Think Like a Pirate Day

[nancylebov]

The Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program said the Ukrainian ship, sailing under a Belize flag, was seized on Thursday.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuri Yekhanurov, quoted by the news agency Interfax Ukraine, said its cargo included 33 T-72 tanks being sold to Kenya under a legal contract.

He told reporters in Kiev that the cargo included grenade launchers and ammunition.

"All this is being sold in full accordance with Ukrainian legislation," Yekhanurov was quoted as saying.

Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua confirmed that the military equipment was destined for Kenya.

"The cargo in the ship includes military hardware such as tanks and an assortment of spare parts for use by different branches of the Kenyan military," he said in a statement.

[Poll #1268985]

Should Donald Westlake write this as a caper novel? I can just see Dortmunder trying to profitably dispose of 33 tanks and accessories. If it's transposed into science fiction, what large object(s) would the tanks turn into?

Comments

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Given that Somalia doesn't have anything resembling a government respecting "national sovereignty" seems nonsensical. I think we need to go back to the days when the Royal Navy (or even the USN under Jefferson) knew how to deal with a nest of pirates". It ought to be relatively easy to send in an amphibious taskforce and completely destroy the pirates' ships and supporting infrastructure.

[zenlizard]

Not so easy: a lot of the time, the pirates use small, easy-to-conceal and/or rebuild vessels.

And honestly, it's not the tanks that they're after: mostly, it the ransom money they might be able to actually get. Failing that, there's lots of military hardware on the Faina that's far easier to conceal, ship, and useful to them than 33 tanks. The US has had at least one warship hovering around, waiting to open fire if the pirates attempt to offload the cargo since the hijacking; and Russia has the frigate(?) Neustrashimy on the way.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it was obvious, but I was appreciating the moment when the pirates inspected the ship and discovered what an ambiguous situation they were in.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It's not this particular chunk of hardware that worries me but, rather, the ongoing threat to shipping in the region. As i understand it the pirates use 'motherships' to launch their fast attack boats. I imagine they would be harder to replace. I don't imagine that a single strike would, long term, eliminate the pirates but it might cramp their style for a bit.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Why don't we hold off until our Marines and other forces are out of Iraq? After that, we're going to need to rebuild our armed forces, and anti-piracy missions have been a traditional way to give troops and officers genuine combat experience without getting them so deep stuck in territory that they can't get out if things get dicey.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It doesn't have to be the Americans or the British. It might make a nice little mission for the French.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

The French are pretty committed in Afghanistan, last I checked.

[redbird]

The Russians are on their way, and they've been out of Afghanistan for years.

[kugelblitz.livejournal.com]

Sinking the ship is probably the easiest option, if only to keep all the small arms out of the pirates networks. They do not have the necessary infrastructure to offload them in any case.

Jack Aubrey would simply sail in and board her, reaping vast profits for his next observatory project. I wonder what nautical law says about re-seizing contraband?

This is exactly how Marines are used, by the way and it wouldn't take very many of them either. Heck a Spec Ops team could do this fairly quickly too. The political niceties are what is taking forever, not the scarcity of resources.

[kugelblitz.livejournal.com]

By "them" I mean the tanks.

[izzylobo.livejournal.com]

The French have been pretty active in anti-piracy duties along the African coastline already, primarily as part of Combined Task Force 150.

[zenlizard]

It worked for Jefferson, Decatur, and the USS Philadelphia