@georgeob1,
I find CEej a riot. HE reminds me of all the "General" education kids that used to hang out in clots during high school, only to never be heard of again as they get married, drink themselves to an early stomach, and, in their obituaries, are decribed as
"someone who enjoyed bowling, hunting, and NAscar"
I wish Ceej many years of health and snseless obsessive posting about guns'n Ted Nugent.
Ga hyuh.
@farmerman,
I happen to be a summa cum laude graduate of one of America's finest private universities.
Hunting, like music, is the best.
You're just an idiot with an idiotic opinion, and one I wouldn't trust with my dog, much less my life. So **** you.
More information about the incident with the Indian frigate--it appears the vessel involved was a Thai fishing vessel which had been hijacked just before it encountered the Indians:
'Pirate ship' sunk by Indian navy was Thai fishing boat, agency says
Quote:A supposed Somali pirate vessel fired upon and sunk by an Indian warship last week off the Somali coast was actually a Thai fishing trawler that had been hijacked earlier, a maritime agency said Wednesday.
One Thai crew member was killed in the incident in the Gulf of Aden, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.
"The Indian navy assumed it was a pirate vessel because they may have seen armed pirates on board the boat which had been hijacked earlier," Choong said.
Shortly after the incident, the Indian navy said pirates on the vessel had threatened to blow up the INS Tabar after Indian officers asked the pirate vessel to stop to be searched. The navy also said the vessel initiated the attack by opening fire on the Indian ship.
And here is another report about "Puntland," the autonomous region from which the pirates operated, and the "President" of Punland, who once owned a gas station in Ottawa:
Former Ottawa gas station operator rules home state of Somali pirates
Quote:There's a Canadian connection to the ongoing piracy drama off the coast of Somalia.
Many of the pirates hijacking vessels in the region are based in an autonomous region called Puntland, beyond the control of what passes for a central government in Somalia.
The president of Puntland for the past three years has been Mohamud Muse Hersi, a former Ottawa gas station operator.
Hersi emigrated to Canada in the 1980s, bought a gas station and raised a family, but his clan connections to Somalia remained strong. When the elders of Puntland were looking for a new president in 2005, they chose Hersi.
There are about a dozen hijacked ships anchored off the Puntland coast at the moment, waiting as the pirates and shipowners haggle over ransom money.
Hersi's critics accuse him and his ministers of taking bribes from the pirates to look the other way.
Oh . . . wait . . . i forgot, these pirates are radical Islamic militants . . . silly me . . .
Yep, you are pretty silly, fat boy.
@Setanta,
They are daredevils Settin who cannot be other than admired for courage and enterprise by any self-respecting promoter of Darwin's theories.
One might easily imagine that their genetic material is expanding at a faster rate than that of the average musical instrument player in a long term relationship.
A 53-page report published by the RAND Corporation in June 2008 takes a close look at the maritime dimensions of international security, with a special emphasis on the challenges it presents for the United States.
Not surprisingly, the report takes a close look at the potential links between terrorism and piracy.
From the sixth chapter "Policy Recommodations:
Quote:In more specific terms, U.S. funds and support could be usefully
directed at
1. Boosting the coastal monitoring and interdiction capabilities
of states in areas of strategic maritime importance or endemic
pirate activity through the provision of surveillance assets, training,
and technical support.3 The GFS initiative described above
may be particularly relevant in this regard.
2. Actively encouraging the IMB’s anti-piracy center in Malaysia"
the international system’s main non-governmental organization
for monitoring manifestations of armed violence at sea"
to expand its current (limited) reporting role to one that has a
more explicit investigative function.4
3. Augmenting port security management by underwriting diligent
screening protocols and systems aimed at vetting the “bona
fides” of arriving and departing vessels, the crews that staff these
ships, and the companies that own and run them.5
4. Sponsoring public-private sector partnerships for further developing
monitoring and protective initiatives such as ShipLoc (an
inexpensive satellite tracking system that has been endorsed by
the IMB),6 Secure-Ship (a non-lethal perimeter electric fence
designed to prevent unauthorized boardings),7 and so-called
“smart” containers that can emit warnings if their contents are
disturbed after being sealed.
5. Promoting greater openness in the international maritime
industry as a whole by, for example, offering incentives aimed
at encouraging shipping companies to register their vessels
through traditional flag states (as opposed to FoCs) and to
accept a fundamentally more transparent ownership disclosure
system.8 Possible inducements might include prioritization for
offshore anchor releases, expedited freight clearance procedures,
and cheaper docking fees.
Notes:
3 Because many littoral states in need of coastal surveillance support also suffer from high
rates of corruption (e.g., Nigeria, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Kenya), the provision
of material, as opposed to financial, assistance is generally regarded as preferable.
4 Since its initial inception in 1992, the IMB’s reporting center in Kuala Lumpur has played
an integral role in identifying operational and geographic patterns of armed violence at sea
and in transmitting real-time warnings and updates to mariners traveling in or near pirate
“hot spots.” The center has also served as a central conduit for information exchange between
shipping associations and companies located in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
A new Information Sharing Center established in Singapore in 2006 has a similar mandate,
but it is not yet apparent whether this institution is meant to supplement or supplant the
IMB body
5 The general issue of port security management has also been raised with respect to the
United States. In 2006, this became an especially hot topic after Dubai Ports World, a company
owned and operated out of the United Arab Emirates, purchased the Peninsular and
Oriental Steam Navigation Company of the United Kingdom, giving it the right to oversee
major operations at terminals in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New
Orleans, and Miami. Although the takeover was approved, Dubai Ports eventually pulled
out of the deal after members of Congress raised concern over the potential ramifications it
might have for port security given the United Arab Emirates’ alleged role in funding the al
Qaeda network. For more on the incident, see Neil King and Greg Hitt, “Dubai Ports World
Sells U.S. Assets,” The Wall Street Journal, December 11, 2006.
6 ShipLoc allows shipping companies to monitor the exact location of their vessels anywhere
in the world on a 24/7, 365-day per year basis via Internet access. For more on the
system, see “ShipLoc,” homepage, undated.
7 For further details on this initiative, see Secure Marine, “Secure-Ship,” Web page, 2002.
8 For analysis of the shipping industry’s reluctance to accept greater transparency in terms
of vessel ownership and operation, see Meldrum, 2007, pp. 36"39.
Full report:
The Maritime Dimension of International Security
I'm not sure why Walt keeps supporting me, but I like it. Thanks buddy.
Left wingers are so easy to spot. If they are thirsty, and you give them a glass of water, they will want to know if the water is filtered, what its source was, what the glass was washed with, and if it's really water and not some other clear, tasteless, odorless liquid. Then they ask for a bigger glass.
@cjhsa,
In those eight (8) minutes, cjhsa, in which you read the 83 (eighty-three) pages of that Rand report and posted your response .... you certainly have got the wrong idea that I support you.
Not here nor elsewhere.
@Walter Hinteler,
Pirates in cohoots with islamists, says report here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7737375.stm
@McTag,
The BBC wrote:Somali pirates have been accused of forming what is described as an "unholy high seas alliance" with some of the country's Islamist insurgents.
I don't think that anyone opposed that.
This (2000) article discusses "how the legal regime that has governed piracy is reflected in current works of popular culture. After briefly reviewing the background of pirate literature from the 17th to the 20th centuries" the article pays special attention to the depiction of pirates and piracy in films and television.
[Reprinted from the Journal of Maritime Law & Commerce.]
@McTag,
You may have missed an earlier post of mine, which states that there are "Islamists" in Somalia who are less than enchanted with the pirates, and have in fact threatened to attack them, because they seized the Saudi-owned tanker, and they object to a Muslim nation being so victimized (inferentially, one assumes that they have no problem with anyone else being victimized).
Say, i know . . . maybe there is no such thing as an "Islamist" monolith, either in Somalia, or in the world at large.
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:
You may have missed an earlier post of mine, which states that there are "Islamists" in Somalia who are less than enchanted with the pirates, and have in fact threatened to attack them, because they seized the Saudi-owned tanker, and they object to a Muslim nation being so victimized (inferentially, one assumes that they have no problem with anyone else being victimized).
Say, i know . . . maybe there is no such thing as an "Islamist" monolith, either in Somalia, or in the world at large.
I agree; however, I personally believe that in today's world, much of the terrorist activities seems to be perpetrated by Muslims, making me wonder if being a Muslim is a "co-factor" to becoming a terrorist. In other words, would a young person with any terrorist leanings, who is not Muslim, somehow just become an angry college student of another religion? So, Islam can very much be a religion of peace; however, Muslim terrorists in today's world seem to require a Muslim identity to be a terrorist - again, is Islam a co-factor that many terrorists need?
Let us not also forget that prior to WWI the Ottoman Empire had actual Islamic armies. Could terrorists of Islamic background be filling that vacuum of militancy?
Your response is pathetically ill-informed. Your response begs the question, because it assumes that these pirates are,
ipso facto, Muslim terrorists. As usual, you give all the signs of not knowing what the hell you're talking about.
Quote:Let us not also forget that prior to WWI the Ottoman Empire had actual Islamic armies. Could terrorists of Islamic background be filling that vacuum of militancy?
In fact, for centuries, the most effective infantry in the Osmali armies were the Janissaries, who were recruited, by preference, from among Christian communities in the Balkans. This was nothing new--the Mameluks of Egypt (the name is Turkic and means "owned"--they were military slaves originally) were the descendants of Caucasian tribesmen, who were the preferred military slaves. In the case of both the Janissaries and Mameluks, they were required to convert to Islam, because infidels could not bear arms in the empire. However, given the age at which they were generally taken, about 15-19 years of age, it would be absurd to claim that they were an army of Muslim fanatics who had been indoctrinated all their lives in a militant Islam.
That's as stupid an ill-informed as it would be to say that the armies of the European nations in the same period were all Christian fanatics. Just because these people were Muslims, doesn't mean either that they were fanatical (and if they were fanatical, they certainly had a piss-poor military record in the Great War), or that they were specifically motivated toward militarism because of their religious confession.
So the pirates said that a deal for the release of the MV Faina had been reached and that the release was expected within days.
Money, money makes the ship go round ...
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:
Your response is pathetically ill-informed. Your response begs the question, because it assumes that these pirates are, ipso facto, Muslim terrorists. As usual, you give all the signs of not knowing what the hell you're talking about.
Who said "ipso facto"? Nor, did I say "a priori." I did not say anything in Latin. I am not Catholic clergy. Why would I speak Latin?
I believe, the term "Muslim terrorists" is just a catch-all phrase for the war-like activities of Muslims against non-Muslims. Even if these Muslim pirates attack a vessel owned by a Muslim nation, it does not negate the fact that some Muslims today choose to operate outside the conventions of the civilized nations. So, maybe a better term than "Muslim terrorist" needs to be coined? How about Rogue Muslims, since Islam is supposed to be a religion of peace? Oddly, I wonder, why do these war-like acts seem to often be by Muslims nowadays? What is it about the Islamic countries that results in some males (usually) becoming warlike without official state sponsorship? Could it be that they have no real Muslim armies to join for their war-like agenda?
Also, if any Muslim males that eventually participate in terrorism, or piratism, were not Muslims, and therefore not alienated from Christian nations, they could emigrate to another country and eventually enjoy all the comradeship of being in a real Navy or Army that is so much better than the resources one has on one's own. Let us not ignore that for some strange reason, that I admit I do not know why, Islam seems to make a percentage of its adherents alienated from those of other faiths? Like, throughout the world there are Christian and Jewish communities that live in peace amongst other peoples, without their young becoming pirates/terrorists. Interesting or telling?
Quote:Also, if any Muslim males that eventually participate in terrorism, or piratism, were not Muslims, and therefore not alienated from Christian nations, they could emigrate to another country and eventually enjoy all the comradeship of being in a real Navy or Army that is so much better than the resources one has on one's own.
With this sample of what passes for "logic" at your house, i feel no further evidence is needed that you don't know what the hell you're talking about.
I really ought to give you a chance.
Among christians, there were the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, the Knights of the Teutonic Order--all of them monastic, militaristic orders. Was that because their christianity gave them a natural propensity to violent, murderous militancy?
Among the Buddhists, there were the members of a break-away cult of the Amida Buddhists, who, in China, started a secret society of assassins, who could be had for a price, but about whose membership and organization nothing was known. They became so prevelant in Japan, that Amida Tong, the assassins' society is all the Japanese think of when they think of Amida--they don't think of that branch of Buddhism. Furthermore, the sohei, or warrior monks, of the Tendai Buddhists, and Ikko Ikki sect fought in the Sengoku, the "warring states" period, until they were put out of business by Oda Nobunaga--who, ironically, accomplished that by hiring sohei and Amida Tong members to hunt down the other Buddhists.
Would you say that's because Buddhism fosters a violent and murderous militancy?
Before you object that that was then and this is now, the Serbs, Orthodox christians, were happy to kill Bosnians because they were, at least nominally, Muslims--the insane but canny Sarajevo psychiatrist who became the propaganda brains of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic, encouraged his followers to refer to the Bosnians as Turks, because of the Muslim connotation, and because of the historical insane hatred the Serbs have for the Turks. It wasn't just Muslims, either, they were happy to slaughter Croatians and Slovenes because they are Catholic, not Orthodox.
Timothy McVey, the Oklahoma City bomber, was affiliated with militant christian white supremecist groups, and Eric Rudolph, the abortion clinic bomber and the Olympic games bomber in Atlanta, was able to hide out on the run literally for years because he was a hero of the christian right.
In short, you continue to beg the question, because you assume that militancy is somehow unique to Muslims. It ain't.
Your "theories" to answer anything you don't understand (as opposed to actually informing yourself on these matters) are very entertaining--but bear that same relationship to reality that Christian Science does to actual science.
