Category Archives: Current Operations
Goodbye Guardian
The Philippine Coast Guard is running a slideshow chronicling the dismantling of the USS Guardian (MCM 5) on their website, the sad end to an American warship. If it doesn’t hurt too much to watch a vessel cut to pieces, it’s worth a view.
The Situation in Borneo
It is, says foreign policy analyst Joseph Hammond, “one of the most bizarre relationships in international relations.” Mix in rival secular and religious insurgent groups, titular heads of state, and a tenuous peace process and you have the background for a dramatic stand-off on the island of Borneo. CNN Reports: Malaysian police and [...]
Read MoreRe-examining the Gulf of Guinea: Fewer Attacks, Better Pirates
Along with the release of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB)’s 2012 piracy report come the onslaught of analysts seeking to explain 1) why the crime is decreasing in certain theaters, 2) why it is expanding in others, and 3) where it will spread next. The top story is that global pirate attacks have hit a five-year [...]
Read MoreHuman Smuggling Across the Gulf of Aden
While Somali piracy may have been significantly down in 2012, another type of illicit activity in the Gulf of Aden has continued to increase. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 107,500 people fled Africa for Yemen via the sea in 2012. This was an increase from 103,000 in [...]
Read MorePirate Horizons in the Gulf of Guinea
This article is the second installment of a three part series on the evolution of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. The initial background piece can be found here, while an appraisal of counter-piracy strategies and initiatives will appear next month. It was proclaimed in 2012 that the Somali pirate business model had been broken [...]
Read MoreIsraeli Naval Options For Gaza
As fighting continues Friday between Israel and Hamas, the region braces for an expanded Israel Defense Force (IDF) incursion into the Gaza Strip – a possibility indicated by the government approval of a mobilization of up of 30,000 reservists. Such a move would consist mostly of air and ground forces, but the Israeli Navy would also have a [...]
Read MoreAsymmetric Zombie Warfare
What can zombies teach the military and law enforcement about asymmetric warfare and counter-terrorism? San Diego is about to find out thanks to a privately run conference coinciding with Halloween. (Note: NOT part of International Maritime Satire Week): “This is a very real exercise, this is not some type of big costume party,” said Brad [...]
Read MoreThe Tenacious Dutch: HNMLS Rotterdam v Pirates
The Dutch have done it again. HNMLS Rotterdam, flagship of NATO’s OCEAN SHIELD counter-piracy operation yesterday decisively won an engagement with a suspected pirate dhow just off the coast of Somalia. NATO’s Allied Operations site has the story: A boarding team from Rotterdam was making an approach on a suspect dhow near the coast when [...]
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