Somali pirates attack French military flagship

[Timefool]

I bet everyone wants to, but the so called 'Peacekeeping' U.N. will start crying over it and claiming they were so innocent and didn't mean to kill people nor steal their boats.

I "accidentally" shot my RPG at the ship. I "accidentally" commandeered the vessel. I "accidentally" pulled the trigger. Yeah, it is obviously accidental. Politics and corruption. What can you do other than try to get the least corrupt in office?

[Kamos]

I trust me I prefer to just attack the problem as well but most people prefer to dance frivolously around it so it will never happen.

[Kiljan Arslan]

remember everyone these pirates are keeping the earth cool.

[Nazgûl Killer]

[Pious Agnost]

Perhaps it is because pirates are ugly and therefore not hot?

[Kiljan Arslan]

Perhaps it is because pirates are ugly and therefore not hot?

notice how the world has grown cooler its because the pirates!

[Kip]

I can only imagine what went through the pirate's heads when they finally realized their mistake. Oi. And by the way, to everyone who actually thinks that bombarding the villages that the pirates are based out of (as more than a joke) is a good idea: Just realize that the pirates are resorting to piracy because they're so poor. If you bomb away the stuff that the slightly-less-poor/not-pirates have, you create more pirates. Counter-productive, and a real side affect, as seen previously in Vietnam, under a different context.

[GrnEyedDvl]

I can only imagine what went through the pirate's heads when they finally realized their mistake. Oi.

Big oops.

And by the way, to everyone who actually thinks that bombarding the villages that the pirates are based out of (as more than a joke) is a good idea: Just realize that the pirates are resorting to piracy because they're so poor.

Maybe they should try working? Doing something productive? Hell they are in the water maybe they could catch some fish and they wouldnt starve. I bet fishing gear is cheaper than weapons, and the fish are much less likely to shoot back than a French warship is.

If you bomb away the stuff that the slightly-less-poor/not-pirates have, you create more pirates. Counter-productive, and a real side affect, as seen previously in Vietnam, under a different context.

If you kill the guys with the weapons, and the guys bringing the weapons on, they will have to try pirating ships with sticks.

The reasons their country is poor are many, people like this contribute to that situation, not help it. Since WW2 we have forgotten what a military is for: Killing people and blowing stuff up. They are not a police force, and these are not criminals. Kill em all.

[Kip]

Maybe they should try working? Doing something productive? Hell they are in the water maybe they could catch some fish and they wouldnt starve. I bet fishing gear is cheaper than weapons, and the fish are much less likely to shoot back than a French warship is.

I've always wondered about this myself. It seems so simple, right? You could scrap together a semi-decent fishing net with trash - you're not going to feed your family forever with it, but you can at least make something of it. Even nice fishing gear, like you said, must be cheaper than a freakin' Kalashnikov, and WAY safer, too.

But really, I think its a risk/reward thing. A single ship's worth of ransom (crew or cargo) is probably a HUGE amount of money, in Somali terms. I really wish I was home right now; I have an old National Geographic in my closet with an excellent article about modern piracy in the Straits of Malacca - it's obviously not the correct region, but I remember it discusses the monetary gains of certain attacks, and most of the info in there could probably be extrapolated to Somalia.

If you kill the guys with the weapons, and the guys bringing the weapons on, they will have to try pirating ships with sticks.

The reasons their country is poor are many, people like this contribute to that situation, not help it. Since WW2 we have forgotten what a military is for: Killing people and blowing stuff up. They are not a police force, and these are not criminals. Kill em all.

You see, I agree with that. Kill the guys with the weapons. I was speaking against an earlier suggestion that we should just flatten entire villages to curb piracy. I think that's counter-productive, if not for angering the Somalis against Westerners even more, but for angering Western allies. I know this violates pretty much every law of national sovereignty there ever was, but I think surgical strikes to eliminate the pirates themselves are warranted. I don't think I'd have any problems with small-scale SpecOps strikes to dismantle pirate bases and boats on land. Normally I wouldn't ever suggest this, and I know its a slippery slope that would require a lot of care, but I think Somalia presents an EXTREMELY unique and different circumstance. The official government there controls a fraction of the country's territory, after all; the whole country is a splintered set of factions and warlords. I think putting a few Navy SEALs and SAS on motor boats, sending them in to eliminate select targets, and bringing them back out is an option worth exploring.

[sabaku_no_gaara]

I can only imagine what went through the pirate's heads when they finally realized their mistake. Oi. And by the way, to everyone who actually thinks that bombarding the villages that the pirates are based out of (as more than a joke) is a good idea: Just realize that the pirates are resorting to piracy because they're so poor. If you bomb away the stuff that the slightly-less-poor/not-pirates have, you create more pirates. Counter-productive, and a real side affect, as seen previously in Vietnam, under a different context.

The dead don't go pirating

atrition works

Since WW2 we have forgotten what a military is for: Killing people and blowing stuff up. They are not a police force, and these are not criminals. Kill em all.

+rep

[Nikos]

bombard the harbor. No boats=No Pirates.

[Pious Agnost]

= No fishermen = Even poorer

[Nikos]

= No fishermen = Even poorer

So, even poorer=no $ to buy boats!

[Timefool]

So, even poorer=no $ to buy boats!

=stealing/building boats or pillaging or going on raiding parties.

[Nikos]

it's all the damn Hippie's fault GED, they castrated the West.

[Ciabhán]

Rather than bombard the villages(though I support that idea as well), we should publicly hang and display all pirates caught. Stop letting them go after we catch them. All most ships do now is give them a free ride home. Relatively few people are involved in this whole piracy thing. We start hanging half a dozen at a time and sinking the boats eventually all the people of 'pirating age' will be gone. No messy civilian casualties.

[Azog 150]

Rather than bombard the villages(though I support that idea as well), we should publicly hang and display all pirates caught. Stop letting them go after we catch them. All most ships do now is give them a free ride home. Relatively few people are involved in this whole piracy thing. We start hanging half a dozen at a time and sinking the boats eventually all the people of 'pirating age' will be gone. No messy civilian casualties.

I certainly don't support bombarding villages. However, we should be showing these pirates we mean business.

[Azog 150]

^^Exactly. The only real way to stop piracy off Somalia's coast is to sort out Somalia itself and try and get some law and order back into the coastal areas (And I don't mean law and order courtesy of Islamic Militants- although that would probably still be better then the status quo)

[Lance-Corporal Jones]

The pirates are just a symptom. Merely killing the pirates is like bursting buboes on a man who's got the plague. To solve piracy, you need to both deter piracy (through military strength) and encourage honest activity (by cleaning up the country).

[Claudius Gothicus]

The pirates are just a symptom. Merely killing the pirates is like bursting buboes on a man who's got the plague. To solve piracy, you need to both deter piracy (through military strength) and encourage honest activity (by cleaning up the country).

Quoted for absolute truth, the international community needs to deploy large forces in the country drive out the militias/pirates and at the same time establish a provisional government while a national one in created, or we Can just sit back and see the pirates rampage the coast of Somalia while getting blasted every now and then by an EU/USA ship.