I think this is the beginnings of an economy based on perpetual growth and fossil fuel energy running headlong into geological energy constraints. Basically I see an undulatory downward path for the rest of my life. From here out, I think any rallies in our economic condition are going to be met with spiking commodity prices that knock us right back down.
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:28 am Post subject: Re: Somali pirates capture 33 T-72 main battle tanks
Dreamtwister wrote:
I have to agree. Chalk it up as a missed opportunity for them, probably a fatal one.
Maybe. I'd hope the US Navy wouldn't have the gall to board a Ukrainian ship in Somali waters to try to secure a bunch of Kenyan tanks. _________________ "So while you sit and whistle Dixie with your money and your power.
I can hear the flowers a-growin in the rubble of the towers.
I hear leaders quit their lying
I hear babies quit their crying.
I hear soldiers quit their dying, one and all." - OCMS
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 2:02 am Post subject: Re: Somali pirates capture 33 T-72 main battle tanks
Dream twister your dreams are indeed turned around a bit
Lets see now ,assuming they have a crane on board to lift a 40 ton tank over the side and computing water displacement at 62.4 lbs per cubic foot your going to need a raft drawing two feet of water twenty feet wide and thirtyfive feet long. Might want to make the sides four or five feet higher to give you some free board and make it a bit bigger for the weight of the crew and what ever propels it.Ripping stresses in the material the bag is made of might be a tad high but with modern materials why worry?? I'm sure the pirates can call Cabelas and they will ship them just the thing next day air.
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:16 am Post subject: Re: Somali pirates capture 33 T-72 main battle tanks
Come on guys... a little more imagination
Move from ship to barge with a crane, move from barge to port with another crane. I'd be surprised if they didn't do that already. Look at yourselves... if the seals do crap with inflatables on the discovery channel, it doesn't mean somali pirates can't find a low tech way to do it. 40 or 50 tons for a barge isn't that much, and it's just a short ride into port.
And nobody is going after them, 'cause piracy would have been enough of an offense to warrant action. If it didn't spur anyone into coercive action, neither will this. The ukrainians won't do crap, since they are always too drunk to do crap anyways. Face it: those pirates could become a force to be reckoned with, unless they're too stupid for it.
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:20 am Post subject: Re: Somali pirates capture 33 T-72 main battle tanks
Vtsnowedin, go back and reread my posts. _________________ The whole of human history is a refutation by experiment of the concept of "moral world order". - Friedrich Nietzsche
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:03 am Post subject: Re: Somali pirates capture 33 T-72 main battle tanks
Dreamtwister wrote:
They're ransoming the tanks? Oh my god! Are these the stupidest pirates in history or what? Don't the Ukrainians have special forces?
If I were these guys, the first thing I would have done is rolled the tanks onto inflatable liferafts, inflated them, then scuttled the ship out from under them. I would have rowed them to shore *away* from a town, painted them brown and drove them into the desert.
The next thing I would have done is sent out 2 representitives out. One to the President of Somalia, and another to the leader of the ICU. I would have sold them to the highest bidder, and gotten the hell out of dodge.
OK still looks twisted to me.
What are the chances of finding an inflatable raft big enough?
What do you think your chances are of rolling a tank onto a deflated raft and having it not leak?
then what do you think the chances are of scuttling a full sized freighter from under a bunch of overloaded rafts without sucking the rafts down with it.
And lastly how many pirates dose it take to row a fourtyfive ton raft through the surf to the shore?
You have obviously watched way too much Bugs Bunny
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 12:08 pm Post subject: Re: Somali pirates capture 33 T-72 main battle tanks
lowem wrote:
A few months back, my by-now-former-employer delivered their 20,000th Hellfire anti-tank missile. 33 targets shouldn't be too much of an issue
I basically said the same thing on my blog. Of course, I also questioned what business it is of America's to destroy Russian built tanks, on a Ukrainian ship flying a Beliz flag, owned by the Kenyans, and hijacked by the Somalians. _________________ The whole of human history is a refutation by experiment of the concept of "moral world order". - Friedrich Nietzsche
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 12:50 pm Post subject: Re: Somali pirates capture 33 T-72 main battle tanks
The merchandise is still available:
Quote:
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates holding a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks reiterated their demands for a $20 million ransom on Tuesday and denied three of their number had died in a shootout.
A maritime group monitoring the situation had earlier said three pirates were killed in a shootout between rival gunmen on the MV Faina, seized six days ago in the most high-profile of a wave of hijackings off lawless Somalia this year.
"We want $20 million ransom from the ship and we are 53 Somalis," said Sugule, the spokesman of the pirates onboard the Ukrainian ship, which is being shadowed by U.S. navy vessels.
link
Why don´t we here in PO.com fork up the $20 million and then have a raffle with the goodies there? I would be happy if I get a tank, but won´t be sad if I end up with some grenade-launchers either . And we get to keep the ship. _________________ Stocking up on popcorn
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject: Re: Somali pirates capture 33 T-72 main battle tanks
eXpat wrote:
The merchandise is still available:
Quote:
Why don´t we here in PO.com fork up the $20 million and then have a raffle with the goodies there? I would be happy if I get a tank, but won´t be sad if I end up with some grenade-launchers either . And we get to keep the ship.
But ,,,, But ,,, that would mean we would have to postpone our purchases of bulk rice, beans, MREs and popcorn!! Shirley you jest.!
What would we do with the ship anyway? convert it to veggie oil steam power and take PO aware passengers on oil free vacations?
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 6:41 pm Post subject: Re: Somali pirates capture 33 T-72 main battle tanks
vtsnowedin wrote:
eXpat wrote:
The merchandise is still available:
Quote:
Why don´t we here in PO.com fork up the $20 million and then have a raffle with the goodies there? I would be happy if I get a tank, but won´t be sad if I end up with some grenade-launchers either . And we get to keep the ship.
But ,,,, But ,,, that would mean we would have to postpone our purchases of bulk rice, beans, MREs and popcorn!! Shirley you jest! What would we do with the ship anyway? convert it to veggie oil steam power and take PO aware passengers on oil free vacations?
Haa, but when we have the tanks and the grenade-launchers we can get rice, beans, MREs and popcorn in bulk and lots of stuff, by means of gentle persuation _________________ Stocking up on popcorn
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 6:58 pm Post subject: Re: Somali pirates capture 33 T-72 main battle tanks
Stop hogging all the popcorn. I need to set some handyby also.
Might need a bowl or two when the Russians get to that ship. I hope the MSM has a camera crew positioned to show us the action in real time.
“We just saw a big ship,” the pirates’ spokesman, Sugule Ali, said in a telephone interview. “So we stopped it.”
The pirates quickly learned, though, that their booty was an estimated $30 million worth of heavy weaponry, heading for Kenya or Sudan, depending on whom you ask.
In a 45-minute interview, Mr. Sugule spoke on everything from what the pirates wanted (“just money”) to why they were doing this (“to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters”) to what they had to eat on board (rice, meat, bread, spaghetti, “you know, normal human-being food”).
He said that so far, in the eyes of the world, the pirates had been misunderstood. “We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits,” he said. “We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.”
He insisted that the pirates were not interested in the weapons and had no plans to sell them to Islamist insurgents battling Somalia’s weak transitional government. “Somalia has suffered from many years of destruction because of all these weapons,” he said. “We don’t want that suffering and chaos to continue. We are not going to offload the weapons. We just want the money.”
He said the pirates were asking for $20 million in cash; “we don’t use any other system than cash.” But he added that they were willing to bargain. “That’s deal-making,” he explained.
He makes some legitimate points, but I have a feeling that fighting piracy with piracy is a good way to witness the power of a DU fusillade (from the wrong end).
All times are GMT - 6 Hours Goto page Previous1, 2, 3, 4Next
Page 3 of 4
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
News
Discussions
Resources
Members
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
Dream twister your dreams are indeed turned around a bit 
