14 Replies to “Prosperous Times Ahead”

  1. I think the best way to deal with the Somali pirates is to move them, ships, guns, RPG’s and all, to an island just off the coast of North Korea and tell them to “Go For It”.

  2. It’s not the pirates that need to read this letter; they already know!
    “So come now don’t you try to play the hero
    Around here we’ve got pirates with torpedo
    Alongside all the warlords and beardos
    The only city n—-‘s blacker than tuxedos”-K’Naan

  3. It’s easy enough to find the literary origins of the name of the firm that appears at the bottom of the letter: “Stately, Plump, Buck & Mulligan”. But is there anyone here who can explain their significance in the context of the letter to the pirates?

  4. “That is because the intelligence that controls them is also the hand that stays them. The powers that should be a threat to you are caught in a paralyzing web of abstract legalities, deference to hostile opinion, and even in the clearest cases a perverse contempt for self-defense, which rules out the ability effectively to define, prepare for, justify, and execute it—and execute you. You would think that if you fire upon our ships we would fire back. But those days are over, and you have prosperous times ahead.”
    That last paragraph is SO true! The Somalia pirates are covered by the UN Charter on Human Rights, and have carte blanche to do what they damn well want. And if a Canadian naval vessel should ever take action against one of them, I’m certain our Blessed Charter would protect them,too.
    I like the idea of “Q” ships, merchant vessels that appear unarmed, but have a variety of heavy destructive weapons aboard, manned by US Marines.

  5. Dmorris
    Why should the Marines have all the fun?
    They got to slap around the Barbary Pirates when Jefferson had enough with the payola.
    “…to the shores of Tripoli…”

  7. The idea of a vessel that plys the pirate waters with blood thirsty US citizens (or others) with no where else to fire their weapons has more appeal every day.
    Davy Jones spills no secrets matey.

  8. “The current president’s most war-like virtue is the ability to apologize to people who should be apologizing to us—an extraordinary skill no doubt, but questionable.”
    …indeed…

  9. Lets not forget that Somali Pirates are good for Saskatchewan business. I’s like to see them grab a couple more supertankers and drive the price of oil even higher.
    Go Skinnies!

  11. In a sane world the shipping company would merely arm their crews and stick a .50 cal fore and aft on railing mounts. Job done, right?
    That this isn’t happening indicates the basic insanity of those running the show. By whom I mean the bankers, ship owners, insurers, cargo owners, and etc.
    We begin to see the cause of our present economic melt down, yes?

  12. the image of a bunch of skinny land-based zodiac zooming somali pirates, heroes of the local economy, taking a supertanker hostage . . . . I haven’t been able to formulate. until now.
    is present political leadership the spawn of those tutored by neville chamberlain?

  13. No curious_ george – Neville has passed away only to be replaced by the UN and various human rights councils and international treaties.
    Their version of “Catch and Release” applies if a Canadian ship rescues a German tanker or vise versa. One can only sieze the pirate (criminals) if your own countries ships are under attack.
    There was a great article somewhere by an International Maritime Expert who said such an opinion was straight nonsense – but he never got it published in any UN forum.
    Makes sense though for it is ok for Pirates to attack ships in international waters but not ok for said tankers to defend themselves?
    Now these “Anti-Terrorism Tankers” disguised as tramp steamers (the Germans used it widely in WW ll) is actually being proposed by who else but by an American businessman.
    Suspect he won’t need any government bail-outs either?

  14. Following on Dmorris and LS:
    I was told not too long ago by an active-duty officer that if the pirates were stupid enough to fire in the direction of a Canadian (and I assume American or other) naval vessel, weapons would be released and said pirates would thereafter no longer be a problem. (Bravo zulu; resume course and speed.) The pirates seem to be aware of this rule of engagement, as they continually run away from military vessels.
    Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing the footage of what the CIWS or a main gun does to one of those pirate boats, but that might just be me.

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