Somali tanker pirates 'want $25m'

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News 10:09 GMT, Thursday, 20 November

Pirates who hijacked a Saudi oil tanker off the Somali coast are reported to have demanded a $25m (£17m) ransom.

The AFP news agency, quoting one of the pirates, says the owners have been set a 10-day deadline to hand over the sum.

The Sirius Star is the biggest tanker ever hijacked, carrying a cargo of two million barrels of Saudi oil - worth more than $100m.

>

The Saudis have 10 days to comply, otherwise we will take action that could be disastrous," he added, without elaborating.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7739153.stm

[jmowreader]

1. Great...

if the Saudis don't hand over the cash, the pirates will dump the whole cargo in the ocean.

I hate to say it, but the UN needs to authorize aggressive action be taken against these pirates.

[jbane]

11. I don't hate to say it.

Let these clowns see what a full on frontal assault from the Navy and Marines can do.
I'm sure nobody will stand up in the UN and defend the Somali Pirates!

[bowens43]

14. and then perhaps they'll show us

what a two million barrels of crude dumped into the ocean looks like.........

[RaleighNCDUer]

30. I have way less concern for the cargo than for the captured crewmen.

And with Saudi track record for caring about people, I suspect they are going to take the loss of cargo and crew and send in an anti-terror strike team and wipe them all out.

A Saudi tanker means Saudi royals' money, and nobody fucks with the Saudi royals.

[4lbs]

2. The U.S. military should tell them to go to Afghanistan and Pakistan and kill Bin Laden.

That's $50 million bucks right there!

Then we could withdrawal from both Iraq and Afghanistan!

[Sherman A1]

3. There is no good way out of this one right now, but

there needs to be a massive international naval presence in the area and shut these guys down permanently. Park a couple of Carrier Battle Groups in the area, task some satellites, include long range patrol aircraft and I would be just willing to bet that the pirates might take notice. The Indian Navy did a great job just yesterday and all nations need to get ships to the area and coordinate their efforts (we should note the Australian Navy is taking Christmas off this year). Pirate speed boats, AK's and RPG's somehow will just not hold up to any of the world's naval forces.

[jberryhill]

4. One carrier group would be overkill

There are any number of Indian Ocean navies that could make short work of these characters. It's odd that the Somali pirate situation has been allowed to fester so long.

[Sherman A1]

5. I agree that one would be overkill

which is why I suggested two. Not because one would not be more than enough, but piracy is taking place across the world and it's time for the pirates to understand -- game over and that we will commit vastly overwhelming forces to make sure that happens. We have the naval resources to do this and I have to wonder, just as you do, why the devil they have not been deployed to put an end to this long ago..... Oh, that's right the Esteemed Mr. Bush is running things.

[Dr.Phool]

10. Pirates?

These are Wall Street investment bankers with an attitude.

Gimme $700 billion or I'm gonna sink your economy.

[Eryemil]

6. Sink the bastards

They should have done it long ago.

[Mike Daniels]

12. I think the only reason there hasn't been a full on effort to wipe them out

is because they haven't directly killed anyone yet.

When someone finally dies as a result of resisting a hijack or during captivity it's going to be another story.

[LanternWaste]

24. The U.N. has a naval presence in the Gulf of Aden

The U.N. has a naval presence in the Gulf of Aden, though originally intended to intercept terrorists, it's mission has been expanded to include anti-piracy operations also.

Additionally, in late August, the U.S. Fifth Fleet said it would set up a special patrol area, monitored by American and other naval vessels and aircraft, to counter the piracy threat in the gulf.

Also, a UN resolution authorized international naval vessels to enter Somalia waters in pursuit of pirates.

"Recently, there have been two separate multinational naval initiatives set up to protect commercial shipping transiting the gulf. On the one hand, a "maritime security patrol area" has been set up to provide a shipping lane patrolled by a coalition of allied naval vessels as well as aircraft from Combined Task Force 150.
(http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Wat... )

"The Italian Navy appears to have prevented another pirate attack on commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden over the weekend, after the 2004-built, 32,300-dwt bulk carrier Africa Ibis called for help in warding off a group of five speedboats which were approaching the vessel."
(http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/italian-navy-foils-pi... )

[opihimoimoi]

7. Give them the money...get that oil ...then do whatever it takes to kill all the SOBs in SOMOLIA

every man woman and child...all must fucking die...

should nipped it in the bud and did it years ago...but no...let them raid a few...we don't have resources right now...they all tied up elsewhere...excuses excuses...now look....bwahahahaha

[ContraBass Black]

13. Genocide would not be helpful.

[Kittycat]

18. Kill them all? Every Man, Woman, & Child?

Are you playing the role of George Bush today, or Darth Cheney?

[opihimoimoi]

22. Awright, save the virgins.....

[customerserviceguy]

26. While your "solution" is indeed draconian

it does point out the true cause of this: Somali poverty, coupled with the extreme lawlessness this country has sunk to, where no government seems to be in charge of arresting the pirates at their land bases.

If the world could come up with a way to restore a functional government, and alleviate crushing poverty in Somalia, we'd solve this particular problem, but we would have to expect that this tactic would be tried by other coastal nations in the world.

What's most likely is that some "victim" countries will put together a coalition navy, and proceed to shell some of the pirate bases, until the problem abates. Temporarily.

[opihimoimoi]

29. Send them our REPUBLICANs...that would put the Fear of Losses in them

Tom DeLay, Vitter, Craig, ORally, Hannity, Coulter, Bush, Cheney, Bauer, Mitt, Hucky, Geraldo, That mayor dude from NY...the cross dresser??, the Ghouliani dude, Stevens, Coleman, etc etc

They can rebuild the GOP over there....

[Gato Moteado]

8. do they have hostages?

can't the military just fire a ton of tear gas into the tanker and get on board and get on board and get these guys? why aren't navies sinking pirate ships? i don't understand why pirates are allowed to operate?

[14thColony]

9. You all might want to check out this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Where most of your questions/ideas have been discussed at great length over the past day or so.

[dipsydoodle]

15. I think that the difference here

is that the tanker is now moored in Somali waters.

[Posteritatis]

32. The Somali "government" gave permission to enter their territory to hit the pirates (nt)

[dipsydoodle]

16. Crisis meeting over Somali piracy

Some further news here :

A spate of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia has prompted an emergency meeting between nations bordering the Red Sea to deal with the problem.

Senior officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen are meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7739153.stm

[Kurska]

17. Let the russians send in spetnaz

And kill every single pirate on that ship. This has gone too far, when these thugs start threatening to create the largest environmental disaster in history they have gone to far.

Anyone want to still defend these "poor tragic people"?

[madmom]

19. I thought bush was the "tough on terror" guy? Why not blockade the country, if the

somali government won't intervene, cut them off from the rest of the world.

[Dreamer Tatum]

21. Which Somali government are you talking about?

The entire place is utterly lawless. At this point, the smartest thing to do would be to hunt and sink the motherships that
take the smaller pirate vessels out to sea, and send a couple of commando teams in to retake the oil tanker.

One submarine, one destroyer, a guided missile boat, and a few F-18's could have quite a field day with this.

[slackmaster]

20. They should be paid in lead, about 500 grains at a time

[Soylent Brice]

23. K&R

i rec for exposure.

this is what scares me:

"The Saudis have 10 days to comply, otherwise we will take action that could be disastrous,"

sounds like they plan on dumping this shit into the ocean. this is potentially an environmental issue of disastrous proportions.

that and the fact that these pirates have truly perfected the art of piracy, and that it will and can begin to affect the cost of goods rising, i think this is something everyone should be taking note of.

my prediction is when they take over a U.S. (non-military) vessel, all hell will break loose.

does anyone know how frequent non-military U.S. ships go through this gulf?

[Mike Daniels]

25. Most commerical merchant lines are now foreign-owned

and fly under foreign flags.

The US merchant marine and commercial maritime fleet has been decimated for years to where my dad, who graduated from Kings Point ( the MM academy ), once told a cousin who was thinking of entering the service to not bother.

If there are US-flagged merchant ships out in the cruising grounds they're a pretty small portion of the overall traffic.

[meow2u3]

27. They can just ask Bush and Cheney

They'll make the American taxpayer fork over the dough


If we have to foot the bill for corporate pirates, I'm sure Bush/Cheney will twist Congress' arms to aid the real pirates out of Somalia....

[Born_A_Truman]

28. Wouldn't it be cheaper to hire security on these ships?

You can hire security teams to guard these vessels, couldn't you?

[Posteritatis]

31. No, actually, it wouldn't

There's a five-digit count of shipping traffic through that region annually, not counting the local stuff. Enough security to cover all or even most of the major traffic through the area would be a medium-sized army in its own right, and you can be pretty sure they wouldn't be working for minimum wage.

[dysfunctional press]

34. why don't they line the ships with big baffles like they use to keep squirrels off bird-feeders...?

or that they put up to keep people from jumping from an overpass?

[ohio2007]

33. they thought it was cheaper to pay the ransoms at one time.....some still will

and many won't understand why the upward lucrative spiral of piracy is feeding on the policy of appeasement.

[ozone_man]

35. So, Wall Street wants $2 Trillion.

Paulson, in a brazen act of piracy, demanded $700 Billion or he promised to shoot those banks. And he got it!

[Neshanic]

36. Also note with "How much for Sarah Palin? We want to buy!"

[Hugabear]

37. $25M? If they started a business in the US, they could get much more than that from Congress

They're thinking small potatoes.

[ohio2007]

38. Greek shipping company pays ransom, pirates able to upgrade their capabilities

Pirates release Greek chemical tanker

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Somali pirates have released a Greek-owned tanker that was hijacked in September, a Greek government spokesman said Saturday.
The tanker MV Genius was released Friday with its cargo of refined oil intact and the crew of 19 safe, Merchant Marine Ministry spokesman Constantine Gialelis said. He said the ship's owners would
not provide any information.

snip
http://www.pr-inside.com/pirates-release-greek-chemical...

[Thor_MN]

39. I don't get the logic

While sitting atop millions of gallons of flammable liquid, saying "Pay us or we will create a huge oil spill on our shore lines."

Sounds like a bit like the standoff in Blazing Saddles. Other than the crew members lives, they are not really bargaining from a position of power.

[Kire]

40. Old pirates, yes, they rob I,

Old pirates, yes, they rob I,
Sold I to the merchant ships.
Minutes after they took I,
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong,
By the hand of the All Mighty.
We forward in this generation,
Triumphantly.

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom ?
'Cause all I ever had,
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Some say it's just a part of it,
We've got to fullfil the book.

So won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever had,
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs.
-
/Guitar break/
-
Old pirates, yes, they rob I,
Sold I to the merchant ships.
Minutes after they took I,
From the bottomless pit.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?