Somali pirates receive record ransom for ships' release

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Somali pirates are reported to have received a total of $12.3m (£7.6m) in ransom money to release two ships.

They are believed to have been paid a record $9.5m (£5.8m) for Samho Dream, a South Korean oil tanker, and nearly $2.8m (£1.7m) for the Golden Blessing, a Singaporean flagged ship.

"We are now counting our cash," a pirate who gave his name as Hussein told Reuters news agency. "Soon we shall get down from the ship."

All crew are believed to be unharmed.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11704306

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. It's a better gig than fishing. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

2. Apparently they originally only asked for a $1 million

but when they found out that Bernanke had cranked the U.S. Fed's printing presses one more time, with a new injection of US$ 600 billion , they thought they'd better up it to compensate for the likely reduction in the value of the US$.

[HankyDubs]

4. Well if their fishing grounds hadn't been polluted

There'd be no need to turn to piracy.

Go Pirates! Fuck the transnationals!

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. LOL

I'm a murderous thug, but I only take these $12m paychecks because the fishing sucks.

They're pirates and they should be shot on sight. They don't kill because they need to, they kill for profit.

[nodehopper]

16. killing people isn't really a part of their MO.

So it is inaccurate to call them murderous thugs. And I don't see why you would make light of the fact that illegal fishing trowlers from foreign countries rob Somalia of its fish--when they are not dumping nuclear waste on its coasts.

[24601]

12. You really don't know much about Somali history since the 80s

or you wouldn't write their plight off to pollution.

[nodehopper]

13. since the state failed in Somalia part of its coast line has become a dumping ground

for toxic waste; where foreign governments don't dump their sh*t they overfish. Pollution, overfishing, and abuse of natural resources of a place that has no government to advocate for its interests are certainly a part of how "piracy" in Somalia started; of course by now it is more complicated, but ignoring the way the fishing communities on the Somalian coast have been disenfranchised means ignoring important historical context for what Somalian "pirates" are.

[24601]

14. The pollution was the result of the civil war, not the cause. When

I was in Mogadishu (92-93) shark fishing would have been easy since they were conditioned to come feed on bodies being dumped in the sea. It's so easy to call the Somalis victims of everyone else without acknowledging their own part in the disintegration of their society, but it's just not accurate.

[nodehopper]

17. the pollution perpetrated by foreign governments is the result of actions of those governments.

European firms violate the Basel convention up and down the Somali coastline. Violating international treaties cannot be excused as a "result" of an unstable or failed state, regardless of who was responsible for its disintegration--that's an IR equivalent of saying a rape victim was "asking for it" because she was wearing a short skirt.

[ProudDad]

3. Let's connect the dots, shall we?

Gasoline Prices in Central Michigan Rose past the $3 per gallon mark.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4604025

Live at the end of the petroleum age...

[pitchforksandtorches]

6. The real reason for the increase in pirates is

You may be interested to know that global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of Pirates since the 1800s. For your interest, I have included a graph of the approximate number of pirates versus the average global temperature over the last 200 years. As you can see, there is a statistically significant inverse relationship between pirates and global temperature.

[mindcough]

7. yes, let's reward these thugs

so that they will continue being motivated to seize ships and buy even more weapons. great idea.

[Turborama]

8. Somali pirates get hefty ransom ($9.5m for release of a South Korean oil supertanker)

Source: Al Jazeera English

Somali pirates have received their highest ransom payment yet - $9.5m for the release of Samho Dream, a South Korean oil supertanker they hijacked in the Indian Ocean in early April this year.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme (SAP-NET), confirmed on Saturday that the supertanker was free, and that a Singapore-registered ship with 19 Chinese sailors on board hijacked in June in the Gulf of Aden had also been released.

"I can confirm Samho Dream is now free, but still in Somali waters," said Mwangura, who is based in the Kenyan Indian Ocean port of Mombasa. "It is a large ship and it's unlikely that it can dock in Mombasa, maybe it will dock somewhere along South Africa's coast or elsewhere to replenish its supplies."

He said the pirates had initially demanded $20m.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/11/2010116231624431468.html

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[CJvR]

10. It is a bad joke!

The world can have as many pirates as it is willing to sponsor.
The response of the international community is totally pathetic!

[Turborama]

11. What's your solution? n/t

[24601]

15. Take off & nuke 'em from orbit. It's the only way to be safe. n/t

:nuke:

[Eryemil]

18. International military task-force --- go in and slaughter them to the last man.

The world economy depends on intranational trade and we NEED energy to survive. This sort of piracy can not, under any circumstances, appear profitable enough to encourage others around the world from joining in.