No-fail Solution to Pirate Standoff:

[PCIntern]

We exchange ship's captain for a certain former President. This would trigger James Baker and all those 'patriotic' folk who stormed the Dade County elections office in 2000 and a master plan would be hatched by which not only would this individual be safely freed, but Baker and Co. would then have access to all the assets of the Pirate Trove, which would assist in the Reconstruction...of the Carlyle Group!

Everybody 'wins'. Except the Pirates. They would wind up with an Oscar and a Nobel Prize however as a consolation prizes. They could then move the whole operation to Pittsburgh wherein they already have a Baseball team named after them.

that was easy...NEXT:

Reconciling the Russians and Chinese....

[MADem]

1. Those pirates are thugs. They shake down people for money

They've been doing it for almost two decades. The only thing is, they haven't been doing it to US.

They started out small, and have gotten bold and brazen. Plus, they're not just stealing, they are killing people. This shit needs to stop.

I only hope the military management of these criminals finds a way to paint them and track them back to their HQs without involving us "on the ground" in Somalia again.

[malaise]

2. Pirates are as old as prostitutes

Land pirates and sea pirates.
Pity the British empire and the other imperialist deified them and awarded so many titles.
The problem is how else would Europe have acquired wealth. How else would the royals have so much jewelry. How else would Europe fill up her museums with the dead Egyptians. How else would they have enslaved millions of African people.

See with me - I don't understand the rage.

[PCIntern]

4. I don't know...

most of the prostitutes I see on the street are actually quite young...

just kidding...

[MADem]

10. You probably would "understand the rage" if one of your relatives were among

the 250 held captive by those assholes, or among the many they've killed over the decades. If you're the widow, parent or child of an innocent Yemeni fisherman gutted and tossed over the side by those assholes, I think you just might "understand the rage."

Sheesh. More of this "equivalency" bullshit.

They're thugs, and they need to be stopped. This isn't an effete history reference, it's what's happening now to real people. If you don't "understand the rage" you just don't understand the situation.

[varkam]

14. Prostitutes are probably older.

I mean, at one point we had to figure out how to make sea-worthy craft. We never had to figure out how to...erm...nevermind.

[SoCalDem]

6. Capitalism has not "worked" for them, and this is their "tea-bag" solution

Poor people will do whatever it takes to make a living.. they will eventually resort to stealing, if they cannot provide in any other way..

Shame on the shipping companies for allowing this to go on for so long.. the FIRST time it happened, they should have all gotten together and started providing armed guards and "shoot on sight" orders..

Criminals only stop committing crimes when they are stopped from committing the crimes.. as long as they get away with it , they keep on doing it...

[MADem]

8. It was the Saudis, really, that encouraged them.

They started out shaking down tramp steamers and "poor" smaller boats. Then, as they captured vessels to use in their pirating, they went after larger and larger targets. When they went after a tanker full of light sweet crude, the Saudis paid the pittance million or so to get back a vessel and cargo worth many, many times that. That emboldened them, and they've been off to the races ever since. The Saudis and the Egyptians often prefer that "appeasement" approach to confrontation. It only forstalls the inevitable, IMO.

Their mistake was fucking with a US flag carrier in this fashion. They brought an issue we've been aware of, but have been ignoring, to our Easter/Passover tables.

I think we need to put some drone assets up over the region, full time, in heavy rotation, to get a good look at where these bastards are going....and then, act accordingly. I think we should also get the UN to come out with a "Hear, hear!" before we get going. That way, there will be less whining when we do what needs doing.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Consider This Another Lesson Of Capitalism

This Monty Python bit has been playing in my head the past couple days.

As long as the business is good, they will continue to attack. It hasn't been worth the nations and companies that have been attacked in the past to do more than pay off the pirates and be on their way. "the price of doing business". It's when that cost of doing business gets too steep for the pirates that this situation will end.

A couple ways this happens. One would be the old "convoy" concept of WWII...send them in groups that are heavily guraded. But this means costly delays for the companies that won't be able to come and go with their shipping on their schedules. Another possibility is to empower "privateers"...soldiers or sailors of fortune who would profit from both the protection of the shipping as well as going after the pirates and "recovering" previous bounty. Arming ships with specialized secuirty forces is another option...or a comgination of all of the above.

The pirates know they can get away with this cause we, nor any other nation, can really go "on the ground" here. This isn't Mogadishu, but very remote tribal areas in the north...areas that haven't had any real nationalized government control. The only way to cut down on the problem is to make it too exspensive for the pirates to attack or to find an alternative way for them to make money.

Cheers...

[grannie4peace]

3. we need to go fuck them up!!! - i'd give them any of bushes cronies!

[mikehiggins]

5. Not for nothing but where is Blackwater in all this?

shooting up boats full of poverty stricken blacks? What could be more up their alley?

I'm expecting to hear about remote control drones being re-missioned from Afghanistan and flying over the waters in question, and fairly soon at that. A couple of million dollars of Hellfire missles should take out any piratical outboards in short order.

[MADem]

11. Poverty stricken? Are you insane?

These guys shake down Saudi tankers for two million a pop.

They are holding two hundred and fifty people hostage. They have murdered dozens, many of them those "poor people" you seem to not have much care for--innocent fishermen--in order to steal their boats to prosecute their crimes against tankers for the "big payday."

[DFW]

9. Well, if that's an inflatable life boat they're on......

Have some stealth scuba diver pull the plug!

[razorman]

12. I'm sorry, but while somewhat amusing, your suggestion is uncalled for.

As much as we dislike GWB here, the idea of trading a former president as hostage is not right. I say this because I actually heard someone yesterday make the same suggestion about our current president.
Since he is the one in the political hotseat and has to make decisions in this situation, they thought it was a funny idea, too. The only ones I wish harm to in all this are the pirates.

[PCIntern]

15. who said anything about GWB?

I simply said a 'former President'...you can feel free to use your imagination.

[lunatica]

13. A classic example of a Power vacuum outcome

When a government falls apart due to civil war, coups, and internal power struggles, or, as Bush did in Iraq, 'Regime change' wherein a dictator is removed there will always be factions fighting to take over to benefit only their own self interests.
The Wise Geeks link:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-power-vacuum.htm