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Somalia. Stock Exchange. PIRATES.

KlykaKlyka DO you have anySPARE BATTERIES?Registered User regular
edited December 2009 in Social Entropy++
Reuters Article

Entire Article:
HARADHEERE, Somalia (Reuters) - In Somalia's main pirate lair of Haradheere, the sea gangs have set up a cooperative to fund their hijackings offshore, a sort of stock exchange meets criminal syndicate.

Heavily armed pirates from the lawless Horn of Africa nation have terrorized shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and strategic Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia through the Red Sea.

The gangs have made tens of millions of dollars from ransoms and a deployment by foreign navies in the area has only appeared to drive the attackers to hunt further from shore.

It is a lucrative business that has drawn financiers from the Somali diaspora and other nations -- and now the gangs in Haradheere have set up an exchange to manage their investments.

One wealthy former pirate named Mohammed took Reuters around the small facility and said it had proved to be an important way for the pirates to win support from the local community for their operations, despite the dangers involved.

"Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 'maritime companies' and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking," Mohammed said.

"The shares are open to all and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or useful materials ... we've made piracy a community activity."

Haradheere, 400 km (250 miles) northeast of Mogadishu, used to be a small fishing village. Now it is a bustling town where luxury 4x4 cars owned by the pirates and those who bankroll them create honking traffic jams along its pot-holed, dusty streets.

Somalia's Western-backed government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed is pinned down battling hard-line Islamist rebels, and controls little more than a few streets of the capital.

The administration has no influence in Haradheere -- where a senior local official said piracy paid for almost everything.

"Piracy-related business has become the main profitable economic activity in our area and as locals we depend on their output," said Mohamed Adam, the town's deputy security officer.

"The district gets a percentage of every ransom from ships that have been released, and that goes on public infrastructure, including our hospital and our public schools."

RISK VS REWARDS

In a drought-ravaged country that provides almost no employment opportunities for fit young men, many are been drawn to the allure of the riches they see being earned at sea.

Abdirahman Ali was a secondary school student in Mogadishu until three months ago when his family fled the fighting there.

Given the choice of moving with his parents to Lego, their ancestral home in Middle Shabelle where strict Islamist rebels have banned most entertainment including watching sport, or joining the pirates, he opted to head for Haradheere.

Now he guards a Thai fishing boat held just offshore.

"First I decided to leave the country and migrate, but then I remembered my late colleagues who died at sea while trying to migrate to Italy," he told Reuters. "So I chose this option, instead of dying in the desert or from mortars in Mogadishu."

Haradheere's "stock exchange" is open 24 hours a day and serves as a bustling focal point for the town. As well as investors, sobbing wives and mothers often turn up there seeking news of male relatives missing in action.

Every week, Mohammed said, gang members and equipment were lost to the sea. But he said the pirates were not deterred.

"Ransoms have even increased in recent months from between $2-3 million to $4 million because of the increased number of shareholders and the risks," he said.

"Let the anti-piracy navies continue their search for us. We have no worries because our motto for the job is 'do or die'."

Piracy investor Sahra Ibrahim, a 22-year-old divorcee, was lined up with others waiting for her cut of a ransom pay-out after one of the gangs freed a Spanish tuna fishing vessel.

"I am waiting for my share after I contributed a rocket-propelled grenade for the operation," she said, adding that she got the weapon from her ex-husband in alimony.

"I am really happy and lucky. I have made $75,000 in only 38 days since I joined the 'company'."

I love this so much. SO VERY MUCH. Please never change Somalia.

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Posts

  • Tweaked_Bat_Tweaked_Bat_ Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    "I am really happy and lucky. I have made $75,000 in only 38 days since I joined the 'company'."

    Holy fuck, I'm in the wrong business.

    Tweaked_Bat_ on
  • Tweaked_Bat_Tweaked_Bat_ Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Also, this is really awesome in a terrible way.

    Hurrah for the free market?

    Tweaked_Bat_ on
  • WeaverWeaver Breakfast Witch Hashus BrowniusRegistered User regular
    edited December 2009
    god just fucking shell every port in Somalia

    Weaver on
  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    a coop even teefs would have trouble championing.

    maybe.

    probably not, actually, teefs loves pirates.


    edit: seriously, how hard would it be to just declare war on these fucking people and fill em full'a holes?

    Metzger Meister on
  • Volucrisus AedriusVolucrisus Aedrius Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    So basically Somalia has turned into EVE.

    Volucrisus Aedrius on
  • WeaverWeaver Breakfast Witch Hashus BrowniusRegistered User regular
    edited December 2009
    sanjac02.jpg

    MISSILE

    CRUISER

    Weaver on
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] new member
    edited December 2009
    The user and all related content has been deleted.

    [Deleted User] on
  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    a coop even teefs would have trouble championing.

    maybe.

    probably not, actually, teefs loves pirates.

    MY PROFIT MOTIVES

    teefs these are browns that are doing capitalism

    are you conflicted right now y/n

    Indie Winter on
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] new member
    edited December 2009
    The user and all related content has been deleted.

    [Deleted User] on
  • PonyPony Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    somewhere in America

    ron paul is reading this article

    and jerkin' it

    Pony on
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] new member
    edited December 2009
    The user and all related content has been deleted.

    [Deleted User] on
  • WeaverWeaver Breakfast Witch Hashus BrowniusRegistered User regular
    edited December 2009
    teefs if swedes started using small motorboats to hijack all kinds of ships I would say "god just shell every port in vikingland" you dumb cunt

    Weaver on
  • ScooterScooter Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I love the concept of paying someone in explosives and they turn around and invest it.

    Scooter on
  • KlykaKlyka DO you have any SPARE BATTERIES?Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    First our ships. Then our stock market. Then our women.

    Next thing you know I'm playing a black dude in a video game!

    Klyka on
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] new member
    edited December 2009
    The user and all related content has been deleted.

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  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    wait, didn't we as a nation already fight pirates?


    edit: you know it's not too late to bomb sweden. we can get switzerland while we're up there too, just wipe the smug smiles right off their neutral faces.

    Metzger Meister on
  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    a coop even teefs would have trouble championing.

    maybe.

    probably not, actually, teefs loves pirates.

    MY PROFIT MOTIVES

    teefs these are browns that are doing capitalism

    are you conflicted right now y/n
    why would i suddenly develop being okay with this sort of thing just because they're brown

    i know this may shock you but i do have ideological consistency

    well these guys are clearly improving the quality of their lives with this venture

    but they are doing it in a way that pretty much guarantees that they will opress other people down the line (if they're not already doing so)

    I was just wondering how you feel about it

    Indie Winter on
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  • WeaverWeaver Breakfast Witch Hashus BrowniusRegistered User regular
    edited December 2009
    if it makes you feel better teefs we could warn them first

    stop hijacking ships or every place you have that can dock a small motorcraft gets lit up

    like people ever respond rationally that

    Weaver on
  • WeaverWeaver Breakfast Witch Hashus BrowniusRegistered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Weaver wrote: »
    teefs if swedes started using small motorboats to hijack all kinds of ships I would say "god just shell every port in vikingland" you dumb cunt

    about 1700 years too late here bro

    8-)

    Weaver on
  • PonyPony Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    rockstar games to develop a somalian pirate video game

    Pony on
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] new member
    edited December 2009
    The user and all related content has been deleted.

    [Deleted User] on
  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I also want to add that it is awesome we are once again living in an age where piracy is a viable career choice

    Indie Winter on
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  • PonyPony Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Weaver wrote: »
    if it makes you feel better teefs we could warn them first

    stop hijacking ships or every place you have that can dock a small motorcraft gets lit up

    oh wait yeah this always works

    e: you know what i can't link the article on it but i mean really, the sabra and shatilia massacre

    waltz with bashir is the first time i have walked out of a theater after the movie was over and most of the people were crying or just sullen

    Pony on
  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Metzger Meister on
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] new member
    edited December 2009
    The user and all related content has been deleted.

    [Deleted User] on
  • KlykaKlyka DO you have any SPARE BATTERIES?Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I pretty much just want to buy weapons for low prices somewhere in the American south then ship them to Somalia and "invest" them.

    If that woman can get 78000$ for one RPG, lets see how much I get for a truckload of guns.

    Klyka on
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  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I also want to add that it is awesome we are once again living in an age where piracy is a viable career choice
    why is it awesome that the exploitation of a whole country got so bad people there had to resort piracy

    in fact that is the opposite of awesome

    GODDAMNIT TEEFS LET ME ROMANTISIZE PIRACY IN PEACE

    Indie Winter on
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  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    edited December 2009

    man, tim curry is wonderful.

    Metzger Meister on
  • HacksawHacksaw J. Duggan Esq. Wrestler at LawRegistered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Do they have a website? Maybe this will help me pay off my student loans.

    Hacksaw on
  • PonyPony Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I also want to add that it is awesome we are once again living in an age where piracy is a viable career choice
    why is it awesome that the exploitation of a whole country got so bad people there had to resort piracy

    in fact that is the opposite of awesome

    but tfs didn't you know

    piracy is awesome

    it's the one form of crime that gets completely glamorized to the point that to many young children it doesn't even occur to them that pirates are criminals

    and high-seas piracy sounds so absurd to americans that they can't help but associate it with jolly rogers and y'arrr matey and whatnot

    they can't even connect how horrifying it is or how fucked up that country is

    because all they can think of is eyepatches and pieces of eight

    fuckin'

    white people

    Pony on
  • KlykaKlyka DO you have any SPARE BATTERIES?Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I think this entire thing is only so funny because of "BLACK PEOPLE".

    If like, Italians were doing this we would hate them to DEATH. But Somalians? They cool. They can go on pirating,living the dream and such.

    Klyka on
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  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    we are the whitest of people

    besides, pirates aren't criminals! they're lovable rogues! Johnny Depp taught us that

    Indie Winter on
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] new member
    edited December 2009
    The user and all related content has been deleted.

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  • RadiusRadius Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    We should just stop calling them pirates.

    I propose Aqua Thieves.

    Radius on
    Everyday we stray further from God's light
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] new member
    edited December 2009
    The user and all related content has been deleted.

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  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Hydro Bandits

    Indie Winter on
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  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Sea Banditos

    Metzger Meister on
  • L|amaL|ama Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Weaver wrote: »
    if it makes you feel better teefs we could warn them first

    stop hijacking ships or every place you have that can dock a small motorcraft gets lit up

    like people ever respond rationally that

    somalia is far too disjointed for any action on a part of it to be considered one on all of it

    L|ama on
  • HacksawHacksaw J. Duggan Esq. Wrestler at LawRegistered User regular
    edited December 2009
    This video sums up my feelings adequately.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AzpByR3MvI

    Hacksaw on
  • Drew-BDrew-B Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Water terrorists

    Water unknown enemy combatants

    Drew-B on
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