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Somali Pirates Open Up a "Stock Exchange"
reginaldo writes to clue us that pirates in Somalia have opened up a cooperative in Haradheere, where investors can pay money or guns to help their favorite pirate crew for a share of the piracy profits. "'Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 "maritime companies" and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking,' Mohammed [a wealthy former pirate who took a Reuters reporter to the facility] said. ... Piracy investor Sahra Ibrahim, a 22-year-old divorcee, was lined up with others waiting for her cut of a ransom pay-out after one of the gangs freed a Spanish tuna fishing vessel. 'I am waiting for my share after I contributed a rocket-propelled grenade for the operation,' she said, adding that she got the weapon from her ex-husband in alimony. 'I am really happy and lucky. I have made $75,000 in only 38 days since I joined the "company."'"
Yeah, Just like I thought, Another Mom's basement warrior! Go for another pizza, big warrior, that might calm you down!
Delta-Mike November Bravo Tango
I guess that we are the bad guys for invading Iraq and Afghanistan.
The real problem is that they are showing that piracy pays, even in the face of significant Western naval support.
Which is a much bigger problem than the millions of dollars they've been paid in ransoms. These pirates have shown that, for all our vaunted might, the Western powers can do nothing to stop them because there is no political will to do so. Even though the US spends billions of dollars on our Navy, we can't stop a few thousand guys with assault rifles in rubber rafts from controlling the sea lanes. This is yet another sign that the American empire is in serious decline and doesn't have long to live.
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.