Dinah Lord

Obama - selling buns to the Chinese

Tip of the coolie hat to FReeper Macaca.

In China, Obama's image is used to sell buns by a local vendor.

Is this the way things are headed?  But instead of buns, the Messiah is peddling our Treasury bonds?

Somalia: Pirates release Turkish ship after ransom demands met.

From Reuters:

The MV Yasa Neslihan was en route to China on Wednesday after pirates freed it in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia, Anatolian said, citing Fehmi Ulgener, a lawyer for the Yasa shipping company which owns the vessel.

Yasa officials had been negotiating with the ship's captors for its release and had paid an undisclosed amount of money as ransom, Ulgener told the news agency. The 20 Turkish crew were all safe, he said.

The Marshall Island-flagged Neslihan was carrying 77,000 tonnes of iron ore from Canada to China when pirates seized the ship in the Gulf of Aden in late October.

Update: Contrary to previous rumors the Sirius Star and the MV Faina still remain in pirate hands.  And contrary to the claims of the pirates, it's no picnic being a hostage.  Chinese sailor recalls horror of being captured by Pirates.

China: Anchors aweigh, me mateys.

Chinese navy sets sail for Somalia.

The warships of the People's Liberation Army Navy, decorated by colored ribbons and flowers, were unmoored at the military port by crew members in white naval uniforms who saluted the crowds who saw them off.

Two destroyers, DDG-169 Wuhan and DDG-171 Haikou, and the supply ship Weishanhu from the South Sea Fleet will cruise for about 10 days to arrive in the Gulf of Aden, joining the multinational patrol in one of the world's busiest sea lanes where surging piracy endangers international shipping.

Chinese sailors foiled pirates using Molotov cocktails

Remember those Chinese sailors that sent that pack of scurvy Somali MUSLIM pirates packing?  Here's how they did it.  Molotov cocktails (well, that and some well placed shots from a helicopter.)  I told you I thought this must have been a balls to the wall battle so when I saw this over at Noblesse Oblige I just knew my possums would enjoy it as well.

Despite their best efforts the nine pirates clambered aboard after tying up alongside.

The 30 Chinese crew then locked themselves in their accommodation area - which includes their sleeping rooms, mess rooms and recreation area - to prevent the bandits from entering the ship itself.

The ship's captain, Peng Weiyuan, told Chinese TV that the crew used 'water cannon, self-made incendiary bombs, beer bottles and other missiles to fight the pirates' during the five-hour stand-off.

'Thirty minutes later, the pirates gestured to us for a ceasefire then the helicopters from the joint fleet came to our help.'

(It looks like he's drinking a cold one while he's at it, no?)
More pictures can be found here.

Somalia: Chinese sailors fight off pirate attack.

Now China is thinking of sending warships to the area.

Chinese sailors fought off Somali pirates trying to hijack their ship in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday in a new wave of attacks that saw three other vessels captured.

The high-seas drama heightened after the UN authorised land operations against the sea bandits who are currently demanding ransoms for a Saudi super-tanker, an arms-laden Ukrainian freighter and other ships.

China said it was considering sending warships to the pirate-infested waters as the International Maritime Bureau gave details of how Chinese sailors fought off an attack with the help of international navies.

A band of pirates boarded the "Zhenhua 4" on Wednesday, but the sailors held them off for several hours, giving the international coalition time to rush forces to the vessel.

"I'm actually very surprised that the crew managed to hold back the pirates. I don't know how they did it, but they did it," said Noel Choong, head of the IMB piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.

"Because of this action, the military helicopters came and they managed to chase the pirates away. The pirates on board eventually left the ship and the master is proceeding on his course," he told AFP.

The pirates seized a yacht crewed by two people and two commercial ships: a cargo vessel, the Bosphorus Progidy; and a tug serving as an oil industry support ship, said Mwangura.