As to the pirates...

[damonm]

maybe it's time for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship">these babies to make a comeback...

[lonestarnot]

1. Did they kill the Captain they were holding hostage?

[damonm]

2. Not that I've heard. n/t

[StClone]

3. Is it all a lie?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/you-are-being-lied-to-abo_b_155147.html

[RandomThoughts]

4. Another story on Pirates.

The term Buccaneer came from a Indian method to prepare meat. Early in the Caribbean there were many traders that raised or hunted meat then sold the meat to make a living.

The spanish came in and killed the animals to drive off the people, they did not leave, they became pirates, and the term Buccaneer was born, as the people turned to raiding Sailing ships.

[mkultra]

5. im sure its a mix

but the ones taking hostages and asking ransoms are warlord run syndicates that pop up in lawless regions. They certainly aren't defending fisheries from transport vessels.

[amborin]

7. what evidence do you have for that statement?

[mkultra]

9. which one

the assertion that they are warlord run or the one that this transport vessel is not attacking fisheries?

If your referring to the profile of the pirates themselves, i can say that i have no absolute proof. Ive never been to Somali nor have i sailed around the horn of Africa. If you have proof that contradicts my assertions, feel free to present it.

Otherwise, here is some known information regarding the current pirates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_pirate

[amborin]

6. yes, it's mostly all a lie....see this The Nation article:

snip

"....An environment of poverty and chaos has long prevailed in Somalia, home to the most determined and aggressive of the high-seas pirates. Of the 293 piracy incidents noted by the PRC in 2008, 111, or 38 percent, occurred in the Gulf of Aden or off the coast of Somalia. Many of the most daring incidents--including the seizure of the Sirius Star--also occurred in those waters.

By their own account, many of the Somali pirates are former fishermen driven out of business when the collapsed Somali state could no longer protect the country's rich fishing grounds against predation by the highly organized fleets of other countries. Now penniless, these onetime fishermen have taken up piracy to support their families.

"Killing is not in our plans," the hijacker of a guns-laden cargo ship told a reporter in October 2008. "We only want money so we can protect ourselves from hunger."

<http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090420/klare/2>

[soothsayer]

8. not only are foreign ships overfishing, but they are dumping toxic--even nuclear---waste

The pirates started out as a volunteer coast guard