Dawn of the Pirate

ByJohn Brown

So reads the headline at Drudge.

Here is Abdul Hassan, 39. A Somali pirate nicknamed “the one who never sleeps.” Hassan is part of a pirate group called the Central Regional Coast Guard. It was formed three years ago, has 350 men in its ranks and about 100 speedboats.

Zing, zing, zing, zing, zing!

There are some wonderful stories waiting to be told about this. Sure, there is the terrorist angle. But what about the angle of someone of value they stumble across on the ship? What about the kid who knows these pirates and decides to make a buck turning them in? What about the guys sent in to find out who the heck is backing these guys?

What about Hassan himself? Somali is so poor. With one job he made $350,000. Here are some great articles.

A fascinating MUST READ pictorial of Somali pirates. 

A map of pirate attacks in 2008.

An article about a tanker just taken by pirates.

An article indicating just how much money pirates are making (more than $100m just this year) by taking ships and demanding ransoms.

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