Feral Jundi

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Maritime Security: Aegis to Help Combat Piracy Off Somali Coast

   Interesting news.  I wonder if this is a precursor to Aegis coordinating a massive security contractor effort in Africa to deal with piracy? Kind of like the ROC in Iraq.  We will have to keep our eye on this one. –Matt

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Aegis to help combat piracy off Somali coast

By Sylvia Pfeifer in London

April 21 2009

Tim Spicer, the founder and chief executive of Aegis Defence Services, the private security company whose main market is in Iraq, is preparing to do battle on the high seas by tackling piracy off the coast of Somalia.

The company is in talks with several states in the region, including the Yemeni and Djibouti governments, about setting up a command and control centre that would monitor the threat of piracy and act as an information exchange centre for vessels in the area. Somali pirates have stepped up attacks in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean in recent weeks, forcing the issue on to the agenda of Western governments.

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Sunday, April 19, 2009

Somalia: William Lind on Piracy, and Letter of Marque in the News

Filed under: Maritime Security,Somalia — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 9:15 AM

Everything old, is new again!  lol

    This article is from last month, but it is still pretty good.  It has pissed off some folks though, because some say Lind’s assessment is too dated or simplistic for today’s complex world.  But hey, Lind is just using history to help answer today’s questions and this is the 4th Gen. Warfare master talking here.  I also posted a Google search for Letter of Marque, and surprisingly the concept has some legs. –Matt

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A Barometer of Order

William Lind | March 04, 2009

      On the surface, the antics of Somali pirates and the comic opera response of the maritime powers is worthy of a re-visit by Gilbert and Sullivan.  Despite the presence off Somalia of the largest concentration of international warships since World War II, Somali pirates go on their merry ways, taking ships and holding them for ransoms.  While they seldom make their captives walk the plank and most prefer the green flag of Islam to the Jolly Roger, they are pirates in the full sense of the word, owing allegiance to no state.  Pirates might be justified in claiming they were the original Fourth Generation warriors.

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Thursday, April 16, 2009

History: 8 US Marines, 500 Mercenaries, and the ‘Shores of Tripoli’

Filed under: Africa,History,Maritime Security — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 9:47 PM

   Ah yes, more history.  This stuff never slips into the conversation about our early history here in the US, and I thought this little factoid is certainly relevant to today’s discussion.  Using security contractors to defend ships is possible, is not that crazy of an idea, and we even took the concept a little further back in the day when we were dealing the Barbary pirates with this land assault.  I also wrote a Building Snowmobiles deal, that talked about PMCs combined with Special Forces to fight a conflict, and that is worth a look if you are interested in exploring the concept.  So with that said, here is the Battle of Derne and Semper Fi.  –Matt

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The Battle of Derne

The Battle of Derne was a decisive victory of a mercenary army led by a detachment of United States Marines over the forces of the Barbary coast nation of Tripoli during the First Barbary War.

Background

The former Consul to Tunis, William Eaton returned to the Mediterranean with the title of ‘Naval Agent to the Barbary States’ in 1804. Eaton had been granted permission from the United States government to back the claim of Hamet Karamanli, the rightful heir to the throne of Tripoli, who had been deposed by his brother Yussif Karamanli. Upon his return Eaton sought out Hamet, who was in exile in Egypt, and made a proposal to reinstate him on the throne. Hamet agreed to Eaton’s plan.

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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

History: U.S. Code, Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 81-Piracy and Privateering

Filed under: History,Legal News,Maritime Security — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 10:02 PM

   So there you have it, a legal framework for how to deal with piracy or fire up the privateer machine to go after these Somali pirates.  It’s a little old, but blow off the dust and do a little tweaking, and these old laws could definitely be applied to this modern day scourge of piracy

   All kidding aside, if you really get into the language of these laws, you can totally get a feel for what that era was like back then.  It was part business, part warfare, and this was our attempt at regulating this massive industry back then.  Crude-yes, but at least they were rules to keep everyone in line.  Something we can certainly learn from. –Matt

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U.S. Code 

TITLE 18, PART I, CHAPTER 81

CHAPTER 81—PIRACY AND PRIVATEERING

1651. Piracy under law of nations

Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, shall be imprisoned for life.

1652. Citizens as pirates

Whoever, being a citizen of the United States, commits any murder or robbery, or any act of hostility against the United States, or against any citizen thereof, on the high seas, under color of any commission from any foreign prince, or state, or on pretense of authority from any person, is a pirate, and shall be imprisoned for life.

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Podcasts: Boots on the Ground: Jake and Joe Buff Talk about Piracy

Filed under: Maritime Security,Podcasts — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 9:31 PM

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