From Epoch Times…

It began on September 3, 2007, when the early morning sun caught the rust-stained hull of a 1,700-ton cargo ship as it slowly steamed into the busy Mediterranean port of Tartous in Syria. From its mast flew the flag of South Korea and the stern plate identified the al-Hamed as being registered in Inchon, one of the country’s major ports.

Watching the ship manoeuvring into its berth from a distance was a man with the swarthy skin of a Kurd or one of the Marsh Arabs of Iraq. He was fluent in both their languages as well as some of the dialects of Afghanistan. He was, in fact, a Turkish-born Jew who had eschewed the life of a carpet seller in the family business in Istanbul to go to Israel, serve in its army as a translator and finally achieve his life’s ambition to work in Mossad.

Fifteen years later, he was recognised as one of its most brilliant operatives. In that time, he had operated in a dozen countries under as many aliases, using his linguistic skills and chameleon-like characteristics to observe and be absorbed into whichever community he had been sent.

Now, for the moment, he was code-named Kamal with a perfectly faked Iranian passport in his pocket. Mossad’s chief, Meir Dagan, had stressed to him the importance of his mission: to confirm the role of al-Hamed in the dangerous relationship which the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad had formed with North Korea.

The whole piece has more detail about Israel’s raid on Syra’s nuclear site than I have seen anywhere else. Somebody is either making things up or talking about things they should keep quite about. (H/T The Belmont Club)

From Danger Room…

The Defense Department’s geeks are spooked by a rapidly spreading worm crawling across their networks. So they’ve suspended the use of so-called thumb drives, CDs, flash media cards, and all other removable data storage devices from their nets, to try to keep the worm from multiplying any further.

Why don’t they just order everyone to stop using a computer? Maybe there is something I am missing, but this seem really stupid. They would be better off shutting their network down if they are that scared.

From the Telegraph…

Thousands of rioters used axes, chains, stones and iron bars to attack police, smash local government offices and set fire to cars after a protest in western China went out of control.

From later on in the same article…

Provinces around the country are reporting a surge in strikes, alongside other stand-offs as laid-off factory workers protest over unpaid wages.

The clashes in Wudu, a part of the city of Longnan in the poor province of Gansu, began on Monday. Longnan is not far from the border with Sichuan, the heart of the earthquake zone.

Residents living in temporary shelters after their homes had been demolished to make way for a government development project were joined by thousands of others.

They had been promised the new development would improve local living standards, but that was thrown into doubt when it was confirmed the local government was itself relocating elsewhere.

By Tuesday, crowds had grown to 2,000 according to state media, and several times that according to witnesses, who said a fire engine sent to put out fires started by the protesters was itself hijacked.

Hand-to-hand fighting followed as police used tear gas to try to disperse the crowds.

The New York Times has more.

There have been many riots in China. But they seem to be growing more common. At this rate they will be a real issue soon.

From the Economist….

PIRATES do not win every encounter. On the evening of Tuesday November 18th an Indian warship attacked and destroyed a suspected Somali pirate boat in the Gulf of Aden, after the men on board had, reportedly, threatened to blow up the Indian craft. The pirates were said to be armed with guns and rocket-grenade launchers, and some escaped on speed boats. On the same day, however, other pirates in the Gulf of Aden did manage to grab a cargo ship carrying grain to Iran.

One thing the qoute above does not make clear is that the ship the Indians sunk was a mother ship that the Pirates where using to extend their range. The Danger Room has more on the Indian ship that blew up the pirate mother ship …..

This is the Tabar’s third pirate fight in a little more than a week. On November 11th, the frigate received a “frantic distress call from Saudi Arabian chemical and oil carrier NCC Tihama,” the Times of India reports. “Tihamas’ call said two to three high-speed boats, with several armed men, were trying to hijack the ship.”

The post goes on to relate how they received another distress call while they were in the process of rescuing the Saudis.

By my reckoning the INS Tabar has done more to combat pirates then the rest of the international anti piracy fleet put together. Is this because they are doing something right or did they just get lucky?

Edit: The Christian Science Monitor points out that this fight is more personal for Indian then most of the other nations that have ships in the area. They say….

While warships from eight different countries, including India, have deployed to the Gulf of Aden to combat piracy, the issue is particularly important for India.

The nation of 1.1 billion people provides one-sixth of the world’s maritime workers and every month it sends 30 Indian-owned vessels carrying oil and other goods valued at $100 billion through the Gulf of Aden.

Indian shipping firms say they are losing $450,000 a month on cost overruns and delays due to piracy.

“India cannot wait to take action until the Somali pirates hit the coast of Bombay [Mumbai],” says Mr. Bhaskar. “They must be quarantined in their own waters before they cause more damage.”

For most western nations, these attacks are no big deal because they don’t ship much through the Gulf of Aden. Most of the ships the pirates have seized have been going to Asia, Africa, or the Middle East. Maybe India cares more about stopping the pirates then the other nations do.

From Danger Room….

Somali pirates have nabbed their biggest prize yet — a Saudi-owned supertanker, about as big as an aircraft carrier.* The ocean-going hijackers managed to pull off this latest assault, on the Sirius Star, despite a swarm of international warships now working to ward off such strikes.

“Our presence in the region is helping deter and disrupt criminal attacks off the Somali coast, but the situation with the Sirius Star clearly indicates the pirates’ ability to adapt their tactics and methods of attack,” U.S. Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, Commander, Combined Maritime Forces, said in a statement. “Typically, pirates attack within 200 miles of the shoreline and go after smaller prey,” the L.A. Times observes.

This is getting absurd. Don’t sit around telling me you are helping to deter pirate attacks when a bunch of them just nabbed a super tanker. Just a year ago that would have been unthinkable. They are not treating this seriously at all.