Thu Feb 09 2012

Somali piracy or Somali patriotism?
by Steven R. Linnabary
April 20, 2009

I always get a little skeptical when I see democrats and republicans agreeing on almost anything. Especially when it comes to their propensity to ignore the US Constitution.

Recently, both the democrats and the republicans were cheering President Obama’s violation of the US Constitution. Article 1, Sec. 8 pretty clearly authorizes Congress to define and punish matters of piracy and crimes on the high seas. There is probably a good reason the nation’s founders included this reference.

There is nothing in the US Constitution that authorizes the President to order US Navy snipers to kill persons on a Coast Guard vessel (of a country we don’t recognize) in order to keep a Danish owned ship from paying it’s toll to cross a section of water.

Why don’t we and others recognize this country? For starters, western nations then would be forced to stop over fishing (and depleting the food reserves of a very poor country) off this country’s coast. But that could mean paying a little more for sushi!

Secondly, it has long been alleged that many European and Asian countries have been dumping hazardous wastes into these same waters. Largely ignored by western media and human rights organizations, the issue came to a fore after the 2004 tidal wave washed tons of waste and waste containers ashore, particularly in the northeastern secessionist state of Puntland.

Nick Nuttall, a UNEP spokesman had this to say “And the waste is many different kinds. There is uranium radioactive waste. There is lead, and heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. There is also industrial waste, and there are hospital wastes, chemical wastes– you name it.”

And still, the UN and it’s benefactors refused to act on the atrocities against the people of the former nation of Somalia.

There are currently at least four different operating governments in this former country. In the northwest is Somaliland, the only one with quasi recognition from any country (Ethiopia needs a port). In the northeast is Puntland. The south appears to be ruled by the Islamic Courts Union. And it is in the mid section (around Mogadishu) where much of the recent fighting has occurred between the ICU and the “Transitional Federal Government” (which claims all of former Somalia) along with their Ethiopian “peacekeeping” troops/partners.

It is important to note that it is very doubtful the nation of Somalia will ever be reunited, and for good reason. With reunification will come heavy taxation to repay exorbitant loans taken out by previous puppet regimes.

So it is simply easier for the rest of the world to ignore the people, poison the coastline and deplete the coastal waters of Somalia. Allowing the “Volunteer Coast Guard” to assess a toll to pass is a small price to pay, except for the occasional embarrassment.

You might recall that the “Faina”, a Lithuanian freighter was brought into port, on it’s way to Kenya. On board the Faina are 33 T-72 Russian made tanks. This is sort of an embarrassment because Kenya does not now, and never has used Russian made tanks*. Kenya denies that these tanks are on their way to a Sudanese secessionist regime, which does use Russian made tanks. The Faina, after several months, is still being held.

It is easy to get caught up in a hysteria over an American flagged (but Dutch owned) ship being detained by a government that we don’t want to recognize. And hopefully it is hysteria (and not something embarrassing, such as campaign contributions) that caused President Obama to order the attack.

If the US Congress had debated these issues as authorized, then a different outcome might have come about. All of these issues should be in the open. I would love to see democrats and republicans refer to “uranium repatriation” with a straight face.

And we would not be seeing the President thumbing his nose at the US Constitution, which he swore to uphold.

Recent International Issues Articles

On Gaza drivers, rumors and Egypt’s steel wall
December 31, 2009
Ramzy Baroud

It's the system, stupid: The Ragnarok of globalized corporate capitalism and the rise of the planetarian paradigm
December 30, 2009
James Heddle

Palestine/Israel: A single state, with liberty and justice for all
December 30, 2009
Susan Abulhawa with Ramzy Baroud

Obama's rejection speech
December 11, 2009
David Swanson

Peace movement objects to Peace Prize
December 10, 2009
Michael McPhearson and Josh Brollier

Afghanistan: What Obama and the US Media Aren't Telling Us
December 4, 2009
Evan Davis

Columbus Free Press editors Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman speak out against sending more US troops to Afghanistan
December 2, 2009
Tom Over

Afghanistan: Our 177th Colony
December 1, 2009
David Swanson

The Meaning Of The Gift-Giving Season, According To Rev. Billy Of The Church Of Life After Shopping
November 28, 2009
Tom Over

A paradigm shift in Singapore: yet Apec offers no clear answers
November 25, 2009
Ramzy Baroud

Dissidents make noise -- oops, news
November 24, 2009
Saul Landau