Piracy – Faced with rising piracy problem, Navy is taking fight to Africa

Virginian PilotFaced with rising piracy problem, Navy is taking fight to Africa

In just two weeks, a new U.S. Navy anti-piracy effort has picked up a pair of allies – the weather and a nation willing to accept captured pirates.

Choppy seas have discouraged piracy attempts since the Navy established the force, known as Combined Task Force 151, two weeks ago. The U.S. also has reached a preliminary agreement with Kenya to accept captured pirates

Piracy – Yo Ho EU!

Defense Technology InternationalYo Ho EU!

The EU anti-piracy operation launched by European foreign ministers meeting in Brussels today will be a first for the EU in more than one way. It will be the first naval operation conducted by the EU. It will also be the first time the EU has relieved NATO in an operation which is ramping up rather than being scaled down.

Piracy – A look at how Somali pirates operate

Associated PressA look at how Somali pirates operate

As piracy explodes off Somalia’s lawless coast, the questions become ever more stark: How can ragtag bands of Somali pirates stand up to international warships? And why not just shoot the bandits when they try to clamber aboard? First, the pirates are not as ragtag as one might expect. And second, it’s a big ocean.

Piracy – Yo Ho NATO!

Defense Technology International – The Standing NATO Maritime Group will begin anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast in two weeks. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a press conference on 9 October, the first day of an informal meeting of allied defense ministers in Budapest, that NATO ships would escort vessels transporting World Food Program (WFP) aid to Somalia, on the request of the United Nations. He said the NATO warships would also conduct patrols off the Somali coast to deter pirates.
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Piracy – Somali pirates stare down global superpowers

Associated Press – With a Russian frigate closing in and a half-dozen U.S. warships within shouting distance, the pirates holding a tanker off Somalia’s coast might appear to have no other choice than to wave the white flag. But that’s not how it works in Somalia, a failed state where a quarter of all children die before they turn five, where anybody with a gun controls the streets and where every public institution has crumbled???
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