GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST - Would arming ship crews help battle piracy?
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fred       February 5, 2008, 16:09
yes , sevodnya ...

as i wrote in precedent post :

somalia is next door to Djibouti ...
djibouti is a naval base for US Navy (quite a big one) and for the French Navy (thru much smaller than the US , they know perfectly well the area , it has been "territoire de affars et des issas " for a long time ...)

so piracy .... yes , solutions ? they are already at hands ... with just a little will ...!!
Sevodnya_Net       February 5, 2008, 12:48
I'm sure arming vessels is not the solution. I agree with Armed - we have the military structures and the hardware to tackle this or at least have a decent go at it.

Does arming the citizen, notably in the US, protect him/her from armed attack? Or does it lead to more problems than it solves? We should be very careful.
David       February 5, 2008, 05:30
It is about time we stood firm, said enough is enough and fought back instead of listening to those in power with no meat on their bones.
Al2       February 5, 2008, 04:22
I agree with Sam in the respect that pirates go for soft targets, the undefended targets. Arm the crews or have warships in the area (more than they do now) and persecute to the utmost of the law. Don't pay ransoms either as Fred says, just bomb the hell out of the ports where they stay at.
The pirates are only doing this because they can make a buck and it involves minimal risk, change the equation. Simple as that.
Armed       February 4, 2008, 20:59
Arming the ships themselves by missiles etc. or arming crews through guns/revolvers etc may/may not solve the problem.
The pirates are usually well armed/professional/in adequate numbers.These measures would only endanger lives and put additional mental burdens on the sailors' already fraught nerves,far away from home.

An international ANTI-PIRATE force operated AND FINANCED By UN(a LOT of question marks there??), helped by GPS/Glonass signals, with fast gun-boats may be 'good' solution!!
Another could be fast Subs - a joint NATO?? / maybe SCO venture...
fred       February 4, 2008, 18:14
sam ...

yes and no !

yes , israelis have weapons onboard ...
no, i don't think it solve the problem ...

in this case , it is more a way for pirates to stand clear from retaliations ... as israelis never make deals with pirats/terrorists/wathever ...

it is probably one of the very few countries in the world which won't spend a cent on ransom , but much more to make sure the ones from who the problems came in the first place are "## removed ##"

off-course , it is not very moral , but it works ...!

in Somalia , the mess is quite different , they do not have real GOVT for few years now ... and all the US and French Warships based in Djibouti seems to be absolutely useless ...

so something has to be done , but it take some "political nerve" to decide it ...
sam       February 4, 2008, 12:49
This was done before.ships flying the Isreali and Soviet flags routinely had armed personnel on board in the 80s and 90s.Their Ships were never attacked.I think Isreal still does it and I had not heard of their ships being attacked as of yet.
This however has to be government controlled or ever pirate ship would claim the weapons are for their own protection.