Oct 7, 2008

"Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me"

Crew of the MV Faina enjoy a little sun on the Lido Deck.

It looks like this pirate business has caught a few people with their pants down, mostly in the Kenyan government.

"The UN has noted that Kenya is importing large quantities of weapons (at least 77 tanks, 15 jet fighters and 40,000 assault rifles and machine-guns in the last year or so) without reporting them. A 1991 international treaty, which Kenya signed, obliges all nations to report weapons exports and imports (the better to control the illegal trade in arms.) Not everyone follows the rules."

The Ukranians, for their part, don't seem too particular about their client list. According to the Center for Army Conversion and Disarmament Studies in Kiev, Ukraine exported weapons to more than 20 countries last year, earning $1.2 billion in the process. Total arms exports in 2006: $200 million.

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