Shades of Entebbe...
Somali pirates have learned a lesson. Don't mess with them Russkies. Like most nations which don't take kindly to outside sources messing around with their nationals, their possessions, their economies, Russia has been, like all those others who resent being pushed around by a band of lawless pirates, indignant over the plight of lawful seafarers.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, good man that he is, mentioned just the other day that Somalian pirates imperilling the passage of normal merchant-marine shipping around the Gulf of Aden represented an "evil" badly in need of cleaning up. Of course Somalis claim otherwise; that they're simply enterprising entrepreneurs, making a living.
Because, they say, their normal fishing lifestyle has collapsed, thanks to the piratical activities of other, wealthier countries with sea-factory boats, netting the fish that would normally accrue to Somali fisherfolk. And, adding environmental insult to earning injury, foreign trawlers and other ships passing in the night over that great swale of oceanic presence, dump all their refuse there.
They're doing what self-reliant people anywhere do, doggedly looking for opportunity and finding it in organizing themselves, arming themselves, training themselves to mount irresistible armed attacks on maritime fleets using their waterways without permission. "Permission" is automatically granted once the required toll-for-passage has been paid.
Outside sources, irate at Somalian enterprise can call the toll exacted for release of ships carrying valuable cargo, and their hapless crews, ransom if they wish. But as long as the merchants of ransomed goods get their big bucks up front, they little care. (Building mansions in an impoverished nation, driving expensive cars becomes addictive.) They may now, however.
It was one thing when their attempts to board vessels were apprehended by other nations' warships patrolling the coast. Foreign countries' patrols and the professional crews that man them have a problem with harm done to young Somali men (trying to earn a living) through the process, even though some pirates may be taken prisoner and hauled off to stand trial in foreign parts.
But this was something else again. For one thing the captain of the oil tanker 'Moscow University' thought quickly to shelter himself and his crew from capture, and briskly managed also to demobilize the ship's propulsion system. And then, he radioed for assistance. And, as luck would have it, there was a Russian warship, the 'Marshal Shaposhnikov', in the neighbourhood.
Almost a day later on arrival, the Russian warship demonstrated what it was capable of. Dispatching a helicopter which the pirates used their automatic weapons and grenade launchers on, and the battle was joined. A group of helicopter-borne Russian special forces personnel landed on the deck of the oil tanker, down-scaling ropes.
Other marines arrived by speedboat, and the vessel was simultaneously boarded. "After a short firefight, the pirates were neutralized", according to a high-ranking naval source. No Russian marines were injured in the gun battle, but one Somali pirate was killed and ten taken prisoner. Taken, in fact, to Moscow where they will be prosecuted.
Thus ends one particular portion of an ongoing drama.
Alas, these hard-working Somali pirates who have been able to enjoy living in a manner undreamed of before they undertook to present themselves as toll-gatherers have suffered the ignominy of some of their working sites being taken by radical Islamists who can recognize an al-Qaeda-funding opportunity when they see one.
The world is an unjust place, no doubt about it.
Labels: Political Realities, That's Life, Traditions, Troublespots
posted by Pieface @ Friday, May 07, 2010
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