The French have honour, the Spanish knuckle under piracy

Pirates are like parasites, more you feed them, the more they demand. So the only way to handle them is to thump them very hard. Unfortunately, seems like all the courage that Spain has been famous for down the centuries has dribbled away. What do they do? They pay a ransom to pirates to release their crew. And what a pathetic excuse, they did not have military means. What did they lack? the base? They could have asked for French assistance, they have marines and commando's, they have attack helicopters, they have frigates, they have fast attack boats, what they do not have is the gumption and courage.

Sad. And how much you want to bet that this will happen again? Nice cash cow, now the Spaniards have a target painted on their boats (and a big cash machine sign off the bows), while they will avoid the French boats..

Technorati Tags: Spain,France,Somalia,Piracy

Pirates attack tanker

When will people realise that this is a global problem and this has to be handled globally, hard, and quickly! This is causing oil prices to rise, and that will hit the poor even more.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Spanish ship in the pirates grasp off Somalia

I think Spain should send its commando's and rescue its fishermen. But am a bit curious, what on earth is a Spanish fishing trawler doing off the coast of Somalia? Or will it, as usual, turn over and play supinely? Learn from your French colleagues, mate. These pirates need to be thumped very very hard. Talking will not work.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Canadian Police are Pirates?

Heh, this was funny. The Canadian Police do not mind letting terrorists roam free on their land but let somebody protest against the killing of seals and all hell breaks loose.

On the other hand, given the fact that the Canadian police boarded the ship in international waters means that it was an act of Piracy. Now where are the French commando's?

Very amusing, I wonder what the Canadians would say to this now? lol. How funny. .

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Pirates caught by commandos

This is the only way to deal with pirates. Pirates are beyond the pale. This is why whenever they were caught, they were summarily executed or punished. They do not work on the basis of normal behaviour. Whether we are talking about Julius Caesar or the North African Barbary States, they only stop once they have been thumped hard.

Similarly, these Somalian pirates need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and armed might. This is a very good step, I just wish the other navies take a step and do the same. Way to go, Sarko.

Technorati Tags: Piracy,France,Somalia,Indian Ocean

Pirates board ship and claim to be from Greenpeace

So tell me something, if you board a ship, interrupt its business and create a safely issue, all about a ship which is going about its lawful business, you are a pirate yes? No? so what's the difference between these Greenpeace activists and these Somali Pirates? Not much difference, is there?

How about this? If the Somali Pirates climb on top of the Greenpeace ship and rob it, what will the headlines say? pirates robbing pirates? :)

Technorati Tags: Piracy

India's communist party protests about the International naval war games are being held in the wrong place

The Indian communist parties are going to protest against the international naval war games to be held in the Bay of Bengal. But the communists are great at doing these kinds of demonstrations and they are right now planning to do a walk about the Indian countryside to protest against these war games. I seriously think they should go to the place where the war games are actually happening and protest there.

But the main purpose of these wargames is to make sure that navies of various regions work together. Ships are massively complex animals and it is further complicated when you have a group of ships working together, and it becomes a furiously complicated beast when you have navies of different countries working together.

So here is a four dimensional theater (air, surface, underwater and land), in a shallow sea (navies hate shallow seas, it causes bad echo's, sand banks, confusion, etc.), full of moving bottoms (the bottom of the Bay of Bengal, Malacca Straits and other South East Asian areas is very geographically mobile - remember the tsunami?), and more importantly, because of the HUGE distances involved, require all navies to pull together when faced with terrorist and pirate threats.

Oh! yes, there is a huge amount of piracy going on in the world, and the epicentre's of this piracy business is off the east African coast and in the Iindonesian Iislands/Malacca Straits. So this is a great step as we do need an international maritime flotilla and group to stop the rampant piracy in the Indian Ocean region. See here, here, here and here.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

India's communist party to protest naval war games

Sun Sep 2, 4:58 AM ET

India's communist party, embroiled in a row with the government over a US nuclear deal, has announced plans to protest next week's naval exercises with the United States and Asian nations.

Twenty five warships from Australia, India, Japan, Singapore and the United States will take part in the exercises over five days starting on Tuesday in the Bay of Bengal.

Two US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers will be among ships involved.

"These exercises are seen as a major step towards India joining a strategic security cooperation between India and the United States, Australia and Japan," the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said in a statement Saturday.

"There will be countrywide protests from September 4 to 8 against these exercises."

India's ruling Congress party receives crucial support from left allies but the relationship has been shaky in past weeks, with the communists protesting a recently concluded civilian nuclear agreement with the United States.

Protesters will march along the east coast to the port of Visakhapatnam, headquarters of India's eastern naval command, for a rally next Saturday.

The exercises will be held between Visakhapatnam and India's Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, a chain of more than 500 islands over 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the mainland.

The communists, who oppose strategic ties with Washington, say the nuclear deal threatens India's sovereignty, notably the continued development of its nuclear weapons programme.