Pirates!

Somalian pirates captured a Saudi oil tanker about the size of an American aircraft carrier, today, according to the BBC and Bloomberg.

Hold on, I’m trying to comprehend that first sentence.

Okay, moving on…

When full, the oil tanker in question is about 3 times the weight of an American aircraft carrier, which is why it's being touted as being "3 times the size of an aircraft carrier" in various sensationalist headlines.

You know, Somalia is really becoming a problem, but I think the pirates have just gone and done something stupid. They’re pretty much demanding to be wiped from the face of the earth.

Somalia has had no functioning government since the early 90s. Latest reports are that they’re not even going to have a non-functioning government for much longer. The moderate Islamic government is about to be overthrown by 3 competing fundamentalist Islamic groups.

What’s fascinating is that it is this very state of flux – impotent government attacked by competing non-state forces – that is allowing the pirates to flourish.

If Somalia was ruled by a single coherent entity with teeth then that entity would probably put an end to the piracy, as the piracy is about cause the wrath of oil-producing and oil-consuming world down upon that country.

Incidentally, I can’t find a recent update on the MV Faina. This is the Ukrainian ship taken by the pirates in late September – a ship carrying tanks and other armaments. The last update I can quickly find is from 23 October. At that time the pirates were threatening to kill hostages. That was almost a month ago. And it's from an Iranian news source.

Now the pirates have armaments and oil. At least for today. They probably won’t make it to shore with the oil, though. We’re probably looking at a major environmental disaster before this is all over.

Update: I found a BBC update last dated 28 October that includes a quote by satelite phone from a pirate on the MV Faina: "No information today. No comment."

Incidentally the pirates of Eyl appear to have more resources at their disposal than guys with RPG launchers. They also have guys with laptops. Accountants. Negotiators.

More updates: Here's a Kenyan news site that mentions the MV Faina, but acknowledges its fate is unknown. Here's a Russian news site that says roughly the same thing. These are dated yesterday.