Somali pirates seize another boat

Somali pirates seize another boat

news.bbc.co.uk

Somali pirates have hijacked a tugboat in the Gulf of Aden with 16 crew members on board - 10 of them Italians.

(visit the link for the full news article)

What can be done!?

I realize the "main" area in which most boats are captured is the size of Texas. It's impossible to patrol it all...

Drones, perhaps? Kill on site.

That's what happens. International waters, heck I guess you can do anything?

That includes missile attacks against armed somalia pirates?

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

About the only thing that can be done is to go to a convoy system. If you don't convoy with the rest of them, you're on your own. Put several destroyer class ships with each convoy, and run them through the area at full speed.

You don't need to do convoys. You need to put ARMED TEAMS on all ships. But under the UN Law Of The Sea, you can't have arms on your boat if you're a civilian because most countries do not allow civilians to have weapons.

See. If you're an american citizen and you have to bear arms, you go from there with arms on your boat, then you go to Mexico, you can't because in Mexico, citizens have no rights to bear arms.

Bomb Somalia into oblivion or arm the ships. But of course you gonna choose the first option... the most stupid one.

You put 5 guys trained with body armor and AR-15 and with a few .50 machine guns and there's no pirate that will survive to take control of the ship.

[edit on 11-4-2009 by Vitchilo]

reply to post by Vitchilo


Most ships won't carry arms, because the insurance. It's cheaper and safer to pay ransoms than it is to have arms on the ships. You start shooting back and the pirates go to bigger weapons, and more risk of damaging the ships.

Remember the scene at the end of Batman Begins? We start carrying guns, they go to automatics. We wear armor they go armor piercing. It keeps escalating until you lose ships. The safest way is to convoy.

One Barrett .50 would take care of the problem.
en.wikipedia.org...

There are 1000s of places on a cargo ship to hide one where it would not be found and if the ship was attacked you could just fill the pirates boat full of hole and never report the attack.

People disappear at sea all the time and who would report a few pirates missing.

You start shooting back and the pirates go to bigger weapons

Even RPG would not have the range of a .50 bmg
and a RPG is the biggest weapon i have ever heard of the pirates having.

What the insurance carrier does not know can't hurt anyone

reply to post by Zaphod58


Well. Do a blockade of Somalia then. Inspect every ship that come out of there. Somalia is a third world cesspit anyway, they don't export anything, it won't be a problem to inspect all ships going there.

And Somalians need to have money to buy bigger weapons. Without hijacking ships or having ransom, they won't be able to buy those weapons. And the biggest thing they have is a RPG... or a few AK-47... nothing to be afraid of.

[edit on 11-4-2009 by Vitchilo]

reply to post by Vitchilo


english.aljazeera.net...

There's more to the story than meets the eye (MSM as usual doesn't tell you the other side) and I agree a tugboat has on first sight nothing to do with the problem at hand but well take away their 'cause' and I'm on your side.
Please read the article!

Use Q-ships, often and make them tempting targets. The shipping rates and times make a convoy inconvenient.

reply to post by akron


Yeah I knew about that. And NATO and/or the compagnies being attacked by those pirates should sue those who dumped this toxic waste in Somalia... the compagnies should fund the cleaning. But NATO governments are so sold to big business that it will never happens.

Our ``democracies`` don't care about human rights, the environment or anything else, they only care about big business. You Monsanto will pay up? You think Halliburton will pay up? You think those who produce DU will pay for the cleaning and the billions in damage they inflict on Iraq and Afghanistan? You think the oil compagnies and the banks will pay and go to jail for what they have done? Of course not.

Things won't change unless we do a NATO-wide revolution of the people.

[edit on 11-4-2009 by Vitchilo]

reply to post by Vitchilo


Then it comes back to needed a ton of ships. The pirates are launching from small coves, ports and anywhere they can get the boats. There's a lot of coastline along Somalia.

I heard about them "protecting" their resources the other day. How is grabbing a ship in Yemeni waters protecting Somali waters? Most of the attacks have come near Yemen. And how much of the money from ransoms goes back to help with anything but making the pirates richer?

[edit on 4/11/2009 by Zaphod58]

Is the Somalian coast a toxic waste dump?

From October 08

Somali pirates are accusing European firms of dumping toxic waste off the coast of Somalia and this is why they are holding a ship for ransom.

www.digitaljournal.com...

Maybe there is a LOT more to the story..

I heard about them "protecting" their resources the other day.

Well europeans fishing ships were going in somalis waters for a number of years.

How is grabbing a ship in Yemeni waters protecting Somali waters? Most of the attacks have come near Yemen. And how much of the money from ransoms goes back to help with anything but making the pirates richer?

Oh I agree. Probably 90% of all the pirates are working for their own personnal gains and using this as an excuse.

Still. Those firms are really dumping toxic waste and fishing in somalis waters. Which is really bad... thugs running somalia and poverty doesn't help ending the pirates phenomena.

Being pirates is totally criminal, but they have guts... attacking big ships with small ships like that... they have huge balls.

[edit on 11-4-2009 by Vitchilo]

reply to post by spacedoubt


I agree that there's more to the story, and there was a lot of evidence that there IS dumping going on after the tsunami. But I have SERIOUS doubts that the pirates have some motive of cleaning the mess up. I think that they're taking advantage of the situation to make themselves rich.

Originally posted by spacedoubt
Is the Somalian coast a toxic waste dump?

From October 08

Somali pirates are accusing European firms of dumping toxic waste off the coast of Somalia and this is why they are holding a ship for ransom.

www.digitaljournal.com...

Maybe there is a LOT more to the story..

oh yaeh..

i forgot these "terrorists" were environmentalists.......

Well, frankly, whats wrong with jsut shooting tehm as they try and board? Something gotta be done about this! Captain and crew should be legalized armed gun carriers, for reasons jsut like this. Not like anyones gunna miss them pirates.

reply to post by xbranscombex

For the record
I didn't say that, but you just did.

I am simply asking if there is more to the story.
It's becoming more convoluted.
If the supposed "civilized" world isn't going to follow simple laws of common sense, why should anyone else?

Is there not another agenda to this whole thing to do with admiralty law and the law of the sea?

I'm no legal hawk so I really don't know what I'm talking about but I sure as hell know there's an agenda getting played out by the press over this whole situation.

What this is at this stage I'm not sure but once we start to hear of proposed 'solutions' to the crisis that will become clear.

I'll wager it will have something to do with revised international laws that will affect national laws. But I highly doubt the British press have the remit from the government to actually inform people of what these things mean...

reply to post by Zaphod58



I agree with the convoy idea... You're either underway with the convoy, or you take your own risks. I am sure the cargo carriers would appreciate it.

The problem with the responses about arming the crews... Typical responses of the uninformed. The Laws of Sea are pretty much one of the few sets of international law that is mostly obeyed by all. International crews and ports of call prohibiting firearms is an issue, but lets examine one of the real problems, shall we?

It's all well and good to have arms, but they are useless when the ship is taken by suprise!

The successful pirates are sneaking up on these large cargo ships in essentially invisible dinghys and semi rigids, throwing lines over the stern, climbing up, and then securing the ship.

I don't know how many readers have seen the type of container ship in question, but to climb a rope to the stern would take serious cajones! You've got to respect the resolve of these pirates.

The reason they are able to take these ships by suprise is that no intense, military style watch is maintained for these pirates in most cases. There simply aren't crews large enough to maintain that type of watch. Even so, a small boat with little or no wake, approaching in medium seas at night with little or no moonlight... Forming a mental picture folks?

Convoy is the most effective and safest method of transit throught the gulf of Aden for now...


[edit on 12/4/09 by cbianchi513]

is this the end of globalization? ................................