Tuesday - November 04, 2008

EU-sless idiots

via Kims

Europussy Navy will Respect Pirate’s Human Rights



All the King’s Navies and all the King’s Men
won’t do a thing to stop piracy then!

Ahoy, it be a right Pirate’s Holiday!

Pirates protected from EU task force by human rights

A new EU naval task force will be unable to take tough action against Somali pirates because it must respect their human rights, its commander has admitted.

The pirates of old at least knew where they stood if captured - they would be jailed and hung, or possibly made to walk the plank. But those policing the high seas today have no such potent sanctions to impose on 21st century buccanneers, as the human rights of the successors to Blackbeard and Captain Kidd are being put first.

The European Union’s first naval task force is due to arrive next month in the Gulf of Aden to combat the region’s unprecedented piracy scourge, which is being fuelled by the demand for cash and weapons in lawless Somalia. Ten EU countries, including Britain, have pledged support for the force - yet they may find it difficult even to make an arrest.

“In the old days, when the navy would catch a pirate, they would tie his hands and feet and throw him back in the sea,” said Captain Andres Breijo, the Spanish head of the new anti-piracy mission, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph. “Now they have human rights.”

Somalia is a “failed state”, Capt Beijo added, and the West fears that if the pirates were handed over to the Somali authorities they would be tortured or executed. Instead, his task force will only be permitted to keep a protective watch over merchant ships in the pirate-infested waters, which punctuate one of the world’s most important trade routes between the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal. Despite the presence of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and Royal Navy vessels also in the vicinity, dozens of ships have been hijacked this year, including a Ukrainian vessel carrying battle tanks and World Food Programme vessels delivering humanitarian aid to the heavily armed pirates’ war-torn homeland. Capt Breijo was reflecting the frustration felt by Europe’s admiralty due to their restrictive rules of engagement. Modern European navies are now so mindful of the legal loopholes they face in tackling pirates that they often instruct commanders to simply let them go.

After deciding pirates would not be successfully prosecuted if brought back to Europe, the Danish navy set free a crew of ten in September, dropping them off on a Somali beach after holding them for six days. The Royal Navy admits, unofficially, that it is under similar instructions.

“What can you do?” said Capt Breijo.

Well, if it was up to me, the answer would be real easy ...

the only proper response to pirates

   Tuesday - October 21, 2008

One Hell of a Rumor

A bit of an update on that pirated Iranian freighter, the MV Deyanat. The one with the mystery cargo that somehow killed a whole bunch of pirates. And they all showed signs of massive radiation poisoning.

Once again I’m a week late to the party with this story. But by being late, I’ve had the time to think things through a little bit. And this story leads me to think that an awful large part of the story is not being told. And I don’t know why. Actually I do know why. If this rumor is true, it’s one of the largest casus bellis that ever was. But we aren’t geared up to fight such a war right now, and 7 years into the Global War On Terror we’ve done absolutely nothing to even start those gears turning. NOTHING. This ship may have been an act of attempted terrorism on a scale many times greater than 9/11. And for some unknown reason, such attempts - big or small - are always denied and swept under the rug. Nothing to see here, move along. I have to call this one a rumor because not one of the many blogs covering the story have a source link or even a name for the Russian person or agency that is quoted. And that makes me wonder.

Was Pirated Iranian Freighter a Giant Dirty Bomb Meant For Israel?

The MV Iran Deyanat was brought to Eyl, a sleepy fishing village in northeastern Somalia, and was secured by a larger gang of pirates - 50 onboard and 50 onshore. The Somali pirates attempted to inspect the ship’s seven cargo containers but the containers were locked. The crew claimed that they did not have the “access codes” and could not open them. Pirates have stated they were unable to open the hold without causing extensive damage to the ship, and threatened to blow it up. The Iranian ship’s captain and the engineer were contacted by cell phone and demanded to disclose the actual nature of the mysterious “powdered cargo” but the captain and his officers were very evasive. Initially they said that the cargo contained “crude oil” but then claimed it contained “minerals.” Following this initial rebuff, the pirates broke open one of the containers and discovered it to be filled with packets of what they said was “a powdery fine sandy soil” ....

Within a period of three days, those pirates who had boarded the ship and opened the cargo container with its gritty sand-like contents, all developed strange health complications, to include serious skin burns and loss of hair. And within two weeks, sixteen of the pirates subsequently died, either on the ship or on shore.

News about the illness and the toxic cargo quickly reached Garowe, seat of the government for the autonomous region of Puntland. Angered over the wave of piracy and suspicious about the Iranian ship, authorities dispatched a delegation led by Minister of Minerals and Oil Hassan Allore Osman to investigate the situation on September 4. and they witnessed some of the deaths due to exposure to ‘something on that ship.’

Although American intelligence and government sources are maintaining a strictly observed silence, the same does not apply to the Russians and so it is that we learn the real story of the MV Iran Deyanat. She was an enormous floating dirty bomb, intended to detonate after exiting the Suez Canal at the eastern end of the Mediterranean and in proximity to the coastal cities of Israel. The entire cargo of radioactive sand, obtained by Iran from China (the latter buys desperately needed oil from the former) and sealed in containers which, when the charges on the ship are set off after the crew took to the boats, will be blasted high into the air where prevailing winds will push the highly dangerous and radioactive cloud ashore.

Given the large number of deaths from the questing Somali pirates, it should be obvious that when the contents of the ship’s locked cargo containers finally descended onto the land, the death toll would be enormous. This ship was nothing more nor less than the long-anticipated Iranian attack on Israel. Not the expected rocket attacks (which could be intercepted by the Israelis) but an even more deadly and unexpected attack by sea.. It is very interesting to note that the Israeli government has in the past few weeks, been loudly demanding that the United States establish a naval blockade of Iran.

Ok, so somebody had some inside info, and somebody else put one and one together and came up with the largest Number Two in recent history. And the grim humor here is that one bunch of pisslamic loonies screwed up the plans of another bunch of pisslamic loonies. But like self-detonating Achmed, falling down the stairs while wearing his suicide vest (BOOM!), we’ve seen this Three Stooges routine many times before. Nothing new there either.

Now comes the really scary part.

Somali pirates release Iranian ship

(source: Iranian news agency) Somali pirates have released an Iranian ship, Dianat, two months after being hijacked in the notorious Gulf of Aden, Iran’s shipping company says.

On August 21, the pirates seized the Iranian bulk carrier, carrying 42,500 tons of minerals and industrial products.

“The ship Dianat was released on Friday morning after seven weeks of negotiations with Somali pirates and all 29 members of the crew are safe,” Said public relations office of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line (IRISL).

The ship is sailing towards international waters, IRISL added.

And no word at all from anyone that this ship has been seized, searched, boarded, scanned, or anything by western naval forces which are in the area in strength. We just let them go on their merry way? To where? Something doe not add up here. Not at all.

A bit of an update, just as disquieting:

The ship was released by Somali pirates on October 10, after a $250,000 cash bribe was paid by the U.S. Navy for her release. The MV Iran Denyant was taken into immediate custody of a joint naval taskforce present, to include Russian and French ships. Crew members had all been interrogated and all of them, deemed “uninformed of the ship’s course or cargo” were duly released to their diplomatic representatives. The ship was boarded, occupied and thoroughly searched by U.S. Navy specialists but a subsequent report on the suspicious cargo containers has been heavily classified.(‘Top Secret- Galactic’)

Russian sources indicate that the ship was carrying a “highly radioactive” cargo in specially built” containers and that this cargo was falsely listed in the ship’s manifest.

A “ransom” of $250,000 was eventually paid by the U.S., the ship boarded by the Navy, her cargo secured and the crew interrogated and eventually released and the ship was moved, under her own power and with an American crew, to the Muscat port where the U.S. Navy has docking rights. Her manifest was entirely false. The ship was not going to Rotterdam and there was no “German businessman” to take charge of the fictional cargo.

The entire matter has been shut up and you will never see any mention of it in any mainstream media. The matter is now considered closed. There still remain a number of questions that need to be answered. Both Israel, and at her behest, from Washington, there has been a great outpouring of animosity directed at Tehran, and many threats; for economic sanctions by the United States and overt attacks by Israel. In light of this past behavior, the most important question is why this incident, with its horrifying implications, has been studiously ignored, even shut down, by both countries.

I know that Iran is the enemy. You know that Iran is the enemy. We all know it. Why does our country hide from this reality? Ok fine. We buy their oil on the international market. So what? If the US comes right out and says Iran is an enemy nation, then we can’t do that? Fine. Send in the Dutch to get the oil, then we’ll buy their oil from the Dutch. It’s all the same thing. And it’s not like the US isn’t internationally forever guilty of hypocrisy anyway. So what’s one more charge of it, even if this time it turns out to be mostly true. We’d just be being practical, like the fwench.

Did the US actually seize and search this vessel, find a radioactive cargo and evidence of it being rigged as a bomb, and then let the ship go, either armed or disarmed? And then not tell us? Horry Clap. Like I said at the top, this is one hell of a rumor. The author of the above linked post claims to have a copy of the ship’s manifest. Publish it then. But really, what good would that do? How could it be accepted, since it’s a copy (whatever that means). A lying media and Fake But Accurate destroyed any faith in any information source. Truthiness or not - no document can ever again be believed to be real.

   Saturday - October 11, 2008

Somali pirates attack two more ships in Indian Ocean.  (and the world negotiates.)

I hadn’t realized until reading this, that the number of ships attacked or taken numbered so many.  I guess it shouldn’t surprise anybody however, given the weak response by major powers.  I’m really surprised too that Iran, of all countries, hasn’t stepped into the game.

Meanwhile, the civilized world is negotiating.  Negotiating?  With what?  Insects in human form but not human at all really. Negotiating. Uh huh.
Next comes what?  Oh yeah, appeasement.  We all know how well that works.

“As long as there is no firm deterrent, pirates will continue to attack ships.”

Somali pirates attack two more ships in Indian Ocean
The piracy crisis that threatens to cripple vital shipping lines through the Indian Ocean has claimed fresh victims as Somali bandits attacked two more ships.

By Colin Freeman
Last Updated: 4:10PM BST 11 Oct 2008

Gun-toting buccaneers were reported to have stormed a chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia’s northern coast, while another group tried to seize a United Nations World Food Programme ship off the coast of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

The attacks, disclosed by the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre, bring the number of hijacks and attempted hijacks off the Somali coast to 69 this year alone.

They came as American warships remain in an armed standoff with pirates who captured the MV Faina, a Ukrainian boat carrying tanks and weapons that was hijacked en route to Kenya on September 25.

The pirate gang’s self-styled leader, Sugule Adi, issued an extraordinary threat to blow the ship up and his own men along with it unless they were paid the $20m (£12m) ransom that they have demanded for the 21-strong crew’s release.

Speaking to a news agency via a satellite phone, Mr Adi vowed the threat would be carried out by Monday night.

(Right.  Give the slime ball a bit of legitimacy by referring to him as,,, “Mr.” What a crock.)

“We held a consultative meeting for more than three hours and decided to blow up the ship and its cargo - us included - if the ship owners did not meet our ransom demand,” he said.

The latest drama will add to the growing calls for an international force to patrol the waters off the Somali coast, which have mirrored the country’s collapse into lawlessness and civil war over the last two years.

Such is the current risk from piracy that it threatens the entire shipping industry through Suez Canal to the north, which is one of the world’s busiest maritime traffic routes and which connects Europe with growing markets in Asia and the Middle East.

Last week, the Nato military alliance announced plans to send seven frigates to the area to combat piracy and provide escorts for aid ships. The move followed a request from the World Food Programme, which says its efforts to help famine-struck Somali refugees are being jeopardized.

(the hell with the refugees.  the pirates have to be MADE to see that screwing with world shipping AND private ships as well, just DO NOT PAY.
and ya teach em that by blasting villages and killing pirates and destroying any mud hut, any building anything that even looks like it can be used for shelter by these sub-humans. furthermore, all ships should be well armed in the future. it can be done.  the question is whether anyone has the will.)

The European Union has also agreed to start planning for a joint naval force that could be ready for deployment by the end of the year.

(Sure and when they get on site a year from now ,,, what exactly?  Remember, EU does not believe in the death penalty, so it’s certain they won’t want to cause any pirate to be hurt and get a boo-boo.)

“Piracy is a serious problem for shipping in that area,” said Nato spokesman James Appathurai. “It is also an immediate threat to the lives of the people in Somalia. Substantially more than 40 percent of the population depend on the food aid being delivered by ship.”

Little extra detail was available yesterday on the two latest attacks. The tanker vessel, which was attacked at around lunchtime on Friday, was said by the International Maritime Bureau to be Greek, althout the Greek shipping authorities said they were not aware of their vessels being attacked. The WFP ship, which was attacked on Thursday, took evasive action and managed to escape.

Piracy has long been a problem in Somalia, where the lack of a functioning government over most of the last decade and a half has allowed its vast coastline to be turned into a perfect refuge point for criminal gangs.

The problem abruptly stopped during the brief reign of the Islamic Courts Union in 2006, when a coalition of tough Islamists imposed law and order across the country and threatened pirates with the death penalty.

(So then, the death penalty does act as a deterrent. Who would have guessed that?)

But it resurged with a vengeance from 2007 onwards, after a US-backed invasion by Ethiopia to topple the Islamist government ended with the country relapsing into armed factionalism and anarchy.

Today piracy is the country’s only “growth” industry, turning the ports that line Somalia’s arid coastline into a modern-day Hispaniola of pirate safe havens. Many boatyards now adapt fishing launches to act as gunboats, while hotels and restaurants have been set up to feed the hundreds of foreign crew taken hostages over recent months. A total of 11 vessels are currently being held to ransom, with an estimated 200 crewmen in captivity. Most shipping lines have felt they have had little choice but to pay the ransoms demanded by the pirates, despite concerns that it has simply encouraged more kidnapping attempts.

Last week, the crew of an Iranian cargo ship and a Japanese tanker were both released after ransom payments, believed to be around $1.6 million in the Japanese case.

(Sure Nippon. Pay the bastards off and find how much more it’s gonna cost. Too bad the Japanese lost the warrior spirit. They could have taken the fight straight to the black bastards and wiped em off the face of the planet.)

Recent reports have accused officials in Puntland, an autonomous region of Somalia, of turning a blind eye to the pirate activity in return for a cut of the profits made from ransoms.

Noel Choong, a spokesman for the International Maritime Bureau, said officials had issued a fresh reminder to ships not to stray within more than 200 miles of the coast Somalia. He added, however, that it was impossible for coalition forces to police such a vast stretch of sea properly.

“As long as there is no firm deterrent, pirates will continue to attack ships. But the military cannot be everywhere since this is a wide area,” he said.

http://tinyurl.com/3ppsxk

   Saturday - October 04, 2008

Weekly Piracy Roundup

• World-wide cooperation and coordination happening at last?

  DEAUVILLE, France - Armed pirates aboard fast-moving skiffs have increasingly turned the shipping lanes off Somalia into a lucrative hunting grounds: commandeering vessels large and small and leaving the world’s maritime powers frustrated about how to stop the seafaring bandits.

  Now, however, momentum is growing for coordinated international action to back up the sharp response after the stunning seizure late last month of a Ukrainian cargo ship laden with tanks and heavy weaponry — as the pirates quickly found themselves encircled by U.S. warships and receiving only silence to their demands for millions of dollars in ransom.

  It could be a sign of a more aggressive and unified front in the one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

  “Navy boats can’t be everywhere at all times.”
  “Frankly we could put 250 boats out there and we’d never be sure we’re free from hostage-takings,” said one French defense official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue. “It’s a little bit like fighting the drugs trade — there’s no watertight solution.”



• Russia arriving in force to help with tank carrying freighter
  

  Moscow will work with the U.S. and the European Union to fight piracy off the African coast and elsewhere, Russia’s foreign minister said.

  The Somali government has given foreign powers the freedom to use force against the pirates holding the Faina and its 20 crew members. It is anchored near the central Somali town of Hobyo, with six American warships within 10 miles of it.

  Russia is sending the guided missile frigate Neustrashimy, but it has a long long journey to get there.


• Go ahead and kill them! Somalia allows foreign forces to use whatever force necessary

  MOGADISHU, Somalia — Foreign powers can use force if necessary to free a hijacked cargo ship loaded with battle tanks and heavy ammunition, Somalia’s foreign ministry declared Wednesday — increasing pressure on the Somali pirates who have demanded a $20 million ransom.  ... “The international community has permission to fight with the pirates,” Ali told The Associated Press on Wednesday.



• Arrgh, take that ya scurvy dogs!

  MOGADISHU, Somalia — Disagreements between Somali pirates holding a ship laden with tanks and heavy weapons escalated into a shootout and three pirates are believed dead, a U.S. defense official said Tuesday. The pirates denied the report.



• Pirates still holding Iranian poison ship


• 8 incidents of piracy and attempted piracy just this week
  Oh for goodness’ sake. Some of these pirates are trying to hijack ships and all they have for weapons are a few knives!

These are modern pirate ships in action. What used to be called whaleboats. I think you could sink one with a hand grenade:

This is the hijacked Iranian poison ship:

This is the Faina, the Ukrainian container ship with the Russian tanks onboard:

Gee whiz. 4 or 6 mounted machine guns per ship and a crate or two of M14s and not one of these pirates could get near even the smaller freighters. This is the downside of having such high levels of automation on today’s ships. Extremely small crews leave no manpower to repel boarders. Even if they try, the loss of 2 or 3 crewmen makes the ship nearly inoperable, and certainly indefensible. No, add 20 extra men, all of them armed. When pirates aren’t around they can paint stuff. Ships always need scaling and painting. Always.

So shipowners are turning to things like the Secure-Ship, a system that mounts electrified fence wires around the ship to zap intruders. Ooh, but it’s non-lethal! Nice idea. Until the pirates learn to throw a length of chain or wire across it, shorting the thing out. And in the meantime, it really gives your crew a great incentive not to fall overboard!

   Sunday - September 28, 2008

It’s tough being a pirate

So this other bunch of Somali pirates, the ones who failed rocks and mud in the village school system, and got a D- in sticks, hijacked a freighter the other month. Hey, one freighter is the same as the next right, and they’re all good for a few million in ransom. Right? Wrong. These guys hijacked some Iranian rustbucket. Iranian ships are infamous for their fudged manifests. It might say “cargo contains fresh ice cream and condensed sunshine, no peanuts at all”, but what’s in the hold is often as deadly as the next shipment of little children’s toys from China. They still have the boat, and they’re still demanding some kind of ransom. That is, the ones who aren’t dead yet. From the toxic or radioactive chemicals on board. Like I said, not too smart. Can you say “arrgh-d’oh!”? Hey, that sounds fwench don’t it?

Pirates dying after hijacking Iranian ship

A tense standoff has developed in waters off Somalia over an Iranian merchant ship laden with a mysterious cargo that was hijacked by pirates.

Somali pirates suffered skin burns, lost hair and fell gravely ill “within days” of boarding the MV Iran Deyanat. Some of them died.

Andrew Mwangura, the director of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, told the Sunday Times: “We don’t know exactly how many, but the information that I am getting is that some of them had died. There is something very wrong about that ship.”

The vessel’s declared cargo consists of “minerals” and “industrial products”. But officials involved in negotiations over the ship are convinced that it was sailing for Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to Somalia’s Islamist rebels.

The Iran Deyanat was sailing in those waters on August 21, past the Horn of Africa and about 80 nautical miles southeast of Yemen, when it was boarded by about 40 pirates armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. They were alleged members of a crime syndicate said to be based at Eyl, a small fishing village in northern Somalia.

The ship is owned and operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, or IRISL, a state-owned company run by the Iranian military.

Andrew Mwangura, the director of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, told the Sunday Times: “We don’t know exactly how many, but the information that I am getting is that some of them had died. There is something very wrong about that ship.”

Mwangura has added: “Our sources say it contains chemicals, dangerous chemicals.”

But IRISL has denied that — and threatened legal action against Mwangura.

That’s right, Iran is going to sue the spokesman for Somali Pirates Assistance Programmmeee because he said the cargo was dangerous. Because Somali pirates drop dead in bunches all the time, after losing their hair and teeth. Probably from a lack of Vitamin C. Tough to find fruit to eat in Africa you know.

More on the story over at Bill Roggio’s Long War Journal. I know, he covered this one last week. I’m late to the party, again. But hey, he gets to talk to governments and stuff directly, and actually has a staff working for him around the world. Color me green, m’kay? Just not with Iranian ice cream or Chinese non-toxic toy paint, pet food, or powdered milk.

News about the illness and the toxic cargo quickly reached Garowe, seat of the government for the autonomous region of Puntland. Angered over the wave of piracy and suspicious about the Iranian ship, authorities dispatched a delegation led by Minister of Minerals and Oil Hassan Allore Osman to investigate the situation on September 4.
...
Once in direct contact, the pirates told Osman that they had attempted to inspect the ship’s seven cargo containers after they developed health complications but the containers were locked. The crew claimed that they did not have the “access codes” and could not open them. The delegation secured contact with the captain and the engineer by cell phone and demanded to know the nature of the cargo, however, Osman says that “they were saying different things to different people.” Initially they said that the cargo contained “crude oil” but then claimed it contained “minerals.”

“Puntland requested the pirates two weeks ago to hand over this Iranian ship, saying that it is carrying weapons to Eritrea,” Puntland Fisheries Minister Abdulqadir Muse Yusuf told Reuters. “I have seen food and other odd items on the ship but I do not know what is hidden underneath.”

Iran’s involvement in the conflict in Somalia on behalf of Islamist insurgents is well documented. In 2006, Iran flouted arms embargos and provided sophisticated anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), intelligence sources told The Long War Journal, including SA-7 Strella and SA-18 Igla MANPADS - shoulder fired surface-to-air missiles - as well as AT-3 Sagger antitank missiles.

So there is no real government in Somalia, yet this “semi-autonomous” corner of that barbaric sandbox seems to have ministers and government agencies and trade union associations. And they can come and go and visit with the pirates and “negotiate” whenever they want. Sound a little fishy to you? Sounds like In Total Cahoots to me. And the pirates couldn’t open the containers because they didn’t have the “access codes”?? WTF? If the classic pirate “access code”, usually called a blunderbuss, doesn’t work, try an acetylene torch! Like I said, this bunch failed mud.

This is at least the 4th pirate story I’ve posted about that has been based out of the little village of Eyl. That fancy sailboat full of frenchies was taken there too. Why is this place still standing?

   Friday - September 26, 2008

Somebody just made their last mistake

Prepare for hell boys and girls. You’re about to see one major reprisal in eastern africa. Little kidnappings and ship hijackings are one thing. This latest bit of piracy is an act of war. Against the Russians. And that is a really big mistake to make.

Somali Pirates Seize Ukranian Ship Loaded With Russian Tanks And Ammo

Russia’s navy ordered a warship to Somalia’s coast, officials said Friday, after pirates seized a Ukrainian vessel loaded with 33 tanks, ammunition, and Russian and Ukrainian crew members.

Russian navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said in a statement that the frigate Neustrashimy left the Russia’s Baltic port of Baltiisk on Wednesday. The statement did not specifically mention the seizure on Thursday of the Ukrainian ship.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Yury Yekhanurov, meanwhile, said that the ship, the Faina, was carrying 33 Russian T-72 tanks and a substantial quantity of ammunition and spare parts. Yekhanurov said the tanks were sold in accordance with international law, according to Larisa Mudrak, a spokeswoman for Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

Ukrainian officials and an anti-piracy watchdog said 21 crew members were aboard the seized ship, and Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said the crew included three Russians.

U.S. ships are in the area and are “monitoring the situation,” Lt. Nate Christensen, spokesman for the U,S, Navy’s 5th Fleet said, but added he could not go further into specifics because of the security issues involved.

This is the 61st attack off Somalia this year, and pirates are now holding 14 ships and more than 300 crew members, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center based in Malaysia.

Middleton said it was unclear how the pirates might react if confronted by military action, noting that they have fled from authorities in the past. On the other hand, he said, they are usually well-armed and organized and are based in an unstable country — Somalia.

“It could potentially get pretty messy,” he said

   Tuesday - September 16, 2008

French commandos rescue tourists from Somali pirates .

French commandos rescue tourists from Somali pirates
French commandos stormed a sailboat to free two French tourists who were being held by heavily-armed Somali pirates, President Nicolas Sarkozy has said.

By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 12:50PM BST 16 Sep 2008

French commandos and the navy helped to free the couple take hostage by Somali pirates two weeks ago Photo: GETTY IMAGES

One pirate was killed and another six captured in the lightning raid, which lasted 10 minutes. The hostages were unharmed.

With the backing from a French warship stationed nearby, some thirty commandos swooped on the pirates. They received support from Germany and Malaysia, according to the Elysée.

The rescue mission coincided with the news that a Hong Kong-registered chemical tanker has been seized and its 22 crew members taken hostage in the same area.

“France will not allow crime to pay,” declared Mr Sarkozy, who dispatched the commando unit after receiving information that the pirates were approaching a highly-protected coastal base, where rescue efforts would have been far riskier.

“This operation is a warning to all those who engage in criminal activity,” said the French president, who called for an international effort to protect ships in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden and surrounding area - reputedly the world’s most dangerous.

“This is a call for the mobilisation of the international community,” he said.

Hijackers captured Jean-Yves Delanne and his wife Bernadette from their 52-foot yacht, the Carré d’As, on September 2. They had reportedly demanded a $1.4 million ransom. Mr Sarkozy confirmed a ransom had been demanded, but gave no further details.

The pirates were intercepted while heading for the coastal base in the town of Eyl, in Somalia’s northeastern semi-autonomous Puntland region.

The freed hostages are sailing enthusiasts who live in Tahiti and had been passing through the Gulf of Aden on their way from Australia to the French Atlantic port of La Rochelle when they were seized.

Their yacht was escorted back to Djibouti, where France has a military base.

The pirates are on their way to France, where they will join another six captured in a spectacular French land rescue operation earlier this year.

French commandos intervened on April 11 after Somali pirates seized a French luxury yacht, Le Ponant, and its 30 crew, holding them hostage for a week.

Authorities in Puntland welcomed the latest French military operation.

“The state of Puntland encourages such steps and calls on other governments whose nationals are being held to do the same thing,” said a presidential advisor.

His words came amid efforts to secure the release of several other vessels still in the hands of pirates in the area – the latest being the Hong-Kong registered chemical tanker.

“The incident happened in the maritime security corridor that is patrolled by coalition naval forces,” said the head of the International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre. “The situation (in the Gulf of Aden) is dangerous. We urge the UN and the international community with naval assets in the region to stop this menace,” he said.

Around 50 ships, mainly merchant vessels, have been attacked by pirates off Somalia’s 2,300 miles of coastline since the beginning of the year, and dozens have been captured. According to Mr Sarkozy, Somali pirates are currently holding 150 people and at least 15 ships.

A French tuna fishing boat came under rocket attack some 700 kilometres off the Somali coast on Saturday. Pirates are becoming increasingly emboldened and now target boats in an area the size of France off the Somali coast.

A pirate mother ship is suspected of operating in the area, sending out small, heavily armed speed boats when it spots a passing vessel.

On Saturday a Japanese-operated oil tanker came under fire, while a Spanish trawler was targeted last week.

In June, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution authorising foreign warships to enter Somalia’s territorial waters with the government’s consent. However, at present very few foreign warships patrol the area.

European foreign ministers agreed on Monday to set up a special unit to coordinate the anti-piracy effort off Somalia, raising the possibility of a future EU naval mission.

http://tinyurl.com/5j9yye

   Friday - September 05, 2008

Somali Piracy out of control

Pirates Again!

A maritime official says an Egyptian cargo ship with 25 crew has been hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia.  Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau says the ship was seized late Wednesday, making it the 10th vessel to be hijacked in the pirate-infested waterway since July 20. He says the attack occurred on the same day when a French sailboat was seized in the area. The French ministry said it believed there were only two French nationals aboard the sailboat.

The Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, is one of the world’s busiest waterways with some 20,000 ships passing through each year. But it has become notorious for an increasing number of attacks.

Malaysia sending Navy Task Force to provide security

Malaysia is dispatching three navy vessels to the Gulf of Aden to protect its merchant ships following a sharp surge in pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia, an official said Friday.

The frigates, carrying an unspecified number of soldiers and several helicopters, will provide security for five ships owned by Malaysian shipping line MISC Berhad, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted as saying by The Star.

The move came after two MISC tankers were hijacked by armed pirates in the gulf last month, prompting the company earlier this week to ban its ships from the region until additional security measures were in place.

A defense ministry official — who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media — confirmed Najib’s comments.

Two of the navy ships will reach the gulf in the next few days, said the official. A third will leave Malaysia soon. The Gulf of Aden is already patrolled by an international naval force, but the Malaysian vessels will focus on escorting MISC ships.

Soldiers will not launch rescue operations for the two hijacked MISC ships because negotiations were ongoing to release the ships and crew, the official said. No further details were immediately available. MISC officials declined to comment when contacted.
...
Pirates seized the Malaysian palm oil tanker, MT Bunga Melati 2, in the gulf between Somalia and Yemen on Aug. 19, resulting in the death of a Filipino sailor. Another MISC tanker, MT Bunga Melati 5, was hijacked 10 days later in the same waterway. It was the eighth ship hijacked in the Gulf of Aden since July 20.

Pirates have reportedly demanded a $3 million ransom for the two ships and 79 crew, including 14 Filipinos, local newspapers said.

The surge in pirate attacks has prompted the U.S. Naval Central Command to establish a security corridor in the gulf patrolled by an international coalition of warships and aircraft.

   Wednesday - August 27, 2008

Aarrgh, Pirates!

Pirates of the Mediterranean?




The $40 million luxury sailboat, The Tiara, was raided by pirates off of Corsica.


I know, it’s been a while. But either those Somali pirates are keeping quiet, or the stories just aren’t making the news anymore. Or ... maybe they’ve moved north, to cooler waters?



Armed pirate gang storm luxury £20m Mediterranean yacht and rob guests of £100,000

A gang of four masked men boarded a £20million yacht in the Mediterranean and robbed guests and crew of more than £100,000.

The modern-day pirates pulled alongside the 160ft vessel in a speedboat, then stormed aboard wielding handguns and rifles.

They ordered the captain to empty the boat’s safe, then told the nine guests - who had paid £130,000 for their one-week charter - to hand over their cash and valuables.

Within ten minutes, the gang were back in the speedboat, making their escape. They stole cash, gold watches, jewellery and several artworks, police said.

A spokesman for the French coastguard said that no shots had been fired and no one was hurt in the robbery.

The yacht, called Tiara, was anchored several miles off southern Corsica when the raid happened on Sunday night.

Its captain immediately alerted coastguard officials on the French Mediterranean island, but the criminals have not been found.

   Tuesday - June 24, 2008

Slim Pickings For Somali Pirates?

Pirates take four European tourists hostage

Pirates took four European tourists hostage after their yacht ran out of fuel off the coast of northern Somalia in the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aden, according to a Somaliland official. The pirates then took their hostages—a man, woman, their child and their yacht’s pilot—into hills around the fishing town of Las Qoray, said Ahmed Yusuf Yasin, vice president of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland. Somaliland soldiers and local residents were searching for the pirates in an effort to free the hostages, Yasin said.  Las Qoray is in a territory claimed by both Puntland, a self-declared autonomous state, and Somalia. The two sides clashed over the disputed land earlier this year. Yasin said he believed the hostages were either French or German.

Maybe that international Navy effort is starting to pay off? With all the thousands of commercial ships that pass through this area, with billions of dollars of cargo aboard, the best these pirates can do is snag a small family and their little out of gas boat? Pathetic. They’ll be lucky to get $500 in ransom. What’s next, capturing dolphins and ransoming them back to GreenPeas? And once again, another news story about pirates, and not a single mention of peg-legs, jolly rogers, cutlasses, or barrels of rum. These Somali pirates ... suck.

   Sunday - June 08, 2008

Aarrgh, Pirates: It’s Your Fault

Somalia: Piracy is UN’s Fault. And Bush’s too!






Here’s a load of crap if there ever was one:

A rising surge in pirate attacks along Somalia’s east African coast is primarily rooted in the policies of the United Nations and Western countries, an Islamist spokesman said Friday.

Mohamud Sheikh Ibrahim Suley, spokesman for the Islamic Courts, told Mogadishu media via a teleconference that a recent UN resolution targeting Somali pirates had “taken the wrong route.”

“This decision is backed by Western nations whose agenda is to steal Somalia’s land and sea resources,” Suley said, while referring to UN Security Council Resolution 1816 that effectively authorized foreign countries to use “all necessary means” to combat piracy along the Somali coast.

The Islamists’ spokesman blamed the UN and unnamed countries in the West for allegedly “strengthening piracy,” saying: “As the Islamic Courts fought against piracy, the UN allowed an [Ethiopian] attack against the Courts’ administration, which was known for restoring peace in Somalia.”

During the Islamic Courts reign in south-central Somalia, between June and December 2006, piracy hit an all-time low along the Horn of Africa country’s coastline.

Currently, two foreign-owned vessels are being held hostage by Somali pirates, who have demanded million-dollar ransom payments.

An international force led by the United States Navy has been patrolling Somalia’s coast for months, although critics quickly point out that the presence of naval warships and supporting aircraft has yet to deter pirate attacks.

Are these guys effin kidding me? I’m laughing myself right off my chair here. Right, we’re “strengthening piracy” by deposing another tyrannist government, the African Al Qaeda calling itself the Islamic Courts. But wait, that wasn’t even us, it was the Ethiopians! Ok, we helped a little. The only reason there was almost no piracy under the IC rule is because they decided that boats were haram, and probably shot all the people who knew how to sail them.

And it is true that multinational naval patrols haven’t done much to avert piracy. Because they’re playing nice. Pretty stupid, huh? These assclowns don’t understand nice.

How about if we took a few of those neat new Littoral Warships and a gross or so of PT boats or whatever they’re called these days, and interdicted every single boat that put out from Somali shores? And if we found one gun, one bullet, one RPG aboard, we sunk that boat right on the spot. That would end piracy pretty damn fast.

Or we could set up arms stations in the Gulf, and around the other side of the Horn. “Oh, heading down Somalia way? Here’s your 6 M2 machine guns, 10,000 rounds of ammo, 5 dozen RPGs, 6 sets of night vision goggles, and 6 TOW launchers. And 2 video cameras. And two crates of AK-47s and a few cutlasses. Better hang on to the receipt, because you have to give it all back when you get to the the other side. Or else we sink your ass on the spot. We expect you to fight to the last man, and not get hijacked. Have fun!”

   Friday - May 23, 2008

Aarrgh, Pirates!

Ransom Paid?

NAIROBI, Kenya - Somali pirates on Friday released a UAE-owned ship they captured a week ago, a regional maritime official said.  The owners of the MV Victoria told the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Program that the ship was released Friday and is now traveling with a handful of Somali soldiers on board to ensure its safe passage, said Andrew Mwangura, who is the coordinator of the program.

Marwan Shipping and Trading Company, based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, owns the MV Victoria, but the vessel flies a Jordanian flag, Mwangura told The Associated Press.

He said he did not know under what terms the pirates released the ship.

Piracy is rampant along the 1,880-mile (3,000-kilometer) Somali coast, which is the longest in Africa and is near key shipping routes connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. There have been more than a dozen pirate attacks this year alone.

On Thursday, South Africa’s U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said that U.N. experts monitoring a 1992 arms embargo in Somalia are currently investigating the links between piracy and arms trafficking. The experts are also investigating allegations that pirates received “active support” from government officials in charge of the ports, Kumalo said in a report to the U.N. Security Council that was released by the world body.

Last month, the United States and France introduced a U.N. resolution that would allow countries to chase and arrest pirates off Somalia’s coast. The resolution came in response to the increase in attacks this year and last year compared with 2006 when they had dwindled.

I’ve got work to do, so you may not hear much from me for the next 4 days. I’ll try to post something, but I’m going to be one tired puppy when I get home. Yeah, I’m working the holiday weekend. Nothing new there for me.

   Saturday - May 17, 2008

Aarrgh, Pirates!

Pirates Hijack Jordanian Ship Off Coast of Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates hijacked a Jordanian ship Saturday in the latest in a string of attacks off the lawless coast of Somalia, the head of a seafarer’s association said.

Andrew Mwangura of the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Program said the attack occurred early Saturday morning. He could not say how many crew were abroad, but said Kenyans, Tanzanians and some Asians were among them.

The pirates had seized the ship not far from Mogadishu and were taking it north, he said.

It is the second time the ship has been attacked. Pirates tried to board it outside the Somali port of Merka last year but the ship, called the Victoria, managed to escape.

Piracy is rampant along Somalia’s 1,880-mile coast, which is the longest in Africa and near key shipping routes connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. There have been more than a dozen pirate attacks this year alone.

Somali officials have blamed Western companies for encouraging the practice by paying ransoms that can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The only Victoria I could find with Jordanian registry is a medium cargo ship ( 4787 DWT ) built in 1979. However there are at least a dozen ships with that name that are not local ferry boats or tug boats. So who knows?

Don’t you just love it how the Somalis blame everyone else for their own lawlessness? What a crock. I think it’s time the UN sent in the blue helmets and solved this once and for all. Burn the place to the ground, everything within 100 miles of the coast. Interdict every ship, and if it has Somalis on board with weapons, sink it on the spot. Running this post every week is starting to lose it’s allure. Somalia is a rouge nation and needs a major smackdown. And nobody anywhere will give a damn if you use insanely excessive force to do it.

   Thursday - May 08, 2008

Not Your Usual Aarrggh Pirates, part 2

Los Angeles Says Piracy Detrimental to the Public Health




Well, duh, right? Ordinarily I wouldn’t give this article a second glance. Of course piracy is bad for you. But, unfortunately, this is LA we’re dealing with, so their idea has nothing to do with Jean LaFoote and his merry band of seaborne cutthroats. No, LA is talking about music and video piracy. See, by declaring such things a Public Nuisance, they can set the wheels of government turning to use Emminent Domain to steal your house. Legally. Hang on a minute, who is the pirate here?

Local governments in California and the United States have long had the power to declare property a public nuisance when their owners allow their land to become denizens of drugs, gangs, prostitution and gambling.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, following New York’s lead, is adding a new category: music and video piracy.

In an ordinance just adopted, the five-member board is declaring that piracy “substantially interferes with the interest of the public in the quality of life and community peace, lawful commerce in the county, property values, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare of the county’s citizens, its businesses and its visitors.”

The regulation was crafted at the urging of the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America.

Oh hell, you wouldn’t think LA would be in bed with the MPAA now would you? Not a chance. It’s not like they own Hollywood or anything. Um, hang on ...

The county retains the right to shutter a property for up to a year for violating ordinance 13.90.010 and also gives local authorities the right to bring a civil action to “temporarily restrain, preliminarily enjoin, and/or permanently enjoin the person or persons intentionally conducting, or knowingly maintaining or permitting the public nuisance from further conducting, maintaining, or permitting such a public nuisance.”

Property owners who knowingly permit such activity can also be dinged $1,000 for each counterfeited work produced on the property.

Permanently enjoin the person conducting the nuisance from maintaining the nuisance. Yup, I’m pretty much sure that means We Get To Seize Your Property.

Fuck ‘em. Another punishment that’s waaay overboard for the crime committed. Avast there LA, else it be fair time for the oak plank two step, and a long dance with Davey Jones.

---

---

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner

GNU Terry Pratchett

Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.

---

Sponsor's Links

---

Newsfeeds

 RSS 2.0   Atom 

---

Other ways to BMEWS yourself

Most Recent Posts

• Once Again, The One And Only Post
• Gee, Oops
• The ‘Rona Song
• Follow Me !
• eye candy, high plains edition
• Flowers For Algernon?
• The Death Of NYC?
• Very Funny Officer
• Rhubarb !!!
• Fauci Gets One Right
• toldja so
• Of course she isn’t, but you’re uninformed and intellectually lazy so she’ll get away with it
• Walter White Moved To Holland?
• TLH? Typical Leftist Hypocrites
• Biden Picks Kamala Harris For VP
• Feral Child Killers
• Gohmert (R-TX) Much Improved
• Still Here
• A Dark Ending
• Ospreys are up, is Trump in town?

Humor

---

Donations & Stuff

Buy BMEWS High Quality Stuff!

---

Help Support BMEWS

---

PAYPAL donation button

---

Our Sponsors

Your Ad Here

---

Department Of Information

DAILY READS

• Broderland Beat
  
• Hot Air
  
• Gateway Pundit
  
• Michelle Malkin
  
• Right Wing NEws
  

CONSERVATIVE OPINION

• Neal Boortz
  
• Ann Coulter
  
• Hugh Hewitt
  
• Rush Limbaugh
  

NEWS

• Washington Times
  
• Best Of The Web Today
  
• Media Research Center
  
• Newsmax
  
• Townhall
  
• Weekly Standard
  
• WorldNetDaily
  

MILITARY & IRAQ

• US Central Command
  
• US Army
  
• US Air Force
  
• US Navy
  
• US Marine Corps
  
• US Coast Guard
  
• A Soldiers Blog
  
• Citizen Smash
  
• CPT Patti
  
• Front Line Voices
  
• Iraq 2.0
  
• Iraq The Model
  
• Sgt. Stryker
  

GOVERNMENT

• White House News
  
• White House Press
  
• Dept Of Defense
  
• Dept Of State
  
• Dept Of Homeland Security
  
• National Security Council
  
• CIA
  
• FBI
  
• NASA
  
• US Supreme Court
  
• US House
  
• US Senate
  
• US House Votes
  
• US Senate Votes
  
• RNC News
  
• DNC News
  
• On The Floor
  
• US Government Reference
  
• State Governments
  
• America's Job Bank
  

LINKS

• Inside Louisville

Search For It!

Web BMEWS

This Blog Is Rated

Required Reading

• FAQ For Barking Moonbats
• What Is A Moonbat?
• Why Do Moonbats Bark?
• Our Patron Saint

Acknowledgements

Categories

• Abortion - (17)
• Adventure - (22)
• Advertising - (0)
• Advertising - (9)
• Africa - (102)
• Amazing Science and Discoveries - (121)
• Animals - (249)
  • Cat Blogging - (14)
• Archeology / Anthropology - (83)
• Architecture - (41)
• Art-Photography - (339)
• Awards - (77)
• Battling Brits - (23)
• Big Brother - (53)
• Big Business - (53)
• BIRTHDAY - (7)
• Blog Stuff - (270)
• Border Security - (27)
• Bowling Blogging - (187)
• Bread - (19)
• Bridges - (50)
• Canada - (14)
• Celebrities - (125)
• CHESS - (67)
• CHINA in the news - (45)
• Climate-Weather - (442)
• Colleges-Professors - (70)
• Commies - (212)
• Computers and Cyberspace - (80)
• Crime - (1093)
• CULTURE IN DECLINE - (416)
• Daily Life - (730)
• Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists - (1830)
• Passing on, Death and Disaster - (18)
• Disasters - (7)
• Economics - (362)
• DIVERSITY BS - (119)
• Editorials - (318)
• Education - (342)
• Egypt, Then and Now - (0)
• Environment - (209)
• EUro-peons - (310)
• Eye-Candy - (903)
• Fake News - (1)
• Finance and Investing - (36)
• Family - (38)
• Fine-Dining - (168)
• Food - (15)
• FRANCE - (116)
• Fun-Stuff - (838)
• FREEDOM - (121)
• gardening - (1)
• Gardens and plants - (3)
• Gay Gay Gay! - (56)
• Genocide - (12)
• Government - (395)
• Corruption and Greed - (144)
• Guns and Gun Control - (528)
• Health and Safety - (67)
• Health-Medicine - (320)
• Heroes - (72)
• High Tech - (33)
• Hildabeast - (77)
• History - (345)
• Holidays - (63)
  • Christmas - (15)
• Hollywood - (184)
• Homeland-Security - (41)
• Humor - (1876)
• Illegal-Aliens and Immigration - (502)
• Inflation and High Prices - (16)
• Insanity - (252)
• International - (396)
• Iran - (62)
• Iraq - (175)
• Israel - (81)
• Jack Booted Thugs - (124)
• Judges-Courts-Lawyers - (480)
• Justice - LACK OF - (123)
• Latin-America - (19)
• Literature - (32)
• Love-Marriage - (27)
• Media-Bias - (428)
• Medical - (48)
• Mexico - (11)
• Middle-East - (140)
• Military - (596)
• Miscellaneous - (2383)
• Moonbat Award to: - (15)
• Motorvators - (122)
• MOVIES - (29)
• Music - (117)
• muslims - (364)
• Nanny State - (149)
• Nature - (34)
• New Jersey - (3)
• Neat Inventions - (15)
• News-Briefs - (335)
• No Shit, Sherlock - (47)
• North-Korea - (20)
• NOSTALGIA - (10)
• Obama, The One - (431)
• OBITITUARIES - (48)
• Odd-Strange - (244)
• Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices - (126)
• Oppression - (34)
• Outrageous - (453)
• Outsourcing - (8)
• OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT - (39)
• pandemic and epidemic diseases - (61)
  • The New Normal - (4)
• Pandemic Pandemonium - (63)
• Paleswine - (74)
• PAT CONDELL - (43)
• Patriotism - (151)
• Personal - (436)
• Philosophy - (70)
• Pirates, aarrgh! - (158)
• planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles - (179)
• Politically Correct B.S. - (147)
• Politically-Incorrect - (117)
• Politics - (860)
• Porkbusters - (11)
• Product Safety - (5)
• Racism and race relations - (283)
• REALLY WORTHLESS and PUTRID PEOPLE - (145)
• Religion - (187)
• Republicans - (132)
• RoPMA - (684)
• Russia - (5)
• Sarah Palin - (16)
• Satire - (64)
• Scary Stuff - (76)
• Science-Technology - (257)
• Self-Defense - (35)
• Sex - (106)
• Sharia law - (10)
• Social-Security - (41)
• Space - (41)
• SPOOKS - (9)
• Sports - (170)
• STFU - (0)
• Stoopid-People - (1015)
• Success Stories - (7)
• Super Seniors - (0)
• Talented Ppl. - (22)
• Taxes - (66)
• Television - (55)
• Terrorists - (715)
• The New Conservatives - (45)
• Travelers/Gypsies/Squatters - (130)
• TURD WORLD - (27)
• Typical White People: Stupid, Evil, Willfully Blind - (36)
• Tyrants and Dictators - (94)
• UK - (1715)
• Unions-Labor - (54)
• United-Nations - (136)
• USA - (277)
• War On Terror - (365)
• War-Stories - (218)
• weird stuff - (37)
• work and the workplace - (143)

Monthly Archives

• April 2024
• August 2020
• July 2020
• June 2020
• May 2020
• April 2020
• March 2020
• February 2020
• January 2020
• December 2019
• November 2019
• August 2016
• July 2016
• June 2016
• May 2016
• April 2016
• March 2016
• February 2016
• January 2016
• December 2015
• November 2015
• October 2015
• September 2015
• August 2015
• July 2015
• June 2015
• May 2015
• April 2015
• March 2015
• February 2015
• January 2015
• December 2014
• November 2014
• October 2014
• September 2014
• August 2014
• July 2014
• June 2014
• May 2014
• April 2014
• March 2014
• February 2014
• January 2014
• December 2013
• November 2013
• October 2013
• September 2013
• August 2013
• July 2013
• June 2013
• May 2013
• April 2013
• March 2013
• February 2013
• January 2013
• December 2012
• November 2012
• October 2012
• September 2012
• August 2012
• July 2012
• June 2012
• May 2012
• April 2012
• March 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011
• November 2011
• October 2011
• September 2011
• August 2011
• July 2011
• June 2011
• May 2011
• April 2011
• March 2011
• February 2011
• January 2011
• December 2010
• November 2010
• October 2010
• September 2010
• August 2010
• July 2010
• June 2010
• May 2010
• April 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• April 2006
• March 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005
• May 2005
• April 2005
• March 2005
• February 2005
• January 2005
• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• August 2004
• July 2004
• June 2004
• January 2004
• Complete Archives
• Category Archives

The Stat Monster

---

---

---

Copyright

All content on this website (including text, photographs, audio files, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

You may freely use anything for non-commercial purposes as long as you attribute the source. All non-original content must be attributed to the original source. Play fair.

Fair Use

This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner or may be authorized or licensed for publication at this site only. Permission to copy, republish or reproduce such material must be obtained from the original copyright owner.

We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes.

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

GNU Terry Pratchett