Somali Pirates Seize Largest Ship Yet

[TC Pilot]

It's really fascinating how little piracy has changed in over 300 years. Basically, the only way it's going to be stopped is by deploying far more naval assets than I'd wager any concerned party can spare for East Africa, or improve the area enough so that jumping on a boat with an AK isn't the easiest way to get rich.

[Tanasinn]

You might be able to sic pirates on whalers, but since you'd be paying them, that'd be privateering. :p

[The Duchess of Zeon]

The most proactive thing to do would be for the Russians to indiscriminately shoot up the port towns these pirates operate out of with their guns; enough 100mm rounds into their homes and the pirates should get the message.

[Ryan Thunder]

They burn easier when they have two megabarrels of oil in them.

Seriously though, this is ballsy. And I imagine the Saudis are not too pleased that the USN, RN and Marine Nationale are sitting watching this happen and not doing anything to stop the pirates get away with tens of millions in oil and ship.

The RN has orders not to pick up pirates, as the Home Office has said the pirates would be able to claim asylum. Which is one of the most ridiculous things I had ever heard.

That is why you dont take prisoners.

Can we sic the Somalian pirates on Nisshin Maru? She left port today.

I wholeheartedly second this motion. Especially because those whaling fucks have an armed escort this year. We might be able to kill two birds with one stone

Ah, yes.

Well--actually, no. I really want to see Greenpeace try something stupid and illegal (as is their habit), only to have it blow up in their faces for once, so we'll have to keep the Nisshin Maru around for now, at least.

Then you can do whatever you like with them.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Ah, yes.

Well--actually, no. I really want to see Greenpeace try something stupid and illegal (as is their habit), only to have it blow up in their faces for once, so we'll have to keep the Nisshin Maru around for now, at least.

Then you can do whatever you like with them.

Greenpeace has already backed out of their usual whaling interference. Sea Shepherd has not. They will continue tossing rancid butter on Japanese whalers

[erik_t]

I've always wondered why not A) Keep the fighters at the air bases on constant patrol and B) Start having random ships loaded with nothing but crews of USMC.

"The" air bases? Which air bases? A) We're talking about 450 freaking miles offshore and B) We're talking about the freaking Horn of Africa. Most nations around there can't feed their own damned people, let alone run a constant CAP over hundreds of thousands of square miles.

[Samuel]

I've always wondered why not A) Keep the fighters at the air bases on constant patrol and B) Start having random ships loaded with nothing but crews of USMC.

"The" air bases? Which air bases? A) We're talking about 450 freaking miles offshore and B) We're talking about the freaking Horn of Africa. Most nations around there can't feed their own damned people, let alone run a constant CAP over hundreds of thousands of square miles.

Lets be fair- most of them can feed their own people. It is only the really crappy ones that can't do that. And I am pretty sure that the US and France have a nearby air base- don't we basically employ the enitre population of Djibouti?

Guerillas/insurgents, Black Hawk Down in Mogadishu, US casualties, screams about how the Imperialistic Americans were conquering another country for its foreign resources and not just staying there as peacekeepers.
Same old, same old

Isn't Somali resource poor? What the heck is there for the American Empire to claim from its inhabitants? Fish? Corn?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I wonder who the heck are they going to sell the unrefined crude oil if no one decides to save the crew of the ship. But this is getting plain ridiculous. I'd happily lob lots of cruise missiles in their way just to show who's boss.

[ray245]

I thought most shipping companies is more than happy to bail their crews out with money? Shipping companies would rather pay for the return of their crew, as compared to fighting back and damaging their goods or ships.

[Stormbringer]

Lets be fair- most of them can feed their own people. It is only the really crappy ones that can't do that. And I am pretty sure that the US and France have a nearby air base- don't we basically employ the enitre population of Djibouti?

Keep in mind that the Horn of Africa was for a long time home to one of the most significant and deadly famines of the photojournalistic age. They're pretty much the icon of horrendous backwards poverty and human misery. And Somalia is very definitely one of the crappy ones.

Isn't Somali resource poor? What the heck is there for the American Empire to claim from its inhabitants? Fish? Corn?

Dirt, precious precious dirt?

Somalia was one of the less controversial interventions because of the significant humanitarian component. There wasn't much by way of resource grabbing. What played a huge role in getting the US out was Black Hawk Down and Clinton's attempts to run this interventions with out casualties, controversy, and with less than minimum forces.

[Samuel]

Well, I'll be... according to the CIA Factbook, Somali has:

"uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, natural gas, likely oil reserves "

https://www.cia.gov/library/publication ... nt/so.html

Of course, to exploit them would require building the facilites, infrastructure and security force to keep the locals out.

[Base Delta Zero]

Ah, yes.

Well--actually, no. I really want to see Greenpeace try something stupid and illegal (as is their habit), only to have it blow up in their faces for once, so we'll have to keep the Nisshin Maru around for now, at least.

Then you can do whatever you like with them.

Paying pirates to attacking whaling boats would count as 'Stupid and Illegal'... kill three birds with one stone, perhaps?

[K. A. Pital]

Well, the United States has the most powerful super-duper Navy on Earth. It's also buddy with the Saudis. Why doesn't it do something about it, heh.

[Stark]

The most proactive thing to do would be for the Russians to indiscriminately shoot up the port towns these pirates operate out of with their guns; enough 100mm rounds into their homes and the pirates should get the message.

Don't tell me, this is a joke, right?

[TC Pilot]

In all honesty, how are the proposed military strikes, like one-shotting with cruise missiles or freighters loaded with marines, or anything short of glassing the region with nukes going to actually stop the piracy? Piracy is apparently the most lucrative "profession" for these guys, and they don't exactly need much in the way of infrastructure to get an operation going, so until that changes, you're going to have people ready and willing to hop on a speed boat and shooting up some hapless freighter.

With them stealing supertankers now, I wonder how long it'll take before someone's ballsy enough to storm an actual warship.

[TimothyC]

The most proactive thing to do would be for the Russians to indiscriminately shoot up the port towns these pirates operate out of with their guns; enough 100mm rounds into their homes and the pirates should get the message.

Don't tell me, this is a joke, right?

The only way to remove pirates is to burn them out, so no it isn't a joke.

[JCady]

It's probably more cost-effective to hire naval mercenaries to escort your ships than to arm the ships and train the crews to use the weapons effectively and bump the crew size enough for full watches.

[K. A. Pital]

In all honesty, how are the proposed military strikes, like one-shotting with cruise missiles or freighters loaded with marines, or anything short of glassing the region with nukes going to actually stop the piracy?

Regular "swaps" (sending military ships, like the USSR did, a few LSTs each month) through the traffic routes to have them attacked by pirates, which then makes a somewhat lasting lesson, could work.

The downside is that you have to send freighter-lookalike military ships rather often to make teh effect stick.

[Isolder74]

In all honesty, how are the proposed military strikes, like one-shotting with cruise missiles or freighters loaded with marines, or anything short of glassing the region with nukes going to actually stop the piracy?

Regular "swaps" (sending military ships, like the USSR did, a few LSTs each month) through the traffic routes to have them attacked by pirates, which then makes a somewhat lasting lesson, could work.

The downside is that you have to send freighter-lookalike military ships rather often to make teh effect stick.

Great Idea bring out the Q-ships!

[KlavoHunter]

The RN has orders not to pick up pirates, as the Home Office has said the pirates would be able to claim asylum. Which is one of the most ridiculous things I had ever heard.

I thought it was perfectly legal to summarily execute pirates when you got ahold of them. Did they change that law?

[The Romulan Republic]

The most proactive thing to do would be for the Russians to indiscriminately shoot up the port towns these pirates operate out of with their guns; enough 100mm rounds into their homes and the pirates should get the message.

Last I checked, indiscriminate killing of civilians was a war crime.

Not saying Russia wouldn't do it, but I am saying that they shouldn't.

[TC Pilot]

Regular "swaps" (sending military ships, like the USSR did, a few LSTs each month) through the traffic routes to have them attacked by pirates, which then makes a somewhat lasting lesson, could work.

Could work, though I imagine there's enough traffic that, unless you put a lot of fake freighters, the ratio of real to boobytrap isn't going to be enough to discourage them. Plus, they'll just come back after awhile unless you make it a permanent thing. But it's certainly a better plan than "Shoot up their ports."

I thought it was perfectly legal to summarily execute pirates when you got ahold of them. Did they change that law?

Well, considering treason isn't even enough to warrant a death penalty there anymore, I doubt very much that a captain will just kill any captive pirates. Besides, even as far back as the 17th Century they still bothered with trials.

[Ryan Thunder]

The most proactive thing to do would be for the Russians to indiscriminately shoot up the port towns these pirates operate out of with their guns; enough 100mm rounds into their homes and the pirates should get the message.

Don't tell me, this is a joke, right?

The only way to remove pirates is to burn them out, so no it isn't a joke.

I realize I once advocated fusion bombing Somalia, but that was a joke. No need to involve people who aren't part of the problem.

We'll just have to invade or something. Every last member of every military in NATO and the former Warsaw Pact together, that is, and the entire Chinese Red Army. All at once.

[K. A. Pital]

Could work

It worked for the USSR. A single such incident where pirates mistakingly attacked a Soviet LST led to pirate attacks on all Soviet freighters stopping for over 1 full year. Other nations' ships, of course, won't be so lucky at all, so it can only work for nations which have a navy to threaten pirates with.

[Master of Ossus]

Last I checked, indiscriminate killing of civilians was a war crime.

Not saying Russia wouldn't do it, but I am saying that they shouldn't.

I think I saw somewhere on this board when the US Navy captured some pirates, recently, they stuck them in the brig and endlessly blasted them with this.

Probably counts as torture in some International Arbitration courts, but damned if that's appropriate.