Slashdot Mirror
Google Map To Real Piracy
An anonymous reader noted that you can now see a Google Map of piracy. Not the pretend kind, the real kind with boats and stuff. Considering how much time we spend talking about the other kind, I think it's worth paying attention to the real problems out there.
It's not just that. Trying to coordinate the numerous navies involved can't be easy. I have been reading the occasional bit of Informattion Dissemination's coverage of the events out there. It's way too much for me to swallow on a regular basis, but it has commentary from professionals, not just journalists or cheerleaders.
-mkb
Historically, there were very few real pirates.
Most were privateers, meaning they were sponsored by a nation. It wouldn't surprise me if this is the case here as well. These so-called pirates don't have a lot to gain in the long term. It'll be interesting to see what the response will be by governments in order to "fix" this problem and who really benefits.
These stories about pirates have been very frequent in the past few weeks, magically when oil and gas are well below what most could have ever predicted.
If you have something that you dont want anyone to know, maybe you shouldnt be doing it in the first place -Eric Schmidt
Throw the covers off the guns and blast them into next year.
Your punishment may be a bit extreme but maybe it's just because I'm the kind of guy that likes fair justice & is concerned that the rest of the world sees my country as one that blindly kills people.
... these pirates have even alegedly defended fishing areas for locals. They claim they are more like the coast guard trying to protect the food of hungry people. I think entire cities have bought into their propaganda and are willing to harbor/help them.
You are forgetting that these pirates are (aside from being human beings) winning people over by giving them things in a very Robin-Hood-esque type scenario--even if it's only offering the people a paying job as a pirate in an otherwise devastated and unstable economy. You would very quickly fall into disfavor with the locals
True or not, it's brazen disregard for how other people see things that causes really really bad things for America. Going in there, shooting up criminals & leaving is not going to improve anyone's image. Yes, these people are kidnappers & thieves but I don't think insta-death is a good way to deal with them.
Not a whole lot in this world is purely black and white.
My work here is dung.
not the first time i've seen a joomla site /.ed. pretty sure its not the server.
The EU navies have begun convoy operations in the Gulf of Aden:
http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/eu-launches-naval-escorts-in-gulf-of-aden/20017577798.htm
Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
give each merchant ship contact information for the carrier(s) in an area, so they can call in a strafing run on any small, well armed boats that get too close (like pirate 911).
By the time the 'small, well armed boat' is identifiably too close...it is too close for an aircraft to get there in time. Plus which, the military pilot can't just take the word of some random guy about whether to shoot some other random boat in the water.
I'm merely saddened your plan doesn't involve fixing any of Somalia's real problems. Just killing offenders.
... heaven forbid our trade be interrupted!
It's funny, the shit has been hitting the fan for innocent civilians in Somalia but it only gets real attention (and demand for NATO intervention) when it starts to affect our trade ships
In principle I agree with what your sentiments, but it isn't as if helping Somalia hasn't been tried. Unfortunately, the experience has been that going to Somalia and trying to help has often meant that one will be killed. Merely sending food, technology or money results in one or more of the ruling juntas stealing it.
It's a extremely unfortunate situation in which many innocents suffer and die, and many people and governments would happily give of their time and money to help the situation. But, sadly, it's kind of like giving money to your drug-addicted brother-in-law--helping him doesn't help him.
I work for a large shipping company. Piracy has been in the news lately because they are going after larger and larger ships in deeper waters. The most recent headliner was a supertanker carrying $100 million in crude oil getting hijacked, the largest vessel in history to ever be hijacked. One of our company's vessels fended off an attempted hijacking a few weeks ago as well. Regardless of cargo, vessels of this size often cost nearly 6 figures a day just to own, let alone operating costs. The costs of these hijackings are astronomical, that is why they are in the news. It is not OPEC propaganda.
It's funny, the shit has been hitting the fan for innocent civilians in Somalia but it only gets real attention (and demand for NATO intervention) when it starts to affect our trade ships
Uh, dude...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(book)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(film)
For crying out loud, there's VIDEO GAMES about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Force:_Black_Hawk_Down
Just exactly what does it take to meet your threshold for "real attention", since apparently a multiple Academy Award winning Ridley Scott motion picture doesn't do it?
Mirror here: http://www.networkmirror.com/Nps113nZfgofLI1s/www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/11/20/google-maps-used-to-mark-pirate-attacks.html
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Theres been a war on piracy since 1801. And a war on slavery off the coast of Africa that the US was involved in. Theres a power vacuum now with the fall of the Soviet Union and the shrinking of navies and naval basing.
Back before, the Soviets had naval basing in the region, out of Somalia and at times, Yemen. That dried up, Somalia got disastrous and the UN pulled out. the boil festered and now we are seeing some fallout for giving up on Somalia in the mid 90s.
Huh? The US alone could do it if really wanted to. Probably the UK or France could too, though they might need a bit of aid from the other.
According to some of the hostages just released:
Five Indian sailors who were among the crew of a Japanese-owned cargo ship hijacked by pirates and held for two months before a ransom was paid said Monday their captivity was "total desperation."
The sailors were generally in good health when they were released, but according to the five who spoke publicly Monday conditions aboard the Stolt Valor were severe and they lived for two months in continual fear of being killed by the pirates.
"We were always ... all 24 hours we were on gunpoint," said Fernandes. "We were all staying on the bridge (in the) navigation area. All 22 crew members were sleeping there, eating there. Only for shower and all, only two people were allowed -- two people will go, then they come up, two (more) people will go."
Another crew member, Naved Burandkar, said the hijacking occurred when pirates came behind the Stolt Valor on a boat and fired rocket-propelled grenades.
"They were continuously firing (at) our ship," he said. "They boarded our ship. They were firing ... nobody was going to understand what's happening so you can imagine what the situation was there."
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/24/india.pirates/index.html
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Huh? The USN (and other nation's navies) have been working on anti-piracy measures in that area for years. Just because you've never heard of it doesn't mean it isn't happening.