Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!
And, lest anyone think Somali “pirates” have naught to do with jihad, this story says otherwise. “Russian Navy ship sent to combat pirates,” by Scott Bevan for ABC News, September 26 (thanks to Sylvia):
The Russian Navy’s central command has sent the patrol ship, Neustrashimy, to the coast of Somalia after pirates seized a Ukranian vessel in the region.
For the record, piracy as a jihadist activity has a pedigree at least as old as the Barbary conflicts with Europe and the new United States, and the Islamic slave raiding pirates vividly described in Giles Milton’s book White Gold.
Navy spokesman Captain Igor Dygalo, says the Neustrashimy, which belongs to the Baltic Fleet, has been sent as part of Russia’s aim to combat piracy.[…]
The patrol ship Neustrashimy left the Baltic Fleet’s main base in Baltiisk on September 24 to ensure a naval presence in oceanic and maritime areas, Captain Dygalo said.
The number of attacks by Somali pirates on civilian vessels belonging to different countries has increased recently.
Pirates hijacked Ukraine’s vessel Faina under Belize’s flag en route to Kenya in neutral waters not far from Kenya’s coast on Thursday (local time).
Some reports indicate that the Ukrainian ship was carrying military hardware, including nearly 30 T-72 tanks and spare parts for armoured hardware.
The patrol ship Neustrashimy is equipped with anti-submarine and air defence missile systems, a 100 millimetre artillery gun, torpedo systems and rocket-assisted bomb launchers.
“Pirates” be warned.
It also has a Kamov Ka-27 ship-based helicopter on board.