News Stories

[Nosauz]

Originally Posted by danin8r44

@Nosauz I agree with you that the West shafted Africa, notice that shafted is past tense. Apartheid is in the past, racism is frowned upon in Western culture, trade in blood diamonds is illegal, slavery is illegal, and huge humanitarian efforts have been made in the West aimed at helping Africa. It is very difficult to argue that the West is holding Africa down because it isn't even in the West's interest to hold Africa down anymore. Rather, Africa has many untapped resources that the west would love to see used, and it is impossible for Africa to truly get at these resources as long as Africa remains as bad as it is. What is holding Africa down now is a mixture of the African's themselves and the repercussions of actions that the West took in the past, not in the present.

i'm sorry but aparthied maybe the "past" but its still this generation... maybe if it had been hundreds of years and africa was still in this condition then i'd buy that arguement. Blood diamonds are illegal? So the legal diamond minding still shaft the africans who mine those diamonds, the diamond cartel/industry have manufactured the demand for diamonds when in fact supply is much more abundant.

A real solution to pirates would to make it profitable to actually make legal money that doesn't offer the risk of being pirates, and a coalition of countries who are invested in the shipping routes near and around africa should send out a coalition of armed forces to protect their shared vested interests, so making the marginal costs of protecting against pirates even cheaper than one lone country protecting its own interests. But then again the national clashes between the chinese and the u.s. in particular would be hard to make that kind of agreement, so its kind of an eh.

[Tiberium Wolf]

What the merchants ships need if a form to defend them on the spot. They must fight off pirate before they get boarded. Having those warship patrolling will sure slow a bit down piracy but it will still continue. And besides that can't be everywhere. And the most situations they will be dealing is freeing hostages ships. If the merchants had an armed force to repel the pirate before they board it sure would excuses of having to negotiate ransom or attack to release hostages(This case might end up having hostages dead).

[iLney]

Blah, just pay them. It's cheaper.

[Shadow Kira01]

Its awesome to hear that the Captain is rescued and unharmed. However, I am getting a bad feeling that the 200+ hostages will not be in good condition now, since 3 Somali pirates were gunned down. On the contrary, the US navy did the right thing, obviously.. The heroic Captain's life was in serious danger, so he must be rescued.

More over, truth is that the Somali pirates won't be able to do anything to the 200+ hostages. If anything negative were to happen to the hostages, multiple nations will be launching multiple attacks on the pirates, ending the crisis in a few days. Lots of Somali pirates will die, of course due to their poor weaponry and equipment. Thus, the captain is saved and the hostages are also safe.

[Kamui4356]

They could always try the time tested ''Q ship'' as a way to combat the piracy. If a transport has a chance of being basicly a warship in disguise, the pirates aren't going to be as eager to take ships.

[FateAnomaly]

Originally Posted by iLney

Blah, just pay them. It's cheaper.

Attacking them is even cheaper.

[chikorita157]

Originally Posted by iLney

Blah, just pay them. It's cheaper.

The problem with that logic is that simply paying them isn't going to solve the piracy problem... it's just going to keep it the same and it would end up being costly to the shipping company...

The answer is more navy ships which can prevent these piracy attacks from happening... or at least reduce them... and it will be alot cheaper than paying millions in ransom money.

[iLney]

Originally Posted by FateAnomaly

Attacking them is even cheaper.

But the consequences of military action is not. Why do you think no nation does anything meaningful up to now? Because it's cheaper this way.

@chikorita157:

Well, mobilizing an entire fleet there is not cheap considered the size of the area. Lucky for the captain's company that the rescuing was free. If a bill is sent, I bet they'll tell the captain to go back to Somalia, pay the ransom and pretend nothing ever happened. Plus, the vessels those pirates used are at the size of a rowing boat. Have fun controlling them. It's doable, of course. But at what cost?

[Zippicus]

Originally Posted by iLney

But the consequences of military action is not. Why do you think no nation does anything meaningful up to now? Because it's cheaper this way.

I think history would disagree with you there. Whenever pirates become a big enough problem the various nations that have their commerce threatened break out the navy and go pirate hunting. These clowns in Somalia just haven't pissed off enough people yet, but I suspect they're getting close.

[Irenicus]

And it's not like the Navies of the World (tm) are just putting their weapons down. They do fight back and send the occasional destroyer into the hotspot, but a full-scale operation in said region is just too politically volatile. I hear once in a while about the US navy or the French navy or the Indian navy trading fire with them pirates, but I doubt anybody's willing to send in a carrier taskforce and do away with it all.

Put it this way: you have one of the busiest international sea routes in the world. You turn it into a warzone. Everybody gets angry since though the area was dangerous before now it's really dangerous. Stray missiles, pirates who no longer have reasons to hold back their brutality, mistaken targets, etc. all drive the risk of danger, the cost of shipping, and the prices of all sorts of goods that pass through the area, through the roof. Sure, it's for long term good, but who will be willing to suffer the consequences for escalating the current low level conflict into something else? Currently they do have established channels to negotiate ransoms and save the crews and the goods. If the issue escalates then I imagine those channels would break down and the risk in lives for those captured would increase dramatically.

If the stakes are raised too high and the pirates go too far then I think the navies would be willing to operate fully against the pirates in the region, naturally enough, but until then... It's essentially just a cost-benefit analysis issue.

[yezhanquan]

You don't make Somalia a viable state, you'll never settle this issue. With better living conditions, you will have people who don't need to be pirates in order to earn the family's next meal. But, guess what? State building 101 is the hardest module for any state. Better start hitting the books, or something is going to hit really hard in the future.

[Shadow Kira01]

Passenger lands turboprop plane after pilot dies

I haven't had the time to read it yet but this sounds interesting. The passenger must be a pilot too. The least to say, he or she is definitely a hero!!

[MrTerrorist]

NASA photos show giant cosmic hand

"Look! The hand of Galactus!"

[iLney]

Originally Posted by Zippicus

I think history would disagree with you there. Whenever pirates become a big enough problem the various nations that have their commerce threatened break out the navy and go pirate hunting. These clowns in Somalia just haven't pissed off enough people yet, but I suspect they're getting close.

But my point stands. It's cheaper to pay now. And well, I heard that they treated the tourists pretty nice. They pissed of the Americans, maybe, but the world?

@yezhanquan:

yes You can outlaw what the you want but without curing the root causes, it won't do jack

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by iLney

Blah, just pay them. It's cheaper.

I hardly think encouraging the pirates is a good idea. They're bad enough now.

[Shadow Kira01]

UNSC to rap North Korea over missile / Statement to call for end to launches

The recent "satellite" launch by North Korea is no doubt a violation to the Security Council Resolution 1718 which prohibits North Korea from making nuclear tests and missile launches. The recent "satellite" North Korea fired is obviously a re-designed Taepodong-2 missile and thus, it is about time for the United Nations Security Council to do something about it before the trust people have on UNSC fades away. Even so, this may not be very effective against the rogue regime. Hopefully, this time around, the extended sanctions placed on North Korea would actually work.

[Anh_Minh]

... People trust the UNSC?

[Shadow Kira01]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

... People trust the UNSC?

Definitely not me.

[TinyRedLeaf]

In hard times, Japanese go back to roots

Yokoshibahikari, Japan (April 15): A motley group of unlikely farmers descended on the countryside here on a recent Sunday, fresh towels around their necks, shiny boots on their feet.

"This is harder than it looks," said Mr Tatsunori Kobayashi, a spiky-haired janitor from Tokyo Disney Resort, as he tromped through a mustard spinach patch with a seed planter — irregular furrows stretching out behind him.

He is part of a 2,400-member Rural Labour Squad in Japan — urban trainees dispatched to the countryside under a pilot programme to put underemployed youth to work tilling Japanese farms.

Begun last month as part of Prime Minister Taro Aso's stimulus plan, the programme stems from a growing concern about the plight of Japan's younger workers and the dismal state of its farms. In a play on words, the squad's name in Japanese (inaka de hataraki tai) is also its rallying cry: "We want to work in the countryside!"

The predicament of many Japanese in their 20s and 30s dates to the lost decade of the 1990s, when many of them could not find good, stable work. Today, a disproportionate number of them endure low-wage jobs.

As the Japanese recession worsened, younger workers took the brunt of wage cuts and layoffs, especially in the once-booming manufacturing sector. Now the government views the latest slump — Japanese exports fell almost 50 per cent year-to-year in February — as a chance to divert labour to sectors that have long suffered from worker shortages, like agriculture.

Many young Japanese, for their part, have shown a growing interest in farming as disillusionment rises over layoffs and the grind of city jobs. Agricultural job fairs have been swamped with hundreds of applicants in recent months; one in the western city of Osaka attracted 1,400 people.

"Young people want jobs, and farmers need the extra hands," said Mr Isao Muneta, an Agriculture Ministry official who coordinates the 1.3 billion yen (US$13 million) programme. "It's the perfect match."

Whether it will save the deteriorating Japanese economy, however, is something else.

"Rural communities could benefit from an influx of young people," said Mr Masashi Umemoto, an expert at the National Agricultural Research Center. "But it's unrealistic to look to agriculture as a solution to the country's unemployment problems.

"There aren't enough farming jobs."

Like the French and the British, whose industrial societies have deep (if distant) rural roots, the Japanese have long romanticised life in the countryside. Only 4 per cent of the Japanese labour force works in agriculture, but a reverence for the rice-farming heritage is strong. Japanese children grow up with warnings not to waste a single grain of rice, out of respect for farmers' labour.

- THE NEW YORK TIMES

[yezhanquan]

Well, this is a good temporary measure of sorts. But, as mentioned, there are not enough farming jobs for everyone.