has been in force since 1994.
Yeah, we're lost, readers.
Republican opposition has stalled the pact for years and was on bold display at the hearing. The United States is the only major nation that has refused to sign the treaty, which has been endorsed by 161 countries and the European Union.
In an impassioned plea, she dismissed opposition to the pact as based on “ideology and mythology’’ and pointed out that the treaty has the backing of Republican and Democratic presidents, including President George W. Bush; businesses, the energy and shipping industry, and environmental groups.
Honestly, the unanimity of the globalist groups behind all this gives me pause.
She pointed out that gas companies now have the technology to explore the extended continental shelf, which could be more than one and half the size of Texas and rich in resources. Those companies, however, are seeking the greatest legal certainty from the treaty before investing millions.
More drilling in deep sea waters?
Point by point, she rebutted the criticism of the treaty, such as concerns that it is a UN pact.
“That means the black helicopters are on their way,’’ she said of the unfounded fear.
Yeah, make a joke of it all. You won't be laughing when the PTB conduct a training exercise in your neighborhood some night, 'murkn. Just because you don't see the tyranny personally doesn't mean it isn't there. There is something like 100 raids across America every day -- and that was 5 years ago!
She pleaded with lawmakers to listen to businesses, the US Chamber of Commerce, and the military, strong proponents of the pact. “The cost of not joining is increasing,’’ she said.
Citing them isn't helping, either.
Military leaders past and present contend that the treaty would strengthen US naval power, giving Americans favorable navigational rights and the freedom to use military force, if necessary. Among those are the right of transit through international straits and the right of passage through foreign territorial seas.
“Joining the convention would provide us another way to stave off conflict with less risk of escalation,’’ Dempsey told the committee.
Panetta pointed out that the United States has one of the longest coastlines, the largest extended continental shelf and has more to gain from approval of the treaty than any other country.
“If we are not at the table, then who will defend our interests?’’ Panetta asked.
We seem to be just fine, Leon. You guys are beefing up in Asia anyway, so WTF?
The treaty has languished for years because of opposition from those who argue it would undermine US sovereignty....
No doubt it would. That's what all the international agreements do.
Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who leads the Foreign Relations Committee, cast the issue in terms of the nation losing out to growing military powers China and Russia, which is claiming oil and other resources in the Arctic.
Oh, a war at the top of the world, yaaaaay! If you can get through the ice, that is.
The treaty has exposed divisions within the Republican Party. Probusiness groups led by the Chamber strongly support ratification of the pact while Tea Party supporters argue against it.
Those are the TRUE TEA PARTY PATRIOTS, folks.
The fracture was evident last week when House Republicans, ignoring the pleas of the Chamber, voted to limit funds for enforcement of the treaty as part of a far-reaching defense bill.
Conservative Republicans expressed the strongest opposition, arguing the pact would force the United States to redistribute wealth through royalties from offshore drilling and impose regulations on greenhouse gases.
“This treaty would subordinate American sovereignty to the United Nations, impose an international tax on US energy production that would raise costs for American families, and act as a backdoor Kyoto Protocol that could allow foreign nations to regulate US energy emissions,’’ Senator Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, said in a statement.
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And as if on cue(?):
"American cargo ship stops pirate attack; Iran says it helped drive off assault in Gulf of Oman" by Adam Schreck | Associated Press, May 25, 2012
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Iran and an American-led naval coalition each said Thursday they responded to a distress call by a US-flagged cargo ship that came under fire from gunmen in the Gulf of Oman a day earlier.
Armed guards aboard the 488-foot Maersk Texas thwarted the attack northeast of the Emirati port of Fujairah, Danish shipper AP Moller-Maersk said. The attack happened not far from the tense waters of the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit point for a fifth of the world’s oil.
The company, based in Copenhagen, said armed attackers in
multiple pirate skiffs raced straight toward the ship around noon
Wednesday despite clear warning signals from the Texas. Guards on board
fired warning shots, but the suspected pirates opened fire, prompting
ship guards to shoot back at them, according to the shipping line.
Iranian news agencies reported that the suspected pirates fled when Iran’s navy intervened after responding to an emergency call from the American ship.
Lieutenant Commander Mark Hankey, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces, was unable to confirm Iran’s role in the incident. He also cast doubt on whether the event was an act of piracy at all.
“The full facts of the event have yet to be fully ascertained,’’ Hankey said.
Somali pirates have been increasing their range, but attacks near the Strait of Hormuz remain relatively rare.
Hankey declined to say who the attackers might have been if not pirates, though he noted that fishermen and smugglers frequent the area.
He did not suggest that the Iranian military, which operates a fleet of small attack craft, might be involved, but said, “If the Iranians responded to a mayday call, then that’s perfectly normal activity.’’
The Combined Maritime Forces is a naval partnership of more than two dozen nations that operates in and around the Middle East. It is commanded by a US Navy admiral....
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I've got to change course, readers; I'm rowing the wrong way.
"Somali pirate den attacked by EU helicopters" New York Times, May 16, 2012
NAIROBI - The European Union, which had vowed to take a tougher stand against the scourge of Somali piracy, took the fight to the pirates’ home base for the first time Tuesday, destroying several of their signature fiberglass skiffs pulled up on the beach in a notorious pirate den.
The Europeans fired from combat helicopters, with forces never actually landing in Somalia, and European officials said it was likely there would be more strikes in the future.
“This is a fantastic opportunity,’’ said Lieutenant
Commander Jacqueline Sherriff, a spokeswoman for the European Union’s
antipiracy force. “What we want to do is make life more difficult for
these guys.’’
Yeah, isn't it amazing how wherever people live they always hate the thought of military action and war?
Residents also said that the EU helicopters that had strafed the pirate skiffs, which the pirates call their hunting boats, also destroyed several wooden sailboats sometimes used by the pirates to ferry supplies to captured ships.
And all the world's navies, and all the world's sailors, couldn't put the Somali pira.... sigh, you know what I mean, readers.
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Oh, I'm sorry, I'm wrong.
"Somali convicted of piracy in yacht attack" April 28, 2012
NORFOLK, Va. - A Somali man was convicted of piracy on Friday for his role as a hostage negotiator in the hijacking of a German merchant vessel and US yacht. The four Americans aboard the yacht were shot to death by pirates, and the crew on the other vessel was tortured to get a higher ransom.
Mohammad Saaili Shibin was convicted of the 15 charges he faced, including kidnapping, hostage-taking, and weapons charges. He faces a mandatory life sentence.
“Today’s verdict marks the conviction of the highest-ranking Somali pirate ever brought to the United States,’’ US Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement. “He was among an elite fraternity of pirate negotiators - the vital link to any successful pirate attack. His skills were essential to obtain a ransom for those who attacked the vessel and the financiers who paid for the attack.’’
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No payment was ever made for the US sailing vessel Quest after it was hijacked in 2011. Shibin’s role was to serve as the negotiator once the Americans were brought back to Somalia. But the plan fell through when the US Navy started shadowing the yacht. The Navy agreed to let the pirates keep the sailboat, but said it would not let them return to Somalia with the Americans.
The pirates gave the Navy Shibin’s phone number because they said he was the only one authorized to negotiate.
Within days of boarding the yacht, a pirate fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the USS Sterett when it tried to maneuver between the Quest and the Somali coast. The Americans were then shot before Navy SEALs could scramble on board.
The yacht owners, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., and friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were the first US citizens killed in pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean despite a regular patrol of international warships.
Yeah, almost makes you wonder what military is also protecting them.
Related: Somali Pirates Catch Christians
Israeli's caught a Turkish-American but the U.S. tossed it back.
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Also see: Somalia Makes the List
