Posted on 11/18/2008 9:16:24 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Alarm grows as governments and navies are rendered legally powerless to conduct security operations on the high seas
Somali pirates struck again yesterday, seizing an Iranian cargo ship holding 30,000 tonnes of grain, as the world’s governments and navies pronounced themselves powerless against this new threat to global trade.
Admiral Michael Mullen, the US military chief, pronounced himself stunned by the pirates’ reach after their capture of the supertanker Sirius Star and its $100 million (£70 million) cargo. Commanders from the US Fifth Fleet and from Nato warships in the area said that they would not intervene to retake the vessel.
The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, the owner of the ship, condemned the hijacking as an “outrageous act” that required international action.
“Piracy, like terrorism, is a disease which is against everybody, and everybody must address it together,” Prince Saud al-Faisal said. Arab diplomats would meet in Cairo on Thursday to discuss what could be done in response, Yemeni officials said.
Analysts said, however, that the seizure of the Sirius Star exposed the use of foreign warships as “a sticking plaster” that would not solve the problem. “Maritime security operations in that area are addressing the symptoms not the causes,” said Jason Alderwick, a maritime defence analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Roger Middleton, a Horn of Africa specialist at the Chatham House think-tank, said that the capture was a crucial escalation. “Now that they have shown they are able to seize an enormous ship like this, it is beyond a military solution. You won’t fix this without a political solution.”
Pirates pulled the 333m supertanker yesterday to a mooring point off Harardhere, on the Somali coast. Farther north, Italian, Greek, Turkish, British, American and Russian frigates and warships were patrolling the Gulf of Aden under a
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Ping me when they take an American ship.
Bull. Hang enough pirates and they'll either stop or we'll run out of pirates.
Imagine the smell. Subhuman.
Roger Middleton doesn’t sound like he’s a very bright guy. I wonder what he does all day at a “think” tank. Clean the toilets?
The ship’s crew is being held hostage.
Excuse me? They don't have the ability to intervene? Give me a break. Has Obama take the oath of office already?
If I were the CIC the panties of those pirate would be hanging from the yardarms. It would make the point to show their comrades what happens when you start highjacking oil tankers and other cargo ships.
Barch OBAMA must go and talk to these pirates & tell them to be good little boys & behave themselves!
LOL.
No sir! No sir!
IMO. Our military has determined that the hijacking either did not involve our national interests or was staged.
Privateers. State sanctioned pirates who area permitted to prey on pirates. Kill they and take thir stuff.
Offer a bounty too.
If nations are legally powerless to stop pirates, are they legally powerless to stop people I might pay to kill pirates?
” governments and navies are rendered legally powerless to conduct security operations on the high seas”
Oh bulls&%t.
We know who is doing this I’m guessing. Our satellites or whatever, can track where the pirates are coming from.
We need to tell the countries or locations who are sheltering these people to “get with the program”.
You take care of your pirate problem, or the US Navy will.
Why, what prevents them? I mean I can see where the U.S. wouldn't want to come to the aid of an Iranian vessel. Since they'd blame the whole thing on us or the Jews. It's better to just let the Muslims sort it out among themselves.
But if it was a friendly state, couldn't we blast the pirates? Give Will Turner some cargo?
Why, what prevents them? I mean I can see where the U.S. wouldn't want to come to the aid of an Iranian vessel. Since they'd blame the whole thing on us or the Jews. It's better to just let the Muslims sort it out among themselves.
But if it was a friendly state, couldn't we blast the pirates? Give Will Turner some cargo?
Arm the crews! There, was that so hard?
WHY DON’T THE SHIPOWNERS HAVE AN ARMED SQUAD ON EACH SHIP GOING THROUGH THIS WATERLOGGED ANUS??!?
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