<p>I can’t imagine that this has not already been done, but the major powers and certainly the U.N. need to issue some sort of critical warning (or establish a “no sailing zone” for non-commercial vessels) about the hazard of private watercraft navigating the waters in and near Somalia and elsewhere where pirate activity is rife. And the nations of the world need to warn the Somali government, as apparently the pirate camps on-shore are hidden in plain sight. Sure, we’ve hit a wall before when our military forces ventured into Somali territory. But water is another thing altogether. The water is where our (and other’s) firepower really cannot be matched by the pirates or the Somali government, for that matter.</p>
<p>Of course the bottom line is that there’s no further excuse for ordinary mariners (i.e. tourists) getting themselves captured by these murderous brigands. But between the naval forces of India, Oman (the U.S. probably is the naval force for Oman) and yes Iran, there should be a method to stop these crimes. The U.S. may have to give some political consessions to Iran to get it’s help.</p>
<p>Why do you think it is the US’s job to stop these crimes? As long as companies pay the ransom, the crimes will keep happening. Even if the US did jump in with the Navy, then you would have people complaining that the Navy uses huge guns to blow up poor little pirates, and the US is a big meanie, refusing to address the real problem, which is a dysfunctional Somali government and a failed state.</p>
<p>Doubt the US is up for some more nation building right now.</p>
<p>I also don’t think the US should be giving Iran any concessions right now, seeing as they are developing nuclear weapons, actively supporting terrorists, and continue to violently abuse their citizens. The US would gain nothing from giving Iran concessions. Do you really think the Iranian Navy offers anything that the US Navy does not? The entire US 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain.</p>
<p>People do stupid things all the time… just today there was a report of a smart Canadian man who went into Afghanistan to meet the Taliban in order to learn Pashto. I’m sure you can guess how that worked out for him.</p>
<p>Same game, yes…same game that’s been going on for years and years. Suppressing piracy isn’t as easy as sinking ships. As long as the region is impoverished and unstable, piracy will keep popping up over and over again, just like it has in the past. Just sinking ships and destroying bases just doesn’t work in the longterm.</p>
<p>I noticed this piracy story on Yahoo today. The parents were well aware of the risks yet they chose to sail in this area anyway. These parents willingly chose to put their children in harms way.</p>
<p>Here’s a blip of the story in the link:</p>
<p>COPENHAGEN, Denmark A Danish family captured by pirates in the Indian Ocean will suffer the same fate as four American sailors slain last week, if any rescue is attempt is made, a Somali pirate said Tuesday.
Abdullahi Mohamed told The Associated Press that he has ties with the gang holding the family a Danish couple with three children, aged 12 to 16.</p>
<p>"In the blog, family members wrote that they saw overflights by counter-piracy patrol planes. “It is reassuring that they look after us,” a Feb. 20 post said. A day earlier, the family blogged they had drawn up “a piracy plan for who does what if we are attacked.” "</p>
<p>I wonder how well their “plan” worked against pirates armed with machine guns.</p>
<p>The pirates probably don’t care that the rest of the world thinks that three of the hostages are children as the children are about the same age as the pirates.</p>