The professional Somali pirates

The Independent's front page story this morning is worth a read.

The paper has been looking a little closer at the Somali pirates and more specifically what they are doing with the ransom money.

According to the investigation,

Organised piracy syndicates operating in Dubai and other Gulf states are laundering vast sums of money taken in ransom from vessels hijacked off the Horn of Africa.

Furthermore the report says that

Investigators have discovered that the pirate gangs are exploiting information available to the shipping industry to plan their attacks. Front organisations are believed to have signed up to the Lloyd's List ship movement database, and sources such as Jane's Intelligence, to ascertain protective measures being undertaken by the shippers. In addition they have bought equipment to monitor radio traffic.

What may be even more worrying is the news that NATO forces haven't the power to arrest these pirates.Dutch commandos operating under NATO authority raided a pirate ship and rescued 20 Yemeni fishermen but were then forced torelease seven captured pirates because NATO has no authority to arrest pirates.

Who to blame for Somali pirates

With all the talk of Somali pirates,Mother Jones reminds us of a piece by David Case that appeared on its website back in 2007 which reminds us that much of the problems of lawlessness in the Somali state were the creation of the Bush regime.

the current downward spiral began in December 2006, when Ethiopian troops, backed by U.S. intelligence and air and naval support, overthrew Somalia's Islamic Courts Union, a conservative Muslim regime that had ruled for just six months.

The Ismalic courts were refered to as Africa's answer to the Taliban but as David Case points out

the Courts earned widespread support for securing peace—accomplished, in part, by deploying militias to act as an ad hoc police force. Business flourished, and for the first time in years Mogadishu residents could visit the capital's scenic coast without fear of being kidnapped.