Somali pirates arrrrr hot!
Somalian Pirates came to the attention of the World Jewish Community recently when a bunch of them (over a hundred!) gave up their lives to save Israel by hijacking a boat coming out of Iran with some horrible chemical weapons, of course, obviously, for the purposes of destruction. Who are these Awesome Africans? Warrenellis.com quotes cominganarchy.com quotes this article:
They live a high-profile life - driving luxury vehicles, using fancy mobiles and laptops, living in big, decorated houses, marrying beautiful women,' says Dahir Salaad Musse, a businessman in the port town of Bosasso in the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland.
Piracy has changed into a highly lucrative industry as shipping companies cough up increasingly hefty ransoms for the release of their ships.
In particular, the business has snowballed over the last few years as young men, seeing the lavish lifestyles of their peers, flock to get their slice of the cake. The East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme says there are now well over 1,000 pirates patrolling the Gulf of Aden, compared to just over 100 in 2005.
As a consequence of what is Somalia's only growth industry, several pirate havens have sprung up in Puntland.
Settlements such as Eyl, Garowe and Harardhere are becoming boomtowns - at least compared to the rest of Somalia, where a bloody insurgency, drought and rising food and fuel prices have left millions dependent on food aid.
If the economy gets bad? If the government gives up on protecting you? Remember: there is hope– in piracy! Take responsibility for your community!
Piracy has its origins in the organized communities of the Puntland coast. In the 1990s, a group of fisherman in settlements there banded together to prevent illegal fishing and the dumping of toxic waste off their shores. This harmless community action inspired many analysts to designate Puntland a model for Somali civil society. When some ships illegally fishing were boarded in attempts to police the region, the reward offered for the boats return was enormous—amounts that were many times the monthly income of entire villages.
Piracy took off as an attempt to gain income from this type of civic policing, and slowly grew to what Kaplan called the “innocence” of piracy. It wasn’t long before the pirates became more ambitious, using the fishing boats they captured to hunt larger prey. And with the money that came in, small fishing towns were transformed into pirate havens. As responsible organizers, pirates have invested some of their profits back into the franchise, replacing barely seaworthy rafts with speedboats, AK-47s with modern arms, and GPS tracking systems to boot.
Remarkably, hostages are treated well, with some pirates even setting up special kitchens onshore to cook western meals for their captives. Medical care available on the ship is not withheld to force the hand of parties that would pay a ransom. The Somali pirates are more businessmen that extortionists, and the strategy is paying dividends—according to a report by London-based think tank Chatham House, shipping companies have forked over US$30 million in ransoms to Somali pirates this year. Welcome to growth enterprise in the anarchic societies of the 21st century.
For some negative effects of the piratical efforts, check out this video:Not everyone benefits.
