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Swedish navy arrests pirates off Somali coast
www.thelocal.se ^ | 05/26/2009 | TT/AFP/The Local

Posted on 05/26/2009 10:58:07 AM PDT by WesternCulture

Swedish naval personnel arrested seven pirates in the Gulf of Aden in the early hours of Tuesday morning, according to a statement from the Swedish Armed Forces.

The pirates were apprehended by staff from the HMS Malmö as they attempted to board a Greek cargo vessel halfway between Yemen and Somalia.

HMS Malmö was ordered to respond to a distress signal sent out shortly before 1.30am by the M/V Antonis. The cargo ship's crew said they had come under rocket-proppeled grenade fire from two boats manned by pirates.

When the Swedish crew arrived at the scene the pirates were attempting to board the merchant vessel.

HMS Malmö fired warning shots at the pirates using cannons, machine guns and sniper fire in a bid to halt the attack, the Swedish military said.

When the pirates attempted to flee, the HMS Malmö took up the chase, focusing on one of the boats. After around twenty minutes, the pirates gave up and a Swedish crew was dispatched to board the pirates' fishing boat.

Seven men were handcuffed and taken on board the Swedish corvette. The boarding crew also seized two handguns, a GPS navigator and a grappling hook.

The pirates were to be taken to Djibouti on board the HMS Malmö, where further instructions would be issued by the European Union's NAVFOR-Atalanta mission command.

An agreement between the EU and Kenya stipulates that pirates arrested by EU forces are to be taken to Kenya to face trial.

Swedish naval forces began patrolling the Gulf of Aden on May 15th. The Navy's primary task is to watch over the transportation UN food aid to Somalia, though general marine supervision is also included in the force's mandate.

The Swedish naval force consists of the HMS Stockholm, HMS Malmö and the support vessel Trossö and is made up of 152 personnnel.

More information soon.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: africa; kenya; maritime; naval; navy; piracy; somalia; somalipirates; sweden; swedishtroops
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1 posted on 05/26/2009 10:58:08 AM PDT by WesternCulture
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To: WesternCulture
Naturally, this isn't bad news, but a nation with the ability to construct stealth submarines, stealth warships and jet fighters could do so much more if it only took the connection between piracy and the WOT seriously, or the WOT itself seriously to begin with.

Secondly, my Sweden has nine million inhabitants, think about what the Free World as a whole could do together to fight piracy and Islamofascism if it had the necessary political will..

Europe hasn't been totally passive in this struggle against evil, but we Europeans need to wake up and understand we ought to do the MOST of all civilized parts of the World.

Why?

- Even if many would say there are smaller Islamofascist strongholds in the US, there are definitely more of them in Europe and they are stronger over here too. The WOT is reality both abroad and on home soil from a European perspective

- Saudi Arabia is in many was the very source of Islamofascism (what nationality where 15 out of the 19 9/11 hijackers?) and it is very close too Europe geographically speaking. We have a mighty neighbor that never will accept our civilization and forever will cheer over every cm of soil that is lost by Christianity to Islamofascism. USA has no Islamofascist neighbor country (but just perhaps, America ought to rethink its “friendship” with Saudi Arabia or at least ban Islam on American soil like Christianity is banned in Saudi Arabia?)

- Even if USA by far is the richest country on Earth measured by total GDP, Europe as a whole has even more economic resources, Europe is demanding too much of USA and I've met many other Europeans who agree there's no natural law saying that USA alone should finance the bulk of our common civilization's defense.

USA and Europe, as well as other parts of the Free World, must take the situation in Somalia seriously. For many reasons. One is that Islamofascism definitely will become an even larger threat to the Christians living in that corner of the world in a near future if nothing is done about the situation in Somalia.

Maybe we Christians should not care only for the security of Muslims who are threatened by other Muslims?

Even a PC media giant like BBC seems to understand there's an evident connection between piracy and Islamofascism:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8061535.stm

Piracy and Islamofascism go hand in hand. Therefore, I congratulate the Swedish crew of this ship on a job well done, but will not burst out into praise over the ability of our Western leaders to swiftly and proportionally respond to the various aspects of the dilemma of Somali Piracy.

So far, it's been far too little far too late.

2 posted on 05/26/2009 10:58:57 AM PDT by WesternCulture
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To: WesternCulture

the Swedes refer to naval vessel crewmen as “staff”?


3 posted on 05/26/2009 11:02:06 AM PDT by rahbert
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To: WesternCulture

The joke can’t be avoided: Sweden has a navy?


4 posted on 05/26/2009 11:02:49 AM PDT by americanophile
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To: WesternCulture
A better headline, which would indicate the West's intent, would be Swedish Navy Slaughters Pirates off Somali Coast. Until headlines like that are seen, the piracy will continue.
5 posted on 05/26/2009 11:03:28 AM PDT by Oatka ("A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." –Bertrand de Jouvenel)
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To: americanophile
Sweden has a navy?

Yup.

A good one too!


6 posted on 05/26/2009 11:05:14 AM PDT by End Times Sentinel (In Memory of my Dear Friend Henry Lee II)
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To: WesternCulture

Too bad they can’t just feed them to the sharks.


7 posted on 05/26/2009 11:05:14 AM PDT by mrsmel (Put the Gitmo terrorists near Capitol Hill.)
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To: Owl_Eagle

Haha...knew that was coming. Next will be a Vasa pic, but ‘has’ a navy and ‘had’ are two different things. The Spanish had a hell of a fleet too.


8 posted on 05/26/2009 11:06:47 AM PDT by americanophile
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To: WesternCulture

Swedish corvette.? ? ? I would like to see that one. LOL


9 posted on 05/26/2009 11:07:56 AM PDT by 70th Division (I love my country but fear my government!)
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To: WesternCulture

HMS Malmö (K12) är en korvett av Stockholmsklass i svenska marinen. Under 1999 påbörjades moderniseringen av HMS Malmö på Kockums i Karlskrona. År 2000 var det HMS Stockholms tur. Båda fartygen är nu i operativ drift igen


10 posted on 05/26/2009 11:08:32 AM PDT by beebuster2000
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To: WesternCulture
I don't know if it's true, but I read somewhere that some of the pirates want to be arrested so as to get access to possibly living in the West?
11 posted on 05/26/2009 11:08:49 AM PDT by mrsmel (Put the Gitmo terrorists near Capitol Hill.)
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To: WesternCulture

HMS Malmo..?!?! Hahhaha, the irony! That’s the name of the Swedish city where muzzie violence is STRONGEST!

Like the USS Watts putting down a black muzzie uprising, or USS Harlem..!


12 posted on 05/26/2009 11:09:03 AM PDT by gaijin
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To: WesternCulture

Feed the bastards lutefisk!


13 posted on 05/26/2009 11:09:06 AM PDT by Redleg Duke ("Sarah Palin...Unleashing the Fury of the Castrated Left!")
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To: WesternCulture

Good to see more involvement in combatting piracy. Granted, more needs to be done, but this is good to see.


14 posted on 05/26/2009 11:09:23 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Owl_Eagle
"Under Siege IV" Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
"I'm just a cook"
15 posted on 05/26/2009 11:10:50 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB (ACORN:American Corruption for Obama Right Now)
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To: WesternCulture

The US navy needs to upgrade anti-sub warfare capabilities; they need to hunt the very quietest subs.

Which are those? SWEDISH SUBS.

Really.


16 posted on 05/26/2009 11:10:54 AM PDT by gaijin
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To: gaijin

Clarification: The USN has a contract with the Swedes, who play the role of the OpFor, and we hunt them. And they’re very, very hard to detect.


17 posted on 05/26/2009 11:11:50 AM PDT by gaijin
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To: WOBBLY BOB

Very droll, Bob. :)


18 posted on 05/26/2009 11:18:31 AM PDT by NonValueAdded ("Tyranny is always whimsical." Mark Steyn 3/9/2009)
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To: WesternCulture

Don’t arrest them. Just torpedo them and move on...


19 posted on 05/26/2009 11:20:25 AM PDT by theDentist (qwerty ergo typo : i type, therefore i misspelll)
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To: Owl_Eagle; americanophile
- Thanks for the pics, as well as the joke (even though a blind man could've seen that one coming:)!

Seriously speaking, prior to the Viking era, the Scandinavians had a reputation of being “good shipbuilders” among the Romans - as an omen of what was to come.

Today, it seems the Americans are the ones who's something to learn from us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khaa3y0i87s

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/02/sweden-build-wo/

Larger countries with more of economic resources and technological knowhow like, for instance, Germany could probably come up with even more interesting products if there was enough of political will to defend freedom.

20 posted on 05/26/2009 11:25:01 AM PDT by WesternCulture
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