It seems that the Somali pirates have setup a stock exchange or co-operative of some kind. Makes for a good read.

http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/...html?id=2289558

I guess that Haradheere is the new Port Royal. I wonder how well they're doing in 2072?

Wow. That's crazy. Definately some good material for SR there.

So....How do I invest in this?

Sounds like you have to go there in person. Got any RPGs to take with yah? Speak Somalian?
Its more of a community pot than a stock exchange.

i guess it shows that organized society can turn up in the most unlikely of places...

btw, i find myself thinking that this is real life roanapur (black lagoon)...


this is surreal...

That sort of community organization is the foundation of a functional Anarchy which will eventually become a working government. It's good to see them pushing back. I'd be much happier if the UN actually did something constructive and brought some sort of action against all the illegal dumpers pouring Europe's toxic wastes into Somalian waters. But I guess as long as it's more lucrative to just machine gun the dissenters, that's how it'll be - from here to eternity.

I find it amusing that alimony can be paid in RPGs there.

sadly, UN sactions are only effective when respected. And when at least one of the biggest players in UN have shown that they only care about UN sanctions, when it themselves that wanted it, things are going down hill, fast...

it's like... Corporate Piracy approached from the other direction...

Nuke it-problem mostly solved. A low yeild one should be sufficient.

Seriously, I wonder if this place is going to get hit in the near future. I'm suprise a western news organization was able to get this info. I wonder if this was known prior to the reporters report.
If so, why has this place not been hit yet?

Off the top of my head because they and their friends, or people linked to them, are probably still holding a number of ships and their crews for randsom so people wont attack them for fear of reprisals.

They maintain that they operate under color of law - that ships they take are not in fact in international waters but are in somali sovereign territory without authorization.


and nukes exist for one reason and one reason only: to not be used.

You know this exchange has better return than every single "scheme" I have seen including a few my bank keeps selling me about.

So, how many westerners and hedge funds have started to get involved in this exchange?

it may also allow some other faction to move in and control more of the nation as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Somalia_...July1520091.png

"Sure, sir, you can invest as much as you want." Two months later, "We have cash for you. Please come to Mogadishu to pick it up."

"No problem. 5% cut and put it through Western Union."

Word is that there are contacts in Europe that tell some of the pirates which ships to to hit and where they'll be at a given time. I'm sure that they have a way of getting these people paid without going to Somalia for a pickup.

Not quite true....first strike was one of the goals of the nuclear deterrent during the cold war (problem was achieving it). Hence the use of SSBN's, stealth bombers and suitcase nukes (thankfully rare from what I understand).

The real reason nukes exist is to keep minor wars from becoming major ones. It will not stop a nuke from being used (my guess is the nuke used will belong to the Isrealis, and a 25% that iran at some point will be the target).

Our friends the libertarians just love Somalia. And I am not being sarcastic:
Somalia, the Anarcho-Capitalist Paradise

I do not understand the Ayn Rand posse at all.

On an SR related note, it does give some ideas for how a Barrens economy would run.

First strike was a pipe dream of crazy brinkmanship - First strike is impossible to achieve against any modern nuclear threat.* particularly in the cold war. (notably because of SSBNs)

Nuclear deterrence is predicated on the assumption your opposition is sane.** if your opposition is insane, then deterrence doesn't work and there is no solution.

this is why 'rogue' states pursuing nuclear capability are so scary on the world stage. (ignore that the biggest rogue state of them all has the second largest numerical and largest by tonnage arsenal in the world already.)



*assuming you intend to defeat your opponents ability to respond with nuclear capacity at all.

**not wanting to get into the game theory involved in this thought experiment, sane actors never fire nukes - the upside/downside arguments never justify it.

Historical pirate ports probably had something similar. Maybe not as structured, but you could certainly buy a share in an operation if you had money (or booty in the form of a ship, etc), and they did have banks and such. Most of the people in charge of old time piracy (Captains and port leaders) were ex-naval officers, meaning they had good training in management skills and connections with the upper-class world of finances.