The Glade 4.0

Because they know how to stifle the UN/NATO and the US.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,570 ... latestnews

Pirates Demand $7M, Cast Themselves as Environmental Protectors
Saturday, October 31, 2009

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali pirates who are demanding $7 million in ransom for a British sailing couple said Saturday that boats from other countries are plundering Somalia's fish-rich waters.

Ahmed Gadaf, who described himself as a spokesman for the pirates, said Western fishing vessels "harass" local fishermen and destroy their nets. Gadaf spoke to The Associated Press by satellite phone.

Gadaf says the British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, are safe and will not be harmed.

The Chandlers were headed to Tanzania in their boat, the Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was sent Oct. 23. The British navy found their empty yacht on Thursday, and both have been in sporadic contact with the British media since.

Illegal fishing off the coast of Somalia stirs strong passions in the country. The country's prime minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, said in a speech Wednesday that many countries are fishing illegally in Somali waters and have pushed formerly profitable Somali fishermen into the pirate trade.

He also said during Wednesday's appearance at London-based Chatham House think tank that many pirates are former fishermen "responding to the loss and disappearance of their livelihoods."

Helene Bours, an expert on fisheries in Africa who works as a consultant for non-governmental organizations in Africa and Europe, said she was skeptical that international overfishing in Somalia had a significant effect on the rise of piracy.

"The extent to which the piracy business has developed is way beyond a few fishermen turning (into) pirates," she said.

Bours most international ships operated far from the Somali coast in order to bring in deep-sea fish, and would not be competing with smaller Somali fishing boats working closer to shore. She cautioned however, that the lack of reliable information from the chaotic country made any assessment unreliable.

"I shall not name names, but suffice to say many countries are fishing illegally in Somali waters," he said. "We estimate that the value of the fish being taken from our waters is perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars."

Pirate attacks have increased the last several weeks after the recent end of the monsoon season. An international armada is patrolling the region to try to stop the attacks.

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A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. ~ John Stuart Mill

Let them become a country once again and press their claims. Piracy is piracy, kidnapping for ransom is not a patriotic act of an oppressed people. It is an illegal business for profit.

Apologize to the family of the victims, who may well already be dead. Don't pay the ransom.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

The problem is paying ransoms is cheaper than avoiding the Horn of Africa, and if you're known for not paying ransoms you can't find sailors to sail through the area for you, as noone wants to take that risk.

This was a private older British couple stupidly sailing their yacht through known dangerous waters. Before anything else I'd like to see them alive before any talk of ransom is done.

For some reason this whole situation reminds me (somewhat) of the situation with Tripoli a couple of centuries back.

Do you think the Marines would be interested in offering the same solution?

The whole piracy around the Horn bit has gone on too long. Arm the sailors and blast away.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

I'm trying to recall, have any of these incidents ended in the pirates' demands being denied and them killing their captives?

None come immidiately to mind, although that's not to say that it hasn't happened. Generally speaking, however, one doesn't outright deny the hostage taker/kidnapper/pirate's demand; you want to keep them talking to gain information and play for time. It's also pretty counterproductive for kidnappers to kill a victim because once they're dead there's no reason for the authorities not to hunt you down with whatever force is necessary.

That's the catch-22 of taking hostages. The threat of harm to them gives you leverage but acting on it destroys that leverage. The only thing that really stops the authorities from just storming or hunting down any hostage taker (other than not being able to find them in the first place) is the risk that, with nothing to lose, the hostage taker may start killing them out of anger, spite, or panic.

Moreover, if they start getting a reputation for killing hostages, that only gives the navies of the world more incentive to hunt down and destroy these pirates. Kidnapping and ransom, problematic as it is, doesn't get the attention of governments the way killing people does because it doesn't outrage a populace as much. Even countries that care little for their citizens will hunt down pirates, especially murderous ones, simply because they have to maintain a veneer of protecting and caring for their citizens, and because its hard to take a government seriously if its unwilling or unable to deal with common criminals.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Yeah. Killing hostages is all fun and games until U.S. marines are shooting at you.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Everything you've said is exactly why I asked the question. It might be a bit harsh, but it almost seems the best option for all nations of the world would be to just deny all pirate demands. Easier said than done of course, trying to get every nation on the same page. Then if the pirates do start killing hostages, hopefully the scenario DE laid out comes to pass.

The real problem is getting corporations on the same page. They have a bottom line to consider, and part of that bottom line is being able to find competant sailors. It will get a lot harder to do that if the sailors think the corporation and its parent country won't ransom them back.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."