I wouldn't say I've got an idea for an "influence squadron".

Diplomacy belongs to politicians and diplomats, technical assistance to project managers and technical experts and when you really need to do something from the sea in peacetime then charter a ship.


Back to pirates; Pompey is rollin' in his grave.

In the law of ancient Rome, the Lex Gabinia (Gabinian Law) of 67 BC granted Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great") extraordinary proconsular powers in any province within 50 miles of the Mediterranean Sea. The law was passed by the tribune Aulus Gabinius.

The command came with a fleet of 500 warships, 120,000 infantry and around 5,000 cavalry to fight the growing problems of pirates disrupting trade in the Mediterranean Sea. Given three years to solve the problem, Pompey managed to defeat the pirates in just three months.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lex_Gabinia

THREE (3 !!!) ####ing months!

German frigates pointlessly patrolling the Somali coast in order to blockade it against AQ (one of the most idiotic ideas in military history!) turned the collection of intelligence on Somali pirates into a hobby for killing time - long before the problem took over the mainstream news in 2008.
Back then there were iirc only three small villages the core of the problem. Three light infantry companies could have solved the issue over night, even without any navy.

Politicians turned the whole piracy issue into just another get-together happening where even U.S., PRC and Iranian ships patrol side by side for a common cause.
That's not security policy, that's a demonstration of incompetence and ignorance.


Three months. *sigh*.
Today's politicians world-wide are inferior to some plutocrat who died 2,000 years ago.

I need to distract myself real quick now...