So for all of you that don't follow pirates-in-the-news religiously (i.e. most of you), it has been brought to my attention (thanks to my friend Dominika) that an Anti-Piracy Center just opened in Mombasa. In some ways, its quite appalling that I sat on this for over a week before actually blogging it, but hey, this is like my second blog post ever and my first actual real substantive post, so cut me some slack: I don't quite have a rhythm down just yet. In addition, I'm still building my blog-related skill set- today's skill is links- yeah, I know that's a pretty basic skill, but hey, you have to crawl before you can walk.
So for all of you non-piratephiles out there, the reason for the cration of this center is that there has been a surge in pirate attacks off of the coast of Somalia in the past year or so, with the biggest headlines being grabbed by attacks on a UN Food Program ship and a cruise ship.
While this might bring images of peg-legs, parrots, and Johnny Depp to mind, the reality is much different. The Somali pirates typically pilot small motorboats with a capacity of 4 or 5 men, usually armed with automatic weapons, and often with rocket launchers. The purpose of the center in Mombasa is to serve as a sort of "regional pirate attack call center" ("Press 1 if the pirate has an eye-patch, press 2 if he has a hook for a hand...") which is designed to facilitate rapid response to attacks.
I'll get into why pirates are intellectually interesting at another time (specialists in violence...wooo!). For now, suffice it to say that between the opening of this center, the ongoing trials of captured pirates (also in Kenya), and the likelihood of more attacks in the near future, this is probably only the first of many pirate-themed-posts over the next few months.
P.S. Q: What's a pirate's favorite indie rock band?
A: The ARRRRRRRRcade Fire
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment