On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 11:53:54PM -0500, [email protected] wrote:
> At 01:26 PM 2/22/2011, Walter Knopf wrote:
> >My advice would be to establish a naval blockade with ships from all
> >countries involved, checking every outgoing vessel
> >for weapons on board.
>
> The problem with that is the Somalian coastline being about 3300 km
> long similar to entire US eastern seaboard.
Actually, at this point, they appear to be operating almost exclusively
from just one main town, Harardhere.
Even if that wasn't the case, the interdict could be applied
selectively, to the parts of the coast where the pirates are active at
any one time. Covering, say, a hundred mile stretch of the coast -
especially when you spread the word that after a 3-day grace period, any
vessel leaving harbor will be sunk - isn't that big of a challenge.
When the locals' options come down to a) report the pirates and collect
a reward or b) starve, there will shortly be no pirates. The locals have
no incentive, other than fear, for hiding the pirates' identities - and
that threat gets removed when the pirates are arrested or killed.
Looked at from the money perspective - which is always useful in this
kind of situation - it takes quite a bit to run that kind of an
operation: you have to have a sea-going ship, you have to be able to buy
a significant amount of fuel, you have to have money for weapons, etc.
That's a rather rare and unusual concentration of wealth for that part
of the world, most likely indicating either external support (extremely
doubtful) or local investors who see a chance of a good return on their
money. Arrest their families, burn their villages, and sink/destroy the
ships and the weapons - and suddenly, piracy will look like a very
unhealthy option instead of a great money-making opportunity.
Ben
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