Pirates "ARRRRRRR"

I dunno if I would ever be a pirate. Mainly because I dont think I could kill anyone. That, and im terrified of deep water. I guess I would just be your run of the mill thief. (nods)

thanks

I dont know why they just dont have something called "SECURITY" on Tankers and the like... How difficult and expensive would it be to have your own Somalians with M16's to protect your ships? You could even put a couple of those, IDK if im right here... Goalkeeper 30 mm anti air ETC gattling cannons on the boats.

Anyway it seems like an easy(ish) gig being a Pirate these days, Good luck to them.

Wow, History Channel still has remotely interesting/educational stuff? After they did Modern Marvels: History of Wood, I pretty much lost respect for them.

People turn to piracy for one reason or another. It may be due to the lack of goods, notably necessities, in the home country of these pirates, which is not surprising, since most of them hail from developing nations.

However, I am under the impression that pirates are less likely to kill their hostages, allowing them to go free after a period of time. Although the hostages will suffer from the loss of material possessions, they do get to keep their lives.

Perhaps the answer to the piracy problem is not with brute force but with humantarian means. there would be not as miuch pirate activity or terrorism in the region if more aid comes to somalia, or at least deal with the government. Pirates would abandon their acts if an alternative means for them to sustain themselves in a more easier and less lethal manner.

If they were attacking ships for the food and humanitarian supplies then this might be a feasible idea but, these people are attacking ships for money or things they can sell. They usually target supercargo ships to take the men hostage. With the average ransom being anywhere from 100,000 to over 1 million a head plus, any money/valuables in the safe, on their persons are plenty of reasons to board a ship in these poor areas. Chance to earn 1 million dollars with less than a 5% of getting caught? Sign me up.



tl;dr They aren't attacking ships for food. They want money.

It may start out that way, but I highly doubt that any human could resist the temptations. Piracy is very lucrative. They don't just steal cargo and the personal belongings of the crew. Some organizations, I guess that's one thing you could call them, will go so far as to have forged documents for the ship made and have small crews repaint the ship while the others secure control so after they're done taking what they want they can sell the whole ship.

You're right about them not taking lives, but its a part of their system. Its obvious that crew members make good bargaining chips and could possibly be advantageous if the pirates are looking for a diversion when they need to get away. In cases where they can operate without anyone noticing, human trafficking provides an additional opportunity for profit. If they can make ships just disappear, what's stopping them from doing the same for the crew. I really haven't done much research into the whole piracy thing, but considering the depravity of human society it seems completely rational that pirates would take advantage of whatever opportunity the situation provides.

I think that its safe to assume that pirates, considering the very nature of what they do, are ready to do whatever they have to. Taking lives might not be a priority, but with any kind of criminal, you have to expect that if something will prove advantageous, they'll do it.

I had a conversation with my friend about all of this and i sugested that piracy is a form of terrorism. I said that it is the same since that both are trying to destabilise society to accept their goals and uses violence and terror as their modus operandi. But he put up that terrorism are more political means and not about trafficking in goods.

What do you guys think?