[Cid_Yama]

Pirate activity has grown into a small but profitable industry in one of the world's poorest countries.

"Apart from those who take part in the operations, who currently number more than 1,000, there are those who provide services ranging from negotiations with ship owners, procurement of weapons, training of pirates, information gathering, logistics and so on," said Ismail Ahmed, a British expert with 20 years' experience of Somali financial and development issues.

He was skeptical of suggestions that some funds may be laundered via the Gulf, saying the pirates kept their money inside Somalia because they knew it would be intercepted if they moved it outside the country.

"Some invest in land and property in their home towns where they know that they would never be prosecuted," Ahmed said.

"All the towns in the area are booming ... Ransom money 'trickles down' to many people in the towns. This is one of the reasons why local people support it."

Michael Weinstein, a Somalia expert at Purdue University in the U.S. state of Indiana, said the trigger for the escalation of pirate attacks had been the collapse of the local economy in Somalia's Puntland region.

"The administration there is honeycombed with corrupt officials that have links to the pirates," Weinstein said. He said the government had no funds to pay its military, and the economy was beset by hyperinflation because of massive over-printing of Somali shillings. Ahmed said the local economy now runs on dollars, with shillings used only for small change.

Pirates who seized the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star and its $100 million oil cargo last weekend in the biggest ship hijack in history have already made tens of millions, in cash, from scores of previous attacks this year.

"They live like monarchs, like kings. They do everything in public, without the need to hide or disguise the source of money," said Hany Aby-El-Fotouh, an Egyptian banker and anti-money laundering specialist.

"The money is there, bulk cash. The local government doesn't mind, or doesn't have the authority to object, to control ... All dirty deals are paid in cash," he said, referring to the pirates' purchases of arms, communications gear, speedboats and other equipment.

"There is no need for them to launder the money, because the law enforcement is not there at all, the banking system is not there, so why even think of laundering money?"
link

[sourgas]

One has to wonder if what is happening in Somalia and elsewhere with piracy is the start of a larger trend. Failed states leads to looting and piracy, the more failed states the greater the problem with piracy becomes.

[Fishman]

Ah, Piracy in the times of Political Correctness. What happened to the good old days of hanging them from the yardarm? What would we do with them now if we caught them? Millions of euros spent prosecuting them in the World Court?

[blukatzen]

It says there is a "trickle down"to those below in the villages. Hmmmnnnn... someday, one of the young folks will work his way up to eclipse those who live to thumb their noses at the Saudis, the Western World, etc.

They'll get their comeuppance from those down below, who will be aiming for those who will find "no honor" amongst Pirates.

Dirty Deeds...done dirt cheap

The circle always come's round. Get the popcorn.

Blu

[Keith_McClary]

Pirate activity has grown into a small but profitable industry in one of the world's poorest countries.

"Apart from those who take part in the operations, who currently number more than 1,000, there are those who provide services ranging from negotiations with ship owners, procurement of weapons, training of pirates, information gathering, logistics and so on," said Ismail Ahmed, a British expert with 20 years' experience of Somali financial and development issues.

He was skeptical of suggestions that some funds may be laundered via the Gulf, saying the pirates kept their money inside Somalia because they knew it would be intercepted if they moved it outside the country.

"Some invest in land and property in their home towns where they know that they would never be prosecuted," Ahmed said.

Sort of like a "military-industrial complex".

[EnergyUnlimited]

Ah, Piracy in the times of Political Correctness. What happened to the good old days of hanging them from the yardarm? What would we do with them now if we caught them? Millions of euros spent prosecuting them in the World Court?

Up to the best of my knowledge a captain of every British ship is entitled to hang any captured pirate on the spot with full support of law.
Even if Britain abolished death penalty you can still be hanged for treason and sea piracy.

However I doubt that many British captains would decide to exercise this provision.
Politically correct society would release them from the function even if no prosecution could be brought.

However I suggest a simple solution to piracy:
Militarization of ships.
Few heavy machine guns installed on each ship would resolve most of piracy related issues and I bet that this resolve will be implemented soon if problem persist.

However tankers are still a soft touch.
If targeted even with relatively primitive weapon, all hells will break lose.
They will need escorts in pirate infested waters.

Now how the ultimate humiliation of US would look like:

Pirates hijacked USS carrier.

[Nickel]

Ah, Piracy in the times of Political Correctness. What happened to the good old days of hanging them from the yardarm? What would we do with them now if we caught them? Millions of euros spent prosecuting them in the World Court?

Nothing so complex. Piracy in international waters is an international crime. Any navy in the world can interdict them, take them to the nearest port (usually the one they're preying on, after all), and drop them off for trial.

[Nickel]

Now how the ultimate humiliation of US would look like:

Pirates hijacked USS carrier.

No matter how dire straits get for the US, I would not want to form part of a boarding party taking on a ship with several thousand trained combatants who have nowhere else to go. If you attack an aircraft carrier, you'd better do it with sinking it in mind, because approaching it and its support fleet in anything manned is tantamount to suicide.

[Nickel]

Even if Britain abolished death penalty you can still be hanged for treason and sea piracy.

Britain is signatory to Protocol 6 which abolishes the death penalty unconditionally in peacetime. You can't be hanged for treason or piracy or anything else. I'm not sure about what UK statue says about capital punishment in wartime, but I imagine by now it's been taken off the books.

[EnergyUnlimited]

Now how the ultimate humiliation of US would look like:

Pirates hijacked USS carrier.

No matter how dire straits get for the US, I would not want to form part of a boarding party taking on a ship with several thousand trained combatants who have nowhere else to go. If you attack an aircraft carrier, you'd better do it with sinking it in mind, because approaching it and its support fleet in anything manned is tantamount to suicide.

Of course it was a joke.


However lets get a bit seriuos how that actuctaly might be achieved.

Lets assume Americans to be stupid enough not to provide adequate escorts so shabby pirate vessel could get into close range of a carrier.
Lets assume that a dozen of SS Sunburns or a small nuclear device is placed on pirate ship.

The demand could be made for US crew to abandon the ship or missiles/atomic device would be activated in cross-suicidal resolve.

Lets imagine further developments... and note that loss of carrier in a fight with pirates would be about as humiliating for US as if hijacking succeeded.

Chance of success?
1 to million perhaps but desperados can call for desperate means sometimes.

[EnergyUnlimited]

Even if Britain abolished death penalty you can still be hanged for treason and sea piracy.

Britain is signatory to Protocol 6 which abolishes the death penalty unconditionally in peacetime. You can't be hanged for treason or piracy or anything else. I'm not sure about what UK statue says about capital punishment in wartime, but I imagine by now it's been taken off the books.

This apply on the territory of UK and international waters are not such territory.
They are separate international codes to deal with such issues.
In case of treason military provisions are applying especially if treason is committed during war.

[EnergyUnlimited]

Ah, Piracy in the times of Political Correctness. What happened to the good old days of hanging them from the yardarm? What would we do with them now if we caught them? Millions of euros spent prosecuting them in the World Court?

Nothing so complex. Piracy in international waters is an international crime. Any navy in the world can interdict them, take them to the nearest port (usually the one they're preying on, after all), and drop them off for trial.

It is simpler (and cheaper) to sink them.
Indian navy recently exercised that option.

[eXpat]

Now how the ultimate humiliation of US would look like:

Pirates hijacked USS carrier.

No matter how dire straits get for the US, I would not want to form part of a boarding party taking on a ship with several thousand trained combatants who have nowhere else to go. If you attack an aircraft carrier, you'd better do it with sinking it in mind, because approaching it and its support fleet in anything manned is tantamount to suicide.

It can be done as long as Tommy Lee Jones is part of the attacking group and Steven Seagal is not in the ship
And then of course is Erika Eleniak, so who cares for everything else...

[Nickel]

The demand could be made for US crew to abandon the ship or missiles/atomic device would be activated in cross-suicidal resolve.

Assuming they had never gamed this out and allowed anyone to get that close, assuming the Russians had completely failed to imagine their weapons could be turned against them if sold them to people with nothing to lose and no homes to bomb, assuming pirates who are trying to steal things like oil, cars, and garden furniture could manage to acquire weapons-grade fissionable material and turn it into an effective weapon, then what you're saying is exactly what would happen: mutual suicide. There is no way, no way, an aircraft carrier commander would allow that ship and its array of weaponry to fall into the hands of anyone else.

[Nickel]

This apply on the territory of UK

You mean like the ships of the Royal Navy? Exactly. When you're standing on the deck of HMS [place name here], wherever it might be on Earth, you're standing smack-dab on British territory. That's true of any navy in the world.

For example, this is from the Canadian Citizenship Act:

a person is deemed to be born in Canada if the person is born on a Canadian vessel as defined in section 2 of the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, or on an aircraft registered in Canada under the Aeronautics Act and regulations made under that Act

Canadian ships, wherever they are, are Canadian territory, subject to Canadian law. And by international agreement, that's true for everyone else, too.

[Nickel]

It is simpler (and cheaper) to sink them.
Indian navy recently exercised that option.

Unless you're fired on, sinking a ship without giving provision for surrender and boarding is itself an act of piracy and most countries would strip an officer of command for doing so.

[EnergyUnlimited]

The demand could be made for US crew to abandon the ship or missiles/atomic device would be activated in cross-suicidal resolve.

There is no way, no way, an aircraft carrier commander would allow that ship and its array of weaponry to fall into the hands of anyone else.

They are peoples only.

And while serving for government of failing empire they are prone to dereliction of duty.

It is known for Soviet commanders to allow diversion of weapon grade fissile materials to various criminal gangs often connected with other states.

The largest amount of weapon grade U235 intercepted with official acknowledgment was ~3.5kg found in luggage container of private car in Prague.
Can search for a reference if you are interested in it.
About 5 kg is enough to make high tech bomb.
About 20 kg is enough to make more primitive bomb, which bright chemical engineering student could assemble.

[EnergyUnlimited]

It is simpler (and cheaper) to sink them.
Indian navy recently exercised that option.

Unless you're fired on, sinking a ship without giving provision for surrender and boarding is itself an act of piracy and most countries would strip an officer of command for doing so.

One shot from handgun would do and quite often suspicion that you are going to be shot on would do.
That holds especially true in pirate infested waters.

[EnergyUnlimited]

This apply on the territory of UK

You mean like the ships of the Royal Navy? Exactly. When you're standing on the deck of HMS [place name here], wherever it might be on Earth, you're standing smack-dab on British territory. That's true of any navy in the world.

However in such situation in UK you are answerable to the Crown (in Monarchy sense) only.
And there is much legal trickery here.

Anyway I am pretty certain that UK in one way or another allows that.

Pirate can be hanged on order of captain of HM vessel or captain of other vessel sailing under British flag.

It may only be because some ancient law is not repelled yet but it doesn't matter much from legal point of view.

[Nickel]

It is known for Soviet commanders to allow diversion of weapon grade fissile materials to various criminal gangs often connected with other states.

Any aircraft carriers? You know, something big and obvious? Something that 99% of your subordinates would shoot you in the head for attempting to hand over?