Somali Pirates Got Game

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As I reported late last year, the blogs and the British press are starting to realize that the Somali Pirates aren't working for the sake of Somali-land -- they're doing it at the behest of at least England and probably the US and Israel.  Perhaps even the Saudis.

When the Mumbai attacks late last year scuttled the attempt on the part of India, Pakistan and Iran to finalize a deal to pipe cheap oil and gas from Iran into India and Pakistan, that left only one other viable choice from which to seek out energy: the Caspian Sea Basin.

And guess where the Caspian Sea oil has to come from in order to make a trip to energy-starved India?  The eastern Mediterranean. 

And guess which path the oil has to take in order to get to India?  There are two, but both of them go right past the remarkably prescient Somali pirates.  Oddly enough, precious few of the ships comandeered by these despicable poor people from a Muslim country have set sail under the British flag.  In fact, according to those unfortunate enough to be detained by these pesky buccaneers in rowboats with AK-47's, the hardened criminals have shown a remarkable foreknowledge of both the layout of their ships and the cargo onboard those ships.

But wait, it gets better.

Path 1A is the Suez Canal.  No, Israel won't allow that.  The Egyptians can forget about it.

Path 1B goes overland to the Gulf of Aden and guess where the shortest path to that gulf is in the eastern Mediterranean?  G'head, look at a map and take a guess.

If you guessed Gaza, you would be correct.

And so, gentle readers, the Somali Pirates are being paid by the corporate intelligence agency (aka the CIA) to make people who travel this route really sorry for not paying their protection money to those with the firepower and the nerve to hire and blackmail poor people to take RPG's and machine guns onboard inflatables and intimidate international commerce.

Before this tale is over, Michele Ballarin will be a name that ends up in an American dictionary somewhere between "aardvark" and "Earhart, Amelia."