Pirates

[Getting A Life]

It is in the news today that the US is calling for countries to refuse to pay ransom to pirates, Somalian or otherwise, as it only encourages them. The problem is severe - people are being killed, massive funds being diverted, and the recent shipload of weaponry pirated in the news bought this to many folks attention.

 

I think we need to take these mongrels on, but, it is very dangerous as they are all armed.

 

There are two things that make these pirates effective

 

1. Their boats

 

2. Their weapons

 

I propose an approach that will put the fear into them.

 

Unmanned drones, aerial or otherwise, for authorities to communicate with and identify any craft not registered to be in shipping lanes at the time. Drones carry armour, communications, and weaponry.

 

Weaponry... A weapon thast will sink a boat without exploding it. Then the pirates can be picked out of the water while their own weaponry will be useless. Some device that drills holes in hulls...

 

They will start to run out of boats and weapons if we keep sinking them.

 

Or will it just turn into an arms race with the pirates. Must be fairly lucrative their resources grow with activity while ours are depleted.

[Turtle]

let's set ourselves up as privateers & hunt the pirates! avast ye biotches or we'll introduce you to davy jones!! :) :cheer: (we'll need a good maritime attorney to draw up the papiers of incorporation for us. :()

 

privateer - definition of privateer by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

pri·va·teer (prv-tîr)

n.

1. A ship privately owned and crewed but authorized by a government during wartime to attack and capture enemy vessels.

2. The commander or one of the crew of such a ship.

intr.v. pri·va·teered, pri·va·teer·ing, pri·va·teers

To sail as a privateer.

[maikeru]

It is in the news today that the US is calling for countries to refuse to pay ransom to pirates, Somalian or otherwise, as it only encourages them. The problem is severe - people are being killed, massive funds being diverted, and the recent shipload of weaponry pirated in the news bought this to many folks attention.

 

I think we need to take these mongrels on, but, it is very dangerous as they are all armed.

 

There are two things that make these pirates effective

 

1. Their boats

 

2. Their weapons

 

I propose an approach that will put the fear into them.

 

Unmanned drones, aerial or otherwise, for authorities to communicate with and identify any craft not registered to be in shipping lanes at the time. Drones carry armour, communications, and weaponry.

 

Weaponry... A weapon thast will sink a boat without exploding it. Then the pirates can be picked out of the water while their own weaponry will be useless. Some device that drills holes in hulls...

 

They will start to run out of boats and weapons if we keep sinking them.

 

Or will it just turn into an arms race with the pirates. Must be fairly lucrative their resources grow with activity while ours are depleted.

 

I agree. I've been watching the news and the frequency of pirate attacks is increasing, and it's clear that they're getting bolder as they attack further and further in the Indian Ocean. I remember when I first heard about these Somalian pirates, back in the Bush administration, that they were often on old fishing boats or motorboats and armed with things like pistols and knives, then took the crews hostage. (It would've been better to have limited or reduced the problem then, but it was, as so many problems are, ignored, for the glory of war and money.) From what I last read on the BBC a few days ago, they've upgraded themselves to "mother ships" and better speedboats, AK-47s, machine guns, RPGs, etc. and developed strategies and tactics to evade capture and corner their prey with ease. What's the next upgrade? Giant Japanese mecha?

[lemit]

It is in the news today that the US is calling for countries to refuse to pay ransom to pirates, Somalian or otherwise, as it only encourages them. The problem is severe - people are being killed, massive funds being diverted, and the recent shipload of weaponry pirated in the news bought this to many folks attention.

 

I think we need to take these mongrels on, but, it is very dangerous as they are all armed.

 

Apparently the Somali pirates are Blowback from US policy in the Horn of Africa, which has been so restrictive for 50 or years or so as to cause most of the nations there to turn to politics and religion unfriendly to us, so if by "mongrels," you mean us, "the wretched refuse of your teeming shore," sure. If you mean the Somalis, if we gave them food and jobs, they'd probably forget the dangerous world of pirating.

 

Now about the Chinese cultural pirates, I think we should send frigates after them, which was suggested as far back as 1987:YouTube - Amazon Women On The Moon - Video Pirates http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I5dVBezF9k

 

--lemit

[JMJones0424]

If you mean the Somalis, if we gave them food and jobs, they'd probably forget the dangerous world of pirating.

 

We tried that once, remember? They had a nasty habit of shooting at us.

 

Things are never as simple as they appear, and you can't bomb people into liking you.

[Getting A Life]

Very nice take on things lemit. There's always some history. Perhaps the US destroying the pirates would rub salt on thier wounds. A multi-national effort, perhaps that's what we need.

 

I also thought a few frigates would sort them out fairly quickly. Thing is, the US may have inflamed them, but they murdered Sir Peter Blake, and he's a New Zealander. I bet they've killed many folks of many nationalities.

 

Our navy has a couple of canoes we could pitch in.

 

Edit, they're back in the news this morning. Here's some of it.

 

"The number of attacks worldwide rose to 306 between January and September, surpassing the 293 incidents recorded throughout 2008. Somali pirate activity off the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest sea lanes, accounted for at least 135 of the cases. There were 44 pirate boardings and hijackings by Somali pirates in 2008 and 42 so far this year." - NZ Herald.

 

They're worldwide. Now I see the problem is too large to police.

 

Who knows where the organised groups of pirates are located? Somali, Chinese (whereabouts from) and...?

 

With the Somali pirates accounting for nearly 50% of attacks I'd target them first as they are concentrated in one area - albeit the indian ocean is very big. But surely there's a 'supply line' from the mainland to the pirates that can be cut off. Is there political problems with patrolling these waters?

 

The solution of making it untenable to be a somali pirate does not solve the underlying problems of impoverishment and grudges.

 

"A member of a Spanish fishing trawler... said his captors were emaciated men ranging in age from 20 to 40." - NZ Herald

 

Yes, they need gainful employment, and food in thier belly. It's amazing how something constructive to do and something in your belly can change one's outlook. In a perfect world, most of these 'pirates' would be gainfully employed, and the truly criminal who did become pirates would be far less, and more easily managed.

 

If there is leadership in somalian piracy, what is their stance? 100% criminal? - or some type of 'freedom fighting' act of desperation turned lucrative - more dangerous than plain criminals - zealots with minions. When young men have nowhere to turn, it is easy to turn them.

 

Gainfully employed or not, these folk need to learn some manners.