Posted on 11/23/2008 5:41:57 AM PST by CE2949BB
"Sir, you have done India proud." That was how the anchorman of a television channel in Delhi addressed the Indian navy chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, on the victorious sea battle by warship INS Tabar with would-be hijackers as dusk was falling on Tuesday evening in the Gulf of Aden.
Those words would have made Sir Francis Drake, the 16th-century British navigator and slaver-politician of the Elizabethan era, truly envious. Sir Francis had bigger claims to fame in a life cut short by dysentery while attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1595.
Unsurprisingly, the patriotic Indian media dutifully expressed its gratitude and confidence once again in the armed forces. The armed forces, too, gained an opportunity to look away from a raging controversy over alleged involvement of servicemen in terrorist activities by Hindu fundamentalists. The Indian navy has seen "action" after a long interlude of 37 years since the Bangladesh war.
A carefully worded navy statement suggested that pirates attacked the Tabar and the latter "retaliated in self-defense" and opened fire on the mother vessel. The pirates "made good" their "escape into darkness" while the Indian warship sunk a pirate boat. The incident received wide international attention. But it also raises some questions.
Sea piracy off the coast of Somalia is looming large on the radar of world opinion. The recent hijacking of the oil tanker Sirius Star - a supertanker big enough to hold a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily production (2 million barrels) - has dramatically highlighted the expanding dimensions of the problem. The barely functioning government of Somalia is unable to curb the pirates who sail from its ports and seize cargo ships that ply past.
(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...
Get the fighters out there and aggressively blow these pirates out of the water.
The piracy case in Somalia is a perfect example of victim disarmament at sea. Most merchant ships are forbidden by their countries’ laws from having weapons on board (a ban which is enforced by rigorous inspections), which leaves a 20.000tn ship worth hundreds of million of dollars vulnerable to a pirate dinghy with a crew of five armed with AKs and RPGs worth a few hundred bucks. So do we allow owners to spend a few thousand dollars on weapons and private security on board? God forbid! No, much better to send a carrier group, or just nuke the high seas.
At present the war navies of India, Russia, Britain, the US, Malasya and a NATO taskforce are in the Gulf of Aden playing cat-and-mouse with a few Somali pirates. An EU fleet is on its way.
So what has happened with the Russian ship that was loaded with tanks? It seems to have dropped off the radar screen. Our ships had it blocked in for weeks while the Russians were coming..........then it all dropped off the screen. Did Russia pussy out and pay the ransom or what became of that situation?
You know gun control means only the Regime has guns.
>>>>>>So what has happened with the Russian ship that was loaded with tanks? <<<<<<
I read the other day that it’s still being held by the pirates. Still a Mexican standoff, so to speak.
I am happy that this guy stopped piracy, I hope this is not an isolated incident. If a ship like I used to belong to catches these guys in the act, they are let off far far too easy. It’s better that other nations catch these guys, for obvious reasons. Go Indian Navy, and good on youall.
Your right, as I understand it you can have a few rifles or hand guns on board but as soon as you come into port you must either hide them (at risk of imprisonment) or throw them overboard.
Solution to piracy- Q-Ships
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship
Back in the day, OUR U.S. media would have done the same thing.
Now, the traitorous bastards hope for the defeat of our military, and help ensure un-American Socialist factions are installed in our government "by any means necessary" (the Malcolm X method).
This story was written by a left-wing turd "reporter" who thinks the corrupt, inept UN should run the world.
If we only had the requisite number of America-FIRST leaders with balls, we'd send the UN packing.
Catch them?
If "caught", what is to be done with them?
Better to STOP paying ransoms, and KILL THEM. Only THAT will stop or drastically decrease the pirate activity by sending a strong message to the savages.
“Stuhldreher suggested, “Making the coastal areas lucrative for local fishermen again could encourage pirates to return to legitimate livelihoods.”
....oh boy!....here it comes....an international “program” of aid to attack the “root causes” of piracy.
......the answer to this problem is very simple: arm the vessels and shoot the pirates dead.
Below is a pretty decent “big picture” story from AFP this morning.
Several quotes from both the “pirates” and the Islamists who are allegedly threatening them, and the story makes it clear that both groups are actually Islamists.
“We have nothing against [the Saudis, who own Sirius Star] but unfortunately what happened was just business for us and I hope the Saudis will understand,” the pirate said.
Yeah, I’m sure they’ll understand.
Here’s the story in the entirety:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g6tZefjHoEovf93h6A5eDRsog1EQ
Tension mounts in Somali pirate lair as ransom clock ticks
3 hours ago
MOGADISHU (AFP) — Tension mounted Sunday between pirates holding a Saudi tanker and Islamist fighters threatening to attack them, with a week remaining for the ship’s owners to meet a 25-million-dollar ransom demand.
“If the pirates want peace, they had better release the tanker,” Sheikh Ahmed, a spokesman for the Shebab group in the coastal region of Harardhere, told AFP by phone.
The Sirius Star, a huge tanker carrying around 100 million dollars worth of crude oil and owned by Saudi Aramco, was hijacked in the space of 16 minutes by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean on November 15.
Pirates have since anchored it off their base in Harardhere, north of Mogadishu, and demanded the ransom be paid by November 30.
The Shebab (youth) armed group, which controls much of southern and central Somalia and rejects an internationally-backed peace process, has positioned fighters in and around Harardhere in recent days.
Islamist leaders have stressed that piracy is a capital offence under Islam and officially condemned the surge in acts of piracy in Somalia’s waters, which has begun to disrupt international trade.
A member of the pirate group holding the Sirius Star retorted that his own men were not afraid of the Shebab’s threats.
“We are the Shebab of the sea and we can’t be scared by the Shebab of the land,” Mohamed Said told AFP. “If anybody attempts to attack, that would be suicide.”
Said announced to AFP on Thursday that his group was demanding 25 million dollars to release the vessel, which is carrying the equivalent of almost a quarter of top producer Saudi Arabia’s daily output.
“I am not on the tanker at the moment because I am coordinating what is happening on the ground,” he said. “There is a small Shebab vanguard on the ground but we also have a strong presence.
“Every Somali has great respect for the holy kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We have nothing against them but unfortunately what happened was just business for us and I hope the Saudis will understand,” the pirate said.
Some residents in Harardhere have argued however that the Shebab are divided over the issue of piracy and that some of the Islamist fighters have moved into the region only to claim a share of the ransom.
Members of the pirate group told AFP on Saturday that talks were underway with Saudi Aramco’s shipping arm and assured that the crew would not be harmed but added that no breakthrough had yet been achieved.
Yet he warned against any plan by Saudi Arabia or foreign navies patrolling the region to free the ship by force.
“I hope the owner of the tanker is wise enough and won’t allow any military option because that would be disastrous for everybody. We are here to defend the tanker if attacked,” Abdiyare Moalim said.
The capture of the Sirius Star, the biggest ship ever hijacked, and its oil cargo, has sowed panic in the shipping world, with companies now re-routing deliveries via the Cape of Good Hope, around the tip of South Africa, adding substantial time and transit costs.
With close to 100 attacks on ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean this year, the pirates are threatening to choke one of the world’s busiest maritime trade routes.
World leaders have condemned the surge in piracy and rushed extra navy ships to Somalia’s waters in bid to curb the attacks.
But the international community and the shipping industry alike have acknowledged that the problem could never be completely resolved without an improvement of the situation inside Somalia.
The transitional government in Somalia is on its last legs and is incapable of reining in the pirates and offering alternative sources of income to the communities supporting the coastal ransom-hunters.
Pirates operating from Somalia have reinvested significant amounts from their ransoms into improving their equipment.
They currently hold at least 17 ships, including a Ukrainian cargo carrying 33 combat tanks destined for South Sudan.
Um yea. see, if the US navy catches them then the US taxpayers gotta pay the ACLU.....
If India (or any nation) catches them theyd be lucky to ever be heard from again, that was my point.
BTW, Nobody pays ransoms for pirates. not even the US.
Don’cha just love Indians? The man wanders over the history of the world and pinpoints W as the problem.
It’s Bush’s fault
The "barely functioning government of Somalia" can have two choices: outsource curbing the pirates to various entities (I'm sure that the Indian Navy and others would take the contract for a dollar per year), or allow the rest of the world to declare war on Somalia, declare the pirates to be hostile Somali warships, and sink them on sight.
The pirates do not yet realize that it may be cheaper for the Saudis to pay a few million to some people to attack the coastal villages and exterminate everybody there.
It’s truly pathetic that the Saudis (and others) can’t seem to find a half-million $$$ or so (to hire say a maritime Blackwater team) to defend their ships from these savages, and that all the naval power amassed off Somalia can’t seem to stop them.
Some entity should just storm these vessels, kill every single one of the Islamist pirates, and set an example for the growing numbers of potential pirates.
>>>>”They currently hold at least 17 ships, including a Ukrainian cargo carrying 33 combat tanks destined for South Sudan.”<<<<<<
Most interesting. Thanks
......It seems to have dropped off the radar screen......
Which reminds me...... whatever happened to Tariq Aziz?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.