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Hmm. So what would a pirate do with a whole ship full of Cola syrup? I know!

Get the Ninjas over and have a slumber party!



I've heard of this bloke who is able to drink any bottle of coke and identify where in the world it was produced. All the bottling factories use local water, which all tastes slightly differently. Apparently. After many years of practice no doubt.

Is he as popular at the dentist as this guy?
 

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Yes. It is so unfair that these guys get their dirty hands on our Coca-Colas. Our national pride is on the line. Time for a military intervention. This time they went too far. :)

It has happened before:

colai.jpg


"Okay, I will get that money for you. But if you don't get the President of the United States on that phone, you know what is going to happen to you?"
"What?"
"You gonna have to answer to the Coca-Cola company."
 
Why is it so hard to prevent piracy?

It would not be all that hard to stop the piracy off the coast of Somalia if we just follow the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson. His idea was to go into the pirate ports with warships and blow them to oblivion, thus sinking any vessels in port and preventing any of the ship out at sea from being able to come back into port. And since Somalia has no government to speak of the UN and International Court should have to keep their nose out of the situation. I'm not looking to start a flame war, but I think it is time we or our allies and us did something to make the pirates back off.
 
It would not be all that hard to stop the piracy off the coast of Somalia if we just follow the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson. His idea was to go into the pirate ports with warships and blow them to oblivion, thus sinking any vessels in port and preventing any of the ship out at sea from being able to come back into port. And since Somalia has no government to speak of the UN and International Court should have to keep their nose out of the situation. I'm not looking to start a flame war, but I think it is time we or our allies and us did something to make the pirates back off.

The Somali pirate situation needs a much more nuanced solution than rolling in a fleet and blowing up their "port."

It's been my experience that Somalis are much more defiant than the average bear.
 
It would not be all that hard to stop the piracy off the coast of Somalia if we just follow the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson. His idea was to go into the pirate ports with warships and blow them to oblivion, thus sinking any vessels in port and preventing any of the ship out at sea from being able to come back into port. And since Somalia has no government to speak of the UN and International Court should have to keep their nose out of the situation. I'm not looking to start a flame war, but I think it is time we or our allies and us did something to make the pirates back off.


Disabling the mother ships would be a great start,then maybe the rest of the pirate boats in dock.


I think there are going to be a lot more security teams on ships from now on.I noted that cruise liner hassled recently had ex Israeli special forces on board.
 
No the issue is that if they have/use weapons the pirates are more likely to kill them.

No, that isn't likely to happen. This is the biggest misconception regarding weapons possession. The more likely thing is that the pirates will back off and find easier prey. This isn't Jihad. They don't want to die for their "cause". Their cause is to capture the easiest ships they can and get a whole lot of money out of it. Now what they do with that money after the fact is a different matter.

It is no different than what woman all over are taught about facing potential rapists. If you roll over and let them have it (absolutely no pun intended!) they will take it. If you kick and scream and make the biggest scene possible they will more than likely run away. They don't want any attention drawn to the situation and #1 they don't want to get caught.

The situation is out of control and piracy is rampant because they have no opposition. The Military assets that are in the region are not enough for the vast area that this is occurring in. They are doing their best but they can't be everywhere.
 
No, that isn't likely to happen. This is the biggest misconception regarding weapons possession. The more likely thing is that the pirates will back off and find easier prey. This isn't Jihad. They don't want to die for their "cause". Their cause is to capture the easiest ships they can and get a whole lot of money out of it. Now what they do with that money after the fact is a different matter.

It is no different than what woman all over are taught about facing potential rapists. If you roll over and let them have it (absolutely no pun intended!) they will take it. If you kick and scream and make the biggest scene possible they will more than likely run away. They don't want any attention drawn to the situation and #1 they don't want to get caught.

The situation is out of control and piracy is rampant because they have no opposition. The Military assets that are in the region are not enough for the vast area that this is occurring in. They are doing their best but they can't be everywhere.

Have a lot of experience with armed Somalis, do you?
 
Can you dispute the points that I made? ;)

Do you want me to?

FYI, I am familiar with Somalia and the Horn of Africa as both a soldier and a civilian humanitarian aid worker. I've worked there and had colleagues, military and more recently civilian, killed there.

The Somali situation much more complex than most people understand. There is a reason that anyone familiar with the issues at hand, including almost every aspect of the US military, agrees that there is no easy solution.
 
And rape? ;)

Anyway, doesn't mean what he said isn't true. Seems reasonable enough.

It only seems reasonable if you don't understand what makes Somalia a very unique place.

If you think a spaced-out, khat-chewing Somali gunman is any less dangerous than a Jihadi, you are wrong. At least a Jihadi is predictable once you understand his psychology. An AK wielding 18 year old Somali who was weaned on interclan warfare is extremely unpredictable. There are very few groups of people in the world who are less predictable and have less of a basis for a rational discussion than some of these jokers. Not the majority, but you only need one space cadet.
 
It only seems reasonable if you don't understand what makes Somalia a very unique place.

If you think a spaced-out, khat-chewing Somali gunman is any less dangerous than a Jihadi, you are wrong. At least a Jihadi is predictable once you understand his psychology. An AK wielding 18 year old Somali who was weaned on interclan warfare is extremely unpredictable. There are very few groups of people in the world who are less predictable and have less of a basis for a rational discussion than some of these jokers. Not the majority, but you only need one space cadet.


So you dont think disabling mother ships etc would work? {just curious}


I read somewhere that the real masterminds of piracy live in luxury in other countries in the middle east,and are not necessarily AQ either.What are your thoughts on this seeing as you have the background knowledge to accurately comment?
 
So you dont think disabling mother ships etc would work? {just curious}
Last time somebody tried to sink one that it turned out a Thai fishing vessel. Apparently pirates don't sail in boats with skull and bones insignia. Imagine that!...

It would not be all that hard to stop the piracy off the coast of Somalia if we just follow the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson. His idea was to go into the pirate ports with warships and blow them to oblivion, thus sinking any vessels in port and preventing any of the ship out at sea from being able to come back into port.
Jefferson did not have to deal with camera crews beaming pictures of mothers wailing above dead little children. Maybe you would also like to try Jefferson's solution for affordable "farming equipment."

Besides, how would you spare the fisherman using the same ports or get any ships to unload humanitarian aide into the country if those ports are in worse shape than they already are. I mean I know "their" lives are not as valuable as "ours", but it might just be a bad PR move, don't you think?
 
It only seems reasonable if you don't understand what makes Somalia a very unique place.

If you think a spaced-out, khat-chewing Somali gunman is any less dangerous than a Jihadi, you are wrong. At least a Jihadi is predictable once you understand his psychology. An AK wielding 18 year old Somali who was weaned on interclan warfare is extremely unpredictable. There are very few groups of people in the world who are less predictable and have less of a basis for a rational discussion than some of these jokers. Not the majority, but you only need one space cadet.

On the contrary, I think that they have been predictable as a whole. We could never predict the actions of an individual. But the Somali Pirates as a whole have been fairly predictable.

They attack these ships and hold them and their crews for up to several months at a time. They have reportedly treated the crews fairly humanely during their captivity, and they have a reputation for letting the crews and ships go once the ransom has been paid. I only know of one instance that they have actually killed a hostage and that was back in June 2007.

Some of the pirate groups reportedly even have a military style ranking and structure. All of these lend itself to having tactics that are fairly predictable. The end goal is to capture these ships and crew quickly and easily in order to get the highest ransom paid to them as possible.

I also never said that they were more or less dangerous that a Jihadi. The difference is that a Jihadist's end goal is to kill his enemy and is more than willing not only to die trying but is also willing to kill him or herself to do it. The end goal of these pirates is to make money. Up till now, the way to attain that goal is to swiftly capture these ships and crews and hold them until the ransom is paid. Once they start destroying the ships and/or cargo and killing hostages these multi-million dollar ransom are going to end.
 
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