re: "Southern Sudan - From Murderer's Stomping Ground To Productive Member of Society"

Ronin at The Jawa Report ("Sand people, get it?") drew a conclusion.

Money quote(s):

"Give people reprieve from oppression and they can contribute to solutions instead of problems."

The people and government of South Sudan, having benefited from the humanitarian and diplomatic efforts of both individual nations and international organizations in being admitted into the world community of nations, are eager to take up their roles as a responsible member thereof.

Good on them!

8/15

re: "Killing Pirates and the Law of the Sea...."

Deebow at Blackfive ("the paratrooper of love") has an idea for dealing with the Somali pirates.

Presenting, the Deebow Accord:

"Hunt down and kill the pirates immediately in your sights and
operating in your corner of the ocean, sink and burn their boats, repeatedly machine gun the surviving pirates, leave what is left to the sharks, repatriate their loot, burn their hideouts and leave all of this damage and destruction as a warning to others."

Additional quote(s):

"I get that this administration and, as Uncle J pointed out, their bong hit diplomacy continues unabated"

re: "The Reasonable Man Premise"

Lex at Neptunus Lex ("The unbearable lightness of Lex. Enjoy!") reminds us how biases may mislead us.

Money quote(s):

"In a normal hostage negotiation, authorities want to 1) control the situation in order to, 2) prevent it from getting any worse. But once the pirates understood that they were not going to be allowed to go ashore with their “booty”, the hostages were worthless to them. Their humanity apparently counted for nothing.

So why not kill them, then move forward, empty your hands, surrender and await your trial?

Lessons: People everywhere are really not the same. We don’t understand these people."

The "Reasonable Man Premise" is a form of the cognitive bias known as "mirror imaging."

re: "Time for Naval, Air Strikes Against Pirates in Somalia"

Confederate Yankee ("Because liberalism is a persistent vegetative state.") has a suggestion.

Money quote(s):

"The international community has allowed pirates to operate off Somalia for far too long, and has done nothing to eradicate the threat.

While pirates operate off the coast, the simple fact of the matter is that they cannot exist without a support structure onshore. These pirate havens are well known to the governments of the world, and poorly defended. Bombardment from the air or sea could easily reduce the pirate strongholds to rubble, sink the "motherships" that pirates use to extend their range offshore, and of course, eliminate the pirates themselves."

re: "Asymmetric Advancement"

Lex at Neptunus Lex ("The unbearable lightness of Lex. Enjoy!") offered some historical perspective on counter-piracy operations.

Money quote(s):

"Some policy makers argue that we should “follow the money,” since the poor, benighted beggars chasing merchant ships around armed with AK-47s and RPGs are not reaping the windfall from their actions, but merely serving wealthy “businessmen” who make expensive real estate acquisitions in Kenya and Ethiopia with the proceeds. Others might would argue that the presumption that actions against armed pirates must be “nonlethal” is in itself a part of the problem: Replacing skiffs and even motherships is cheap, but pirates who feed fishes offend no further."

&

"This is not to suggest that we ought to hang impoverished African teenagers as we sweep them up, nor that we ought to use more than the minimal force required to defeat the imminent danger. To do so would be to become what we had beheld. But it does force us to acknowledge certain civilizational asymmetries: We’ve got a long way to go before we can integrate gap state Somalia into the “functioning core” of civilization, to use TPM Barnett’s formulation.

That which cannot be integrated must be isolated.

Hey, if this stuff were easy, the Air Force could do it."

AO - 4 Somalians request political asylum

From my archive of press clippings:

Amandala Online

4 Somalians request political asylum


Posted: 09/04/2010 - 09:48 AM Author: Adele Ramos - adelescribe@gmail.com


The African nation of Somalia continues to battle what has been termed an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, and four nationals, who all tell horror stories of genocidal acts by a rival tribe, have landed in Belize, on a trek that took them to Kenya, Dubai and Brazil by plane, to Columbia by road, to Guatemala by boat and now to Belize.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"It was in Belize that Omar Yussuf, Sadak Hirsi, Abdikafi Hassan and Mohamed Farah, in their late teens and early twenties, were busted on the night of Friday, December 4, 2009, after their cayote left them. Reports to Amandala are that Immigration authorities apprehended them as they appeared to be headed toward the Belize-Mexico border on foot."

"Amandala notes that in a similar case involving two Cubans, Pedro Garcia Carrera and Karelis de Los Angeles Sosa Sanchez, and a Somali, Nur Abdi Shire, who came to Belize in 2009, Supreme Court Justice Michelle Arana had called on the Government to convene the Committee."

&

"There are five Cubans in Belize on special permits by the Immigration Department. If the Somalis are allowed to stay in Belize, they, too, would be granted special permits, said the Immigration source. When immigrants on special permits maintain good standing, they could also regularize their status in Belize."

JO - Are convoys the solution to the Somali piracy crisis?

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer


Are convoys the solution to the Somali piracy crisis?


AP


Sunday, April 19, 2009


NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - The US employed them during World War II: armed convoys on the high seas to protect Allied shipping lanes from German subs. Could the same work with pirates?

Read the whole article here.

TS - Passport photo puts woman behind bars

From my archive of press clippings:

The Star

Passport photo puts woman behind bars


Toronto resident jailed, fined and detained for not looking like her 4-year-old ID picture

Jul 01, 2009 04:30 AM

John Goddard STAFF REPORTER

A Toronto woman says she faces jail in Kenya because she no longer looks like her passport photo.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Suaad Mohamud Haji, 31, concedes she has lost weight, changed her glasses and maybe looks a bit darker-skinned since the photo was taken more than four years ago.

But that is no reason for jailing her for eight days, making her put up $2,500 (U.S.) bail and keeping her in limbo for two months before a hearing that could lead to jail again."

"Mohamud, originally from Somalia and a Toronto resident for 10 years, left to visit her sick mother in Nairobi on April 29. A single mother herself, she left her 12-year-old son with a neighbour. He is still there.

Mohamud was prepared to fly home May 17 when a Kenyan airport official challenged the photo. Nobody has suggested the passport is fake, she said, just that she doesn't look like the picture."

&

"In Ottawa, a foreign affairs spokesman said Kenyan officials notified the high commission May 21 that somebody carrying a Canadian passport had been detained.

"Canadian officials are working with Kenyan authorities to verify the identity of the individual," the spokesman said. Exactly what steps have been taken and why such verification has taken more than five weeks, he didn't explain.

"Consular assistance will be provided if the individual is determined to be a Canadian citizen," he said."

S&S - Navy ship evades pirate attack

Stars and Stripes

Navy ship evades pirate attack

By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes

Mideast edition, Friday, May 8, 2009

Katrina Parker/Courtesy of U.S. Navy

An SA-330 Puma helicopter picks up pallets from the Military Sealift Command dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Lewis and Clark in January during a vertical replenishment with the amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"A U.S. Navy ship that once was used as a temporarily jail for suspected Somali pirates successfully evaded a pirate attack Wednesday off the Somali coast, a U.S. Navy official said Thursday.

The USNS Lewis and Clark, a Military Sealift Command ship normally used to transport cargo and ammunition, used to be configured to hold about a dozen pirates — and at one point held as many as 16 suspects.

On Wednesday, the ship "performed evasive maneuvers" and avoided being boarded by pirates on two skiffs that had pursued the ship for more than an hour, said Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/5th Fleet."

AO - Two Cubans and a Somalian seeking refugee status find favor with Supreme Court

Amandala Online


Two Cubans and a Somalian seeking refugee status find favor with Supreme Court


Posted: 07/05/2009 - 10:55 PM


Author: Rowland A. Parks

It is standard procedure for the Government of Belize to ship people back to their countries of origin once they arrive in Belize seeking some kind of refugee status. At the Kolbe-managed prison, there are a number of persons who are awaiting repatriation to their countries of origin. Although Belize has a refugee law and is a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention, the rights of persons seeking refugee status in Belize are at times overlooked.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"But today in the Supreme Court, Belize’s Refugee Law was upheld, when Justice Michelle Arana ruled in favor of human rights activist Antoinette Moore in a judicial review that she filed on behalf of two Cubans and a citizen of Somalia, who are seeking refugee status in Belize.

The two Cubans filed an application for a judicial review, challenging the Government of Belize’s policy in relation to their refugee interest. The Cubans, Pedro Garcia Carrera and Karelis de Los Angeles Sosa Sanchez, and the Somalian, Nur Abdi Shire, took the Attorney General, the Minister of National Security, and the Director of Immigration to court, asking the court to affirm their rights to seek refugee status in Belize.

In her judgment that was issued in the applicants’ favor, Justice Arana ruled that the petitioners have a right to a refugee hearing. But most importantly, while they are awaiting such a hearing, they will do so in protective custody outside the walls of the prison."

S&S - The piracy fight: What role should the U.S. military play in Somalia?

Stars and Stripes

The piracy fight: What role should the U.S. military play in Somalia?

By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes


Mideast edition, Sunday, May 3, 2009


STUTTGART, Germany — It’s arguably the most dangerous country in the world and a place that seethes with hostility toward the United States, but as the White House mulls how to deal with Somalia and the pirates who operate there, it must determine whether U.S. troops have a role to play in bringing stability.

Read the whole article here.

re: "Outrage"

Fetiche Nouvelle (Duyen Ky) at Eternity Road raises a number of excellent objections to media coverage of our pirate prisoner.

Money quote(s):

""Suspect" -- ? Either he was a member of the pirate crew or he wasn't -- and if he wasn't, what was he doing on their little jaunt, and negotiating with the U.S. Navy on the pirates' behalf?"

"And some idiot of a "civil rights lawyer" is claiming that America violated the "laws of warfare," on top of everything else? We're not at war with the Somali pirates! They're not a sovereign nation! No laws, no conventions, and no courtesies apply to people who sail into international waters, raid commercial shipping, take hostages, and threaten to kill them if their demands aren't met!"

&

"(I)f a federal judge had decreed this young viper to be a juvenile, the worst that could have happened to him would be a couple of years in a reform school -- after which he'd be a legal permanent resident of the United States!

I had to convince a consular official that I was fleeing from political persecution and that I had no intentions of subverting the government of the United States by subterfuge or violence."

re: "When To Use America's Military To End Genocide: A Conversation with Nicholas Kristof"

Hugh Hewitt summarizes a recent interview.

Money quote(s):

"The U.S. under Bush used two interventions to topple two regimes in rapid indeed amazing fashion. It proved far less competent in establishing successor governments, though in the past year in Iraq we have seen new tactics bring about extraordinary progress, and we are hoping for the same sort of turning in Afghanistan."

"President Obama has a unique opportunity to establish rules under which the U.S. will move decisively to end slaughter in countries where the U.S. does not need to worry about significant military opposition, such as Sudan and Zimbabwe. Because of the new president's standing in the Third World and because of his party's complete control of the Congress, he has it in his power to lay down the law for Bashir and Mugabe and bring their murderous regimes to an end, and by doing so to send a message to the rest of the continent that dictatorship has its limits, and widespread slaughter as in Zimbabwe and outright genocide as in Sudan will not be tolerated."

&

"For the next three-and-a-half-years, the United States means President Obama and the people who influence his decisions. The new president has already approved of the use of deadly force in the mountains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and at sea off the course of Somalia. His advisors and those who influence them and him should begin working out a larger framework for deploying the awesome might of the American military where tens of thousands of lives are at stake, none of them American."

re: "Somali Pirates: Proposal to attack Somali pirate safe havens? Don't hold your breath . . ."

Eagle1 at EagleSpeak ("The main focus of this blog is maritime security. Other matters may appear.") notes some proper and appropriate contingency planning.

NYP - HANG 'EM HIGH!

The reality-based Ralph Peters, had a good article at the New York Post the other day.

Money quote(s):

"Fake states, such as Somalia, Afghanistan or even Pakistan, may be the most vexing strategic problem of our time - even more challenging than Islamist terrorism. Throughout Africa and the greater Middle East and on to Southeast Asia, European imperialists drew boundaries in cynical ignorance."

"Deprived of heavy weapons by the Clinton-era Pentagon, our military nonetheless shattered the warlords' hold on Mogadishu, the pretend-capital of the pretend-state. Instantly, Bill Clinton, perhaps our most cowardly president, took fright and ran away, humiliating our military and encouraging al Qaeda to believe that the US had lost its will.

The clan wars that followed "Black Hawk Down" might be called "medieval," except that there was no chivalry involved and the weapons were deadlier. The country splintered into its organic parts. In the far north, the region known as Somaliland self-organized and sought independence from the badlands in the south.

But the "international community," led by our bumptious State Department, insists that every border in the world today has been in place since the Paleolithic Era and can never change. We told the people of Somaliland, who were struggling to live decent lives, that they had to remain a part of the lawless state we all pretend exists.

Pretty much the same thing happened in Puntland, another northern territory. The locals wanted to break free of the warring clans and terrorists to the south. We told them they "belong" to Somalia.

This isn't strategy. It's deadly moral sloth."

&

"We can't fix Somalia. But we could help ourselves by getting over our fantasy that it's a "sovereign state." We can fix the pirate problem: By sinking pirate vessels, hanging pirates (in accordance with the traditional laws of the sea), striking their bases and sinking every vessel in their harbors."

re: "Time to act like a state"

Tom Mahnken at FP's Shadow Government ("Notes from the loyal opposition") discusses the problem of Somali pirates.

Money quote(s):

"Piracy has grown in the waters bordering the Horn of Africa because states have failed to act like states and leaders have failed to lead. Whether military force is permitted as a response to piracy is, as my lawyer friends say, settled law. International law has recognized pirates as outlaws who may be killed on sight since the Roman Empire."

"The Obama administration's reaction to piracy in general, and the seizure of the ship in particular, betrays muddled thinking about the nature of the threat posed by piracy and the proper response to it. At least implicitly, the Obama administration appears to be treating pirates as if they were insurgents. Criminals (including pirates) represent a challenge of an altogether different sort. Whereas a mixture of political and ideological motivations drives insurgents to violence, it is the search for profit that fuels criminality."

&

"What the United States and those who wish to join us need to do is to drive up, rapidly and decisively, the cost of engaging in piracy. The successful operation to free Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates is a good start, but it is just a start. More will be needed to remove this threat to the global commons. Specifically, President Obama should give on-scene commanders permission to shoot pirates on sight. He should also authorize punitive strikes against the bases from which Somali pirates operate. Such actions, over the course of days or weeks, should be sufficient to drive the pirates off the seas."

re: "Plank Walked"

Teflon Don at Acute Politics ("Just another star among the growing constellation of milblogs that bring you reports of life in a warzone from the guys in the middle of it.") is pleased with the outcome.

Money quote(s):

"I keep hearing about how canny and technologically-advanced these pirates are- how they identify ships before they depart port, targeting those with valuable (read: worth a ransom) cargo. If all that is true... did they really expect hitting an American ship to end well for them?

I'm just glad this immediate situation is over."

&

"(P)iracy was the immediate threat in this instance, and by nature demanded a response. The long view in Somalia must address the terrorist haven it is becoming. In the short term, sinking a few boats or something will satisfy the American people (just as bombing a couple afghan al-qaeda camps used to). Cathartic? I suppose so, if you take comfort in decisive battle. Effective? No. We also can't forget that we just rescued our guy- there are still hundreds of captives of other nationalities still in the hands of pirates, and any "anti-pirate" activities must consider the well being of those prisoners. "

re: "Somali Pirates: What about the Filipinos? Piracy focus seen as hypocritical"

Eagle1 at EagleSpeaks ("The main focus of this blog is maritime security. Other matters may appear.") notes that not all those held by the pirates of the Somali coast are American.

Money quote(s):

"Americans tend to focus on Americans. But in my readings of the media of the Philippines, China, India and other countries who have sailors captured by pirates or who have engaged the pirates, I note a strong bias toward covering their own citizens."

&

"(T)he Philippines is free to send its own warships and personnel to do whatever it wants to do to free the Filipino hostages held by the pirates."

FN - U.S. Navy Arrives at Scene of Hijacked American Ship

Fox News



U.S. Navy Arrives at Scene of Hijacked American Ship

Thursday, April 09, 2009


File: A Maersk cargo ship like the one hijacked off Somalia carrying 20 Americans.

The U.S. is gearing up for a standoff with the band of pirates who hijacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia as a Navy warship reportedly arrived at the scene early Thursday.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The crew of the Maersk Alabama were able to regain control of the vessel Wednesday, but the pirates escaped with the captain as a captive."

"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Wednesday for world action to "end the scourge of piracy" as U.S. warships raced to confront the pirates."

"Wednesday's incident was the first such hostage-taking involving U.S. citizens in 200 years. In December 2008, Somali pirates chased and shot at a U.S. cruise ship with more than 1,000 people on board but failed to hijack the vessel.

The top two commanders of the ship graduated from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, the Cape Cod Times reported Wednesday."

&

"Robert A. Wood, Deputy State Department Spokesman, told reporters the ship was carrying "vegetable oil, corn soy blend and other basic food commodities bound for Africa.""

_____
The Associated Press contributed to this report.