Somali pirates

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We should be so scared that "terrorists" might do this or that to us while at the same time Somali pirates are capturing ship after ship and collecting millions of dollars to release captured ships and crews.

For some reason there are 100 "Western" warships in the Persian Gulf but none protecting the coast of Africa.

If I had a ship I would hire a mercenary gun crew with a 50 caliber machine gun and shoulder held rockets.

If pirates tried to take the ship then I would blow them out of the water. End of story.

Many countries jointly patrol the area, including the Indian navy. It is not easy to capture pirates as no country is willing to fund Puntland (autonomous area of Somalia which recognises the powerless government) to combat piracy. Puntland has made it clear that it does not have the resources to maintain law and order in the coastal regions.

So there still people who live like pirates eh?

Sounds like fun if you don't get caught..

The percentage of pirate attacks per ship passing through the area is miniscule. It's the media doing its job in making things look worse than they really are, they sensationalize a rare event so they can sell more papers/advertising slots.
There are people working hard in the background trying to alleviate problem areas in the world but too often the media doesn't cover the work they are doing because likely the media hasn't been told, or its too boring to mention, or they want to sell the public some political agenda.

Indeed. Perish the thought that the US military should ever be seen to be doing good!

@Wombat - so far as I know, arming civilian vessels is against international maritime law. There's also the consideration that by arming crews, you are in some way legitimising the use of more violence by the bad guys (something like "ah, they've got guns on that ship, they must want a fight.") Personally, I'd like to see arming ships allowed, though, but the best option would be to make the payment of ransoms punishable by massive fines and/or lengthy imprisonment of the boards of the responsible insurance companies (or heck, just death, if they're on the board of an insurance company they deserve it anyway, but perhaps that's a bit extreme ).

I suppose you could get a loan move to a foreign country and start up an oceanic escort agency?

[quote= I suppose you could get a loan move to a foreign country and start up an oceanic escort agency?[/quote]

Heck no. Just hire Blackwater or one of the Israeli security companies. They will shoot anyone you tell them to. No questions asked.

Heck no. Just hire Blackwater or one of the Israeli security companies. They will shoot anyone you tell them to. No questions asked.[/quote]

Spoken like a true wombat.