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Shipping News – Pirate Update – Thoughts on a Greek Restructuring
I have a friend who is a player in the shipping industry. He happens to
be Greek. I got an update from him on two important stories. First a
thought on a Greek restructuring:
In this man’s opinion the announcement for a Greek restructuring is
imminent. Like in the next two weeks. Does this fellow actually know the
timing? No, but trust me, they guy is connected. Something is about to
break in Greek sovereign debt. Now Pirates:
Back on 2/11 I reported
that a Greek flagged super tanker containing 1mm barrels of crude was
hijacked by the Somali Pirates. The boat was released by the pirates
recently. The ransom paid was $13,500,000. It was paid in cash. Used hundred dollar bills.
Of significance to my friend was that most of the tanker crew released unharmed. There was an important exception. Seven crew members from India were retained.
The unlucky seven are continuing to be held as hostages by the pirates.
There are ongoing negotiations regarding a prisoner exchange.
Apparently India has captured a hundred or so pirates over the past few
years. They are currently in Indian custody. The pirates want to swap
those bad boys for the Indian crew. This represents a significant
ratcheting up of things. Apparently the Indians are very pissed. It is
unlikely that the prisoner exchange will happen. At some point in the
not to distant future some Indians are going to be killed as a result.
The only alternative is for India to kill some pirates first. Look for that to happen pretty soon. Speaking of killing pirates this is a video from last year that I thought was disturbing. (link)
The story is that Russia forces captured a pirate ship. They chained the
pirates to the hull, and then blew up the ship. I can’t confirm that
from published sources. But that is the word that I got from one ship
owner. The following is an edited (shorter) version of the video. You
decide what is going on here:
»
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Yup, what the $700b a year american navy cannot accomplish, trust the $10b russian cossacks to settle without a hick-up. Nice to read so many americansm here cheering the russians on, maybe that's why the americans failed to catch pirates like all the other navies. They are afraid of the type of guantanamo video leaks, just like this russian video, and then they end up being charged for torture.
No quarter.
If you are a pirate and take a ship from a foreign nation - expect that nation and any relatives to hang you, shoot you, slit your throat - or otherwise dispose of your forfeited corpse and soul for your act of injustice.
Live by the sword - die by the sword.
Much too much fake politeness and hum-buggery and robe covered equivocated "justice" in this parade of fools of a world today.
Look at the Pirates on Wall Street and in Washington in Herringbone wool and Wingtips; the only thing they are missing is the hempen noose and being hung from a public lampost.
Does it apply to US citizens or is killing a US citizen still the wildest assault on humanity?
Gordon Freeman, word is fishing was destroyed by northern Europeans dumping nuclear waste in the Gulf of Aden off the Somali shore.
oh, and there's a cancer problem too.
In the US world order, some have a right to aggression, other have no right to self defense.
Looking at the Somali side is childish, extortion always work on the back of the extorted. And when the extorted react, they are the side to blame. Not the extorter.
US world order dictates all. Dont expect the extorted to be treated more than just the extorted.
Since we are talking shipping, how bout a bit-o-history?
"The glorious leader of the White Star Line, the magnificent J.P. Morgan has booked passage on our glorious new oceanliner, the 'Titanic' for her maiden voyage to New York this April. JP Morgan, as owner of the White Star Line, has encouraged many of his wealthy friends to attend the cruise with him."
Do note, JP cancelled last minute due to "business schedule"
Tough world.
Russians don't fuck around. And killing a bunch of pirates on the high seas isn't nearly as brutal as what they did in 2002 on their own turf...with their own citizens' lives at risk.
Remember this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis
I'd love to know the events that preceded this Russian operation. Are these guys definitely Somali-looking? Do they have fishing boats like that around there? Could this be the Black Sea instead?
If they are/were Somali pirates I'm guessing that ships known or suspected to have Russian interests behind them are no longer popular prize candidates.
I think the South Koreans deal with this in the same way. The Indians almost as severe. Even the Dutch are allowed to be tougher than the US and Brits.
Blackhawk Down occurred cause Clinton changed the mission and he refused the Army countless requests for M1 amd Bradleys. The US Cong Black Caucas said the US could not use tanks against Africans. Our troops had no armor back up. Def Dec Les Aspin quit after that then croaked a bit later. Political Correctness kills.
Well, I labored through the whole thread, and I'm still confused:
How is killing pirates bad??
So the shipping companies can afford 13 large for ransom but not a few hundred thousand per ship to carry armaments and people who can use them? What is the real game here?
Bruce,
I want to respect your work, I really do. But,
1) That guy with the shot up leg in the video is clearly Not Somali,
&
2) How does India executing pirates help the Indian hostages? I mean, seriously, if you were a desperate, armed criminal, and you heard that some folks in your line of work got killed by a certain nation, a few of citizens of which you had access to, what's your likely immediate, emotion driven response there?
I can see that, as well. There were a few black Somalis in the video but they looked like kids to use as grunts. The leaders, like the one writhing in blood on the deck, were lighter-skinned Africans or Arabs of some sort, most probably associated in some twisted way with Islam.
its like the annointed one has said... its going to get worse before it gets better.... only the worse has yet to begin.............
It's the depleted uranium gulf tax, coming to the left coast soon.
I think you may be right Tyler, that these guys where still on the boat when they blew it up. For one the Russians where laughing (which doesn't mean to much), but they would have wanted the pirates to see their boat being blown up. And if thats the case you couldn't hear anything other than russians on the top of the military boat. And I don't see the Russians being to quick to make places for the pirates so quickly down under in the military ship (if they had room). They did it, also I agree that Greece will default and it will be nasty.
russian man asks, why do you lie to me... bleeding man says, its a fishing boat
All in english... Just for our entertainment?
Just sayin'.
Those were some pretty funny looking fishing poles they were pulling out of the cabin.
1 million barrel tanker seized at sea, price of brent oil worth 125 Million on current market,
13 Million fee to pirates, sounds like 10% highway tax.
Now if these pirates were to put on suits, sell the oil futures, now that they have possession,
and close the positions out, they could make even more money.
Key point of the extortion business: keep the easiest to extort in the position of the extorted.
These guys capture a tiny fraction of what cruises off their coasts through their erratic captures now and then and the reinjection of it would mend the situation. That is a way to see it.
Upping them to regular revenues spread on all what cruises off would be a disaster.
...so it is more their 'dress code' and lack of proper upbringing that sets them apart from Wall Streeters....of course the damage these Somalis cause is peanuts compared to GS.
Can we deploy the Ruskies to Manhattan?
I hope they did chain those fuckers to the ship and blew it up.
It's really a shame you weren't chained to it when it blew up.
who owns most of greece? who loses most if they restructure?
Reggie did a piece on this yesterday.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/greek-debt-yielding-20-and-trading-half-par-value-european-banks-are-trapped
The answer is: Greek banks themselves, banks in: Cyprus, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg and Belgium. Germany, Portugal and Spain will be heavily damaged.
so, I think Germany can handle it, their economy is doing fairly decently and they seem to have productive politics...but if Greece's restructure slams Portugal and Spain...thats big trouble to those countries, already teteering, and then if they go...Germany and many others truly in trouble, no?
thanks
My question is, "What's the FUCKING question?" I don't have a problem with IT. War is Hell people, just more so for the weaker. Get over it, unless of course you're a Bleeding Heart Liberal, then you can call Nasty Pelosi.
The video was on DEBKA a few months ago and reported as you describe here. It doesn't appear now in a search of the site.
So the Russians are about to "strap some financial bombs" to "Greece"? Not that it isn't actually happening--but it seems like "Greece is burning" and "there's no fire departnment coming." Kinda pisses me off, actually. The thought that "we should blow the whole thing up too" doesn't make me feel better. There are of course "Greeks" in "Greece." And i imagine "a German or two."
Tidn't back in the day the "authorities" basically hung the captured pirates without any hearings/court proceedeng/etc?
The Russins are following that tradition. But in a bit more hollywood-like "explosive" style
agree.
Cant blame them for scuttling their ships...make sence.
Piracy is hated because you are completely alone on the seas when you are attacked.
It is truley the highest form of cowardice.
Any chance these dudes will take a look at wall st? Theres more than a few pirates there.
don't sail alone.. guess those profit margins won't allow for that right?? or just pay a freaking toll for using their waters
The one thing that scares the shit out of me the most is that the majority of people are aware that Greek restructuring WILL take place . Is this already priced in to EUR/USD in your opinion ?
The one thing that would scare me if I were sailing in that region is just how far afield the pirates roam. On a relative basis it would be like cruising off Key West with the pirates' home base in Brownsville.
some pirate links
Live Somali Pirate Alerts
http://www.shipping.nato.int/CounterPir/copy_of_copy_of_SOMALIAPIR
NATO pirate reporting site
http://www.shipping.nato.int/CounterPir
Piracy Maps
http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/imb-live-piracy-map
http://www.shipping.nato.int/CounterPir/ALERTPAGMA
Pirate Forum
http://www.worldcruising.com/forum/topics.aspx?ForumID=11
Piracy Reports
http://www.noonsite.com/General/Piracy
ISAF Piracy Guidelines (pdf)
http://www.sailing.org/tools/documents/2010Nov10Draftrecguidelinesshortv...
Caribbean yacht safety network
http://www.safetyandsecuritynet.com/
Not Brownsville. Galveston Island.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Lafitte
It's hard to tell. You can see them men hand-cuffed, then the shot jumps to the Russian vessel and an explosion and fire ensue.
Can't say that I would put it past them, though. Besides, that's the way to deal with these people.
Still don't understand why these ships are not under some sovereign military protection. Greek ships should be escorted by Greek military, or some "private" mercenary sailors for protection. It just doesn't make sense to me to allow these kinds of hijackings to go on when the cargo is obviously worth so much money.
Perfect opportunity for Xe Navy.
Check out Google earth and maps near Moyock, N.C. If you have Earth as a plugin to Firefox, you can see Xe's massive training complex in the middle of soybean fields south west of town. If you switch from earth to maps view you see that the training complex is listed as a BB&T ATM site.
Seems the mercenary navy has already been sold to someone in Spain...
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/17/xe-international-blackwater-sold/
in December of last year.
It would be really expensive to run naval escorts with so many cargo ships through the Gulf of Aden.
A modern destroyer costs about $2b to build (http://newwars.wordpress.com/warship-costs/) and is expensive to arm and operate.
A frigate is far less expensive, but this is a case where I think you'd want to go big or stay home. Imagine how embarrassing it would be to have a naval frigate swarmed and captured or damaged.
So a fifty-millimeter cannon mounted topside wouldn't have turned that "vessel" into firewood?
A couple of small torpedoes dropped overboard with a radio-controlling device? Too much to ask? How about an RPG-launcher? These things must be a dime a dozen.
That is another problem I forgot to mentions. Modern military vessels are "too powerful" to hunt down small boats of pirates. It is height of folly to whack them with torpedoes, anti-ship missiles, or, god forbid, cruise missiles. The only "appropriate weapons" are anti-aircraft guns (if their turrets allow to use them in such capacity).
There are three courses of actions: (i) punitive expeditions and/or patrols with executions, (ii) modification to maritime law (to allow some kind of defencive weaponry on merchant vessels), or (iii) escorts with specialized gun boats (to circumvent of "too-powerful"-ships problem).
How about a few of these? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddi-IandlBE Tailor made for the X-Box generation. (if you want the video for reference, save it; two other posts on Youtube have already been taken down.)
As far as I understand, there are two problems related to two requirements. First, to have sovereign protection ship must bear the flag of the sovereign, and, second, this sovereign must deploy an escort vessel.
Most of merchant vessels sails under the flag of Panama, Liberia, or something like that. Second, most sovereigns are "democracies" infected with "pacifistic idiocy" and lack ocean worthy military vessels in sufficient quantities. In addition to that, it seems to me that current naval powers play some kind of proxy war game in these "pirate debacles" (pirates get intelligence on passing ships from British entities connected to insurers of cargo).
Round eye has short, convenient memory.
When the young USA had its' sailing fleets; pirates were all hung from the yardarm.
No hearing. No judgement. Hang them all.
It was / is the only way to get their attention.
The link that this comes from is long. If this question is of interest, I suggest you look at the whole thing.
They don't want to be prosecuted for third world genocide...Out in the Open...much better if its discrete.
How is killing murderous pirates "genocide"? Your use of language shows your mind is poisoned, and poisonous. Please go away and post your bigotry on the Washington Post where you can influence world affairs. Your act is very stale here.
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