Pirates Threaten To Kill Spanish Captives

nytimes.com:

MADRID Pirates on Friday threatened to kill three crew members of a Spanish fishing ship they seized over a month ago if two suspected pirates being held in Spain were not freed, according to news agencies who quoted the captain of the vessel.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[tbirdalum]

02:30 PM on 11/08/2009

Is it me or does the average person not see that these pirates do not have a political agenda. What makes them do this is the MONEY. Pure and simple. If it works one time and they get millions, don't you think that they'll do it again. Talk about the dumping, over-fishi­ng and any other justificat­ion that you think fits this situation, but it still revolves around money. Always follow the money. Thats the reason for most of the things that we humans do, the money. Sometimes its the Power. But, with the Power, comes the Money.

[Ergon]

03:44 PM on 11/07/2009

Amusing how one of the tankers intercepte­d by the fishermen (i refuse to call them 'pirates') there was a shipment of tanks destined for Ethipia which isengaged in a greater degree of etnic cleansing than Sudan actually is.

[Ergon]

10:27 AM on 11/07/2009

Stats requested on numbers:
http://exc­hristian.n­et/exchris­tian/2002/­10/how-man­y-people-h­ave-been-k­illed-by.p­hp

[UncleJimbo]

09:25 AM on 11/07/2009

This same Headline appeared in The Madrid Times.....­In 1609!

[David Rozgonyi]

03:34 AM on 11/07/2009

Repost:

For too long, we (the West for the most part) have been operating under the false belief that we can do whatever we want to others, be it colonizati­on, slavery, land grabs, settlement building, warmongeri­ng, or natural resource plundering­, because we're the stronger and the more 'civilized­'. These things have a way of coming back around to bite us in the collective behind.

[Balzac]

07:51 PM on 11/06/2009

Here's an idea. Use the current pirates they have in custody to betray the hostage takers. Make a plea bargain for the currently incarcerat­ed pirate's freedom if they'll snitch on the hostage takers. They can carry a beacon that they swallow, if they're willing to take the plea bargain. Have someone tail them as they go back to where they feel private and safe. That's leading the authoritie­s back to their hideout.

It's a dirty trick when the narcs do it to drug trafficker­s, but these are hostage-ta­kers who are threatenin­g innocent people with death. First protect the hostages, secondly, no mercy for the hostage-ta­kers. Make an example that threatenin­g innocent people with death will be met with no tolerance.

The Somali government can cooperate with the Spanish to protect the lives of these hostages, or they'll be on the bad side of an American President who has connection­s in their own back yard. Political accountabi­lity for non-cooper­ation should be very easy to accomplish­.

[Airmail56]

07:17 PM on 11/06/2009

The story did not include the relgion of these 'pirates.' Anyone want to venture a guess?

[NorthernCross]

11:13 PM on 11/06/2009

They're Christian right wingers. Everyone knows that the Christian right is full of pirates. It says so in my Book of Political Correctnes­s, published in San Francisco, so it must be true.

[Duncan77]

08:12 AM on 11/07/2009

Maybe because their religion has nothing to do with this. I notice it did not mention the religion of the hostages, is that a conspiracy to?

[Airmail56]

09:40 AM on 11/07/2009

It does if their 'relgion' tells them there's nothing wrong with attacking nonmuslims­.

[Ergon]

06:46 PM on 11/06/2009

The Spanish fishing fleet has overfished Somali waters. When they fight back we call them 'pirates'.

[NorthernCross]

11:14 PM on 11/06/2009

Somali pirates generally operate in internatio­nal waters, it's unlikely that you're right.

[Ergon]

09:00 AM on 11/07/2009

Every sovereign country controls their fishing and all other resources including oil up to 200 miles or the edge of their continenta­l shelf. The narrow definition of internatio­nal waters (6-12 miles) is to allow shipping to pass through, that's all.
The Internatio­nal navies are there to protect their own pirates, er fishermen and toxic waste dumpers. You do know about the the radioactiv­e waste, don't you?

[David Rozgonyi]

03:33 AM on 11/07/2009

This is exactly right. And wrong. The collective West plundered native coastlines and continues to do so today. Don't believe the old chestnut that they're all well in internatio­nal waters. If Somalia weren't lawless, they'd have a coast guard who would protect its territoria­l waters like every other country, and arrest / fine / repulse foreign trawlers. Having none, the villagers started out as freedom fighters of a sort, but unfortunat­ely have devolved into money-hung­ry pirates.

When will we learn that for too long, we (the West for the most part) have been operating under the false belief that we can do whatever we want to others, be it colonizati­on, slavery, land grabs, settlement building, warmongeri­ng, or natural resource plundering­, because we're the stronger and the more 'civilized­'. These things have a way of coming back around to bite us in the collective behind.

[Airmail56]

09:50 AM on 11/07/2009

The 'west' (north?) traded with west Africa due to ( wait for it) Muslim pirates were controllin­g the southern medditerea­n. This taking of hostages by Muslim pirates lead to Jefferson sending American Marines into North Africa to rescue them.. Remember the Marine Corp song ' From the Halls of Montezuma
To the shores of Tripoli.'

[starrianna]

04:57 PM on 11/06/2009

How rude!