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Should we let our peers who are delivering food aid die instead?

by brent 18y ago

ajkirwin 18y ago
Unfortunately, yes.
- rudyfink 18y ago
  Yeah, perhaps. It's just a ton of money to tempt people with, relatively speaking. Putting it all in comparison with a table of purchasing power parity ( ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita ) is revealing. The average Somali income is apparently 600$ per year. So an average 2 million $ ransom is 3,333 times the average yearly income. Using the same chart, 3,333 times the US number (47,500) is 158.3 million $. According to the article below, a low level pirate makes 10,000 a year, which puts him 17 times above average. Using the same US comparison this gives him an income of 807,500. Edit: Updates after reading http://www.marinebuzz.com/2008/11/20/somali-pirates-have-lavish-life-style-or-rot-in-jail/ http://www.marinebuzz.com/2008/11/20/somali-pirates-have-lav... . Adjusted the ransom to be the average of 2 million and added comparison of low level pirate.
  - electromagnetic 18y ago
    If I could make ~$800,000 a year for doing some morally duplicitous acts, well I'd be earning more than your average lawyer so I guess there'd be a lot of people who wouldn't have a problem doing it. I can see where these Somali's come from, I likely can't make it through the 10 years to become a lawyer or doctor. However, I could probably pick up a rifle, be good enough of a shot to actually be capable of doing the job and probably wouldn't hurt any more people than if I was a slimeball lawyer or incompetent doctor and would make a lot more money doing it. It's quite depressing that shooting someone can become an acceptable way out of the society you're placed in. Be it a third world nation (piracy) or a first world nation (going postal).
    - gaius 18y ago
      It's quite depressing that shooting someone can become an acceptable way out of the society you're placed in You have to remember that these pirates are only really interested in ransoming cargoes - they don't set out to kill the crews like pirates back in the day.
- gaius 18y ago
  Current rules of engagement are that a pirate can be apprehended while in the process of committing an act of piracy, but cannot be engaged otherwise. Left up to the military, nuclear subs would have already torpedoed the pirate motherships and Marines would hit their shore bases (it cannot be coincidence that the task force includes USS Boxer, a ship whose sole purpose is doing forced entries into other countries - you don't use assault ships to patrol shipping lanes).
ckinnan 18y ago
That's a false choice. I'm proud that the US crew resisted and that the US Navy is involved. The Somalis will be less likely to target US flag ships in the future. It should be a crime to pay a ransom-- the "negotiators" in these cases are getting a cut of blood money, and the ransom money is going to bankroll criminal gangs.

Should we let our peers who are delivering food aid die instead?

by brent 18y ago

Should we let our peers who are delivering food aid die instead?

ajkirwin 18y ago

Unfortunately, yes.

rudyfink 18y ago
Yeah, perhaps. It's just a ton of money to tempt people with, relatively speaking. Putting it all in comparison with a table of purchasing power parity ( ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita ) is revealing. The average Somali income is apparently 600$ per year. So an average 2 million $ ransom is 3,333 times the average yearly income. Using the same chart, 3,333 times the US number (47,500) is 158.3 million $. According to the article below, a low level pirate makes 10,000 a year, which puts him 17 times above average. Using the same US comparison this gives him an income of 807,500. Edit: Updates after reading http://www.marinebuzz.com/2008/11/20/somali-pirates-have-lavish-life-style-or-rot-in-jail/ http://www.marinebuzz.com/2008/11/20/somali-pirates-have-lav... . Adjusted the ransom to be the average of 2 million and added comparison of low level pirate.
- electromagnetic 18y ago
  If I could make ~$800,000 a year for doing some morally duplicitous acts, well I'd be earning more than your average lawyer so I guess there'd be a lot of people who wouldn't have a problem doing it. I can see where these Somali's come from, I likely can't make it through the 10 years to become a lawyer or doctor. However, I could probably pick up a rifle, be good enough of a shot to actually be capable of doing the job and probably wouldn't hurt any more people than if I was a slimeball lawyer or incompetent doctor and would make a lot more money doing it. It's quite depressing that shooting someone can become an acceptable way out of the society you're placed in. Be it a third world nation (piracy) or a first world nation (going postal).
  - gaius 18y ago
    It's quite depressing that shooting someone can become an acceptable way out of the society you're placed in You have to remember that these pirates are only really interested in ransoming cargoes - they don't set out to kill the crews like pirates back in the day.
gaius 18y ago
Current rules of engagement are that a pirate can be apprehended while in the process of committing an act of piracy, but cannot be engaged otherwise. Left up to the military, nuclear subs would have already torpedoed the pirate motherships and Marines would hit their shore bases (it cannot be coincidence that the task force includes USS Boxer, a ship whose sole purpose is doing forced entries into other countries - you don't use assault ships to patrol shipping lanes).

ckinnan 18y ago

That's a false choice. I'm proud that the US crew resisted and that the US Navy is involved. The Somalis will be less likely to target US flag ships in the future. It should be a crime to pay a ransom-- the "negotiators" in these cases are getting a cut of blood money, and the ransom money is going to bankroll criminal gangs.