Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Monday, September 29, 2008

Lt. Nathan Christiansen

Wow, he must be having a grand time, talking to the media about pirates. I mean, if I were in the navy, I would pray for pirates. They're the one sort of folks that can be blown up with all of the awesome toys on a modern battleship without worry.

Any ways, this sentence, (the actual sentence that your are reading right now, Kris) is a link to a CNN article about over-ambitious pirates. See, they are a regular staple of the Somali coast these days. Indeed, the horn of Africa is considered by most experts to be the most dangerous shipping lane in the world.

Any ways, these pirates hijacked what they thought was a regular cargo ship. It wasn't a regular cargo ship. It was a Ukrainian arms ship, on its way to Kenya loaded with tanks and other heavy military equipment. Now, these pirates were former fishermen, you know? Not the type of folks that would affiliate with international arms smugglers. Moreover... they have no access to a friendly port that would allow them to offload such heavy equipment.

They are now being shadowed by American warships. Russian vessels are on their way.

The pirates first demanded 35 million dollars for ransom. They have since lowered it to twenty million dollars. I kind of feel sorry for them. It's sort of like a wiener-dog stumbling on a fresh cow leg bone. How the hell is he gonna get it home?

2 comments:

Andrea said...

That's cool!
I didn't know that pirates really existed today. Fun!!
Well not really, I guess. I read the article, I suppose the people on that ship don't think it is very fun at all.

Drunken Chud said...

there was a story a couple years ago about a couple of rich folk yachting off the coast of africa under US flag. there were two yachts sailing together for security reasons. the skipper of the main yacht as an ex seal, and a scurvy old salt. so, the pirates pull up shooting AKs. he takes evasive maneuvers still gets boarded but manages to kill all the pirates with a shotgun, then reaches ramming speed and smashes into the other pirate boat trying to board the other vessel. he pretty much single handedly killed every pirate.

moral of the story? when choosing a captain... pay the extra for the guy with "former SEAL" on his resume.