Comments on: Piracy on the high seas

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:54:40 +0000

word is bond

By: Roy G

Roy G — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:03:36 +0000

Welcome to Balkingpoints Ari & Steve! Good remarks both.

I’m sure the Somalia situation goes deeper than what gets reported by U.S. major media. Excellent topic for a Balk (…should you decide to accept it!)

Only Americans of a certain age, will get that line… ;^)

By: steve/USA

steve/USA — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:17:47 +0000

Would even be noble had all this military assistance for the shipping companies been spent for the sake of the Somali fishermen back before piracy became the only game in town. I certainly do not agree with piracy but i don’t agree with the commercial fishing companies from other countries illegally taking advantage of a people without any real governance or defense soley because they can. The thing about morales and character is you have to have them before you can use them.
And we’re not mentioning the toxic waste dump that Somalia’s coast has become.

By: Ari / US

Ari / US — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:58:54 +0000

Sorry – I forgot to say:-

Most of the commentators I’ve heard on the most serious, international programs…most of the ones with a real knowledge of Somalia and East Africa have said that a large contributor to the problem has been the large scale illegal fishing of developed countries in Somali waters…

Essentially, many people have said that these were the fishermen and their families. It doesn’t justify hoolding people for ransom, but I find it interesting how that issue is very rarely discussed, so that as ever, threats just seem to emerge out of nothing…

By: Ari / US

Ari / US — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:56:02 +0000

Our arrogance on this subject is remarkable.

As far as the US media is concerned, the piracy issue began and ended when it was a US ship. Since then, similar action against the pirates has been taken by troops from France, Russia, the Netherlands, UK, Spain, etc. etc., and that’s just in a few weeks!

By: Roy G

Roy G — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:37:19 +0000

Welcome aboard Chris! I would think Navy people are planning several moves of this type to foil the piracy. At least the decoy part.

Hillary made remarks yesterday about the international illegality of it,
and shutting it down with some naval power – expanding on a coalition
they already have set up guarding those waters. They’re already down
the road on it, but you may not hear much about that from an alarmist
U.S. television media.

And they are expecting some burden-sharing by the shipping industry
of course, as well as coalition nations. Good / we’re out of money here
in the U.S… ;^)

Here are her remarks;
Announcement of Counter-Piracy Initiatives

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:41:29 +0000

Get a cargo vessel, instead of the regular crew, it will be manned by Marines, Seals and any other special ops person, let the bastards get close to the ship or even board it and then cut them down, then take their boat back to the mother ship and sink it. Unfortunatley some soldiers may perish but it would be far more honourable a death then being blown up in Iraq by an enemy you can’t see.

By: Roy G

Roy G — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 05:11:26 +0000

I likewise suspect we’re not getting much of a backstory on Somalia
from mainstream American media. I’ve heard “failed state”, and little
else. Although on NBC on Sunday, Jim Miklaszewski maintained that Navy protection for merchant ships, is a job that spans a million square miles
of “pirate-infested” waters. Golly… ;^)

And they’ve generally presented it as something big, bad and ominous. Today they had lead stories about pirates threatening “retaliation” now.
I would think satellite or drone surveillance, could pretty much identify ships that come out onto open sea from Somalia without registered itineraries or other merchant credentials. Those ships might be interdicted by a Navy ship, or helicopters dispatched from a carrier maybe.

I think it’s necessary to deal with proven threats like this or gihad strongholds in Waziristan, etc. Thugs can’t be allowed to just run roughshod over the world IMO. But I do share the concern of the U.S. footprint on it all. These problems are better addressed by international coalitions, as a last option after diplomacy fails and innocents are being killed. Those most eager to advocate military solutions, usually have
never been in war themselves.

Here is the Wikipedia history on Somalia;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia

By: Sam from maine/us

Sam from maine/us — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:14:36 +0000

The ‘pirates ‘are wrong to kidnapp ,,but we are wrong first , we suck the oil out from these countries , pollute the land and water, arm them with weapons, this is how we have subjagated the entire world ,and now when our economy crashes because of war and waste and corruption , we continue to ignore the cause and keep on building war,,,doeas anybody know why these ‘pirates’ are operating ? My guess is that they are impovershed, and we are stealing some natural resource from them,
,,,I know a Navy Seal ,he was in Viet Nam, war kills humanity , it tears the soul apart, but it makes profit for the ‘complex’ and entertains the masses,,

By: Roy G

Roy G — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:28:01 +0000

Welcome aboard to Woody!

May have taken a while, but a great outcome to save that hostage captain. One of the pirates had gone on to the Navy ship to negotiate, during which time snipers got the other 3.

So then his role on the ship changed a little. He was taken into custody… ;^)

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