Luxury Yacht Company Offers Pirate-Hunting Cruises

[Skybird]

Don't make things more complicated than they are. Just that. And sometimes things are simply simple, really. Reflecting is all nice and well, but if you give it too much space, it paralyses you, and kills ypour degrees of freedom. You can't act then, and you can't acchieve an effect anymore. I have been meditation teacher for years, and saw plenty of this: crazy thinkers who did not had their thinking under control, or crazy dreamers who spend all day sitting on a cushion, thinking that would develope their spirituality and mind. The first have their brain already blowing up whenever you have a sharp look at them, the latter are living zombies who only move if you call and fix a date three days ahead. Believe me, I know what I speak of!

[Letum]

Speak for your self.
If thought and reflection paralyze you, then by all means think only simple
thoughts; you are exceptionally good at it. It is to the great benefit of
mankind that not everyone suffers so greatly when using their rational
faculties, as has been your experience.

[CaptainHaplo]

Whats the problem here? If a person wants to put themselves in harms way, thats their choice. There is no guarantee a pirate bullet won't take them out - regardless of any security detachment. Or - as I told my guys more than once:

"Its not the bullet with your name on it that you have to worry about. Its all the ones marked "To whom it may concern" that scare the devil outta me" - and no thats not original - I forget where I heard it.

As for the taking of human life - if someone chooses to commit an act they know to be illegal for personal gain, knowingly endangering the life of their victims - as pirates (and other terrorists) by necessity do, then they have revoked their own claim to "due process" and human dignity, and I see no problem with slaughtering them as I would any other animal.

[Onkel Neal]

This whole situation reminds me of Charles Bronson and Death Wish. Here was a man who had his life destroyed by criminals. He decided to go out on the city and if anyone attacked him, he would give them a little surprise. It was very risky for him, but he could not live like a victim any longer. As long as no one molested him, there was no drama.

Yeah, I know it's just a movie. But there is a point.

[Task Force]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

This whole situation reminds me of Charles Bronson and Death Wish. Here was a man who had his life destroyed by criminals. He decided to go out on the city and if anyone attacked him, he would give them a little surprise. It was very risky for him, but he could not live like a victim any longer. As long as no one molested him, there was no drama.

Yeah, I know it's just a movie. But there is a point.

And a very good movie at that...

[Buddahaid]

From Skybird
"Which for us means dead pirates. Good for us, since our navies and politicians don't get it done, and our companies pay ransom to help fostering the pirate problem and rearm it and strengthen it and increase it's zone of infection."

Get exactly what done?

From Skybird
"That'S why boats should be stopped and searched. If there are weapons onboard, sink them."

Boarding vessels on the high seas without the permission of the vessels native government, is an act of war by international law. And sinking them for just having weapons, or confiscating them would also be piracy.

Buddahaid

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Letum

Speak for your self.
If thought and reflection paralyze you, then by all means think only simple
thoughts; you are exceptionally good at it. It is to the great benefit of
mankind that not everyone suffers so greatly when using their rational
faculties, as has been your experience.

I did not say that reflection paralyses me or you or everybody. I said that too much reflection paralyses.

If your thoughts really would be as rational or reasonable as you claim, then I wonder why so very, very often you depend on bringing your examples to extremes of abstractness and pushing them to the edge of hairsplitting. Not so much the above, although there you answer to something that nobody said, but generally.

Stop! Relax. Take a deep breath. Start again two gears down.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

This whole situation reminds me of Charles Bronson and Death Wish. Here was a man who had his life destroyed by criminals. He decided to go out on the city and if anyone attacked him, he would give them a little surprise. It was very risky for him, but he could not live like a victim any longer. As long as no one molested him, there was no drama.

Yeah, I know it's just a movie. But there is a point.

Yes, there is.

Since you bring in movies, there is another reference that I like, a quote:

"It's not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me."

And that is valid in good and bad.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

From Skybird
"Which for us means dead pirates. Good for us, since our navies and politicians don't get it done, and our companies pay ransom to help fostering the pirate problem and rearm it and strengthen it and increase it's zone of infection."

Get exactly what done?

From Skybird
"That'S why boats should be stopped and searched. If there are weapons onboard, sink them."

Boarding vessels on the high seas without the permission of the vessels native government, is an act of war by international law. And sinking them for just having weapons, or confiscating them would also be piracy.

Buddahaid

Yes, there is plenty of complex, of complicated, and very sensible, and really rational reasons not to confront the problem itself and leave things like they are. Thanks for another contribution to the strategy of not fighting piracy efficiently.

I stick to it, dear guys. As long as we do not accept to get our hands dirty, pirates will not only stay, but will become stronger, better armed, and increasing their activity area. If you want to reduce poiracy, you must search for them, hunt them down, kill them, destroy their weapons and equipment and disrupt their logistic support chain and home harbours on land.

You want get rid of piracy, do this.

You do not want to do like this, live with piracy then.

Nothing complex in this. No complicated issue. No abstractness. Just a simple choice you make. If you chose to fight them, do not have illusions what that means, and do not gloss over it. If you chose not to fight them, spare your complex, reasonable, sensible, foul excuses. One thing is sure: they are laughing about you and your scruples, for they do not even know what you are talking about. they just make opportunistic use of your scruples.

And it pays off for them.

[Tchocky]

Can't see this as anything other than a bad idea.

Lie in the bowsprit and shoot anything that looks like a pirate

Have a few beers, it's a hot day.

Visa or Mastercard?

[UnderseaLcpl]

Always such interesting ideas in these anti-piracy threads

Personally, I love the idea of tourists paying to shoot pirates on demand. It positively reeks of capitalist efficiency. I'm a little sad to admit that I wouldn't endorse such a thing, other than in a jesting fashion.
The main problem in my eyes has already been pointed out; the international ramifications of sinking a non-pirate vessel or killing a fisherman or somesuch. This is one of the very few situations in which I will suggest that the market would be counterproductive. Naturally, if people are paying for a service (the opportunity to shoot pirates), they are going to want to get maximum value for their money. These are civilians we're talking about, not necessarily trained fighters. I doubt their discretion can be trusted very far unless they were held accountable for their actions. Of course, they can't be held too accountable, or demand withers and that would defeat the purpose.
Even worse, there are a host of liability obligations and moral implications to consider. This problem is exacerbated by the wide range of legal statutes and cultural standards that vary from nation to nation. Those factors themselves are enogh to ruin the fledgling industry. For the most part, I just don't see this working out.

As always, I think the best solution is to take measures to pass the problem off to private interests. Whether shipping companies hire their own guards or contract mercenary services(at their discretion, of course), the system will work and there are ways around the many red-tape obstacles, such as building offshore bases of operation or weapons internment for the duration of port stays. The main difference between mercenaries and paying customers, however, is professional discretion. Paying a few hundred or thousand dollars for a chance to shoot pirates and losing a few hundred or thousand dollars for shooting fishermen are very, very, different things.
Commercial shipping interests need only be given the chance to effect this policy and it will yield startling results, I have no doubt. The key is market adaptability. Insurance companies will indubitably offer discounts to companies that use security assets or purchase them as part of their insurance plan. Naturally, these will vary with the amount, nature, and location of pirate activity. In fact, the insurance companies themselves may offer the services, or favor certain security firms, and then their quality would be assured. In this way, the amount of anti-pirate security will always roughly equal the amount of pirate activity, with little waste.

[Skybird]

Already late last year internatuional pltiicians ruled out to guve a general green light to station armed troops on freighters to fight off pirates. The argument was that that would put the ship, the freight, and the crew at risk.

Which of course is nothing else but involuntary humour.

That's why I do not count with that option anymore.

[VipertheSniper]

I've just heard from friends that the whole story is a hoax or rather a publicity stunt by "Geechy Guy".

[Skybird]

The pirates? Or the Russians?

[CaptainHaplo]

Undersea - exactly- Capitalism efficiency. Or as I like to put it - there is never such a thing as a problem, only a business opportunity!