The great game of hunting pirates

Asia Times ^ | Nov 22, 2008 | M K Bhadrakumar

[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.

[Babu]

forbidden by their countries’ laws from having weapons on board

... then the law is an ass, and should be ignored.

[Concho]

According to reports, he is being held in max security prison in Irak.

[Straight Vermonter]

Article 1
Section 8: The Congress shall have power

...

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

Put the free market to work.

[Concho]

It would seem that if the people involved would simply clean out those pirate villages, pop them like a pimple, and then bulldoze the remnants into the ocean that this nonsense would come to a grinding halt. Negotiating with terrorists is poor strategy. You can only deal with them on terms that they understand. I would recommend to open negotiations with a few passes with an AC-130 gun ship. 6000 rpm with a small caliber mini gun would hose the scum off the decks and not damage the heavy steel structures.

[PapaBear3625]

I would recommend to open negotiations with a few passes with an AC-130 gun ship. 6000 rpm with a small caliber mini gun would hose the scum off the decks and not damage the heavy steel structures.

And it should get done before the $millions the pirates are collecting enable them to acquire Stringer anti-aircraft missiles (or the equivalent).

I would actually like to see a UAV with a .30 or .50 cal Gatling, in a mini-A10 configuration.

[kinghorse]

Top 10 ways to stop piracy.

And 1. Send President onshore to establish highly lucrative pomegranate and juju bead trade.

[SevenMinusOne]

This whole situation off the HOF is a great illustration of how un-serious much of the world has become. These two-bit thugs could be dealt with in short order, in no uncertain terms (to in which 90% of this piracy actions would come to a complete halt) yet much of the world wants to bow to these complete thug-fools and let things continue. Dare we provoke or position ones self in a light of strength.

BW will be making new fortunes I predict. More power to them.

[Concho]

Wouldnt that be fun to watch?

[Cold Heart]

You declare them, lock them up and custom seals the safe.

[MathDoc]

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.

Sounds to me like a bitter conservative, clinging to God and guns. Would your racism really make you assume that some hungry locals who might just be enjoying the fresh sea air are pirates and deserve to die without even a trial just because they happen to approach another ship while displaying their RPGs and AK-47s? Obviously you have not yet accepted the Hope and Change that our country voted for at the start of the month.

[Oatka]

I still maintain that one of those merchant ships entering harbor with it’s yardarm decorated with a few bad guys swinging to and fro would have a salutary effect on the situation.

A nice flourish would be that the hangees were wrapped in pigskins.

[Thunder90]

There are some saying that the PLAN (Chinese navy) is sending ships there, and that Iran may even be invited to help out.

[STONEWALLS]

“......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...”

...funny you should mention it....I saw a story the other day about Blackwater expanding their maritime service...perhaps they’re getting ready to offer more capability in this area.

[angkor]

>>>>>I saw a story the other day about Blackwater expanding their maritime service...perhaps they’re getting ready to offer more capability in this area.<<<<<<<<<

Now that you mention it:

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/maritime/

“Maritime: BMSS will soon offer its complete tactical maritime security training services aboard fully operational maritime platforms.... conduct real-world tactical training for maritime force protection units while underway, at anchor, or in port.”

[DariusBane]

when can you un seal the safe?

[Cold Heart]

You un-seal the safe and certain stores lockers (bonded stores) after you leave port.

The ships I was captain of had one old .38 revolver with 100 rounds of ammo. A very standard setup on US flag merchant ships. Every time you entered port you declared one revolver and 100 rnds of ammunition.

I did hear of a ship where the master committed suicide with the ships revolver. That was the ship which then had a declaration of one revolver and 99 rnds of ammo.

Ships are allowed to carry more then that but that is based on company and or the master. We had a skeet shot gun on one ship.

[Cronos]

The guy is probably a Malaysian or a commie --> he's thrashed the Indian navy for not "taking permission" to engage the pirates. Read the article: Moreover, there are question marks about the legality of the operations by these warships. While NATO secured a request from the United Nations secretary general for undertaking interdiction work in international waters off Somalia, the same cannot be said for Russia or India. Russia claims the Somali government sought its assistance but there is no one really in charge in Mogadishu. It is noteworthy that the Indian navy statement has made it a point to underline that its warship "retaliated in self-defense".

[Cronos]

By the perverse September 11, 2001, logic, how could an Islamic government be allowed to be a trailblazer of good governance?

Yes, like Afghanistan, or Pakistan, or Iran, or Saudi Arabia (beheadings for sport), or hmmmm...

[Cronos]

Truly speaking -- the article writer has got a point. Somalia no longer is one country -- it's split into


This is truly no outsider's fault except Saudi Arabia's: the Sauds supported the Islamists who overthrew the barely functioning government. Now you have the top Somaliland, then Puntland, then two other "republics" between them and the south Somalia where the government effectively only controls Mogadishu.

Secondly, he is right about foreign shipping vessels stealing somali fish and knocking the fishermen out of a livelihood. However, I'll wager many of those shipping vessels are from Oman or Sudan or Egypt or Saudia