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Business Insider
5 hours ago
- Business Insider
Kenya turns to Israel for Sh3.4 billion missile defense deal
Kenya is set to receive a Sh3.4 billion loan from Israel to finance the acquisition of a modern missile defense system, in a move aimed at bolstering the country's air security amid escalating regional terror threats. Kenya will receive a Sh3.4 billion loan from Israel to enhance its missile defense system. The SPYDER system, developed by Israel, is the primary focus of this equipment upgrade, providing mobile aerial threat interception capabilities. This partnership aligns with Kenya's strategic push to modernize its military amid increasing regional security challenges. The funding will support the procurement of advanced military hardware, including repayment of part of a previous Sh1 billion loan used to acquire the air defense system. Disbursement to the Ministry of defense is expected in July 2025. An update from Kenya's Treasury also notes that the Sh3.4 billion loan from Israel will cover nearly 70% of the Defense Ministry's development budget for the 2025/26 fiscal year as per Business Daily Africa According to a report by Eastleigh Voice, the latest funding round will enable the continued deployment of the SPYDER system, a high-tech, mobile surface-to-air missile system developed by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries. The system is capable of intercepting a range of aerial threats, including aircraft, drones, helicopters, and guided munitions. The loan agreement marks a significant step in Kenya's push to modernize its military capabilities in response to mounting security challenges across the Horn of Africa and beyond. Kenya's National Intelligence Service Director-General, Noordin Haji recently raised alarm over the growing threat posed by extremist groups operating in and around East Africa. ' As part of this expansion, ISIS and Al-Shabaab have been collaborating with the Houthis, gaining access to advanced weaponry and sophisticated training, ' Haji warned. ' The spillover effects are now being felt in Africa, making the continent an emerging epicenter of terrorism. ' Kenya's preference for Israeli military hardware While the United States and Turkey remain Kenya's primary suppliers of military equipment, including helicopters, armored vehicles, and drones, Israel is emerging as a trusted partner for advanced air defense systems. Kenya and Israel have maintained a decade-old military cooperation pact, first signed in 2011. The domestic security agreement has enabled collaboration in key areas, including counter-terrorism, crime prevention, and efforts to curb drug smuggling. Over the years, this partnership has deepened, particularly in the realm of defense technology and tactical support.
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Boston Globe
Was your cargo ship hijacked? Try this guy.
Hardberger runs a rare kind of repo service — extracting huge ships from foreign ports. His company is a last resort for shipowners whose vessels have been seized, often by bad actors. And over the years he's built a reputation for taking the kinds of jobs others turn down. Hardberger's specialty is infiltrating hostile territory and taking control of ships in whatever way he can — usually through subterfuge and stealth. Wherever in the world his missions take him, Hardberger thrives in its grey areas. He handles the toughest of grab-and-dash jobs in foreign harbors, usually on behalf of banks, insurers, or shipowners. A last-resort solution to a common predicament, he is called when a vessel has been stolen, its operators have defaulted on their mortgage, or a ship has been fraudulently detained by local officials. Advertisement The public perception of modern piracy usually involves Somalis in fast boats capturing tankers on the high seas. Of late, the Houthis launching from Yemen have revived global concern about attacks on merchant vessels and the global importance of maritime commerce, since more than 90 percent of all products reach consumers by way of ships. But the more common though overlooked threat at sea is white-collar piracy: schemes where ships get held captive in port through bureaucratic or administrative means. The pirates are actually different groups of mortgage lenders, lawyers, shipowners, or shipping companies, and they might be sitting in an office a half a world away from the ship. Max Hardberger, third from right, and Ian Urbina of the Outlaw Ocean Project, second from right, pose with the Haitian marine police after several days of patrols. The Outlaw Ocean Project And sometimes when the ships are caught up in this kind of piracy, a repo man gets the call. This type of offshore crime and the role of maritime repo men is the subject of the fourth episode of The Outlaw Ocean Podcast, Season 2, during which a reporting team trailed Hardberger on an especially tough mission in Greece. The podcast is available on all major streaming platforms. For transcripts, background reporting, and bonus content, visit Port scams are as old as shipping itself and seasoned repo men can identify them by name. 'Unexpected complications': a shipyard makes repairs without permission, then sends the owner an astronomical bill, often for more than the value of the ship, hoping to force its forfeiture. 'Barratry': buying off crews, sometimes paying more than a year's wages to leave a ship's keys and walk away. 'A docking play': a shipowner defaults on his mortgage, but is in cahoots with a marina, which charges the repossessor hyperinflated docking fees. Advertisement Consumers are affected by the theft and corruption because it adds millions of dollars to transport costs and insurance rates, raising sticker prices by more than 10 percent, maritime researchers say. Tens of thousands of boats or ships are stolen around the world each year and are difficult to find because the ocean is vast, the search is often too expensive, and because ships frequently end up in ports with uncooperative or corrupt officials. But when the boat or ship is more valuable, 'repo men' like Hardberger are hired to find it. Most recoveries of stolen boats and maritime repossessions involve doing paperwork and working with banks and local law enforcement. But when negotiations fail, waterborne jailbreaks sometimes occur. The moment that catapulted Hardberger into the spotlight came in 2004, when his team was hired to find the Maya Express, whose mortgagee was looking to use the ship as collateral on a loan but couldn't find it. They found the Maya Express in Miragoane, Haiti, a small port village, and learned that a judicial auction was set to take place in just two days, threatening to complicate the repossession. 'We had to do something in two days. We could not wait,' Hardberger told The Outlaw Ocean Project. So, accompanied by two armed SWAT agents, Hardberger approached the men guarding the Maya Express and offered $300 to each of them to leave. With the guards out of the way, Hardberger and his team hitched the vessel to a tugboat and began the delicate task of cutting the anchor chains. 'Unfortunately it was a full moon and not a cloud in the sky. The entire bay was lit up so people came running down from the hills to see what was going on,' Hardberger recalled. Advertisement Whenever onlookers came near the ship, the two armed men kept them on the dock and did not let anybody leave until the anchor chain was fully cut. Once the ship was free, the tugboat pulled the Maya Express into international waters and eventually toward the Bahamas. 'It was the worst possible condition for an extraction but we managed to get it out,' Hardberger said. All of the repo men The Outlaw Ocean Project talked to said they abide by certain self-imposed rules. No violence — better, they said, to hire street youths for lookouts, bar owners for diversions, and prostitutes to flirt their way on board to spy. To talk his way on board, Mr. Hardberger said he has a collection of fake uniforms and official-sounding business cards, among them 'Port Inspector,' 'Marine Surveyor,' and 'Internal Auditor.' He also carries a glass vial of magnetic powder to sprinkle on the hull to reveal lettering that has been welded off. Officials from the Haitian Coast Guard, Interpol, and the bar association in California, where Hardberger is licensed, said they had no records of complaints, disciplinary actions, or arrest warrants against him. When we asked Hardberger how much longer he thinks he can keep doing this work, he replied, 'I don't know. As long as I can run to the end of the dock and jump in the water and swim to safety, I guess.'
American Military News
24-06-2025
- American Military News
Yemen was the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Then came sanctions, aid cuts, and air strikes
This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission. For the past decade, Yemen has stood as one of the world's gravest humanitarian disasters, with more than 20 million people — over half the population — in need of aid. Now funding cuts, US and Israeli air strikes, and new sanctions are intensifying an already dire situation, according to aid groups and experts. In January, the United States redesignated the Iranian-backed Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous areas, as a foreign terrorist organization. Two months later, it halted all US humanitarian aid to the country. Simultaneously, US and Israeli forces launched strikes on ports and airports in an effort to disrupt Houthi supply chains after the group fired drones and missiles at American and Israeli targets. 'It is almost impossible for any humanitarian organization to bring food and aid to Houthi-controlled areas because banks don't want to get in trouble with the US government over sanctions violations,' said Bernd Kaussler, a professor at James Madison University and Yemen expert. 'The cutting-off of aid and designating the Houthis a terrorist organization — that has really condemned all Yemenis to an absolute catastrophe,' he said. This week, ahead of the seventh Humanitarian Senior Officials Meeting in Brussels, more than 110 aid organizations urged world leaders to ramp up support for Yemen, warning that 2025 could be the worst year since the civil war erupted in 2014. The UN's $2.48 billion Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan for 2025 was less than 10 percent funded going into the May 22 meeting. The European Union pledged €80 million ($91 million) at the summit but that still leaves the plan less than 15 percent funded with seven months to go. A Nation in Collapse Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, descended into civil war in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, ousting the internationally recognized Sunni government. The group now controls much of the northwest, including Red Sea ports like Hodeidah that are lifelines for food and fuel. Years of fighting have devastated the economy, pushed millions to the brink of famine, and left more than half of the 377,000 conflict-related deaths in the first seven years of war tied to hunger or lack of medical care, according to the UN. Nearly half of all Yemeni children under 5 are stunted due to malnutrition, the UN said. Kaussler described the long-term impact on children as 'extraordinary,' warning that many may never fully recover. Until recently, the United States was Yemen's largest donor, contributing nearly $5.9 billion in aid over the past decade — more than triple that of the EU. But that support has now stopped. Soon after taking office, President Donald Trump moved to dismantle the US Agency for International Development, redirecting foreign humanitarian and developmental aid to align with policy goals. Although most humanitarian programs were later reinstated, Yemen and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan were excluded. In cutting off Yemen, US officials voiced concerns that aid was being diverted by the Houthis, who control access to aid within the territory they hold. Kaussler acknowledged the risk but said cutting aid would backfire, adding it further destabilizes a country in an already volatile region, while also creating space for China to increase its soft-power footprint. Aid Blocked and Bombed The new US sanctions have forced multiple aid groups to suspend operations in Houthi-held territory, Amnesty International said. Islamic Relief, a UK-based charity, said sanctions have disrupted banking access and fund transfers, and urged exemptions to allow life-saving aid to get through. Meanwhile, US and Israeli strikes have targeted Houthi-held infrastructure in retaliation for attacks on Red Sea shipping and periodic missile fire on Israel. The port of Hodeidah and Sanaa airport — which Israel says are used by the Houthis to import and transfer weapons — were among the sites hit. In a May 20 statement, Islamic Relief warned that hitting critical infrastructure 'not only deepens economic and psychological hardship but also hinders humanitarian workers' ability to reach the most vulnerable.' The Houthis have also undermined aid delivery. In June 2024, they arrested 13 UN staff and several other aid workers during coordinated raids. Human rights groups say the Houthis since 2014 have arbitrarily detained and tortured hundreds of civilians, including humanitarian workers, many of whom have never been seen again. That has had a chilling effect on aid organizations operating or seeking to operate in Yemen. 'The Forgotten War' As Yemen's humanitarian emergency grinds into its second decade, international attention is still lacking, Kaussler said. 'Yemen has always been the forgotten war. It has vanished from our collective conscience,' he said. 'There is no champion for Yemenis.'
