tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post5493563054516121057..comments2024-02-06T08:33:52.695+02:00Comments on Eeben Barlow's Military and Security Blog: PIRACY: A POLITICALLY ACCEPTABLE CRIME…?Eeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-32839564367972295272008-12-23T09:08:00.000+02:002008-12-23T09:08:00.000+02:00Too true, ER. But we continue to dither and do not...Too true, ER. But we continue to dither and do nothing. Even the UN wants to get involved in countering these crimes. That will most probably cause more damage than any good. <BR/><BR/>Again, some elements in the media continue to make the pirates look like good guys. It is this feeding of false information to the public that needs to be continually exposed for what it is. Also, the battle needs to be taken to the pirates – and not wait for the pirates to try their actions before stopping them. That is one of the principles of war. As long as the pirates have the initiative, they will continue to do what they do. <BR/><BR/>Happy hunting tonight.<BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-46713993797735945022008-12-23T06:34:00.000+02:002008-12-23T06:34:00.000+02:00Hey Eeben,Piracy seems to be a hot news topic agai...Hey Eeben,<BR/>Piracy seems to be a hot news topic again. There was a piece on the radio this morning on NPR about the Somali Pirates. A French war ship escorted a vessel carrying much needed relief supplies into a Somalia port controlled by the pirates. <BR/>Can anyone listening to this crap see through it all? Why hijack the damn boat if they are going to off load it all and give it to you anyway? <BR/>The report goes to great lengths to explaining the lack of a real government, divided country, parts out of control of any government. So, I would see it as an area controlled by pirates, since they have guns and money, dumping relief supplies into one of their ports, for them to bolster their positions, or at least bribe / sell their new cargo to the Somali people.<BR/>What a mess. <BR/>These are the idiots that are feeding us our information. I suspect they are not stupid, but just using information to sell a program. <BR/>In order to truly change the state of affairs, anywhere, for the most part, much killing and suffering needs to take place to put things right again. The feel good crowd is more willing to just let things continue to rot rather than intervene, all the while allowing more people to die and suffer than a correction would account for. All the while feeling good about themselves and their cause.<BR/>The lengths one goes to keep their funding in place. <BR/>I had a raccoon, maybe fox get into my enclosure last night and kill 4 ducks. I will not sleep much tonight, but the varmint will meet a little hot lead tonight.E Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03495376115561772752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-3336769334344188152008-11-26T08:00:00.000+02:002008-11-26T08:00:00.000+02:00Thanks, ER. A very good article that gives a good ...Thanks, ER. A very good article that gives a good insight into the problem and the lack of action by the “civilised nations”. However, the writer also makes the point of our “humaneness” towards these criminals.<BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/><BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-3623407470514198082008-11-26T07:47:00.000+02:002008-11-26T07:47:00.000+02:00http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122757123487054681...http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122757123487054681.html<BR/>This is a Wall Street Journal article, check it out, interesting perspective.<BR/>Don't know how to do links so you will have to type it in.E Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03495376115561772752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-58234475501426010432008-11-23T07:17:00.000+02:002008-11-23T07:17:00.000+02:00Crime is crime, ER, no matter how “kind” some obse...Crime is crime, ER, no matter how “kind” some observers claim the pirates are. Besides, what are they going to do with the ransom monies they collect? Feed the poor? Rebuild the infrastructure? I hardly think so although there are people who seem to think that the pirates are actually “good guys” and they shouldn’t be harmed. In my opinion, this simply encourages them to continue with their actions. <BR/><BR/>Africa is a highly volatile, very complex continent where tribalism still rife. Different beliefs, traditions, cultures, languages, xenophobia, racism, ideologies, religions and so on are part of the complexities we face. Of course, there are Western interests, Eastern interests and African interests all vying for top spot. As long as these problems and a host of others remain, Africa will be at war with itself. We who live here are often surprised at what happens and we don’t have all the answers – much less those who don’t live here. <BR/><BR/>I often wonder what the rest of the world would do when similar problems flare up outside of Africa. Will they too be approached in the same manner? <BR/><BR/>Additionally, the armed forces of most African countries are highly politicised as opposed to being free from the realm of party politics. So each government makes sure that its armed forces are supportive of its policies in order to prevent coups. This in itself leads to other problems…<BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/><BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-82989794943876415792008-11-22T17:28:00.000+02:002008-11-22T17:28:00.000+02:00Hey Eeben,The Liberal side of the media is trying ...Hey Eeben,<BR/>The Liberal side of the media is trying to rationalize their actions with measures that ensure no one gets hurt. The Pirates are a good-news source, they always return the ship and crew unharmed and well fed. I wonder if they refuel the ship and do PM for them before they set sail. <BR/>I really appreciate your perspective on Africa and have many questions, hope they are not to annoying. It just seems that from one side of the continent to the other violent news abounds. News is money. Without being a cultural historian on Africa, I would apprediate a grounded perspective on how things always breakdown into warring parties, governments fighting militia. What government is worth supporting from who's interests. Seems like there is a continuing opportunity to address these reoccuring scenarios. The individual people in Africa should be well fed up with the killing and displacement. <BR/>ThanksE Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03495376115561772752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-69016797616435096992008-11-22T09:42:00.000+02:002008-11-22T09:42:00.000+02:00Richard E, CSM seems to have a most unusual grasp ...Richard E, CSM seems to have a most unusual grasp of counter-piracy - Using a high-pressure hoses and barbed wire on the high seas to counter RPG-7s and machine guns? Now that is a stupid idea as far as I am concerned. But, I suppose that in light of the whole “political correctness” thing, the pirates will feel that their human rights are not violated. One needs to adopt an aggressive approach, and with an IFF protocol that remains unanswered/violated, firm action should be called for. <BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/><BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-25035084297235907372008-11-22T09:00:00.000+02:002008-11-22T09:00:00.000+02:00Grumbleguts, I am not too sure. However, it cannot...Grumbleguts, I am not too sure. However, it cannot be such a problem given the rapid escalation of the crime. But, the problem is not arming the crews – in fact, I don’t think that is the solution. A small, highly-trained team with the correct weapons on-board will be the answer. The recognition protocols will be easy to formulate but some of the shipping companies are apparently concerned that their crews, if armed, might try to take over the ship. But, as long as everyone simply talks, the pirates continue to grow in confidence and arm themselves with better and better weapons. <BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/><BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-32876847919757397522008-11-22T05:40:00.000+02:002008-11-22T05:40:00.000+02:00Hey Eeben,Christian Science Monitor is running an ...Hey Eeben,<BR/>Christian Science Monitor is running an piece today about who the pirates are, etc.. End of article gives ways of preventing attacks, high pressure fire hoses, barbed wire around decks. A pacifist approach. Why not give a practical solution of 20mm guns engaging gun toating small boats at 1500 meters. How can this be prevention?E Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03495376115561772752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-40825560214039294672008-11-21T19:20:00.000+02:002008-11-21T19:20:00.000+02:00Eeben,I don't know the maritime military laws at a...Eeben,<BR/>I don't know the maritime military laws at all, but do you perhaps know what would be required to arm a cargo vessel? Would armed guards need a special permit, or some sort of military/security/police background? I could understand if the vessel owners wanted to mount triple 16" cannons on the bow. Mind you, with the health and safety laws reigning in Europe, they would need a permit for a blunderbuss, and that only to stop themselves shooting each other.Francoishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13696597272736706866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-56183726114987227342008-11-21T11:49:00.000+02:002008-11-21T11:49:00.000+02:00Good comment David. However, there is a way around...Good comment David. However, there is a way around all of this and for now, the shipping companies must keep up the pressure on the Kenyan authorities. Again, and as said by several of our friends on the blog, the problem can be solved and not in a complicated manner either.<BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/><BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-74148560394160984382008-11-21T08:32:00.000+02:002008-11-21T08:32:00.000+02:00It is not that easy to get armed men onboard a ves...It is not that easy to get armed men onboard a vessel. As for Kenia I am able to refer to a friend of mine, who is involved in maritime Security in Mombasa.<BR/><BR/>He told me, that they have a magnificent ammount of enquiries to protect vessels with armed men. The only problem is they do not have the license to take arms with them. And the kenyan government is not willing to give it to them, because noone lifts a finger.<BR/><BR/>Just my two cents worth...<BR/><BR/>regards<BR/>DavidAethyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04273162326830856581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-90915687627112542152008-11-21T05:52:00.000+02:002008-11-21T05:52:00.000+02:00I agree entirely, Loggi. It can never be NATO or a...I agree entirely, Loggi. It can never be NATO or any other navy’s problem. As for the AU, we can forget about that entirely. The money being made is surely going to end up where you say it will. But again, as long as the shipping companies don’t take the necessary precautions, this will continue to happen<BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/><BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-219832766564891282008-11-21T05:47:00.000+02:002008-11-21T05:47:00.000+02:00You raise valid points Masked Rabbit but my commen...You raise valid points Masked Rabbit but my comment about stupidity was made in light of the comment that it is politically unacceptable to attack them. Of course, the mess in East Africa plays a major role in all of this as it allows for safe havens. Regarding navies you are also correct but that is also not their task - apart from the millions it will cost taxpayers. A few armed men, a specific protocol and the job will be done. <BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/><BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-40454515151578301532008-11-20T20:13:00.000+02:002008-11-20T20:13:00.000+02:00Hi Eeben, It is doubtful whe...Hi Eeben, It is doubtful whether NATO will have the political will to truly tackle this problem. The AU will be keen to get involved for the sole purpose of sending more Generals to live in the lap of luxury in Addis Ababa. This will once again cost the western contributing countries billions and no amount of AU soldiers will ever successfully conclude any mission. The Russians on the other hand may just seize this opportunity to prove their military preparedness to the west. In the mean time these pirates are becoming more brazen, experienced and wealthy by the day. The millions of dollars now made from piracy will be largely spent on weaponry and this will create many new regional dilemmas and finance many years of murder, mayhem and destruction.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-51574264553882934182008-11-20T17:31:00.000+02:002008-11-20T17:31:00.000+02:00Gentlemen!I doubt seriously that 'stupidity' lies ...Gentlemen!<BR/><BR/>I doubt seriously that 'stupidity' lies behind the lack of response to this piracy. There's simply too much money at stake and the problem is unusually simple in terms of modern-era international affairs. By comparison, considerthe outrageous complexity of the mess in Somalia itself.<BR/><BR/>Has anyone noticed that for all the public 'noise' on this issue there has been no publicized interviews (that I have seen) with shipping company representatives in which they were asked the obvious question "Why don't you simply put security personnel on the dangerous sea legs?"<BR/><BR/>As for various military navies patrolling thousands of square miles attempting to intercept small pirate boats, what an absurd waste of money. How much cheaper to put the aforementioned security personnel on ships and let the pirates come to them. If they don't, the cost is neglible. And if they do, an example can be quickly made and again at neglible cost. <BR/><BR/>This bears closer scrutiny and I'm going to make the effort.Masked Rabbithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15605697490832502405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-53429474147020485122008-11-20T04:59:00.000+02:002008-11-20T04:59:00.000+02:00Thanks for the article Robnoel1. Very interesting....Thanks for the article Robnoel1. Very interesting.<BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/><BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-23961357467184387382008-11-20T04:58:00.000+02:002008-11-20T04:58:00.000+02:00I think the origin lies with the human rights issu...I think the origin lies with the human rights issue that has been taken totally out of proportion. The Geneva Convention has not prevented collateral damage in Iraq, Afghanistan or wherever despite everyone wanting to prevent unnecessary civilian casualties. I think we are dealing with more than just plain simple western liberalism..I think stupidity plays a large role.Eeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-7130919795902988792008-11-20T04:53:00.000+02:002008-11-20T04:53:00.000+02:00Loggi, I think it has already started off the Nige...Loggi, I think it has already started off the Nigerian coast and in the oil fields although on a much smaller scale. The current inaction by all and sundry we see off the coast of Somalia will only encourage pirates in other areas of the world. Soon, it seems, they will rule the waves unless we pull up our socks…<BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/><BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-77636859232979663442008-11-20T04:49:00.000+02:002008-11-20T04:49:00.000+02:00Exactly Grumbleguts. That and some early warning e...Exactly Grumbleguts. That and some early warning equipment - but apparently there is some law preventing merchant ship being armed. The stupidity is overwhelming.<BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/><BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-1469168784447912682008-11-20T04:47:00.000+02:002008-11-20T04:47:00.000+02:00Gatvol, it is exactly the political correctness ev...Gatvol, it is exactly the political correctness everyone aspires to that has led to many problems in the world, especially as relates to the youth and criminals. Bad deeds such as this will only be stopped by hard, aggressive, pre-emptive action.<BR/><BR/>Rgds,<BR/><BR/>EebenEeben Barlow's Milsec Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08942119485068301545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-85963114305823690602008-11-20T04:14:00.000+02:002008-11-20T04:14:00.000+02:00History repeatsAmerica and the Barbary Pirates: An...History repeats<BR/><BR/>America and the Barbary Pirates: An<BR/>International Battle Against an Unconventional Foe<BR/>by Gerard W. Gawalt<BR/><BR/>Gerard W. Gawalt is the manuscript specialist for early American history in the Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.<BR/><BR/>Ruthless, unconventional foes are not new to the United States of America. More than two hundred years ago the newly established United States made its first attempt to fight an overseas battle to protect its private citizens by building an international coalition against an unconventional enemy. Then the enemies were pirates and piracy. The focus of the United States and a proposed international coalition was the Barbary Pirates of North Africa.<BR/><BR/>Pirate ships and crews from the North African states of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers (the Barbary Coast) were the scourge of the Mediterranean. Capturing merchant ships and holding their crews for ransom provided the rulers of these nations with wealth and naval power. In fact, the Roman Catholic Religious Order of Mathurins had operated from France for centuries with the special mission of collecting and disbursing funds for the relief and ransom of prisoners of Mediterranean pirates.<BR/><BR/>Before the United States obtained its independence in the American Revolution, 1775-83, American merchant ships and sailors had been protected from the ravages of the North African pirates by the naval and diplomatic power of Great Britain. British naval power and the tribute or subsidies Britain paid to the piratical states protected American vessels and crews. During the Revolution, the ships of the United States were protected by the 1778 alliance with France, which required the French nation to protect "American vessels and effects against all violence, insults, attacks, or depredations, on the part of the said Princes and States of Barbary or their subjects."<BR/><BR/>After the United States won its independence in the treaty of 1783, it had to protect its own commerce against dangers such as the Barbary pirates. As early as 1784 Congress followed the tradition of the European shipping powers and appropriated $80,000 as tribute to the Barbary states, directing its ministers in Europe, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, to begin negotiations with them. Trouble began the next year, in July 1785, when Algerians captured two American ships and the dey of Algiers held their crews of twenty-one people for a ransom of nearly $60,000.<BR/><BR/>Thomas Jefferson, United States minister to France, opposed the payment of tribute, as he later testified in words that have a particular resonance today. In his autobiography Jefferson wrote that in 1785 and 1786 he unsuccessfully "endeavored to form an association of the powers subject to habitual depredation from them. I accordingly prepared, and proposed to their ministers at Paris, for consultation with their governments, articles of a special confederation." Jefferson argued that "The object of the convention shall be to compel the piratical States to perpetual peace." Jefferson prepared a detailed plan for the interested states. "Portugal, Naples, the two Sicilies, Venice, Malta, Denmark and Sweden were favorably disposed to such an association," Jefferson remembered, but there were "apprehensions" that England and France would follow their own paths, "and so it fell through."<BR/><BR/>Paying the ransom would only lead to further demands, Jefferson argued in letters to future presidents John Adams, then America's minister to Great Britain, and James Monroe, then a member of Congress. As Jefferson wrote to Adams in a July 11, 1786, letter, "I acknolege [sic] I very early thought it would be best to effect a peace thro' the medium of war." Paying tribute will merely invite more demands, and even if a coalition proves workable, the only solution is a strong navy that can reach the pirates, Jefferson argued in an August 18, 1786, letter to James Monroe: "The states must see the rod; perhaps it must be felt by some one of them. . . . Every national citizen must wish to see an effective instrument of coercion, and should fear to see it on any other element than the water. A naval force can never endanger our liberties, nor occasion bloodshed; a land force would do both." "From what I learn from the temper of my countrymen and their tenaciousness of their money," Jefferson added in a December 26, 1786, letter to the president of Yale College, Ezra Stiles, "it will be more easy to raise ships and men to fight these pirates into reason, than money to bribe them."<BR/><BR/>Jefferson's plan for an international coalition foundered on the shoals of indifference and a belief that it was cheaper to pay the tribute than fight a war. The United States's relations with the Barbary states continued to revolve around negotiations for ransom of American ships and sailors and the payment of annual tributes or gifts. Even though Secretary of State Jefferson declared to Thomas Barclay, American consul to Morocco, in a May 13, 1791, letter of instructions for a new treaty with Morocco that it is "lastly our determination to prefer war in all cases to tribute under any form, and to any people whatever," the United States continued to negotiate for cash settlements. In 1795 alone the United States was forced to pay nearly a million dollars in cash, naval stores, and a frigate to ransom 115 sailors from the dey of Algiers. Annual gifts were settled by treaty on Algiers, Morocco, Tunis, and Tripoli.<BR/><BR/>When Jefferson became president in 1801 he refused to accede to Tripoli's demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000. The pasha of Tripoli then declared war on the United States. Although as secretary of state and vice president he had opposed developing an American navy capable of anything more than coastal defense, President Jefferson dispatched a squadron of naval vessels to the Mediterranean. As he declared in his first annual message to Congress: "To this state of general peace with which we have been blessed, one only exception exists. Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself to denounce war, on our failure to comply before a given day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer. I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean. . . ."<BR/><BR/>The American show of force quickly awed Tunis and Algiers into breaking their alliance with Tripoli. The humiliating loss of the frigate Philadelphia and the capture of her captain and crew in Tripoli in 1803, criticism from his political opponents, and even opposition within his own cabinet did not deter Jefferson from his chosen course during four years of war. The aggressive action of Commodore Edward Preble (1803-4) forced Morocco out of the fight and his five bombardments of Tripoli restored some order to the Mediterranean. However, it was not until 1805, when an American fleet under Commodore John Rogers and a land force raised by an American naval agent to the Barbary powers, Captain William Eaton, threatened to capture Tripoli and install the brother of Tripoli's pasha on the throne, that a treaty brought an end to the hostilities. Negotiated by Tobias Lear, former secretary to President Washington and now consul general in Algiers, the treaty of 1805 still required the United States to pay a ransom of $60,000 for each of the sailors held by the dey of Algiers, and so it went without Senatorial consent until April 1806. Nevertheless, Jefferson was able to report in his sixth annual message to Congress in December 1806 that in addition to the successful completion of the Lewis and Clark expedition, "The states on the coast of Barbary seem generally disposed at present to respect our peace and friendship."<BR/><BR/>In fact, it was not until the second war with Algiers, in 1815, that naval victories by Commodores William Bainbridge and Stephen Decatur led to treaties ending all tribute payments by the United States. European nations continued annual payments until the 1830s. However, international piracy in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters declined during this time under pressure from the Euro-American nations, who no longer viewed pirate states as mere annoyances during peacetime and potential allies during war.<BR/><BR/>For anyone interested in the further pursuit of information about America's first unconventional, international war in the primary sources, the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress holds manuscript collections of many of the American participants, including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington (see the George Washington Papers), William Short, Edward Preble, Thomas Barclay, James Madison, James Simpson, James Leander Cathcart, William Bainbridge, James Barron, John Rodgers, Ralph Izard, and Albert Gallatin.Robby Noelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02532738950466892565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-15080166408731536042008-11-20T01:36:00.000+02:002008-11-20T01:36:00.000+02:00Dear Eeben:What is the source for this political c...Dear Eeben:<BR/><BR/>What is the source for this political correctness towards piracy? Could national navies be worried about taking the war to the pirates because of the Geneva Convention rules about killing what might be innocent civilians in the villages used as bases by the pirates? Or is this political correctness towards pirates rooted in something else? Or maybe it's still just the plain old stupidity of western liberalism?graycladunitshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10299674299301793842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-42108774344267330302008-11-19T20:02:00.000+02:002008-11-19T20:02:00.000+02:00Good to see India dealt with one of these pirate s...Good to see India dealt with one of these pirate ships.If this is not dealt with real soon this is bound to spread to the Nigerian oil fields.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955273524757178757.post-63683372696898507112008-11-19T19:05:00.000+02:002008-11-19T19:05:00.000+02:00I have just read an article on the tanker hi-jacki...I have just read an article on the tanker hi-jacking. The article says that the pirates boarded the vessel from the stern. Now, I spent most of my life at sea, and I know that no sane person is going to board a ship travelling at 14 knots from the stern. If they are in rubber ducks, as I suspect,the wake will toss them around no end. They would have boarded from the side. Also, if they are in international waters, what's to stop the owners putting a 50cal Browning on either end of the bridge? For a trivial sum of £10,000 or so, the price of 2 weapons and operators, no pirate will dare to approach.Francoishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13696597272736706866noreply@blogger.com