Piracy makes a comeback

[GeneralHankerchief]

So I check Drudge recently and see this on the left side:



Yeah, this is a growing threat.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The top US military officer said Monday he was "stunned" by the reach of the Somali pirates who seized a Saudi supertanker off the east coast of Africa, calling piracy a growing problem that needs to be addressed.
But Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there were limits to what the world's navies could do once a ship has been captured because national governments often preferred to pay pirates ransom.

"I'm stunned by the range of it, less so than I am the size," Mullen said of the seizure of the Sirius Star Sunday by armed men.

The huge, oil laden prize, which is three times the size of a US aircraft carrier, was some 450 miles east of Kenya when it was boarded, he said.

That is the farthest out at sea that a ship has been seized in the latest surge of piracies, according to Mullen.

The pirates, he said, are "very good at what they do. They're very well armed. Tactically, they are very good."

"And so, once they get to a point where they can board, it becomes very difficult to get them off, because, clearly, now they hold hostages.

"The question then becomes, well, what do you do about the hostages? And that's where the standoff is.

"That's a national question to ask based on the flag of the vessel. And the countries by and large have been paying the ransom that the pirates have asked," he said.

Mullen said the number of successful piracies have gone down, but the incidence of ship seizures were way up.

"It's got a lot of people's attention and is starting to have impact on the commercial side, which I know countries raise as a concern," he said.

"And so there's a lot more focus on this. It's a very serious issue. It's a growing issue. And we're going to continue to have to deal with it," he said.

As awesome as I think it is that a bunch of Somalians are able to essentially do the same occupation that died out in the 1800s and not get totally annihilated in 5 seconds, who's to blame for this? It's not like the US Navy is bogged down; we're fighting two wars in the desert for God's sake. Perhaps those more informed than me could share what jurisdiction this falls under (i.e. who should deal with it) but for now, I think it's just a neat story to share.

[TinCow]

BBC actually had a very good article on this today:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7735144.stm

The summary is that international laws prevent the various nations from dealing with the pirates in the ways that used to work.

[Yoyoma1910]

Look what you've done General!



By promoting piracy through your mafia game, I hold you personally responsible.



I'll see if I can find it, but NPR recently did a story and interview on modern pirates.

[yesdachi]

If I am hauling a bajillion dollars worth of oil around I would hire someone to ride “shotgun” for me (perhaps ninja’s). The lost profits from being just a few days late is worth the protection money IMO.

[Yoyoma1910]

If I am hauling a bajillion dollars worth of oil around I would hire someone to ride “shotgun” for me (perhaps ninja’s). The lost profits from being just a few days late is worth the protection money IMO.

Why don't the Saudi's just use a bit of their oil money and make something super awesome with it, like Robot Ninjas?

[CrossLOPER]

Hire pirates to pirate the pirates.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Piracy has NEVER left us entirely, nor will it.

It is difficult to completely stop a phenomenon when the potential for profit is enormous.

$100M cargo all in one place, weakly guarded. No chance to "steal" the cargo, but at the cost per hour of sitting still, it rapidly becomes possible for every pirate in the crew to make more than the average lifetime salary of anyone in their home village in Somalia in less than a week's work.

As always, there are two approaches to dealing with it.

1. Pay the ransom, accept it as part of the cost of doing business, and try to formalize the payments so that risks are minimized all around (Barbary Pirates).

2. Coordinate all naval powers in the region and extirpate them. NOTE: this will only work for a moderate period of time. During the following quiet period, naval attention will draw down and shift elsewhere and the situation will repeat.


The USA will pursue strategy #2, but will lack complete cooperation and will be unable to devote sufficient resources solo to the task (at least without launching highly unpolular ground operations at the various "bases" that exist on foreign territory). This will curtail the piracy somewhat, but only modestly.

Many other international firms will pursue course #1 (quietly) and pass the cost to the consumer while publicly calling for #2

[Jolt]

What's with all the ruckus? CrossLOPER has already won the thread with the ideal solution.

Hire pirates to pirate the pirates.

100% WINZ.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Stick Armed People on your Ships...

Oh Wait, nevermind. If you kill Pirates while defending yourself and your cargo, the UN might send you a letter saying you a bad shipping person

I can understand if the cargo is flammable and such, like Oil, but come on. These ships are getting taked over by these ill-displinced pirates while some of the best navies in the world are just sitting there doing now... I guess America doesn't want to re live another 1993 Somilia event.