News Stories

[iLney]

Originally Posted by Shadow Minato

CNN in third place in prime time for first time

Regardless of the negativities I keep on hearing here at AnimeSuki, Fox News scored the highest rating in prime time, once again. A little strange, it makes me wonder why do the guys here make them sound so negative, when in fact.. Fox News is actually quite popular.

On the contrary, I already knew the reasons..

Aye, admittedly, there are many craps on Fox. However, sometimes they raise very valid points CNN, on the contrary, is just.... boring.

[mg1942]

I'm working part time at some coffee shop in Los Angeles (i'll return to vegas this fall), and I make sure I tune our overhead plasma HDTV to FNC for News

[Nosauz]

Originally Posted by SeedFreedom

Popular =/= good. They pander to the right wing base which is around half the country. Telling them what they want to hear makes them come back.

Actually its less about political pandering as its more about fear mongering. THe media wants to make those rating faster and what better way than tease the American public that their lives are in imminent danger, and if you don't watch the news it could kill you! At least its better than those wack jobs at teh huffington post.

[chikorita157]

Originally Posted by Shadow Minato

CNN in third place in prime time for first time

Regardless of the negativities I keep on hearing here at AnimeSuki, Fox News scored the highest rating in prime time, once again. A little strange, it makes me wonder why do the guys here make them sound so negative, when in fact.. Fox News is actually quite popular.

On the contrary, I already knew the reasons..

Fox News is always going to have right-wing bias, so I don't bother watching it nor read anything from their website... but I won't be surprised on how popular Fox News is now... Fox News is just as bad as those hate-mongering pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter which incite fear to the American people which we don't need...

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by chikorita157

Fox News is always going to have right-wing bias, so I don't bother watching it nor read anything from their website... but I won't be surprised on how popular Fox News is now... Fox News is just as bad as those hate-mongering pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter which incite fear to the American people which we don't need...

I never liked watching Fox News because of their biasedness. Journalism should always be done from a neutral point of view and not suppress ANY facts to tip the judgement. In short, a news story shouldn't even be "morally right", just the straightforward blast of facts into the viewer's face, meaning if it were to show a massacre, every graphical detail should be shown, from the least gory to the most. Censorship shouldn't interfere with news reporting.

[Tiberium Wolf]

Polar bear attacks woman at Berlin Zoo

She went inside on her own for unknown reasons. She was clearly asking to be attacked. BTW, check the pic in there.

[danin8r44]

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Classified...drafts%2C_2009 I'll just leave this here because I think the fact that it is info on ACTA it is relevant to everyone here.

[Xellos-_^]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/wo...tml?_r=1&hpThe five-day standoff in the Indian Ocean ended at dusk on Sunday when Navy Seal snipers on the fantail of the destroyer U.S.S. Bainbridge killed three of the pirates holding Capt. Richard Phillips in an orange covered lifeboat in the Indian Ocean while the fourth pirate was in American hands

Recently the US rescue a captain of a freighter after he was kidnapped by pirates. The Navy Seal Snipe 3 of the 4 pirates, while the 4th surrender. Now in the US this has been celebrate as great news especially as it came on Easter Sunday.

But i am curiosity as to how the other parts of the world are viewing this. All the comments i read form the UK and Canada are supportive however did notice one form Denmark questioning whether this was the right move as it escalates danger for the 200+ people still being held by the pirates and what it means for the sailors on ships traveling through that area.

So i am wondering what the rest of the world thinks of the rescue this Sunday and what if anything can be done about the pirates in Somalia

[Anh_Minh]

Haven't really heard of it, but when we (France) recovered our own hostages manu militari, it was considered as somewhat good news. I say "somewhat" because we still got one of them killed (out of five).

[chikorita157]

Well, it's good to see the hostages are released safe and sound, but it doesn't help the piracy problems. Piracy is becoming a big problem recently because of the economic crisis we are in, which in turn people who are in poor countries turn to piracy to take over ships to take the goods or take hostages for a outrageous amount of money (The most recent one wanted over $2 million in ransom which the companies refuse to pay.)

Now that the Americans Navy have snipped the pirates, now two pirates who were captured are threatening to kill US and French sailors which is probably what we should be concerned about, although the possibility of it happening is low.

[Nosauz]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Haven't really heard of it, but when we (France) recovered our own hostages manu militari, it was considered as somewhat good news. I say "somewhat" because we still got one of them killed (out of five).

my friend was joking about how france would be soft on "pirates" but I set him straight and how the france crack anti pirate unit stormed the captured yacht killing all the pirates and one hostage. I don't see why rescueing a innocent from that kind of situation would be bad. The reason why these pirates actually go piracy is a sad sordid affair and the fact that honest living doesn't bring them much needed money in the coastal regions of africa.

PS Chikorita, sorry to burst your bubble, but Africa's been shafted as a continent, its dwindling resources exported and with very little change in the governementing bodies, africa as a continent has suffered, not because of the recession but mainly due to the terrible living conditions from exploitation. Piracy has been rampant off the cost of southern Africa, but its becoming news worthy because it ties in with the economic crisis, yet the news never reflects the living conditions of these pirates, anyway its no because the global economy tanked, its because the western/developed world has systematically kept africa in the past.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

my friend was joking about how france would be soft on "pirates" but I set him straight and how the france crack anti pirate unit stormed the captured yacht killing all the pirates and one hostage. I don't see why rescueing a innocent from that kind of situation would be bad. The reason why these pirates actually go piracy is a sad sordid affair and the fact that honest living doesn't bring them much needed money in the coastal regions of africa.

PS Chikorita, sorry to burst your bubble, but Africa's been shafted as a continent, its dwindling resources exported and with very little change in the governementing bodies, africa as a continent has suffered, not because of the recession but mainly due to the terrible living conditions from exploitation. Piracy has been rampant off the cost of southern Africa, but its becoming news worthy because it ties in with the economic crisis, yet the news never reflects the living conditions of these pirates, anyway its no because the global economy tanked, its because the western/developed world has systematically kept africa in the past.

i am not going to go that far. While the west certain has a share in the blame for the problem in Africa in the past. The more recent problem is certainly not something the West cook up to keep Africa down.

[Tiberium Wolf]

These merchants should hire mercenaries to guard the ships. The piracy is happening and not going away soon. Just get some fire power and stop crying. It's getting sick.

[Nosauz]

eh... it depends on what you consider western envolvment, like for me western apathy toward apartheid and the colonization of africa were in the end evils that the west saw as necessary to grow their empires. Also don't forget the diamond cartels that run most of africa, and its valuable resource, if the rich didn't fancy diamonds because of their inflated rarity a lot of the violence would not be as severe, but because of over valueing of diamonds and american sentiment to diamonds, that they are forever and invaluable, makes for such an unstable region even more volatile. This doesn't mean that western countries are turning the blind toward africa, but many previous institutions from the holds of colonization of africa still hold down the african people and their attempts to modernize.

[ClockWorkAngel]

Originally Posted by Tiberium Wolf

These merchants should hire mercenaries to guard the ships. The piracy is happening and not going away soon. Just get some fire power and stop crying. It's getting sick.

eg. Less QQ more pewpew?

Yes I was wondering why they would go into a known area without any sort of defense; its absolutely poor planning.

[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.

[SaintessHeart]

Piracy tends to operate on the motivation of money, but one thing is that they are often linked to drug and arms cartels, especially the big ones.

Regarding the part of hiring mercs, don't you guys know, being part of a counterpiracy boarding party is ENTIRELY different from being a normal CT or soldier? Chances of dying are low, but paralysis is BLOODY damn high. Besides the combat training is entirely different. CQB on board a ship is entirely different, in hostage situations, it is close to being impossible to let the hostage live despite advanced and low recoil weaponry like the 5.56 rifles and SMGs due to the ridiculously tight quarters.

The lightweight ballistic helmets are useless against 7.62x39mm rounds used by the AK-47, the rolling of the ship adds to difficulty in storming and firing precision shots, and grenades cannot be used AT all due to risk of interior damage. Basically, storming the ship with submachine guns become spray-and-pray at contacts (praying that you don't die or hit a hostage, chances of hitting that hijacking asshole are pretty high), and having your boarding squad equipped with nothing more than 3 SMGs, 1-2 carbines and the rest pistols ONLY are pretty high. Usually the guys with rifles/carbines would be securing the outside and the top deck/bridge, and the guys with the smaller stuff hit the tight rooms. Which means good luck if you run into a pirate wielding an AK or shotgun round the corner.

And besides, one has to be a member of a naval defence squadron, ship or diving unit in order to be trained in shipboarding operations. Shotguns are rarely used by the boarding parties for fear of property damage or misfire.

Hope this help clear things up regarding the idea of hiring ship-protection mercs.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by ClockWorkAngel

eg. Less QQ more pewpew?

Yes I was wondering why they would go into a known area without any sort of defense; its absolutely poor planning.

Arming amateurs (like the normal sailors) is a recipe for disaster. As for professional help, it has its own problems. Starting with the most obvious, cost. Then it becomes a question of how frequent pirate attacks have to be to justify the expense of hiring mercenaries. My guess is that we haven't hit that point yet.

[Sazelyt]

Originally Posted by Tiberium Wolf

These merchants should hire mercenaries to guard the ships. The piracy is happening and not going away soon. Just get some fire power and stop crying. It's getting sick.

Instead of hiring mercenaries, maybe it is better to form an organization and send actual marines from every involved country to protect the affected areas. Just because Somali cannot do that does not mean the others cannot. Sure it will be costly, but there is enough wasted money that goes nowhere. At least those can be used for good cause here.

[Xellos-_^]

unless the US is willing do the same to the Somolia pirates they did to barbary pirates. Which burn every coast pirate town to the ground. I would say the best current response is to have a convoy system pay for by shipping company. One US destroyer with a 2-3 Blackhawks would be more than enough deter any pirate. Shipping would slow down but it would damn safer and less expansive then the raise in insurance payments.