Ananova :
Luxury ocean liners in Russia are offering pirate hunting cruises aboard armed private yachts off the Somali coast.
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This sounds like Sarah Palin's approach to the Alaskan wolf problem.
The next Michael Bay film just wrote itself.
Ya know, you ought to whip out a treatment right now and pitch it to the studios.
The Volga Boatmen?
Looks like the Russians sure caught on to that whole capitalism idea, don't ya' think?
Talk about 21st century entrepreneurial spirit.
Europeans paying money to hunt down Africans... Now that's a novel idea; I wonder where they could have got that from
It's in the genes.
Hmm... Europeans paying money to hunt African.... Now that's a novel idea, I wonder where they got that?
When innocent fishermen are gunned down by panicky amateurs with itchy trigger fingers, will it make the situation better, or worse?
so long as the Russians only defend themselves and do not proactivly engage other vessals they find in the area, I'm all for it. Pirates will learn pretty quick to not attack Russian boats.
How about getting all boats to go around the Somali coastline? They don't have to be there. If they are fishing illegally, they should be attacked by pirates and let go with a warning. If they are dumping toxic or nuclear waste, they should be attacked and killed by the pirates (and it should be legal to do so. That is soverign territory, and they don't have a navy to protect their waters). If there is legitimate traffic going to port in the gulf of Aiden, they can make it a point to stay as far as physically possible from the Somali coastline or face being attacked. Those poor fisherman, faced with starvation (or death from eating toxic or radioactive fish), with no money, in one of the poorest, most dysfunctional places on earth, did what anyone would have done to survive. Those Somali pirates don't want to be pirates (they don't even dress like pirates or say AAAARRRRGH all the time!), and to my knowledge, they have only killed one Yemeni fisherman. Their survival depends on doing something. Since they can't fish anymore, and they can't afford land to farm, they become pirates. What else is there to do in Somalia? Oh, they could become warlords or gun smugglers. Be glad they chose piracy.
I am not comfortable with the idea of a group of people hunting HUMANS as if they are on a big game hunt. While I don't condone the pirate activities and agreed with the aggressive defense of the Captain, I disagree with this approach. Now any Somalian youth that is on the water (pirate or not) may be subjected to being shot. Why not use their resources to protect fleets and go after aggressors rather than proactively trying to hunt down people that may not be trolling the waters in that way?
These young boys are misguided - driven by greed, need, ignorance, etc.... but even they should not be the prey in a hunting party
its not like we (or for that matter anyone) are going to be missing the pirates.....arrrrrrr
I will. Imagine if you had been born to a family in Somalia. You grew up constantly starving and undernourished. Every meal you eat has sand in it. Every drink of water has stuff floating in it and gives you diarrhea. You grow up fishing, and you're pretty good at it although you can only afford the most rudimentary fishing gear. You still barely catch enough to feed your family or make a living. Then, huge ships start fishing your waters with gigantic state of the art nets. After that, other ships start dumping toxic and nuclear waste (because your government has failed and can't afford a navy to stop illegal dumping and fishing). Everyone around you is illiterate and violent. Extortion is rampant. There are people being killed in the streets for years on end. After a few meals of very small toxic, or radioactive fish, you might decide to become a pirate. When your wife or child gets sick from eating that fish, you might make that decision, reluctantly. There's always the weapons smuggler or warlord option!
I will miss the pirates because they aren't even pirates, really. They are desperately poor fishermen who were forced into piracy due to other people's greed and corruption.
Yup, I always thought being an international assassin would be a great way to spend a vacation...at the very cost of my soul.
Go russia,
maybe they'll think twice before trying to attack ships.
E X A C T L Y!
I do not even own any guns (not a pacifist)
do not like many forms of conflict or war.
In most cases would avoid conflict.
But these pirates are (or will be)
getting what they deserve . . .
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Posted: 06-25-09 02:49 PM