Reuters today reports Somali pirates just released a captured tanker after getting a record-breaking ransom. Pirates may seem so “last year,” but they are as menacing as ever. More troubling, they have links to an al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, which also has links to the terrorist group in Yemen that organized the Christmas Day bombing against a Detroit bound flight – part of a new “axis of evil” we need to worry about. Last year we wrote a comprehensive assessment of how to deal with the pirates. We concluded there …
Only in China…. You may have already heard that manufacturers selling personal computers in the PRC will now be required by the Chinese government to install a software program called Green Dam to filter out pornography and sexually explicit material. As could have been easily predicted, a couple of days later, reports surfaced that the filter would also block out topics considered politically dangerous to the Communist Party. Now Solid Oak Software, a California company, is charging that China stole parts of its CyberSitter program after the company found pieces …
Undeterred by their failure to ransom a U.S. flagged cargo ship, Somali pirates have since brazenly hijacked four more ships in the Gulf of Aden. Heritage has been studying maritime security for years, first issuing a report in 2005. Our latest 2008 report, Securing the High Seas: America’s Global Maritime Constabulary Power, recommended: Doubling the U.S. Coast Guard’s active and reserve end strength over the next decade and accelerating Coast Guard modernization; Expanding the Navy’s stated goal of 313 ships by an additional 37 ships (the preponderance of which should …
Last night, thanks to the efforts of dozens of Navy SEALs, Capt. Richard Phillips was rescued from Somali pirates. Piracy in the Gulf of Aden is not news to our analysts. Jena Baker McNeill wrote back in November: These modern pirates are not unlike their swash-buckling predecessors. Much like searching for treasure, their primary goals are economic. Piracy is easy money–pirates take over a ship, seize a few hostages and millions of dollars in cargo, and wait for the shipping company to eventually pony up the money. …
