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sailwind at 05:03 PM JST - 18th April
Sounds good on the surface, but your wrong as to the reason. Laziness has nothing to do with it. Geography is the reason the convoy system would never work. These ships have to go thru the Suez canal. The canal can only allow one ship thru at a time in either direction. It's like taking a six lane highway done to one lane all at once. If you had a convoy system your going to create a maritime traffic jam of unbelievable proportions at the entrance of the canal. Not to mention the traffic jam that will start to occur say 50 nautical miles back, them 50 mor back and on and on. Your going to basically end up in a situation were commerce would be cut down to a slow crawl throughout the gulf of Aden. And a slow ship is exactly what the pirates want.
Good idea on using a convoy system as was used in WW2 to supply England likeitis on the surface, but once again but take it from a Sailor that has transited the Panama canal on many occassions (same as going through the Suez as far as logistics and traffic flow) it isn't economically feasible, and just wouldn't work.
teleprompter at 05:06 PM JST - 18th April
We're going to see large swaths of the international Left basically defending piracy, for the simple reason that even the Left intuitively recognizes pirates are terrorists.
Denouncing these Somali pirates and agreeing to any calls for a return to the historical treatment of scum like this(immediate execution upon apprehension) would leave Lefties open to even further discrediting and ignominy since it would constitute a clear double standard on their part in regard to their position on the approach the free democracies of the West take against civilization's other common enemies - transnational militant Islamic supremacists.
Predictably, you can already see the Left recast the pirates as pawns in an economic game and as 'mere kids.'
It's the same worldview they have with everything - there are only victims (the poor widdle pirates) and 'oppressors' (the big shipping companies that only care about da profits and are - lol - too selfish to travel in convoys).
toguro at 05:52 PM JST - 18th April
teleprompter: Excellent post. Very well stated.
teleprompter at 06:13 PM JST - 18th April
Obama's buddy, Al Sharpton:
Somali pirates are Somalia's "voluntary coast guard."
clip at
http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/71A68B5F-1B32-4FFC-B113-9FF083FD9CD9/
ANOTSUSAGAMI at 06:25 PM JST - 18th April
Uh, how are Al Sharpton and Obama "friends"? Any proof? Anyway, "Live by the gun, die by the gun." No one can pick up a lethal weapon designed for killing many people, then complain when they get cut down. Teens or no. When I was 16 I knew that.
Triumvere at 02:09 AM JST - 19th April
Convoys aren't really that practical due to the volume of shipping and the wide area it covers. Arming merchant ships (trained marshals with small-arms, sniper rifles, 50 cal mg on deck) would take care of the problem really quickly, but isn't possible due current laws restricitng guns onboard ships in most countries around the world.
The Maersk Alabama is an American flagged vessel; that means its crewed by the Merchant Marine, right? Had a buddy from highschool who joined the Merchant Marine. I wonder what sort of anti-piracy training they get?
taniwha at 11:15 AM JST - 19th April
Being Taniwha on these threads is sometimes a lot of fun, but only in the most perverse sense of dropping a mongoose into the chicken run. See the boys with guns for toys and those that would if they could, run flat bang into the walls and off each other.
Somali pirates, what more can be said, about a bunch of skinny teenagers with guns too big for them to hold properly clambering aboard corporate goods and holding them to ransom. The seeds sown by a century of stealing from their land by Italy, France, Britain, and only a little more recently the USA have sprouted from over the fence, and stepped right up to the front door and then kicked it in. Cheeky little so and so's. The only answer that people who have never understood the history of that part of the world can come up with is stomp on them with big heavy boots. Haaaah, that is the funny part, ironically. That is precisely how these pirates came into existence in the first place.
Another funny thing, the same idea was tried in Iraq, and now in Afghanistan. Two wars that can never be won, that bleed the invaders and their countries dry of young blood and of finances that would have been far better spent on feeding and educating their own.
Moderator: Stay on topic please.
teleprompter at 11:25 AM JST - 19th April
How desperate does a person have to be to think it is Somali pirates who will somehow pave the way for 'international socialism' ?
sailwind at 11:32 AM JST - 19th April
The only answer that people who have never understood the history of that part of the world can come up with is stomp on them with big heavy boots. Haaaah, that is the funny part, ironically. That is precisely how these pirates came into existence in the first place.
Another funny thing, the same idea was tried in Iraq, and now in Afghanistan. Two wars that can never be won, that bleed the invaders and their countries dry of young blood and of finances that would have been far better spent on feeding and educating their own.
Hey Taniwha,
You do understand that the ship they hijacked was carry FOOD AID paid for by the FINANCES of the U.S people so they wouldn't STARVE and could actually BE HEALTHY enough to get an EDUCATION.
Your right though, let eat dust, should've keep that food in America.
sailwind at 11:33 AM JST - 19th April
Typo...Let em EAT DUST should've have keep that food in America.
taniwha at 02:34 PM JST - 19th April
'Hey Taniwha, You do understand that the ship they hijacked was carry FOOD AID paid for by the FINANCES of the U.S people so they wouldn't STARVE and could actually BE HEALTHY enough to get an EDUCATION. Your right though, let eat dust, should've keep that food in America.'
Sailwind
Yes. I have already mentioned that. I also mentioned that the numbers of ships actually being carrying food aid are miniscule percentage wise of the those heading down the Aden. The food aid is a government handout (a foreign government handout)/charity that is cynical in itself, because those it purports to help have suffered the conditions created by chaos precisely because of the activities of foreign corporations on the African continent.
sailwind at 02:58 PM JST - 19th April
I agree no food aid, let em starve. Hey, we agree on something.
SuperLib at 07:44 PM JST - 19th April
Translation: This is yet another piece of evidence from the situation at hand that I can ignore. We'll add that to, "Guys with AK-47s threatening to kill another person."
taniwha at 07:54 PM JST - 19th April
So SuperLib is working on the moderation team now?
JT really amounts to one big advertisement really, doesn't it? A commercial enterprise sure but one that treats posters with utter contempt. I invite posters whether the agree with my politics or not to be aware.
I wonder how many of the handles here are really JT staff?
Today you leave his two completely off topic posts up and delete multiples of mine, including sections of them. You also never bother to communicate a decision, although clearly it is made out of sheer contempt.
So much for anyone who wishes to post on topic if their politics differs to that of your advertisers.
Helter_Skelter at 06:19 AM JST - 21st April
Haha. Great post teleprompter.