And now we have Second Guesser Contestant No. 1
Given the constraints or lack thereof in your hypothetical, I would have carried out the procedures that have been previously thought up and rehearsed, and taken the pirate ship, captured the pirates and freed the kidnapped mariners, all of the kidnapped mariners. This is what the British, Dutch, Indians and Danes did. However unlike what the poor frustrated Royal Navy men were forced to do, I would not have dropped the pirates off on their home shore but dispatched them to North America so they could forthwith begin their study of colloqueil (sic) and legal English.
Landlubber from an armchair chimes in
There are two fundamental issues with Somali piracy IMHO, which poses a threat to international shipping in the nearby ocean spaces.
One, is containment enough? Countering piracy is an international maritime obligation.
Two, if that policy is not enough - which many here argue - should action be taken ashore?
For a host of reasons the international enforcement action taken to date has to put it mildly 'gaps', notably of will and as the latest posts suggest capability. Can all those at risk and those who are involved in enforcement tolerate the risk to shipping?
See this article for some statistics (which advocates action ashore too):http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/pr...gainst-piracy/
As for action ashore is an option currently no-one seems inclined to follow and I exclude the reports of funding a Somali coastguard. I doubt if there is a real option akin to the Barbary Coast operations: mainly with bombardment and some land raids. Clearly there is no or very little local Somali will and capability to take action against the pirates.
Somali is a country, not a state with any real governance as we know it, that is simply meandering along and I speculate is emptying of its population, well those who can avoid to pay to escape - to the Yemen of all places till recently.
My challenge to SWC is what should we do?
From my faraway, landlocked armchair I would seek:
1) All commercial shipping is convoyed in high risk areas, not in a convoy no insurance!
2) A 'No Shipping Zone' set at 'X' miles offshore and no commercial ships go inside
3) No Somali vessels go beyond 'Y' miles offshore, except in recognised shipping lanes (to Yemen)
4) Any Somali or other vessels beyond 'Y' are liable to be sunk
5) Any captured and convicted pirates are held in say Russian jails - OK, similar places
Now would these points be acceptable? Currently I consider 1 to 3 as sensible.
I could keep 'em out of the middle in Basketball, other'n that...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
carl
Who is Mrs. Deener?
My HS Freshman English Teacher, told me nouns were capitalized -- that's not universally true I now know but habit is turribul thing... :D
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The pirates from the area that used to be Somalia go outside of their place to do their stealing and they steal from passing strangers. That makes it different from the other places, besides the people in each place being vastly different. They are criminals. You handle them like criminals.
Ah, I see. So rape, looting and promiscuous killing are okay as long as you do it in your own land? Rhetorical question, I doubt you believe that but I do think those things are occurring and that to me puts many Libyans (both sides) and many Ivorians (both sides) in the same category as the Somali Pirates who may be traveling to work but are really doing far less carnal damage. To be totally down on one crowd of miscreants and give the others a pass still seems to be a dichotomy to me. YMMV...
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I did like baseball a lot in those bygone days when I could still fool myself into believing I might be able to play well. (insert wistful smiley here)
I'm a klutz so sports weren't an option for me. I'm not totally poor but I would never have been very good -- not least because I was and am lazy and totally uninterested.
Somali 'hostage negotiator' indicted over yacht deaths
Action taken ashore! A joint FBI-Somali police operation too:
Quote:
US prosecutors say the latest Somali man indicted in a hijacking that left four Americans dead is a high ranking "hostage negotiator".
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13073952
Hat tip to CLS e-briefing, which has links to US media reports:http://centerlineblog.org/2011/04/14...rism-news-218/
No response to my earlier post:
My challenge to SWC is what should we do?
From my faraway, landlocked armchair I would seek:
1) All commercial shipping is convoyed in high risk areas, not in a convoy no insurance!
2) A 'No Shipping Zone' set at 'X' miles offshore and no commercial ships go inside
3) No Somali vessels go beyond 'Y' miles offshore, except in recognised shipping lanes (to Yemen)
4) Any Somali or other vessels beyond 'Y' are liable to be sunk
5) Any captured and convicted pirates are held in say Russian jails - OK, similar places
Now would these points be acceptable? Currently I consider 1 to 3 as sensible.