The Continuing Saga of the ‘Arctic Sea’: As Families Wait, Questions Remain – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News – International

Posted by Matt in October 20th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Russia, Anchor, Arctic Sea, ArcticSea, Mystery, News International, Online News, Pirates, Saga, Spiegel, Spiegel Online, Three Months

Three months after supposedly being hijacked by pirates, the Arctic Sea is still lying at anchor just inside the Mediterranean. Mystery continues to surround what happened to the ship, and the families of four crewmembers are still waiting for them to be allowed off the ship.
The Continuing Saga of the ‘Arctic Sea’: As Families Wait, [...]

Russia admits mystery ship may have had suspect cargo – Yahoo! News

Posted by Matt in August 26th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Russia, Arctic Sea, Baltic Sea, Mystery Ship, Nuclear Materials, Pirates, Russia, Russian Navy, Russian Officials, seizure, Speculation, weapons, Yahoo, Yahoo News

Top Russian officials on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that a ship hijacked in the Baltic Sea might have been carrying a suspicious cargo, deepening the mystery around its seizure.
Speculation has been raging that the Arctic Sea — seized by pirates last month and missing for weeks before its recapture by the Russian navy [...]

Arctic Sea Hijackers Questioned In Russian Jail – NYTimes.com

Posted by Matt in August 20th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Russia, Apparent Disappearance, Arctic Sea, Cape Verde, Estonia Latvia, High Security, Hijackers, Ilyushin 76, Military Airfield, Nationals, Nuclear Materials, Nytimes, Pirates, Russia, Saga, Security Prison, Speculation

The mass of conflicting details in a saga that began with the ship’s apparent disappearance last month have sparked speculation that it may have been targeted because it was carrying a secret cargo of arms or even nuclear materials.
The suspected pirates — nationals of Estonia, Latvia and Russia — were flown to Russia’s Chkalovsky military [...]

Pirates, Drugs, Russian Nukes? An Irresistible Debate Turns Serious

Posted by Matt in August 20th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Russia, Arctic Sea, Centuries, Continent, Disappearance, Drugs, Dynamite, First Victim, Freighter, International Security, Mafia, Notion, Piracy, Pirates, radar, Radio Contact, Ransom, Russian Officials, Simple Matter, Speculation, Suspicion

What began as a gleeful debate over the disappearance of the Arctic Sea, a Russian-operated freighter that went off the radar for weeks has turned into a serious question of international security. At first, in late July, the notion that a timber-carrying ship was the first victim of European piracy in centuries was dynamite. But [...]

Somali Pirates Form Unholy Alliance with Islamists

Posted by Matt in April 20th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Africa, Africa Report, Close Ties, Coast Guard, Hunting Grounds, Intelligence Agencies, Photo Gallery, Piracy, Pirates, Robust Approach, Shipping Intelligence, Somali Pirates, Somalia, Spate, Spiegel, Swashbucklers, warships

Warships have done little to deter Somalia’s pirates. But following the latest spate of hijackings, the West plans to take a more robust approach to protecting shipping. Intelligence agencies are alarmed at the pirates’ increasingly close ties to Islamist groups. By SPIEGEL Staff more…

Photo Gallery: Pirates Inc.
Coast Guard for Africa: Report Offers Recipe for Stopping [...]

What the World Will Look Like by 2050

Posted by Matt in April 13th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Geopolitical, general, Agglomerations, Brief History, Drinking Water, Droughts, Economist, Face Off, Freshwater Resources, Glimpse, Half Of The World, History Of The Future, Imagine, Islam And Christianity, Islam Christianity, Jacques Attali, Pirates, Political Scientist, Ripple, Stratosphere, Twenty First Century, Unpredictable Weather, Urban Growth, Urban Infrastructures, Water Balloon Fight, Weather Systems, world-war-II

Attali’s predictions offer a glimpse into the future that is both provocative and petrifying. (See 10 ideas that are changing the world right now.)
Imagine a world where pirates run amok, blowing themselves up in European city centers; where wars are ignited over lack of drinking water; where a global face-off between Islam and Christianity makes [...]

Somalia’s Pirates Flourish in a Lawless Nation

Posted by Matt in November 28th, 2008 | no comment

Published in Africa, 50 Million, Chaos, Countless Children, Desperation, Economy, Flourish, Handful, Lawlessness, Mogadishu, Piracy, Pirate, Pirates, Pirates Of Somalia, Profits, Somalia

This is the story of Somalia’s booming, not-so-underground pirate economy. The country is in chaos, countless children are starving and people are killing one another in the streets of Mogadishu, the capital, for a handful of grain.
But one particular line of work — piracy — seems to be benefiting quite openly from all this lawlessness [...]

Russia infuriated with Chinese export copies of Su-27 jet fighters

Posted by Matt in April 22nd, 2008 | 4 comments

Published in China, Military, Russia, Analogues, Arms Exports, Avail, China, Chinese Production, Cooperation Contracts, Defense Cooperation, Intellectual Property, International Agreements, Jet Fighter, Jet Fighters, Legal Proceedings, Military Cooperation, moscow, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Pirates, Planes, Production Technology, Russia, Su-27, Third World Countries

Russia has officially notified China of the fact that the production of J11 jet fighters, which copy Russia’s Su-27SK aircraft, violates international agreements. Moscow promised to launch legal proceedings to protect its intellectual property.
Russia’s attempts to settle down on China’s arms market have been made to no avail, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports. Chinese pirates have [...]

Could Your Summer Vacation Walk the Plank?

Posted by Matt in June 8th, 2007 | no comment

Published in Amazon.Com, Off-Topic, U.S., Off-Topic, Pirates, Travel, U.S.

Cruising the pirate scene.
With Captain Jack back on the silver screen, real-life 21st-century pirates operating off Somalia and elsewhere, and National Review preparing to set sail to Alaska, Americans arenâ€™t crazy to wonder: Are cruise ships in any real danger of being attacked by pirates?
The short answer is â€œno.â€ And there are multiple reasons why.
Read [...]