a bedtime story

The bad pirates were making trouble in the Gulf of Aden.

The Russians sent some ships there to escort commercial vessels. Lots of countries sent ships because the pirates are bad. So bad.

"The warships from the Pacific Fleet have successfully escorted over 100 Russian and foreign commercial ships since January 2009. They have thwarted several attacks by pirates," the official said.

Around 35 warships from the navies of 16 countries are currently deployed off Somalia's coast to counter frequent pirate attacks on key trade routes.

Pirate attacks on commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden and off the east coast of Somalia have amounted to 130 since the beginning of the year, with 44 ships captured and at least 270 people held as hostages.

But while the Russian ships were busy in the Gulf of Aden protecting commercial vessels from the bad pirates, Georgia was playing pirates in the Black Sea! In Russia's back yard! Bad Georgia.

The Georgian government yesterday confirmed to the Agence-France Presse that it had captured two cargo ships in the Black Sea, which it accused of attempted to break their naval blockade by visiting the Republic of Abkhazia.

Abkhazia, predictably, was none to pleased with the capture of the ships: one a Turkish tanker delivering fuel and the other a Cambodian ship with a Syrian crew which was delivering scrap metal, and threatened a “proportionate response” against Georgia for the blockade.

Then...the Arctic Sea went missing for two weeks, and it's all very mysterious, but the Russian navy found it, phew, and not a single shot was fired. And nobody really knows what's going on it's like watching Chinese Olympic ping pong.

The Finnish owner of the Arctic Sea ship, which was missing in the Atlantic for more than two weeks until it was found on Monday, wants reliable information on the crew, the Solchart company said on Friday.

The Maltese-flagged cargo vessel was found off Cape Verde on Monday with 15 Russian crewmembers and eight suspected hijackers on board. The ship was freed by the Russian Ladny missile frigate without a single shot being fired.

"We are appealing to all officials with a request to show humanity and provide Solchart with any reliable information on the crew and the vessel," Viktor Matveyev, managing director of the Finnish company, said.

He said the company had made inquiries to various organizations about the vessel and its crew, and on who was taking the ship to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and for what reason, but had received no reply.

The ship's 11 crew members and all eight of the alleged hijackers were flown to Russia on Thursday. The other four crew members of the Arctic Sea, including the captain, remain on board.

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the ship was heading to Novorossiysk, where the investigation would be continued.

The head of an Arkhangelsk-based trade union of seamen said earlier the Arctic Sea crew had been unable to contact their relatives since they were freed. However, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office dismissed reports on Friday that the crew's rights and freedom of movement were restricted.

Four Estonians, two Latvians and two Russians arrested on board the vessel on suspicion of hijacking are currently being questioned in Russia.

A Moscow court on Friday gave approval for all the eight men accused of hijacking the cargo vessel to be held in custody.

Weird, huh? And right in the middle of that happening the Swedish newspaper went and published that wicked story about the IOF stealing organs from Palestinians. And the Arctic Sea went missing off the coast of Sweden, an area where piracy is unheard of, so...weird.

And now, actually, we hear that the bad pirates who hijacked the Arctic Sea were only trying to help Israel by stopping evil weapons from reaching Iran. !!! So....um, pirates are not bad after all? I guess these are the "good" kind of pirates, the Robin Hood kind of pirates, helping the down-trodden Israelis protect themselves from the evil Iranians.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418669031&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

Pirates recently gained control over a Russian ship off the shores of Sweden in order to prevent weapons smuggling to Iran on Israel's behalf, according to a report by Russian newspaper Nuvia Gueta.

According to Saturday's report, which Army Radio cited, the Russian ship was carrying a load of X-55 cruise missiles intended for Teheran. Several days after the pirates seized the ship, Russian navy forces gained control over the vessel off the coast of West Africa.

Army Radio said Russian authorities denied the report, saying "the allegations are baseless."

Dmitri Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to NATO, said the report was fantastical and absurd.

Oh wait! Turns out they weren't pirates they were Mossad!!! Which Is Totally Different!!!

A Russian newspaper claimed Friday that suspected pirates who boarded the freighter Arctic Sea were actually agents of the Israeli secret service trying to stop it from smuggling arms into Iran.

According to Russian media, the Arctic Sea may have been carrying illegal X-55 cruise missiles destined for Iran hidden among its cargo of lumber.

Men acting on behalf of the Israeli Mossad secret service commandeered the ship to divert the weapons away from Israel’s regional enemy, the daily Novaya Gazeta said.

Citing Moscow publicist Yulia Latynina, the daily pointed to the surprise visit of Israeli President Shimon Peres Aug 18, a day after the Arctic Sea, which had been missing for three weeks, had been tracked down and liberated by Russian forces off West Africa.

During his visit, Peres, who according to Latynina had no other business in Russia, requested Moscow refrain from supplying weapons or missile defence systems to Iran. [that sounds so diplomatic shalom - ed.]

The deployment at great expense of Russian Black Sea fleet to liberate the hijacked ship was undertaken for the sake of the 15 Russian seamen on board and not supposed weapons, Rogozin said.

Russian authorities in Moscow late Friday formally charged the eight alleged hijackers with kidnapping and piracy, the Interfax news agency reported.

The suspects include a Lithuanian, a Russian, three stateless people, and a Spaniard, the report said, adding that the citizenship of the two remaining suspects had yet to be clarified.

According to official reports, the Arctic Sea was liberated from pirates Monday off the coast of West Africa. According to the Russian sources, pirates seized the freighter July 24 off the coast of Sweden.

Victor Matveev, director of Solchart Management, the shipping company that owns the Arctic Sea freighter stated Friday that his company “still has not received any official information” about the ship or its crew.

So all that's left is to flash the Memory Eraser at the crew and I'm sure this is all going to make perfect sense by the end of the day tomorrow.