The pirate problem

skythewood SG

Saw the pirates featured in the news alot lately... Is it time for open war with them yet? Attack, instead of defend, should be the key to the problem.

The US invading Iraq was a thorny issue, and not very justifiable

But leading navy to attack pirates should be well supported bah, so why not do it?

Stevenson101 SG

Problem is , if you want to attack the pirates you have to invade Somalia itself to get at their leaders. That requires a land invasion and probably not something that the US wants to get into considering their debacle in Iraq.

And besides, how would you tell the difference between the fishermen's boat or the pirates' boat if they weren't already engaging in hijacking?

jgho83 SG

why no put soldiers on board the ships to guard their safety?

If anyone approaches them, give them a warning, if they still approach, shoot to kill.

Ah Chia SG

President Obama vowed an international crackdown to halt piracy off the coast of Somalia Monday soon after the freeing of US cargo ship captain Richard Phillips, who had been held hostage by Somali pirates since last Wednesday.

While the pirates story has dominated the corporate media, there has been little to no discussion of the root causes driving piracy. We speak with consultant and analyst Mohamed Abshir Waldo. In January, he wrote a paper titled “The Two Piracies in Somalia: Why the World Ignores the Other?”

AMY GOODMAN: President Obama vowed an international crackdown to halt piracy off the coast of Somalia Monday soon after the freeing of US cargo ship captain Richard Phillips, who had been held hostage by Somali pirates since last Wednesday. Three Somali pirates were killed in the US operation.

While some military analysts are considering attacks on pirate bases inside Somalia in addition to expanding US Navy gunships along the Somali coastline, others are strongly opposed to a land invasion. US Congress member Donald Payne of New Jersey made a brief visit to the Somali capital of Mogadishu Monday and said piracy was, quote, a “symptom of the decades of instability.” His plane was targeted by mortar fire as he was leaving Somalia, soon after a pirate vowed revenge against the United States for killing his men.

Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told Fox News over the weekend that the US should assemble a, quote, “coalition of the willing” to invade Somalia.

Meanwhile, local fishing and business communities along the Somali coast are suffering as a result of the increased American and international naval presence in their waters.

SOMALI FISHERMAN: [translated] American Marine forces always arrest us as we continue fishing. We meet their warships, and at times they send helicopters to take photos of us, as they suspect we are pirates. And we are not.

SOMALI BUSINESSMAN: [translated] People are worried about the troops, as it is becoming more and more difficult to do business. There’s a lot of warships patrolling the sea, and merchant ships are getting more and more checked, thinking they are operated by pirates.

AMY GOODMAN: While the pirates story has dominated the corporate media, there has been little to no discussion of the root causes driving piracy.

Mohamed Abshir Waldo is a consultant and analyst in Kenya. He is Kenyan of Somali origin. In January, he wrote a paper called “The Two Piracies in Somalia: Why the World Ignores the Other?” He joins us on the phone right now from Mombasa.

Welcome to Democracy Now!

MOHAMED ABSHIR WALDO: Hello. Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: Good to have you with us. Can you talk about what you think the two piracies are?

MOHAMED ABSHIR WALDO: Well, the two piracies are the original one, which was foreign fishing piracy by foreign trawlers and vessels, who at the same time were dumping industrial waste, toxic waste and, it also has been reported, nuclear waste. Most of the time, we feel it’s the same fishing vessels, foreign fishing vessels, that are doing both. That was the piracy that started all these problems.

And the other piracy is the shipping piracy. When the marine resources of Somalia was pillaged, when the waters were poisoned, when the fish was stolen, and in a poverty situation in the whole country, the fishermen felt that they had no other possibilities or other recourse but to fight with, you know, the properties and the shipping of the same countries that have been doing and carrying on the fishing piracy and toxic dumping.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain what IUUs are?

MOHAMED ABSHIR WALDO: IUUs are—I don’t remember now, but it’s uninterrupted an unreported fishing, unlicensed, unreported, uncontrolled, practically, fishing. Without [inaudible]—

AMY GOODMAN: In your article, you say—in your article, you say it stands for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing fleets from Europe—

MOHAMED ABSHIR WALDO: Correct.

AMY GOODMAN: —and Arabia and the Far East.

MOHAMED ABSHIR WALDO: Correct, correct. And this has been known to both the countries in the West that had these fishing fleets, which included Spain, Italy, Greece, and eventually UK and others who joined later, as well as Russian. And, of course, there were many more from the East. And this problem has been going on since 1991. And the fishing communities and fishermen reported and complained and appealed to the international community through the United Nations, through the European Union, with no, actually, response in any form at all. They were totally ignored.

AMY GOODMAN: Mohamed Abshir Waldo, explain how what you call “fishing piracy” began.

MOHAMED ABSHIR WALDO: Fishing piracy means fishing without license, fishing by force, even though the community complains, even though whatever authorities are there complain, even though they ask these foreign fishing fleets and trawlers and vessels that have no license, that have no permit whatsoever, when they tell them, “Stop fishing and get out of the area,” they refuse, and instead, in fact, they fight. They fought with the fishermen and coastal communities, pouring boiling water on them and even shooting at them, running over their canoes and fishing boats. These were the problems that had been going on for so long, until the community organized themselves and empowered, actually, what they call the National Volunteer Coast Guard, what you would call and what others call today as “pirates.”

AMY GOODMAN: So you’re saying illegal fishing is happening off the coast of Somalia. What countries are engaged in it?

MOHAMED ABSHIR WALDO: The countries engaged include practically all of southern Europe, France, Spain, Greece, UK. Nowadays I hear even Norway. There were not many Scandinavians before, but Norwegian fishing now is involved in this, you know, very profitable fishing business. So, there are others, of course. There are Russian. There are Taiwanese. There are Philippines. There are Koreans. There are Chinese. You know, it’s a free-for-all coast.

And to make things worse, we learned that now that the navies and the warships are there; every country is protecting their own illegal fishing piracies—vessels. They have come back. They ran away from the Somali volunteer guards, coast guards, but now they are back. And they are being protected by their navies. In fact, they are coming close to the territorial waters to harass again the fishermen, who no longer have opportunity or possibility to fish on the coast because of the fear of being called pirates and apprehended by the navy, who are at the same time protecting the other side.

So the issue is really a matter of tremendous injustice, international community only attending and talking and coming to the rescue of the—of their interests and not at all considering or looking from the Somalis’ side. This does not mean I am condoning or anyone is condoning piracy or endangering the life of innocent sailors and crews or damaging the property of others, but these people, these fishermen-turned-pirates, had no alternative but to protect themselves, to protect their turf, to—you know, an act of desperation, you might call it.

AMY GOODMAN: What do people in Somalia feel about the pirates, the issue of pirates off the coast?

MOHAMED ABSHIR WALDO: A mixed reaction, I think, in Somalia. The people do not want the innocent sailors to be harmed. They don’t want any major environmental disasters to happen by blowing up chemical- or oil-carrying vessels. And they urge the pirates, or fishermen pirates, they urge them not to do any such things.

On the other hand, since there’s no sympathy, there’s no understanding, there is no readiness for dialogue with the coastal community, with the community in general, with the Somali authorities or the regional government or the national government on a joint action for solving these problems, then it’s each for his own way of doing. But the people are very concerned. On the one hand, they would like this to be resolved peacefully; on the other, they feel very sad for injustice being done by the international community.

AMY GOODMAN: A little more on the issue of toxic dumping, if you would, Mohamed Abshir Waldo. I don’t think people in the United States understand exactly what it is you’re referring to and how it affects people.

MOHAMED ABSHIR WALDO: Well, toxic dumping, industrial waste dumping, nuclear dumping, as you are probably aware and have heard and many people know, for quite some time, in the ’70s mainly, in the ’80s, in the ’90s, there was a lot of waste of all these kinds that companies wanted to get rid of, following very strict environmental rules in their countries. So where else to take but in countries in conflict or weak countries who could not prevent them or who could be bought? So these wastes have been carried to Somalia. It’s been in the papers. It has been reported by media organizations like Al Jazeera, I think, like CNN. Many had reported about the Mafia, Italian Mafia, who admitted it, dumping it in Somalia for quite some time, for quite a long time.

And as we speak now, I heard yesterday, in fact, another vessel was captured in the Gulf of Aden by community—this time not pirates, by the community, when the suspected it, and it was carrying two huge containers, which it dumped into the sea when they saw these people coming to them. They have been apprehended. The vessel had been apprehended. Fortunately, the containers did not sink into the sea, but they are being towed to the coast. And this community has invited the international community to come and investigate this matter. So far, we don’t have action. So this dumping, waste dumping, toxic dumping, nuclear waste dumping has been ongoing in Somalia since 1992.

AMY GOODMAN: When I read your article, Mohamed Abshir Waldo, it reminded me of a controversial memo that was leaked from the World Bank—this was when Lawrence Summers, now the chief economic adviser, was the chief economist at the World Bank—in which it said, “I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest-wage country is impeccable, and we should face up to that. I’ve always thought that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly under-polluted.” He said he was being sarcastic.

MOHAMED ABSHIR WALDO: Actually, the more formal official concerned with this UN habitat has also confirmed in various reports that this has been dumped in Somalia. The special representative of the Secretary-General, Ould-Abdullah, who is now working with the Somali authorities, has also, I think, made a statement to that effect. So it is very well known. It’s not something hidden. It’s not something we are making up. The world knows, but it doesn’t do anything about it.

AMY GOODMAN: Mohamed Abshir Waldo, thank you for joining us, a consultant in Kenya, speaking to us from Mombasa.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/14/analysis

Somali Piracy Connected to Toxic Dumping, Illegal Fishing

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html

'Toxic waste' behind Somali piracy

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22399.htm

Stevenson101 SG

why no put soldiers on board the ships to guard their safety?

If anyone approaches them, give them a warning, if they still approach, shoot to kill.

I would never trust anyone to exercise restraint when they have a rifle in their hands, even soldiers.

What happen when some trigger happy soldier kills a Somali fishermen, who then would be responsible? The navy or the owner of the ships? Or would they just continue sailing and pretend it didn't happen?

The Somalis are the victims here, the West is pretending they didn't had anything to do with it.

But no sense being hypocritical, we drive the demand for fish as well.

jgho83 SG

I just cannot agree with u 100%... Its a fact the pirates come from that place and its a fact too, that fishermen catch fish in the sea too. But fishermen should know better not to go near any big ships as this might be a danger to them, being said, its a better idea to stay a distance.

But for pirates, be it day or night, if the soldiers can spot a boat approaching them in a suspicious manner, they can fire warning shots into the air.

They can then evaluate the boat's direction - u-turn or still going towards them.

If they choose to go towards the ship, I believe they are non other than pirates liao lor.

Somemore, some ships are carrying food supplies to those poor countries, its the duty of the government to protect the ship crews too. Having a navy ship in the somali seas is just not fast enough to response to any emergency.

iceFatboy SG

if I am not wrong, didn't the US tried in "black hawk down", and was kick in the teeth?

I don't think they had had a good time in this part of the world..

Ah Chia SG

by K’naan

Can anyone ever really be for piracy? Outside of sea bandits, and young girls fantasizing about Johnny Depp, would anyone with an honest regard for good human conduct really say that they are in support of sea robbery?

Well, in Somalia, the answer is: It’s complicated.

The news media these days have been covering piracy on the Somali coast with such lopsided journalism that it’s lucky they’re not on a ship themselves. It’s true that the constant hijacking of vessels in the Gulf of Aden is a major threat to the vibrant trade route between Asia and Europe. It is also true that for most of the pirates operating in this vast shoreline, money is the primary objective.

But according to so many Somalis, the disruption of Europe’s darling of a trade route is just Karma biting a perpetrator in the butt. And if you don’t believe in Karma, maybe you believe in recent history. Here is why we Somalis find ourselves slightly shy of condemning our pirates.

Somalia has been without any form of a functioning government since 1991. And although its failures, like many other toddler governments in Africa, spring from the wells of post-colonial independence, bad governance and development loan sharks, the specific problem of piracy was put in motion in 1992.

After the overthrow of Siyad Barre, our charmless dictator of 20-some-odd years, two major forces of the Hawiye Clan came to power. At the time, Ali Mahdi and Gen. Mohamed Farah Aidid, the two leaders of the Hawiye rebels, were largely considered liberators. But the unity of the two men and their respective sub-clans was very short-lived. It’s as if they were dumbstruck at the advent of ousting the dictator, or that they just forgot to discuss who will be the leader of the country once they defeated their common foe.

A disagreement of who will upgrade from militia leader to Mr. President broke up their honeymoon. It’s because of this disagreement that we’ve seen one of the most decomposing wars in Somalia’s history, leading to millions displaced and hundreds of thousands dead.

But war is expensive and militias need food for their families and Jaad (an amphetamine-based stimulant) to stay awake for the fighting.

Therefore, a good clan-based warlord must look out for his own fighters. Aidid’s men turned to robbing aid trucks carrying food to the starving masses and re-selling it to continue their war. But Ali Mahdi had his sights set on a larger and more unexploited resource, namely the Indian Ocean.

Already by this time, local fishermen in the coastline of Somalia had been complaining of illegal vessels coming to Somali waters and stealing all the fish. And since there was no government to report it to, and since the severity of the violence clumsily overshadowed every other problem, the fishermen went completely unheard.

But it was around this same time that a more sinister, a more patronizing practice was being put in motion. A Swiss firm called Achair Partners and an Italian waste company called Progresso made a deal with Ali Mahdi that they were to dump containers of waste material in Somali waters. These European companies were said to be paying warlords about $3 a ton, whereas to properly dispose of waste in Europe costs about $1,000 a ton.

In 2004, after a tsunami washed ashore several leaking containers, thousand of locals in the Puntland region of Somalia started to complain of severe and previously unreported ailments, such as abdominal bleeding, skin melting off and a lot of immediate cancer-like symptoms. Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the United Nations Environmental Program, says that the containers had many different kinds of waste, including “uranium, radioactive waste, lead, cadmium, mercury and chemical waste.”

But this wasn’t just a passing evil from one or two groups taking advantage of our unprotected waters. The U.N. envoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, says that the practice still continues to this day. It was months after those initial reports that local fishermen mobilized themselves, along with street militias, to go into the waters and deter the Westerners from having a free pass at completely destroying Somalia’s aquatic life.

Now, years later, the deterring has become less noble, and the ex-fishermen with their militias have begun to develop a taste for ransom at sea. This form of piracy is now a major contributor to the Somali economy, especially in the very region that private toxic waste companies first began to bury our nation’s death trap.

Now Somalia has upped the world’s pirate attacks by over 21 percent in one year, and while NATO and the EU are both sending forces to the Somali coast to try and slow down the attacks, Blackwater and all kinds of private security firms are intent on cashing in.

But while Europeans are well within their rights to protect their trade interest in the region, our pirates were the only deterrent we had from an externally imposed environmental disaster. No one can say for sure that some of the ships they are now holding for ransom were not involved in illegal activity in our waters.

The truth is, if you ask any Somali, if getting rid of the pirates only means the continuous rape of our coast by unmonitored Western vessels and the producing of a new cancerous generation, we would all fly our pirate flags high.

It is time that the world gave the Somali people some assurance that these Western illegal activities will end if our pirates are to cease their operations. We do not want the EU and NATO serving as a shield for these nuclear waste-dumping hoodlums.

It seems to me that this new modern crisis is truly a question of justice, but also a question of whose justice. As is apparent these days, one man’s pirate is another man’s coast guard.

http://www.sfbayview.com/2009

A boy in Mogadishu carries a freshly-caught fish home. The rich fish stocks off the coast of Somalia have lured boats from far afield.

Foreign fishing boats have attacked local fishing vessels: pouring boiling water on the fishermen and shooting them if they stood their ground.

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-37741.html

Ah Chia SG

if I am not wrong, didn't the US tried in "black hawk down", and was kick in the teeth?

‘Yes, Virginia’…, the 1992 Somalia military action by Herbert Walker Bush, which gave the US a bloody nose, was in fact about oil too... Little-known was the fact that the humanitarian intervention by 20,000 US troops, ordered by father Bush in Somalia, had little to do with the purported famine relief for starving Somalians. It had a lot to do with the fact that four major American oil companies, led by Bush‘s friends at Conoco of Houston Texas, and including Amoco (now BP), Condi Rice’s Chevron, and Phillips, all held huge oil exploration concessions in Somalia. The deals had been made with the former ‘pro-Washington’ tyrannical and corrupt regime of Siad Barre.

Barre was inconveniently deposed just as Conoco reportedly hit black gold with nine exploratory wells, confirmed by World Bank geologists. US Somalia Envoy, Robert B. Oakley, a veteran of the US Mujahadeen project in Afghanistan in the 1980’s, almost blew the US game when, during the height of the civil war in Mogadishu in 1992, he moved his quarters onto the Conoco compound for safety. A new US cleansing of Somalian ‘tyranny’ would open the door for these US oil companies to map and develop the possibly huge oil potential in Somalia...

http://www.studien-von-zeitfragen.net/Zeitfragen

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/5/thousands_of_somalis_protest_deadly_us

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/11/14/former_un_spokesperso

http://somalicause.org/default.aspx

skythewood SG

approach all ships. if they are pirate, win! If they are fisherman, let them go... Or do the pirates only attack white people, so the fisherman feels safe going out to pirate infested seas?

Do the somalians support their pirates? Is it not obvious to them that being a pirate is bad?

Ah Chia SG

Is it not obvious to them that being a pirate is bad?

stupidissmart SG

I think Somali need a stable government now. If u ask me, the UN should find a better warlord among the rest and pump in tons of weapons and resources to him. Let him rule the other warlord and establish a republic. Then hopefully they can form their own nation and protect themselves from western waste throwers and also not to become full scale pirates.

Of course tat depend on whether is there such a "better' warlord around...

xtreyier SG

Somali is a failed state. They have only themselves to be blame. They had FAILED as a society. Democracy and freedom can only be won by paying the price and no 3rd party can win it for them. That they allowed petty warlords to rule over them and not fight back goes only to show how much they value freedom and civilise ways. There is absolutely NO EXCUSE to claim the warlord have guns and the civilians have no guns.

The civilians had allowed the minority to control the larger population, and by not fighting back, they had only shown support for their criminal activities, even to the extend of warlords robbing UN aid supplies and selling it to the civilians.

They had failed and failed miserably as a society. To condemn the west or any other civilisation in our world is to blame others for their own fault, espacially over a few vessels who dump toxic wastes or fish in their waters and condone piracy.

Their warlords had chosen to amass wealth and power for themselves rather than to provide good management and husbandry of their rich resources is a crime not only to their own fellow citizens, but to a hungry world as well.

UN had failed in Somalia, and so had the only country who cared enough to sacrifice their own sons to bring order to this wretched nation - US, who got 'kicked in their own faces for helping'. No other country in this 'politically correct' age will dare step in to bring order to Somali. for it needs a strong authoritative hand. Only Somalians can help their own country now, if they are to choose the path to civilisation instead of banditry and piracy.

As no nation dares or would be allowed to bring order to the country, the best the civilise world can do is to protect themselves from piracy by these savages. I would support the killing and hanging of such pirates if they attempt to choke off trade - lifeblood of the world, as well as hunt down their leaders if ANY dares attempt to bring their banditry outside their despicable country to harm citizens of the world.

There can be no mercy for such lawless animals and the world MUST never be held hostage by a failed nation again. They must pay the price for being savages. Do understand that if their ransoms are not paid, shipboard hostages are murdered and have their innocent lives ended.

But save your pity for the Somalian children. The only way to save the country now is to take every single male and female child away from that blighted land and give them a good education elsewhere so that when they grow up, they can claim back what is rightfully theirs by birthright from barbarian criminal Somalian warlords. The present adult population of Somalia is weak and hopeless as a society and will only bring harm and a horrid environment for the children to grow up.

Ah Chia SG

The only man Somali pirates trust

Mombasa - When a ship is hijacked in the Indian Ocean, governments, shipping companies and aid agencies call Andrew Mwangura, the head of the Seafarers Assistance Programme.

Mr Mwangura is an expert in piracy in the region, especially off the coast of Somalia, and his aid group has been involved in securing the release of 90 per cent of the vessels taken captive there.

We talk to the pirates and hear what they want, he says.

Working from a small office in Mombasa, the largest port on the steamy coast of East Africa, Mr Mwangura and nine volunteers use their contacts in the maritime world to locate missing ships. The organisation does not have fancy radar or satellite tracking software like some government security agencies. A few mobile phones and a radio are all they need.

We cant afford equipment, but we work better than those who have all of the equipment, Mr Mwangura says. People dont trust the government; they trust us. Thats why they contact us first.

The vast majority of piracy acts in the Indian Ocean are off the coast of Somalia, where a 17-year civil war has created a lawless state.

The semiautonomous region of Puntland in northern Somalia sits at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which forms a bottleneck into the Red Sea. Any ship travelling from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean must pass through these pirate-infested waters.

Piracy in Somalia started out as a group of local fishermen protecting their territorial fishing waters, but has evolved into a commercial enterprise as some companies pay up to US$2 million (Dh7.3m) in ransom to secure the release of their boats.

After the collapse of the central government in 1991, Somalia was left with no navy and had no means of issuing fishing permits or fighting illegal fishing in its waters. Maritime militias seized international fishing boats to demand payment for fishing rights.

In the beginning, the pirates were fighting for their rights, Mr Mwangura says. They only targeted fishing vessels. Once they started getting paid, they started hijacking other vessels. Illegal fishing is the root cause of piracy in Somalia.

The pirates are well organised, well armed and well funded, he adds.

The ones holding the guns on the boats, they are just young boys; they are not pirates. The real pirates are living in big houses in Canada, the UK and here in Mombasa. Its a well-organised syndicate.

Mr Mwangura claims that Somalis living abroad are funding and arming bands of pirates. These wealthy backers take most of the ransom money while the pirates who take the hostages get a few hundred dollars.

We are trying to tell people to please stop paying ransom, Mr Mwangura says. When you pay them, you are collaborating with them. Paying them encourages them.

There have been 25 incidents of piracy off Somalia this year, the same number as all of last year, according to the International Maritime Bureau. This week, Somali pirates hijacked a Japanese ship carrying lead and zinc. At least two UAE-owned ships have been hijacked this year.

Somalia does not have any form of solid government. It does not have sufficient resources to police its waters, said Cyrus Mody, a manager at the International Maritime Bureau.

The pirates have realised that hijacking of vessels is a very lucrative business. That has made them a bit more bold in their actions. Paying large ransoms has enticed them to carry out attacks even more.

Mr Mwangura helped negotiate the release of the 30-member crew of a French luxury yacht, Le Ponant, which Somali pirates held for seven days in April. The ships owner was reported to have paid a $2m ransom...

http://www.illegal-fishing.info/item_single.php

Arapahoe SG

Somalia Piracy Began in Response to Illegal Fishing and Toxic Dumping by Western Ships off Somali Coast.

I will bet that the Sea water in Aden Gulf is anytime cleaner than the water than Singapore. And their fishes are anytime larger than the one that you catch in Singapore water.

skythewood SG

Somalia Piracy Began in Response to Illegal Fishing and Toxic Dumping by Western Ships off Somali Coast.

I will bet that the Sea water in Aden Gulf is anytime cleaner than the water than Singapore. And their fishes are anytime larger than the one that you catch in Singapore water.

what, so piracy is justified? Like raiding ships that is bringing food to hungry children in Africa?

Stevenson101 SG

what, so piracy is justified? Like raiding ships that is bringing food to hungry children in Africa?

No one is saying the piracy is justified, however you're focusing too much on the act itself but ignoring why they're doing it in the first place.

It's kinda difficult to be a moral person when others are depriving you of your livehood.

That's like asking why the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are shooting rockets into Israel even when their own people are suffering and inviting yet more suffering from the retaliations.

angel7030 SG

approach all ships. if they are pirate, win! If they are fisherman, let them go... Or do the pirates only attack white people, so the fisherman feels safe going out to pirate infested seas?

Do the somalians support their pirates? Is it not obvious to them that being a pirate is bad?

the somolians are all pirate related, what you expect, morning fishing boat, at nite pirates. Seem like another muslim and christian war going on...better stay out of it, we still hv our sumatra archpilego and strait of malacca pirates to take care of...the Jap navies are here.

Acidshuriken SG

that’s why failed states are a blight in the world system. if somalia had a proper government, the international community would have pressured them to wipe out the pirates and they would do a good job if pushed as they know the terrain and locals.

angel7030 SG

Somalia Piracy Began in Response to Illegal Fishing and Toxic Dumping by Western Ships off Somali Coast.

I will bet that the Sea water in Aden Gulf is anytime cleaner than the water than Singapore. And their fishes are anytime larger than the one that you catch in Singapore water.

mercury infested fishes are much lively, fresh shining and clearer, same goes to the water, it does not mean that toxication murk the water into dirty looking, sometime, especially certain arsenic, it make the water shining and more clear. So, dun just eat fish from it look, becareful hor. Same goes to people, dun judge by the look ya.

Teacher Angel