The brothers (well, they are better known as Somali pirates, but the term pirates is so distracting, so I prefer to call them 'brothers') from the failed state are shocking!!
In the recent weeks, they have reportedly hijacked (seajacked?) 17 prize vessels and held them at ransom...vessels carrying everything from crude oil worth millions of euros (in these days, dollar terms mean very little) to weapons of mass destruction (remember the rocket launchers headed for South Sudan? or was it Kenya - I never could really tell) ... vessels flying all sorts of flags, Iranian, Saudi, even attempted Indian, and the brothers are raking a fortune because it seems no vessel is seajack proof and no vessel is released without paying its due share.
These brothers have basically rendered the attraction that was the Suez Canal meaningless!! Anwar Sadat must be turning in his grave...Siad Barre must rue the day he fled Somalia leaving his country without a president or government... CEOs must be scratching their heads wondering how they can possibly afford ransom fees when there is an ongoing financing crisis of 1930s proportion ... and the coastal Western/Southern Africa must be thanking the brothers for all the extra business!!! Thank you pirates!
I recently read in the press, and I write this with hesitation, that the brothers must have raked in 150 million dollars this year! Well, if I was a brother and I had that kind of money to spend as a Somali, I would be dreaming of rebuilding my war torn country brick by brick, block by block, kilometre by kilometre. I would dream of putting up schools, hospitals and infrastructure, and of establishing a very modest functioning government. I would take the blood money and try to make penance with it. But I am NOT a brother, and so it is very likely, someone has opened a nicely concealed 'Swiss' account or its equivalent (well the financial markets are not very comforting for a novice businessman brother) and it will probably sit earning piles of interest while the seajacking business goes on ... so this makes me wonder ... what is the point of seajacking these vessels and asking for ransom money if you cannot do too much with the money? But again, there is the black market, which is like the vast seas, wide unpoliced territory, one where actors are willing to buy and sell absolutely anything and everything. If that is the destination of the ransom money, then the brothers could on be something bigger than we know. This makes me wary. This should make you the reader wary.
I do not suppose the brothers have access to internet in the high seas? If they do, I urge them, the financial crisis is already crippling most economies, go home and enjoy rebuilding your country. Stop crippling the Suez Canal. Stop crippling the cheapest form of transport we all know. Please, just go home. We need to believe that something out there is still untouched.
In the recent weeks, they have reportedly hijacked (seajacked?) 17 prize vessels and held them at ransom...vessels carrying everything from crude oil worth millions of euros (in these days, dollar terms mean very little) to weapons of mass destruction (remember the rocket launchers headed for South Sudan? or was it Kenya - I never could really tell) ... vessels flying all sorts of flags, Iranian, Saudi, even attempted Indian, and the brothers are raking a fortune because it seems no vessel is seajack proof and no vessel is released without paying its due share.
These brothers have basically rendered the attraction that was the Suez Canal meaningless!! Anwar Sadat must be turning in his grave...Siad Barre must rue the day he fled Somalia leaving his country without a president or government... CEOs must be scratching their heads wondering how they can possibly afford ransom fees when there is an ongoing financing crisis of 1930s proportion ... and the coastal Western/Southern Africa must be thanking the brothers for all the extra business!!! Thank you pirates!
I recently read in the press, and I write this with hesitation, that the brothers must have raked in 150 million dollars this year! Well, if I was a brother and I had that kind of money to spend as a Somali, I would be dreaming of rebuilding my war torn country brick by brick, block by block, kilometre by kilometre. I would dream of putting up schools, hospitals and infrastructure, and of establishing a very modest functioning government. I would take the blood money and try to make penance with it. But I am NOT a brother, and so it is very likely, someone has opened a nicely concealed 'Swiss' account or its equivalent (well the financial markets are not very comforting for a novice businessman brother) and it will probably sit earning piles of interest while the seajacking business goes on ... so this makes me wonder ... what is the point of seajacking these vessels and asking for ransom money if you cannot do too much with the money? But again, there is the black market, which is like the vast seas, wide unpoliced territory, one where actors are willing to buy and sell absolutely anything and everything. If that is the destination of the ransom money, then the brothers could on be something bigger than we know. This makes me wary. This should make you the reader wary.
I do not suppose the brothers have access to internet in the high seas? If they do, I urge them, the financial crisis is already crippling most economies, go home and enjoy rebuilding your country. Stop crippling the Suez Canal. Stop crippling the cheapest form of transport we all know. Please, just go home. We need to believe that something out there is still untouched.
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