Posted on 11/26/2023 6:19:05 PM PST by SeekAndFind
“In the age of satellites the only way pirates can be successful capturing big ships is if they have a powerful government behind them.”
or weak governments in the rest of the world ...back in the day of somali pirates, western governments refused to assist all ships not registered in their own countries, which was of course pretty much all of them because they register in countries of convenience ... as a result, the somali pirates operated with impunity from 2000-2017 ...
While I am fully against involvement in places like Ukraine which has zero strategic value for our nation, I am fully on board for using US Naval forces to combat piracy on the open seas, if not simply to establish freedom of navigation.
It is one of the reasons piracy is now found primarily in oceans near the Horn of Africa and some regions in Asia, because the navies of the entire world took the view that if piracy was discovered, intervention by any nation’s naval forces was always appropriate regardless of the nationality.
In that way, piracy largely disappeared, though there remain pockets.
Warning shots! Warning shots be damned. They should have strafed and sunk them and then shot any survivors.
There are still plenty of B-52s in the Davis-MonthN boneyard in Tucson. Are used to live right next-door to it in the late 80s..
While I do not support direct our involvement with any wars between other nations, I’m 100% in support of our Navy combating piracy on the the high seas, no matter what countries are involved.
Piracy is a threat to ALL nations commercial fleets, and must be crushed at every opportunity.
Shame on the ChiCOms for not rendering aid to a distress call in international waters. There should be serious consequences for them.
Along those lines, I would not oppose sending a bill to the Country the vessel is flagged under.
But I feel it is the duty of all vessels from all countries to render assistance to any distress call to the extent that they are capable of. Obviously a commercial vessel won’t be able to assist with a distress call for piracy, but any blue water warship certainly should be able to.
There should be severe consequences for any country whos ships refuses to answer ANY distress call.
The country under whos flag the vessel in distress flies should expect to pay for the costs of that assistance.
The oceans must be kept free of pirates, and all sea faring nations should share that obligation.
Do ships still have yardarms? If not I am sure something can be rigged up to treat the pirates in proper fashion.
Do they have any buckets and concrete aboard the vessels. If not, they should.
There are also plenty stationed all around the world including Turkey and the UK.
The ones in the desert are very obsolete, mostly useful for just pieces and parts.
One of the additional costs would be the American lives that could have been lost trying to save their asses!
A US destroyer intercepted a hijacked Israeli-managed oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden earlier today, freed the crew, and took the Houthi pirates into custody.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Fantastic!
I bet the “Free Palestine” and “Appease Iran “ crolwd at the White Hut” are throuwing themselves on the floor and having kicking screaming tantrums.
Apparently we have a Navy command that still has cojones, or alternatively the Captai of the Masonn is a few months away from retirement.
INteresting that the Chinese vessels did not assist in eradicating piracy from International waters.Maybe we need a few vessels in the straights of Taiwan operating under letters of marque.
Proxy work anyone?
gay pirates or jerry seinfeld.
Why can’t they do that themselves?
so they’re autonomous and not part of the coalition... ok
Captured? Captured? Pirates captured? Yeah, that’ll teach ‘em.
LOL. Don’t be so paranoid. Turn off the internet and get some fresh air. It will be good for you.
Not really. Whether we like it or not, the US is the world’s policeman and one of our jobs is to keep the shipping lanes safe and free.
No other country is capable of the task. What we don’t see is what happens if we stop fulfilling that role. What cost is associated with just watching pirates/countries/terrorists take over the seas.
Our presence in itself is a deterrent. If we need to occasionally lend a hand in checking the ne’er do wells, it sends a message to others. It’s a benefit that is not possible to quantify in the long term.
It’s a role the US must perform.
Pretty good summary of the overall situation / recent events. “Lot’s going on” indeed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOF2v9cogI
If the seafaring nations (including those dependent in some way or another on seafaring trade, which is just about everyone) don’t get this stomped out now, hard, every potential pirate and nefarious actor out there will be “empowered”.
Tell the pirates that they either talk or it’s over the side. Sharks gotta eat too.
A reasonable post. I expected you to get slammed by our many isolationist types (who mistakenly think that isolationism is “MAGA”), but it appears they’ve departed for greener pastures (threads).
The USA has always been a seafaring nation (too much coastline for it not to be!) and has thrived when commerce by sea was safe and fair. The “fair” part is already out of kilter, if the safe part goes down too, the world economy, which we can’t escape being a big chunk of, is in deep doo-doo.
That said, it is not unreasonable to expect other nations very dependent on sea trade to step up further. It’s good to see Japan helping out, and South Korea is working on blue water capability. China should realize combatting piracy is in their long term interest too, but, they seem to be increasingly slf-destructive (just in generally different ways than the West has been recently...)
The Houthis firing a couple of “ballistic missiles” at our ship raises the ante considerably. Will Biden wimp out?
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