Somali Pirates Stiff India On Hostage Ransom...They Get the Ransom, Release the Ship...But Keep the Hostages

I'm guessing that we are going to find out just how far you can push the government of India and it's special operations people in its military as a group of Somali pirates has decided that even after they were paid a multi-million dollar ransom to release an Indian ship and hostages...the Somalis released the ship and crew members who weren't Indian but hung onto the Indian hostages.

From the report at Breitbart:

In a move that could change the pirate-hostage equation, Somali pirates on Friday took in a multimillion dollar ransom, then released the ship and some of the crew but kept all the Indian crew members as hostages.

A pirate told The Associated Press the Indian crew members' hostage ordeal is being prolonged in retaliation for the arrests of more than 100 Somali pirates by the Indian Navy.

"We decided to keep the Indian because India is holding our colleagues," the pirate, Hassan Farah, said. "We released the other crew members who sailed away from our coast. We will keep these Indians until the Indians release our colleagues."

Farah said the pirates in the stronghold of Haradhere have taken that collective decision. The Indian hostages are to be moved to land.

A multimillion dollar ransom was paid for the ship Asphalt Venture, whose ownership is located in Mumbai, India. Pirates are receiving an average of $5 million to release ships and crew, and a ransom in that ballpark was believed to have been paid on Friday.

It wasn't immediately clear how many of the 15 crew members aboard the Asphalt Venture were Indian. The ship was hijacked in late September.

Friday's pirate action marks a major departure from the standard pirate business model of release-for-ransom and could complicate international military efforts against the piracy trade.

Now, I'm not exactly an expert on the art of piracy but it seems to me that this might just mess up all piracy schemes in the future - who will pay a ransom after this stunt? Without a guarantee that the hostages will be freed, who would pay it?

If I'm the Indians...well, if they aren't willing to release their Somali pirate prisoners, then I'd be laying out a plan to destroy the Somali coastline where these guys will be landing with the hostages. Sure, it wouldn't bode well for the hostages but they are more than likely dead any way in just a matter of days...and the Indians might get lucky and happen upon the hostages in an operation.

Somalia has to realize that the pirates have opened that country up for invasion by a multitude of countries who are feeling the sting of the piracy. I say you work an attack on Somalia that makes it impossible for pirates to even launch a boat.

Somali pirates keep Indian hostages after ransom


MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - In a move that could change the pirate-hostage equation, Somali pirates on Friday took in a multimillion dollar ransom, then released the ship and some of the crew but kept all the Indian crew members as hostages.

A pirate told The Associated Press the Indian crew members' hostage ordeal is being prolonged in retaliation for the arrests of more than 100 Somali pirates by the Indian Navy.

"We decided to keep the Indian because India is holding our colleagues," the pirate, Hassan Farah, said. "We released the other crew members who sailed away from our coast. We will keep these Indians until the Indians release our colleagues."

Farah said the pirates in the stronghold of Haradhere have taken that collective decision. The Indian hostages are to be moved to land.

A multimillion dollar ransom was paid for the ship Asphalt Venture, whose ownership is located in Mumbai, India. Pirates are receiving an average of $5 million to release ships and crew, and a ransom in that ballpark was believed to have been paid on Friday.

It wasn't immediately clear how many of the 15 crew members aboard the Asphalt Venture were Indian. The ship was hijacked in late September.

Friday's pirate action marks a major departure from the standard pirate business model of release-for-ransom and could complicate international military efforts against the piracy trade.

Earlier this year pirates killed four American hostages while U.S. Navy warships were shadowing the hijacked yacht, the first time pirates had done that.

Overall, analysts say pirates are becoming increasingly aggressive, violent and hostile.

The Indian navy has seized around 120 pirates, mostly from Somalia, over the past few months. Last month the Indian navy captured 61 pirates when they attacked a naval ship. Indian warships have been escorting merchant ships as part of international anti-piracy surveillance in the Indian Ocean area since 2008.

Piracy has long plagued the shipping industry off East Africa, but violence has escalated in recent months. Pirates held some 30 ships and more than 600 hostages.

A Foreign Policy Doctrine Echoing Reagan’s

Original essay by Benyamin Korn

(Benyamin Korn, former executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, is director of Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin andJewsForSarah.com.)

A Republican former governor, solidly pro-Israel, is running for the White House, but mocked by the pundits for allegedly lacking foreign policy expertise – yet ends up time and again being proved right on the major international issues of the day. Thinking Ronald Reagan?

Try Sarah Palin.

Nearly one month ago, the incumbent GOP vice presidential candidate became the first major American political figure to call for imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. Finally, in the past week, Palin’s idea was adopted by – in quick succession – the Arab League, the UN Security Council, and President Obama. Finally this week allied ordnance began striking Moammar Qaddhafi’s forces. Let’s hope it’s not too late.

Libya is just the latest major foreign policy challenge where Gov. Palin has confounded her detractors and demonstrated that, just as with Reagan, good instincts and a sound worldview are what count when a leader’s telephone rings at 3:00 a.m.

The Palin Doctrine –

allies should be supported,

dictators reviled,

terrorists hunted down

and enemies defeated

We call it the Palin Doctrine. It’s based on the principles that allies should be supported, dictators reviled, terrorists hunted down and enemies defeated. It also means the western world will not stand by at the bloody repression of a democratic revolution.

These notions might be self-evident to some, but they’re not to President Obama, who cannot bring himself even to utter the words “Islamist” and “terrorist” in the same sentence. One of his top intelligence officials actually told Congress last month that the Muslim Brotherhood is a “largely secular” organization. Ms. Palin, by contrast, denounced as a “shame” the administration’s offer to the Brotherhood of a seat at the table of power in Egypt’s newly evolving system.

Last week Governor and Mr. Palin were in New Delhi where she delivered the keynote address at a high-level political conclave. As the first visit to south Asia by a potential 2012 GOP contender, her attention was welcomed in a democracy justifiably concerned about the unstable behavior of Pakistan, its nuclear-armed neighbor to the northwest, and a China rapidly arming, under a regime where state capitalism and rigid control of political power go hand-in-hand.

The Palins’ stopover in Israel likewise came at a critical moment. In the wake of the Itamar massacre and the renewed rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza, Gov. Palin expressed only solidarity, even wearing a Star of David during her tours. She promised to return soon for a longer visit.

Contrast that with the behavior of Mr. Obama, who has yet, as President, even to visit the Jewish state, pays only lip service to the threat of ceaseless Palestinian incitement, and has returned to carping about the “illegitimacy” of Jews building houses where they already live.

Most important for the long term, Mrs. Palin has extensive experience administering energy policy, and proven success in tough negotiations with the giant energy firms, and the former Alaska governor always links U.S. security interests with “responsible development” of America’s abundant fuel resources.

The president’s most effective critic recently declared that his “war on domestic oil and gas exploration and production has caused us pain at the pump, endangered our already sluggish economic recovery, and threatened our national security.” In her India address Mrs. Palin chastised the White House aversion to energy development as a form of “social engineering.”

Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy was marked by indecision, weakness, and a the abandonment of long-standing U.S. Allies. The resolute Reagan Doctrine of peace through strength restored America’s standing in the world and brought down the Soviet empire without firing a shot. Barack Obama’s foreign policy is looking more like Carter’s every day. And Sarah Palin’s looks more and more like Reagan’s.

h/t: http://jewsforsarah.com/?p=8121

Sarah Palin-Full Video From India !!!

Click Play and Enjoy !!! Start at 23:00

Pakistani Actress Receives Death Threat From Taliban For Touching a Man On Indian Reality TV Show

I dunno...do you get the feeling that the Taliban have an issue with control? hahaha Well, the latest death threat to be issued by the Pakistani Taliban is directed at a popular Pakistani actress who appeared on an Indian TV reality show - in the episode, the actress made the HUGE mistake of massaging the neck of an Indian actor. So now she gets to die.

From the article at Google News:

A well-known Pakistani actress Saturday said she had received death threats from militants after appearing on the Indian equivalent of hit reality television show "Big Brother".

Veena Malik, 27, incurred the wrath of hardline Islamic clerics for her performance on "Big Boss", during which she indulged in several intimate scenes with Indian actor Ashmit Patel that included massaging his head and neck.

Clerics accused her of shaming Pakistan in rival India and she also received a letter threatening to "punish" her.

"I am quite shocked after receiving this letter. First I got only verbal threats but now it is in writing," Malik told AFP by telephone from India, where she is hosting cricket World Cup show "Big Toss".

"Security is a concern and the Pakistani government is responsible for my and my family's security. I hope that the government will provide me that security," Malik said.

The actress said people with tight security details had been killed in Pakistan, referring to the January assassination of Punjab governor Salman Taseer over his opposition to a draconian blasphemy law.

"What can I say except that I have firm belief in God and life and death is in his hand," she said.

You see, we have to maintain order in the eyes of the Taliban - we have to completely understand that under the command of allah, touching a man on television is against allah's will and constitutes punishment by death but bombing a school building and killing 30 girls under the age of 12 is acceptable to the moon god. Oh, and don't forget that it's perfectly okay for a 40 year old Taliban man to bugger a 10 year old boy. But dammit, do NOT go and touch a man from India!

The really crazy part of all of this is the fact that this death threat is real - these clowns will actually try and kill this woman. Mark my words...although it might be six months or so from now, you'll see a little blurb somewhere that an actress from Pakistan had her car blown up and she's deader than dead.

Death threats for actress who 'shamed' Pakistan


LAHORE, Pakistan — A well-known Pakistani actress Saturday said she had received death threats from militants after appearing on the Indian equivalent of hit reality television show "Big Brother".

Veena Malik, 27, incurred the wrath of hardline Islamic clerics for her performance on "Big Boss", during which she indulged in several intimate scenes with Indian actor Ashmit Patel that included massaging his head and neck.

Clerics accused her of shaming Pakistan in rival India and she also received a letter threatening to "punish" her.

"I am quite shocked after receiving this letter. First I got only verbal threats but now it is in writing," Malik told AFP by telephone from India, where she is hosting cricket World Cup show "Big Toss".

"Security is a concern and the Pakistani government is responsible for my and my family's security. I hope that the government will provide me that security," Malik said.

The actress said people with tight security details had been killed in Pakistan, referring to the January assassination of Punjab governor Salman Taseer over his opposition to a draconian blasphemy law.

"What can I say except that I have firm belief in God and life and death is in his hand," she said.

Malik said she would return to Pakistan despite the threats.

"To live in my country is my right. I am a daughter of this soil. I guarantee that I will come back to Pakistan and will live in my own country," she said.

"My hands are clean. And I have done nothing wrong. I am not the person to back out after such threats."

Sohail Rashid, Malik's media manager, said she had received a letter from the little-known Maulana Ahmed Masood, who claims to be a leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban, or the Taliban movement.

The authenticity of the threat letter or the credentials of its writer could not be verified and the spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan was not immediately available.

"The letter says that Tehreek-e-Taliban has taken a decision as a Muslim to punish Veena Malik soon," Rashid told AFP.

"We want our daughters and sisters in our homes only and Veena Malik, who is humiliating Pakistan's name in India, will be punished soon," Rashid quoted from the letter.

"We are soon going to punish Veena Malik so that our future generations may be afraid of going to India. It is the responsibility of all Pakistanis and Muslims, but now we are going to accomplish it," Rashid quoted the letter as saying.

Ties between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars since 1947 over Kashmir, have been dogged by border and resource disputes, and accusations of Pakistani militant activity in India.

One Retired Gurkha Soldier vs. 40 Attackers...and It Is NO Contest

Perhaps some of you have seen articles of Gurkha soldiers fighting on the side of NATO over in the Afghanistan War or seen some videos where they are present but they are there for a reason - Gurkha soldiers are renowned and even legendary for their fighting prowess and courage. The Gurkhas are often aligned with British troops.

Well, this story out of StrategyPage details just what happened in India (where a lot of Gurkhas live) when a retired Gurkha soldier and decorated hero found himself on a train filled with bandits demanding money, jewelry and even sex with young women.

From the article:

When the bandits reached Shrestha, he was ready to give up his valuables, but then the 18 year old girl sitting next to him was grabbed by the robbers, who wanted to rape her. The girl, who knew Shrestha was a retired soldier, appealed to him for help. So he pulled out the large, curved khukuri knife that all Gurkha soldiers (and many Gurkha civilians) carry, and went after the bandits. In the narrow aisle of the train, a trained fighter like Shrestha had the advantage. Although some of the bandits had pistols, they were either fake (a common ploy in India), inoperable, or handled by a man who didn't want to get too close to an angry Gurkha. After about ten minutes of fighting in the train aisles, eleven bandits were dead or wounded, and the rest of them decided to drop their loot (200 cell phones, 40 laptops, lots of jewelry, and nearly $10,000 in cash) and flee. The train resumed its journey promptly, in case the bandits came back, and to get medical aid for the eight bandits who had been cut up by Shrestha (who was also wounded in one hand). Shrestha required two months of medical treatment to recover the full use of his injured hand.

Now, if this retired soldier had taken on and beaten SIX assailants, he would be a hero but 40??!! Can you picture the looks on the faces of some of those bandits as they saw about three of their buddies cut down like dead tree stumps?

I encourage you to read the full article below as it details some of the warrior attitude of the Gurkhas that has taken place in Afghanistan. Let's put it this way...there are members of the Taliban in Afghanistan who will gladly run from the Gurkhas just as quickly as those chicken shit robbers on that Indian train.

(Hat Tip: Sharku)

One Gurkha, 40 Bandits, No Contest


February 3, 2011: For the last five months, India has been celebrating and honoring a retired Gurkha soldier (Bishnu Shrestha) who, singlehandedly killed three bandits, wounded eight and drove off another 30. Snce then Shrestha has been given medals, cash and accolades for his outstanding valor and prowess. The Indian Gurkha regiment he recently retired from persuaded him to return to active duty so he could receive a cash award and a promotion. Bishnu Shrestha's father had also served with the same unit, and retired from it 29 years ago.

All this occurred because Bishnu Shrestha was on a train where about forty bandits, pretending to be passengers, suddenly revealed themselves, and, armed with knives, swords and pistols, stopped the train in the jungle, and proceeded to rob the hundreds of passengers. When the bandits reached Shrestha, he was ready to give up his valuables, but then the 18 year old girl sitting next to him was grabbed by the robbers, who wanted to rape her. The girl, who knew Shrestha was a retired soldier, appealed to him for help. So he pulled out the large, curved khukuri knife that all Gurkha soldiers (and many Gurkha civilians) carry, and went after the bandits. In the narrow aisle of the train, a trained fighter like Shrestha had the advantage. Although some of the bandits had pistols, they were either fake (a common ploy in India), inoperable, or handled by a man who didn't want to get too close to an angry Gurkha. After about ten minutes of fighting in the train aisles, eleven bandits were dead or wounded, and the rest of them decided to drop their loot (200 cell phones, 40 laptops, lots of jewelry, and nearly $10,000 in cash) and flee. The train resumed its journey promptly, in case the bandits came back, and to get medical aid for the eight bandits who had been cut up by Shrestha (who was also wounded in one hand). Shrestha required two months of medical treatment to recover the full use of his injured hand.

Such incidents are rare, but not that unusual for Gurkha soldiers. Two months before Shrestha fought the 40 bandits, another Gurkha solider in Afghanistan, found himself facing court martial for doing what Gurkha's are trained to do (beheading an enemy in combat with his khukuri). The trouble began when the accused Gurkha's unit had been sent in pursuit of a group of Taliban believed to contain a local Taliban leader. When the Gurkhas caught up with the Taliban, a gun battle broke out and several of the enemy were killed. The Gurkhas were ordered to retrieve the bodies of the dead Taliban, to see if one of them was the wanted leader. But the Gurkhas were still under heavy fire, and the Gurkha who reached one body realized he could not drag it away without getting shot. Thinking fast, he cut off the dead Taliban's head and scampered away to safety.

When senior British commanders heard of this, they had the Gurkha arrested (and sent back to Britain for trial), and apologized to the family of the dead Taliban. The head was returned, so that the entire body (as required by Islamic law) could be buried. The British are very sensitive about further angering pro-Taliban Afghans, and go out of their way to collect all body parts of dead Taliban (especially those hit with bombs), so that the body can be buried according to Islamic law. The Taliban use accusations of Western troops disrespecting Islam as a major part of their propaganda efforts. When there are no real cases of such disrespect, which is usually the case, they make it up. British officials have said nothing about this case since, indicating that they are waiting for the fuss to go away.

As far as beheading goes, the Taliban often do that on living victims, which even horrifies Afghan warriors. That's because Gurkhas have been fighting Afghans for centuries, in the service of Britain or Indian princes. Gurkhas, who tend to be Hindus, featured prominently in an Indian effort to stop Moslem armies from entering India 1,300 years ago, and pushing the Moslems out of Kandahar (which was then an Indian border town).

Gurkhas are tribal people (of Tibetan and Mongol origin) from the mountains of Nepal, and have interacted, and intermarried, with Indians for thousands of years. Britain fought a war with the Gurkha kingdom two centuries ago, and found them such formidable opponents that they began hiring them as mercenaries, and continue to do so. India has even more Gurkha mercenaries than Britain, and Gurkhas are popular security operatives worldwide. Most Afghans are somewhat amused at the British punishing a Gurkha for simply doing what Gurkhas have been doing to Afghans for a long, long time. But the Gurkhas put their skills to use wherever they are, no matter what they are up against. Bishnu Shrestha, however, took the legend a step further, by defeating 40 armed bandits all by himself. That was just a bit unusual, even for a Gurkha. But not unexpected.