A word on pirates.. it has been going on for a LONNNNNG time

[Peacetrain]

Twenty two years ago we were planning a "bare foot cruise" in the Bahamas.. and we warned off because pirates were attacking American ships.

This is not a "new" happening

[frazzled]

1. Yo, it goes back to the 16th century

and, heave ho, too, I guess.

[Peacetrain]

4. Yep.. and we got the captain back!!! to read some postings around here the last few days

you would have thought the world was coming off its axis, as if this was the first time they had ever heard of pirates attacking ships...


Good job rescuers.. good job

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Many people think pirates stopped operating in the eighteenth century

whereas they have been lurking about since then.

[katmondoo]

3. AP reporting Captain freed, this one minute ago

Nothing further at this moment

[BlooInBloo]

5. CNN did a segment on the pirates' Al Quaeda connections yesterday.

[niceypoo]

6. Over at freeperland...

...they are using the term, "Islamic terrorist pirates."

The more I hear republicans talk about terrorists, the more I am convinced that they have diluted the term to the point of meaninglessness.

[Peacetrain]

7. No kidding

[Faygo Kid]

8. This one is the worst ever.

Haargh, matey!

[ProSense]

9. The problem is the increasing frequency

Kerry: There have been more than 50 attacks in the area this year alone and the problem isn’t going away.

[Honeycombe8]

10. It's been going on for centuries. But it HAS gotten much worse in the last decade.

I think because of politics in Somalia. AQ has a stronghold in Somalia, for one thing, altho I don't kow if that has anything to do with it. But other things have happened in Somalia in recent years...wasn't that where Clinton saved some people from genocide in the '90's? Blackhawk Down and all that?

I think the main reason it's gotten worse is that the ship's companies started paying the ransoms! Hey, if something works, it gets repeated! (I learned THAT when trying to train my dogs!)

[Peacetrain]

12. This is true..but how we handled it was masterful...

To listen to some, you would have thought we had abandoned the captain.. thank GOD cooler heads prevailed

[derby378]

11. There's a constant problem with piracy in the South China Sea

Somalia's problem with piracy is recent because of the collapse of any sort of meaningful central government. Off the coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia, however, piracy has been going on for a long, long time. China has a very low tolerance concerning pirates - I think they usually execute anyone convincted of piracy in a Chinese court.

[Top Cat]

13. I'm glad you didn't go because these pirates are not afraid of anything obviously.

[Peacetrain]

14. They were actually killing peope at that time..

A number of ships had been boarded and people hurt.. so we thought better of it..

[CJCRANE]

15. I wonder if there's

been people with big money bankrolling these pirates recently..?

(to provide equipment, bank accounts etc)