Word: horning
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Amid the current media frenzy about Somali pirates, it's hard not to imagine them as characters in some dystopian Horn of Africa version of Waterworld. We see wily corsairs in ragged clothing swarming out of their elusive mother ships, chewing narcotic khat while thumbing GPS phones and grappling hooks. They are not desperate bandits, experts say, rather savvy opportunists in the most lawless corner of the planet. But the pirates have never been the only ones exploiting the vulnerabilities of this troubled failed state - and are, in part, a product of the rest of the world's neglect. (Read...
Ever wonder where did the feathers on your fancy piece of jewelry came from? What about the ivory in your souvenir statue? The illegal wildlife trade nets about $20 billion a year - less than drugs but more than weapons - and ounce-for-ounce, some animal products (such as rhino horn and bear gall bladders) are literally worth more than gold. With so much money on the line, to whom does one turn when someone breaks an animal protection...
Sort of. I have a good and bad example in the same animal - the rhino. In the '90s you saw a big resurgence in the rhino population because they were listed as endangered and protected. De-horning programs and relocation programs met with great success and the anti-poaching laws were working, but recently that has changed. Within the last 2-3 years you've seen a huge resurgence in rhino trade. Organized crime is getting involved in the rhino horn trade. They use them for daggers in the Middle East and for traditional Chinese medicine...
...shattered nations like Somalia. But don't look for quick action. "We do not have a military presence in Somalia," the command's chief, Army General William Ward, told Congress last month. In fact, the military is in no rush to head back to that lawless nation in the Horn of Africa. President Clinton's Pentagon was first bloodied there when 18 soldiers died in a 1993 firefight memorialized in Black Hawk Down. As a reminder of the volatile environment, local insurgents on Monday fired mortar rounds at a private plane ferrying U.S. Congressman Donald Payne out of Mogadishu after...
...With reporting by Robert Horn / Bangkok...