What The International Media Aren't Telling You About Somalia Pirates
By Susie Madrak Sunday Apr 12, 2009 5:30amJohann Hari from The Independent:
In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since – and the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.
Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury – you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."
At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters."
This is the context in which the "pirates" have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a "tax" on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia – and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence".
No, this doesn't make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters – especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies. But in a telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali: "We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas." William Scott would understand.
Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our toxic waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We won't act on those crimes – the only sane solution to this problem – but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 per cent of the world's oil supply, we swiftly send in the gunboats.
You can read the United Nations report here.
I wonder which principled member of our corporate media will point out that, in the big picture, the Somali pirates are acting in self-defense?
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Damn right. And if you listen to talk radio, all you hear about is how the pirates are "Somalian Terrorists" and lame links to "Black Hawk Down."
Once again, if you act against the United States, you are a "terrorist," and the only response to your action is swift death- and not just of the "terrorists," but of anyone who happens to be too close to the scene of the "retaliation."
The grievances of these "pirates?" Unimportant. After all, they're BLACK. And SOMALIAN. And almost certainly MUSLIM. What could they possibly have to say that's of any value?
and I remember when Johann Hari wrote that article. My husband and I were discussing this before he went to work this morning. I was saying to my husband that a lot of this goes back to the USA ditching Somalia after Blackhawk Down. Johann Hari is one our finest writers and he is under 30. You should read his feature on Dubai.
It's shocking that the EU has laws in place to stop overfishing in Europe and it provides subsidies to some fisherman, yet they go over to Somalia to loot their waters.
whatever you think of the fishing industy in the EU, its probaly worse than you think in reality. Its so depressing and stupid.
..and just the other day, the observation was made about the piracy at sea being the ultimate consequence to anarchy on land. And where's the U.N. with regard to the illegal dumping and fishing?
yikes!
Thanks!
a bit doesn't it?
Now the strategy is a bit of debatable, innit?
I mean, I could see trying to seize illegal fishing boats, and dumpers, etc, and holding them for ransom.
Or even sinking them. That would send a message to the perps.
But taking passing merchants on a 'target-of-opportunity' basis is guaranteed to put you up against the "LawnOrder" bunch, and they're the ones with the guns...
But you know, logic flies out the window when you have no options. Desperation does that to people.
sailors certainly deserve to be held ransom don't they.
"I wonder which principled member of our corporate media will point out that, in the big picture, the Somali pirates are acting in self-defense?"
Not the New York Post that's for sure.
http://www.nypost.com/
but they did manage to get a picture of the scary black man with a gun turned on the helpless white folks for today's front page out on newstands. Mission Accomplished.
of toxic chemicals, then the terr'ists win... Whenever these damn brown people are involved, you libruls always try and complicate things - we already understand that there's two sides to the story - we're the good guys and they're the bad guys. That makes them terr'ists and we don't negotiate with terr'ists - at least Dubya didn't - and he always kept us safe. Except that one time...
ya can't hold that one time agin' 'im. It was those damn TERR'ISTS!
Of desparate, starving, people cannot be viewed as anything but an attempt to survive. I believe this type of thing is similar to what happens in this country when large populations of people are denied a chance to make a living. We see it in our own large cities with drug dealing and other crime. At the rate of 600,000 to 700,000 becoming unemployed each week in this country, we will see alot more of it as unemployment benefits run out. Get ready, this could be a long hot summer......
I am orignally from the USA, from the ghettoes and I have a lot of ambivalent feelings toward drug dealers because I know what life is like in those parts. I am in the UK, and though there is a social safety net, like you, I am pensive about what the summer will be like. Thankfully, it doesn't get as hot in London as it does in Chicago. The Somalis are desparate, in the truest since of the word. Of course I don't agree with violence and such, but it doesn't mean I don't understand why people are driven toward it.
600,000 lost their jobs last month. Not week. Inflating the numbers does not serve you well.
According to the link, they allowed dumping there since the early 80's.
What they need to do is form a more rational form of Govt'.
As for the pirates. I feel no sympathy for them. Just a bunch of thugs.
As for the fishermen. Well, I would imagine that some of them are good decent people who are getting screwed.
But we're talkin Somalia here folks. I should believe them? Why?
A new order did arise from the chaos.
But GWB, in all his shining wisdon, did not like the theocratic leanings (read...lousy muslims) of the new government in Somalia.
And before they had a chance to really restore order to this nation of truly poor, the Bush regime brought in the Ethiopians (plausible deniability there folks) and restored the proper levels of chaos so that exploitation could continue.
Our government is not just corrupt, but criminally corrupt.
I suggest reading long time journalist Chris Floyd.
Perhaps then, some of the gaps in your perspective can be properly filled in.
someone who frees mink from rotting in a fur farm, it's good to be reminded what difference a single phrase can make. Pirates or coast guard?
Thanks for this article.
You really need to do your research on these pirates. If you knew anything about the conditions of Somalia since 1991 and the lack of stability and government, you would know that these pirates have no concern about pollution of their waters. They have stolen food and supplies from their own people for years and care for nothing but themselves. There are people in Somalia who care about these "polluting" ships, but one thing is for sure...IT IS NOT THESE PIRATES. They want nothing but money and notoriety.
You are really reaching on this one and it won't hold up. I suggest reading anything by Michael Weinstein of Purdue University. He is the foremost authority on the Horn of Africa and would probably teach you something.
Then read Chris Floyd.
The pirates are mere nationalists using violent means after their government's gone AWOL.
Kinda describes the same methods Right-Wing whackos like Beck, Bachman and Limbaugh are using too, doesn't it?
Only in the present case Somali government officials are despicably corrupt and likely worked out secret oil and mineral deals with other foreign powers in exchange for the dumping.
Note these two links and follow them for a bit. You'll find another fake and distracting WMD story: First note the WIKI link and look at the bias towards the listing of the Iranian ship(#57) -it's one and only ship suspected of carrying nuclear material that caused all the pirates who came on board to have classic symptoms of radiation sickness. Of course no explanation is given for the crew's perfect health. But following the source for the story takes you to nothing but pure Right-wing think tanks and stories of government's colluding at the expense of their citizens.
Oil and minerals and the moneyed men who protect their extraction are never called terrorists or pirates - only their victims are.
Geez, wasn't that the same cry heard on Wall Street?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_at...
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/0...
You know that for a fact? You've met all the pirates and can testify that these particular guys are not doing it because they have no food and need money?
Wow, must be great to be omniscient.
Talking about pirates as if they are defending the Somali people is a crock. The pirates care nothing about Somalia, they LIKE the money and the fame. This is as good as any article about the Somali pirates.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7650415.stm
But to board ships and hold their passengers as hostage is merely piracy at sea, and to think that these men act in the interests of anything other than their own financial well being would be wrong. I have yet to hear any demands from Somali pirates that illegal dumping or trawling of Somali waters cease.
However, and I stress, I have very little doubt that both take place and that Somalia is suffering even more as a result. While the West largely can turn a blind eye towards Darfur there is no doubt we can do the same to Somalia. And I shudder to think how many more drones will be flying over Somalia looking for a "target rich environment"
"I have yet to hear any demands from Somali pirates that illegal dumping or trawling of Somali waters cease."
"In 1996, when I was in the northern autonomous region, Puntland, in Somalia, there was already a widespread fear that foreign ships were taking advantage of the collapse of the Somalian state by using the nation's waters as a refuse dump."
http://euobserver.com/13/27244
After 12 years of trying to talk and now that your hair's fallen out and your children are deformed, what the f*** would you do??
Don't you get it?? No one has been listening!
And this one doesnt even make the news. Not the backpage, not the classifieds, it aint even published. I dont write the news, dont blame me. Reality sucks, eh?
Nobody is talking so it must not be real?
After 12 years of trying to talk and now that your hair's fallen out and your children are deformed, what the f*** would you do??
Well, I think I'd start by attacking the ships doing the dumping and illegal fishing, not ships carrying food aid or otherwise engaged in innocent transit.
The way you tell a volunteer coastguard from a kidnap-for-ransom gang is that the former doesn't take hostages for ransom and the latter does. Now which of those actually describes the conduct of the Somali pirates?
They are dumping toxic waste AND stealing seafood? Yikes, what a combination. Things rarely work out justly, but can we hope the polluters are sickened by the seafood?
Kind of makes you long for a real Godzilla to emerge from the bottom of the sea. That lizard knew how to take care of bidness.
...is someone in a restaurant in France getting very sick from eating lobster poisoned by illegal nuclear waste... from France, the country with more nuclear generating plants than anywhere else in the world.
because the person getting sick probably had nothing to do with the illegal dumping.
Is there a sea equivalent of a bull-dozer?
One that can bury the barrels
So they think they're safe,
But the seawater can corrode them, and cause them to leak
Leaving fishers from other countries unaware.
Aside from Israel and the Casa de Saud what allies did Bush even pretend to have in this part of the world ? watch the rightie noise apes now try to amp this up and blame Obama for it somehow. That Euros would take a dump here as American companies do in Mexico is totally predicatable. There's nobody to stop them and they could care less about a bunch of black Muslims who can't do anything about it. I doubt there's much nobility in these pirate crews and they are probably run by something close to the very corporate structures that are trashing their resources but it's easy to see why a young guy would rather get on board with them than starve in Mogadishu or go fishing for a 3 eyed tuna.
One merely needs to do a Google Earth flyover of the north eastern coast of Somalia to understand why these pi-rrists have taken to pi-rrism - if there are no fish to be had there is a capital "n" nothing for the people there. Since there are no government safety nets (hell, there ain't even a government) what is a man to do?
It's a lesson we could really take to heart for the coming years.
I hope at least Olbermann and Maddow pick up on it.
It's so easy to place absolute blame on one group and never look beneath the surface of a difficult situation.
The Mideast situation and Islamic discontent with the west are the results of such myopic thinking.
I did read an article about this a year or two back, in a local magazine. It detailed how the corrupt officials in the country "sold" fishing licences to asian fishing companies to fish in those waters, which are outside the central govt.'s control, and the locals starving over this, see nothing to the benefits.
It did not specify toxic waste or european fishing boats, but I am not overly surprised if people from Europe are involved as well, greed and ruthlessness does not know borders.
What a load of crap. Can't wait for the MSM to pick up on this post... "The Left Sides with Somali Pirates".
This is classic.
It's ridiculous. Those poor people should just starve quietly, their faces rotting off as they smile with their native cheerfulness. We shouldn't feel any concern at all.
Jackass.
Gee, I seem to recall sending thousands of tons of aid to Somalia in the early ninties.
Raiders stole it.
So we sent in a multinational force to protect the food shipments. (Points to self, clearing throat)
Force got attacked while trying to take down the biggest food-stealing warlord, "progressives" screamed bloody murder, everyone went home.
Now, amazingly enough, Somalia is still a desert. Still doesn't have a functioning government, and the same people who gleefully raided food convoys are now hijacking ships.
This isn't about overfishing or illegal dumping, this area has been home to pirates for over three thousand years. They just have new targets.
When these things happen, there is always a reason behind it. I'm sure they'd prfer to be home with their families, enjoying the bounty of their land (and seas). But as there is NONE left, they are fighting back.
That is not siding with the piartes, that's explaining motives.
Luck of the planetary draw as it is-- no oil,gems,exotic metals,virgin arboreal forest to plunder for timber--but there are big ships floating by--owned by people with deep pockets--bingo!
Just think if this part of Africa was a historic Jewish homeland how that would have then worked out. Just ask the Arab Palestinians. Or the Burmese--rich country full of plunder--wickedly bad regime runs the place--not a happy ending kind of story for surplus Burmese.
As the old patterns of 19th and 20th centuries crash into what this 21st century is bringing on these "surplus" and "economic superflous" populations around the planet will only fall into more jeopardy and perilous sets of circumstances as seen here in Northeast Africa.
Having oil of course as seen over on the other side of Africa in the Niger Delta region does not have very nice outcomes either.
Poor Africa. Each of the last four centuries have been less than kind to this magnificent contintent.
If piracy is the topic at hand Europe and the Americas wrote that book regarding Africa some time back.
A little less historical blindness or belly button gazing seems to be in order. The idea of wicked waste being dumped in seas here because it can be at little risk of legal consequence does qualify as first rank environmental piracy if so.
How those under water tactical nuke explosions make nice tsunamis
... the nuclear waste would give them mutant powers,... Oh, I want to see a real news headline that talks about Special Forces fighting Super Powered Mutant Pirates,...
The same waters where the Europeans are dumping all this nuclear waste and lead and mercury are also being over-fished by other Europeans? Something just doesn't work with that scenario.
"They're poisoning all our fish!"
"Yeah! And EATING all our fish, too!"
2 + 2 = "holy crap, so THATS why our tuna has such a high concentration of mercury in it nowadays!!"
lets take things another step further. its been proven, then ignored, than high doses of mercury in innoculations leads to ADD, ADHD, aspergers and other social/mental disorders.
these "pirates" are behaving emotionally and mentally unstable. after we've exposed them to lead and mercury.
you can't help but wonder if attacks on US and European boats is some kind of medically inevitable, if not karmic, response to our treatment of the people of Somalia.
these "pirates" are behaving emotionally and mentally unstable.
The point of the article just went flying over your head, eh Sparky?
no, "sparky" I understood the point of the article. economically pinning down an entire culture makes an entire culture desperate.
*MY* point was, attacking an unarmed merchant is a psychologically unstable act.
large concentrations of mercury, and lead, especially when you're overheated and dehydrated (and/or in your infancy and early childhood), makes you psychologically unstable.
my point was that economically pinning down a medically/psychologically unstable and diseased culture is just begging for trouble. my point was that a whole lot of those people are probably really sick. as in like, in the head. on account of, like, all the mercury, lead and cadmium in their water and food supply.
So how does that 'splain me?
I hate sea food.
Lead led to the fall of the Roman Empire.
You expected logic? Good sense? Out of the EU? After overfishing their OWN poisoned waters? What planet do you live on?
Well, no one can stop the "invisible hand of the free market." Profits to be made on low quality fish. They (powers that be) don't care about YOU/us: don't you get it?
i am already seeing more and more silly comparisons to the tripolitan wars and jefferson's actions during his admin (which, interestingly, were also used to justify bush's operation iraqi liberation)
I wonder which principled member of our corporate media will point out that, in the big picture, the Somali pirates are acting in self-defense?
Get with the program. No one who fights back against the western world is ever acting in self-defense. They're always terrorists.
You've got to learn this stuff. I'm not kidding; it's important! - John Connor
Nuclear waste from the West is dumped off Somalia, then the seafood from the very same waters arrives on the dinner tables of the West. What comes around, comes around.
"what goes around, comes around". And I'm not even sure you could call that karma. Seems like garden variety stupidity to me.
Yes, yes, I am a Liberal. But that doesn't mean I am a lock step clown who would follow anything I read in a liberal site. This story stinks for a number of reasons, but the most obvious, outstanding problem I see here is this:
Europeans are dumping nuclear material into the SAME ocean they are snatching fish TO EAT from? What do you take us for? Nobody would take their food from the place they dump their toxic waste unless they were wanting to kill off their people. Like Archer Daniels does when they help reduce population that might qualify for Social Security.
It makes no sense in nations that have Social Security from birth to death to kill their own people. Why do it that way? Just poison them at home and same the money it costs to dump nuclear material into the sea.
Oh yes, all those workers who are hiding the truth. Right. The ones on board the ships. They would never, ever tell their own families back home they are fishing filthy food for them, would they?
They may know about the waste dumping but not this http://www.google.com/search?q=tsunami+nuclea...
Another sneaky way to reduce your percieved enemies
Thanks for the link.
I have long suspected such activity. At least I wondered what they were using to search for oil under the sea in the area of the tsunami. I wondered if the oil companies did it. Or maybe the Bush Administration has been giving nukes to the oil companies to use in their undersea search for oil? I wouldn't doubt it.
Wow... that makes the 2012 crowd look sane and rational. Not even the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated (~50 megaton, Soviet Tsar Bomba) could have created a tsunami of the size of the Indonesian tsunami. They simply don't have enough energy to do it.
it explains why our tuna has so much more mercury in it.
"Europeans are dumping nuclear material into the SAME ocean they are snatching fish TO EAT from?"
So you think the fishermen somehow are being told of the illegal dumping or what?
Did you read the U.N report?
And to imply that anyone who finds this plausible is "a lockstep clown" is an asshole statement.
I do not do that. I said "I AM NOT" A LOCKSTEP CLOWN.
I meant nothing further. I said nothing further.
1) You assume it is the same Europeans doing the dumping and the fishing. Not necessarily.
2) Johann deals with this question in an addendum on Huffington Post, which I'll quote here in full:
We dump toxins into our water supplies right in our own neighbourhoods. May not make sense, but we do it.
What's a navy for, if not to sink ships? Maybe the US Navy should start sinking European radioactive dumper ships and illegal fishing boats as well as Somali pirate ships.
Wait a minute...
So let me get this straight
The Somali pirates DON'T look like Johnny Depp?
Some of the first pirates were from http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/ci...
x
I always picture gorgeous fashion model Iman when chancing upon a reference to her native country.
BREAKING NEWS -It looks as though the pirates have succeeded:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I5dVBezF9k
Somalia has a tiny continental shelf, bordered by a huge deep abyssal plain of a nearly 5,000 foot depth extending for hundreds of miles east.
Why would anyone dump barrels on the tiny coastal shelf when there is a huge basin of thousands of square miles available and from which no tsunami or anything else will ever bring any containers to shore?
Unless barrels are identified and traced there is no telling where they came from, barrels that wash ashore are most often dumped close to shore, and from that shore itself.
As to over fishing, that is a world wide tragedy, even the Grand Banks of Newfoundland have been fished to exhaustion.
I suggest we don't dump barrels anywhere in the seas. Out of sight maybe, but not gone. It's like saying just put the sulphuric acid in the deep end of my swimming pool, down where no one will touch it.
Apparently captain jumped overboard again, "pirates" shot while trying to shoot captain in the water. Per CNN live broadcast.
Thanks for posting this. I've had Hari's research on this on hand throughout this "Somali pirate" crisis and it's been an important dose of reality.
The fact that they've been using the ridiculous word "pirates" to describe these people has made the whole thing seem over-dramatized and farcically dishonest. It's a shame that so many, particularly the notoriously ignorant and cinema-raised Americans, are seeing this as a simple-minded, Reagan-like "good vs. evil" scenario instead of looking at the background to it. These things don't happen in a vacuum.
They hijack ships for money. That's pretty much the exact definition of "pirate."
Or 2 million in gold?
America bombs, kills and tortures civilians for money (oil and etc.). That's pretty much the exact definition of "terrorism".
UNCLOS Article 101: Definition
In the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982, "maritime piracy" consists of:
(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:
(i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;
(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;
(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;
(c) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b).
IMB Definition
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) defines piracy as:
the act of boarding any vessel with an intent to commit theft or any other crime, and with an intent or capacity to use force in furtherance of that act.
Actually, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation did a feature with this information last week.
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/interna...
Seems like this strife is more complicated that we thought...Someone needs to step in to bring some order as both parties seem to be in the right.
The Independent is a widely read newspaper at least in the UK. You must have had to dig really hard for this expose.
I would also suggest the book "Rogue Economics" by Loretta Napoloni. She doesn't directly implicate them, but the MOB maybe the organization N'Dragnetta. She also states that it's also the rest of the world not just Europe who is demanding more fish (Especially Asia). As societies get wealthier they typically demand the same stuff that the USA and Europe want. Why not, we have been very fortunate to live very well in this country.
Also you are forgetting how the USA backed the Ethopians to overthrow the Islamic Court government that Somalia
Somalia: US Foreign Policy and Gangsterism
Why the US supports the warlords
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=10238
Somalia: A Case Study in Interventionism
How we messed up Somalia – and paved the way for Islamist domination
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9233
After my car got stolen, I was happy at the justice being done. I live in a low income area so the people who stole my car were probably oppressed by The Man. Sure, I'm not directly responsible but as a white male in America, I should suffer for the actions of rich white males in America. It all makes perfect sense. How could I blame the thieves? They're just acting out of desperation.
Yes, the white guilt complex on C&L is getting a bit out of hand. These guys are criminals looking for an easy payout, period. Don't try to romanticize the situation by painting them as some helpless oppressed people.
But it well known Somalia has been on their hit list for a long time
"By way of deception"? http://careandwashingofthebrain.blogspot.com/...
Romanticize?
No wonder we hate Americans. Look at your polluted mind. I'm sure you're wonderful and rightfully deserve 90% of the world's resources, on pain of death.
IMHO, you take a hostage/hostages, you deserve the outcome these pirates received. I'm glad for the captain and his family.
As for the larger issues of Somalia, I don't doubt that the West has taken advantage of the oppressed people there. None of these issues would be resoved by paying ransom for the captain here.
They damn sure ain't Greenpeace.
if i go out and rob a bank, i have justification?
there are always reasons for actions
that is newton's law
for every action there is a reaction
doesnt make it right
doesnt mean that we shouldnt respond
funny how the un has done absolutely nothing in regards to what has been occuring in somalia all these years
so they can cut the ropes of the grapling hooks when they throw them up
Either the Europeans are poisoning the waters or they're fishing in them. How can it possibly be both? Dur!!
This is one thing I've always hated about my fellow lefties. No matter what, white people are always bad and Americans are the worst of all. And until the pirates took an American C&L didn't say one word about the poor pirates plight. It seems that whenever America is involved in any kind of dispute with anyone, C&L automatically chooses the other side to stand behind.
You know that we have some pretty heated discussions amongst ourselves about a variety of topics. We don't all see eye to eye on a variety of topics. The site just throws it out there for discussion.
Maybe, just to get the feedback?
Freddy, you above anyone else knows this. There are and have been a number of topics that I disagree with.
That's the nice thing about an open forum.
Somalia has a big coastline although I doubt someone like you could locate it on a map. The north coast was fished out and the east coast was the graveyard.
As far as C&L choices, the reporters tend to stick to the facts not the fantasies. They represent the underdog, the middle class, the taken-advantage-of and social, financial and political injustice.
No amen choir here which is why they win awards and take risks.
Enjoy your 24/7 "parade of heroes" on the networks for the next month as everyone clamors for interviews and analysis while important matters of governance are forgotten. Remember "Sully"? You dropped him like a hot potato when he testified in front of congress in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act and he actually saved lives. No one except the poor birds died and I'm pretty sure he'd have avoided that if he could. Party on knowing 16 to 20 year old sons of fishermen were "taken out" by highly trained Navy seals.
Are you trying to say that their coastline is so long that you could dump nuclear waste in one spot and not have it contaminate the waters in other spots? If that's what you're saying then you're saying it's okay to dump nuclear waste in parts of the oceans that no one lives and everything will be okay. Just fish a few miles away from the slop, right braniac?
D-d-duurrr!
1st locate Somalia on a map. To the north (the top part if you aren't sure) lies the north coast of Somalia. That is rich in fish.
2nd find the east coast of Somalia. It is the long 1,000 mile coastline on the right side of the country. Most of the toxic dumping took place on the east coast.
The Europeans and the South Koreans over harvested the fish to the tune of $300Million a year while the Chinese & probably the French disposed of the so-called safe nuclear waste knowing Somalia has no navy to protect their coastlines.
FYI, almost all the fish in the ocean have toxic chemicals in them and 90% of the fish are gone. Whale milk is so contaminated with mercury and other runoff chemicals that calves are washing up on CA coasts at an alarming rate.
Spectre (an encyclopedic research repost) has some really great collected coverage here: http://spectregroup.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/...
Heh. Ya, ransoming innocent merchant seamen is justified. They got the ransom they deserved this morning.... I would say 5.56 MM.
Look, I'm about as liberal as they come, and these bastards got just what they deserved.... death. US Navy Seals:3 Pirates:0
No one is saying, "it's all cool." The post points out reasons for their desperation.
...maritime militiamen, than just thugs on a boat. Yeah some are just thugs on a boat, but this kind of puts things into perspective. Still doesn't justify the kiddnappings and hijackings, but the article does give some insight into the roots of the problem.
And as previously mentioned, it does sound kind of strange that people are catching fish where radiation has been dumped. Being around radioactive fish doesn't sound safe for the crew, much less the person who ultimately eats them.
"I wonder which principled member of our corporate media will point out that, in the big picture, the Somali pirates are acting in self-defense?"
Are you serious???
Cry me a river..
Painting criminals as the victims is f***ing pathetic..
I bet you believed the DC snipers that killed the FBI agent at the home depot were really driving a white van like several witnesses stated.And the police were looking for for days while they killed others
They were found in a black and burgandy 1990 chevy
(moral of story__ You can't believe a damn word the gov. and MIC says)
Now they are gloating on fox propaganda news how it will escalate the violence,The vampires will sleep good tonight with their bellies full of fresh blood
This outcome was predictable the minute the villagers cried "off with their heads". Even though the "pirates" have killed no hostages to date.
On Wednesday I contacted Maddow, Olberman & Ed along with other fact-leaning personalities with Johann Hari's article as well as others. Was very disappointed with Rachel's take on the situation with no mention of the annual $300M of fish piracy off the Somali's coast not to mention the priceless loss of life & health due to toxic dumping. Wish Dan Abrams was still on the air since he has an "environmentalist" and both sides of the issues take.
Thanks Suzie for posting this.....I've been ranting about it for months to whoever would listen.....
Now brace yourselves for the "parade of heroes" 24/7 on all the networks as we get our dose of everyone on the Alabama while Rome burns.
Of course anyone who keeps up with these past and present events its a nobrainer
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/print.asp?ID=...
there's an interesting video version of Hari's works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjreRSFNLTI
Fuckit, at least they're honest criminals, unlike some banksters and their enablers I could name.
desperate people do desperate things. An effective government keeps its citizens from becoming desperate. No more--no less.
From Bloomberg - Snipers Kill Somali Pirates, Free American Captain :
In Somalia, other pirates vowed revenge for the deaths of their colleagues.
“The American liars have killed our friends after they agreed to free the hostage without ransom, but I can tell you this matter will lead to retaliation and we will hunt down particularly American citizens traveling our waters,” a pirate who gave his name as Abdi Garad said by telephone from the port town of Eyl, according to Agence France-Presse. The next time Americans are captured, they can “expect no mercy from us.”
Hmmm . . . we'll just indiscriminately kill any Americans we come across. Well that sounds resonable. After all, these guys are freedom fighters and their waters are overfished.
Would everyone like to take a deep breath now? Come back into the tent and leave the crazy outside.
Navy Good.
Pirates Bad.
Don't confuse us with nuance.
The other countries have been dumping, but the usa has dumped nothing, but they are indeed responsible for the several battles of mogadishu....I wonder If they would hijack a neutral party...
Canadian CBC has the unusual habit of reporting the truth
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/interna...
tell which of those noble pirate crews demanded an investigation of dumping and over fishing as their ransom demand?
In the words of the late Malcolm X, anytime you listen to the U.S. media they will have you hating the oppressed and loving their oppressors. This is a perfect example but I also noticed the same media treatment of the Somalis on the BBC too!
Dr. Martin Luther King in a quotation said, "...we live in ties of guided missiles and misguided men!" These times have been prophesized!
lou3946
It's true the Somalis have been facing starvation, and other have been trying to overfish their coastlines... Still, it always comes back to BLACKHAWK DOWN.
Call them pirates, terrorists whatever, but they have a right to try and protect their coastlines, nearly three thousand miles of them from exploitation!
lu3946
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