Posted on 11/18/2008 6:07:38 PM PST by Kaslin
Energy: Piracy has always been a shipping hazard, but Somalia's buccaneers have taken it up a notch. Their hijacking of a supertanker Monday shows how vulnerable oil supplies are and how critical it is to stop them.
The Somali pirates who launched the attack on a Saudi-flagged carrier hijacked the largest vessel ever, taking it 480 miles from Mogadishu, the farthest it had ever been from a coast. Obviously it was no crime of opportunity, but the act of an organized criminal syndicate now strong enough to threaten global energy security.
Loss of the MT Sirius Star, with its cargo of 2 million barrels of oil, took more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily oil production off the market. It was part of the 4% of global oil exports that transport through the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. Not only is the open sea unsafe for transport, but two ocean routes through the Suez, and around the Cape of Good Hope, are now both dangerous.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
I don’t think so.
The deal will probably work out to be a few more barrels of oil for the equivalent of a few million dollars protection.
Are we and the Saudis willing to torpedo this boat to avoid that? Are we willing to accept the environmental mess?
Do we have the balls to do it?
Inside job. GPS and a sattelite phone.
Where’s Paladan when you need him?
Have Gun Will Travel!
We hired many many mercenaries for security in Iraq.
I’ll bet an awful lot of them would enjoy a cruise.
Armed to the hilt with 50 cal machine guns, grenades, and acid to pour down the hull on top of a potential boarder.
Only if they attack an American flagged vessel - then hell ya. Saudi flagged? No f'n way. Let the rich, arrogant, terrorist-funding Saudi's defend their own damn ships. Bush better stay the hell out of this - not his problem. Of course, he thinks he runs the damned world police or something since we're "the world's only superpower", so I'm wary about him staying out of this like he ought to, especially given the Bush family's longtime buddy buddy relationship with the Saudis. Not our problem.
The Saudis would be the biggest Chickens east of the Suez, if they werent already the biggest Turkeys.
All they know how to do is fund terror cells. They couldnt even defend themselves against the Iraqis during Gulf WAr I. Cried for the Americans to “Protect” them.
Better yet, let the greenwood sailors get experience this way, a perfect way to cut their teeth in small combat.
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