Indian Navy and International Anti-Piracy Ops

[Singha]

as usual in electro-optics the israelis have a soln all wrapped and ready.

http://www.rafael.co.il/marketing/news. ... docID=1441

Rafael Introduces the Sea Spotter
RAFAEL Introduces the Sea Spotter - New Generation, Naval IRST System
06 December 2006

RAFAEL Armament Development Authority Ltd is developing an advanced Naval IRST system that will enable a naval vessel to automatically locate and pinpoint threats and targets located around it without being exposed to enemy systems.

The system, dubbed Sea Spotter, is a new generation (third generation) infrared staring system that is capable of automatically locating both surface and airborne targets, super sonic and slow, very small targets above and around the vessel, from horizon to zenith and transferring the data to the ship's combat system for interception.

Based on infrared sensors, the Sea Spotter is a completely passive system. Unlike electromagnetic radar systems, it does not emit any signals, so that as part of its situational awareness, it can "see" but not be seen without emitting any beams and without giving away the ship's position.

The overall target and battle arena image that is produced by the Sea Spotter is able to locate such threats as surface-to-surface missiles, super sonic and sub sonic sea skimming missiles, combat aircraft, gliding bombs, ARM weapons helicopters, ships, small target vessels such as a submarine periscope and/or terrorist threats like jet skis.

Previous generation IRST systems suffered from a high false alarm rate, which makes them inefficient and useless. Third generation systems such as the Sea Spotter are based on a continuous staring sensor (not a scanning sensor), which coupled with suitable image processing algorithms, greatly decreases the number of false alarms to a rate of one false alarm per 24 hour period.

The Sea Spotter system is designed for all naval vessels and is based on two specific patents and on an image processing ability that is one of RAFAEL's leading capabilities. The patents are in the field of time sharing between a few telescopes in a high frame rate and a central close cycle cooling system.

[Philip]

Great Pentagon viewpoint about fighting piracy-force being not the answer.I wonder if they could say the very same thing about fighting "the war on terror",especially in Iraq and Afghanistan right now and stop using their Predators to kill wedding parties and sometimes a terrorist or two!

The only way in which such piracy can be effectively countered is to go in and destory the "pirate community" and their bases.It is an impossibility and hugely expensive for even a global task force under UN mandate to sanitise the sea lanes,especially in regions with the highest merchant traffic.Pirate boats,like the LTTE's Sea Tigers,masquerade as fishing vessels,are often as mentioned in the thread made of fibreglass equipped with twin or triple ourboard motors giving them a speed of 50kts+,and are very difficult to pick up and distinguish from legitimate fishing vessels and trawlers.However,once they have hijacked an MV,they have to sail it to a secure pirate base,where the "loot" can be offloaded,the crew held hostage and the pirate fleet be refuelled and rearmed,requiring godowns and warehousing facilities and R&R for the pirateers.This requires a large infrastructuire,though crude at times,to handle the tasks involved. It is these bases and ports which the pirates use with inpumity-and we have reports of the largesse and lifestyle of these pirate communities,that must be destroyed,so that the local community turns against piracy or embraces it in the full knowledge of massive retaliation.

A complete saturation air bombing of Eyl and its infrastructure,accompanied by a naval task force (preferably with a UN mandate)that enters into Somali waters tasked to destroy all pirate vessels and commando teams to storm hijacked vessels will send a signal lesson that will stop piracy for decades.In similar manner by not giving into terrorism and hijackers,should we deal with pirates,as it will be a very short time before the likes of AlQ and international terroist outfits merge with pirates,sharing their expertise,intelligence and criminal abilities not only to further piracy but to conduct maritime terror,like the attack on the USS Cole and enlarge arms and drug smuggling on the high seas.

PS:The US is quite peeved that its mighty armada could do bugger all apart from defeatist mouthings against a motley gang of pirates out of Africa,while the IN ,with one small Russian built frigate,walked without any talk.As Chairman Mao said famously ,"A loud fart is better than a long speech"! The IN has "broken wind" off Somalia and the noise and ripples of its action is reverberating around the globe.

[chetak]

Great Pentagon viewpoint about fighting piracy-force being not the answer.I wonder if they could say the very same thing about fighting "the war on terror",especially in Iraq and Afghanistan right now and stop using their Predators to kill wedding parties and sometimes a terrorist or two!

The only way in which such piracy can be effectively countered is to go in and destory the "pirate community" and their bases.It is an impossibility and hugely expensive for even a global task force under UN mandate to sanitise the sea lanes,especially in regions with the highest merchant traffic.Pirate boats,like the LTTE's Sea Tigers,masquerade as fishing vessels,are often as mentioned in the thread made of fibreglass equipped with twin or triple ourboard motors giving them a speed of 50kts+,and are very difficult to pick up and distinguish from legitimate fishing vessels and trawlers.However,once they have hijacked an MV,they have to sail it to a secure pirate base,where the "loot" can be offloaded,the crew held hostage and the pirate fleet be refuelled and rearmed,requiring godowns and warehousing facilities and R&R for the pirateers.This requires a large infrastructuire,though crude at times,to handle the tasks involved. It is these bases and ports which the pirates use with inpumity-and we have reports of the largesse and lifestyle of these pirate communities,that must be destroyed,so that the local community turns against piracy or embraces it in the full knowledge of massive retaliation.

A complete saturation air bombing of Eyl and its infrastructure,accompanied by a naval task force (preferably with a UN mandate)that enters into Somali waters tasked to destroy all pirate vessels and commando teams to storm hijacked vessels will send a signal lesson that will stop piracy for decades.In similar manner by not giving into terrorism and hijackers,should we deal with pirates,as it will be a very short time before the likes of AlQ and international terroist outfits merge with pirates,sharing their expertise,intelligence and criminal abilities not only to further piracy but to conduct maritime terror,like the attack on the USS Cole and enlarge arms and drug smuggling on the high seas.

PS:The US is quite peeved that its mighty armada could do bugger all apart from defeatist mouthings against a motley gang of pirates out of Africa,while the IN ,with one small Russian built frigate,walked without any talk.As Chairman Mao said famously ,"A loud fart is better than a long speech"! The IN has "broken wind" off Somalia and the noise and ripples of its action is reverberating around the globe.

Philip ji,

I completely agree with everything you said , but...
why UN mandate?
Just go in and toast the blighters.

[Gerard]

Navy wants ships in convoy in pirate zone

[Philip]

Chetakji,like George Bush Sr.,who one has great admiration for,in the manner in which he obtained a UN mandate to oust Saddam from Kuwait and then brought together a huge international coalition to kick Saddam's ass,the GOI/IN has correctly openly stated that an international task force should combnat this piracy.This requires a UN mandate by the UNSC (quite easy here) for legitimacy of use of military force.If India goes it alone,we can by vested anti-Indian interests be accused of being "adventuirsts" in similar manner as the US and its allies stand accused of invading Iraq and prosecuting the war in Afghanistan bombing Pak territory.The Iraq War has been internationally condemned and also by a massive majority of the US and British public,leading in soime large manner to the election of Democrat Obama over his Republican rival.

Look very carefully here at the Pentagon saying amazingly that "use of force" is not the answer! This is for two reasons.One,the US cannot abide by any other nation taking a leading role in international military operations and secondly that it is stretched enoprmously with the ongioing Iraq and Afghan wars.The Pentagon/USN hs been trying to cobble together a "1000 ship international naval force" (led of course by the USN!),to patrol the worl's oceans and exert pressure upon the US's rivals and enemies along with so-called "rogue states" like N.Korea,Iran,Libya (trying to make peace now with the west).Russia,in the Goergian crisis suddenly found NATO and US warships trying to "show the flag" in support of Georgia in the Balck Sea. China has in the past seen USN warships sail through the Taiwan Straits challenging any PLAN threat to Taiwan.

Therefore,before Indai acts alone or with allies of its own,it should exhaust the international options.The problem here is who will lead the international naval task force?The NATO naval force has proven to be totally ineffective and perhaps,perhaps,with Indo-Russian naval exercises to take place soon,Pres.Medvedev's visit might veryw ell see an Indo_Russian led naval force combating piracy if the western nations do not get off their backsides.The international maritime community is amazed and contemptuous of the inaction by the world's oldest and most powerful naval fleets who so far have been as potent as a hijra batting either way!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/no ... pean-union

Shipping industry urges EU governments to take up arms against Somali pirates• Fears grow that fleets will be forced to avoid area

• Islamist group says it is hunting hijackersXan Rice in Nairobi and David Gow in Brussels

The Guardian, Saturday November 22 2008

Abdul Hassan, chief of the pirate group called the 'Central Regional Coastguard', carries a rocket-propelled grenade on to a boat with some of his crew. Photograph: Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images

European shipowners are urging their governments to wage war on Somali pirates and seize vessels by force, the Guardian has learned, amid growing fear that shippers will otherwise avoid the seas off the Horn of Africa altogether - at huge cost to global trade.

A day after the world's biggest shipping company, AP Moller-Maersk, said it would divert some of its fleet from the Suez canal and take the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, the industry urged stronger action against pirates. Last night, the BBC reported the UN had given the green light to warships to go after vessels.

Alfons Guinier, secretary general of the European Community Shipowners Association, said other companies were thinking of following Maersk's example. But he said that his association, which claims to speak for 41% of the world's merchant fleet, wanted EU governments to go further after the hijacking a week ago of the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star more than 400 miles off the Somalian coast.

"We know there will be more military forces in the area, but let's hope they will go after the pirates and stop this escalation," he said. "We're asking not just for more escorts but for repressive action." The demand comes after the International Maritime Organisation asked the UN security council to sanction dispatch of as many warships and aircraft as possible to "disrupt" pirate operations, secure shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden, and escort vessels, including those bringing food relief to war-torn Somalia.

The pirate gangs have operated with near impunity for years, but may now also face a confrontation on land.

Yesterday, rebels from the al-Shabaab Islamist movement entered Harardheere, a pirate base halfway up Somalia's east coast. An elder in the port said: "The Islamists arrived searching for the pirates and the Saudi ship. The Islamists say they will attack the pirates for hijacking a Muslim ship."

Some residents said the fighters wanted a cut of the ransom, but a spokesman for al-Shabaab claimed they were hunting the pirates for the "bigger crime" of hijacking a ship belonging to a Muslim country.

Sheikh Abdirahim Isse Adow said: "Haradheere is under our control, and we shall do something about that ship."

Pirates yesterday released a Greek chemical tanker held since September. The East African Seafarers' Association said the Liberian-flagged MV Genious and 19 crew were released after its owner paid a ransom.

But Somali pirates still hold at least 15 other vessels and more than 250 crew members. Kenya's foreign minister, Moses Wetangula, claimed yesterday that the pirates had netted $150m (£101m) in ransoms this year, though maritime experts say the figure is closer to $30m. Iran's biggest shipping firm confirmed that it had also received a ransom demand for a Hong-Kong-registered ship carrying 36,000 tonnes of wheat that was captured on Tuesday. The British foreign secretary, David Miliband, has called on shipowners to refuse to negotiate.

The European shipowners' demand will be made on Monday in talks in with the EU naval coordination cell set up by foreign ministers in September. It is creating an enforcement unit, under Operation Atalanta, based in RAF Northwood outside London. It is due to be fully operational in early December and be headed by a British rear admiral.

Guinier said the EU should coordinate its military efforts with other navies from Nato, Russia, Japan, Canada and India, which is sending four warships to the region. An Indian warship destroyed a pirate "mothership" this week.

The IMO's secretary-general, Efthimios Mitropoulos, meanwhile, told the UN that, with more than 12% of global oil transport passing through the Gulf of Aden, widespread diversions via South Africa would bring "a series of negative repercussions". "Such diversions would almost double the length of a typical voyage from the Gulf to Europe, thereby increasing fuel consumption, emissions and transport costs which would have to be passed on eventually to consumers everywhere," he said in a statement.

Peter Beck-Bang, a Maersk spokesman in Copenhagen, said that the diversion of its ships would add eight days to a voyage to the US and 14 days to one to Europe. If the situation remained unchanged, this would cost the firm "two-digit millions of dollars" in 2009. The diversion covers eight tankers and three container ships.

'I'm more afraid of piracy than of cyclones

Nov 21
Supertanker pirates demand $25m within nes'
10 days

Nov 20 2008
Robert Farley: Somali piracy problem demands multilateral action

Nov 20 2008
Sirius Star pirates demand $25m ransom

Nov 19 2008
British hostages on hijacked supertanker Sirius Star named as Peter French and James Grady

[pradeepe]

IN sure seems to be stepping up big time. Escorted convoys? Has that been tried since of WW2. Somali pirates the new wolfpacks!

[Philip]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 209344.ece

Battles over booty loom as militias and rebels drawn to pirate gold
Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent

Armed men from different Somali factions are descending on the country's pirate coast, raising fears that a battle is looming over millions of pounds in ransom cash being demanded for the captured supertanker Sirius Star.

Tribal militiamen linked to the pirates, moderate Islamist rebels fighting against the Government and militants from the Taleban-style al-Shabaab movement were among those bearing down on the coastal town of Haradhere yesterday, drawn by the lure of political capital and pirate gold.

Tribesmen in outlying villages prepared to defend the town from possible attack, raising the prospect of a clash with the hardline al-Shabaab, who claimed that they had arrived to stamp out the pirate menace.

Residents, however, said they feared that the influx was a prelude to a bloody fight over the ransom money. The pirates have reportedly demanded $25 million (£17 million) in cash from the Saudi owners of the ship in return for the release of 25 hostages on board, including the Britons Peter French and James Grady.

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Somali pirates seize ninth vessel in 12 days

“There are many militiamen who have arrived in the town and they want to get a share from the pirates if the ransom is paid,” Ahmed Abdullahi, a local elder, said. “They believe this ship is huge and the owner will pay a lot of money.”

The rush to Haradhere underlines one of the biggest concerns in the current crisis: no one can be sure where the pirates' takings are going or what they are funding, only that they are certain to fuel the violence - and the piracy it has spawned - for even longer.

Fears that the booty could end up in the hands of Islamist extremists, despite their long opposition to piracy, have stoked fears that they could finance the export of their militant ideology from Somalia.

The Kenyan Government said yesterday that the Somali pirate trade had brought in $150 million in ransom money over the past year. “That is why they are becoming more and more audacious,” Moses Wetangula, the Foreign Minister, said. Britain and Saudi Arabia's foreign ministers called on shipping companies not to pay ransoms for fear of encouraging piracy but the companies and shipping unions hit back, saying that they had no choice given the international failure to prevent piracy in the first place.

“Mr [David] Miliband is correct to say that ransom payments encourage further hostage-taking but the answer is not to refuse to pay them - it is to prevent the attacks from occurring in the first place,” said Mark Dickinson, the assistant general secretary of Nautilus, the seamen's union.

Foreign navies are rushing warships to the Gulf of Aden - 14 currently patrol the coastline and the European Union plans to send up to ten more next month under a centralised British command.

Shipping analysts say that such action is merely a “sticking plaster” until a solution to end the conflict in Somalia is found.

Somalia, in the words of the International Crisis Group, is going through “the darkest period in its recent history, which is a lot to say of a country that has not known a functioning government in almost a generation”.

The most stability it had in recent years was under the Islamic Courts government ousted in 2006 by Ethiopian troops backed by the United States, which was nervous that the region could become a haven for Islamic terrorists.

That move is now almost universally deemed to have been a failure, plunging Somalia back into factional fighting under a collapsing Western-backed transitional Government headed by a President, Abdullahi Yusuf, whose own tribe is deeply involved in the pirate trade.

The collapse of the economy in his ancestral homeland, Puntland, is blamed in part for the surge in piracy.

Under the Islamic Courts government, piracy was curtailed, although a question mark hangs over the motivation for the crackdown, given the handy side-effect of denying profits to its enemies.

Of the different factions that made up the Islamist Government, two are regarded as internationally unacceptable because of their al-Qaeda links. Many believe that the best chance of stability would be to isolate them from their allies, who could then be included in government.

One of them, al-Shabaab, said that it had sent its fighters to Haradhere not to share in the spoils, but to halt the pirate trade. “The Islamists arrived searching for the pirates and the whereabouts of the Saudi ship,” a Haradhere elder said. “The Islamists say they will attack the pirates for hijacking a Muslim ship.”

While there is no evidence of al-Qaeda involvement, there are signs that it may be watching. Writing on a militant website, one Islamist supporter noted that the influx of Western navies to the Gulf of Aden presented a golden opportunity for the kind of attack launched on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000. “The enemies of al-Qaeda ... will swallow the bait and come to the area in which al-Qaeda has woven its nets,” he wrote. “At that time, al-Qaeda will settle scores with America and its allies.”

[Lalmohan]

A pirate speaks to the guardian

[Nitesh]

Navy action in Gulf of Aden projects Indian power on high seas

22 Nov 2008, 0143 hrs IST, Indrani Bagchi, TNN

NEW DELHI: After Chandrayaan 1, the Indian Navy's action against a Somali pirate mother ship was an emphatic power projection statement that India is the ideal blend of "hard" and "soft" power.

Since the turn of the century, when India undertook patrolling and anti-piracy missions in the Straits of Malacca, Indian Navy has been a potent tool for the country's power projection capabilities.

Rescuing Japan's ships from pirates in the Straits of Malacca, the next step was to escort coalition ships during Operation Enduring Freedom in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. India's presence in these waters didn't go uncontested and for many years, it was a difficult deal to swallow for countries like Malaysia, Indonesia etc.

But soon, India declared Indian Ocean to be its strategic backyard. When the 2004 tsunami struck, it was Indian naval ships first off the mark to reach relief and aid to Indonesia and Sri Lanka. In May this year, when Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, it was Indian ships that first delivered aid. And then there was INS Tabar's downing of a pirate ship earlier this week.

While India's force projections in the Indian Ocean region is not new, the fundamental statement that India makes with its naval actions is the "benign" nature of its naval diplomacy. Unlike the Chinese intentions in the Indian Ocean, which makes many countries uncomfortable, India has shown that it's not in the business of territorial acquisitions. And it's a message that's gone home.

A few weeks ago, India received an approval from the Somalian transitional government to conduct patrols on its waters. This was India's first foray into the Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa waters.

But despite the Navy's actions, in many ways it conducts its maritime diplomacy with one hand tied behind its back. In the absence of any institutional framework which lets Indian and other navies "talk" to each other, the Indian Navy is primarily working with others on the "buddy trail" or through ad hoc arrangements.

For instance, India did not accede to the 2005 Sua Protocol -- which provides the clearest definitions of piracy and sets out rules of engagement. India's objections to the protocol, which makes distinctions between NPT and non-NPT states, no longer really apply after NSG gave India a blanket waiver.

The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) is problematic for India for a host of sovereignty reasons, but that also keeps India out of an 80-plus group of countries. India is not a member of the Combined Task Force 150 (set up after Enduring Freedom). And it has not signed interoperability agreements with UK, US, or France, which are the chief navies in that region.

So, India functions on a day to day, hour to hour basis -- since its radio frequencies are not compatible with the others. This makes the task of coordination and combined operations rather difficult. The only reason the Navy functions is by the fact of its own relations with other counterparts.

Just putting Indian ships in the area will not be enough. They will need to be part of a big multinational strategy, because several rules have to be made and followed like who does the Indian Navy protect -- its own ships or some others or all vessels. How does it share time and space with the other navies in the region?

India's ambitions are not small, and in many ways, its capabilities are not small either. It needs more tools to play the high stakes game of power on the high seas.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indi ... 742423.cms

[sarabpal.s]

what when they attack back Evan minor
i know that would bigger news in whole world than this because what other country want to hear
just my view

i think we need something larger than normal destroyer with long range detection and attack capable

[Singha]

the beslan baby killers were also high on some drug and listening to
heavy metal to keep themselves edgy, aggressive and alert.

[Prasad]

Singha sir,
they were listening to rammstein.. the band took a lot of heat cos of that with a lot of ppl saying their lyrics instigate ppl to such acts.

[Vivasvat]

Mar-goli, india hater/islamist sympathizer, wants to flow with the current.....
the undercurrent must be strong enough for him to jump ship...

Attack on pirates reflects India’s growing sea power

.... the latest sign of India’s growing maritime power, a subject about which I have been writing for two decades.

India is now making her maritime strength felt right to the mouth of the Red Sea and up to the oil exporting Gulf, along Africa’s east coast, and all the way south to Fiji and Australian waters.

India’s growing navy may one day challenge the Indian Ocean’s premier naval power, the United States....

The lesson to be drawn from all this is that India must be a force to be reckoned with in the Indian Ocean and Gulf as it advances its own oil, trade and political interests. Hindustania does not yet rule the waves, but one day, who knows.

[Vivasvat]

Column One: Civilization walks the plank
By CAROLINE GLICK

In centuries past, in accordance with established international law, it was standard practice for naval captains to hang pirates after capturing them. Today, when Europe has outlawed capital punishment, when criminal defendants throughout the West are given more civil rights than their victims, and when irregular combatants picked off of battlefields or intercepted before they attack are given - at a minimum - the same rights as those accorded to legal prisoners of war, states lack the political will and the moral clarity to prosecute offenders. As Casey and Rivkin note, last April the British Foreign Office instructed the British Navy not to apprehend pirates lest they claim that their human rights were harmed, and request and receive asylum in Britain.

over the years, states have managed to ignore or invert international laws on terrorism to the point where today terrorists are among the most protected groups of individuals in the world. Due to political sympathy for terrorists, hostility toward their victims, or fear of terrorist reprisals against a state that dares to prosecute terrorists found on its territory, states have managed to avoid not only applying existing laws against terrorists. They have also refrained from updating laws to meet the growing challenges of terrorism. Instead, international institutions and "enlightened" Western states have devoted their time to condemning and threatening to prosecute the few states that have taken action against terrorists.

[chetak]

Chetakji,like George Bush Sr.,who one has great admiration for,in the manner in which he obtained a UN mandate to oust Saddam from Kuwait and then brought together a huge international coalition to kick Saddam's ass,the GOI/IN has correctly openly stated that an international task force should combnat this piracy.This requires a UN mandate by the UNSC (quite easy here) for legitimacy of use of military force.If India goes it alone,we can by vested anti-Indian interests be accused of being "adventuirsts" in similar manner as the US and its allies stand accused of invading Iraq and prosecuting the war in Afghanistan bombing Pak territory.The Iraq War has been internationally condemned and also by a massive majority of the US and British public,leading in soime large manner to the election of Democrat Obama over his Republican rival.

Look very carefully here at the Pentagon saying amazingly that "use of force" is not the answer! This is for two reasons.One,the US cannot abide by any other nation taking a leading role in international military operations and secondly that it is stretched enoprmously with the ongioing Iraq and Afghan wars.The Pentagon/USN hs been trying to cobble together a "1000 ship international naval force" (led of course by the USN!),to patrol the worl's oceans and exert pressure upon the US's rivals and enemies along with so-called "rogue states" like N.Korea,Iran,Libya (trying to make peace now with the west).Russia,in the Goergian crisis suddenly found NATO and US warships trying to "show the flag" in support of Georgia in the Balck Sea. China has in the past seen USN warships sail through the Taiwan Straits challenging any PLAN threat to Taiwan.

Therefore,before Indai acts alone or with allies of its own,it should exhaust the international options.The problem here is who will lead the international naval task force?The NATO naval force has proven to be totally ineffective and perhaps,perhaps,with Indo-Russian naval exercises to take place soon,Pres.Medvedev's visit might veryw ell see an Indo_Russian led naval force combating piracy if the western nations do not get off their backsides.The international maritime community is amazed and contemptuous of the inaction by the world's oldest and most powerful naval fleets who so far have been as potent as a hijra batting either way!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/no ... pean-union

Shipping industry urges EU governments to take up arms against Somali pirates• Fears grow that fleets will be forced to avoid area

• Islamist group says it is hunting hijackersXan Rice in Nairobi and David Gow in Brussels

The Guardian, Saturday November 22 2008

Abdul Hassan, chief of the pirate group called the 'Central Regional Coastguard', carries a rocket-propelled grenade on to a boat with some of his crew. Photograph: Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images

European shipowners are urging their governments to wage war on Somali pirates and seize vessels by force, the Guardian has learned, amid growing fear that shippers will otherwise avoid the seas off the Horn of Africa altogether - at huge cost to global trade.

A day after the world's biggest shipping company, AP Moller-Maersk, said it would divert some of its fleet from the Suez canal and take the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, the industry urged stronger action against pirates. Last night, the BBC reported the UN had given the green light to warships to go after vessels.

Alfons Guinier, secretary general of the European Community Shipowners Association, said other companies were thinking of following Maersk's example. But he said that his association, which claims to speak for 41% of the world's merchant fleet, wanted EU governments to go further after the hijacking a week ago of the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star more than 400 miles off the Somalian coast.

"We know there will be more military forces in the area, but let's hope they will go after the pirates and stop this escalation," he said. "We're asking not just for more escorts but for repressive action." The demand comes after the International Maritime Organisation asked the UN security council to sanction dispatch of as many warships and aircraft as possible to "disrupt" pirate operations, secure shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden, and escort vessels, including those bringing food relief to war-torn Somalia.

The pirate gangs have operated with near impunity for years, but may now also face a confrontation on land.

Yesterday, rebels from the al-Shabaab Islamist movement entered Harardheere, a pirate base halfway up Somalia's east coast. An elder in the port said: "The Islamists arrived searching for the pirates and the Saudi ship. The Islamists say they will attack the pirates for hijacking a Muslim ship."

Some residents said the fighters wanted a cut of the ransom, but a spokesman for al-Shabaab claimed they were hunting the pirates for the "bigger crime" of hijacking a ship belonging to a Muslim country.

Sheikh Abdirahim Isse Adow said: "Haradheere is under our control, and we shall do something about that ship."

Pirates yesterday released a Greek chemical tanker held since September. The East African Seafarers' Association said the Liberian-flagged MV Genious and 19 crew were released after its owner paid a ransom.

But Somali pirates still hold at least 15 other vessels and more than 250 crew members. Kenya's foreign minister, Moses Wetangula, claimed yesterday that the pirates had netted $150m (£101m) in ransoms this year, though maritime experts say the figure is closer to $30m. Iran's biggest shipping firm confirmed that it had also received a ransom demand for a Hong-Kong-registered ship carrying 36,000 tonnes of wheat that was captured on Tuesday. The British foreign secretary, David Miliband, has called on shipowners to refuse to negotiate.

The European shipowners' demand will be made on Monday in talks in with the EU naval coordination cell set up by foreign ministers in September. It is creating an enforcement unit, under Operation Atalanta, based in RAF Northwood outside London. It is due to be fully operational in early December and be headed by a British rear admiral.

Guinier said the EU should coordinate its military efforts with other navies from Nato, Russia, Japan, Canada and India, which is sending four warships to the region. An Indian warship destroyed a pirate "mothership" this week.

The IMO's secretary-general, Efthimios Mitropoulos, meanwhile, told the UN that, with more than 12% of global oil transport passing through the Gulf of Aden, widespread diversions via South Africa would bring "a series of negative repercussions". "Such diversions would almost double the length of a typical voyage from the Gulf to Europe, thereby increasing fuel consumption, emissions and transport costs which would have to be passed on eventually to consumers everywhere," he said in a statement.

Peter Beck-Bang, a Maersk spokesman in Copenhagen, said that the diversion of its ships would add eight days to a voyage to the US and 14 days to one to Europe. If the situation remained unchanged, this would cost the firm "two-digit millions of dollars" in 2009. The diversion covers eight tankers and three container ships.

'I'm more afraid of piracy than of cyclones

Nov 21
Supertanker pirates demand $25m within nes'
10 days

Nov 20 2008
Robert Farley: Somali piracy problem demands multilateral action

Nov 20 2008
Sirius Star pirates demand $25m ransom

Nov 19 2008
British hostages on hijacked supertanker Sirius Star named as Peter French and James Grady

Philip ji,
I see the point.
Thanks

[chetak]

Cross post from # Understanding the Great Game and role of India & Asian stability

Re: Understanding the Great Game and role of India & Asian stability
The Mughals were not very successful at sea-trade, and the Mughal navy managed hardly to defend the coasts against pirates. Pirates definitely have a long dominance and presence in the Arabian sea and the mouth of the Red Sea - as far as we can see from writings of Strabo - with fingers pointed squarely at Nabataens of the Arabian peninsula. The Thaparites try to implicate Indians in piracy during the Islamic expansion based practically on three dubious textual references and one inscription. Textual sources from Chinese and Arab sources indicate that during this entire Islamic period, the fastest and strongest ships were Sri Lankan, and Arab, and that the pirates carried out their depredations in "fast" powerful ships right up to the Red Sea.

I think the tradition continues, in the East Africans and Arabians/Yemenis getting directly or indirectly involved in this escalation of piracy. The Islamic extermist organizations could have a hand in encouraging this as it has an economic impact on trade and energy supply between non-Muslim axes of power running from India to Europe/Russia and USA, as well as the politico-military significance of making the Red-Sea area a non-go zone.

Somalia has to be invaded to solve this problem. The western axis wants India to be drawn in from several reasons (1) more cost effective because of "closer to home" bases (2) if India can be made to cause damage to African countries, Islamic interests, India's possible tactical softness towards Islamic regimes in the area can be preempted (3) if there is retaliation and war, the US at least does not have to face "immediate" costs - it will be borne by India.

I think that this Gentleman has a very valid point.

[asprinzl]

Talking about khat, in some battles in Afghanistan coalition soldiers encountered Muslim terrorists who were so high on khat and charged against allied fire without fear. Because they were so highly intoxocated, it took several bullets to bring them down. If this is today's development, I am wondering if khat ever played any similar role in the early wars of Islam.
Avram

[Paul]

it is a tradition to take opium before going into battle.

As for the other thing about firing several bullets to bring down one attacker, colnel swinton invented the machine gun to bring down the moro muslim insurgents in the philippines for the same reason.

[Raja Bose]

Avram,

If you read my post on this thread a few pages back, this was something seen by US troops in somalia also during the whole Black Hawk Down episode. Question is how does one fight zombies like that who are so high that they dont even realize they are dead! In fact high tech tungsten tip bullets used by Delta simply passed thru a lot of the somalis without causing immediate damage!

[Hiten]

why don't countries affected by the piracy menace launch honeypot missions to seek the pirates and neutralize them

[Singha]

could be happening. nobody would want to publicize such missions.

[abhischekcc]

Cross post from # Understanding the Great Game and role of India & Asian stability

Re: Understanding the Great Game and role of India & Asian stability
The Mughals were not very successful at sea-trade, and the Mughal navy managed hardly to defend the coasts against pirates. Pirates definitely have a long dominance and presence in the Arabian sea and the mouth of the Red Sea - as far as we can see from writings of Strabo - with fingers pointed squarely at Nabataens of the Arabian peninsula. The Thaparites try to implicate Indians in piracy during the Islamic expansion based practically on three dubious textual references and one inscription. Textual sources from Chinese and Arab sources indicate that during this entire Islamic period, the fastest and strongest ships were Sri Lankan, and Arab, and that the pirates carried out their depredations in "fast" powerful ships right up to the Red Sea.

I think the tradition continues, in the East Africans and Arabians/Yemenis getting directly or indirectly involved in this escalation of piracy. The Islamic extermist organizations could have a hand in encouraging this as it has an economic impact on trade and energy supply between non-Muslim axes of power running from India to Europe/Russia and USA, as well as the politico-military significance of making the Red-Sea area a non-go zone.

Somalia has to be invaded to solve this problem. The western axis wants India to be drawn in from several reasons (1) more cost effective because of "closer to home" bases (2) if India can be made to cause damage to African countries, Islamic interests, India's possible tactical softness towards Islamic regimes in the area can be preempted (3) if there is retaliation and war, the US at least does not have to face "immediate" costs - it will be borne by India.

I think that this Gentleman has a very valid point.

People should remember that the European entry into Asiatic waters was also because of pirates like Vasco De Gama. Francis Drake was a pirate, who was knighted and made Sir Francis Drake for his various 'services' to the British monarch.

Piracy has a long and much honored tradition in the west also. But the main difference between us and them is that in Asia, very rarely if ever did pirates get government protection. None were honored the way west honors its criminals.

[Paul]

Abhishekcc has a point....The anglo-saxons have a long and well established of establishing alliances with pirates and the local mafiosi to further their aims.

George Washington had an alliance with the lawless pirates in the caribbean to take on the Brits. The allies in WWii had the mafiosi in Italy and other countries working with the underground to take on the facists...and closer to home the same anglo-saxons have used drug money to fund islamic terrorists to take on their common enemies in J&K and afghania.

The East india company's conquest of India, Cecil rhodes escapades in 19th century africa, etc. are all examples of private inititiative being used to further national interests.

there is a pattern of using private enterprise or buccaneers to do the dirty work without burdening the taxpayer.

[Singha]

in that sense even dyncorp and blackwater are the for-hire troops of the new wars. they may not be local but will hire locals if they have to.

mercantile & strategic interests are always at the heart of western decision making apparatus. look at relatively small powers like UK / France who after the end of colonial era were still shrewd enough to maintain permanent military bases in strategic locations like djibouti, seychelles, southern indian ocean, polynesia, caribbean etc.

faced with such a situation, GOI would have championed the right of the
locals to their own decisions, unilaterally staged a withdrawal and applauded as the local band of commies took charge and ran things into the ground, with PRC/soviet/US advisers filling the void vacated by us.
Nepal has essentially been 'handed over' to PRC on plate as a base for
its mischief whenever it chooses to raise the stakes. and we share a porous visaless borders with no real security or passport control.

imho the right given to nepali citizens to live and work in India without visa
i.e. do anything except officially vote should be kept under periodic review.

the lesson: never ever vacate anything on land or sea. any space vacated will be filled by challengers.

[Juggi G]

Pirates’ Aden
Indian Express

[Arya Sumantra]

From the article above

In many cases, navy officers say, the owners do not report hijacking attempts to ensure that their insurance premiums stay low.

[Gerard]

Look to the Indian navy to solve this problem

By ERIC MARGOLIS

[Singha]

day of the tabar incident there was couple more ships taken. have there been more hijackings in the area since then?

[Vikram_S]

Look to the Indian navy to solve this problem

By ERIC MARGOLIS

he will not change color
he is now trying to set up a fight between india and US

India's growing navy might soon challenge the Indian Ocean's premier naval power, the United States, which regards the Gulf oil routes and Arabian Sea as its own pond.

Nuclear subs

India's acquisition of Russian Akula class nuclear-powered subs that do 40 knots submerged, the deadly BrahMos missiles (ideal for sinking carriers), and the Russian heavy, Tu-160 long-range bomber have the U.S. Navy watching warily.

In another important event barely noticed in the West, on Nov. 14 an Indian space probe hit the moon.

If India can deliver a probe to the moon, the same launchers and guidance systems can deliver nuclear warheads to North America, Europe or Australia.

India is testing a new 5,500-km medium ranged ballistic missile, Surya, which is expected to be upgraded into a true inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) with double the range. India also is deploying a submarine-launched, nuclear-armed ballistic missile.

this guy has some weird ...physical...love for pakis (please read his depictions of paki officer in book on siachen)

[Lalmohan]

it seems that many of the somali pirates enjoy the protection of at least one of the major islamist factions with links to the keedas - but the underlying problem is one of no state worth its name in somalia

[shiv]

it seems that many of the somali pirates enjoy the protection of at least one of the major islamist factions with links to the keedas - but the underlying problem is one of no state worth its name in somalia

The other question is what links they have with Insurance companies.

[chetak]

it seems that many of the somali pirates enjoy the protection of at least one of the major islamist factions with links to the keedas - but the underlying problem is one of no state worth its name in somalia

The other question is what links they have with Insurance companies.

Shiv,
I actually wrote a post on the insurance angle.
I didn't know whose delicate sensibilities I would offend so I trashed it.

[chetak]

Look to the Indian navy to solve this problem

he will not change color
he is now trying to set up a fight between india and US

India's growing navy might soon challenge the Indian Ocean's premier naval power, the United States, which regards the Gulf oil routes and Arabian Sea as its own pond.

Nuclear subs

India's acquisition of Russian Akula class nuclear-powered subs that do 40 knots submerged, the deadly BrahMos missiles (ideal for sinking carriers), and the Russian heavy, Tu-160 long-range bomber have the U.S. Navy watching warily.

In another important event barely noticed in the West, on Nov. 14 an Indian space probe hit the moon.

If India can deliver a probe to the moon, the same launchers and guidance systems can deliver nuclear warheads to North America, Europe or Australia.

India is testing a new 5,500-km medium ranged ballistic missile, Surya, which is expected to be upgraded into a true inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) with double the range. India also is deploying a submarine-launched, nuclear-armed ballistic missile.

this guy has some weird ...physical...love for pakis (please read his depictions of paki officer in book on siachen)

Don't forget the MIRV capability also demonstrated recently!

[Vikram_S]

lol, correct margolis missed that

next article by margolis ---> by landing mip on moon india has demonstrated intent to land mirv on US and europe and australia

india landed on moon with mip ---> india is setting up moon base to fire moon rocks at us, australia europe

(article should come with background music: australian sheep baa-baaing in fear and ricky ponting interview about how he never trusted india)

[pradeepe]

Straddling trade lanes, be they sea or land based has always been very lucrative I guess. Not too long ago a set of tribes grew under the ample nourishment provided by just such an undertaking to occupy one of the premier pole positions in the current world.

I guess in a way it bodes well for the IN having a chance to assert itself. Tackling piracy on the high seas or interdiction duties of certain kinds, anything will do. Malacca sts to the African horn is ours to control

[chetak]

I was talking to someone from Kenya about khat...apparently, it is wildly popular and lot of people chew it. It is also Kenya's main "export" to Somalia.

according to him, main side effects are lack of sleep and a messed up digestive system. apparently, people have to stay awake 7 or 8 days at a stretch without getting a nap...

You called it right!
Todays TV reports and interviews with some of the Stolt Valor crew who have reached Mumbai
are suggesting that the pirates were addicted to drugs.
For them to remain vigilant and alert, they had to be using something like this.

[Vivek Sreenivasan]

Despite the proactive actions of INS Tabar in the end though the solution to this pirate problem will have to be found in Somalia itself. There are a myriad of problems in fighting pirates at sea, locating one in the massive area of ocean is difficult especially due to the few number of patrolling ships. Then identifying that its a pirate requires boarding and searching and this is has an element of danger as well(unless they are stupid enough to fire at you). My basic point is that it will require massive mobilization of ships to effectively control this threat. Im talking about hundreds of ships large and small in continuous patrol 24/7. This doesnt look like happening.

Therefore a political settlement is required, stability in Somalia will allow the central government to crack down on these pirates using the army much more effectivly than what we can accomplish out at sea. This settement may take a while however. The Indian government should do what it can to acheive a political settlement such as offering to mediate etc. The US screwed up big time in somalia by fighting against the Islamic courts, they actually offered stability and they werent affliated in any way with Al Qaeda, US has come to think of any Islamic government as suspect these days.

In the mean time though we should strongly consider launching a covert action on Eyl. But this will have to be VERY well planned. We will need spies within the pirate colonly itself to indicate the location of the hostages so that they can be protected first. The pirates themselves will be a pushover. What with being high on Khat and all. If India can go in, in a massive way and rescue 250 sailors (many of our own) and free 30 vessels it will be a massive coup. But does India have this capability? To launch marcos on 30 separate naval targets out at sea simultaneously as well as in the towncenter in Eyl? It will require 35 plus naval choppers flying out all to once. INS VIRAAT, and amphibious landing ships and destroyers as well as frigates will have to be involved.

[niran]

Lord Vivek of srinivasan, you have been reading and watching Black Hawk Downisque thriller too much.

Just solve this, Who in his sane mind will spy on the pirates?
when he knows, that as soon as the IN returns, he and his entire family
be saheedized. the bounty promised, he will never going to see or enjoy.

[Nayak]

Hey dont disparage BHD. Vivek-bhai has had a overdose of desi Khat. We dont have the political will to take on the pests/rats in the neighbourhood and he wants us to take over the warlords of Somalia.

[Vivek Sreenivasan]

Ah well its good to dream sometimes heh? Desi Khat lol, dont you mean paan? esp the strong varieties with all the fruits.