The first American captain has been taken captive since 1804. Since the 1990s there has been pirate activity going on in Somalia stemmed by Civil War. The Gulf of Aden is considered the world's most dangerous waterway. There have been 68 pirate attacks in 2009 alone. An article I read by the Associate Press spoke of hooks, ropes, ice picks, men being tied up, and AK-47s. With no functioning central government or police to control acts of terror, piracy has reached it's tipping point. Obama is said to be "getting involved in his first major international crisis". Apparently pirates request ransoms and have found it quite successful that it is becoming heightened. It's said that they even treat their hostages well by catering to their Western taste preferences of spaghetti and cigarettes. Where did this all stem from? In the late 80s some European firms payed $80 million to dump 10 million tons of toxic waste along the coast. After the Tsunami at the end of 2004, all this waste got stirred up which has lead to health problems including internal bleeding, radiation sickness and infections. The gulf is also a very popular place to fish which is a main source of income for Somalians and non-locals alike. The pirates are pissed and want payback for the toxic waste that has sickened their people and the illegal fisherman who are taking their resources. "It's almost like a resource swap, Somalis collect up to $100 million a year from pirate ransoms off their coasts and the Europeans and Asians poach around $300 million a year in fish from Somali waters." In a very poor country where 73% of people live on less than $2 a day, piracy has boosted their economy, and when they get their ransom time and again, it will continue to be a good source of income.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Pirates!!!
Watch out for these guys...
The first American captain has been taken captive since 1804. Since the 1990s there has been pirate activity going on in Somalia stemmed by Civil War. The Gulf of Aden is considered the world's most dangerous waterway. There have been 68 pirate attacks in 2009 alone. An article I read by the Associate Press spoke of hooks, ropes, ice picks, men being tied up, and AK-47s. With no functioning central government or police to control acts of terror, piracy has reached it's tipping point. Obama is said to be "getting involved in his first major international crisis". Apparently pirates request ransoms and have found it quite successful that it is becoming heightened. It's said that they even treat their hostages well by catering to their Western taste preferences of spaghetti and cigarettes. Where did this all stem from? In the late 80s some European firms payed $80 million to dump 10 million tons of toxic waste along the coast. After the Tsunami at the end of 2004, all this waste got stirred up which has lead to health problems including internal bleeding, radiation sickness and infections. The gulf is also a very popular place to fish which is a main source of income for Somalians and non-locals alike. The pirates are pissed and want payback for the toxic waste that has sickened their people and the illegal fisherman who are taking their resources. "It's almost like a resource swap, Somalis collect up to $100 million a year from pirate ransoms off their coasts and the Europeans and Asians poach around $300 million a year in fish from Somali waters." In a very poor country where 73% of people live on less than $2 a day, piracy has boosted their economy, and when they get their ransom time and again, it will continue to be a good source of income.
The first American captain has been taken captive since 1804. Since the 1990s there has been pirate activity going on in Somalia stemmed by Civil War. The Gulf of Aden is considered the world's most dangerous waterway. There have been 68 pirate attacks in 2009 alone. An article I read by the Associate Press spoke of hooks, ropes, ice picks, men being tied up, and AK-47s. With no functioning central government or police to control acts of terror, piracy has reached it's tipping point. Obama is said to be "getting involved in his first major international crisis". Apparently pirates request ransoms and have found it quite successful that it is becoming heightened. It's said that they even treat their hostages well by catering to their Western taste preferences of spaghetti and cigarettes. Where did this all stem from? In the late 80s some European firms payed $80 million to dump 10 million tons of toxic waste along the coast. After the Tsunami at the end of 2004, all this waste got stirred up which has lead to health problems including internal bleeding, radiation sickness and infections. The gulf is also a very popular place to fish which is a main source of income for Somalians and non-locals alike. The pirates are pissed and want payback for the toxic waste that has sickened their people and the illegal fisherman who are taking their resources. "It's almost like a resource swap, Somalis collect up to $100 million a year from pirate ransoms off their coasts and the Europeans and Asians poach around $300 million a year in fish from Somali waters." In a very poor country where 73% of people live on less than $2 a day, piracy has boosted their economy, and when they get their ransom time and again, it will continue to be a good source of income.
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