I wasn't talking about you. SamFisher said the Saudis should patrol their own 'coastal waters,' which isn't where this is happening. I'm not saying they shouldn't help out, and they've said they would. However, keep in mind their total naval fleet only includes about 25 ships, a significant number of which are minesweepers. Deckard, I don't think we're disagreeing. As per my last post, my suggestion was to isolate Somalia. I was merely pointing out that patroling as a solution is difficult because the pirates are projecting out into a huge area.
It really is an immense area, Hayes, and anyone pointing that out is making a point well taken. (I hope that sounded suitably convoluted! ) This is another example of "unintended consequences." After "everyone" blew off Somalia in the wake of the fiasco of international intervention (which may not have been a fiasco had the international community stuck with it, in my opinion, and Clinton can take some of the credit for the "mistake" of leaving the country to chaos), no ruling authority was left. That being the case, the locals turned to what some of them have been doing since time out of mind, another one of those "oldest professions," being pirates on the high seas. The stupidity of leaving a strategically located country in a complete state of anarchy, smack dab on a vital sea lane, is plain for all to see. (and one of the reasons we've had "relations of convenience," in various parts of the world with dictators in the past, as distasteful as it might be) So what do we do? Use some of that power projection we've spent so much for. We easily have the most powerful navy in the world. We have friends with vital interests in the region and in freedom of the seas. Some of them have navies, as well. Britain, France, and India, in particular, can help. India, one of my favorite countries, despite its flaws (spend several weeks there sometime... it's marvelous!), is anxious to put its new "blue water navy" to use and demonstrate that she is a player on the international scene. I welcome any reasonable action India choses to take to stamp this out. With our warmer relations, cooperation here simply makes sense. Some praise from the administration and the new president-elect would not be out of place for India's recent show of force while blowing some of these pirates out of the water. The Kingdom? They have a military, but are afraid to use it, unless it's against their own people.
just when you thought it could not get weirder: Islamists say they'll fight Somali pirates http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081121/ap_on_bi_ge/piracy So..... according to these islamic r****ds, islam is cool with piracy, provided you only seize ships from non-islamic countries. Allah fall in a faint.
A new internet meme is bound to spring up. No more Pirates vs. Ninjas - now it's: PIRATES VS ISLAMISTS "ARRRRRR" vs. "Allah AckbARRRRRR" Thanks. I'll be here all week.
If you are in a state of war though seizing or sinking enemy merchant ships is a legitimate practice.
This is the real downside of the information revolution. Cheap handheld GPS and sattelite phones are great for not getting lost while back country skiing but also allow a band of ragtag pirates to terrorize a million square miles of open ocean.
I'm not sure what this has to do with piracy and islam, unless you mean to characterize islamic fundamentalists as legitimately at war with the entire non-muslim world.
Well yeah. Since the radical Islamic group probably believes they are engaged in a holy war with the infidels, it makes perfect internal sense that piracy of infidel ships is good and piracy of muslim ships is bad. Seems consistent to me.
They consider it legitimate. This isn't a question of whether it is legal or not just explaining why radical Islamic militants are upset about Muslim pirates attacking muslim ships but not other ships.
Another pirate video. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/plfVQV-klZo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/plfVQV-klZo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Just wanted an excuse to here that song again.
