OT: Somali Pirates

Since ports are sovereign territory, it's not a small problem. IMO, the shipping lines should simply embargo ports where they aren't allowed to keep arms (stowed, it necessary). Someone would "run" the embargo, though.

Place a guard on the armory, if necessary. The problem is the couple of hundred nations that would each have to agree. I don't think the US would appreciate an armed vessel flying the Iranian flag docking in NY harbor, for instance.

Also, many of the shipping companies are opposed, at least that's what the president of one of the major ones (OOCL) told me. THey don't think they can or should be doing the job of a navy.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

But they get shot up and the survivors are arrested. Better to let a few of them return to port to tell the horror stories.

Counting on the Navy to help is like pretending that the police are there to protect you. When minutes count, the Navy will be a week away.

Return them in body bags. If that doesn't get the message across, add some pork.

" snipped-for-privacy@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Supposedly,a ship(even a cargo ship) is sovereign territory of the nation it's registered.(unlike commercial aircraft)

Thus,as long as they keep their arms onboard,they have not violated any law.

" snipped-for-privacy@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

the same comes from ABC,NBC,CBS and CNN,-without- any mention that the speaker is opinionating. Those folks certainly make certain things much better known to the public,particularly facets that aren't mentioned by the leftist MSM. Most of the leftist commentators stuff is mainly insults,derision and "pshaw,that aint gonna happen",and "what bigots/rubes/rednecks those guys are".And when the predicted stuff DOES happen,the leftists pass it off as the fault of conservatives.

Definitely.

Where was the "niceness" when GWBush was in office? Where were the calls for "niceness" then? There were several DemocRAT politicians saying dissent was "patriotic",even Obama said that people should "get in their face".One DemocRAT "representative" even suggested Bush be assassinated.Certainly,there were no objections to the MOVIE made about Bush's assassination. Then there's the "We won,you lost,get over it" from the DemocRATs,as if they had some mandate,even thought 52% is no "mandate".Certainly no consideration of conservative viewpoints,just dismissals,rudeness and mockery.Along with calls (and moves)for suppression.Every day,there's more DemocRATic calls and actions for SUPPRESSION. But that fits right in with their communism ("social justice").

Everything Obama has done in office has been divisive. He snubbed our British allies multiple times,snubbed the Israelis,encouraged our enemies,even PAID them(Hamas).

Technology,particularly the Internet,has made it possible for people to know the TRUTH about the DemocRATS,that gets "underreported"(read "omitted") in the leftist media.They can no longer hide the communist crap leftists say in public speech or write in their books. Like "redistribution of wealth".The leftists made fun of that comment of Obama's,but it's turning out to be true.

If the Leftist media had investigated Presidential-candidate Obama as deeply as they did VICE-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin(and her children),Obama would never have been elected POTUS.

Then they need to have a cup of tea and a good lie down. An Iranian ship is hardly going to open fire while in a US port. The ship would likely get confiscated, and the crew, or at least the captain (for failing to ensure the gun was locked) and perpetrator, would get time in the slammer.

Sylvia.

Well, they wouldn't be. They'd be going about their lawful business and ignoring boats that ignore them.

How have we managed to get to the point where people think they shouldn't even have the option of defending themselves against criminals?

Sylvia.

What does "conservative viewpoints" and "moral majority" have on common ??

Words that don't work together.

:-)

"If they bring a knife, you bring a gun" (Barak Obama talking to supporters about challenging opponents)

Not while it's in a foreign port.

Nope.

You probably believe that the Mexican border is inviolable, too.

I don't see the link. Shooting up a port from an Iranian merchant ship would be plain silly. Even the lunatic currently running Iran would see that.

Sylvia.

A ship with a legal weapons cache is a perfect platform for terrorist activities.

So because of the actions of few all are deprive of the right to self-defense. It does not feel rigth to me.

A ship with declared weapons, that allows the Coast Guard to come on board to temporarily de-activate the weapons... Especially if the weapons can be locked with a bicycle lock that is so tough that it has a $2,251 or greater anti-theft warranty even good anywhere in NYC including anywhere on Columbia University's campus. (Or if the weapons are small and portable sufficiently to hand over temporarily until on the way out from guarded coastal territorial waters.)

As opposed to a ship with weapons that it claims it lacks while entering a country where prospect of outlawing guns inspires many of that country's own patriotic citizens to proudly be outlaws. I would worry more about an Iranian or whatever ship using weapons that it claims to lack than about one using weapons that it admits or boasts about having.

I am not as worried about an admittedly armed ship from a hostile nation as I am about a ship from a hostile nation dishonestly claiming to be unarmed. The one admittedly armed will have to not tick off those whose fingers are on the triggers of many big guns (and missile launchers) aimed at such a ship. The ship claiming to be unmarmed and from a hostile nation should be under scrutiny rather than under the radar, but that may be another story...

Furthermore, a ship from a hostile nation may have its biggest threat not from weapons good for combating pirates. If a hostile ship tried to do as much damage from a pier in New York City as possible with a heavy machine gun or two or a piece of artillery or two, I expect that to result in a net disservice to its hostile nation. (Then again, I expect USA has enough b@!!$ that such a ship results in net disservice to its hostile sovereignty from even using an undeclared mortar firing a tactical nuclear projectile.)

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)

It really doesn't matter what it "feels" to you. It is fact.

That all are deprived of the right to self-defence? Yes, it is a bad reality.

That a ship with legal weapons is a platform for terrorist activities? No, it is just an opinion.