If find this rather baffling, some pirates steal a massive Supertanker full of oil, and instead of sending in some spec ops or ex spec ops mercenaries to kick some butt, they are negotiating with these people.
With todays technology, ie the ships positioning beacon or Satellite photography its not going to be difficult to find is it.
Its not as if its the first time this has happened either, so am I missing something or are the owners, or governments no doing enough to protect their goods.
If I was an owner IŽd employ a bunch of ex military folk with the necassary hardware to protect my vessel.
Yeah, what possible problem could there be with a having heavy artillery on a ship full of oil?
The UN is sending battleships to help some shipping lanes but I think it's mainly a problem of the sheer number of ships on the sea at once. There's no way to know where pirates are going to attack.
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poor people?...hardly...they've pirated $75,000,000 in the last 3 years...and they've just got a quarter of a days production of oil for the whole of Saudi Arabia
have a read about so called pirate town...Puntland and Eyl in Somalia
no...i mean the west's arrogant notion of "nation building"...which is what was tried in Somalia...the military aspect that led to the black hawk down incident was a relatively small part of a very large failure
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Last edited by jaden101 on Nov 25th, 2008 at 10:21 PM
I have. Al Jazeera sent a crew to interview some "pirates" (the boat they were on did get busted by the coast guard). Neither they or the town they came from seemed to have much money.
I'm sure, much like all organized crime, the people doing the heavy lifting are likely not making more than subsistence.
It would be like saying Opium farmers are rich. Of course they aren't
on this we agree, though I might say that the idea that "nation building" and military force can be so separated is illusory. Nation building, imho, is an extension of or excuse for military policy.
Doesn't this stem from Somalia's horrendous living conditions and the state of near anarchy? I'd love to have some concrete facts- this is a topic I pulled for extemp and I had no idea what to say. I talked about Obama's 1st 100 days in office instead.
i'm not saying they are seperate but nation building is an entirely different policy than military intervention...and i'm not even saying nation building is always bad...because south korean after the korean war is a great example of what it can achieve (read the Gregg Brazinsky if you can get a hold of it)
Such as? Because last time I checked, a water cannon or bright lights aren't a match for an AK-47 or an RPG.
Some shipping lines do employ security, but that is expensive, so many can't afford it or are willing to spend the expense on something they most likely will not need.
It's also the policy of most shipping lines to not fight back, as the pirates are more likely to kill/harm the crew while looting.
ya, well, i totally put my foot in my mouth there, lol
The article is really interesting, and I found a couple more Al Jazeera shorts that were saying largely what you were. I think I saw the rag tag looking pirates and assumed they were the bottom in some hierarchical criminal organization, much like how opium farming works.
To be honest, I actually didn't realize they were ransoming the oil back, I thought they were going to either ship it out through Nigeria, or like the article said, Yemen. Again, this is because I thought they were part of a typical criminal organization.
My fascination in this phenomena has skyrocketed, thank you lol
Unfortunately I am not familiar with Korea at all, but imho nation building is a really illusory term. Governments get to build a single nation, the presumption that any nation has the right to build another seems like the initiation of aggression to me. Again, I'm not familiar with Korea, so ya, if I'm missing something, please tell.
No, they steal the buried treasure some other people have already dug up, oil.
having a team of Mercs with some M16 and Missile Launchers woulnŽt be a problem & woulndŽt endanger the oil onboard. Seeing as the SaudiŽs own the ship they wouldnŽt have problems getting the hardware either. Putting a destroyer type massive gattling gun visible on deck could also prove as a deterrent.
I would have to say the major problem is the routes. The simple solution is that we can just blow them to kindom come. It's like this, once a thief always a thief. They do not need second chances, because they made their choice. Sure I'm harsh, but stealing a ship full of oil. I might as well steal an unsharpened pencil from someone.
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Nov 25th, 2008 05:54 PM
