Of course these are not "battleships" being discussed. B
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?prod=119491 <http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?prod=119491&shop= dae&modele=release> &shop=dae&modele=release German Shippers Reject British Plan for Private Anti-Piracy Battleships (Source: Deutsche Welle German radio; issued Oct. 27, 2010) The organization that represents a majority of German shipping interests has talked down a British proposal to set up a multi-million-euro private fleet to combat piracy off the Horn of Africa. German shippers have expressed doubts about a proposal by their British counterparts and cargo insurers to set up a private force of speed boats to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia. A spokesman for the German Shipowners Association (VDR), Max Johns, said such a move was not legislated by international law. "We don't believe it would be a clever move to send out private armies on the open sea," said Johns. "In any case, we don't believe any such action would be covered by international sea law." The British plan calls for 20 armed and privately financed speedboats to patrol the waters off the Horn of Africa at a cost of 12 million euros ($16.5 million) a year. Shipowners are currently losing about 115 million euros annually due to piracy. But Johns said a privately financed fleet consisting of combat-ready ships could set a dangerous precedent. "Who knows who might also go out and buy themselves such a fleet," he said. The British proposal comes after a German cargo ship was seized off the coast of eastern Africa earlier this week. The vessel was later released safely after the pirates were unable to move the captured ship. The European Union says pirates are currently holding about 20 ships for ransom off the coast of Africa. -ends- [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
