[QUOTE](CNN) -- Somali pirates are not building palaces with swimming pools with the ransoms they collect from international shipping companies and hostages, [B]but they are helping the local economy[/B], a new report finds.
"There is a very clear trickle-down effect," said author Anja Shortland, of Brunel University in the United Kingdom, who based her conclusion on everything from satellite pictures to local cattle prices.
[B]High-resolution satellite imagery shows construction in the inland towns of Garowe and Bosasso, including radio towers, walls and new buildings, she said.[/B]
She's not seeing much construction on the coast itself, she said."There are no light emissions on the coastal villages. But the settlements inland ... that's probably where the money is going," she said of the estimated hundreds of millions of dollars Somali pirates have claimed in the past several years.
Shortland's report, "Treasure Mapped: Using Satellite Imagery to Track the Developmental Effects of Somali Piracy," was produced for Chatham House, a British think tank.
The waters off the largely lawless country have become one of the world's busiest piracy zones, with ever-bolder pirates in small, highly maneuverable craft seizing everything from small yachts skippered by retirees to oil tankers and cargo loads of heavy weaponry.
They normally demand a ransom for the safe return of vessel and crew.
Military operations have been launched to try to protect ships traversing the region, but attacks continue.
And the ransoms are having "a developmental effect" on Somalia, said Shortland.
The construction seems to be modest, she added.
[B]"We don't see palaces, no swimming pools," she said. "Consumption seems to be constrained by local norms on sharing."[/B]
She also said she had seen no direct evidence that the pirates were cooperating with the local al Qaeda-linked militant Islamist group Al-Shabaab -- although some experts believe they are.
[B]"They're very clever businesspeople," Shortland said of the pirates, saying they knew that proof of links to terrorism could bring an even tougher international military response down on them. "I haven't seen any proof."[/B][/QUOTE]
Source: [url]http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/12/world/africa/somalia-pirates/index.html?hpt=hp_t3[/url]
Well that's unexpected.
It's time to invest in Parrot futures.
That was what they said about drug dealers too...
How is anyone shocked at this.
So, wouldn't donating them money for development reduce the effect of their pirate regimes?
A far better investment than burying it, that's for sure.
In related news: Accidentally dropping pocket change in Somalia significantly aids their economy.
And so they spend their pirate booty on creating infrastructure like docks, seaside taverns and ak-47s with which to rob more people.
ECONOMY!
Grimsby, you know what to do.
[url]www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDv4sYwjO0[/url]
Dammit, media tags are broken again.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;34187822]It's time to invest in Parrot futures.[/QUOTE]
You forgot peg leg futures, those are important too.
I read before that a fair portion of Somalians switch to piracy because its one of the best opportunities you have. Because if you fail you fail and there is minimal profit loss for whomever is providing materials (probably someone from the Russian mafia similar to the merchant of death guy) But if you succeed you have a massive supply of whatever the hell the ship was carrying. Pretty sad to be honest.
[QUOTE=Dysgalt;34192817]I read before that a fair portion of Somalians switch to piracy because its one of the best opportunities you have. Because if you fail you fail and there is minimal profit loss for whomever is providing materials (probably someone from the Russian mafia similar to the merchant of death guy) But if you succeed you have a massive supply of whatever the hell the ship was carrying. Pretty sad to be honest.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, it's a terrible vicious cycle; the pirates are the best career so you join, and once you join people will see you raking in the bloodied dough and think it's the best career, so they join, etc.
I'd use an actual Pirate ship if I ever was a Somalian Pirate
Pirates bring some of their stolen cash home and use it to buy day to day neccessities for them and their families?
WHO WOULD HAVE SEEN THAT COMING!?
Damn Straight
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