piracy round-up
I think the alleged “global community” is starting to get a little embarrassed by the whole pirate business. The MV Faina, full of tanks, small arms and ammunition, is still in the pirates’ hands:
US Navy: Crew held by Somali pirates healthy
NATO is on the way, but doesn’t seem too sure what to do once it arrives:
Somali Pirates Continue To Maintain Terror; NATO Warships Arrive To Battle
Navy commander admits: no rules on Somalia pirates
“You know, I don’t think we’ve gotten the rules of engagement yet from NATO,” Fitzgerald told reporters on Monday during a briefing on U.S. naval operations in Europe and Africa.
“That’s all still being debated in the North Atlantic Council. All we’ve been told is to prepare a plan to go down there. So (the rules) are going to have to be debated.”
Meanwhile, it’s business as usual:
Somali Piracy Shakes Confidence in Suez Canal Route
Somali pirates get ransom, release Thai cargo ship
Crew of hijacked Japanese ship receive food supplies
Meanwhile, the non-state actors are getting in on the anti-pirate action too:
Somalis free hijacked Indian dhow with 13 crew
Blackwater sets sights on Somali pirates
And the sailors’ union in India has had enough:
Indian sailors warn of strike as another ship hijacked
And now the curious case of the MV Iran Deyanat. It’s an Iranian ship that was sailing from China, allegedly on its way to Rotterdam, when it was taken by pirates off of Somalia. There was something curious about its cargo, and many pirates became sick and died.
The ship was released last week, without much attention or any explanation of what had happened. Our correspondent sends along this story:
Hijacked Iranian Ship was a Dirty Bomb Meant for Israel on Yom Kippur
I don’t include it out of belief- relying on unnamed Russian sources is rarely a good idea, and the scheme itself seems a little cockeyed to me- but to underscore that we really have no idea what was on that ship. The article does point out that the Iranian owner of the ship is a military-controlled company that’s accused of “proliferation activity” by the US. I could probably think of more useful cargos than radioactive sand for that ship to be carrying.
Of course, why should we jump to conclusions? Maybe it was just a simple matter of some innocent toxic waste:
‘Toxic waste’ behind Somali piracy
It seems odd that while only a tiny fraction of the ships that pass Somalia get hijacked, we’ve already had a secret arms shipment and a secret something-else shipment get discovered by pirates. Makes me wonder how much more is out there.
