When I read this story in the New York Times, I have to admit that I was intrigued and delighted. Okay, so some would claim this is some kind of terrorism, but all I can do is smile. These Somali pirates have the Devil’s own gall to highjack a fully loaded Saudi oil tanker the size of a goddamned aircraft carrier, and are definitely plying what the epic Victorian poet, Sir Henry Newbolt, called the “Old Trade.” Not only do they represent a kind of Waterworld phase in the steady slide to global cyberpunk dystopia, but I have to sympathize with their audacity. The entire British Empire was founded on the proceeds of piracy, and the Golden Age of Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare was only bankrolled by robbing the Spanish.
“A hijacked Saudi-owned supertanker carrying more than $100 million worth of crude oil was anchored off the coast of Somalia on Tuesday and the ship’s owner said it was working to free the ship and its 25-member crew.
The owner, Vela International, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabia-based oil giant Saudi Aramco, said in a statement that the company was awaiting further contact from the pirates who seized the vessel about 480 miles off the coast of Somalia. Earlier reports had said that the 1,080-foot-long ship, Sirius Star, had been hijacked off the Kenyan coast.
The company did not say specifically that it had begun negotiations with the hijackers. The supertanker, about the same length as an American Nimitz class aircraft carrier, is the largest ship known to have been seized by pirates, and it was fully loaded with two million barrels of oil.
“Our first and foremost priority is ensuring the safety of the crew,” Salah B. Ka’aki, the president and chief executive of Vela, said in the statement. The crew members are citizens of Britain, Poland, Croatia, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia.
Lt. Nathan Christensen, deputy spokesman for the United States Fifth Fleet, said that the tanker had been anchored within sight of the coastal town of Xarardheere. The town is 260 miles north of Mogadishu, the Somali capital, and is part of a region known as a hub of pirate activity.” (Click here for more.)
The secret word is Hook (or maybe Parrot)
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9 comments:
Outlaws! theres a nice pictorial of these kaht fuelled kids over at todays guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2008/nov/18/piracy-somalia-gallery
It seems that Bush & mercena ries cannot live without oil.
His emissaries had prepared the soap-opera serial of hi-jacks very nicely. To continue...
Chapeau!
"Brutal, vicious, drug-fueled micro terrorists with no regard for human life," says my rational, civilized side.
"Balls the size of brass church bells," says my inner sixteen-year-old.
I'm satisfied by this on so many levels. Certainly, it's apt comeuppance for their Arabian neighbors, who have long ignored the Somali descent into poverty and anarchy, not to mention the Western nations who spit on east Africa at every turn.
I'm particularly tickled that they have another ship carrying 30 new Russian tanks. And that they're known to treat their captives well. San, then, that Blackwater and co., being retained by shipping firms, are on their way in to blow their heads off.
Just went to Malcolm's Guardian pictures. Damn! Ther're hijacking super tankers with boats that size. Balls and audacity indeed!
Poverty does things to a people, when you see the shiny shiny glint of wealth on the horizon, and you realize that you have the means to take it. Up the crossbones and damn the consequences. Of course if I were on a ship and saw a rocket propelled grenade aimed my way, I might feel differently, especially if it was my damn boat.
"Western nations who spit on east Africa at every turn."
Miq-tak, it seems that these days neo-kolonial countries spit on everyone, not only on horn of Africa.
It's a new world championship in grabbing & stealing & killing & fucking everything, is it a question of plants, animals, human beings or minerals doesn't matter.
The hunt is ON (again)!
But this time, the hunters have become...the hunted!
http://www.sounddogs.com/previews/2176/mp3/161112_SOUNDDOGS_HO.mp3
Jacques de Coubertin once said:
Important c'est de participer!
So welcome all to the celebration of lizards ( T-rex type!)
The link between this and the last post would clearly be rum.
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