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2008-08-31 Africa Horn

Pirates fail to seize Japanese ship off Somalia- maritime watchdog

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Posted by Fred 2008-08-31 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 . . . said pirates failed to seize a Japanese ship off Somalia after four successful attempts.

I'm not really up on my piracy but why would you need to seize a ship after you have already seized it (four times)? :)

Just a guess but I'll betcha that hanging a dead pirate from both the starboard and port bow anchor chains would cut down on unauth boarding attempts.

Posted by GORT 2008-08-31 10:55|| 2008-08-31 10:55|| Front Page Top

#2 I'm wondering why ships that sail in that area are NOT armed, a small deck gun would make a huge difference.

Posted by Redneck Jim">Redneck Jim 2008-08-31 13:20|| 2008-08-31 13:20|| Front Page Top

#3 The hijackers are all in small boats - difficult to hit with any type of precision arms. What's needed is something like an AC-130, or arming the ships with 50-cal machine guns.

Of course, to REALLY stop the nonsense, the rest of the world would have to come together and assault the Somalis behind the hijacking where they live. I'm not sure you could bring together a group of military personnel from 50-60 countries, and have them operate effectively under a single commander, although that's exactly what it will take to put an end to this mess.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2008-08-31 13:54|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2008-08-31 13:54|| Front Page Top

#4 Of course, to REALLY stop the nonsense, the rest of the world would have to come together and assault the Somalis behind the hijacking where they live.

In the old days, I think this meant looting their ill-gotten gains, hanging the pirates* and burning down the village. These days, you might seize some weaponry, but have to accept surrenders. What do you do with the prisoners? If you imprison them at home, you incur the cost of their upkeep. If you set them free, you're setting yourself up for the next series of pirate attacks.

* This probably wasn't just deterrence - more like a simple question of economy.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2008-08-31 14:02|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2008-08-31 14:02|| Front Page Top

#5 I really am at a loss for determining why the commercial vessels cannot arm themselves with at least small caliber automatic weapons and small arms. Can someone identify if there is a reason behind their defenseless posture? I can only imagine it is some form of international maritime law?

Posted by NoMoreBS">NoMoreBS 2008-08-31 15:25|| 2008-08-31 15:25|| Front Page Top

#6 It is 99% maritime law. The rest is a combination of ship-owner concern about seizure of the vessel on legal grounds by a foreign authority upon entering port as an 'armed vessel', insurance liability, the costs involved as opposed to the risks, the weapons training requirements for the crew, or the hiring and maintenance of trained security personnel aboard the ship, or hiring of an escort vessel.

The options are: increase the international naval presence, greatly increase insurance rates for that area, place a total embargo on both Yemen and Somalia, or an international declaration that Somalia is a 'non-nation' and that its territorial waters fall under international purview.

Posted by Pappy 2008-08-31 16:10|| 2008-08-31 16:10|| Front Page Top

#7 I like that last one best, Pappy.

Since Somalia actually is a non-nation....

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2008-08-31 16:12|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2008-08-31 16:12|| Front Page Top

#8 The options are:

or issue letters of mark to privateers from a sovereign country who'll be ~~paid~~ sponsored by a consortium of insurers and shippers. Hell, we could get the next Deadliest Catch deal going as well with video options. Sign up Mike Rowe to do the talk over.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-08-31 21:30|| 2008-08-31 21:30|| Front Page Top

#9 or issue letters of mark to privateers from a sovereign country who'll be paid sponsored by a consortium of insurers and shippers.

Perhaps. However, the legal wrangling involved before letters of marque were issued would likely take long. Years, in my cynical experience.

Posted by Pappy 2008-08-31 23:36|| 2008-08-31 23:36|| Front Page Top

23:53 Pappy
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