Pirates

[Wagner]

Originally Posted by Mr.Black

I can't see how this happens, 2 or 3 well trained security guards with some autos/rpg's should be able to protect a large boat like that, its not like there coming out of the water, they have to come close no? ...but I agree why aren't more people onboard armed seems silly

Simple, international law and insurance. Maritime law claims you can not shoot at an aggressor unless they attack you first. Insurance would go up dramatically if every ship was allowed to have a full on armory. There are companies in existence now that provide armed support to shipping companies, if these are paid for generally overall insurance goes down however, it is a new expense for the shipping company...so they would need to pass on that cost.

[X5rolls]

On a news program today, the Commandant of the Coast Guard was talking about how the proper thing to do is to have the legal framework in place internationally. Sure. Let's just sit around and do nothing and try to set up some legal framework. What a load of BS.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by X5rolls

On a news program today, the Commandant of the Coast Guard was talking about how the proper thing to do is to have the legal framework in place internationally. Sure. Let's just sit around and do nothing and try to set up some legal framework. What a load of BS.

The danger to that approach is deciding what laws you are going to enforce. If you had an agreed convention (such as the Law of the Sea convention that was agreed to 27 years ago, but never ratified by the US for a variety of reasons) then you could enforce anti-piracy laws. All military actions should have some legitimacy IMO. Otherwise, what is seen as piracy by one country is simply taxation to another country. Laws aren't such a bad thing. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be enforcement, simply that there should be a commonly agreed to set of rules.

I suspect this thread just became a candidate to be moved to the Politics lounge.