Somali pirates VS cargo ship's security guards

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/04/21/somali-pirates-vs-cargo-ship.html

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makes one wonder why they try anymore…

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It’s like Pirates of the Caribbean part 336.

Crazy to see the razor wire strung all along the edge of the ship. Is that a standard practice now?

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Because they can’t make a living as fishermen anymore :grey_question:

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Oh I had inklings as to why it started but once the cargo ships start getting better arms (and some even have offshore stashes for ports where the guns are not allowed) you would think they might move on to softer targets.
Mostly it just sucks for all sides of the problem.

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I get that, but, its a long jump from fisherman to pirate.

I mean, the only thing the two occupations have in common is boats.

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“Yar har, fiddle di dee,
Being a pirate is alright with me!
Do what you want 'cause a pirate lives free,
You are a piraaaaholy shit they are shooting back!
Run away! Run away! Run away!”

Relevant references for above:


I realize that isn’t the original Lazy Town, but I find the animation hilarious.

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The juxtaposition of men firing at other men with a sign on the wall saying “Protect the Environment” is interesting.

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The original video is strange enough without needing silly animation:

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Is it a long jump from farmer to bandit? You get to be called a revolutionary hero if your side wins.

I don’t condone the piracy by any means, but desperate people do desperate things :frowning2:

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Oh jeez. That’s going to be stuck in my head all day now.

I get that too! I’m just saying, I just find the common explanation that “the fishing industry tanked so the fisherman became pirates” to be reductive and lazy.

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LAZYTOWN!

The NBC stopped running that show in its Saturday morning “educational stuff for kids we have to run” slot so I’m way behind on watching it but I’m reluctant to DVR it.

I hope that song becomes the anthem of Somali pirates. Also that they start wearing vertically striped pants.

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From this video, we can infer that piracy creates jobs, and anything that creates jobs must be good. Yay, pirates!

The remarkable thing is that this security team probably makes more for this one trip than the pirates do in years of work. And the risk levels are crazily lopsided against the pirates.

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Well SOMEBODY has to die so I can have my iPod delivered in time!

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Some of those pirates have RPGs. The twin Bofors on my father’s old boat would have had the range but not the ability to depress if the pirates got through. Standard practice in those days, though, if a small boat came too close and ignored orders to move away, was to hurl a depth charge at it. Basically if you saw a fishing boat with a mysterious hump in the stern, and the crew suddenly rushed towards it, it was the Japanese and they were about to get their artillery going. You did not give them the chance.

The fishing industry didn’t just tank; large fishing boats (including from the EU) came and removed all the fish. Basically the same strategy as Uber.

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5 years at sea, and yes pirates are out there.

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This video is a conflicting thing for me to see because on one level you want to root for the security forces. I can’t imagine the desperation the Somali pirates must be going through to do something so reckless and dangerous.

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Well if they keep it up, someone will give them horizontal stripped pants (badum ching!)

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“And I says there’ll be no killin’ till I gives the word!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVX5ZfTcGNU