The Pirates of Somalia

Jack -- Have you ever heard of this company (Achair Parterns) cited in the article as the source of the toxic waste being dumped? I'm willing to hear the Somali side / grievance, but a google on that company brings zero hits (other than the article Michael Vazquez re-posted at HuffPo).

Strikes me as a bit odd.

It is of course Achair Partners. Apparently the dumping occurred in the 80's and 90's:
Times article

Thanks cynicalone, for the link.

I think I still view the pirating, though, as a pretty straight-forward matter. They are attacking any and all, with impunity. There's no grievance being aired; it's a criminal livelihood in an anarchic environment.

Would that there was a government there, though. The companies that dumped should be cleaning up and being penalized.

good grief, we finally free the captain and kill the slimeball pirates and the left is already shrieking about how we have to understand the pirates point of view. It just boggles the imagination to think that there are people who are ready to believe these pigs have decided to kidnap crew members for some greater cause or because someone dumped something off their shore. It's the money, honey. These people are no more moral than the slimebags who rip off our financial system who the left is quick to fantasize hanging from lamposts. The main difference is that they use guns and explosives, and so are met with the same.

Anyone defending these human parasites or comparing them to our Coast Guard has either no shame or no sense or both.

No, DaMav, "the left" is not "shrieking about how we have to understand the pirates' point of view." Jack Grant (let's do him the courtesy of referring to him by name, as an individual, and not as an avatar of an entire political movement) is making the eminently sensible point that Somali piracy is a much more complicated issue than can be solved by a simple-minded cops-and-robbers, let's-bomb-the-hell-out-of-them approach.

Do you want to SOLVE the problem, DaMav? Or at least ameliorate it? Or do YOU just want to go on "shrieking" your ignorant and uninformed belief that trying to understand WHY something is happening is equivalent to excusing it?

The actions of the Swiss company Achair Partners, the Italian waste broker Progresso, and the Somali junta that allowed this dumping are all deplorable. As far as I'm concerned their management, staff and shareholders should all get a (short) lifetime home right here: http://www.somalitalk.com/sun/sun1.html ... Enjoy the beach, boys, until the cancers set in.

Ditto for anyone else who condones or supports irresponsible destruction of the environment and reckless disregard for human life.

That said, I have not heard a single report of Somali "pirates" calling for environmental "justice" or investigation of this travesty, nor have I heard or seen any reports that ransoms paid have in any way been utilized to benefit the Somali people or their environment. As far as I'm concerned, this is sheer extortion, regardless of the probably criminal activities of these companies which are, as far as I know, unrelated to the current victims of these 'pirate' attacks.