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PIRATES
Pirates, this is 2009, are you kidding me. I’m not taking about the Pittsburg variety at the ball park, or the Jonny Depp of the Caribbean variety. We are talking real honest to goodness sea thieving, boat stealing, flag flying, plundering on the high seas Pirates.
Call me old fashioned, but when I think of Pirates I think of mighty sailing ships with rugged men, complete with pirate outfits, peg legs, hook arms, parrots, and patches over one eye. Ok, I understand that I’m conjuring up the pirates of the past, but haven’t pirates evolved with the rest of the species. In my mind pirates have been extinct for hundreds of years. If I were to see a pirate today I would expect that he would have at least moved his criminal enterprise into the 21st century.
Instead I’m reading in the news that another huge super tanker is being held captive by 6 guys in a Boston whaler off the coast of Somalia. I guess there has been little reason for a commercial merchant vessel to need protection up to this point, but now it seems that Pirates are making a resurgence.
Piracy is nothing new in fact hordes of raiding buccaneers were quite common off the coast of North Africa in days of old (Barbary Coast Pirates) However, not since the days of Blackbeard has the threat of Piracy at sea been a major issue. Today, ships sailing around the continent of Africa are once again deemed fair play by these outlaws on the high seas. The goal is to extract huge ransom demands for the ship and crew and extort the ship line and their insurance companies into paying. (I’m not sure but the last time I checked my Auto Policy, piracy was clearly listed as a policy exception, right next to acts of God.
When I see the pictures of these guys, I see a rag tag group of terrorist, not a well organized pirate type raiding party. It looks to me like these guys would really be happy if someone just gave them a good hamburger, never mind a whole ship. These misguided swash bucklers need to be busted and sent back to dry land, stealing hub caps and ripping people off on internet scams.
Any way you look at it the term pirates is still too good for these losers. What they really are in my eyes are a bunch of hungry terrorists in a row boat. Now, I’m not a military scholar or battlefield strategist but it seems to me that the U.S. Navy could make pretty short work of these doped up jet ski riders. It’s absolutely vital for world trade and commerce for shipping lanes to be freely traveled. This is an issue that all of the countries around the world have a stake in. International waters must be navigatable by all without fear.
Listen, the civilized countries of the world need to get together and pull the plug on these Pirate rafts. We are not looking at the third largest standing military in the world, these guys don’t have B1 bombers and nukes. We are looking at some sea sick out of work fishermen with too much time on their hands.
These guys have gotten away with this a few times now and their actions and successes are emboldening others to do the same. Its time to send a message, loud and clear. Civilized countries will not accept lawlessness on the open seas. Oh, did I mention, we don’t negotiate with terrorist. (even if they wear eye patches and black 3 point hats).
I can’t understand why the major world governments haven’t taken action yet. We currently have 3 major war ships in the area of the Pirates life boat. Maybe we are worried that they will call out their air force, which probably consists of a few guys hang gliding behind a jet ski.
Let’s give these guys a quick education in mess’in with the Navy 101 and move on. With all the big issues we are faced with today, I’d rather have us concentrate on North Korea, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan, than a bunch of misfits with eye patches and wooden swords.
Thanks mates…Please feel free to contact me at : pooritalianboy@gmail.com
P.I.B.
Pirates, this is 2009, are you kidding me. I’m not taking about the Pittsburg variety at the ball park, or the Jonny Depp of the Caribbean variety. We are talking real honest to goodness sea thieving, boat stealing, flag flying, plundering on the high seas Pirates.
Call me old fashioned, but when I think of Pirates I think of mighty sailing ships with rugged men, complete with pirate outfits, peg legs, hook arms, parrots, and patches over one eye. Ok, I understand that I’m conjuring up the pirates of the past, but haven’t pirates evolved with the rest of the species. In my mind pirates have been extinct for hundreds of years. If I were to see a pirate today I would expect that he would have at least moved his criminal enterprise into the 21st century.
Instead I’m reading in the news that another huge super tanker is being held captive by 6 guys in a Boston whaler off the coast of Somalia. I guess there has been little reason for a commercial merchant vessel to need protection up to this point, but now it seems that Pirates are making a resurgence.
Piracy is nothing new in fact hordes of raiding buccaneers were quite common off the coast of North Africa in days of old (Barbary Coast Pirates) However, not since the days of Blackbeard has the threat of Piracy at sea been a major issue. Today, ships sailing around the continent of Africa are once again deemed fair play by these outlaws on the high seas. The goal is to extract huge ransom demands for the ship and crew and extort the ship line and their insurance companies into paying. (I’m not sure but the last time I checked my Auto Policy, piracy was clearly listed as a policy exception, right next to acts of God.
When I see the pictures of these guys, I see a rag tag group of terrorist, not a well organized pirate type raiding party. It looks to me like these guys would really be happy if someone just gave them a good hamburger, never mind a whole ship. These misguided swash bucklers need to be busted and sent back to dry land, stealing hub caps and ripping people off on internet scams.
Any way you look at it the term pirates is still too good for these losers. What they really are in my eyes are a bunch of hungry terrorists in a row boat. Now, I’m not a military scholar or battlefield strategist but it seems to me that the U.S. Navy could make pretty short work of these doped up jet ski riders. It’s absolutely vital for world trade and commerce for shipping lanes to be freely traveled. This is an issue that all of the countries around the world have a stake in. International waters must be navigatable by all without fear.
Listen, the civilized countries of the world need to get together and pull the plug on these Pirate rafts. We are not looking at the third largest standing military in the world, these guys don’t have B1 bombers and nukes. We are looking at some sea sick out of work fishermen with too much time on their hands.
These guys have gotten away with this a few times now and their actions and successes are emboldening others to do the same. Its time to send a message, loud and clear. Civilized countries will not accept lawlessness on the open seas. Oh, did I mention, we don’t negotiate with terrorist. (even if they wear eye patches and black 3 point hats).
I can’t understand why the major world governments haven’t taken action yet. We currently have 3 major war ships in the area of the Pirates life boat. Maybe we are worried that they will call out their air force, which probably consists of a few guys hang gliding behind a jet ski.
Let’s give these guys a quick education in mess’in with the Navy 101 and move on. With all the big issues we are faced with today, I’d rather have us concentrate on North Korea, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan, than a bunch of misfits with eye patches and wooden swords.
Thanks mates…Please feel free to contact me at : pooritalianboy@gmail.com
P.I.B.
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