More Piracy Near Somalia

[Render]

Regarding this ongoing and escalating situation, I'm going to cut-n-paste a comment of mine from Bill Roggio's Long War Journal...

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archiv...rrounds_hi.php

Something I was wondering back when the Russian tug was hijacked...

What are the odds that the MV Iran Deyanat wasn't really hijacked?

It's international crewmembers would have to be kept in the dark or otherwise be part of the operation, but that's not beyond the realm of possibility. The "chemical weapons" story serves as a good cover for keeping less well equipped investigaters from close inspection while the actual cargo, (in this hypothosis light infantry arms and ammo), is unloaded.

Is there any known connection between the group of pirates that took MV Iran Deyanat and the Somali militia that sent 300 to 700 some odd volunteers to Lebanon in 2006?

Is there any known connection between MV Iran Deyanat and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard?

Are these pirates just dumber then the usual 21st century pirate types? Like the taking of the Russian tug, this particular act of piracy just smells odd...

PRIVATEER,
R

[Rex Brynen]

Is there any known connection between the group of pirates that took MV Iran Deyanat and the Somali militia that sent 300 to 700 some odd volunteers to Lebanon in 2006?

While I know "information" to this effect is reported in the October 2006 UN Monitoring Group report on Somalia, I'm aware of no credible evidence that it took place. Largely numbers of armed Somalis operating in Lebanon would have stuck out like a sore thumb (in fact, for those who know Lebanon its a rather comical image), and done Hizbullah far more harm than good.

[Render]

Rex:

Good point, but...

Wouldn't that depend on how and where those Somalians where used/located (assuming they existed)?

If all they did was briefly rotate through a Hiz training camp in the northern Bekaa without ever seeing any action on the border, then the thumb never got sore enough to stick out.

Do the Ethiopian refugees serving in the IDF stick out like a sore thumb? Did they have a deterent morale value on the Somali Hiz volunteers, (assuming they existed)?

I tend to believe that they did exist in small numbers, but that their numbers were inflated by both sides for propaganda purposes.

MORE THAN
MEETS THE EYE,
R

[Jedburgh]

BBC, 26 Sep 08: Somali Pirates 'Seize 30 Tanks'

Pirates off the coast of Somalia have seized a Ukrainian ship carrying T-72 tanks, an official has said.

Ukraine's foreign ministry said the ship had a crew of 21 and was sailing under a Belize flag to the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

A report from Russia's Interfax news agency said earlier that the ship had a cargo of about 30 tanks, as well as spare parts for armoured vehicles......

[sullygoarmy]

BBC, 26 Sep 08: Somali Pirates 'Seize 30 Tanks'

I'm SO looking on e-bay.

[wm]

I'm SO looking on e-bay.

Even if you catch a break in the auction and get one at a low price, shipping costs could be a little steep.

[Cavguy]

I'm SO looking on e-bay.

In all seriousness, why isn't the US Navy out there cracking down on the Pirates? I've seen more action out of the Dutch/French than the USN, which strikes me as odd.

We're the largest, and the Royal Navy ended lots of piracy in the 1600's/1700's.

While the navy is contributing in Iraq, it's pretty hard to send a AGEIS crusier up the Tigris, so what are they doing to end this threat to one of their core tasks (freedom of the seas)?

Seems to me a couple of sunk pirates would make some good examples, even if the economic driver is strong.

[sullygoarmy]

I'm guessing the Navy is still keeping busy supporting all the ongoing operations. I fully agree that sinking a couple of 40 foot skiffs would be not only a big morale boost, but a signal that piracy is not open for business in these waters. Piracy remains a major threat in the Straits of Malacca and around the thousands of islands of Indonesia (among other places). Obviously this problem has not gone away, and if anything, continues to grow with globalization, the increase of ship-bound good and the decrease of our blue-water navy coupled with continually high committments. Add to that the increased pace of the Chinese, Indian and Russian navy and you have another branch of the U.S. military working overtime.

Ideally the Littoral Combat Ships will provide anti-piracy support for regions such as this. Personally, I'd like to see an increase in Navy "COIN" operations and to some focused operations to destroy pirate boats and conduct limited strikes based on intelligence against the pirate bases of operations. It is not just the ground forces that must shift focus against an asymmetric threat. Piracy (and the great study on the Iranian speedboat warfare) clearly indicates the need for the U.S. Navy to giddy-up and increase their operations in these troubled seas.

[reed11b]

In all seriousness, why isn't the US Navy out there cracking down on the Pirates? I've seen more action out of the Dutch/French than the USN, which strikes me as odd.

We're the largest, and the Royal Navy ended lots of piracy in the 1600's/1700's.

While the navy is contributing in Iraq, it's pretty hard to send a AGEIS crusier up the Tigris, so what are they doing to end this threat to one of their core tasks (freedom of the seas)?

Seems to me a couple of sunk pirates would make some good examples, even if the economic driver is strong.

Considering that Islamic extremists have taken de-facto control of Somalia,
Example I would be afraid of those pirated resources going to support terrorist organizations. This would make this a priority to me, not just a good moral booster.
Reed

[Ron Humphrey]

I'm SO looking on e-bay.

They probably aren't even worth it. Lets see thirty tanks against a buch of guys on smaller boats and the tanks lose

[SWJED]

On a Vital Route, a Boom in Piracy - Ellen Knickmeyer, Washington Post

Somali pirates plying the Gulf of Aden in speedboats equipped with grenade launchers and scaling ladders have launched what the maritime industry calls the biggest surge of piracy in modern times, sending shipping costs soaring and the world's navies scrambling to protect the main water route from Asia and the Middle East to Europe.

Pirates from the failed African state of Somalia have attacked at least 61 ships in and around the Gulf of Aden this year, 17 of them in the first two weeks of September alone, according to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center in Malaysia. That compares with 13 attacks in the area for all of 2007.

"In my time here, I must say, this is the most concentrated period of destabilizing activity I have seen in the Gulf of Aden," said British Commodore Keith Winstanley, deputy commander of the Combined Maritime Forces, whose members have confronted the pirates repeatedly since mid-August. The coalition, headquartered in Bahrain, includes the militaries of the United States and 19 other nations...

Somalia Pirates Capture Tanks and Global Notice - Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times

For a moment, the pirates must have thought that they had really struck gold - Somalia-style.

The gun-toting, seafaring thieves, who routinely pounce on cargo ships bobbing along on the Indian Ocean, suddenly found themselves in command of a vessel crammed with $30 million worth of grenade launchers, piles of ammunition, even battle tanks.

But this time, they might have gotten far more than they bargained for. Unlike so many other hijackings off the Somali coast that have gone virtually unnoticed - and unpunished - the attack Thursday evening on the Faina, a Ukrainian vessel bringing military equipment to Kenya, has provoked the wrath of two of the most powerful militaries on the planet.
The United States Navy was in hot pursuit of the ship on Friday. And the Russians were not far behind...

More at the Los Angeles Times, The Times and Agence France-Presse.