Truth About Somali Pirates...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/pirates-the-80m-gulf-connection-1671657.html

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True, it's not really a religious divide as you point out.

In the west, the sort of transformation we're talking about really happened during the Reformation. It was during that era when the reformers saw the Church's role as one of challenging the state instead of being it's concubine. As a result, reformed bishops and leaders would use their newfound autonomy to help the secular leaders see alternate points of view. Countries which experienced the reformation seem to have the highest charitable giving, commitment to international development and humanitarian focus (namely, the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Canada, the US, the UK as well as New Zealand).

Maybe such a reformation will happen in Islam some day and Muslims will have an alternate voice to the ones put in place by their governments.

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Since Allah has given me a brain, it would seem like a sin not to use it.

I agree with your viewpoints.. My only comment was when you brought Islam and Christianity into it, since I believe that it has nothing really to do with the issue.

Yes, Africans understand their culture and issues better than outsiders. Similar for Arabs.

peoblem is that there is no unity within the nations of the regions mentioned. they all have their own agendas and thus usually cannot agree on such issues.

Look at the case of Zimbabwe.. The country has been driven to ruin, but everyone within the continent is pretending that nothing has happened.

hence you see the my signature from Mark Twain...definitely fits this situation...

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the main difference between a dog and man.

-Mark Twain-

They're not taking care of their regional affairs; they're expecting nations from other continents to do it for them.

And who would be better positioned to come into these countries and help them create functional, representative governments if not neighbouring countries which, in many cases, share the same religious and cultural values and language groups?

You can't really expect many US Marines from Tennesee to understand how offensive it is to touch a Muslim woman.

I also happen to think that an Arab relief convoy, loaded under the supervision of international observers to ensure that no guns or armaments were on board, and escorted by a moderate sized defensive naval force would have broken through the Gaza blockade of last December. Even the Israeli's for all their brazen disregard of proportional response would not have been able to withstand such a challenge without a huge condemnation from the entire world.

Instead, nothing. Earlier in 2008, I noticed that Qatar sent a "token" relief shipment of 1 tonne to Gaza. Yes, 1 tonne for a country as wealthy as Qatar is indeed a "token."

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Since Allah has given me a brain, it would seem like a sin not to use it.

You make some valid points, but I would disagree about the religious angle.

The Arab league, The African Union etc are regional bodies (irrespective of religion) and should take care of their regional affairs.

So there's a collapsed government in Somalia. There's also been one in Lebanon (thanks to Syria), a potential one in Pakistan, Palestine, one in Afghanistan, maybe one in Sudan, a bunch in the former Soviet republics...

In all these cases, does the Arab League or other Muslim countries go and straighten things out? People are dying, starving, killing each other and what do all the other Muslim countries in the world do? They put their thumbs up their a**es and wait for the West to come along with their humanitarian and charitable values to try and straighten things out.

And when (and if) that doesn't work due to cultural incompatibilities, or insurgencies, or tampering by other Muslim nations, then these same Muslim nations blame the West for cultural imperialism.

So how is it, that Islam--which claims to be superior to Christianity--and claims that God is all loving and all merciful, needs countries with a Christian heritage to actually show them what love and mercy looks like?

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Since Allah has given me a brain, it would seem like a sin not to use it.

The root cause is that Somalia is a lawless land. The government is corrupt and offers "shelter" to these pirates in return for a a share of the spoils.

No it doesn't justify it....but you have to look at the root cause of a problem to solve it....

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=75201699470&h=I3Zv-&u=tB9Rn&ref=mf

here is a somali singer explaining the issue

oh, come on.. Does it mean they can hijack ships and take hostages those innocent ship workers ?

the industrial items they hijack also meant for another set of workers /factories /establishments .

and the ransome they get directly goes to the toiling masses ??

Is there any UN agency to ensure this transfer ?? ..LOL

Yes Yes It the West Fault.. That you guys are fighting each other and have no Government.

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HE WHO DARES WINS

They should have captured the "mysterious European ships" then.

So that makes it right to hijack ships for personal gain does it? If they held the boats to ransom and gave the money gained to the staving masses, fine, but they don't!