A post by Pat
A major escalation of piracy was averted when the cruise ship Nautica outran Somali pirate boats. One of the smaller boats came within 300 yards of the liner. Shots were fired at the passengers. There were 656 international passengers and 399 crew members onboard. The Nautica was on a 32-day cruise from Rome to Singapore, with stops at ports in Italy, Egypt, Oman, Dubai, India, Malaysia and Thailand,. The liner was probably headed from Egypt to Oman when it was attacked.
Under Fire, U.S. Liner Outruns Pirates
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, and pirates have taken advantage of the country’s lawlessness to launch attacks on foreign shipping from the Somali coast. Around 100 ships have been attacked so far this year.
Somali prime minister Nur Hassan Hussein said Tuesday that his country has been torn apart by 18 years of civil war and cannot stop piracy alone.
“The piracy problem is part of the legacy of the situation of the country. This 18 years of civil war is followed by disorder,” Hussein told The Associated Press in an interview in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
In about 100 attacks on ships off the Somali coast this year, 40 vessels have been hijacked, Choong said. Fourteen remain in the hands of pirates along with more than 250 crew members.
In the mean time NATO debates piracy issue
International warships patrol the area off the Horn of Africa and have created a security corridor under a U.S.-led initiative, but attacks have not slowed.
“There is a shared look at ironing out the legal challenges, led first and foremost by the United Nations,” NATO spokesman James Appathurai said of the discussions.
Ministers took up the piracy issue with members of the Mediterranean Dialogue, a forum that combines NATO members with seven countries in the region, such as Israel, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco.
He said that the ministers would also take up the issue of a possible follow-up anti-piracy mission after the current task force leaves the region in mid-December.
It looks like stalling tactics to me. Why the reluctance? Perhaps nobody cares to commit naval resources for some tankers and freighters and their crews. Maybe this close call on a passenger liner will get something stirring.
From Pompeii’s campaign against piracy in the days of Ancient Rome, to US Marines taking action in Derba (and Tripoli), Libya, or Islamic piracy off Somalia, there is, and has been, one solution.
Extreme Force.
Negotiation leads to … Hey, Remember “Food for Oil”.
Good grief, world: getting rid of pirates is what navies were !@#$%* invented for in the first place! These people should be hanging from the nearest yardarm.
This one should be easy: Turn the merchant and passenger ships in the Indian Ocean into Q-Ships. Six or eight well camouflaged .50 Cal machine guns, plus maybe a couple of rocket launchers, could turn any ship into a nicely defended floating fortress.
“Where were all these ships with unarmed crews when I needed them?” – Captain Jack Sparrow
Seems we have quite a concensus here. Of course, immediate justice could be hampered by the UN Human Rights Commission, not to mention Eurabia’s aversion to capital punishment. (Anyone notice capital punishment is wrong when a trial is held, but a drive-by shooting or public, or ‘disclosed’ beheading is any of political-cultural-religious expression?)
Would they first be concerned if the bold, outright, intention of the crime of piracy on the high seas should be seen as a religious endeavor?
Were they suitably detoxified from khat and do they ‘suffer’ any withdrawal symptoms, and have they been offered re-hab? (Seems reports that ‘The Mumbai Apostles’ maintained their wakefulness to perform thier religious expressions with cocaine.)
As we muse on this topic, I’m caught-up short.
Geesh! How many of these excuses are used in our own courts? (Well, we always provide for the medical opinion and multiple derrangement syndromes – which of course lessens the impact of murder upon the the victims’ dearests.)
And worse, How many of these arguments gain legitimacy?