| RotoGuru Politics Forum View the Forum Registry XML Get RSS Feed for this thread | Self-edit this thread |
|
| 0 |
Subject: Pirates! Posted by: biliruben - Leader [589301110] Tue, Dec 16, 2008, 01:37 I'm sure you all have heard about these dudes in speed boats chasing after cruise ships and freighters with machine guns and the occasional rocket and sometimes catching them! All the great navies of the world are completely flummoxed as to how to stop them. Well the Italians appear to be trying to get them to give themselves up willingly:  I guessing all she has to do as ask nicely. Brilliant! I'm not really sure what the solution is. The obvious thing that occurs to me would be air-support, but maybe they can't scramble a blackhawk fast enough. Dunno. Anyhow, we appear to be on course to find out if Pirates are romantics or just scurvy-dogs. | |||||||
| 1 | biliruben Leader ID: 589301110 Tue, Dec 16, 2008, 01:39 | James Wimberley has some more thoughtful ideas. | ||||||
| 2 | nerveclinic ID: 26107108 Tue, Dec 16, 2008, 05:18 |
The obvious thing that occurs to me would be air-support, but maybe they can't scramble a blackhawk fast enough. Dunno. We get a lot of press on this in Dubai and have for the better part of a year because A) it's close B) UAE ships have been hijacked. The main reason they can't be stopped is they are very good at what they do. They usually aren't even noticed until they are on the ship taking hostages. Once they have hostages you have to decide if you want to risk their safety. Once they make it to shore they are in Somalia which is as close to a powerless government as there is on the planet. My favorite part of the story is that a few weeks ago the Indian military attacked and destroyed one of the pirate "mother ships" they claimed. It was on the front page of all the local papers, Dubai is 30% Indian. Congratulations flowed and all the local Indians marveled that the Indian military was asserting itself and moving up in the world. "We showed everyone how it's done"!!! Now obviously I've been around a lot of Indians the last 2+ years, worked with them, have them as customers. I don't want to be rude but, let's just say the part of the story in the end that made the most sense to me, was when it was discovered they had in fact blown up a Thai fishing boat, not a "pirate mother ship" as had initially been claimed. Yeah, I know, I'm making a generalization, but I just shook my head and said that's bloody perfect. | ||||||
| 3 | Tree ID: 1311551521 Tue, Dec 16, 2008, 07:40 |
we could just send an army in there indiscriminately, with no plan, and just starting killing people, whether they be pirates or civilians. i mean, it's worked REALLY well in Iraq. | ||||||
| 4 | boikin ID: 532592112 Tue, Dec 16, 2008, 10:35 |
we could just send an army in there indiscriminately, with no plan, and just starting killing people, whether they be pirates or civilians. tree have you already forgotten that we already tried this in Somalia? Did you not see black hawk down. Other pirate stories, Over the summer at a forth of july gathering a family friend was telling a story about how he was captain of luxury Yacht that was part of two ship convoy from florida to panama when there on board radar picked up two smaller boats falling them of the coast of Costa Rico. Assuming they were pirates, they in A-team fashion made some home made molotov cocktails and gathered what ever weapons they had. they then brought the two boats together so that they could not get in between them. And were able to deter the pirates long enough to get away when night came. At which point the captain of the other yacht call some one in state department to report the incident and to let them know that there radars still showed the boats in the area. The response from the US was that they had seen the whole thing and that the boats would be taken care of and within 30 minutes the boats were gone. I am not sure how accurate the story is but the guy has been ships captain for at least 20 years. | ||||||
| 5 | Baldwin ID: 1211491020 Tue, Dec 16, 2008, 12:36 | That was a half-hearted 'no heavy weapons allowed' democrat humanitarian effort to save the starving, Boikin. Not comparable. | ||||||
| 6 | Perm Dude ID: 2811561611 Tue, Dec 16, 2008, 12:56 |
You forgot the "hobbled further by Congressional Republicans afraid the effort was being made strictly to keep the public's focus off the President's sex life." Other than that, I agree. Not comparable at all. The problem with the pirates is that the amount of area we're talking about is huge>. It would be easier, IMO, to blockade some ports rather than try to catch them on the high seas. | ||||||
| 7 | nerveclinic ID: 26107108 Tue, Dec 16, 2008, 13:14 |
rather than try to catch them on the high seas. Yeah and lets say they do find a way to stop one group, there are literally scores of these pirates. So you take a couple out, there are plenty more waiting in the wings. Somethings is going to happen though, the NWO ain't gonna allow pirates to roam the seas and hijak 100 million dollar oil tankers, ammo frieghters and cruise ships...somethings going to be done. | ||||||
| 8 | walk ID: 181472714 Tue, Dec 16, 2008, 16:22 |
The issue is international law. The naval boats from the various countries are reluctant to fire on the pirate skiffs, and if they do capture any of the pirates, have no jurisdiction to hold them, extradite them or kill 'em. I think they should just blow the pirate boats to bits. Are they going to get sued or counter-attacked? He explained how he and his men hid out on a rock near the narrow mouth of the Red Sea and waited for the big gray ships with the guns to pass before pouncing on slow-moving tankers. Even if foreign navies nab some members of his crew, Mr. Jama said, he is not worried. He said his men would probably get no more punishment than a free ride back to the beach, which has happened several times. The pirates are totally outgunned. They continue to cruise around in fiberglass skiffs with assault rifles and at best a few rocket-propelled grenades. One Italian officer said that going after them in a 485-foot-long destroyer, bristling with surface-to-air missiles and torpedoes, was like “going after someone on a bicycle with a truck.” | ||||||
| If you believe a recent post violates the policy on Civility and Respect, you may report the abuse via email to moderators@rotoguru1.com | ||||||||
| ||||||||
Post a reply to this message: (But first, how about checking out this sponsor?) | ||||||||