Ahira's Hangar

That's interesting on a couple of levels...the pirates don't want the tanks, they want cash. But somebody else might be willing to buy them other than the owners maybe...

--A

What the hell does Kenya want with 30+ Russian tanks?

--A

Bah, they've had plenty of lawwlessness and political violence in Kenya quite recently actually. I'm wondering if they might turn them on their own citizens. (Although it does appear to have calmed down quite a bit there now.)

--A

I discussed this with Igor this morning. He is from Odessa in the Ukraine and he says if they sent a ship you can guarantee there are also half a dozen submarines on their way loaded and ready to kill and the ship is going for the sole purpose of recording the sinking regardless of hostages etc. Those people are as good as dead.

Wonder if they'll refund the Kenyans for their tanks?

(Damn, I just saw a brilliant movie about [Frodo] (can't remember his real name hahaha) as an american jew who goes to the Ukraine in search of his families roots...can't remember what it was called but it was brilliant.)

--A

And now they have apparently stolen a super tanker filled with a hundred million dollars worth of oil.

How far will they go before someone's military (whether US or Russian or whomever's) will go in and take them all out? You know at some point someone will get pissed off enough to send in Navy seals or marines or a badass strike group of some sort.

I have to give these guys credit, though - as far as I know they are not torturing or killing their captives, and they certainly have balls to go after something as large as a super tanker.

I just saw that about the Saudi super tanker on the news. Ships are easy for the picking in the Gulf of Saden there, as it's apparently one of the busiest ship lanes in the world. And they say there's really not a whole lot anyone can do about it. But yeah, if some country gets annoyed enough, who knows? Regarding the earlier Ukrainian hijacking: makes me wonder how willing Somalian pirates would have been to go after such a ship if it had been back in the days of the mighty Soviet Union? Nowadays, everyone is fair game.

Personally, I think I prefer it to a few super-powers sitting on top of the heap and shaking their nukes or cheque-books in everyone's faces. Yes...things may be a little more fraught right now, but at least they're fraught over more regional conflicts.

--A