BOOOM sha-ka-la-ka...
Every morning at my work I get declassified news briefs from NGOs as well as government and non-government news agencies that cover various stories regarding transport safety and security. The vast majority of these news stories involve the greatest threat to maritime security since the U-boat - piracy off the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian sea. Sandwiched between the hilarious lawless pirate headquarters Mogadishu/Somalia/Tortuga and war torn Yemen, the Gulf of Aden has been a prominent shipping lane for centuries. All joking aside, shit is getting pretty insane over there. Hostages are being killed, multimillion dollar ships are being hijacked and many millions of dollars of everything from toilet seat covers to Rebecca Black CDs (? do those exist?) are being lost to modern day piracy.
These pirates are relatively well armed with exactly what you imagine they would be, and generally start their trouble making by boarding vessels of any size from small fishing boats and basically just getting up in everybody's shit. Of course this great evil must have a righteous adversary to combat it until the end of time so that's where private security firms come in. In case you don't already know, these suckers will not be carrying around any AK-47s. They're more likely armed with Heckler and Koch, bluetooth headsets, ballistic shields and in some (read: coolest) cases helicopter gunships.
For some great reading on a really amazing sailboat named le Ponant and the story of its hijacking by pirates, check out the GQ.com article. FYI this boat is probably the single coolest way of getting around... ever. In my books anyway. The 288 ft, tri-masted, super yacht is a state of the art modern take on the ships of oldenyore.
I leave you now with Tim and Sweetums.
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