Of course, within this context, it does seem that some or all of the “Volunteer Coastguard” has specialized a bit more in high ticket ransom

Or, to put it another way, they charge an entry tax for ships entering their national waters, and impound vessels until the tax is paid.

Pirates have learned from experience that foreign naval ships won’t follow them into Somali waters.

“But as Somalis, we don’t hesitate to track them down on land,” said M.A. Jama, chief executive at Dalkom, a telecommunications provider that has been combating pirate attacks as it attempts to lay underwater cables. One of his European shipping contractors wants to arrange for a French naval escort to guard its boats, but Jama is trying to convince it that Somali security guards would be a better deterrent.

“If pirates see Somalis, they know when they get ashore, those guys will be waiting for them,” Jama said.

One of the problems here is that many of these pirates haven’t grown up yet — most are still teens. They’ve been recruited, indoctrinated and directed by “elders” who never leave shore and who promise them a cut of any ransom they generate. Until we do something about those elders nothing will change.

Kahiye continued, insisting that no money is ever given to the Shabab. He said all of the money ends up being spent on recruiting new pirates and buying houses, cars, and huge quantities of a mildly narcotic leaf called khat, which is chewed by many Somali men.

Kahiye said he believes some investors pay bribes to local, regional, and government officials to look the other way. Kahiye acknowledged he does not fully know how investors spend their portion of the ransom payments.

Hobyo, like the village of Haradhere to the south, are currently under the control of Islamist fighters belonging to the Shabab and another rival group made up of more moderate Islamists. Both groups are firmly opposed to piracy, calling it an offense against Islam. In 2006, Islamic courts officials implemented strict Islamic laws, which briefly stopped piracy in Somalia.

Well-placed Somali sources told VOA that while it is unlikely that investors and pirates are willingly handing over millions of dollars to hard-line Islamist leaders who have vowed to stop piracy, it is possible that they do pay some protection money to local Shabab commanders and other low-level Islamist officials to keep them from interfering in piracy operations.

The bad news is that he is now a cab driver in Minneapolis.

Yes, the nuclear dumping is real. Of course its real. Where do you think this shit goes?

Russell: I don’t think the current pirates taking big ships and hostages are the same as the “volunteer coast guard” but it does seam a reasonable hypothesis that they are an outgrowth. Obviously, this is complex.

Yes, the US and various European countries are going to have to go in and fix this problem that they have created. Denying that we have created this problem will be the first reaction, but I hope we can just get past that quickly and get on to doing the right thing for once.

(Whatever that is…..)