I'd still like to see some sort of UN resolution allowing international Navy ships more leeway in disarming pirate boats that are carrying grenade launchers or AK-47s, neither of which have a legitimate fishing purpose. Because of this serious pirate problem, international navies need more power to stop overarmed small boats around Somalia who are not legitimate fishing vessels. My own grandfather was a captain of a major merchant ship and visited every nation of the world except India in his voyages, and he never faced pirate dangers in all those years, but was captured by the Japanese Navy during the war. These pirates have made commerce by sea decidedly less safe than at any time since the 1700 or 1800's.

I can see that the French were taken by surprise. They were so startled they didn't have a chance to surrender.

how about sinking the boats and mother ships and not saving the survivors? i know that's not pc but my guess is that they run out of mother ships, boats and volunteers fairly quickly. people do what they're successful at.
conversely they usually give up and find something else when they're woefully unsuccessful.

Wow Kim, I'm impressed. Seriously!

You managed an entire blog post without blaming Obama for something!

hooson - "I'd still like to see some sort of UN resolution allowing international Navy ships more leeway in disarming pirate boats that are carrying grenade launchers or AK-47s, neither of which have a legitimate fishing purpose."

Disarm pirate boats? And that does what?

Other than send them back ashore to rearm and be back on the high seas laying in wait for their next victim I mean?

What you'd "like to see" is already laid out on the U.N's. Convention on the High Sea (PDF File)

It contains these applicable articles:
Article 8: Warships

Articles 14-21: Piracy

Article 22: Boarding of merchant ships by warships

Article 23: Hot pursuit, that is, pursuit of a vessel across borders for the purposes of law enforcement

There's you clue, now use it.

jake - "You managed an entire blog post without blaming Obama for something!"

WOW, jake!

Got nothing to say on the topic?

Here I'll do it for Kim, when Bush was in office and barack hussein obama has agreed on changes to the Law of the Sea treaty that would cede U.S. sovereignty to various international bodies.

It's patent BS and fits very "nicely" into barack hussein obama's overall theme of having "one world."

I'll bet if the "port" that has been receiving the pirates got a visit from some F-16s they (the pirates) would think seriously about another line of work.

I'll bet if the "port" that has been receiving the pirates got a visit from some F-16s they (the pirates) would think seriously about another line of work.

I agree, but I doubt we'd ever do it (even if Dubya was still in office). I wish the Saudis had taken a shot at it a few months back when one of their ships was hijacked. They have F-15s, and it's not that far from Taif or Khamis Mushait. Plus, they don't give a rat's ass what the 'international community' thinks.

"I'll bet if the "port" that has been receiving the pirates got a visit from some F-16s they (the pirates) would think seriously about another line of work."

I think this shows a fundamental lack of understanding for the state of Somalia. Conditions are desperate and desperate men take desperate action. If there is ANY money in this, then there will continue to be a flow of pirate volunteers.

If death alone was a solution, there'd have been a drop not a spike in pirate activity after three pirates had their heads blown off.

No, the only way to solve this is convince companies to stop paying any and all ransoms for their ships. The pirates are pirating because it works.

Additionally, there is another component all together: The fact that Somalis have watched European ships dump nuclear waste off their coasts, making their people sick. Can you imagine what we'd do if someone was dumping nuclear waste off our coasts, creating massive strain on our food supply and general health? I doubt we'd be kind enough to simply take control of said ships...

@Brett

"I can see that the French were taken by surprise. They were so startled they didn't have a chance to surrender."

Very constructive. Jut to let you know, more than 50 pirates have been seized by the French Navy so far. If this was a competition we would be leading.

THIS IS ISLAMIOC TERRORISAM AIMD FOR NON ISLAMIC SHIPS.
ANY WAY TO KID NAP.
MACS

I think that declaring war on piracy is not going to solve the problem. The solution is going to have to come on the inside and that means starting with Somalia's government. It seems this problem isn't going to be solved for a while... anyway i found this video today that shows how different news outlets are reporting on the story. It's interesting to see the difference in perspectives. Definitely worth a look:

http://www.newsy.com/videos/pirates_on_demand/