[stunnyravytal]

Russian sailors release Somali pirates...



Russian naval task force sailors released on Thursday the Somali pirates detained after a mission to free the Moscow University tanker, a Defense Ministry source told RIA Novosti.

"Unfortunately, at present there exist no legal rules for prosecuting in court the pirates operating in the region of Somali," the source said. "This means they do not fall under the jurisdiction of any state or international law."

Commandos from the large anti-submarine warship Marshal Shaposhnikov freed the tanker earlier on Thursday in a 22-minute operation that saw one pirate shot dead. The vessel, on its way from the Red Sea to China, was seized on Wednesday.

The source added that after the pirates had been disarmed and their navigation equipment removed, they were "put into an inflatable boat" and pushed off into the sea.

The news comes shortly after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had pledged to punish pirates who seize vessels off the Somali coast.

"What is the problem? We are all aware of this evil and cannot agree on how to fight it," Medvedev told Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

"We will have to act as our forefathers did when they met pirates", the Russian president said. "Of course, we will fight pirates with the full force of naval law."

He did not specify exactly how the pirates should be punished.

Somali pirates carried out a record number of attacks and hijackings in 2009. According to the International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Center, a total of 217 vessels were attacked last year, resulting in 47 hijackings.

MOSCOW, May 6 (RIA Novosti) No word on whether the inflatable boat was inflated, or if it was dipped in chum first.

[TouccuraLar]

Kind of a chickenshit way to kill someone. If you're going to kill them, just do it.

[JohnTruels]

Kind of a chickenshit way to kill someone. If you're going to kill them, just do it.

Exactly. In fact, I'm wondering if under international law, those who gave the orders could be prosecuted for murder considering that they would have reasonable knowledge that the pirates chances of surviving were dismal.

[Kemapreedasse]

Kind of a chickenshit way to kill someone. If you're going to kill them, just do it.

I dunno. Hardly a chickenshit way to kill someone in my opinion. Ballsy and sadistic but hardly chickenshit simply for the mere fact that that is a lot to put in your conscience.

[arrismVam]

If they don't fear the consequences, why would they stop?

[exchpaypalgold]

Exactly. In fact, I'm wondering if under international law, those who gave the orders could be prosecuted for murder considering that they would have reasonable knowledge that the pirates chances of surviving were dismal.

Understanding that this doesn't fully apply to your point but...do you honestly thing Russia cares what international law says? And do you honestly thing any charges would actually be prosecuted?

[mplawssix]

I dunno. Hardly a chickenshit way to kill someone in my opinion. Ballsy and sadistic but hardly chickenshit simply for the mere fact that that is a lot to put in your conscience.

Ballsy? How?

It leaves them to be able to say "oh, they probably made it home." If they had balls, they'd be honest and do what they're intending.

[KirillAristov]

These pirates are actually fisherman who have no more fish to catch because their waters are being plundered by fishing fleets from all over the world. There's no coast guard because there's no government. There's no law in Somalia. If we want to stop the pirates we have to give them back their oceans and stop stealing their fish.

You can't steal a man's way to make a living and then complain when he steals to feed his family. That's ridiculous.




Ever since a civil war brought down Somalia's last functional government in 1991, the country's 3,330 km (2,000 miles) of coastline — the longest in continental Africa — has been pillaged by foreign vessels. A United Nations report in 2006 said that, in the absence of the country's at one time serviceable coastguard, Somali waters have become the site of an international "free for all," with fishing fleets from around the world illegally plundering Somali stocks and freezing out the country's own rudimentarily-equipped fishermen. According to another U.N. report, an estimated $300 million worth of seafood is stolen from the country's coastline each year. "In any context," says Gustavo Carvalho, a London-based researcher with Global Witness, an environmental NGO, "that is a staggering sum."

In the face of this, impoverished Somalis living by the sea have been forced over the years to defend their own fishing expeditions out of ports such as Eyl, Kismayo and Harardhere — all now considered to be pirate dens. Somali fishermen, whose industry was always small-scale, lacked the advanced boats and technologies of their interloping competitors, and also complained of being shot at by foreign fishermen with water cannons and firearms. "The first pirate gangs emerged in the '90s to protect against foreign trawlers," says Peter Lehr, lecturer in terrorism studies at Scotland's University of St. Andrews and editor of Violence at Sea: Piracy in the Age of Global Terrorism. The names of existing pirate fleets, such as the National Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia or Somali Marines, are testament to the pirates' initial motivations.
Read more: How Somalia's Fishermen Became Pirates - TIME

[exettybele]

Exactly. In fact, I'm wondering if under international law, those who gave the orders could be prosecuted for murder considering that they would have reasonable knowledge that the pirates chances of surviving were dismal.

Excellent point. Should not be too difficult to generate up a lot of compassion/outrage for a group of FUCKING PIRATES.....

Let the world court do their thingy. Can only pray that i get called to jury duty.



.

[sleepergun]

Kind of a chickenshit way to kill someone. If you're going to kill them, just do it.

So instead of giving them a chance, however slim, at survival you would just have them all shot?

Personally, I agree with the Russians here. Give these pirates over to the Fates.

[proslaviy]

So instead of giving them a chance, however slim, at survival you would just have them all shot?

Personally, I agree with the Russians here. Give these pirates over to the Fates.

No, I'd prefer that they be tried in a court of law and punished if convicted.

Abandoning people on the high seas is cowardly, and reduces the Russian navy to one step below the pirates.

[amotoustict]

Abandoning people on the high seas is cowardly, and reduces the Russian navy to one step below the pirates.

I think it sends a message; don't fuck with Russian ships.

[advabHixavoip]

Exactly. In fact, I'm wondering if under international law, those who gave the orders could be prosecuted for murder considering that they would have reasonable knowledge that the pirates chances of surviving were dismal.

A Russian helicopter approached the ship and the pirates fired at it. The Russian destroyer returned fire. However, that is a moot point and I am sure that Russia could care less what some hand-wringing left-wing person or persons thought. Everyone knows if you F**K with the Russians you get back 10 times the grief. And to the poster who is complaining that they are only poor fishermen who have to resort to piracy to survive I suppose you would complain about a bank robber who is killed attempting to rob a bank because they are broke. Using a weapon during the commission of a crime is due cause for the authorities to respond with lethal force.

[saerensenatljn]

I think it sends a message; don't fuck with Russian ships.

Or "kill the Russian crews." Assuming that these people living beyond the scope of civilization get any kind of messages.

[Lauramalina]

What if some other country was dumping toxic waste and fishing illegally off the coast of, say, Miami?

Well, the two piracies are the original one, which was foreign fishing piracy by foreign trawlers and vessels, who at the same time were dumping industrial waste, toxic waste and, it also has been reported, nuclear waste. Most of the time, we feel it’s the same fishing vessels, foreign fishing vessels, that are doing both. That was the piracy that started all these problems.


And the other piracy is the shipping piracy. When the marine resources of Somalia was pillaged, when the waters were poisoned, when the fish was stolen, and in a poverty situation in the whole country, the fishermen felt that they had no other possibilities or other recourse but to fight with, you know, the properties and the shipping of the same countries that have been doing and carrying on the fishing piracy and toxic dumping.

It seems that Somalia has asked nicely for this dumping and illegal fishing to stop with no result:

Correct, correct. And this has been known to both the countries in the West that had these fishing fleets, which included Spain, Italy, Greece, and eventually UK and others who joined later, as well as Russian. And, of course, there were many more from the East. And this problem has been going on since 1991. And the fishing communities and fishermen reported and complained and appealed to the international community through the United Nations, through the European Union, with no, actually, response in any form at all. They were totally ignored. They have no government to deal with the problem so the Somalis took matters into their own hands.

Fishing piracy means fishing without license, fishing by force, even though the community complains, even though whatever authorities are there complain, even though they ask these foreign fishing fleets and trawlers and vessels that have no license, that have no permit whatsoever, when they tell them, “Stop fishing and get out of the area,” they refuse, and instead, in fact, they fight. They fought with the fishermen and coastal communities, pouring boiling water on them and even shooting at them, running over their canoes and fishing boats. These were the problems that had been going on for so long, until the community organized themselves and empowered, actually, what they call the National Volunteer Coast Guard, what you would call and what others call today as “pirates.” I find it interesting that Americans on boards like this who support the use of unauthorized militias in this country cannot see that the Somalis are doing just that in their country, and they are doing what has to be done in the absence of any kind of organized government to act on their behalf and to preserve their own livelihood.

Analysis: Somalia Piracy Began in Response to Illegal Fishing and Toxic Dumping by Western Ships off Somali Coast

[Promotiona]

Or "kill the Russian crews." Assuming that these people living beyond the scope of civilization get any kind of messages.

Indeed, that is a risk they run.

[Attarderb]

I find it interesting that Americans on boards like this who support the use of unauthorized militias in this country cannot see that the Somalis are doing just that in their country, and they are doing what has to be done in the absence of any kind of organized government to act on their behalf and to preserve their own livelihood.

Because their actions bring them into conflict with the livelihood of our nation and those of our allies. Not that difficult of a concept.

[strollerssfsfs]

Because their actions bring them into conflict with the livelihood of our nation and those of our allies. Not that difficult of a concept.

So we have the right to pillage and plunder wherever we want? I don't really think this is about OUR livelihood. It is about the US and our allies plundering a nation, taking THEIR food and destroying their coastline. I believe that we would have plenty without destroying Somalia.

[Bwvapays]

Everyone here defending Somali piracy would be real pissed if the homeless in this country started hijacking UPS trucks with their stuff in it.

[feeshyLew]

So we have the right to pillage and plunder wherever we want? I don't really think this is about OUR livelihood. It is about the US and our allies plundering a nation, taking THEIR food and destroying their coastline. I believe that we would have plenty without destroying Somalia.

Do you really think US fishing fleets are plundering Somali coastlines? That US companies are dumping crap, that is tracked meticulously, in the ocean, and no one would ask questions?

Are you sure its not the neighboring counties just a half step up from Somalia?