Are all those from Somalia terrorists? No. From Yemen? Saudi Arabia? Pakistan? No. Are all Muslims? No. But there certainly is a pattern and a profile to look out for here:

Federal agents in a sting operation arrested a Somali-born teenager just as he tried blowing up a van he believed was loaded with explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, authorities said.

The bomb was an elaborate fake supplied by the agents and the public was never in danger, authorities said.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Friday just after he dialed a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents and police swooping down on him.

Yelling “Allahu Akbar!” _ Arabic for “God is great!” _ Mohamud tried to kick agents and police after he was taken into custody, according to prosecutors.

“The threat was very real,” said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. “Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale,”

A law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Saturday that federal agents began investigating the suspect after receiving a tip from someone who was concerned about the teenager.

The FBI affidavit that outlined the investigation alleges that Mohamud planned the attack for months, at one point mailing bomb components to FBI operatives, whom he believed were assembling the device.

According to the official, Mohamud hatched the plan on his own and without any instruction from a foreign terrorist organization, and he planned the details, including where to park the van for the maximum number of casualties.

The affidavit said Mohamud was warned several times about the seriousness of his plan, that women and children could be killed, and that he could back out, but he told agents: “Since I was 15 I thought about all this;” and “It’s gonna be a fireworks show … a spectacular show.”

Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Corvallis, was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Traditionally, al-Qaeda has gone for the spectacular. But with all these jihadi-wannabes and “copy-cat” terrorists, how long before we have another “Allahu Akbar” attack on American soil of a scale more along the lines of the Ft. Hood shooting than 9/11? We Americans gather in numerous public spaces- shopping malls, movie theaters, concerts, carnivals, etc.

Our whole way of life can be transformed, yet again, should more and more terror-attacks, whether it be from lone Islamic wannabe-jihadists or organized terror networks, look to conduct less spectacular operations whose plannings may be harder to discover before they’re hatched.

Of interest: A Somali Teen’s Path to Jihad

Just caught this on the Today Show:

Lots of links at ThreatsWatch this morning for those interested in some of the latest on the war with Islamist terror.

Well, it’s gone. 2009 is finally freaking GONE

The year started with my wife outta work, no family income (I just get beer money for my books), two sick kids, the neighbor’s trampoline had just taken flight into the back of our car-almost totaling it.

The year continued…

Obama took office. He and Dems gave a trillion dollars in “stimulus” money to their organized labor donors who paid 80% of their campaign money (according to the Federal Election Commission website) with the idea that if the kickback wasn’t given right away unemployment would rise above 8%.

Then unemployment reached almost 11% (almost 25% in some states…states that probably won’t be blue again in the fall-not w 1:4 voters outta work!).
The war in Iraq continues under the Bush plan, and Obama-who had pledged for 2yrs to focus on Afghanistan-took 10 months to decide on what to do.

Also in Afghanistan, our own Flopping Aces writer, Chris Galloway returned from his tour there in April, but on June 30th his months of being unable to adjust, his frustrations w Obama and the left’s ignorance of the war on terror among other challenges drove him to take his own life. God bless you Chris! You’re missed more than you know.

My wife did find a job, but 3 more of my friends lost their jobs (2 of em far left, unabashed moonbat Obama lovers).

Last night, my wife and I did the usual. We looked back on the year, we complained about some things, and we thanked God for others (a trip to Disneyworld with our kids that was the greatest vacation in our lives!). We talked about making resolutions, and decided on a list of things we wanna try and do instead. As we waited up for the ball to drop on TV, I got a facebook message that a friend of mine’s mom had just died. 2009 was going out like bitch.

I dunno what 2010 will bring. I know the deadline for Iran to give up its nuclear program has come and gone, and that Obama “strongly objected” to the tyrannical oppression of the Iranian people. I know that even if the current plan in Iraq works, 50-70,000 American combat troops will just be re-named “security forces” in October. I know that there’s no plan for fighting terrorists in Afghanistan other than to make soldiers read Miranda rights if they choose to capture a suicide bomber (should Marines get badges now, or will those grunts just toss em on the ground w a firm, “Badges!? We don’t need no stinking badges!”?). I know that even TIME Magazine reported that there is no military option for Yemen. I know from a friend just back from the region that Somalia is a war zone w Americans fully involved and the world ignoring it (but Obama did get a peace prize). I know that Israel is not gonna wait forever re: Iran, that Russia’s making offensive weapons again for the first time in 20yrs, and I know that if I look around the web or TV I can still find some leftwinger nutroots moonbat moron blaming Bush for something-anything-even though Obama’s been President for a year now.

More than anything, I know that 2009 changed me. Chris’ death effects me harder than any other that I’ve known in Iraq or Afghanistan. I know that what pissed him off politically and militarily pisses me off too. I know that the trip I took w my wife and kids to Disneyworld in December changed me somehow. I no longer care as much about trying to warn people on the left of threats. I no longer care to debate them about the validity of the war in Iraq, about the need for the war in Afghanistan, or the (4) 911 Commission report causes that drove Al Queda to start killing Americans in 1992 (3:4 of which were blowback from America’s war on Iraq).

I care more about my family now. I care more about my friends. I don’t live in a leftist nest like San Fran, LA, NYC, DC, or Boston, and since I live between the burbs and farm country in Ohio…I don’t think the war whose name must not be spoken is gonna effect me as much as it will those who cannot dare to speak its name. I will not be attacked. Al Queda’s not gonna waste operatives in the Akron area as much as they gonna aim for someplace where the leftnuts are all gathered-like NYC and DC on 911.

So, when the next attack comes, and it will, it’s gonna be aimed at those who continue to try and pretend there is no war, there is no threat, and if we’re just nice to everyone around the world (except Republicans who they wish would die ala Rush Limbaugh), then everything will be fine. I’ve tried for years to explain documented threats and ties, and now those people need to learn on their own. How? Well, Clinton’s Counterterrorism Czar, Richard Clarke, was asked by the 911 Commission back in 2004, and he told them there’s only 1 thing that gets Americans to recognize the threat: “more body bags.”

Maybe the same is true with the economy. Maybe the leftnuts who lose their jobs and can’t find another will start to ask why they can’t? Maybe they’ll start to see that repealing the Bush tax cuts (or letting them expire) is not a good idea ’cause it raises the tax on those same people who do the hiring? Maybe they’ll see that they can’t find a job because small business owners had their taxes increased, and they have less to spend on new hires? Maybe they’ll see that forcing businesses to spend more on healthcare means less money for hiring them? Maybe the nutroots people who are outta work will say, “Gosh, I like taxing people who make $250,000 a year, but…now those people are spending their money on these new taxes instead of spending it on hiring me? With 1:4 people in the blue state of Michigan looking for work…it could happen.

2009 was a good year and a bad year. Obama gave himself a B+ for having accomplished nothing. Since, by the Bush standard, he is responsible for everything then 2009 gets a B+. If you agree, then great. If you don’t, then you must be some sort of right winger teabagger conservative wackjob (at least by MSNBC, Huffpo, and NYT standards).

In the end, I’m optimistic about 2010. Why-with so much potential horror looming?! I’m optimistic because like no other time in our recent history…there is no place for the left to hide. No conspiracy theories, no blaming Bush, not denial or deliberate ignoring of wars, nothing can hide them from the cold dark realities of the world, from the broken promises of their leaders, from their own cowardly refusal to open their minds to the scary scary thought that if something wasn’t Bush’s fault or the Repubs’ fault, then what caused it?

What caused the recession?
Why are so many out of work?
Why are Dems supporting the indefinite war in Iraq now?
Why did Al Queda start killing Americans?
What if Bush’s anti-charisma wasn’t to blame for “the world hating us?”

So many more cold questions that they didn’t even dare to ask before, but this year…this year they cannot even escape the answers.

Welcome Dems, welcome to reality

Gunmen from Hizbul Islam head for Somalia’s southern port of Kismayu October 1, 2009. Rival Islamist rebels battled in southern Somalia’s Kismayu port on Thursday, killing at least 20 people and the fighting threatened to spread to other parts of the failed Horn of Africa state.
REUTERS/Feisal Omar

NYTimes:

United Nations officials say Somalia has not been in such perilous shape since the central government collapsed in 1991 and is in desperate need of help.

But right now that help is being delayed, they say, at least partly because the American government is worried that its aid is going to feed terrorists.

American officials are concerned that United Nations contractors may be funneling American donations to the Shabab, a Somali terrorist group with growing ties to Al Qaeda.

~~~

American officials are increasingly concerned that the Shabab and their allies are working with Al Qaeda to turn Somalia into a factory for global jihad.

Some Somali-Americans have already joined the Shabab as suicide bombers, raising the prospects that one day men like these could exploit their American citizenship and return to the United States to wreak havoc.

The Shabab have been waging a vicious guerrilla war against Somalia’s transitional government, which has grass-roots support and foreign backing, but is hobbled by a weak and untrustworthy military.

While the transitional government struggles to establish itself, United Nations officials say they have no choice but to work with local Shabab commanders to distribute critically needed aid, like 110-pound bags of sorghum, tins of vegetable oil, plastic sheeting and medical supplies, in Shabab-controlled areas.

But are United Nations contractors actually helping the Shabab fight their war? Preliminary information from a continuing United Nations investigation indicates that some of the biggest Somali contractors hired by the United Nations World Food Program may be sharing their proceeds with the Shabab or their allies, or, at a minimum, turning a blind eye when militants steal sacks of American-donated grain and sell them on the open market to get money for guns.

“We know W.F.P. contractors have been diverting food to the Shabab,” said one official close to the investigation, who was not allowed to speak publicly. “And we’re talking about millions of dollars of food.”

World Food Program officials have been tight-lipped about the allegations. Peter Smerdon, a spokesman for the agency in Kenya, said the World Food Program was conducting its own separate investigation and “taking immediate actions to increase security at W.F.P. warehouses and other distribution points.”

Because Somalia is so dangerous, especially for foreigners, it is extremely difficult for international aid agencies to closely monitor operations inside the country, especially since most of the agencies are based hundreds of miles away in Kenya.

Somali businessmen, with thin résumés and fat contracts, are given enormous leeway in how they carry out their multimillion-dollar aid duties. On top of that, there is no national banking system, so the United Nations is left with an informal money transfer network to move hundreds of millions of dollars of cash.

Last Wednesday’s South Park meets Somali pirates in “Fatbeard” (Quick! While it lasts).

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

As I pointed out in two posts recently – (Bubble to burst on high seas thuggery and Pirates seek revenge on French and Americans) – the US confrontation with Somali pirates during the rescue of Capt. Phillips has forever changed the piracy game plan, and the US’s ability to sit on the sidelines. It was, IMHO, only a matter of time before the US designated terror group, al-Shabab and their AQ allies jumped on the bandwagon, racing to the Somali pirates’ aide. They, like Rahm Emmanuel, see no reason to let a crisis go to waste.

Thus far, all the talking heads have been assuring the world that the pirates pure motivation was economic, and not ideology. I, however, has said over and over that fisherman don’t buy their weaponry and maritime equipment from the local bait shop. They would turn to local contacts, most especially for illegal arms. And who is better equipped with those contacts than their backyard jihadists, al Shabab?

Back on April 2nd, J. Peter Pham, writing for the World Defense Review, agreed with my belief of heightened risks in the wake of the rescue, pointing out that not only were the Somali sea thugs not deterred by the US military, the possibility of a terrorist attack in the name of piracy has been growing.

Second, there is the risk of a terrorist incident targeting the naval vessels. Bruno Schiemsky, who formerly served as on the United Nations committee monitoring the arms embargo on Somalia, wrote earlier this year in an article on Somali piracy for Jane’s Intelligence Review:

Although this criminal activity is motivated primarily by the desire for financial gain, encouraged by a weak state and high poverty levels, there are indications that the pirates based around Kismayo and Harardheere (not Puntland) are strengthening links with Islamist insurgent group the Shabaab. As part of this relationship, the pirates are becoming more closely involved in arms trafficking through the region, increasing their potential sources of revenue…Although sources indicate that the Shabaab as yet plays no active role in piracy attacks, despite its links to pirate groups, this may change as the Shabaab develops its maritime component.

There are already indications that, as Schiemsky suggests, al-Shabaab is in fact developing a primitive maritime capacity, mainly to ensure the security of its smuggling operations bringing foreign jihadists into and out of Somalia as well as moving weapons and other materiel into the country. It should be recalled that the suicide bomber who killed four South Korean tourists and their local guide near the ancient fortress city of Shibam, Yemen, on March 15, Abdel Rahman Mehdi al-Aajbari, had gone to Somalia for training and returned to his native country to carry out the deadly attack. Given that the leadership of al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked group that was formally designated a “foreign terrorist organization” last year by the U.S. Department of State, clearly puts such ideologically-motivated objectives as driving non-Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula above its more direct political goal of toppling the flailing “Transitional Federal Government” (TFG) of Somalia – to say nothing of the pecuniary interests which drive the pirates – would it be too far-fetched to imagine the temptation which the assembling fleet must present to them?

He then references this all was prior to Osama Bin Laden’s latest tape to bolster the jihad movement in Somalia.

Just two days ago, Dina Temple-Raston, writing for the NPR, also noted experts were worried about AQ joining overtly into the lucrative piracy business.

Al-Qaida is nothing if not opportunistic. Its leadership watches the news carefully. It tracks how stories play. It adapts its tactics. Now, counterterrorism experts are worried that al-Qaida and its affiliates will be inspired by Somali pirates.

“Potentially, piracy is a platform for their activities,” says Robert D. Kaplan, a fellow at the nonpartisan Center for a New American Security. “There are already al-Qaida affiliates in Somalia. If they can make contact with pirate federations, then al-Qaida can use piracy as a form of terrorism.”

In recent months, al-Qaida has strengthened its ties with a Somali terrorist group called al-Shabab. And experts worry that group, through clan ties or family connections, could give al-Qaida an opening to the pirates.

“We should assume that al-Qaida will try to morph in whatever direction possibilities emerge,” says Kaplan. “And, remember, al-Qaida lives off weakly governed states in an Islamic cultural setting, and that perfectly describes Somalia.”

The article then turns to the more predictable rhetoric about the distance AQ has kept between their cause and the pirates…. and in fact makes special note about their silence during the US standoff.

The al-Qaida leadership was noticeably quiet during the latest standoff between the pirates and the U.S. Navy. There were no supportive video messages, no cry about the U.S. infidels attacking fellow Muslims. Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, says that is because al-Qaida is trying to lay low.

“In general these days, al-Qaida is remaining very quiet,” he says. “And I see it as part of an overall pattern of their working with local affiliates and not being front and center as they once were.”

Hoffman also believes that the pirates are a welcome diversion… possibly keeping Obama’s eye fixed soundly on Afghanistan/Pakistan. Kaplan, however, notes that the financial benefits of piracy would be enticing for funding jihad efforts.

It didn’t take long to prove those who attribute piracy only to economic means wrong. AQ, ever the opportunists, today have decided to publicly call on the Somali pirates as their own allies.

From Khaled Wassef at CBS News:

(CBS)A senior Saudi Arabian al Qaeda operative has called on Somali jihadists to step up their attacks on “crusader” forces at sea in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, and on land in neighboring Djibouti, which hosts France’s largest military base in Africa.

“To our steadfast brethren in Somalia, take caution and prepare yourselves,” Sa’id Ali Jabir Al Khathim Al Shihri (aka Abu Sufian al-Azdi) says in a new audiotape acquired by CBS News. “Increase your strikes against the crusaders at sea and in Djibouti.”

Shihri warns Somali militants against a conspiracy led by “the crusaders, the Jews and traitor Arab rulers,” to put an end to the Muslim extremists’ progress in Somalia.

“The crusaders, the Jews and the traitorous rulers did not come to the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden except to wage war against you in Somalia and abolish your newly established emirate, and by Allah, they shall be defeated. They shall bring a curse upon their people,” Shihri said.

“We shall not leave them this time until we get to their own countries with the help of Allah.”

It was the first clear sign since the U.S. and French navies thwarted recent pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden that al Qaeda is trying to take advantage of anti-Western sentiment, and a ready supply of well-armed young men with access to boats and maritime skills, in the restive country.

The “first clear sign”…. ah, those that require smoking guns to substantiate logic must now be feeling rather foolish at their optimism that AQ and their affiliated jihad movements would never stoop to piracy and blemish their pure cause.

In fact, according to one maritime intel source cited in the article, the talking heads have been wrong for about nine months now… noting that the links between the pirates and AQ-linked groups has been on the rise since then. Not that it stopped the same ol’ talking points from the media, mind you. Facts never do.

Shihri is, of course, another of those Gitmo grads (released in Nov 2007 to Saudi Arabia, and showed up in Yemen as an AQ leader) that needed to be let go after six years detention. As appears the norm, the evidence of his movements came up against a wall, as he repeatedly denied being involved with terrorists.

Al-Shihri was stopped at a Pakistani border crossing in December 2001 with injuries from an airstrike and recuperated at a hospital in Quetta for a month and a half, according to the Defense Department. Within days of his release, he became one of the first detainees sent to Guantanamo.

Al-Shihri allegedly traveled to Afghanistan two weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, provided money to other fighters and trained at an urban warfare at a camp north of Kabul, according to a summary of the evidence against him from U.S. military review panels at Guantanamo Bay.

An alleged travel coordinator for al Qaeda, he was also accused of meeting extremists in Mashad, Iran and briefing them on how to enter Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department documents.

Al-Shihri, however, said he traveled to Iran to buy carpets for his store in Riyadh. He said he felt Osama bin Laden had no business representing Islam, denied any links to terrorism and expressed interest in rejoining his family in Saudi Arabia.

Apparently the level of evidence required to try such scum as Shihri is higher than those ACLU lawyers care to admit. We are led to believe it’s a bunch of victims held at Club Gitmo, picked up off the street doing daily errands.

Tim Sumner had an interesting post on the Free Republic a couple of days ago, stating the pirates were acting as taxi/shuttles for al Shabab weapons and terrorist fighters… (or would that also be AQ weapons and terrorist fighters?) Additionally they were splitting some of their ransom monies with al Shabab.

If none of these business ties with terrorists…. er, overseas contingency operations… can change the BS talking head rhetoric of “criminals driven by economics”, perhaps the outright call by AQ today will.

For those that thought the Somali pirates would avoid another run in with the US Naval forces… even for awhile… wrong.

The Liberty Sun sustained damaged from rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons when Somali pirates attempted to seize her. The ship is carrying food aid for CARE and the World Food Programme, and headed for Mombassa.

There were no injuries and the families of the crew members have been notified.

The USS Bainbridge, which had rescued the Maersk Alabama, was on site within hours, although the pirates had already left by the time the warship got there.

Nor have they been deterred, seizing two Egyptian fishing vessels, the Greek freighter M.V. Irene and a Togo-flagged freighter named the Sea Horse. They also attacked a Liberian freighter, the Safmarine Asia, with the same method as the Liberty Sun…. and lost another fish there.

Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, said pirate attacks this year had risen to 78, with at least 19 ships hijacked and more than 300 crew members still in pirates’ hands. Each boat carries the potential of a million-dollar ransom.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States can’t end Somali piracy by itself and noted that 16 nations have warships in the region, which is roughly four times the size of Texas.

When Mullen was asked today whether the United States had considered attacking the pirate strongholds in Somalia, the admiral told ABC’s “Good Morning America”: “I’ve asked and we’ve been doing this. We’ve initiated a review on the Joint Staff to look broadly and widely and deeply at the overall strategy.”

Secy of Defense, Robert Gates, doesn’t see the need to beef up the military attacks, saying those decisions are being made “moment by moment”.

On another front, Secy of State, Hillary, is attempting to push other nations to build naval forces against the piracy.

“This could escalate violence in this part of the world, no question about it,” said Vice Adm. William Gortney, the 5th Fleet commander in the region.

~~~

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, “There is no purely military solution to” the piracy plague.

“What we’re trying to do is work with a number of countries in the region and around the world to help bring some political and economic stability to Somalia,” said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.

Clinton was looking to convene the international contact group of European and African states on the unrest in East Africa.

What other navies? Just how many of these Euro and African nations have naval forces of any significant size??

In response to the recent hijacking attempt of an American vessel President Obama couldn’t even read his own teleprompter

“And I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of privacy in that region.”
Even George Bush was better than this.

What did Senator Obama do about piracy when he was a Senator and Democrats controlled Congress? Nothing. He didn’t even go to the committee hearings on it.

* July 11, 2006 – Somalia: U.S. Government Policy and Challenges
* July 17, 2007 – Democratic Developments in Sub-Saharan Africa – Moving Forwards or Backwards
* August 1, 2007 – Exploring the U.S. Africa Command and a New Strategic Relationship with Africa
* September 27, 2007 – The United Nation’s Convention on the Law of the Sea
* March 11, 2008 – Evaluating U.S. Policy Options on the Horn of Africa

But Obama’s been consistent. He’s always claimed that he’s not just about words. He’s about action, and “words mean something.” What exactly his pledge to stop privacy off the coast of Somalia means I don’t know, but it didn’t stop the Somali pirates who seized 3 more ships since he made his remarks.

It seems like the best defense against Somali pirates anymore isn’t the USN (recall that the American crew had to rescue themselves from the pirates), but rather mother nature’s armada of dolphins.

The White House said Monday that President Obama’s loud silence during last week’s standoff with Somali pirates who hijacked a U.S. cargo ship and held the captain hostage was necessary in such a tense situation.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president, who came under fire over the weekend for staying mum on the drama, did not want to make the situation “even potentially more dangerous by putting the president out there for the captives to see.”

C’mon, the pirates were 150′ away from one of the most sophisticated naval ships ever built, and we’re supposed to believe they had an uninterruptable live- video link to CNN…one that couldn’t be jammed by a BILLION dollar warship literally a stone’s throw away?

The reality is that Obama
1) was clueless
2) was indecisive
3) was too busy picking out a puppy (decisions are tough things)

90 days into his Administration, let’s take a look at President Obama’s accomplishments and challenges.

Iraq
-President Obama has vowed to remove “about” 100,000 troops within 19 months, leave 50,000 there indefinitely without a date for their withdrawal, and also in keeping with President Bush’s policy, he’ll adhere to the Status of Forces Agreement. However, General Odierno in Iraq says that there’s a good chance that timeline ain’t gonna happen.

Iran
-President Obama campaigned on the promise to “talk” to Iran, and made the world expect that simply talking to the Iranians would make the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism (which is actively attacking Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan as you read this) stop making their nuclear bomb factories. He tried backdoor communications. He tried writing a letter. He sent a video to the Iranian people. He tried UN communications. He’s even trying direct communications in the UN negotiations. None of this has worked one bit. Iran now boasts it has 7000 centrifuges up and running, and the Israelis are saying that if Obama doesn’t get some sort of result soon….they’ll attack Iran on their own. Such an attack would no doubt bring a retaliation from Iran, and US forces are literally, physically under caught in the crossfire of ballistic missiles, airstrikes, and commando operations. Talk might work, but it’s time to start talking fast.

Afghanistan
-President Obama has sent a few more troops there, but only half as many as were originally going to go. Sec Defense Gates says that making Afghanistan a secure & stable ally in the war on terror is an objective the US cannot meet. SO, Obama has sent more diplomats instead. He also went to Europe (as promised during his campaign) to get NATO to send more troops, but he failed.

Pakistan
-Obama’s stepped up covert operations inside Pakistan, killed hundreds of civilians with Predator drone missile attacks, and put the nuclear armed nation of 170million people on the verge of collapse.

Thailand
-President Obama has done nothing to stave off the collapse of that Southeast Asian nation, and it is in the midst of collapsing.

Somalia
-Somalia effectively collapsed years and years ago. Since then piracy has become its biggest source of GDP. Recently, the long-ignored problem of Somali piracy hit home when an American-flagged cargo ship was seized. The crew-not confident that they’d be saved by the US Navy, Obama Admin diplomatic talks, or the UN forces in the area-rescued themselves. The Captain was taken hostage, and President Obama chose to vote PRESENT rather than give an order to rescue the hostage from the 4 teenage tribesman/pirates. Instead, his vague order was to take action only if the hostage was in imminent danger (this after the Captain had tried to escape and been shot at, but apparently being shot at isn’t imminent danger). Thankfully, 4 US Navy SEAL Team snipers fired in unison and made truly remarkable shots. The issues was closed, and now the dazed and confused Obama Admin policy regarding Somali pirates has shifted to chest-thumping bragging, credit stealing, and impotent threats to attack pirate bases on shore.

North Korea
-North Korea was kind enough to give a full 6 weeks of daily warnings that it was going to launch an ICBM in direct violation of multiple UN resolutions. President Obama said that words have to mean something. He said that a rogue regime cannot be allowed to flaunt, dismiss, and ignore the will of the United Nations. Sadly, his words meant nothing to the North Koreans, so they launched their missile while the Obama Admin in effect did nothing and failed to stop or even dissuade the illegal act.

Mexico
-Like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Thailand, and other emerging crisis’, Mexico is also on the verge of collapse. Again, the Obama Administration has in effect done nothing to curb this. However, there was talk of immigration reform in the United States which would allow Mexican refugees from a collapse to come here to the United States where jobs are plentiful, and the economy can support the influx of millions of poverty stricken, jobless, homeless people.