I’m having trouble finding any news of what became of the Faina, the Ukrainian ship carrying Russian combat tanks that was hijacked by pirates off Somalia in September.
What came of that? And what military forces are in the area now to deal with the pirate situation?
This article was from last week, does that help?
It’s still there.
The crew is unharmed, & the pirates still await ransom.
No weapons have been unloaded.
Today, Somali pirates have seized an oil tanker bringing the total number of ships held by pirates to fourteen.
We need to kill these @#$%^&s!
Now! Before they get stronger!
Why doesn’t the UN turn the whole problem over to the Royal Navy, and tell them to operate under 18th centruy rules. There’d be no pirates left within three months.
But of course we’d never let that happen - God forbid we should be mean to somebody.
They are messing with big business now. The tanker hijack means the gloves are off. I can see a real effort being made now.
Hmm. A $150mm ship carrying $150mm of oil, and some people who probably want $20mm-$30mm to let it go unharmed. I can see a real big effort being made to fill in some insurance forms real quick and then deliver a really big box of cash to Eyl - staging a gunfight on top of a huge, valuable, flammable asset just doesn’t have quite the same appeal.
Are those laws still in place? Can an RN captain still legally hang pirates from his yardarms (if he had yardarms)?
Didn’t work so hot in the 18th century.
But in anycase, I doubt they’re refraining from rushing the ship for concern for the pirates. Both the ship’s crew and its cargo are being held hostage.
I believe the UK has a blanket ban on capital punishment, so I seriously doubt it.
The RN killed two Somali pirates just a couple of weeks ago…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7725771.stm
No idea on the truth of this, but reports in the media here suggest the RN doesn’t like to capture pirates these days as they usually then try to claim asylum in the UK.
Yeah, but they have radar and satallites now.
There is a task force there now from what I have read. The pirates are starting to work a larger area now to get away from them. The tanker was taken much further south.
If this gets anything more than a horse laugh, the system is broken.
Any company that does business with these terrorists is funding their operations and making it profitable for them to continue. Massive, massive fines seem to be in order, large enough to make sure all of their remaining fleet gets retrofitted with defensive armaments and mercenaries. Shift the externalities inwards and watch the whole problem resolve itself.
Paying ransoms is not illegal unless it is to terrorists, and despite your rhetoric, these guys are criminal opportunists, not terrorists.
I’m curious: would you also say that the way to deal with muggers is to fine their victims till everybody hires a bodyguard?
Captain Edward Teach might dispute that.
Interesting timing, with the Indian Navy sinking a pirate vessel in the area.
Story here
The pirates are seemingly becoming very active, and very bold.
OK, then what was the SLA? The Manson Family? El Rukn/Black P. Stone Nation?
Is it reasonable for everyone to hire a bodyguard, and is the potential cost to the economy if they do not millions of dollars a mugging?
I don’t know, what was the SLA and what does it have to with the present situation?
No it isn’t reasonable for everyone to hire a bodyguard, and proportionately, the “millions of dollars a mugging” is not occurring with the current wave of piracy.
IMHO the previous campaigns against piracy went pretty well over the long run. National navies eventually overcame them. Nation-states are still forces to be reckoned with.
To deal with pirates, I recommend the classic weapons:
a cutlass
a sabre (be sure to get this kind, not this kind)
or perhaps you’d get best results from a good old-fashioned broadsword.