Comments on: Pirate Run-Down http://nycjunta.com/2009/11/17/pirate-run-down/ A stiff drink and a good discussion Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:17:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Jeremy Hurewitz http://nycjunta.com/2009/11/17/pirate-run-down/comment-page-1/#comment-103 Jeremy Hurewitz Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:15:27 +0000 http://nycjunta.com/?p=282#comment-103 Really good write-up, Rindy, but I'm not so sure I would agree about the comparison between pirates and terrorists. There might be similarities in terms of greivances, but terrorists are motivated by a political or religious goals while the pirates are motivated solely by money. The pirates are not seeking to change any paridigm, and in fact probably worry that things might change and upset what has been a lucrative and relatively low-risk criminal venture. Already that has changed with increased risk mitigation solutions being put into place--the number of attacks has risen but their success has gone down. Case in point, the Maersk, which you'll recall was American ship that was captured and then liberated by Navy Seals, was attacked again yesterday but this time managed to repel the pirates with small arms fire, evasie manuevers and LRADs (link below). Some might argue this is an example of where armed private security guards were a great idea, but the story below highlights the continued debate on the subject within the shipping industry. I personally find it odd than whenever this comes up people generally think it's a great idea to have armed security guards ready to blow the pirates away, but when it comes to private security guards doing the job of the military in other areas of the world we see it as a dangerous precedent. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gB7YMEDuCwwY9ncDOtPAkEI4-H2wD9C20OO00 Really good write-up, Rindy, but I’m not so sure I would agree about the comparison between pirates and terrorists. There might be similarities in terms of greivances, but terrorists are motivated by a political or religious goals while the pirates are motivated solely by money. The pirates are not seeking to change any paridigm, and in fact probably worry that things might change and upset what has been a lucrative and relatively low-risk criminal venture. Already that has changed with increased risk mitigation solutions being put into place–the number of attacks has risen but their success has gone down. Case in point, the Maersk, which you’ll recall was American ship that was captured and then liberated by Navy Seals, was attacked again yesterday but this time managed to repel the pirates with small arms fire, evasie manuevers and LRADs (link below). Some might argue this is an example of where armed private security guards were a great idea, but the story below highlights the continued debate on the subject within the shipping industry. I personally find it odd than whenever this comes up people generally think it’s a great idea to have armed security guards ready to blow the pirates away, but when it comes to private security guards doing the job of the military in other areas of the world we see it as a dangerous precedent.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gB7YMEDuCwwY9ncDOtPAkEI4-H2wD9C20OO00

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