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A U.S. Navy photo of the pirates who have seized the Ukrainian merchant vessel MV Faina aboard have lowered their ransom demand and say they are eager to negotiate, raising hope that the two-week standoff over the MV Faina will be resolved in a few days. If they're true to their word and the ship is released, the pirates will disappear back into the stew of Somalia and wait for their next opportunity. Once that happens, however, the question will arise: What to do about those tanks? There is mounting evidence from U.S. officials and other experts that the tanks aboard the Faina were not destined for Kenya, as both the Kenyan government and the tank's Ukrainian shippers claim, but for South Sudan, the autonomous oil-rich region of Sudan, which has a fractious relationship with the central government in Khartoum. If the... [read full story]
