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2009-02-11 Africa Horn

The Pirates of Puntland: Actually Pretty Cool

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Posted by gromky 2009-02-11 12:32|| || Front Page|| [11127 views ] Top

#1 I love this article. I actually envy the pirates. I would TRUELY love to be able to join them. They are living life while I'm watching it.

Posted by Yosemite Sam 2009-02-11 13:21|| 2009-02-11 13:21|| Front Page Top

#2 To echo gromky's point, pirates embraced democratic principles far earlier and with greater enthusiasm than many of their contemporaries. For example, the captain of most pirate ships was chosen by majority vote amongst the crew, and could be replaced at a moment's notice should his leadership and skippering skills prove less than worthy. It is also true that in most instances, the crew of the ship voted to determine the vessel's course of action (where to sail and plunder, whether to attack or not, etc.). Rarely was the decision left solely to the captain to make.

Posted by eltoroverde 2009-02-11 13:32|| 2009-02-11 13:32|| Front Page Top

#3 Its kind of hard to feel too sorry for the oil companies, Russian arms dealers, or other sleazy fat cats whose insurance is going up.

It's not the owners and shippers I'm concerned about. It's the crews. Mariners generally don't make a hell of a lot of money (we'll exclude U.S. and certain European shipping companies and flags). And they're the ones who are hostages.

Bet you didn't think about them when you you wrote up your heroes-of-the-sea, didja?

Posted by Pappy 2009-02-11 14:42|| 2009-02-11 14:42|| Front Page Top

#4 Eltoroverde: I doubt these pirates are following the same traditions the ones in the Carribean did. More like "They're not from my extended family, I can pay a mullah to declare them infidel even if they're a moslem from the Philipines, therefore they're not human, and I need to find a way to make money off of them, whether by holding them hostage or sending them off to the butcher."

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-02-11 15:11|| 2009-02-11 15:11|| Front Page Top

#5 The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard

A good read.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2009-02-11 15:44|| 2009-02-11 15:44|| Front Page Top

#6 The pirates don't harm their captives. The crews are innocents, to be sure, but far worse things happen to innocent folks the world 'round. In addition, the total number of people affected is quite small.

Posted by gromky 2009-02-11 15:49|| 2009-02-11 15:49|| Front Page Top

#7 Nice dismissal.

Posted by Pappy 2009-02-11 16:10|| 2009-02-11 16:10|| Front Page Top

#8 Piracy may be romantic and the poor fishermen screwed by the Taiwanese or whoever may resonate, but this is a very serious problem that will get rapidly worse.

BTW, if you want to assign blame, the fault lies with the UN, which done everything it can to dcrew up the place, from creating the artificial state of Somalia in the first place, to pushing and pouring money into a so called government that has so little legitimacy that it can't even enter the country.

Then of course there is the morass of International Law, which prevents UN member states from doing anything about piracy, except being forced to offer them asylum as the Dutch are about to find out.

I'm not one of the 'hangem from the yardarm' types, but I do see a serious growing problem that the only feasible solution involves considerable violence, either at sea or in Puntland itself.

Posted by phil_b 2009-02-11 16:16|| 2009-02-11 16:16|| Front Page Top

#9 oceangoing trawlers from Taiwan cleaned out the sea

Taiwan? Not Japan? It was the Japanese trawlers, I thought, that was making a serious effort to clear-fish the Mediterranean a few years ago.

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2009-02-11 16:35|| 2009-02-11 16:35|| Front Page Top

#10 By this kind of absurd logic, we should be dissing Fred for wasting his time running Rantburg, when he could have turned his his hand to internet banking fraud when he was made redundant. After all, the banks usually cover out losses.

Posted by Bulldog 2009-02-11 17:23|| 2009-02-11 17:23|| Front Page Top

#11 Woof woof!

Posted by .5MT 2009-02-11 19:55|| www.cybernations.net]">[www.cybernations.net] 2009-02-11 19:55|| Front Page Top

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